Jack McCarthy Last Night
So we had Jack McCarthy feature last night.
What can I possibly say about Jack that most of you who know him and his work haven't said before? Probably nothing. What I can offer are a couple of anecdotes, a link, and an observation.
Anecdote 1: When I MCed the very first Rookie Open Mic at NPS (2002, Minneapolis), the audience was filled with newbies and one very noticeable veteran: Jack. he sat there listening to all of the rookies - a full hour and a half or more - and soaking it all in. Sure, some other cats who weren't rookies popped in and out, but jack was the one I remember sitting there like he was there FOR the show. At the end, I asked him to perform a poem, which he graced us with. It was the perfect ending to a notable event. The past colliding with the future in respect both ways. That's part of why I set that mic up, and it is the first time I actually met Jack. I would see him a few times after that, but that was the first time.
Anecdote 2: When Jack came into the venue he scoped it out, checking out the room and the t-shirts on the wall. He bought a Kafe Kerouac t-shirt and wore it during the show. I found that funny and awesome all at once, considering that if he had mentioned he wanted one of those shirts, one of us would have bought it for him on the spot.
Link: Ed Plunkett posted a video in his LJ here http://chaptal.livejournal.com/2175181.html
Observation: I am a big fan of Jack because he is my go-to slam poet in most debates about what it takes to do well in Slam. Granted, Jack is Jack and only Jack is Jack, but the lessons that can be learned from the exception that is Jack are numerous. I like to tell people he does everything all of the hardcore slammers tell you not to do to do well in slams and he beats and outlasts them anyway. As the guy who refuses to memorize poems, I recognize a kinship of mission in their somewhere. I love Jack because he does Jack and makes you respect what he does, both in the poem and with the poem.
An awesome feature that a lot of people were utterly taken with. We've had great, great features all year, and we've got one more coming that I think will tie in everything just right: Tony Brown from Worcester. When we start advertising his show (our last feature of the year), mark your calendars. I've tried to book cats that I thought our audience would take something away from, each building on some aspect of performance or poetry (and hopefully both) that would really get the locals writing heavy and hard, but maintaining their orignality and voices. Based on our slate this year, we've knocked the ball out the park. I don't need the winners of slams; I need the poets who write like their lives depend on it, whose voices are their own. THAT is what we hope the poets who come to our night take away from the whole mess of it.
What can I possibly say about Jack that most of you who know him and his work haven't said before? Probably nothing. What I can offer are a couple of anecdotes, a link, and an observation.
Anecdote 1: When I MCed the very first Rookie Open Mic at NPS (2002, Minneapolis), the audience was filled with newbies and one very noticeable veteran: Jack. he sat there listening to all of the rookies - a full hour and a half or more - and soaking it all in. Sure, some other cats who weren't rookies popped in and out, but jack was the one I remember sitting there like he was there FOR the show. At the end, I asked him to perform a poem, which he graced us with. It was the perfect ending to a notable event. The past colliding with the future in respect both ways. That's part of why I set that mic up, and it is the first time I actually met Jack. I would see him a few times after that, but that was the first time.
Anecdote 2: When Jack came into the venue he scoped it out, checking out the room and the t-shirts on the wall. He bought a Kafe Kerouac t-shirt and wore it during the show. I found that funny and awesome all at once, considering that if he had mentioned he wanted one of those shirts, one of us would have bought it for him on the spot.
Link: Ed Plunkett posted a video in his LJ here http://chaptal.livejournal.com/2175181.html
Observation: I am a big fan of Jack because he is my go-to slam poet in most debates about what it takes to do well in Slam. Granted, Jack is Jack and only Jack is Jack, but the lessons that can be learned from the exception that is Jack are numerous. I like to tell people he does everything all of the hardcore slammers tell you not to do to do well in slams and he beats and outlasts them anyway. As the guy who refuses to memorize poems, I recognize a kinship of mission in their somewhere. I love Jack because he does Jack and makes you respect what he does, both in the poem and with the poem.
An awesome feature that a lot of people were utterly taken with. We've had great, great features all year, and we've got one more coming that I think will tie in everything just right: Tony Brown from Worcester. When we start advertising his show (our last feature of the year), mark your calendars. I've tried to book cats that I thought our audience would take something away from, each building on some aspect of performance or poetry (and hopefully both) that would really get the locals writing heavy and hard, but maintaining their orignality and voices. Based on our slate this year, we've knocked the ball out the park. I don't need the winners of slams; I need the poets who write like their lives depend on it, whose voices are their own. THAT is what we hope the poets who come to our night take away from the whole mess of it.