You see your bartender out of context, outside of a bar. Where? Why? What happens?
Cantab Feature for February 12, 2014: Erotic Poetry Night and Box of Doom
Is it hot in here, or is it just you? As tradition decrees, on the Wednesday closest to Valentine’s marks our wildly popular annual Erotic Poetry Night. We’ll present the best (and worst) of the erotic (and neurotic) all night long; open mic readers are strongly encouraged to bring original erotic poems, poems about sex, or poems about naughtiness in general.
Box of Doom Poetry Slam. Logo by Gary Hoare.
The centerpiece of our night will be the Erotic Box of Doom Slam, produced by bartender Adam Stone! According to Adam, the Box of Doom is an ancient tradition, wherein star-crossed lovers would exchange the worst presents possible in order to passive-aggressively break up in time for Valentine’s Day. Adam will be filling the Cantab’s Box with the very worst erotic work that poetry has to offer: slammers will draw these terrible poems at random and have three minutes to prepare their finest, most over-the-top erotic performance. Good luck!
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 erotic-themed open mic begins at 8:00. The show is 18+ (ID required) and the cover charge is $3.
Encyclopedia Show: Somerville for Monday, February 10 — S2V5: OBSOLETE DISEASES
Encyclopedia Show: Somerville — OBSOLETE DISEASES on February 10, 2014! Art by Melissa Newman-Evans.
Monday, February 10, 2014
The Davis Square Theatre
255 Elm St. in Somerville
7pm doors, 8pm-10pm show
all ages, $10/$7 sliding scale
click for Facebook event
The Boston Poetry Slam and Simone Beaubien present the next installment in a slightly educational monthly series!
The Encyclopedia Show Somerville is an event franchised from the original series founded in Chicago in 2008, wherein invited artists from a variety of performance disciplines present all-new, original works on sub-topics of a single theme. A recurring cast of hosts and characters welcomes the artists with open arms and minds, while the resident Fact Checker is charged with maintaining the integrity of the Encyclopedic Truth of the show.
Our theme for this month’s show will be OBSOLETE DISEASES! Presenting all-original guest performances from local artists, plus work from our recurring cast members:
- Aimee Rose Ranger and Kevin Spak provide deft and earnest CO-HOSTING
- The Michael J. Epstein Memorial Library offers MUSICAL SUPPORT
- Wes Hazard dispenses QUESTIONABLE EXPERTISE with panache and aplomb
- and Intern Steve Subrizi will almost certainly not experience a resurgence of the Moon Flu.
Live Fact Checking is reluctantly provided by Jack van Sly from the Institute of Human Knowledge and Hygiene. The personal assistant to Mr. van Sly is Jade Sylvan.
This show in our monthly Encylopedia Show: Somerville series takes place at the Davis Square Theatre, 255 Elm St. in Somerville. Doors and the theatre bar open for a pre-show welcome party at 7:00. The show begins promptly at 8:00 and finishes at 10:00, including a short intermission. This is an all ages show! Admission is $10, or $7 for students, teachers, or guests in Prohibition-era dress.
Cantab Recap for Wednesday, January 5, 2014
Happy Black History Month, poetry fans! We hope your February has so far been packed with maximum learning and respect. There are a ton of great shows going on around the city this month, so check your event invites and get yourself in the habit of showing good support all year round.
Our plans for the first show of the month were very nearly crimped by a nasty snowstorm. Fortunately, not even the elements can withstand the refined brilliance and unshy power of the amazing Porsha O! Porsha brought us a roller-coaster of a feature filled with both brand-new and polished work, ranging from highly personal to outside-the-box persona. Folks all over the country wish they had Porsha performing in their town, so don’t forget to check out her other shows in the area when you get a chance.
After a slow start (does snow repel slammers from the Cantab?) the hosts heckled a total of six poets into slamming for the ten-dollar prize. Oddly, after being sassed into performing, everyone seemed ready to slam off-page, even with some new work… The big winner was Nora Meiners, who knocked out the on-fire Michael Monroe in the final round.
We’ll be back next week without a feature, but with the highly controversial annual Erotic Poetry Night, capped off by an on-theme Box of Doom Slam produced and hosted by bartender Adam Stone. Come by and take some notes for Valentine’s Day… Or partake of the bar in order to forget it’s coming.
Oh, and by the way: this month’s iteration of The Encyclopedia Show takes place this Monday, February 10. The theme will be Obsolete Diseases and you can catch some of your favorite poets reading brand new work there: come enjoy poems from Emily Carroll, Jeff Seigrist, and Catherine Martin, as well as a hula hoop routine by Catherine and a short film by Gary Hoare. Good fun ahead!
Moonlighting: A Queer Open Mic and Reading Series Featuring Marc Dones on Thursday, February 6, 2014
This reading is part of our monthly LGBTQ series, Moonlighting. Click here for more information about this recurring show.
Marc Dones, Moonlighting feature for February 6, 2014.
The featured reader for February 6 is Marc Dones. Marc is a writer, public policy human, blogger, and whiner.
A graduate of New York University’s Gallatin School with a concentration in Psychiatric Anthropology, he has previously served on the Massachusetts Commission on LGBT Youth, where he directed Commission’s communications as well as co-chairing the Administration Committee. Currently Marc serves as a Program Manager in the Executive Office of Health and Human Services where he works on youth homelessness, permanent supportive housing, youth violence reduction, and LGBTQ specific policy.
In his spare time Marc hangs out with his roommate’s dog, rides his bike, and is generally impractical. His favorite color is chartreuse. Feel free to follow him on Facebook, Twitter, tumblr, or anywhere else he can be followed (except down the street).
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, February 5, 2014: Porsha O(layiwola)
Porsha Olayiwola, dope performer, educator, and coach.
Black, dyke, poet, lover hip-hop feminist, womanist friend, Porsha Olayiwola is a performance artist who believes in pixie dust and second chances. A resident of Boston by way of Chicago, Porsha O. was runner-up at the 2012 Women of the World Poetry Slam and a finalist at the 2013 tournament, as well as a driving member of multiple semi-finalist Lizard Lounge National Poetry Slam teams and a MassLEAP spoken-word teaching artist. Her intention is to speak, love, and maintain a cypher that is undocumented, uncontrollable and just plain ole dope.
Porsha earned a BA in African American studies from the University of Illinois. A native of Chicago, she moved to Boston in 2010 to serve as an AmeriCorps*VISTA for the National Coalition for the Homeless. During her year of service, she started the Massachusetts’ Faces of Homelessness Speakers Bureau. She is also a member of Boston’s HBGC Women’s Council, helping to address issues surrounding queer women of color in the Boston area. Porsha is super excited to be working with young people as Codman Academy’s Enrichment Coordinator and Slam Poetry Coach.
Poetically, Porsha intertwines the spirits of Audre Lorde, Fannie Lou Hamer, Ida. B. Wells Barnett and June Jordan with the bluntness of Hip Hop Feminism, creating poetry that speaks for itself. She has opened for Mae Jemison, the first African American female astronaut, MC LYTE, pioneering female hip-hop artist, Dr. Cornell West and Dr. Angela Davis. A founding member of the Chicago – based political performance group, “The Unwritten Amendment,” she uses poetry to create a dynamic flow of infra-politics that rebels against the norms and rigidity of society.
Note that tonight’s open poetry slam is a speed slam 3-, 2-, and 1-minute rounds. Slam winners qualify for the 2014 World Qualifier.
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 speed slam in the 8×8 series will follow. The show is 18+ (ID required) and the cover charge is $3.
Cantab Recap for Wednesday, January 29, 2014
I hope you folks have noticed that we really have the hang of 2014 here at the Boston Poetry Slam: totally baller features, all-star highly competitive slams, and open mics showcasing new work week after week. This Wednesday at the Cantab was no different, as we welcomed longtime regular and aspiring minister Sam Teitel to the stage. Sam graced us with one of his last two features before “retiring” temporarily to focus on school (tomorrow is his final show at Slam Free or Die in Manchester)… We feel confident he’ll be back, but it was still a little teary in the house as he took us on his roller coaster ride of sadness, sass, and sarcasm.
The night was capped off by the first slam in our speed slam series! Competing poets had three rounds with decreasing time limits in which to try to impress the judges. The last poets standing for the one-minute round were Bobby Crawford and Chloé Cunha. Bobby’s surreal tribute to James Tate took second seat to Chloe’s auto-treerotica sonnet, giving Chloé the first win of the season.
Next Wednesday: we return with the fabulous Porsha O, Lizard Lounge star and two-time Women of the World Poetry Slam finalist! We’ll also have another speed slam, so dust off (or get writing) your 2- and 1-minute poems.
Cantab Feature for Wednesday, January 29, 2014: Sam Teitel
Poet and Masters of Divinity candidate Sam Teitel. Photo by Christopher Clauss.
Sam Teitel is a poet and performer based out of New England. His two poetry collections, Survive Survive Survive and The Assassin and the Giant Man are available from Bicycle Comics and on Amazon. He has participated in six National Poetry Slams and two National Underground Poetry Invitational Championships. He has been a featured performer at many theaters, bars, cafes, lecture halls, libraries and basements across the country. He has been a part of the No More Ribcage and Two Sensitive Guys ensemble tours and served as co-slam master for The Slam Free Or Die series in New Hampshire from 2010 to 2012. He is currently perusing a Masters of Divinity at Andover Newton Theological School.
Note that tonight’s open poetry slam is a speed slam 3-, 2-, and 1-minute rounds. Slam winners qualify for the 2014 World Qualifier.
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 speed slam in the 8×8 series will follow. The show is 18+ (ID required) and the cover charge is $3.
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