What a great show we have lined up to kick off July at Nitty Gritty Slam. We are very happy to announce the return of The Poet Essence to our Valentine’s stage as our featured performer at NGS #48 on Tuesday, July 2.
Essence is one of the most dynamic poets we have right here in Albany and she is no stranger to the stage. She has performed at Showtime at the Apollo (Harlem, NY) at least seven times and taking first place on October 5,2002 and November 13, 2002, and returned for the showdown winning third place December 20, 2003. She has been featured at Chingy’s (Philadelphia, PA), Blue Note (NY, NY), New Age Cabaret (Albany, NY), Bayou Cafe (Albany, NY), Lark Tavern (Albany, NY), Valentine’s (Albany, NY), Fuze Box (Albany, NY), Soul Kitchen (Albany, NY) and many other local events and venues.
At the last slam, NGS #47, two members of Team Nitty Gritty, Poetyc Visionz and ILLiptical, took the top two spots with Michael once again close behind. The slam competitors were, as always, fierce and brought our their very best. Before the slam, Kevin Peterson hosted a great open mic with another fantastic list of local poets and spoken word artists. We can only imagine what the show on July 2 is going to bring us.
This is going to be another great night of poetry and spoken word as we continue on the road to the National Poetry Slam in Boston. And again for this slam, we are back to our Open Slam tradition. Everyone is welcome to sign up and compete. You will have the opportunity to help support the team by purchasing the brand new 2013 NGS CD, chapbook, and the Nitty Gritty Slam T-shirt.
We will also have a special raffle to help raise money for the slam team. You never know what we are going to bring out from Albany Poets HQ. Last year we found 2006 Albany Word Fest shirts.
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.
Albany Poets, Urban Guerilla Theatre, and The Frequency North Reading Series are bringing slam back to Albany with the Nitty Gritty Slam.
Last year a slam team from Albany, representing Nitty Gritty Slam, went to the National Poetry Slam in Charlotte, NC. This year, a new team will be heading to Boston to show the rest of the country the amazing talent that lives right here in Albany, NY.
NGS takes place at Valentine’s (17 New Scotland Ave.) on the 1st and 3rd 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 hosted (usually) by our very own Mojavi.
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/.
