Cantab Recap for Wednesday, January 7, 2015

Folks, if you are ever planning a party at your place, like the sort of party you would normally have every week except you took two weeks off for holidays, and also the night of the party turns out to be really cold, like actually below zero, you should definitely invite Rachel McKibbens to your party, because then everyone will definitely come. A toast and a thanks to the brave souls who came out on the coldest day of the winter (so far… yikes) to listen in to Rachel’s “B-sides” feature: a vulnerable and honest set of her work spanning three books, including more than a few poems she rarely voices aloud. We are honored to be one of Rachel’s poetry homes and hope to welcome her to the venue again this year.

Our slam that night marked the very last of our current 8×8 series (and the second-to-last qualifier for the 2015 team!), so there was plenty of interest in that crumpled $10 bill Sean Mulroy was offering the winners. The final head-to-head came down to Josh Elbaum and Sophia Holtz, both clearly holding nothing back to take the top spot: despite a strong showing in a tiebreaker in the semi-final round, Josh ultimately fell to Sophia’s Jersey-centric comedic finale, rocketing her to the Champion of Champions round next week.

Wait, that’s next week?? You betcha! The past eight slam winners will take on the reigning champ, the aforementioned oft-times slam host Sean Mulroy, in a winner-take-all 8×8 championship match next Wednesday! Our headlining poet that night will be Cameroonian-born D.C. poet and bow-tie enthusiast Pages Matam. See you there!