Talk about a work of fiction and completely miss the point. For instance: schoolteacher Mr. White and his feisty student Jesse team up to open a business together. Madcap hijinx ensue!
Moonlighting: A Queer Open Mic and Reading Series on Thursday, October 3, 2013 Featuring Tommy Pico
This reading is part of our monthly LGBTQ series, Moonlighting. Click here for more information about this recurring show.
Tommy “Teebs” Pico, Editor in Chief of birdsong mag.
Tommy “Teebs” Pico is the driving force behind birdsong, an antiracist/queer-positive collective, small press, and zine that publishes art and writing. His work has appeared in [PANK], BOMB, and THEthe Poetry Blog. Originally from the Viejas Indian reservation of the Kumeyaay nation, he now lives and loves in Brooklyn. Visit him at heyteebs.tumblr.com.
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, October 2: Ed Mabrey
This night is an installment in the Boston Poetry Slam’s “Sober October,” a month-long series of shows and readers selected to celebrate the sober and recovering artists in our scene.
Ed Mabrey, two-time IWPS champion.
Ed Mabrey is a two-time Individual World Poetry Slam Champion (2007/2012 and was the first person of color to win the title), 2012 Poetry Slam Artist of the Year (National Poetry Awards), 4-time National Poetry Slam Finalist, an Emmy nominated actor, National Best Selling poetry anthology contributor (Spoke Word Revolution Redux/Sourcebooks), motivational speaker, poet, and amateur comedian. He has served as Host/Master of Ceremony for over 200 events in the past 4 years and over 600 events in the past 8 years. Ed tours internationally and has conducted performances and workshops at over 70 colleges and universities, and most recently showcased his poem “Firework” on the 2013 National Poetry Slam Finals stage.
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, September 25
It’s a special treat when we can get a busy working mom to come all the way from New York City to feature for us on a Wednesday night… So it’s a double-special red-letter day when we get TWO of them at once! Nuyorican all-stars Falu and Mahogany L. Browne, pillars of the Nuyorican poetry scene, brought us an incredible extended double-feature, packed full of great personal and persona work; if you don’t think you learned something, check in with the person you sat next to… Or pick up work from either of them (Mo’s Swap or Falu’s Ten Things I Want to Say to a Black Man, for instance) over at the Penmanship Books website.
After the ladies rocked the stage, eight slammers took a stab at following their show: two first-timers, two folks from north of the border, and a smattering of regulars made up the motley pool. At the end of the the night, Manchester regular Mckendy Fils-Aimé pulled out a 0.1 win over local Emersonian Kieran Collier for the ten dollar prize.
Next week: Sober October kicks off with a bang! Ed Mabrey may have to head to the 2013 Individual World Poetry Slam on October 3, but we get him on the last day as the 2012 IWPS champ! This perennial national finalist and recent Katy-Perry-tribute-performer (see: NPS 2013 Finals at Berklee back in August) will grace our stage before he takes off for Spokane the next morning. Naturally, we’ll honor his visit with an 8×8 slam to qualify for the 2014 NPS team.
Cantab Feature for Wednesday, September 25: Mahogany L. Browne and Falu
NYC poet Jennifer Falu, BPS co-feature.
Mahogany L. Browne, NYC poet and curator.
Mahogany L. Browne and Jennifer Falu are packing a suitcase for Cambridge together! These incredibly strong women and poets do not play: Mo curates the Nuyorican (that’s the winningest slam venue in history, you know), co-produces off Broadway, runs and publishes on Penmanship Books and PoetCD.com, and is a Cave Canem Fellow; Falu placed third at the Women of the World Poetry Slam in March, hit Finals stage with the Nuyo team back in 2009, and opens up for R&B sensations in her spare time.
Both these powerhouses work as youth mentors and workshop leaders all over NYC. Not to be missed.
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, September 18, 2013
Cantabbers, thanks to you all, it’s official: we have raised 100% of the funds required to ship and house Bobby Crawford for the 2013 Individual World Poetry Slam in Spokane, Washington! Thanks to your generous attendance at this spring’s selection slams, plus last night’s send-off feature, we even had enough to get a round-trip ticket to bring him home at the end of the tournament. We are profoundly grateful to everyone who helped us reach our goal for Bobby; if you are a fan and would like to make an additional contribution, we encourage you to pick up Bobby’s chapbook at the next show.
…That is, if you can even handle the next show after having your poetry bones rattled this hard this past week! We only get to send one poet to IWPS all year, so the traditional send-off is a demanding one-hour feature slot for the big winner. Bobby rose to the challenge with ease and presented a fabulous three-act feature, performing a range of slam hits and brand-new work, as well as making room for a favorite group piece and a memorable cover of the late and great David Blair. We are exceptionally proud to have this talented poet represent us in international competition this year.
Next week: do you think you can handle Mo and Falu? You can’t handle Mo and Falu! –Which is exactly why you should come get all your facial features blown back by the incredible NYC double-feature from Mahogany L. Browne and Jennifer Falu next week. Assuming these amazing women don’t trigger a total poetic apocalypse before midnight, we’ll also be holding our next open poetry slam in the 8×8 series. Be there or regret your life choices!
Cantab Feature for Wednesday, September 18: Bobby Crawford
Bobby Crawford in the 2012 World Qualifiers. Photo by Marshall Goff.
Bobby Crawford is the “one-man-boy-band” of Emerson College. He discovered the Boston Poetry Slam at the Cantab Lounge in his freshman year (via Emerson’s slam scene, the Emerson Poetry Project) and has been an avid open mic reader and slammer at the Boston Poetry Slam ever since.
Bobby competed on three consecutive College Unions Poetry Slam Invitational teams representing Emerson (2011-2013). He also served as a curator of the Emerson Poetry Project from 2012-2013, where he was instrumental in helping the EPP win Emerson’s Student Organization of the Year. Bobby will compete at the 2013 National Poetry Slam with the Mill City Slam team from Lowell, Mass. He is the winner of the 2013 Boston Poetry Slam World Qualifier and will represent the Boston Poetry Slam at the 2013 Individual World Poetry Slam in Spokane, Wash.
A competitor and showman by instinct, Bobby is a retired nationally-ranked figure skater and a former chess-club kid. He plays harmonica and wears a leather jacket. He loves late night food and hanging out with other writers/performers. You can connect with him via Facebook.
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. Due to extended feature time, there will be no open slam. The show is 18+ (ID required) and the cover charge is $3.
Cantab Recap for Wednesday, September 11, 2013
A truly lovely time was had by all this past Wednesday at Emily O’Neill‘s long-awaited feature. This seven-year veteran of the Cantab broke our hearts, delighted us, then broke our hearts again with a series of her published and yet-to-be-published work. This lady is now officially booking for fall (and selling her brand-new books and CDs), so drop her a line if you have a gig available for her.
After Emily laid down the template of sound for the ladies in the room, the slam saw an all-lady finals as well: Austin Hendricks, first-time Cantab slammer, fell to Melissa Newman-Evans, who cements her spot in the 2014 team selection slams.
Next week: we’re back with kind-of-a-big-deal Bobby Crawford, your Individual World Poetry Slam representative from the Boston Poetry Slam! There’s no poetry slam tonight since Bobby will be doing an extended set; cover charge is $5 to help raise funds for Bobby’s trip to IWPS in Spokane this October.
Boston Poetry Slam Online