how you got here

some search words that brought y’all here (plus cantankerous commentary)

why are people hating on gemini
– some folks call it “karma”

“rico sauve”
– lil known fact- gerardo is ecuadorian. mix in the fact that ecuas jus love american pop culture, i got to hear the ‘rico suave’ song endlessly while i was in guayaquil. the commercials for his upcoming concert in the motherland promised an event bigger than the pope.

poetry snob
– and proud! ;-)

how can a poet have a rapport with the audience
– by actually realizing that there is an audience would be a great place to start. anybody that thinks poetry is an entirely internal act (cough, louise gluck, cough) suffers from the risk that they will only affect one person with their poems

reppin ecua
– me and gerardo. to the fullest…

walter mercado gemini
– LOL! ay, walter mercado, how could i stay mad at you? for the uninitiated walter is THE astrological resources for latinos in the tri-state area. outrageous cosmic costumes and over the top performance (GEMMMMMMMMINIS!) makes him the ultimate car wreck when it comes to latino ambiguous sexual identity

“This is me smiling” credits
– this would be where i smile right back at ms barbara jane reyes

pm dawn vs krs1
– while i love both of PM Dawn’s hits, KRS has a much fuller library and he reps the bronx like no one else. winner = boogie down productions

“no dinner diet”
– you must be kidding. when the hell did i even think that?

tab, starsky and hutch, dont give up
– three inside jokes in one shot. nice! now where do i get to mention the ‘sesame tofu’?

reviews me my goat and my sister’s wedding
– uhmm. ok. my sister was radiant. the goat was well behaved. i was neither.
how’s that?

poems to give to fellas
– Jimmy Santiago Baca is a great place to start. hard edge and gritty with tons of heart, emotion and sensitivity. still a place i want to reach in my work.

poetry from retro time period
– anything from the ole skool nuyoricans. now its time for the new school.

Parrilla Energy Bar
– she keeps on going more than that damn pink bunny

catfight blog
– not so much. then again, i almost got into it at a poetry event just the other night. but thats newyawk for ya, we take our verse mad seriously.

good poems to give a teacher on her birthday
– anything that you actually wrote yourself.

poem about spiders dont squish them
– fuk dat. squish em.

samoans in the bronx
– two dudes that used to wrestle as “the samoan headhunters” or sumthin like that were actually twins brothers from elder ave. tru story y’all.

did langston hughes use slang in his poetry
– yeah. and so can you if thats how you best express your self.

poet blog brooklyn
– this popped up like the week after i moved to the snackbox. oh, bX, you still live in my heart! please forgive your prodigal son!

“nuyorican poets cafe” and “small”
– the crowds on friday may always be huge but the work thats being presented might as well be written on the back of matchbook in antarctica. cuz you can look at the past couple of teams, see how many people are still sticking around and growing in the art of poetry and try to present to me an argument as to the caliber of poets the nuyorican is producing. again, time for this myth of the nuyoricans relevance in contemporary poetry in general and pan-latino poetry in specific to come to an end.

love ya like the phoenix loves the ashes

Constant Craving

courtesy of the wily filipino

Google your name, plus the word “needs,” so in order of Google appearance:

1. Oscar needs to rethink women.

2. Oscar needs a stunt double.

3. OSCAR is funded purely from donations and sponsorship.

4. OSCAR needs your support

5. OSCAR NEEDS A CHANGE OF SCENERY.

6. Not a Katrina pet, but OSCAR needs a home

7. Oscar needs a good home.

8. Oscar Needs Votes!!!

9. Oscar NEEDS Your Vote!

10. Oscar needs white blood cells to fight the infection and he doesn’t have enough by himself

11. Oscar needs a loving foster home with well-educated parents living close to top class medical facilities and no more than three children to share the attention and care.

12. Oscar needs help.

if i were to tag someone with this badboy, hmmm, lemme see
i pass it on to scott lee williams!

canto jondo

last nights acentos was one of the best ones ever. too bad that this
one will remain a secret episode since there was only ONE true
audience member.

exaggeration? well, if we subtract the two organizers in the house
and then the seven remaining open micers, plus the feature, there was
only one person who was there just to listen.

these are the facts of life that keep you humble. from 100+ two weeks
ago to a room where i know everyones favorite color. ;-)

the real sadness in in the fact that mildred ruiz almost made me cry
with her songs. she is that bad ass. but thats some folks for you.
twenty-five or twenty-five hundred, they bring their a game to the
table. and mildred is a money player.

i didnt realize how far back me and mildred go. universes was the
very first feature for synonymUS (thanks to lynne) and mildred and her
husband came through for my first ever hosting/curating gig at (get
this!) barnes&noble in co-op city.
*memories, like the corners of my eyes… memories, of the way we were*

to review real quickly- mildred rocked. small crowd. great energy.
was able to pay the feature (strike the “by THIS much” pose). had a
great time. hate the damn rain.

if you are reading this and feel guilty cuz you now realize that your
presence would have increased attendance by at least 11%… good!

now get over that feeling and show up at the next ‘really big shoe’
when jess & rich rock out at 1st wednesdays

love ya like statisticians love math

ps– go to http://universesonstage.com/ and say “whaz up!”

Tonight at Acentos

i am looking outside right this second and see little to no rain. good! lets try to keep it that way so that y’all have NO excuse and cxome out to acentos to check out the quintulplet threat which is MILDRED RUIZ. she is hella dope and can belt out un canto jondo that would make lorca cry. werd.

Tuesday, October 25th
@ 7:00pm
ACENTOS
The Bruckner Bar & Grill
1 Bruckner Boulevard
(Corner of 3rd Ave)

ACENTOS @ The Bruckner Bar & Grill
6 Train to 138th Street Station
Hosted by Oscar Bermeo
FREE! ($5 Suggested Donation)

Coming from Manhattan: Exit by the last car on the 6. Take the exit to your left, go up the stairs to your right to exit at Lincoln Avenue. Walk down Lincoln about 5 blocks to Bruckner Blvd, turn right on Bruckner past the bike shop, the Bruckner Bar & Grill is on the corner. For more directions, please call 718.665.2001 or click here for an e-map

MILDRED RUIZ

Mildred Ruiz is a singer, actress and Flamenco dancer, a Co-Founder of THE POINT CDC. As a member of Universes, she has performed at Performance Space 122, Live From The Edge Theatre @ THE POINT, Rutgers Univ., Binghamton Univ., Pace Univ., Univ. of Massachusetts @ Amherst, WORD LIFE, a Hip-Hop and Spoken Word concert and conference at Irving Plaza, Sing Sing prison, City College, The Tea Party, Sister’s Place, Nuyorican Poets Café, El Puente, Norwood Pub, The Next Stage, Pace University, WBAI, WLIB, GOOD DAY NY on FOX 5 and numerous other locations. She was born & raised on the
Lower East Side of Manhattan, currently resides in the South Bronx and is a recipient of a Bronx Council on the Arts BRIO Award.