Cantab Recap For Wednesday, April 12th, 2023

What an incredible Wednesday we had at the Cantab! The fresh spring weather encouraged our open mic poets to absolutely bloom all night long. It was an emotional roller coaster of a night, but one I would definitely wait in line for again and again! Highlights include not knowing when Eddy Martinez’s first poem ended and second poem began, but knowing one was about farts, and Danny Riordan starting their piece by miming throwing a tampon wrapper into the trash. Danny, by the way, is running the Boston Marathon today in the first ever non-binary division!

The 📒Shenanigans😳 of the week included first-timer and waitlister Nik going up to the mic just to say hi, getting handed an Emma Lazurus poem from TJ, and then fearlessly performing it in front of everyone with no preparation. What a way to make an entrance! 

This week’s ✏️Line of the Wednesday ✏️ is from our all-bangers-all-the-time poet, Ryan Phung: “it must be the human ego that thinks the universe sees us as an object of desire. i guess that makes me the alien.”

Patrick Roche was our feature, and after leading us all on a breathing exercise, performed a generous, beautiful, astounding set. He performed new pieces, famous pieces, and imparted wisdom throughout. He even performed an entire pieces as Stitch and yes I was in tears. 

Next week: join us for our fabulous feature, EL Evelyn (she/he/they). EL is a poet, activist and social worker from New Jersey who is currently living and loving in Albany NY. EL was the president of Phenomenal Voices, a performance art group at UAlbany in charge of two showcases per year, and is now the Community Engagement chair for the alumni performing arts group PV What’s Next. They were on the Capital Region slam poetry team, Capcity Slam, where they traveled around the country performing poetry in both features and competitions. They currently co-host Cafe Euphoria’s open mic and slam. Bring your best spring fever energy and come thru!

P.S. I’d like to use this space to pay some respect to Sam Bucci, a beloved regular, who lost her father last weekend. He was a great man, father, and grandfather and will be dearly missed. We love you Sam!

– Amy ✈️

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All shows take place at the Cantab Lounge, 738 Massachusetts Ave. in Cambridge, with one flight of stairs to access the basement room (click for directions and accessibility information). The show is $4 / 21+ (ID/Proof of Vaccination required) and doors for the show open at 7:15. The open mic begins at 8:00 PM and the feature begins at approximately 10:00 PM.