Someone wants your cellphone, but you aren’t going to give it up. Write your response.
Cantab Feature for Wednesday, September 17, 2014: Star Trek vs. Star Wars Slam
Star Trek vs. Star Wars! Official logo! By Gary Hoare!
Han Solo or Captain Kirk? The Millennium Falcon or the Enterprise? Experts have debated the merits of Star Trek vs. Star Wars for decades, but now the Boston Poetry Slam will boldly take this argument where it has never gone before— to the arena of poetry slam.
Join host and producer Nathan Comstock for a slam that will bring freedom to the galaxy, wherein each slammer will take on a character (or entity, we suppose) from their chosen universe, then duel to the death! Trekkies Wes Hazard, Jonah Comstock, Jade Sylvan, Valerie Loveland, Alexandria Lowther, Riva Foss, and Colin Killick will engage in a battle of wits, I.Q., and potentially complex in-jokes against Warmongers Mckendy Fils-Aimé, Harlym125, Ed Wilkinson, Michael Monroe, Kieran Collier, Ellyn Touchette, and Sean Patrick Mulroy. Special guests from parallel universes will serve as sacrifice in the most true-to-nerd competition ever attempted at the Boston Poetry Slam.
This show in our weekly Wednesday series takes place at the Cantab Lounge, 738 Massachusetts Ave. in Cambridge. Doors for the show open at 7:15. The open mic begins at 8:00 and the invite-only slam begins at approximately 10:00. An open poetry slam in the 8×8 series will follow. The show is 18+ (ID required) and the cover charge is $3.
Cantab Recap for Wednesday, September 10, 2014
Ah, mid-September, the time when poets’ thoughts turn lightly to those of touring… Fortunately, we got one-time BPS team member Jade Sylvan to hang with us tonight for a full feature before embarking on yet another whirlwind of poetry performance! Jade treated us to both new and older work, reading excerpts from her latest published work, Kissing Oscar Wilde, among others. We wish Jade luck on tour, and remember: don’t be a stranger!
The slam to finish up the evening was, for the first time in months, short one player, with just seven folks facing off for the ten-dollar prize. Fortunately, no one’s enthusiasm was damped by the smaller field; in fact, a few first-timers came out of the woodwork to give the regulars a run for their money! The finals came down to Judea, an open mic regular moonlighting on the late slam list, and Nathan Comstock, who brought us an all-alien-themed slam set (perhaps foreshadowing next week’s event). Nathan took the win, cementing his spot in next year’s team selection slams with months to spare.
Next week: Nathan Comstock will be the man of the hour, bringing his production and hosting experience to bear with the Cantab’s first ever Star Trek vs. Star Wars slam! It’s going to get very geeky in here, folks, as all-stars and newcomers fight for the honor of their favorite sci-fi universe, taking on characters and concepts in head-to-head match-ups. And if you didn’t make the cut to slam, don’t worry… There’s plenty of room in the open mic to make your case, too. See you there, nerds!
Cantab Feature for Wednesday, September 10, 2014: Jade Sylvan
Jade Sylvan, 2013 Boston Poetry Slam Team member and Encyclopedia Show Fact Checker.
Jade Sylvan, called a “risqué queer icon” by The Boston Globe, is the author of Kissing Oscar Wilde (2013 Write Bloody Publishing), TEN (2013 Launch Over Publishing), and The Spark Singer (2009 Spuyten Duyvil Press). A genderqueer writer, producer, and performing artist based out of Cambridge, Mass., Jade has been on the cover of The Boston Globe Arts Section, ScoutCambridge, and DigBoston. The author has toured throughout North America and Europe performing poetry, and has produced and performed in a number of acclaimed shows in the Greater Boston area, including The Literary Roast, All You Need Is Myth, and the Encyclopedia Show Somerville. In 2012, Jade cowrote and starred in the indie feature film TEN, which is currently touring the film festival circuit. Publications include pieces in: The Toast, BuzzFeed, PANK, DigBoston, Carve Magazine, Mudfish, Word Riot, and many more.
This show also originally included a spotlight from punk-performance-poet John Cooper Clarke, visiting from the U.K. Due to travel circumstances, JCC has been forced to cancel his appearance at this evening’s show.
This show in our weekly Wednesday series takes place at the Cantab Lounge, 738 Massachusetts Ave. in Cambridge. Doors for the show open at 7:15. The open mic begins at 8:00 and the feature performs at approximately 10:00. An open poetry slam in the 8×8 series will follow. The show is 18+ (ID required) and the cover charge is $3.
Cantab Recap for Wednesday, September 3, 2014
Did you guys notice that this week is back to school week? Back to Old School, we mean! Ha! No, seriously, Ryk McIntyre was in the house last night, in all his punny and funny-old-guy glory, and carrying his latest book from Sargent Press. If you missed him tonight, you can catch him at the Lowell reading on September 16, so mark your calendars!
Just as we always have, we closed the night with our head-to-head 8×8 slam. The final round came down to new kid Josh Elbaum vs. less-new-less-kid Zeke Russell; in an inspiring victory for cane-wielding poets everywhere, Zeke took the win, leaving Josh to slam another day.
Next week: we’re back in the swing of the school year with birthday poet Jade Sylvan (Jade’s birthday, not necessarily yours), and a special spotlight feature from UK punk legend John Cooper Clarke. Looking forward to welcoming everyone back for the fall!
Moonlighting: A Queer Open Mic and Reading Series Featuring Andrew Campana on Thursday, September 4, 2014
This reading is part of our monthly LGBTQ series, Moonlighting. Click here for more information about this recurring show.
The featured reader for September 4 is Andrew Campana.
Andrew Campana, Toronto native and Japanese literature and media scholar.
Andrew Campana was born and raised in Toronto, and now lives in Somerville, Massachusetts. He’s currently working on his Ph.D. at Harvard in Japanese literature and media studies, which means he reads a lot of 1970s girls manga and plays too many Nintendo games. He has done readings in Boston, Toronto, and Tokyo, and his work can be found in On Spec Magazine, Freeze Ray Poetry, Voicemail Poems, Printer’s Devil Review, and Gendaishi Forum (現代詩フォーラム). He looks forward to the inevitable shoujo revolution, after which all emotional expression will occur through vortices of flowers.
This show in our monthly Thursday LGBTQ series takes place at Fazenda Coffee Roasters, 3710 Washington St. in the Jamaica Plain area of Boston. An open mic begins at approximately 7:00 p.m. and the headliner follows the open mic. The show is all-ages and a $3 donation is requested.
Cantab Feature for Wednesday, September 3, 2014: Ryk McIntyre
Ryk McIntyre, longtime New England poet.
Ryk McIntyre has been a “legendary presence” on the New England poetry scene for decades. Which is to say, he is rarely photographed and not everyone is convinced he really exists. He has toured extensively around the continental United States and Canada, appearing on stages as varied as NYC’s New School, Portsmouth NH’s Music Hall, Lollapalooza and the very first “Legends of The Slam” Showcase, at the National Poetry Slam in 2006 in Austin, TX. He has also appeared at countless poetry venues, festivals and house parties. He has been published widely, most notably in The Worcester Review, Off the Coast, Short Fuse: An Anthology of New Fusion Poets, and Aim for the Head: An Anthology of Zombie Poetry, as well as his first book, After Everything Burns (Sargent Press).
This show in our weekly Wednesday series takes place at the Cantab Lounge, 738 Massachusetts Ave. in Cambridge. Doors for the show open at 7:15. The open mic begins at 8:00 and the feature performs at approximately 10:00. An open poetry slam in the 8×8 series will follow. The show is 18+ (ID required) and the cover charge is $3.
Cantab Recap for Wednesday, August 27, 2014
Given our topsy-turvy schedule this month, plus our newly long-lost regulars, it was a great relief to offer a homecoming of sorts to April Ranger last night. On a short stop back in Boston from her new residence in NYC, April brought us a full set of nearly all new work, all of it deeply thoughtful and intensely presented. How good to see her back on her home stage; don’t be a stranger, poet!
Our house turned out a full open mic for April, as well as a full slam, split just about evenly between newcomers and veterans: one of the former, Sterling Higa, faced off against 2014 slam team member Meaghan Ford in a highly polished finals! Meaghan used her home field advantage to the fullest and took the win, but we’re glad to welcome Hawaii native Sterling to the venue with a great showing to start his season.
Next week: we’re back with a feature from 1991/2005 slam team member Ryk McIntrye and another open slam in the 8×8 series. The students are officially back in town, so remember to show up early if you want a seat or a spot on the open mic!
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