Albany Poets will celebrate the 15th anniversary of Poets Speak Loud at McGeary’s on Monday, January 27, 2020. The event will also celebrate the life of Tom Nattell, local poet and community activist, who passed away the same day the poetry series began, January 31, 2005. Tom had been scheduled to be the first featured reader at the new series but died of cancer earlier that day. The open mic was held that night and was a celebration of his life, work, and performances.
The evening will begin with the annual “beret toss” at the Robert Burns statue in Washington Park in Tom’s memory at 6:30 pm.
This special Poets Speak Loud anniversary event will be a classic open mic, in the style of the monthly open mics run by Tom Nattell at the QE2 on the last Monday of each month in the 1980s and 1990s. While it is expected that some poets will read tribute poems to Nattell, or old favorites from past readings, poets are invited to read poems on any theme and share in the spirit of poetry.
Poets Speak Loud is Albany Poets’ monthly open mic for poetry and spoken word with a featured poet hosted by local poet Mary Panza at McGeary’s (4 Clinton Square) in downtown Albany on the last Monday of each and every month. For this month the hosting duties will be handled by Dan Wilcox, poet and host of the Third Thursday Poetry Night at the Social Justice Center. Wilcox was a friend of Nattell’s and both were members of the legendary 3 Guys from Albany, a poetry performance group.
Sign-up for the open mic is 7:00 pm, we start around 8 pm.
The suggested donation for the event is $3.00. For more information about this event, or about Tom Nattell, contact Dan Wilcox at 518-482-0262 or email to dwlcx@earthlink.net
