This is your 12:00 O’Clock Report

So much going on:

–went dancing this weekend and took the knees… to the extreme! my acl is not what it used to be and i have no idea how to do the safety dance so it’s either do-or-die out there on the dancefloor. i went with the latter and i swear my patella almost popped at one point. the music was off the hook though with some funky heavy percussion played with some obscure deep vocal tracks that included a french lounge tune, a salsa song, gospel and some 70’s gloria gaynor type jam.

–in an effort to promote synonymUS i have hit quite a number of obscure and well-respected spots. the open mic at urbana two weeks ago was a true chore to sit through and i almost left in the middle. couple that with the fact that i was heckling something awful the week before and i thought for sure that we were going to get a shitty intro. luckily, we received some good love and rocked out quite well.

–westside rhyme was rough just because karen puts the MT5 (her verison of the open mic) towards the end. sabrina was supposed to promote but for some reason did not and i had to remind karen about plugging synonymUS. discussed the merits of freestyle. its a poem, ok, i get it. i just dont like the ‘oohh that is amazing’ response the crowd shoots back especially when most of it is rehearsed and, in the case of bad poetry, it doesnt say anything or, as in the case of real bad poetry, it says the same thing over and over.

–the promotion kicker was this e-mail that i received talking about another spot that is also trying to do collaborative poetry. figure i’ll check it out and try to promote. nowhere and i mean *nowhere* did it state that it was a lesbian open-mic and militant minority lesbians at that.i had already invited jayme to meet me there and then asked mara if she would like to come to and capped off the party with inviting ray. who decided that we were no longer on a promotion blitz because he starts asking IF we can promote to which we get told no. if you are asking chances are you will be told no. i was pissed and had to swallow it. in order: mara did ‘amadou’s second wife’ it rocked, ray did ‘poetically correct’ it rocked, one of their regulars went up and did so-so and then i went up did ‘mercy on the battlefield’ and used the fact that the mc was referring to me and ray as *ah.man* and it seriously rocked. i dont tap myself on the back often but this time i will, still did a bit of promotion for both acentos & synonymUS, so alls well

–my efforts to promote synonymUS fell flat and we only had five more people at his show! the optimist says ‘five more! thats great! next month you will have five more and then, soon, it will all be good!’ fuck the optimist. i do not have the energy to keep doing that every month. i was hopiong for a crowd of 50 and i get under 30! hell no! if success is defined by calibur of performances then we did great as the open mic and feature rocked but you need an audience to go with it. i am frustrated and feeling like some of my co-founders have abandonded my ass. or that i am dragging them to do shit. i may step down as curator, if everybody else wants the title then they can have it. i dont need to be a curator or to have my name announced at a show to know what i need to do. titles fucking suck and somtimes people get them and then throw there legs up on the desk. i dont and refuse to see this show disappear but i need help, real help, and fast.

–monday night was a low energy show at 13 and i am waiting for the same to happen at acentos. not every show can be a winner and i would like to see what happens when it hits us. i really dont but am setting myself up for the fall now.

–my niece had her first communion this weekend and it was a chill vibe to be at church. religion doesnt freak me out. im pretty cool with my beliefs and know that people need comfort wherever they can get it. no need to hate just cuz someone finds that in the rosary or lighting candles. ever see how people get at clubs or when they watch sports– same shit/different place. the afterparty was cool and i kept it 90% poetry free until some members of my family brought up the fact that i appear on public access bronx tv every now and then. its a bit of a running joke with them so ihad to reverse it. “i saw you on teeveee!” then take a flyer and see me in person. Shazam! acentos flyer.

— hit rikers island to teach some poetry and will do it again tomorrow. fish had most of the class so i’ll report when i get the guys for a whole session.

— saw x2 and it rocked. excellent charcter development but there are two big holes in the script otherwise they used mystique vrey well this time, halle berry cant act, cyclops is vanilla and doesnt do much– just like in the comics!, colussus makes a great cameo and nightcrawler turned my world. fuck the comic book mythos, kill storm in the next one and get berry out of the series and we can keep this going for at least five movies or until hugh jackamn scores on another movie.

had to add some stuff to the list of fave songs:

–depeche mode should get into the sexy category with this song called “clean” off the violator cd and should be in the five i cant live without for “strangelove” also throw them in for ‘stripped’

dm were so the shit and they imploded at the right time… on top.

–sade’s “pearls” is off da hizzy and can be put on repeat to some damn fine love makin. for real.

–smashmouth ‘walking on the sun’/sugar ray with ‘fly’ (25 years old/my mama god rest her soul)/barenaked ladies ‘one week’ all these bad boys make me smile

–and the most overlooked song is wyclef’s ‘perfect getleman’ i think i only heard it once on the radio and almost died when i did