Cantab Feature for Wednesday, December 10, 2014: Mike McGee

Mike McGee, champion of pretty much everything.

Mike McGee, champion of pretty much everything.

Mike McGee is the first poet to win both the National Poetry Slam Individual Championship (2003) and the Individual World Poetry Slam Championship (2006). He has toured over 600,000 miles and once lived in Worcester, Mass. for a year, where he initiated the now-nationwide movement known as Kitchen Sessions. Born in Fort Campbell, Kentucky with a mild form of Spina Bifida, Mike considers this neural tube defect to be one of the foundations and origins of his love of humor, art and language. He is the eldest of eight children.

In 2003, McGee co-founded the Vancouver, B.C.-based “talk-rock” trio Tons of Fun University with Shane Koyczan and C. R. Avery. Their debut was before a crowd of 15,000 at the Vancouver Folk Music Festival, July 2004. The trio has since toured extensively throughout Canada, performing primarily in music festivals. In 2005, McGee performed a revised version of his popular poem “Like” on a fifth season episode of Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry on HBO. He currently lives in San Diego.

Peter Storey, drifter and poet.

Peter Storey, drifter and poet.

Tonight’s show will also feature a spotlight from Peter Storey. Peter is a drifter. He fights wildfire to pay for time to write. This winter he lives in Chicago. By the summer he’ll be gone.

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.

Moonlighting: A Queer Open Mic and Reading Series Featuring Bobby Crawford on December 4, 2014

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

The featured reader for December 4 is Bobby Crawford.

The elusive Bobby Crawford. Photo by Marshall Goff.

The elusive Bobby Crawford. Photo by Marshall Goff.

Bobby Crawford is the “one-man-boy-band” of Emerson College. Bobby competed on three consecutive College Unions Poetry Slam Invitational teams representing Emerson (2011-2013). He also served as a curator of the Emerson Poetry Project from 2012-2013, where he was instrumental in helping the EPP win Emerson’s Student Organization of the Year. Bobby competed at the 2013 National Poetry Slam with the Mill City Slam team from Lowell, Mass. and represented the Boston Poetry Slam at the 2013 Individual World Poetry Slam in Spokane, Wash., ranking 15th out of 70. A competitor and showman by instinct, Bobby is a retired nationally-ranked figure skater and a former chess-club kid. He plays harmonica and wears a leather jacket.

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, December 3, 2014

Last night, as expected, we were almost unutterably thankful to have Providence SlamMaster and poet Franny Choi in the house. Franny rocked the mic with the poise, brilliance, and remarkable craft that has earned her spots on all three Poetry Slam, Inc. finals stages, as well as publication in Poetry magazine. Franny will have a new book available in March: if you want to give yourself something to look forward to after the winter, you can pre-order Floating, Brilliant, Gone from Write Bloody Publishing.

The slam was full of good words from some all-time regulars and more than a few just-about-on-break college students! The finals came down to Kevin Roberts, a Lizard Lounge slammer who just so happened to get a Wednesday night off, and Zeke Russell, who holds down the sober side of the Cantab bar like it’s his job. Zeke took the slam by a breathlessly slim 0.1 margin, earning himself $10 and securing (again!) his spot in the 2015 Team Selection Slams.

Next week: need a good, freeing belly laugh? Champion of So Many Things Mike McGee will be in the house to help you out next week, so come cut loose with us as the nights get longer. We’ll also have one of our very last open poetry slams of the season.

Plus, TONIGHT: it’s the first Thursday of the month, which means it’s time for our LGBTQ+ reading, Moonlighting! Come down to Fazenda Coffee Roasters tonight at 7:30 for the open mic and stay for the last Moonlighting feature of the year, the soon-to-be-less-elusive Bobby Crawford.

Tips from the Bar: Bet You Can’t

See if you can think of a safe conversation topic that won’t inspire argument.

(And, of course, remember: when it comes to poetry, sometimes failure means more than success.)

Cantab Feature for Wednesday, December 3, 2014: Franny Choi

The illimitable Franny Choi. Photo by Norlan Olivo.

The illimitable Franny Choi. Photo by Norlan Olivo.

Franny Choi is the author of Floating, Brilliant, Gone (Write Bloody Publishing, 2014). She has been a finalist for the Ruth Lilly Poetry Fellowship and all three major national poetry slams. She is a recipient of the Poetry Foundation’s Frederick Bock Prize, and her work has appeared in Poetry magazine, PANK, The Rumpus, and the Huffington Post. She is a VONA Fellow, a Project VOICE teaching artist, and a member of the Dark Noise Collective. She lives in Providence, Rhode Island.

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 26, 2014

Sure, Wednesday might have been the biggest travel day of the year, and snowing and icing sideways in the first truly nasty storm of the winter, and some folks might have been staying home brining their tofurkeys or whatever… But! A hardy group of souls turned out to see Ken Arkind‘s high-energy feature, including sweet/awkward airplane stories and a long-form story-journey that took us all to a childhood beginning in Steamboat Springs. What an excellent show! We look forward to welcoming Ken back again in the future: we’re happy to say he has family here, and we’d love to have him headline again.

After Ken’s feature, seven slammers took the stage and three tough-as-nails judges lined up to tell them about themselves. After a series of wildly diverse ideas and styles, the top two finalists came down to open mic regular Mike Leon and longtime listener/onetime collegiate slammer Emily O’Neill. Mike took the final round and the ten bucks home, earning himself a spot in next month’s Champion of Champions slam.

Next week: we kick of December with Providence poet and activist Franny Choi! Franny has competed on all three PSI finals stages (NPS, IWPS, and WOWPS), plus she’s been published in Poetry magazine, so we know she will have something for everyone. We’ll also offer the fifth open poetry slam in the 8×8 series.

Tips from the Bar: Doomsdaypocalypse

Present survival tips for the winter of 2015.

Cantab Feature for Wednesday, November 26, 2014: Ken Arkind (was: Angel Nafis)

THIS SHOW REPRESENTS A SCHEDULE CHANGE. Angel Nafis (bio below) has had to cancel her trip to New England. Filling in will be Ken Arkind visiting from Denver.

Denver poet and national slam champion Ken Arkind. Photo by Woody Roseland.

Denver poet and national slam champion Ken Arkind. Photo by Woody Roseland.

Ken Arkind is an American National Poetry Slam Champion, TEDx Speaker, Nuyorican Poets Cafe Grand Slam Champion and published author who has performed his work in forty-nine states, six countries and at over 150 colleges and universities. He is the founding Program Director of Denver Minor Disturbance, an independent literary arts organization dedicated to helping Colorado youth find voice through the mediums of poetry and performance. He is the author of “Denver” (Fast Geek Press, 2013) and “Coyotes” (Penmanship Books, 2014). Ken is also the poetry editor for “Suspect Press” and wrote the title poem for the Air Ball Creative short film “Breathless.” He makes an amazing green chile stew.

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.

Biography of the canceled feature:

Angel Nafis, curator of the Greenlight Bookstore Poetry Salon.

Angel Nafis, curator of the Greenlight Bookstore Poetry Salon.

Angel Nafis is an Ann Arbor, Michigan native and Cave Canem Fellow. She is the author of BlackGirl Mansion (RedBeard/New School Poetics 2012) Her work has appeared in FOUND Magazine’s Requiem for a Paper Bag, Decibels, The Rattling Wall, Union Station Magazine, GirlSpeak Webzine, The Bear Rivers Writers Review, and MUZZLE Magazine. In 2011 she represented the LouderArts poetry project at both the Women of the World Poetry Slam and the National Poetry Slam. She is an Urban Word NYC Mentor and the founder, curator, and host of the quarterly Greenlight Bookstore Poetry Salon reading series. She lives in Brooklyn.

Angel Nafis is not able to attend the Boston Poetry Slam on Wednesday, November 26. The slam looks forward to booking Angel at another time.

Cantab Recap for Wednesday, November 19, 2014

If you are human, poet, it is just possible that the fall and winter holidays fill you with a hint, just the tiniest whisper, of familial stress. Fear not! Family time also means that Cantab family returns home: for this season, we were so pleased to welcome back Carrie Rudzinski, one-time Emerson poet and now full-time performing artist and resident of Los Angeles, California. True to form, Carrie has been producing (and polishing) new work at a blistering pace, and she brought us a wonderful window into what she’s been up to since her last Boston Poetry Slam visit. She’s on an incredibly intense east coast tour right now, so check your local listings to see if she’s coming by the neighborhood where you’ll be in the next couple of weeks.

After Carrie’s feature, of course, we held our eponymous slam: a few travelers from the frozen north worked their way down to visit us, including Zanne Langlois, who took on Berklee’s Will Lynch (who also traveled all the way across the Charles) in the final round. Zanne took top honors and the ten bucks, and will return to slam with us again in January!

Next week: WE HAVE HAD A SCHEDULE CHANGE. We will be rescheduling the lovely, talented, and only temporarily-canceled Angel Nafis. Filling in for Angel will be a guy we’ve been trying to get a date with for at least a year: Denver’s champion of all things, Ken Arkind! Ken occasionally swings by for a one-poem blow-your-mind-spotlight on the open mic, so you won’t want to miss his full feature next week. See you there!

Tips from the Bar: And Also the Academy

Write a poem in the form of an acknowledgement page for your life. Include at least one person who you really, really wish you didn’t have to.