“The consequences that I’ve rendered”
let’s start with the last two mondays…
last week was an interesting version of louderJAM with ray holding it down and hauling his equipment to help out again. i only mention this because i have helped him haul HALF the stuff around a couple of times and know that it is a bitch of a task and the fact that he does it sometimes to help people out for just one(!) poem is really amazing. elana did a fantastic job hosting the open mic and kept all the energy flowing in all the right spots. i busted out “Djembe” ver 3.0 with ray on the 505, ivan on drums and jai
helping out with vocals. using ray was a lil bit of overkill but he needed a guinea pig for sound check purposes and so i gave in… otherwise, the piece went pretty well and it also marked my first time on the 13 open mic in almost three months and that shit is
not going to continue… more latah. heidi young busted out an energetic set maybe too energetic as she was put on late and her always in high gear style left some folks (that were shifting down to second) put off and thus she got back almost no love. a real shame since she always puts a ton of work into her performances and that is something that i can not always say for many ‘top name’ features that i have seen come through
this week was womanEDGE and we had another first time host, syreeta, who also did a fantastic job up there. some think there is no science to hosting but after seeing some bad hosts and me, myself, having done a few bad jobs; i would disagree and say that
hosting is a crazy mix of your proper energy melding with the correct audience and right tone of poets… the science is in keeping it all together when those factors are off. i have hosted the last two Acentos with CRAZY shit on my mind and have had
more than one person who is privy to my personal life comment on how well i looked up there… and that my homies is the science.
the open mic at 13, as of late, has been flush with new peeps and that is always the biggest plus i can put on a night… this one girl dropped the most dopest piece about a ship in a bottle then brought it to strangers sharing a bottle then whipped it to this relationship becoming a sinking ship in the bottle… bananas!
there was something oddly hypnotic about her voice as well which added to the surrealism of the piece. after telling her how tight her poem was i then asked if she could e-mail me a copy. she did one better and gave me the paper she read from with an inscription to me and told me that my compliment was much appreciated since she really likes my work.
well, it’s moments like that that validate all the work that goes into this craziness.
jayme did well with a new poem but then walked off-stage like if she did something wrong. strange since off-mic j is one of the coolest peeps i know and lets lil faze her. told her after that she needs to bring some more of that with her especially when she
approaches and leaves the mic… when i started out good, funny intros were the only thing saving my ass.
mara’s feature was hell-a-dope and she keeps getting stronger up in the spotlight. her uppercase last year had her practically hiding behind the stand and her nuyo feature had her much looser but with some hints of trepidation that were clear to the casual observer… this set had her bust out a musical freestyle to start which took some crazy guts and then she never looked back. i missed most of the interview that GK did cuz i was getting the judges together for the slam with lynne and dawn.
the head to head was pretty one-sided with lynne taking the bout four rounds to one. in my head i has dawn taking the ‘coke classic’ & ‘family poem’ rounds and lynne takin’ the ‘freestyle’ (fuh real), ‘sexy poem’ and ‘anything goes’ rounds.
checked out the Asian American Writers Workshop again this month and i just love that i am such a nobody there. jeanie knows me and the organizers, harry & marc, make a nice fuss and say that they are happy to have someone with some experience up there but the crowd don’t know me for shit and it feels good to win people over on just your words… i have busted out the oldies and goodies up there but next time will try something brand new and see how it goes.
on the poetry front that is about it… on the personal front there is much more going on but i have always kept that this bad boy be a running journal of my poetic experiences and also want it to be something that DRAWS people into the word scene and doesnt make them think its all a big soap opera… which it is but so is your job and your family and your special somebody and your local candy store… so if it is a big soap opera it should be YOUR soap opera and not just one person’s perspective of it all… no matter how connected he appears.