The 2012 Albany Word Fest has brought us a great week of poetry, spoken word, and community so far. We have had a lot of fun and heard some great poetry this week at the Founders Reading, St. Poem on Monday, NGS #16, the Yes! Communal Reading, and last night Third Thursday Poetry Night. The events continue tonight with two more shows happening on Central Ave. in Albany when Yes! returns to the Social Justice Center for the the last show of the season and Urban Guerilla Theatre presents Skit Happens at The Linda.
Tomorrow is the final day of the Word Fest and we will be starting at 10:30am at the Albany Public Library main branch for the annual Word Fest Open Mic hosted by Mary Panza, Thom Francis, and the Albany Poets team. We have about 40 poets signed up so far online. We still have some open spots on the list and will be able to add more poets throughout the day. If you have already signed up and want to confirm your spot or if you want to see who will be reading at the open mic, take a look at the list.
Then after a little break for supper we will be back at Valentine’s for Karaoke + Poetry = Fun! starting at 7:00pm. This is another great event idea from the mind of Daniel Nester who has hosted this show at Bowery Poetry Club in Manhattan, The Spotty Dog in Hudson, NY, and a couple years ago at our very own Valentine’s. The rules for the show are simple: if you want to read a poem, you have to sing karaoke and if you want to sing karaoke, you have to read a poem.
Both the Open Mic and Karaoke + Poetry = Fun are FREE admission.
Thank you all who have already come out to the Word Fest events this week. We could not have done this without all of the poets, artists, and supporters in the area.
