Cantab Feature for Wednesday, December 5: Melissa Newman-Evans

Melissa Newman-Evans performs at the Attleboro Arts Museum. Photo by Marshall Goff.

Melissa Newman-Evans performs at the Attleboro Arts Museum. Photo by Marshall Goff.

Melissa Newman-Evans has been the waitress and a regular reader at the Boston Poetry Slam since 2007, and has been designing chapbooks for individuals in the community for even longer. Currently, she provides graphic design for the Boston Poetry Slam, the Encyclopedia Show: Somerville, Bicycle Comics poetry books, and the upcoming 2013 National Poetry Slam in Boston. She was a member of the 2012 Boston Poetry Slam Team, and has headlined poetry shows around the northeast. If you wanted a tonic and gin, she thinks you should have ordered it that way.

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, November 28, 2012

It was an excellent night on the Cantab open mic this week as writing audience turned out in droves to see local favorite Nicole Terez Dutton. Slam whistles and sounds of approval provided a gentle bassline to Nicole’s musical, subdued reading style of her complex work. If you missed it, you’ll want to catch up with Nicole for sure to get a copy of her new book, If One of Us Should Fall.

The slam was another jam-packed one as we count down the days to selecting the 2013 Boston Poetry Slam Team. This week, Emerson College up-and-comer Keiran Collier fell to returning regular Sean Patrick Mulroy, who takes the five-spot in the current 8×8 series as well as the ten-spot (worth two PBRs plus tip)!

Next week, we’ll be back with a feature from 2012 slam team member and year-round bartender Melissa Newman-Evans. She’s been promising us a special show, so don’t miss your chance to see this one-of-a-kind set! We’ll close the night with another open poetry slam.

Tips from the Bar: The Billy Tuggle Prompt

You have forty-five minutes until you are born.

Cantab Feature for Wednesday, November 28: Nicole Terez Dutton

Local poet Nicole Terez Dutton.

Local poet Nicole Terez Dutton.

Nicole Terez Dutton’s work has appeared in Callaloo, Ploughshares, 32 Poems, Indiana Review, and Salt Hill Journal. Nicole earned an MFA from Brown University and has received fellowships from the Fine Arts Work Center, Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, Cave Canem and Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. She is the winner of the 2011 Cave Canem Poetry Prize for If One Of Us Should Fall. Nicole’s latest book is locally available at Brookline Booksmith, The Grolier, Harvard Bookstore and Barnes and Noble, and online at Amazon and Powell’s. She can be contacted through her personal website.

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, November 21

Some folks might choose to spend the night before the holiday with their family: instead, we decided to have a Wednesday before Thanksgiving with a sarcastic, booze-slinging, intellectual who loves us so much he just can’t show it. What? It was a perfect evening with bartender Adam Stone, who offered a stingingly good selection of new work, plus some very strong drinks for those interested and able to imbibe. The slam featured newcomers and old friends alike, with Bobby Crawford taking top honors in his continued quest for the Champion of Champions title.

Next Wednesday: local poetic sensation Nicole Terez Dutton offers up work from her new book, If One of Us Should Fall, read as beautifully as you’d expect. We’re closing in on the end of qualifications for slam team selection, so expect hot competition in the open 8×8 poetry slam.

Tips from the Bar: Seven Percent of What?

In honor of Adam Stone’s feature this week, Sue Savoy presented a prose poem about a retail situation that built from the mundane to the totally absurd. What everyday story could you tell about your life that takes on epic proportions when brought to the stage?

Cantab Feature for Wednesday, November 21: Adam Stone

Bartender-feature Adam Stone. Photo by Marshall Goff.

Bartender-feature Adam Stone. Photo by Marshall Goff.

Adam Stone is an eleven-time competitor at the National Poetry Slam, two-time performer at the Individual World Poetry Slam, and the local Dirty Haiku Champion for 2012. A prolific writer and consummate performer, Adam has provided a weekly writing prompt at the Boston Poetry Slam since 2010, and coordinated a related workshop at the 2011 National Poetry Slam. He is the founder and leader of the Friday Night Sometimes Writing But Mostly Drinking Group, and the sole editor of the Boston Poetry Slam’s twentieth anniversary anthology.

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, November 14

The heat was on in the Cantab this past Wednesday, folks! Literally (since it was the coldest Wednesday of the year so far) but also figuratively, of course… Chris August lit up the stage with his brilliant personality and powerful storytelling, showing just how he took the championship at the Individual World Poetry Slam back in 2011. Official photographer Rich Beaubien was in the house to capture just a little of the action.

Chris August performs at the Cantab Lounge on November 14. Photo by Rich Beaubien.

Chris August performs at the Cantab Lounge on November 14. Photo by Rich Beaubien.

The slam was another hot one as well, wherein Brenna Kleiman took top honors over Dave McKenna and grabbed one of the last chances left to qualify for the 2013 Team Selection Slams.

Next week: bartender Adam Stone has spent the year putting together an amazing anthology for the Cantab Lounge, spanning over twenty years of poetry performed on our little stage. To that end, he’s been reading covers on the mic all year– and hoarding his own poetry, we suspect! Come see him break out some new-to-you work, plus finish the night with an open slam in the 8×8 series.

Tips from the Bar: Mediocre Genie

The Mediocre Genie will grant you any small wish you want… To a point. For instance, you may achieve the superpower of always catching the bus– as long as you run. What does the Mediocre Genie do for you?

The Encyclopedia Show: Somerville — S1V3: THE VISIBLE SPECTRUM OF COLORS

Encyclopedia Show: Somerville -- S1V3: The Visible Spectrum of COLORS!

Monday, November 19
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 new 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 the October show will be THE VISIBLE SPECTRUM OF COLORS! Presenting all-original guest performances from local artists TBD, plus work from our recurring cast members:

  • Aimee Rose Ranger and Kevin Spak provide deft and earnest CO-HOSTING
  • The Michael J. Epstein Library offers MUSICAL SUPPORT
  • Food writer and American hero Chef Bro encourages you to EAT WITH YOUR EYES
  • And Intern Steve Subrizi may or may not have returned from his October trip to the moon.

Live Fact Checking is reluctantly provided by Jack van Sly from the Institute of Human Knowledge and Hygiene.

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.