Another interesting night at Bar13 where I walk in all pessimistic – I mean, c’mon on! It was a miserable day outside! – and walk out feelin aight.

The Slam was capped off by Peter from England who not only brought his own documentary crew but nearly took the whole Slam with a third round poem that only required him to move his eyebrows. (A fact that adds credence to my theory that the third round of a slam is more heavily judged on personality than content.)

The feature, Jason Schneiderman, was tight. His voice could’ve had a lil more range but who am I to talk about monotone poets? His poems were more hit than miss and once he shook off the academic style of reading, where you don’t expect ANY applause at all, he was right on track. He even did a countdown to applause technique that I may just have to go out and steal.

The personal highlight was seeing e(g) back in the house and with Guy & Seve already rabble rousing in the back, it was like 2001 all over again. Dude, we’re getting the band back together! Bonafide helped reunite the West Side highway trio and somebody even dropped a midget joke! Rumor has it that it may have been me but don’t be believing that shit.

I broke out a lil bit early so I didn’t get down with the Reservior talk which I am sure was ri-cock-ulous!

Back to more serious concerns, watching Jason on stage I started thinking that our community has it really good. Our audiences are trained to clap on command for anything from a haiku to a sestina and back again. Then you have the NYU type reading where the person goes up, reads 12 poems almost with out pause and then walks off stage to the golf clap. I’ve been at both extremes so here is the question I ask y’all- Which would you prefer, wild automatic applause (which most times is more reflex than actual feedback), no applause (where everybody can hear every single word you say and any actual applause would be hard earned) or – option 3 – a venue where the host told the audience to only clap for what they liked?

The floor is all yours…

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4 Comments

  1. i get my kids in the practice of listening to everyone and clapping for everyone — but i think as adults, we should be honest with each other. so the garbage doesn’t overfill our cups… so i say, clap if you like it…

  2. I actually prefer uproarious applause everywhere I go: the supermarket, the laundromat, when I’m having sex. How much feedback can you really get from whether or not an audience applauds for your piece? Clap bitches!!!

    On the real though….I like a good honest crowd. Even if that means that I have to walk back to the bar to a smattering of applause from time to time.

    P.S. I do expect you to clap every time I walk into a room from here on out…

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