Moonlighting: A Queer Open Mic and Reading Series on Thursday, September 5, 2013, featuring Adam Stone

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

Local favorite Adam Stone.

Local favorite Adam Stone.

This month we are thrilled to announce a feature reading from local favorite Adam Stone! Come join us for another exciting open mic in what’s coming to be known as our always surprising, inviting, and sex-positive series.

A little more about Adam, for the uninitiated:

Adam Stone has been involved in slam since he misread an academic schedule in 1998 and wandered into a poetry club by mistake. The club took a field trip to The Prodigal Sun in Hyannis, Mass. to watch a poetry slam. While not immediately hooked, it wasn’t long before he saw a Boston poet named Jack McCarthy, and decided he should go to Boston to check out the Boston Poetry Slam at the Cantab Lounge.

Since then, Adam has represented venues at the National Poetry Slam twelve times, most recently Lowell, Mass. in 2013. He was twice selected to represent the Lizard Lounge at the Individual World Poetry Slam, served as Cape Cod’s Spoken Word Poet Laureate from 2000-2005, and has won the Boston Poetry Slam’s Champion of Champions slam more times than anyone else since the inception of the series in 1993. He holds the venue title of Dirty Head-to-Head Haiku Champion, acquired on Erotic Poetry Night in 2012.

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 Recap for Wednesday, September 4

It’s back to school time at the Cantab, folks! By which we mean we stayed out late at a bar on a Wednesday night just like we do every other week of the year… Except this time we got schooled by Jeremy Radin, West Coast actor, poet, and Write Bloody author of Slow Dance with Sasquatch. Wow! You’d think our local poets would be scared to slam after that feature, but nope: eight hard-working folks fought it out to qualify for the 2014 team qualifiers in a wicked hot slam. The final pairing came down to a New Hampshire/New Jersey matchup between Mckendy Fils-Aimé and Meaghan Ford; Meaghan came out on top with the ten bucks her name in lights (well, up on this website, anyway). Congratulations, Meaghan!

Can’t get enough poetry this week? Good thing, because we have THREE shows for you in the next six days:

Come get educated. We’ll see you there!

Tips from the Bar: Perfect Little Daffodils

Write from the perspective of someone who wants to squash a revolution.

Cantab Feature for Wednesday, September 4: Jeremy Radin

Jeremy Radin: photograph taken at the old zoo location in Griffith Park.

Jeremy Radin: photograph taken at the old zoo location in Griffith Park.

Jeremy Radin is a poet and actor and eater of fancy cheeseburgers. He was born and raised in California’s San Fernando Valley, where he began performing in musicals at thirteen because he had a lot of energy and Ritalin wasn’t working. Since then, you may have seen him on It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, CSI, and many others. As a performance poet, he’s shared the stage with such dynamic talents as Derrick Brown and Mindy Nettifee (as co-host of The Lightbulb Mouth Radio Hour), Anis Mojgani, Beau Sia, Mike Mcgee, Jon Sands, and Amber Tamblyn.

It’s at the crossroads of these two art forms that he has crafted his unique style of performance. Raw, visceral, and experiential, blending honesty and surprising humor, his live readings charge crowds, change rooms, and help people discover a love of poetry they didn’t know was within them. His writing is starkly revealing, tackling personal issues such as loneliness, difficulties with food and body image, family, and being put on medication as a child, all handled with wondrous imagination, wit, and accessibility.

He’s performed poetry at venues throughout the United States and Canada for groups such as Write Bloody Publishing, PEN USA, The Verses Festival, etc. His first book, Slow Dance with Sasquatch (2012), is available from Write Bloody Publishing. He’s also taught poetry workshops at eating disorder treatment centers, group homes, and schools all around Los Angeles.

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 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 28

After this year’s Summer of Slam, some of us might have thought we weren’t ready for more big-performance poems quite yet… But Justin Lamb proved any non-believers one hundred percent wrong with an awesomely sincere, entertaining, and pun-filled journey through a cross-up of Boston University and Slam New Orleans sound. After Justin rocked the stage, a jam-packed slam ended up with a super-serious final pairing between Mill City champ Nathan Comstock and SlamCenter star Marshall Gillson. After serving up a poem dedicated to Nathan, Marshall walked away ten dollars richer and ready to try out for the 2014 Boston Poetry Slam team.

Next week: you think you know, but you don’t even know… Actor and Write Bloody poet Jeremy Radin will be in town with his unique, quirky, and impeccably performed work. We’ll also continue with the third slam in this season’s 8×8 series.

Tips from the Bar: Selling Rain

Market a product to your audience that is already free, ubiquitous, and readily available.

Cantab Feature for Wednesday, August 28: Justin Lamb

NPS 2013 champion Justin Lamb. Photo by Robert Warren.

NPS 2013 champion Justin Lamb. Photo by Robert Warren.

“There is nothing quite like the manic, whacked out, no holds barred poetry of Justin Lamb.” – Wess “Mongo” Jolley, poet and host of the Indiefeed Performance Poetry Podcast

Justin Lamb is an educator, writer and a 2013 National Poetry Slam champion. A three-time member of Team Slam New Orleans (Team SNO), he won the 2012 Slam New Orleans Grand Slam as an individual competitor. In 2013, Justin released a live performance poetry album titled However It Turns Out Is Perfect. As an undergraduate at Boston University, Justin cofounded “Speak for Yourself,” Boston University’s spoken word poetry group. Also, he likes treats. He may be reached through his website, justinpoet.com.

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 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 21

What a great Wednesday, Cantab: it was so sweet to have big-stage Sara Brickman fill our small-stage open date this past week; Sara brought us her Nationals-ready performance poems and also some engaging page work as well… And sold out of the three (3) chapbooks she had left. Miss your chance to get one? You can always get to her at her WordPress blog to order a copy.

After Sara’s feature, eight folks still hungry for slam faced off for a major $10 prize: in a final-pairing all-collegiate deathmatch, Christopher Lee-Rodriguez ultimately fell to the still-up-and-coming Bobby Crawford. Bobby qualifies for the 2014 BPS team selection slams and also kicks off the new 8×8 Champion of Champions series.

Next week: we’re back with Justin Lamb, BU grad fresh off his championship with Slam New Orleans at the 2013 National Poetry Slam! We’ll also continue our 8×8 series with another open slam. See you there!

Tips from the Bar: That’s Not My Sign

Your favorite poem and your least favorite poem meet in a bar. What’s the conversation?

Cantab Feature for August 21, 2013: Sara Brickman (was: Charley Pope)

SCHEDULE CHANGE: Sara Brickman will replace Charley Pope as this week’s feature.

Sarah Brickman showcasing on the 2013 National Poetry Slam Finals stage. Photo by Arthur Pollock of the Boston Herald.

Sarah Brickman showcasing on the 2013 National Poetry Slam Finals stage. Photo by Arthur Pollock of the Boston Herald.

Sara Brickman is an author, performance artist, and the 2011 Seattle Women of the World Poetry Slam Champion. She appeared on the 2013 National Poetry Slam finals stage performing her poem, “Letter from the Water at Guantanamo Bay,” which was selected for the Golden Poem Showcase.

Sara’s booklength manuscript of poems, “Houdini’s Daughter,” has been a three-time finalist in Write Bloody Publishing’s annual manuscript competition. She performs nationwide and was showcased at the 2010 Individual World Poetry Slam Finals. She has been a featured artist at the Bumbershoot Music Festival, Le Poussion Rouge, and countless readings and poetry slams across North America. A member of the 2011, 2012, and 2013 Seattle Poetry Slam teams and three time finalist at the Seattle Grand Slam, Sara works at the literary arts center Richard Hugo House, and has taught poetry, performance, and creative non-fiction at the Bent Writing Insititute, Richard Hugo House, and elsewhere. In 2010 she founded a multimedia performance series in her living room called the Hootenanny, which has showcased nationally known artists such as Mighty Mike Mcgee, Led To Sea, Jon Sands, Karen Finneyfrock, and more. Her work has been published in literary journals such as Bestiary Magazine and Hoarse. She would really enjoy doing the robot with you.

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 slam in the 8×8 series will follow. The show is 18+ (ID required) and the cover charge is $3.


Charley Pope is a writer and performer currently living in Seattle, WA. He graduated from Hampshire College in 2011, despite having spent four years avoiding his homework by writing poetry and hanging out at the Cantab Lounge. He now spends the majority of his time making movies and writing short fiction about outer space. A true astronomy geek, Charley is currently producing an animated film entitled “A Stupid Story About the Moon,” which he hopes to have available at his show this August.

Charley was not able to travel east for his feature on this date, but he’s promised to rebook with us soon.