Cantab Feature for July 16, 2014: NorthBEAST Regional 4×4 with Urbana, Slam Free or Die, Port Veritas, and Lizard Lounge

Our summer of slam continues with our second of two 4×4 team slam matches: that’s Nationals-style slam, meaning four teams in four rounds, the ultimate balanced format for a poetry battle of strategy, emotion, and wits.

Our second summertime 4×4 will invite a total of four following Nationals-bound teams to face off:

This show will have a slightly shortened open mic and will sell out quickly, so we advise arriving for door time at 7:15 if you want to get in to catch the show. Cover charge is $5 to help raise funds for our team to travel to Nationals in Oakland this August!

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 slam begins at approximately 10:00. The show is 18+ (ID required) and the cover charge is $5.

Cantab Recap for Wednesday, July 9, 2014

When the SlamMaster’s away… Emily Carroll and Sean Patrick Mulroy will rule the house with an iron fist! These two dictators employed Nora Meiners and other stern-faced staffers last Wednesday night to make sure no one had even a moment of fun during our sweet and jam-packed open mic. The feature was the cool and nearly emotionless Nathan Comstock, who of course would never touch on the tender concepts of family, young love, or Schrodinger’s cat during his much-awaited feature. Lastly, the massive ten-dollar slam prize went home with the indubitably sour bartender Adam Stone, who defeated the bloodthirsty and ill-tempered Jess Riz for the win.

This Wednesday: everything is back to normal– except that it’s a hyooooge NorthBEAST Regional 4×4 in the feature slot! Teams from Port Veritas in Portland, Slam Free or Die in Manchester, Urbana from New York City, and the Lizard Lounge from down the street will face off in a winner-take-bragging rights practice bout for this August’s National Poetry Slam. Keep in mind that it’s a $5 cover that night to help raise money to send our own slam team to NPS.

Tips from the Bar: The Nathan Comstock Prompt

If your family were shape-shifters, what would they turn into?

Cantab Feature for Wednesday, July 9, 2014: Nathan Comstock

Nathan Comstock performs at the Wednesday open mic. Photo by Vasant Marur.

Nathan Comstock performs at the Wednesday open mic. Photo by Vasant Marur.

Nathan Comstock has been writing prose and poetry since high school, but he didn’t discover spoken word poetry until about three years ago when he moved to Boston from his home town of Indianapolis. From there, things spiraled out of control rather quickly. He is now a fixture at the Cantab’s open mic and has featured at such venues as Stone Soup, Rhythmic Cypher, and the Untitled Open Mic in Lowell, which he represented at the National Poetry Slam in 2013. Nathan offers up poetry that’s upbeat, funny, often geeky and often in formal verse, including what may well be the Cantab’s favorite-ever villanelles.

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 July 2, 2014

How is it always the middle of summer when Patricia Smith comes to visit us? Does the hot weather bring her to us or, as might be suggested, is she simply guaranteed to bring the heat? Our co-founder burned up the stage last night with an extended set (really, who stops Patricia from reading) that turned out tons of old-schoolers and a good number of the newly educated for the show. If you missed it… All we can say is that you’ll want to mark your calendar for whenever we can schedule the next one.

To help you ease down off Patricia’s remarkable feature, we are proud to offer two Cantab regulars at our shows this week: first will be Chloé Cunha at Moonlighting on Thursday, July 3, at her last poetry appearance before she leaves for Paris for the summer! Our usual Wednesday reading on July 9 will feature Nathan Comstock on the Cantab stage. Both poets are beloved locals with great rising histories at the show, so you can expect a warm crowd and a great mix of old and new hits. Stay cool and we’ll see you there!

Boston Poetry Slam Team Schedule Now Available!

Wondering where to catch the Boston Poetry Slam Team before they head to Nationals in Oakland? No problem! You can grab their schedule on the team’s bio page, or join the Facebook event if you’d like push notifications for all the details. See you around the NorthBEAST!

Moonlighting: A Queer Open Mic and Reading Series Featuring Chloé Cunha on Thursday, July 3, 2014

This reading is part of our monthly LGBTQ series, Moonlighting. Click here for more information about this recurring show.

The featured reader for July 3 is Chloé Cunha.

Hippy-dippy NYC-Boston poet Chloé Cunha.

Hippy-dippy NYC-Boston poet Chloé Cunha.

Chloé Cunha is an aspiring poet and screenwriter, even though both of those things can often seem contradictory. She first discovered a love for poetry at Bar 13’s louderARTS while living in NYC. Though she deeply misses the constant throb of panicked sirens and the bevy of skunky dives, she is happy to have since moved back to her native hometown of Cambridge, MA. By day she is a hippy-dippy first grade assistant teacher, and by night she is probably asleep at the bar.

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, July 2, 2014: Patricia Smith

Patricia Smith. (Photo by Rachel Eliza Griffiths.)

Patricia Smith. (Photo by Rachel Eliza Griffiths.)

Boston Poetry Slam co-founder, winningest slam competitor ever, and honest-to-metaphor firework Patricia Smith will return to the Cantab tonight for a special summer holiday feature.

Patricia Smith, lauded by critics as “a testament to the power of words to change lives,” is the author of six acclaimed poetry volumes. Shoulda Been Jimi Savannah was winner of the 2013 Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize from the Academy of American Poets, awarded to the best poetry book published in the United States the previous year. Patricia is also a 2008 National Book Award finalist, winner of the Hurston-Wright Legacy Award in Poetry, the Carl Sandburg Literary Award, the National Poetry Series award, the Patterson poetry award, two Pushcart prizes, and the Rattle poetry prize. She won the Robert L. Fish Memorial Award for short story writing and has had work selected to appear in both “Best American Poetry” and “Best American Essays.” In 2006, she was inducted into the International Literary Hall of Fame for Writers of African Descent, and she was the recipient of both McDowell and Yadoo fellowships. She is a 2014 Guggenheim Fellow.

This show will sell out: arrive BEFORE door time if you want to get in. (You want to get in.)

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 (there is no poetry slam tonight). The show is 18+ (ID required) and the cover charge is $3.

Cantab Recap for Wednesday, June 25, 2014

Well, that was awesome: Brendan Constantine came from the left coast to take over our stage last Wednesday and took us on a wild ride through the possibilities of language. What a great feature! The man has three books and tons of work to share, so even if you saw him this week, you might want to check out his website for his remaining local gigs, including Slam Free or Die and the Dirty Gerund.

The slam was packed with regulars looking ahead to qualify for 2015, all filled with high spirits and hijinks. After three rounds, a great set of poems, one blistering tie, and more than a few close calls, Bobby Crawford took home the win and the ten bucks.

Next week: we’re back with an extended Wednesday feature from Patricia Smith! And, yes, you know that’s going to sell out in a hot second, but we’ve fortunately scheduled a poetry double-header for you that week: you can also head across the river to catch Chloé Cunha at Moonlighting on Thursday.

Tips from the Bar: I Was Promised Flying Cars

Produce your poem using a timeline based on an object or trend that is as old as (or older than) you are.