Imagine offering the sort of advice that you never thought you would have to give to another human being.
Cantab Feature for Wednesday, November 12, 2014: Manvir Singh
Manvir Singh, world-traveling poet and eater of cookies.
Manvir Singh lives in Cambridge, Mass., where he eats cookies and pursues a doctorate. He writes short stories that become poems, because something– maybe a monster– bites off their heads, exposing their gooey innards to fungi and demons.
Manvir has participated in six poetry slams as the only English-speaker. He almost represented Copenhagen in the 2013 Danish Poetry Nationals, but ended up coming in second to a lady who did rhyming stuff about ladyparts. He has twice shared a Pushing the Art Forward Award. He won his first-grade spelling bee, or at least tied for first with Neta Raanan.
This show coincides with the release of his newest doodle-zine, Death & Rabbits.
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 poetry slam in the 8×8 series will follow. The show is 18+ (ID required) and the cover charge is $3.
Cantab Recap for Wednesday, November 5, 2014
A break in the October/November rain came just in time for Wednesday poetry tonight, and we had great turnout for the delightfully unapologetic Cheryl Maddalena. This lady from Boise has sass, moxie, and also a poem to make you feel that your penis is beautiful, just in case you hadn’t thought about it lately. You are the luckiest! (But if you missed her, no worries: you can head north and catch her at Slam Free or Die in Manchester tonight.)
Speaking of moxie: only six poets gathered up enough to slam in the show last night, but they were a fearsome six! The finals came down to Catherine Martin and Emily Carroll, who skillfully (but almost reluctantly) took the win, the ten-dollar prize, and the first spot in January’s Champion of Champions slam.
Next week: we’re back with surreal and mid-expanding storyteller Manvir Singh, as well as another open slam. But wait! You can cure today’s post-Cantab-gray-day blues by binging on the rest of your Halloween candy and heading over to Fazenda TONIGHT to catch gaelle win robin at Moonlighting, hosted by Emily while she’s fresh off her slam win. See you there!
Moonlighting: A Queer Open Mic and Reading Series on November 6, 2014
This reading is part of our monthly LGBTQ series, Moonlighting. Click here for more information about this recurring show.
The featured reader for November 6 is gaelle win robin.
Northern Maine poet gaelle win robin. Photo by Amie E. Cohenour (Miklovich).
Gaelle win robin is a queer poet, writer and stylist for jacktar207.com, assistant editor of ninjournal.tumblr.com, designer, model and performance artist from a small town at a crossroads, home is in the heart of Portland, Maine. Their writings have appeared in Vagabonds: Anthology of the Mad Ones, and they are the author of a number of self-published chapbooks. Their work can be found at gaellerobin.tumblr.com or oncomehell.wordpress.com, a collective queer writers’ blog based in the northeastern U.S.
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, November 5, 2014: Cheryl Maddalena
Bay-gone-Boise poet Cheryl Maddalena. Photo by Cody Spanbauer.
Cheryl Maddalena is a poet, mommy, engineer, and psychologist… But not all at the same time. SlamMaster of Boise, she has reached the National Poetry Slam, Individual World Poetry Slam, Group Piece, and Women of the World Poetry Slam Finals stages as a competitor, backup dancer, and opening act. She has also made top four at the NUPIC underground indies, been featured as part of the Slam Legends Showcase, and has been Haiku Deathmatch Champion. Cheryl chalks up all of her successes to her unparalleled attendance record since 2001 – no still-competing poet in the world has been to more consecutive National Poetry Slams. Gold star!
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 poetry slam in the 8×8 series will follow. The show is 18+ (ID required) and the cover charge is $3.
Cantab Recap for Wednesday, October 29, 2014
The nights are getting longer, Cantabbers, which means the slams are getting feistier! All eight of our past season’s slam winners turned out for last night’s Champions of Champions Slam, each looking for a chance to depose Bobby Crawford from throne. The open mic was filled with solid work, including a few returning newcomers, and great enthusiasm from a supportive crowd.
Although a last-minute scheduling snafu kept Nate Marshall from making it to his feature, that just meant the Champion of Champions match took over the feature spot for the night! Any one of these eight poets would rate a full feature at the Cantab, we think, but some of them only got the opportunity to slam one poem before having to pack it in and go back to the bar. After an on-page sacrifice by Bobby Crawford, performance was the name of the game for the first round, with poets pulling out all the stops just to try to survive. The final season match-up came down to two on-fire performers, Mckendy Fils-Aimé and Sean Patrick Mulroy, with Sean’s momentum just edging out Mckendy’s warm reception from the crowd.
Did Sean decide to let his $50 season championship prize ride all the way to the next round? OF COURSE HE DID. In the final Champion of Champions round, Sean and Bobby faced off with new-to-the-Cantab work, each with a poem held back specifically for this very match-up. A remarkably consistent set of five judges was painfully divided on the vote, but challenger Sean’s decision to memorize crowdwalk just might have outstripped Bobby’s good look in laurels: by 3-2, Sean Patrick Mulroy was crowned our new Champion of Champions!
Next week: open slams start again for all you upstarts gunning for Sean’s tiara. Oh, and we’ll finally have a feature from Berkeley-Boise slam legend Cheryl Maddalena! See you there!
Cantab Feature for Wednesday, October 29, 2014: Nate Marshall and the Champion of Champions Poetry Slam
Nate Marshall, prominent Chicago slammer.
Originally from the south side of Chicago, Nate’s work has been featured in many prominent literary journals, on HBO, BET, OWN, and in the award-winning full-length documentary, Louder Than a Bomb. He is a former poetry slam champion and a graduate of University of Michigan’s Helen Zell Writers Program. Nate is also the founder of the Lost Count Scholarship Fund that promotes youth violence prevention in Chicago.
Tonight also marks the final night in our current 8×8 poetry slam series! Eight slam winners will slam off for the season championship and the opportunity to challenge reigning Champion of Champions Bobby Crawford.
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 Champions of Champions Slam in the 8×8 speed slam series will follow. The show is 18+ (ID required) and the cover charge is $3.
Cantab Recap for Wednesday, October 23, 2014
It was a wet and windy night on the streets of Cambridge yesterday, with a nor’easter keeping much of our early crowd at home. Still, a good number of folks thought it would be a perfect night to come out and get dark and close together in a cozy basement for Meaghan Ford’s Choose Your Own Adventure-style feature set. Meaghan brought us through the eye of the storm and back out into the light in a retrospective of the themes and work she’s been putting on the stage for the past years.
The slam was our last in the series, which means it drew quite a selection of gung-ho poets (for a change, the slam list filled up well before the open mic)! Eight wildly different voices took the stage to vie for the $10 prize and the last slot in the Champion of Champions slam match next week, but when the waters receded, it was just Kieran Collier and John Mortara left standing. By a slim but hard-earned margin, rookie slammer John took the win and the highly coveted eight-spot in the champs match!
Rain or moonshine, we’ll be back next week with an incredible winners line-up for the 8×8 Champion of Champions slam, as well as the literary stylings of up-and-coming Chicago poet Nate Marshall. See you there!
Boston Poetry Slam Online