My Acentos Roundup
Of the “blogs of note” on the right, there’s a group of them that I think of as my Acentos roundup, even if some of them aren’t technically Acentos regulars or, in Nina’s case, I haven’t even officially met yet. It’s more that Acentos is like my second home and these are the people I
It wasn’t just the scene that had changed
When I asked for suggestions for non-political topics last week, I got some great feedback. Three of the suggestions were actually closely related so I figure what better way to end the week than with some exhibitionistic introspection? “…your first experiences with poetry/performing/and your growing pains in the scene.” “How has becoming a father changed
Comic Book Wednesday
Nothing like the joys of Comic Book Wednesday to take the edge off of a tough hangover. Even better is when your Midtown Comics $20 rebate kicks in the same week 75% of the comics you usually buy unexpectedly come out at once. Yay! Tuesday’s Acentos was another great one with Willie Perdomo doing what
Nothing representing Latinos
Tonight is Acentos and the cluttered attic that is my brain has been toying with an idea that Rich Villar mentioned last month, a couple of weeks after their show with Louis Reyes Rivera. When I heard they had a disappointing turnout for it – including my stupid hungover ass among the missing! – I
The National Poetry Slam is Dead
Crazy busy at work and home this week but, along with managing my GSL fantasy football draft, I’ve been surfing around for the scoop on Nationals. (LA won by the way; Nuyorican came in second and San Jose’s Mike McGee won the indies.) Between Blogger and LiveJournal, I suspect the poetry_slam list will be rather
Remember the Open Room?
Been sent some interesting names for the show so far, with early favorites Performance Anxiety, Breaking Form and Word of Mouth. Send more. Haven’t heard back from Jackie Sheeler yet about the length of tomorrow’s feature so I’m getting a little antsy about my set. There’s a big difference between 20, 30 and 45-minute sets.
What ever happened to Surge Frost?
I met with Cristin last week for the interview for her upcoming book on slam and, after nearly three hours, we’d only gotten up to the 1999 Nationals! Hadn’t thought in-depth about the early days in ages but sitting with Cristin, one thing led to another, one story uncovering another uncovering yet another, and I
It takes a clean break to heal right
Could it be that Spring is finally here for real? It’s beautiful outside. Grabbed lunch from the little Caribbean trailer out front – jerk chicken, rice and peas and plantains with a mint iced tea – and sat over in Battery Park to eat. The tourists are out in full force and there was a
But I’m not the least bit excited
Ditched the morning sessions of the conference yesterday and wandered the streets for a couple of hours, getting some air and clearing my head. Finally checked out the Pokemon Store in Rockefeller Center. Good thing I never went in there when I was actively collecting the cards! Had lunch with Salomé at Bread from Beirut
The Revolution Will Be
NOTE: This article was originally published in POETRY IN AMERICA, Poets & Writers Magazine Special Issue, April 1999, and republished in The Spoken Word Revolution, Redux (Sourcebooks MediaFusion, 2007). It was posted to my old GeoCities site in 1999 and was recovered from the Wayback Machine on 10/29/21. Links to Amazon were replaced, everything else is