Open Mic f/ Tom Roby @ the Cafe- 3/22/11

On a Tuesday night, especially during your spring break, the last thing you think you would go and enjoy would be a poetry reading. And that's exactly what happened on March 22nd, at the Cafe, located at 5115 N. Lincoln Ave. Jumping on the Brown line and heading to the Cafe, I didn't know what to expect from this place. Walking down Lincoln ave in the dark is kind of off setting, but then out of nowhere you see these blue lights from under a big black canopy that reads, " The Cafe." Stepping into the place was also quite an experience, hookah smoke was faintly drifting thought the cafe/ bar area, and the blue lights that were hanging from the ceiling loved to flicker and dim when you least expected them to. The back room/ Performance area was small, and I heard one of the poets say as I stepped through the curtain to watch, "that's the third one!" And as I found out later two of the last open mic poets showed up late, and they assumed I was a third one.

I ordered a beer and sat back and watched up coming and professional poets alike read their works for a small audience of only themselves, I was the only outsider watching the show. The poets ran in this order:

1. Janet Kuypers
2. Bob Lawrence
3. Bob Rashkow
4. Martin Altman
5. Jenene Ravesloot
6. Ned Haggard
7. Maxwell Baumbach
8. Charlie Newman
9. Raul Nino
10. Michael Hoag

And the events main Poet, Tom Roby.
He read through about twelve of his works that he has published over his career. A few pieces which he called "riff" poems where the ones that stuck with me the most, "Jump" had the biggest affect on me I think. Tom was very soft spoken, so you really had to pay attention to what he was saying, and he had a way of creating images in his poems, that were closer to stories, about what sounded to me like his fathers record collection. I've never heard a poem like that, it sounded very conversational and that's how most of pieces sounded through out his half an hour set. This particular reading was close to where I live so I figured this would be something I needed to go to. And I'm very surprised that I enjoyed this experience, I know nothing about poetry, but from what I could tell all of the poets were very experienced and their works all had different styles from the poems we look at in class. The only thing I think would have made this experience better for myself would have been if they poets were using a P.A. system instead of a 10 watt guitar amplifier for the sound. But that aside, this was a great place to see a reading and a cool place to have a drink. The other cool thing about the Cafe, is that they record and Podcast all of their readings and put them onto http://www.chaoticarts.org/thecafe/ so if you liked a particular reading you can go back and download the podcast and listen anytime you want.

Colin

The emcee olympics are another event held at Louder than a Bomb. LTAB is a week long "festival" if you would. The Emcee olympics are the exact opposite of the slam itself. where in the slam its celebrated when a poet brings his or her vulnerability to the stage, at the emcee olympics, there is nothing grand about it. it is a sheer display of machismo and funny puns thrown back and forth. there was a girl who went up to battle, and she had really intricate rhymes, btu she was disqualified because she wasn't as comfortable on stage as the guys were and the judges were all dudes who favored the machismo attitude.

in the last round the two last standing "poets" went face to face and had to flatter eachother. since the two up on stage seemed to be good friends, this was very difficult for them because, well, it just ain't their style to give compliments to eachother. That was what made it hillarious. one dude said "I love your jeans, no seriously though, cause your pockets are at your knees, and...thir easier to get to." it was just a bunch of fun.

-Hera

Louder than a bomb college slam march 4th

Louder than a bomb is a city wide youth poetry slam, the biggest in the world.
the college branch of it started three years ago for those who just can't let go after graduating high school.
It is held each year at Columbia College, and that is how I ended up here. By going to LTAB, I was exposed to Columbia and decided I wanted to go here.

A slam is an olympic style event where there are five judges and each poet is given a score from 1-10 with one decimal in order to break ties. but the point is not the point, the point is the poetry. like one of the co-hosts said "Slam is a joke its just an excuse for many people to get together and like poetry. Its like gangster rap. Its not thug life, its hug life. I actually have that tatooed across my stomach...haha...no actually I started having that tattoed and as soon as they put the needle in, I was all AAHHHHHHHH MAKE IT STOP PLEASE NO MORE!"

so slam isn't about competition, its just so we get together and read. there were a few poets who I admire who were up on the mic. On is a girl with pink hair whose name is George. She had a great piece in her second round about an infactuation she has with a boy, but whenever shes at his house, there is always a one foot gap inbetween them, and how she hates all the gaps inbetween them, but she goes anyway so there is atleast a foot rather than a mile inbetween. There was another poet who talked of how womanhood is beautiful. one poet went up on the mic with an ipad, and he talked of welfare. Which was really jacked up, but hey thats what happens at LTAB, people talk of being poor while still looking fresh. There were many pieces i didn't like, but I can't really recall them right now because i tend to push bad poems out of my head.

-Hera

Danny's Tavern [nicole]

On February 23rd I attended Daniel Khalastchi, Dora Malech, and Srikanth Reddy

’s

poetry reading at Danny’s Tavern. It was hailing that night, and I biked over before the storm began. I attend the bar frequently for soul night so I thought it would be to see the bar with a different ambiance.

I walked into the pub completely soaked and 15 minutes late. I didn’t know what to expect. It was very dark and extremely quiet, the readings had not begun though. I rushed to the back room where I could tuck myself in a corner. I stood over a candle and peeked my ahead around a wall to watch the reader begin. There are three rooms at Danny’s the front area where the bar is located, the middle where there is usually dancing (tonight was the stage for poets), and the far back area for lounging. The room was extremely dark only being lit by candles and the light for the readers.

A man came to the stage to announce the first poet. Srikanth Reddy is a Chicagoan and professor at the University of Chicago. He is the author of two books of poetry, "Facts for Visitors" (2004) and "Voyager" (2011), both published by the University of California Press. Reddy had a dark, soothing voice, and read slowly with long dramatic pauses. He read 12 versus from his new book. Reddy mostly read about political issues but the parts I enjoy most were about his family. What I really appreciated was how he incorporated his process into his poem. There would be moments of him feeding his child, hearing the birds outside, and a telemarketer calling, “take me off your list”. “I like stairs, I like fork, I like carrot”, his daughter would say, the crowd would chuckle. At the moment I truly couldn’t understand the reasons for his poems, however I enjoying just being in this space hearing a new type of performance.

The second reader was Dora from Iowa City and is the Executive Director of the Iowa Youth Writing Project. Malech is the author of two books of poems, Say So (Cleveland State University Poetry Center, 2011) and Shore Ordered Ocean (Waywiser Press, 2009). I really enjoyed her work. She sat up on stage with two books in her lap both marked with pink post it notes. I enjoyed her piece of valentines day, humorous in a I hate this holiday sort of way. She had this harshness to her reading style, a little cynical. I liked how she would open up the poem with a brief introduction. For example, she talked about her fascination with accents, roof vs. roof and Root vs root. Even though she pointed out this is probably the least important idea of the poem it was nice hear some context.

I had to leave right after Dora. However, I enjoyed my time there very much so. I definitely will be heading back to Danny’s for poetry night.

BUDDY WAKEFIELD

On 02.28 I attended my first poetry reading at 1104 S. Wabash. I chose to attend this reading particular reading because I waited until the last minuet to fit a poetry reading into my schedule. Perhaps I won’t do this for the next reading. It was convenient and took place after my class.

The reading opened with four Columbia student performers; Nick Narbutas, Nate Olison, Daniel Shapiro, and Abby Sheaffer. These students belonging to "Verbatim" and "Silver tongue" organizations read through their poems in a two minuet literary death match. This helped engage the audience into the reading while creating a fun atmosphere.

Buddy Wakefield is a three-time spoken word champion. His sarcastic sense of humor was endearing. I felt as though I was at a comedy club. He connected with the audience by expanding on his stories behind his poems. His feelings of discontent, confusion, happiness, pain, and rejection made clear pertinent ideas. The way he expressed himself was captivating. One of my favorite poems he read was about the law of nature. He expressed the tragic life and the non-tragic life. He then proceeded to explain what was in the middle, and that is the quest for love, and happiness. With lines such as “hearts don’t break, they bruise and get better” and “my insecurities are in all the right places” showed a touch of softness and vulnerability. I was completely blow away by his performance. Buddy did an amazing job to keep the focus on him, with his flowing rap-like rhythm. It was as if he was connecting chords of music. He read his last poem in which he wanted to perform first. At this time it is titled Love Poem. My favorite line was “so I can fiddle like fate and make music.” This poem was about bouncing back, and recovering after so many years of hating himself. He was able to find love at age 36. He spoke on how he found contentment after all these years. I feel as if Buddy spoke on what everyone feels at some point in their life. The passion wanting to love, and give love, finding themselves are all feelings on which I connected with. He let me feel like it is okay to be hurt, and to be confused about life, and to show that I can vulnerable. This resonated with me, because at times I do close myself down, and construct walls around me. This is why his lines stating>”stop inviting walls into wide open spaces” stuck with me. I feel he was trying to convey a deeper meaning of living life to the fullest while being open to new experiences. Buddy performed his audio piece. This captured his two friends in Central Park, New York laughing together. He said that he was glad to of had that audio at such a time.
Overall there is nothing I would change about the reading. Buddy spoke about everything that I feel. He made me feel comfortable, and I felt as though he connected with his audience. His comicality and honesty was much appreciated. He let his real self shine through, and expressed himself as a blank canvass. He was not pretending, but letting his audience know that things will work out if you have faith. I would attend another reading by Buddy. I hope the next reading I go to has to do with passion, faith, and love. These things I connect with the most.

Buddy Wakefield At The Conway Center

Buddy Wakefield
At The Conway Center February, 28<sup>th

Readers</sup>

• Buddy Wakefield

• Nick Narbutas

• Nate Olison

• Daniel Shapiro

• Abby Sheaffer

I really just went to the reading because it fit in with my schedule and I needed one more reading.

The venue wasn’t bad. It was large enough for the crowd but still felt somewhat homie. First, there was a battle between two groups of poets. Nick Narbutas and Nate Olison from Sliver Tounge versus Verbatim’s Daniel Shapiro and Abby Sheaffer in a one on one, two minute throw down. I was really surprised by how much I enjoyed their poems. After them Buddy Wakefield went on. He came out immediately ripping on us, his humor drops your defensives and then five seconds from when you were just laughing he brings you into the real depth of his poems. At more aggressive points in the poems he kind of remind me of the lead singer in the band “Listener “ with his speech and dialect being similar as well has his rhythm and tempo to his words. I enjoyed all the readers, especially Buddy. I went ahead and picked up one of his books “Live For A Living,” which you can find on his website http://buddywakefield.com/.

The Simulationists

The Simulationists February 18
at SAIC Betty Rymer Gallery

Performers

• Cris Cheek

• Kurt Hentschlager

• Ursula Endlicher

It was at a time that was convenient to attend.

Ursula Endlicher went first; she was dealing with the Internet and command codes as well as text, audio, and dance. It was an interactive piece but I was confused on how exactly different commands affected the dance. Next, was Cris Cheek. He was working with audio, video, and spoken word. He would describe these scenes of a past reading while referring to the video, leading into small pieces of poetry. He is a really funny guy and interesting artist. The last performance was by Kurt Hentschlager it was involved with only vague, quiet music and video of 3-d model-like bodies being morphed and thrown about the screen. I enjoyed the great differences between styles of work and also how open of a medium poetry can be. With that being said a little straight poetry would have been nice to hear.