I’ll bet you didn’t even know there was a downstairs venue at the Radio bar, did you? Well, there is: in deference to a previously-booked night of bands upstairs, we meandered down the back stairs to the wood-like-paneling extravaganza that is the basement of our Monday night bar. With just a hint of sound bleed rumbling in from above, the whole event started to feel a little bit like a Wednesday night at the Cantab… And the open mic reflected it, as a host of new readers and the cast of Radio regulars teamed up to create a magically high-quality hour of poetry, storytelling, and (get this) a musical debut from we-know-him-as-poet Andy Locke.
Our features for the night were poet Ed Wilkinson and storyteller Daniel Gewertz— although perhaps we shouldn’t bother applying labels, since folks like Ed and Dan will just bust right out of ’em. Reprising his early-bird workshop about work poems, Ed brought us a poignant, smart, and often achingly funny story arc featuring poems from everyday life illustrated by extraordinary language. Then Dan followed up with a set of poetically written monologues written with a hint of McCarthy-like funny-along-the-way; we also were fortunate enough to hear the out-loud debut of excerpts from his forthcoming novel. All in all, it was a fabulous night for art and community, and one we look forward to building on.
Next week: we are back upstairs with Comedy Meets Poetry, curated by Wes Hazard: four poets (Andy Locke, Nora Meiners, Meaghan Ford, and Adam Stone) will pair off with four comics (Matt Kona, John Paul Rivera, Gary Petersen, and the Wes-man himself) in a battle for belly laughs! As always, it’s 21+ and $5 downstairs at 379 Somerville Ave. in Union Square.
Boston Poetry Slam Online