He ain’t sorry, he’s Sam Teitel! We rang in September with poet mentor and NH co-SlamMaster Sam Teitel last night, amidst cheers from regulars and new folks alike. The slam was won by McKendy Fils-Aime, who edged out Steve Subrizi in the final round.
Next week: Bay Area sensation Kim Johnson brings us the work that made her top ten at IWPS two years ago. Plus, our semi-finalists from the 8×8 speed slam series will slam off to get a shot at the season championship!
It was a raucously fun night at the show this week, Cantabbers, and we can only hope you didn’t miss Regie Cabico, back for the first time in sixteen years and working the room like… Like… Well, probably like something hilariously obscene that we can’t repeat here. Good luck to the many folks graduating from our open mic to college in another city: remember that you’re welcome home any time. One of our craziest slams ever boiled down to one big winner, Antonia Lassar: thanks to everyone who stayed to judge and cheer on the poets.
Next week: regulars will know what we mean when we tell you that you won’t be sorry if you spend your Wednesday with Sam Teitel! We’ll also close out the night with the last open poetry slam in our summertime speed slam series.
CUPSI Warm-Up! In honor of our many NorthBEAST teams traveling to the College Union Poetry Slam Invitationals this April, we present a double-header of 4×4 team slams! Local college teams competing: Berklee College of Music, Brown University, Brandeis University, Emerson College, Clark University, Middlesex Community College, Boston University, and Hampshire College.
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.
Khary Jackson
Khary Jackson is a performance poet, playwright, dancer and musician. A Detroit native, he currently resides in the Twin Cities where he serves as a teaching artist and writer. He has written 12 full length plays, one of which (Water) was produced in 2009 at Ink and Pulp Theatre in Chicago. He has been a recipient of several grants, including the 2010 Artist Initiative Grant for poetry from the Minnesota State Arts Board, and the Many Voices Residency from the Playwrights’ Center, in 2005-06 and 2007-08. As a performance poet, he has enjoyed great success in
national competition, ranking nationally in 2007, 2008 and 2009, as well as winning the National Poetry Slam with the St Paul team in 2009 and 2010.
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.
Seattle poet Christa Bell.
Christa Bell is a writer, poet, spoken word artist, arts educator, and cultural activist from Seattle, Washington who received her BA in Creative Writing from San Francisco State University, has studied in Europe and lived in east Africa. She writes, performs and curates arts events throughout the Northwest, where she is also a competitive performance poet and founder of the Healing Is A Political Act (HIAPA) Creative Recovery Workshop Series.
She is the 2005 Grand Slam Poetry Champion for Seattle and she will lead the Seattle team at the National Poetry Slam in Albuquerque, New Mexico this August. She was also voted to represent the Northwest at the Individual World Poetry Slam (IWPS) in February, where she placed fifteenth in the world, and was a member of the 2004 Seattle Poetry Slam team as well. She has shared the stage with political and artistic luminaries such as Saul Williams, Angela Y. Davis, Mutabaruka, Imani Uzururi and asha bandele.
She is the author of two self-published chapbooks of prose and performance poetry entitled Revival and Arise My Beautiful One, Come With Me, both of which explore the inner lives of Black women as relates to romantic archetypes, sexual freedom and self-worship. She is also the creatrix and producer of a live spoken word poetry CD entitled Word Medicine: The Live Recorded Poetry of Christa Bell.
Her current projects include a memoir entitled 56:Memoir of a Black Girl’s Sexual Coming of Age and an as yet untitled novel that explores the psychic effects of post-traumatic stress disorder caused by the Middle Passage and Slavery as it relates to modern African-American Women, as well as founding the Northwest Black Arts Collective.
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.
Raphael Luckom
Raphael Luckom is a poet/writer/genial misanthrope living in Somerville. He graduated Emerson College in 2008 with a thesis collection of short stories titled “What Not To Do With a Suburban Childhood.” He was a member of the first Worcester Youth Slam Team. The pieces he is currently prepared to admit to writing are online at inferredno.blogspot.com. His recent accomplishments include replacing a social media addiction with an addiction to MIT’s OpenCourseWare, the continuance of his 24-year-long “being continuously alive” streak, and the successful assembly of an optimistic outlook that gets him out of bed 60% of the time without the assistance of weapons-grade bullshit. He works at an appraisal company and is a fan of facts, animals, and good informational graphics. His work has appeared in Gauge Magazine (Emerson) and the South Boston Literary Gazette.
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.
Jen Gigantino
Jen(nifer) G(igantino) is a writer, filmmaker and aspiring hypothetical former marina trench explorer from the San Francisco Bay Area. She has represented San Jose and Santa Cruz at the Individual World Poetry Slam and the National Poetry Slam, respectively, been published in venues ranging from literary journals to erotic magazines to websites about sobriety, and featured around the Western United States both alone and as one-half of the poetry duo The Pincushion Orchestra. She also comprises one half of the experimental horror film production duo No-Penis Productions, who were the winners of the 2008 Viscera Award for their film “The Date.” She has never been in the Navy.
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.
Phil Kaye (photo by Erik Maser)
Hailing from Southern California, Phil Kaye has been writing, performing and teaching Spoken Word Poetry since he was seventeen years old. Crowned “The Illest Collegiate Poet in the Northeast” by Brandeis University’s Poetry Grand Slam, Phil has performed around the country and shared the stage with such poetry legends as Anis Mojgani, Derrick Brown, and Amir Sulaiman. In 2010 alone, Phil not only attended, but was a semifinalist at both the National Poetry Slam and the College National Poetry Slam (CUPSI), as well as the top ranked poet of Brown University and Rhode Island, and will finish 2010 by representing Rhode Island at the Individual World Poetry Slam.
A published author, Phil’s work can regularly be found in CHAOS Magazine. Phil has been the keynote speaker and performer at MassSTAR, the Massachusetts Department of Education’s youth leadership conference, and is also the creator of “Beyond Color” – a Southern California lecture series that explores the deep roots of racism and marginalization in modern society. A performer, writer and teacher, Phil has had experience all over the nation, from performing in the famous Fitzgerald Theater to teaching weekly workshops to Maximum Security Inmates.
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.
Andy Locke
Andy Locke is a reporter, performance poet, and sound engineer from central New Hampshire currently pursuing a degree in Radio Journalism at Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts. He’s performed his poetry in seven states
all across the country, including with the Hampshire Slam Collective collegiate slam team in 2008 and 2010, and with the Hampshire County National Poetry Slam team in 2008 and 2009.
Most of his work revolves around his family, his anxiety, and Star Wars. If you like Andy, or his family, or his anxiety, or Star Wars, you should let him know so that you guys can be friends — just look him up on Facebook, Twitter, Livejournal, or Blogger.
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.
Is it hot in here, or is it just you? On this Wednesday closest to Valentine’s, we present our wildly popular annual Erotic Poetry Night. We’ll present the best (and worst) of the erotic (and neurotic) all night long; open mic readers are strongly encouraged to bring original erotic poems, poems about sex, or poems about naughtiness in general.
Don’t have anything sexy to read? Don’t worry! This year, we’re also planning our first-ever round of Erotic Poetry Night Bingo, featuring prizes and fun for audience and open mic readers. Poets, beware: hit too many clichés in your poem and you could be subject to a prize-winning bingo call!
Doors for the show open at 7:15. The erotic open mic begins at 8:00 and continues until we can’t take it any more! There is no poetry slam tonight. The show is 18+ (ID required) and the cover charge is $3.
Boston Poetry Slam Online