I missed the last couple of the Slam events here at Valentines but came back on an interesting night. First of all there were more people here, even just to watch (& thus more potential judges, though most declined), & there were more people s…
I was the host of the open mic at the Arts Center in Troy solo this month, with an interesting backdrop the set of a play being presented in the the theater.It was the classic nobody-signs-up-first at the open mic, so I took that spot, read “One Day Lo…
This is an ongoing series at the UU Congregation on Sawkill Road in Kingston, an open mic with featured poets. Tonight it was a clutch of Albany poets, Mary Panza, Murrow & Me. But first a bit of the open mic.In recognition of Veterans’ Day, the …
Jil Hanifan has been a long-time poet in the city of Albany, NY, her career going back to the readings at the QE2 when she was student; now she teaches writing & she was surrounded by her students & her many friends at the Book House of Stuyves…
We were live & so was the chatter from the cafe, but I guess that is not to be helped; we just talked louder. A good group of poets squeezed in to hear the featured poet, Obeeduid (Mark O’Brien). His poems frequently invoke the natural world, even…
Many months ago I was very pleased to hear that the Paterson Literary Review, an annual publication from the Poetry Center based at Passaic County Community College in Paterson, NJ had accepted for publication my poem “Chasing Tom.” I was more pleased…
A house packed with many loyal fans of the featured poet, Carolee Sherwood, & loyal fans of the Caffe Lena open mic, under the stern direction of our host Carol Graser (well, not that stern, really).I began the open mic with an old piece “Park Clos…
An evening of spoken word & music way down in Teaneck, NJ. I’ve been invited before but this year I was finally able to make it . An annual event organized by Veterans For Peace member Walt Nygard it is held at the Puffin Cultural Forum complete …
At the Social Justice Center in Albany, NY. A nice turnout of poets & audience for featured poet Mike Jurkovic, who was last featured in this series in the early years at Cafe Web. Tonight’s Muse, because it was his birthday month, was Tom Nattel…
Another raucous evening at McGeary’s with Mary Panza as host. The featured poet was Anthony Bernini, debuting his new book, Immediate Worlds, & he did his work by bringing friends & family to pack the audience.But first some of the open mic. I …
This lively event is usually on the third Friday, but probably got bumped up to be part of the MoHu arts festival (just like Albany’s 1st Friday got moved to the 2nd Friday because of MoHu — What the Fuck??) — Mo Who? Don’t get me started on a …
A bitter-sweet reading tonight since it was the last Albany reading by The Storm (Donnell Stewart), who I had seen at such diverse venues as Java Jazz in Delmar & the former Wize Wordz series. She read from her hand-written notebooks beginning wit…
