We made it to the end of our first year of poetry slams last Tuesday night at Valentine’s. Nitty Gritty Slam #24 celebrated a great year of poetry and spoken word. We congratulated and welcomed back Team Nitty Gritty, who were the first slam team ever from Albany to perform at the National Poetry Slam. And we crowned a the first NGS Champion of Champions as ILLiptical came out on top after competing against some past slam winners.
But first we had an open mic and it was a full list of poets and artists, some familiar faces and some new voices. In the end it was probably the largest open mic list at Nitty Gritty Slam in the first season and we had to cut it back and leave a few poets off the list so that we could get into the slam. Open Mic host Mojavi did a couple of own his poems and then welcomed local POETS Elizag, Carri LaCroix Pan, Dan Wilcox, Daniel Nester, Treasure, Poetyc Visionz, Algorhythm, ILLiptical, Billy, Empress, and Emily Gonzalez up to the stage to share their work with the packed room. Dan Wilcox has a great rundown of the night here.
For this final slam of the season, we invited all 12 previous NGS winners to compete. Five of those previous winners were able to make it, and they made it a tough fight at the first Night of Champions. Elizag, ILLiptical, Kevin Peterson, Shannon Shoemaker, and Poetyc Visionz all gave it their all and in the end it was ILLiptical who stood tall as the Season One Champion. With this win ILLiptical not only got cash and prizes, but also a bye into the 2013 Grand Slam to determine who will be on next year’s Team Nitty Gritty.
Here is how the scores broke down.
Round One:
Elizag – 26.7
ILLiptical – 28.0
Kevin Peterson – 26.6
Shannon Shoemaker – 27.8
Poetyc Visionz – 27.5
Round Two:
Poetyc Visionz – 27.8 (Combined 55.3)
Shannon Shoemaker – 26.4 (Combined 54.2)
ILLiptical – 28.1 (Combined 56.1)
Elizag – 27.6 (Combined 54.3)
Round Three:
ILLiptical – 28.4
Poetyc Visionz – 27.3
This was the last slam in Season One, but don’t worry, there is much more slam on the way! Next Tuesday, September 4 we will be kicking off Nitty Gritty Slam Season Two. We have made a lot of changes to the format and schedule. This coming year will also have featured POETS, special events, and the debut of the Inappropriate Slam on October 30.
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