“Got fuel to burn, got roads to drive.”

so let’s take a break from the nats report and come back to the big bad city.

the team’s return from nats will be a whole separate entry since i need to get through with how they did in chi-town before i can really look back at the welcome back show last monday.

that brings us, in the weird ‘pulp fiction’ turn this blog has taken, to the acentos welcome back show. not a good start as i was working with ed garcia & maria on my resume all afternoon and didnt get to the blue ox until about 7:48. just in time to see fish start addressing the crowd. being underground and constantly hopping from one train to another kept me from being able to give fish a call to let him know i was close by. then fish informs me that anacaona, our feature, is sick; she’s here but feelin like crap. you got love the trial and tribulations– add that i aint exactly in the best of moods, for a variety of reasons, and this could spell trouble.

except for the fact that hosting has really become second nature now which surprises the shit out of me. some of those early synonymUS shows. a college gig, and a teen slam had me feelin like marc smith up there but acentos has gotten me into a nice flow almost to the point where i wouldnt mind tackling a monday hosting gig… almost! (actually, my one co-hosting gig at 13 went pretty well but thats a whole ‘nother thesis (c)t’ai)

the open mic, which is all we had at that point, went smooth as all tomorrow. the regulars are developing at a great pace with no one retreating to bad habits. darwinism is in effect, as some are ahead of others on the curve but no one is lagging. one of the nice surprises that i got to see when i arrived was also a large number of ladies in the crowd… with that in mind and the fact that i love to run a joke for the night, i redubbed the night ACENTAS!

let some ladies go twice to fill the normal hour and a half show that we provide and everything worked to perfection.

!big shout out! ana was wrecked to the point where she shouldnt have even been out of her house, much less showing up to a reading in the bronx but, sure enough, here she was up in the blue ox. she dropped one piece in the middle of the open mic when she couldnt last any longer (i was trying to sneak her in at the very end so that everyone could give her a huge applause for her efforts) after apologizing for not being able to give it her all, she proceeded to drop a wonderful introspective piece on the state of this country’s democratic process. the piece was dope, a refreshing change to her normal high powered delivery but the most amazing thing was that she was holding on to the mic stand for dear life. not in that i.am.so.fucking.nervous way but actually using it as a prop to help her keep her balance! what!?!

after she finished i had to make mention that i have just seen a performer give her all… 100% the math nerd in me hated when people say that they are giving 110 or 120 percent, i wish people would just say the truth sometimes

‘pardon me, i’m tired and i want to get home to fuck and as such i only gave you 83% of what i have available so’s to save the rest for my other activities. peace!’

back to ana and her 100% effort– she gave us all she had for sure and it was plenty to not only light up the crowd but to also cement in me the opinion that ana can go really far in this game and make a solid impact not only for herself but for latinos and powerful women. mark m’ words.

tight poems by nina, the returning betty leon (who dropped an awesome poem), mali, lilah, melissa helped make ACENTAS a success and, who knows, i may have to bust that name out of the cobwebs to help promote a woman centric night.

the fellas were in the house as well but more on that when you read the acentos announcements.

louis reyes rivera is next up to bat on the acentos stage– dont miss it.