If your poetry was a drinking game, what words, images, tropes, or other recurring themes would compel the players to drink?
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!
Cantab Feature for Wednesday, August 27, 2014: April Ranger (was: Imani Cezanne)
THIS SHOW REPRESENTS A SCHEDULE CHANGE. Imani Cezanne (bio below) has had to cancel her trip to New England. Filling in will be April Ranger visiting from New York City.
April Ranger performs on the upstairs stage at the Cantab Lounge in 2011. Photo by Marshall Goff.
April Ranger is a poet, playwright and performer. A three-time member of Boston Cantab’s National Poetry Slam team, April has toured extensively across the Unites States. Her work has appeared in several publications, including Muzzle Magazine, apt, and the anthology Courage: Daring Poems for Gutsy Girls (Write Bloody Publishing, 2014.) April directed the premiere of her short play, Civilized Rituals, for the 2013 Dorchester Fringe Festival. She grew up in Maine and currently lives in Brooklyn, New York.
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.
Biography of the canceled feature:
Imani Cezanne, 2014 Women of the World Poetry Slam runner-up. Photo by Holly Haines.
Born and raised in San Diego, Imani Cezanne is a passionate poet, workshop facilitator, community organizer and slam coach. She just recently returned home from taking second place at the Women of the World Poetry Slam in Austin. In the past four years Imani has been on four National Poetry Slam teams (San Diego, Oakland and Hollywood’s Da Poetry Lounge), three of which placed in the top six at the National Poetry Slam. Last season, along with two of her team members, she was invited to perform on the TV One network’s Verses and Flow, a cable television show dedicated to showcasing performance poets from around the country– all while obtaining a bachelor’s degree in Africana Studies from San Francisco State University. The Love. Always. tour took her on a 35-show nationwide tour through New York, Colorado, California and more, and now she’s swinging back around to take a few more stops in New England for our listening pleasure.
Cantab Recap for Wednesday, August 20, 2014
As sad as we were here at the Cantab to hear that our original feature for this night had to cancel, we are even super sadder to recap that we spent the night waving goodbye to Alex Ehrhardt and Melissa Newman-Evans, both of whom took the feature slot that night to honor leaving the Cantab for parts not here. Alex opened up with a dense set of introspective, extropsective, and speculative work, punctuated by his signature no-banter banter; a three-year veteran of the open mic, Alex leaves us behind to return to his roots in upstate new York. The headlining feature was Melissa, whose many years of service behind the bar, on the open mic stage, and as a two-time National Poetry Slam semi-finalist for the Boston Poetry Slam all culminated in a solidly sweet and sad set, highlighted by her custom-mixed Bitter Farewell, available for one bitter, bitter night only. Melissa departs us for Denver, Colorado, where she joins partner Kevin Spak in their new life, no doubt returning to meet us at NPS on the enemy side of the bout. Harumph!
As though to spite both the departing poets, the slam was wicked great, full of wonderfulness and weirdness from eight hard-working performers, hosted by our by-the-book latest working girl, Tom Slavin. The final pairing came down to relative newcomer Alex Hicks against longtime Northbeaster Mckendy Fils-Aimé: Mckendy edged out the win by a margin, taking ownership of the ten dollars and the first spot in the World Qualifiers for 2015.
Next week: SCHEDULE CHANGE (again!). Once again, our scheduled poet had to cancel her trip to New England for family obligations. However, we couldn’t stand to say goodbye to anyone else… So we’ve booked much-missed one-time regular and host April Ranger, who’ll hop a train from NYC just to fill the slot. Excellent!
Boston Poetry Slam Online