We have made it to 50 slams at Valentine’s! When Dain Brammage, Mojavi, and Daniel Nester began NGS in September 2011 we had no idea what the future would hold for Albany’s one and only poetry slam. Well, looks like we have done pretty good for ourselves in almost two years as we are gearing up for Nitty Gritty Slam #50.
On a rare back-to-back Albany Poets events week join us upstairs at Valentine’s on Tuesday, July 30 (the night after Poets Speak Loud featuring Brian Dorn) for a special fifth Tuesday edition of NGS as we celebrate not only our 50th installment of NGS but also the team that will be representing us at the National Poetry Slam in just three weeks in Boston.
For this event, we will not have our traditional “8-4-2”, but rather a featured performance from your slam team, Team Nitty Gritty. We will be kicking the show off with an extended open mic, inviting everyone to step up to the stage and take part in this great night of poetry and spoken word.
As we get closer and closer to Team Nitty Gritty competing against 71 other teams at NPS, we want to take this time to ask our very generous community for their support. You can help us send Albany’s slam team to Boston with a donation by going to AlbanyPoets.com and clicking “Donate”. Everything does to fund the team’s travel and lodging to the event.
We are winding down to the end of Season Two and looking forward to the upcoming Champion of Champions Slam. If you have come in first place during this season, please plan on being part of this very special slam on Tuesday, August 20 where we will crown the Season Two Champion! ILLiptical won the belt last year and a spot in the 2013 Grand Slam, who will come out on top this year?
Albany Poets, Urban Guerilla Theatre, and The Frequency North Reading Series have brought slam back to Albany with the Nitty Gritty Slam.
NGS takes place at Valentine’s (17 New Scotland Ave.) on the 1st and 3rd (and the occasional 5th) Tuesday’s of each month.
If you’re not into slam, but want to get on stage and share your work, we have an open mic before the slam.
Sign up begins at 7:00pm, open mic starts at 7:30, and then Thom Francis starts the slam at 8:00pm.
Admission is $5.00 ($3.00 with student ID). This is an 18+ show.
For information on the rules and format of the Nitty Gritty Slam and to meet the team, go to http://nittygrittyslam.com/.
