Cantab Recap For Wednesday, May 20, 2015

Another great night of slam at the Cantab, folks! We kicked off the night with a really solid open mic, followed by the excellent and up-and-coming Anthony Ragler from New York. Anthony brought us a slew of family poems, plus a little preview of what we might hear from him this year when he reps the Nuyorican at the National Poetry Slam.

The slam, of course, was the long-awaited Champion of Champions match, with Sean Patrick Mulroy defending his title against Sheldon Alexander, Chloé Cunha, Sophia Holtz, Sam Mercer, Nora Meiners, Kylie Noelle, and Bobby Crawford (Janae Johnson was on hand to heckle, of course). At the end of the speed-slam seven-poet slam, Chloé was the last poet standing, earning herself a season championship! She opted to let her cash prize ride in order to take a crack at dethroning Sean, but fell just short: Sean took the final round in a 3-2 nailbiter, retaining his title and earning the big $100.

Next week: our feature will start at 9:30, which means a slightly shorter open mic. Why? Because it’s our Venerable Doorman Ron Goba, of course, long-time doorman for the slam celebrating his birthday month with us. If you miss out on the open mic, though, don’t worry: we’ll be starting up another 8×8 series, which means eight slots in the open poetry slam at the end of the night.

Tips from the Bar: The Ken Arkind Prompt

Write a poem based on a common smell that you dislike.

Cantab Feature for Wednesday, May 20, 2015: Anthony Ragler and the Champion of Champions Speed Slam!

NPS 2014 Finalist Anthony Ragler. Photo by Philomena Haley.

NPS 2014 Finalist Anthony Ragler. Photo by Philomena Haley.

When he is not binge drinking cranberry juice and eating fruit snacks, Anthony Ragler is a 21-year old writer, performer, and father. Using poetry, music and step dance, Anthony aims to change lives and heal wounds. He is an English and Education Major at Mercy College.

Anthony is an artist known for using persona and body movement to attack social stigmas and overly-traditional forms of thinking. He was a member of the 2014 NYC Urbana Slam Team that placed second in the nation at the 2014 National Poetry Slam in Oakland, Calif., as well as the 2013 Urban Word Slam Team that placed third internationally at the Brave New Voices Festival. He is the Inspired Word 2014 Grand Slam Champion and the Lincoln Center’s first ever youth Grand Slam Champion. Anthony has performed at numerous venues, including the United Nations, Nuyorican Poets Cafe, Symphony Space, Lincoln Center, The Apollo Theatre and the Audubon Ballroom in NYC, the Scottish Rite Theatre in Oakland, CA, and the Auditorium Theatre in Chicago, Ill. He’s the first poet to teach Patricia Smith the Cupid Shuffle and the only poet to win a street fight on planet Neptune.

Tonight also marks the final night in our current 8×8 speed slam series! Eight slam winners will slam off for the season championship and the opportunity to challenge reigning Champion of Champions Sean Patrick Mulroy in an all-champions reduced-time-limit slam.

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. The Champion of Champions Slam in the current 8×8 poetry slam series will follow. The show is 18+ (ID required) and the cover charge is $5.

Cantab Recap for Wednesday, May 13, 2015

The results of our fourteen-poet super-grand speed slam are in! After just three minutes of poetry (in two poems) each, standings are as follows:

1. Janae Johnson 54.5
2. Sean Patrick Mulroy 53.1
3. Kylie Noelle 51.3
4. Meaghan Ford 50.9
5. Nora Meiners 50.5
6. Zeke Russell 50.3
7. Mckendy Fils-Aimé 50.2
8. Sam Mercer 49.7
9. Ed Wilkinson
10. Zanne Langlois
11. Bobby Crawford
12. Nathan Comstock
13. Emily Carroll
14. Chloé Cunha

Poets in bold have qualified to slam in the June 10 World Qualifier Finals, with poets in italics invited to sacrifice for that show. Congratulations to all, and special thanks to sacrifices Marshall Gillson and Adam Stone, as well as our five not-even-surprisingly-consistent judges: Eric & Nicole, Elliot, Evan, Alex Hicks, and Ashley Truj.

This coming Wednesday: the slam don’t stop, folks. First, our feature will be NPS 2014 Finalist Anthony Ragler from NYC; the night will close out with our springtime Champion of Champions SPEED slam, where Sean Patrick Mulroy defends his long-running title. See you there!

Tips from the Bar: The Blind Assassin Prompt

You have a photograph of a meaningful moment. What’s just outside the frame?

Cantab Feature for Wednesday, May 13, 2015: World Qualifier Speed Slam

Our annual run of eight wildly and rapid speed slams winds down in May, folks, which means it’s time to ramp up for even more speed slam action: the World Qualifier series, a two-night, six-poem series to select the Boston Poetry Slam’s sole representative to the Individual World Poetry Slam! This year’s IWPS will take place in Washington, D.C. in October, and our World Qualifier slam winner will be entered into the event.

Night one of the World Qualifier will be our annual grand speed slam: a huge field of poets compete in a lightning-fast two-round slam using ONLY 2- and 1-minute poems. That means lots of new work performed by your favorite slam winners from the past year! Top scorers move on to Finals at the end of the month.

Want to see who’s qualified? Click here for the full list of speed slam invitees. You can also check out the full rules and format for the World Qualifier Series.

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. An slightly shortened open mic begins at 8:00 and the slam begins at approximately 10:00. The show is 18+ (ID required) and the cover charge is $5; proceeds will go toward funding the World Qualifier winner’s trip to IWPS in DC this October.

Cantab Recap for Wednesday, May 6, 2015

Springtime, Cantabbers! Thanks so much for everyone who came out to see SlamMaster Emeritus Michael Brown upon his warm-weather awakening from Down East Maine hibernation. Michael worked the room with a smattering of old and new work, weaving together a bit of history for us on a sweet spring night. The four-person Last Chance Slam was won by Simone, who, despite the protestations of host Sean Mulroy, mathematically outranked Mckendy Fils-Aimé in the one minute-round of doom.

Next week: you might not know it, but you have been waiting for World Qualifier Speed Slam all year! More than two dozen of your favorite poets are qualified to slam… But they’ll have to come up with one- and two-minute poems to do it in this battle royale of wicked short poems. Come see one of our most creative events of the year– and root for your favorite eight to move on to the World Qualifier Finals in June.

Tips from the Bar: The Thomas Edison Prompt

Presented without comment: a link to creepy 1800’s doll audio.

Moonlighting: A Queer Open Mic and Reading Series on May 7, 2015 — Benefit for the Boston Dyke March!

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

The featured reader for May 7, 2015 is a round robin feature of fantastic ladies slinging poems on behalf of the Boston Dyke March! See below for the feature list, and be sure to get there early to snag a spot on the open mic.

As yet another bonus, Mad Femme Pride will be hosting a pre-show salon and workshop at 6:30PM.

A little more about your features:

JANAE JOHNSON is a Stevie Wonder-loving, Jamba Juice-sipping, slampoet, educator, and activist in the Boston area. Janae is the reigning Women of the World PoetrySlam Champion and was the grand slam champion of the 2014 Boston Poetry Slam Team. She is the founder/coach/advisor for the nationally ranked Simmons College (Speaks) Poetry Slam team.

SARAH LYNN HERKLOTS is a Performance Poet who believes in poetry and performance as tools for transformation and healing. Sarah represented Portland, ME in the 2012 Women of the World Poetry slam where she placed in the top 15. She has been published by Moon Pie Press in the anthology “Passion and Pride: Poets supporting Equality”, Nin Journal and by Resurgo Magazine.

CHLOE CUNHA is a poet and screenwriter, and an incoming host of the Encyclopedia Show Boston. She first discovered a love for poetry at Bar 13’s louderARTS while living in NYC. Though she deeply misses the constant throb of panicked sirens and the bevy of skunky dives, she is happy to have since moved back to her native hometown of Cambridge, MA.

CASSANDRA EUPHRAT WESTON is a poet and cheesecake enthusiast who performs as one half of the poetry duo About That Elephant. Emojis are among her favorite hobbies.

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 salon/workshop begins at approximately 6:30 p.m. with an open mic to follow at 7:00 p.m. The four-poet feature will follow the open. The show is all-ages and a $3 donation is requested.

Cantab Feature for Wednesday, May 6, 2015: Michael Brown

Michael Brown, founding SlamMaster, reads his own work from the Cantab anthology. Photo by Marshall Goff.

Michael Brown, founding SlamMaster, reads his own work from the Cantab anthology. Photo by Marshall Goff.

Michael R. Brown has published poetry, fiction, travel articles and columns in wide-ranging periodicals all over the world: his fourth book of poetry, The Confidence Man, was published in 2006 by Ragged Sky. Brown holds a Ph.D. in English and Education from the University of Michigan, and for 46 years he taught at high schools and universities from the South Side of Chicago to South Korea.

Since 1989, Brown has been active in poetry slams, performing in Europe as well as North America. For thirteen years, he hosted the Boston Poetry Slam at the Cantab Lounge and he appears in the film SlamNation. He is co-producer of The Culture of Peace, an international exhibit of art and poetry organized under the UN mandate for a decade of the Culture of Peace. He was general secretary of the Poetry Olympics, first held in Stockholm in 1998. He produced and directed Dr. Brown’s Traveling Poetry Show, a theatrical poetry ensemble.

After moving to Down East Maine in 2007, Brown and his partner Valerie Lawson have begun a monthly reading series and taken over the poetry journal Off the Coast. For a while, he covered the Passamaquoddy reservation and county health issues for the local newspaper. Now he is working on several books while he directs and performs with Stage East, the community theater at the Eastport Arts Center.

Note that tonight’s last chance poetry slam is a speed slam with 3-, 2-, and 1-minute rounds. Slam winners qualify for the 2015 World Qualifier.

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