September 29th at The Low Beat will be a night that goes down in Nitty Gritty Slam history. In one evening we will celebrate and send off Thom Francis, our amazing SlamMaster since 2012, and welcome our new co-SlamMasters Jayton and Amani. Vibe out with the tunes and tones of Truth InRhyme (aka Steven Rivera) and Zo Verbal as our double feature. Have an ultra live Open Mic and a Poetry Slam. Cash prize for the winners.
Truth InRhyme is the first melodic lyricist to hit the Capitol Region, who’s blend of soulful R&B and meaningful Hip-Hop is destined to change music and the world. With lyrical influences from Nas, Lauryn Hill, Talib Kweli, and Black Thought combined with musical and vocal influences from Stevie Wonder, Musiq, Neyo, and John Legend; Truth InRhyme has developed a very unique and captivating fusion of a handful of genres that enters your soul when you hear it. With sounds that can easily compete in today’s popular music arena and lyrical content that will encourage and uplift it’s listeners, Truth InRhyme’s live performance will leave you entertained and inspired.
Alonzo “Zo” Verbal was born and raised in Albany, NY. He was found performing through LPP, an after school program, due to him always telling jokes and entertaining his peers. The Program Director Mark Bobb-Semple saw this and decided to give him a part in a youth performance group created by the youth known as S.T.A.G.E. (Student Theater and Group Expression) and he enjoyed it. Did the part very well. Then, because some of his peers decided to try out for theater at school and didn’t make the cut, they re-introduced Too Deep Entertainment back to the Capital District, an original African cast set on entertaining while educating about many issues that plague the communities. Zo has performed in a great number of plays such as 25 to life, All My Black Children, Urban Fairytales, Good Newz, Minds for sale, WERDZ and many more. With Too Deep Entertainment he has performed up and down the east coast, numerous colleges from Syracuse to Howard.
Zo started writing poetry in 2008 and was inspired by one of his favorite poets Latasha Mcbride. He took up the art and discovered a passion for it and strength and healing in the power of words. He has performing at poetry events up and down the east coast, most recently at Poetry in Motion at Proctors in Schenectady. Zo hopes to liberate as many people as possible through the power of the arts and poetry. He dedicates each performance to his mother, brother and grandmother – “I can only hope to be half the healer you were grandma…I just hope I am making you proud”
Doors open for NGS 103 at 6:45 and the Open Mic starts at 7:00. Admission is $3 before 7:15, $5 after.
Curry Chicken Dinner and/or Side Dishes available after 7:30.
Note: This is a special edition of Nitty Gritty Slam, a 5th Tuesday night event. Our scheduled October 6 edition of NGS is not taking place. We will resume our normal NGS Season Five schedule on Tuesday, October 20.
For information on the rules and format of the Nitty Gritty Slam and to meet the team, go to http://nittygrittyslam.com.
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