I missed the last couple of the Slam events here at Valentines but came back on an interesting night. First of all there were more people here, even just to watch (& thus more potential judges, though most declined), & there were more people signed up for the Slam (including me) than the 8 needed (it’s a 3-round event of 8, 4 & 2) so those of us not selected for the Slam ended up in the open mic. Then at the end of the first round there was a 3-way tie for 4th place, putting 6 in the 2nd round. Not to mention a problem getting the sound system connected correctly at the beginning of the event (we needed Keith there!).
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| Prof. Daniel Nester |
There were some excellent poems in the open mic from Kevin Peterson (using the handle “Grandma’s Hot Apple Pie”), Elizag, Leslie Michelle, Jessica Layton (sex as words/words as sex), & me. Even the slam principals read: Daniel Nester (a memoir written when he was 26 years old), & Slam co-hosts Mojavi & Dain Brammage.
Kevin Peterson volunteered to be the sacrificial poet to prime the judges, but sort of screwed it up by reciting “Coming Up” by Ani DiFranco (which he announced before he recited the piece, the scoring being pointless because in a Slam you must perform original work. Plus, how can you give Ani a low score?
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| Kate tries the Slam |
Since this is probably the most documented poetry event in Albany, maybe in the World, I won’t include the gory details, except to note that ILLiptical (the Wizard of Mars) won with Poetyc Vyzonz in second & L-Majesty in third. All the dirty details, including a picture of me lurking at the bar, are at the AlbanyPoets website.
Every 1st & 3rd Tuesday at Valentines, 7:30PM.
