Cantab Feature for April 8, 2015: Karen Finneyfrock

Longtime Seattle performance poet and booming YA novelist Karen Finneyfrock.

Longtime Seattle performance poet and booming YA novelist Karen Finneyfrock.

Karen Finneyfrock is the author of two young adult novels: The Sweet Revenge of Celia Door and Starbird Murphy and the World Outside, both published by Viking Children’s Books. She is one of the editors of the poetry anthology Courage: Daring Poems for Gutsy Girls and the author of the full-length poetry collection Ceremony for the Choking Ghost, both released on Write Bloody press. She is a former Writer-in-Residence at Richard Hugo House in Seattle and teaches for Seattle Arts and Lectures’ Writers-in-the-Schools program. She has been on four National Poetry Slam teams representing Seattle and Washington, DC.

Note that tonight’s open 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.

Cantab Recap for Wednesday, April 1, 2015

Announcing the 2015 Boston Poetry Slam Team! After three nail-biting rounds at last night’s Finals, including more than one upset and some terrifyingly tight scoring, the final standings are as follows:

1. Mckendy Fils-Aimé 84.8
2. Marshall Gillson 84.6
3. Bobby Crawford 84.4
4. Sophia Holtz 84.1
5. Sean Patrick Mulroy 83.7
6. (tie) Zeke Russell
6. (tie) Meaghan Ford
8. Nora Meiners
9. Ed Wilkinson

Poets in bold will represent the Boston Poetry Slam at the Cantab Lounge in national competition this August in Oakland, California. (The team will also be available for local bookings in the meantime: contact the SlamMaster for more information.) Congratulations to everyone!

As always, heartfelt gratitude is due to our bar staff, doormen, and hard-working audience, who all made our team finals a night to remember. Special thanks to all-star bout manager Tom Slavin and our five highly consistent judges: Rubens, Pat and Rich, Paul, Emily, and Rebecca Lynn.

Next week: National Poetry Month rolls on with Seattle legend Karen Finneyfrock. We’ll also open up the slam to everyone: it’ll be the fifth slam in our spring speed slam series, which means 3-, 2-, and 1-minute rounds.

Tips from the Bar: The Quaint Fax

Take a nostalgic look at a piece of technology that’s been rendered irrelevant.

Moonlighting: A Queer Open Mic and Reading Series Featuring Ellyn Touchette on April 2, 2015

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

The featured reader for April 2 is Ellyn Touchette.

Portland poet Ellyn Touchette. Photo by Christopher Clauss.

Portland poet Ellyn Touchette. Photo by Christopher Clauss.

Ellyn Touchette wrote her first poem when she was six years old and saw her first psychologist shortly afterwards. Her work–both on and off page–deals largely with different facets of mental illness as it affects daily life. Ellyn lives in Portland, Maine, and has represented Port Veritas’ Second Tuesday Slam at the Women of the World Poetry Slam and the National Poetry Slam. She is also currently on Port Veritas’ Board of Directors. Her work is featured or forthcoming in The Emerson Review, The Open Field, Wicked Banshee, and Ghost House Review, among others. She is referred to as a “scheming bitch” by George R.R. Martin on page 714 of A Feast For Crows and wants to make sure that everyone knows.

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, April 1, 2015: Team Selection Finals

The Cantab’s Team Selection Slams are the venue’s biggest, wildest poetry slams of the year. The venue’s April 1 selection is one of the earliest in the country, which gives them extra time to prepare for this year’s National Poetry Slam in Oakland.

Finalists will slam in the following order in the first round (and draw randomly for second and third round order):

  • 1. Sophia Holtz
  • 2. Ed Wilkinson
  • 3. Mckendy Fils-Aimé
  • 4. Sean Patrick Mulroy
  • 5. Marshall Gillson
  • 6. Meaghan Ford
  • 7. Nora Meiners
  • 8. Bobby Crawford
  • 9. Zeke Russell
  • sacrifice poets: Ellyn Touchette, Emily Eastman* (via SFoD)

The top five poets at the end of the evening will comprise the 2015 Boston Poetry Slam Team.

After four previous rounds in the last two months, plus with a new poem requirement each of the poets must have fulfilled, you can expect hot competition, tense strategic moves, and the most finely-polished performance work of the slam season.

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. A SHORTENED open mic begins at 8:00 and the slam begins at approximately 9:00. The show is 18+ (ID required) and the cover charge is $5; proceeds will go toward funding the team’s trip to the National Poetry Slam in Oakland this August.

Cantab Recap for Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Congratulations, New Englanders! We made it all the way through the end of a bitterly bitter March, ending with the glorious lion that is Rachel Wiley as our last feature of the month. Activist, poetic thinker, and powerful performer, Rachel rang in spring in with us with the utmost charisma, thoughtfulness, and well-crafted work. You can catch her again tonight at Blast Fest (at the White Haus) for more hyper-smartness and a chance to pick up Fat Girl Finishing School, one of the most fun titles ever to say three times fast.

Once Rachel closed out her feature, we welcomed a sparser-than-average yet still intense four-person poetry slam to the mic. The final one-minute round came down to Josh Elbaum and the well-traveled Sam Mercer; Sam came all the way down from the frozen north to slam with us, and took home the $10 prize. Congrats, Sam!

Next week: HOLY POEMFACES PEOPLE, IT’S FINALS!! The top NINE poets of the whoooooole season will go three rounds ON FIGURATIVE FIRE to see who will make up the 2015 Boston Poetry Slam Team! It’s the Team Selection Slam Finals, it costs $5, and we need YOU (that’s right, capitals) to come support and judge. Mark your calendars for the first night of National Poetry Month; we’d love to see you there!

Tips from the Bar: Brevity is the Soul

Write a complete poem
in two lines.

Cantab Feature for Wednesday, March 25, 2015: Rachel Wiley

Rachel Wiley, Columbus performance poet.

Rachel Wiley, Columbus performance poet.

Rachel Wiley is a native of Columbus, Ohio. She graduated from Capital University in 2006 with a degree in Theatre Studies.

Rachel is on staff at the Writing Wrongs Poetry Slam in Columbus. She was a finalist at both the National Poetry Slam and the Women of the World Poetry Slam in 2011, and she has toured nationally performing at slam venues, colleges and festivals. Most recently she had the honor of being part of the Geraldine Dodge Poetry Festival in Newark, New Jersey. Her first full-length collection of poetry was released by Timber Mouse Publishing in October 2014.

Note that tonight’s open poetry slam is a speed slam 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.

Cantab Recap for Wednesday, March 18, 2015

Okay, so maybe the college students you know were beach-bound (or better) for spring break last week, but: all the college students WE know were doing hard work laying down poems at our annual CUPSI Warm-Up! The college-nationals bound teams from Emerson College, Berklee College of Music, and Simmons College, plus an all-star pick-up team forevermore to be known as the Guardians of the Galaxy, slammed off for real-time practice and bragging rights on our dirty little stage this past Wednesday.

After a stellar sacrifice performance by Evan Cutts (Quincy College), the teams entered a dramatic deathmatch of doom, using the old-style CUPSI 4×4 team rotation and all the wiles of poetry they could muster. The valiant Guardians of the Galaxy received the Best Poets Award (sometimes known as fourth place), with Simmons capping them by a few points and a solid showing of group pieces! Berklee received the runner-up prize and all the roses, but this year’s Warm-Up crown went to the poets of Emerson College. Congratulations to everyone, and good luck skill at CUPSI down in Richmond, Virginia next week!

Next week, locally: we’re back with our usual format of open mic, featured poet, and slam– and what a featured poet we have for you! Rachel Wiley, a much sought-after literary from one of our favorite slam scenes in the country (hi, Columbus!) will be in the house with her latest book, Fat Girl Finishing School. See you there!

Tips from the Bar: CUPSI!

Your grandmother explains the person you’ve become to your mother.