Encyclopedia Show: Somerville for Monday, November 18 — S2V3: THE ZODIAC

The Encyclopedia Show: Somerville -- Monday, November 18: THE ZODIAC (artwork by Melissa Newman-Evans)

Monday, November 18
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 slightly educational 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 this month’s show will be THE ZODIAC! Presenting all-original guest performances from local artists, plus work from our recurring cast members:

  • Aimee Rose Ranger and Kevin Spak provide deft and earnest CO-HOSTING
  • The Michael J. Epstein Memorial Library offers MUSICAL SUPPORT
  • Wes Hazard dispenses QUESTIONABLE EXPERTISE with panache and aplomb
  • and Intern Steve Subrizi probably gets his job back.

Live Fact Checking is reluctantly provided by Jack van Sly from the Institute of Human Knowledge and Hygiene. The personal assistant to Mr. van Sly is Jade Sylvan.

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.

Cantab Recap for Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Oh, you just knew it was going to be crazy in the Cantab on the first near-winter night of the year. The house was packed early with folks hoping to get a good seat for the feature… Which meant the open mic was packed with hard-working, sweet-talking folks, including a couple of wonderfully performed covers, a surprise group piece, and world-traveler David Lee Morgan, a London poet who’ll be hitting up our Encyclopedia Show this coming Monday. But all that was of course just a warm-up for the unparalleled Janae Johnson; Janae brought us a perfectly timed and flawlessly performed set, bringing us a selection of the powerful and thoughtful work that made her the cross-town Lizard Queen. We also got a taste of some brand-new work(!) and even a group piece with her Lizard Lounge teammate, Porsha Olayiwola: don’t forget that everyone of age is welcome to join in the fun at the Lizard’s slam every Sunday. Our own slam followed Janae on this night and featured some hot competition, with Nora Meiners defeating Allison Truj in the final round.

So you’ve pretty much planned out your next week, right? On Sunday you can head to the Lizard Lounge for a visit (the feature is one of our favorite open mic folks, Tom Daley, by the way). Then on Monday you can pop over to the Davis Square Theatre at 7pm when doors open for the Encyclopedia Show: Somerville, a variety show that brings a selection of artists to compose on a monthly theme: this month’s topic is THE ZODIAC, and our performances will include music by Steve Subrizi, comedy by Wes Hazard, a short film by Gary Hoare, and poetry from Austin James Bay and Princess Chan!

If you can even think past those two events, folks, then you’ll also have your eye on next Wednesday’s feature at the Cantab: that’ll be Craig Nelson, 2001 Boston Poetry Slam Team member and Northampton Poetry curator. And, yes, we’ll be continuing our slam series with another open competition in the 8×8 series. See you there!

Tips from the Bar: Rumors of the Alpacalypse Have Been Greatly Exaggerated

You have custody of a llama for twenty-four hours. What do you do?

Cantab Feature for Wednesday, November 13: Janae Johnson

Janae Johnson performs at the Emerson Poetry Project. Photo by Evan Walsh of the Berkeley Beacon.

Janae Johnson performs at the Emerson Poetry Project. Photo by Evan Walsh of the Berkeley Beacon.

Janae Johnson is a spoken word performance artist originally from the “mean and preppy suburbs” of Sacramento, California. Shortly after moving to Boston in 2010, she attended her first poetry slam at Lizard Lounge and immediately became addicted to the spoken word scene. As a former collegiate basketball player at Virginia State University, Janae uses poetry slams to fuel her competitive edge; and uses writing to become a more creative, loving, conscious and well-rounded human being.

A two-time slam team member for the Lizard Lounge, she was part of the powerhouse top-20 team from this year’s National Poetry Slam. She is the reigning “Lizard Queen” at the eponymous Lounge (the venue’s top slam title) and she also acts as coach and advisor for the Simmons College Slam Team.

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, November 6, 2013

University of Hell in the house! This past Wednesday, we were proud to welcome National Poetry Slam finalist and outgoing Portland, Oregon SlamMaster Eirean Bradley. A local favorite at this year’s National Poetry Slam, Eirean drew out some of our favorite open mic poets for a really grand night of solid writing, including a spotlight from his pressmate, Leah Noble Davidson. Eirean himself was powerful, polished, touching and sassy; if you missed a chance to buy books from either of them, you can check out the i in team and Poetic Scientifica here.

After the feature, we entered a wild poetry slam, packed with talent! Sure, maybe it’s writing season– or maybe it’s because we’re down to the last eight slams to qualify for 2014 team tryouts. Either way, these poets were serious; the final round came down to a match between open-mic-regular Marisa Glynn, who put up a remarkable and strong showing for her first time slamming, and… Excuse us, but was next week’s feature in the 8-spot? It was! Janae Johnson took the win and the ten dollars.

Next week: if you missed the fun surprise of last week’s slam, you can still catch the winner for a full set. California transplant, Lizard Lounge franchise player, and seriously, folks, kind of a jock; the incomparable Janae Johnson will be our feature this week, plus another open poetry slam.

Tips from the Bar: Get Out! Get Out! Get Out!

Write a dirge/eulogy/Dear John/get-out-of-my-house letter to 2013.

Moonlighting: A Queer Open Mic and Reading Series on Thursday, November 7, 2013

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

Caroline Harvey, performer, teacher, and poet.

Caroline Harvey, performer, teacher, and poet.

The featured reader for November 7 is Caroline Harvey!

Poet, educator, and activist Caroline Harvey performs and teaches internationally. Caroline was a member and coach of multiple award-winning poetry slam teams, and was featured on Season Five of HBO’s Def Poetry. She has shared stages with Mary Lambert, Melissa Ferrick, Livingston Taylor, Alicia Keys, and Yasiin Bey (Mos Def), among others. She was a Pushcart Prize nominee in 2012, and a nominee for Best New Poets in 2013.

Caroline was featured recently at the US Embassy in Serbia where she performed original work and led workshops about free speech for the first generation of youth to grow up post-Milosevic. Her writing has been published in national and academic literary journals, including the National Poetry Slam Anthology High Desert Voices, Gertrude Press, Radius, The Legendary, and The Lowestoft Chronicle. Her most recent collection, bird wing and bone marrow, is receiving international acclaim.

Her poetry is equal parts folk & punk, sacred & irreverent, and it tracks her belief that every moment is an extraordinary opportunity for healing, beauty, and illumination. When not touring, Caroline lives in Boston and is an Assistant Professor at Berklee College of Music.

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, November 6: Eirean Bradley

Eirean Bradley, Denver transplant and outgoing Portland (Oregon) SlamMaster.

Eirean Bradley, Denver transplant and outgoing Portland (Oregon) SlamMaster.

Eirean Bradley is an eight-time National Poetry Slam competitor who believes that poetry should be done like everything else: loudly and unapologetically! As such, he has performed his poetry in all of the lower forty-eight states and initiated the famous crowd-response head-to-head poetry slams in Portland, Oregon. He is the author of two full length books of poetry: the I in team and the little big book of go kill yourself on University of Hell Press.

University of Hell poet Leah Noble Davidson. Photo by Phillip Stewart.

University of Hell poet Leah Noble Davidson. Photo by Phillip Stewart.

Tonight’s show will also feature a spotlight open mic appearance from another Eirean’s pressmate, Leah Noble Davidson. Trained originally as a storyteller, Leah has been writing and performing poetry for well over a decade. Her debut book, Poetic Scientifica is “at once urgent and gorgeous and brutal.”

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, October 30

This past Wednesday, the whole Cantab– both floors– paid a sweet tribute to a heartily missed regular, the late Jack McCarthy. Upstairs, the blues jam took a back seat to the Red Sox’s first home-field World Series game 6 since 1918; downstairs, after a thoughtful open mic, four teams took the stage for a slam battle royale, armed only with a selection of Jack’s poems. Had Jack been there, we know he would have been checking in on both shows as politely and enthusiastically as possible.

The slam kicked off with a lengthy, snarky sacrifice from Sean Patrick Mulroy, covering Jack’s “Sour Grapes”, after which Mark Palos, SlamMaster of New Hampshire’s Slam Free or Die, led off the first round with “Song of the Open Mic” to represent Team Drop the Chalupa. Christopher Clauss of Team Nightmare on Mass Ave. followed with “Annals of Science,” a somewhat more risque poem with a performance tic that got the audience really giggling. After that, it’s hard to pick out just a few highlights in this all-all-star slam, but we can try: consider Kevin Spak slamming for Team I’ll Come Back as a Hawk, entering the home stretch of “Walk of Life” just as the sixth inning finished up upstairs; or Marshall Gillson (of the same team) laying down “Victory” as the band fired up “Sweet Caroline” upstairs, only to be followed by Caroline Harvey herself with a hopeful rendition of “Merton” for Team Drop the Chalupa; or Tom Slavin, the champion of it all, batting clean-up for Team Catholics & Car Thieves and bringing the slam home with a flawless performance of “Great Catches” to raucous applause both up and downstairs.

At the end of the night, the top slammers came from Team I’ll Come Back as a Hawk: the aforementioned Kevin Spak and Marshall Gillson, joined by newcomer Alison Truj and one of Jack’s most famous contemporaries, Brian Comiskey. A respectable almost-win goes to Team Nightmare on Mass Ave., captained by the famed Richard Cambridge and rounded out with Christopher Clauss, Cassandra Euphrat Weston, and Kemi Alabi. The Catholics & Car Thieves banded together to make third place with Sue Savoy, Kieran Collier, Mckendy Fils-Aimé, and Tom Slavin, and Team Drop the Chalupa earns the top pick in next year’s slam draft with a fourth place finish, certainly not due to any lack of heroics on the part of Sophia Holtz, Sam Teitel, Mark Palos, and Caroline Harvey.

Thanks so much to all our slammers who worked so hard to bring Jack’s work to life… Especially those who sacrificed their baseball-watching plans to make our historic show. We like to think Jack wasn’t there only because he was watching the game from his own easy chair.

Next week: we’re in for a wild ride with feature Eirean Bradley from Portland, Oregon! He’ll be joined by his tour partner and spotlight feature, Leah Noble Davidson, and we’ll close the night with an open poetry slam in the 8×8 series, the last series before we select our team for 2014. See you there!

Tips from the Bar: The Jack McCarthy Prompt

Listen up: write down your favorite lines from the open mic. Pick one that inspires and use it to prompt your own new poem. Don’t forget to credit the author!