A la William Safire: produce a speech for an event that never happened.
Cantab Feature for February 11, 2015: Erotic Poetry Night and Deadly Sins vs. Heavenly Virtues Slam
Is it hot in here, or is it just you? As tradition decrees, the Wednesday closest to Valentine’s marks 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.
Jade Sylvan and Sean Patrick Mulroy will captain the Sins and Virtues teams, respectively, for the 2015 Erotic Poetry Night Slam.
Moreover, this year’s erotic night feature will be our first ever Deadly Sins vs. Heavenly Virtues Slam! Using a format pioneered in our basement by Kevin Spak, we’ll pit seven GOOD poets (Charity, Diligence, Patience, Kindness, Humility, Temperance, and, of course, Chastity) against seven EVIL poets (Avarice, Sloth, Wrath, Envy, Pride, Gluttony, and Lust) in the ultimate battle of philosophy!
UPDATE: we are excited to announce our team rosters, captained by 2013 Boston Poetry Slam teammates and mortal enemies Sean Patrick Mulroy and Jade Sylvan!
VIRTUE has been recruited by Sean and will be glowingly represented by Porsha Olayiwola, Marshall Gillson, Mckendy Fils-Aimé, Sophia Holtz, Andrew Campana, Janae Johnson, and Chloé Cunha. The team of SIN is led by Jade and will include Princess Chan, Steve Subrizi, Krystin Hill, Nora Meiners, Delisile Godeffroy-Taylor, and Dawn Gabriel.
This is as real as Valentine’s Day gets, listeners, so pack up your date and your moral compass and prepare for a bawdy literary evening.
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 erotic-themed open mic begins at 8:00 and the slam will commence after the 10:00 break. The show is 18+ (ID required) and the cover charge is $3.
Moonlighting: A Queer Open Mic and Reading Series Featuring Porsha Olayiwola on February 5, 2015
This reading is part of our monthly LGBTQ series, Moonlighting. Click here for more information about this recurring show.
The featured reader for February 5 is Porsha Olayiwola.
Porsha Olayiwola, Haley House co-founder and 2014 Individual World Poetry Slam Champion.
Black, poet, dyke-goddess, hip-hop feminist, womanist, friend, Porsha Olayiwola is a performance artist who believes in pixie dust and second chances. A resident of Boston by way of Chicago, Porsha O was the runner-up at the 2012 Women of the World Poetry Slam and is the reigning (2014) Individual World Poetry Slam Champion. Her intention is to speak, love, praise, and maintain a cypher that is undocumented, uncontrollable and just plain ole dope.
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 Recap for Wednesday, February 4, 2015
Heat Two of our Preliminary Team Selection Slams is now complete! Rankings from the slam:
- Nora Meiners 54.2
- Zeke Russell 53.8
- Colin Killick 53.1
- Emily Eastman 52.9
- Sean Patrick Mulroy 52.3
- Ed Wilkinson 52.1
- John Mortara
- Mike Leon
Poets in bold are invited to advance to Semi-Finals on February 18. Congratulations to everyone! We also offer thanks to our excellent sacrifices, local Omoizele Okoawo and traveler Zanne Langlois. Lastly, our judges rocked the house with speed and consistency for two whole rounds: thanks to Halo and Fish, Leah, Z, John Pinkham, and Carley and Will.
Next week: it’s time to cut loose! Forget those silly and meaningless team slams, because we are going to slam about something that matters: GOOD vs. EVIL! HEAVEN vs. HELL! VIRTUE vs. SIN! That’s right, in honor of Erotic Poetry Night, we’ll be having our first-ever Deadly Sins vs. Heavenly Virtues, a (obviously) seven-round smackdown to determine the direction of all our souls. The night’s open mic will be an EROTIC theme, by the way, so look out: if you were counting on bringing your new sweetie to see poetry for Valentine’s Day, just be advised that it is going to get non-redundantly dirty in the Cantab next week.
Ohhhhh, and and and: there’s a show tonight! It’s Moonlighting with Porsha O, the champion of everything! You hardly have to leave the safety of the subway car for this show: just hop off at Forest Hills and run across the street into Fazenda Coffee Roasters. Open mic sign-up starts at 7:00p.m. and this monthly LGBTQ-friendly show is all ages and welcoming to all!
Cantab Feature for Wednesday, February 4, 2015: Team Selection Preliminaries (Second Heat)
The Cantab’s Team Selection Slams have always been the venue’s biggest, wildest poetry slams of the season. For 2015, for the first time, the venue will split the rowdy preliminary slam into two separate sessions, with the February event being the second prelim pool of two. The following poets will compete tonight (order TBD):
- Colin Killick
- Jake Villarreal
- Zeke Russell
- John Mortara
- Emily Eastman
- Mike Leon
- Nora Meiners
- Sean Patrick Mulroy
- Ed Wilkinson
- Sacrifices: Omoizele Okoawo, Zanne Langlois
The top six poets after two rounds will meet the top poets from the first heat at the Semi-Finals on Wednesday, February 18.
Team Selection Slams are a three-session affair for Cantab poets, with the top five poets after seven rounds comprising the venue’s National Poetry Slam Team. The 2015 Boston Poetry Slam Team will travel to the National Poetry Slam, once again across the mainland in sunny Oakland, California.
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 9:30. The show is 18+ (ID required) and the cover charge is $5; proceeds will go toward funding the National Poetry Slam in August.
Cantab Recap for Wednesday, January 28, 2015
Heat One of our Preliminary Team Selection Slams has ended! Ranks are as follows:
- Bobby Crawford 53.4
- Mckendy Fils-Aimé 53.1
- Marshall Gillson 52.9
- Ellyn Touchette 52.6
- Meaghan Ford 52.3
- Sophia Holtz 51.5
- Nathan Comstock
- Austin Hendricks
Poets in bold are invited to advance to Semi-Finals on February 18. Congratulations to everyone, and special thanks to our sacrifices, Janae Johnson and Adam Stone, and our five intrepid judges: Andrew, Josh, J.R., Alyssa, and Liana!
Next week: just like this week, but with NINE poets fighting for spots in Semi-Finals! Come see Jake Villarreal, Zeke Russell, John Mortara, Emily Eastman, Mike Leon, Nora Meiners, Sean Patrick Mulroy, Ed Wilkinson, and Colin Killick in Heat Two of the Team Selection Preliminaries. It all goes down next Wednesday with our usual 8:00 open mic, an early 9:30 slam, and a $5 cover for two all-star rounds of competition. See you there!
Slam Prelims is ON for tonight, January 28, 2015!
Happy Snowmageddon 2015, everyone! With the blizzard now over and the Cantab Lounge open, we are pleased to announce that the first heat of the Boston Poetry Slam will take place as scheduled tonight. Click here to remind yourself of the awesome all-star list of slammers participating.
Some tips on traveling to the Cantab tonight:
- UPDATE: The Cambridge parking ban (and snow emergency) will be lifted at 4:00 p.m. today.
As of 11:30 a.m. today, a snow emergency parking ban is still in effect for Cambridge. The City of Cambridge has stated they will re-evaluate the ban at “midday” today; click the preceding link for up-to-date info, or watch this space for details. (In the meantime, that means no parking on Mass Ave.) - The MBTA is running normal hours and all routes are open today.
- Plan to leave early! Everything takes longer in the snow, and the longer you wait to leave, the more time your roommate has to remind you that you only did 3/7th of the shoveling. If you arrive to see us before 7:15 door time, you can always grab dinner in Central and bring it in to enjoy with a drink from the bar.
As long as you feel safe traveling tonight, we would love to see you at the very first slam of our 2015 Team Selection season. Come visit for the 8:00 open mic and stay for the 9:30 slam! And remember that the cover is $5 tonight, because shipping the 2015 team to Oakland, California for the National Poetry Slam in August is starting to sound like a bigger and better prize than ever.
Cantab Feature for Wednesday, January 28, 2015: Team Selection Preliminaries (First Heat)
The Cantab’s Team Selection Slams have always been the venue’s biggest, wildest poetry slams of the season. For 2015, for the first time, the venue will split the rowdy preliminary slam into two separate sessions, with the January event being the first prelim pool of two. The following poets will compete tonight (order TBD):
- Marshall Gillson
- Austin Hendricks
- Meaghan Ford
- Sophia Holtz
- Mckendy Fils-Aimé
- Nathan Comstock
- Ellyn Touchette
- Bobby Crawford
- Sacrifices: Janae Johnson, Adam Stone
The top six poets after two rounds will meet the top poets from the second heat at the Semi-Finals on Wednesday, February 18.
Team Selection Slams are a three-session affair for Cantab poets, with the top five poets after seven rounds comprising the venue’s National Poetry Slam Team. The 2015 Boston Poetry Slam Team will travel to the National Poetry Slam, once again across the mainland in sunny Oakland, California.
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 9:30. The show is 18+ (ID required) and the cover charge is $5; proceeds will go toward funding the National Poetry Slam in August.
Boston Poetry Slam Online