This lively event is usually on the third Friday, but probably got bumped up to be part of the MoHu arts festival (just like Albany’s 1st Friday got moved to the 2nd Friday because of MoHu — What the Fuck??) — Mo Who? Don’t get me started on a tirade about the hot-shot Art Fascists rearranging everyone’s calendar… Anyways, this was lots of fun this night, even if most folks forgot their Mardi Gras masks like they were instructed to bring. We even got beads without having to show our tits.
Mojavi was our host, with Tanysha doing intros too, with the usual backup band & DJ, for a fun/variety filled night. There were plenty of poets, a couple of “stand-up comics,” dancing, a singer (Tai Anthony Keyes) & even a strutting contest (not sure I should put up some of those photos!).
Carol Graser, the coordinator & host of the Caffe Lena open mic, read from her chapbook, The Wild Twist of their Stems. Kevin Peterson was one who performed in a mask & with beads. I read the old political rant “Richard Nixon Must Die,” followed by Richard Nixon reading “Dan Wilcox Must Die” (there is some photographic evidence of this on FaceBook). Carolee Sherwood followed, in a quite elegant mask, with a string of loosely connected Halloween poems, like the beads.
Other poets up included Dave Alexandria, some sex poems from Tanysha Smith (“Jumping on the Bed”) & Jessica Layton (“Give it to Me Proper”), Thom Francis (2 poems about a poet), Nicky Black,
Shay (from her phone), Poetess Me (another love putdown), Poetic Visionz, & another poet whose name I can no longer make out in my notes (Sorry!)
But I had fun, & so did Richard Nixon. & apologies if I got names misspelled — corrections always welcome.
Check it out at the WAMC Linda Auditorium on Central Ave., Albany, NY.
