“Poet Rock Ritual” Coming to Saratoga Every Tuesday Starting Tuesday, Dec. 15

Just got this in from Margot Malia Lynch about a new music/poetry/spoken word series up in Saratoga.  Sounds very interesting and should be a great time, especially considering where the inspiration came from.

Margot Malia Presents: POET ROCK RITUAL
An open mic for poets backed up by live musicians.

Every Tues night
Starting December 15th

PUTNAM DEN
Saratoga Springs, NY
(where backstreet billiards used to be, an alley street between phila and caroline, walking distance from caffe lena's, the library..)
518-584-8066

Sign up @8
830 SLAM (if there's enough people...)
9pm POET ROCK RITUAL
This is going to be a very interesting and organic process. I have a clear vision of how I would like it to go but new projects like this take time to get in the groove. I hope you'll stop in a be a part of the process. I've been wanting to bring the poetry and music phenomenon to my hometown for several years and am ECSTATIC it's happening.
$3 wines
2 for one well drinks
$3 suggested donation

The Putnam Den just opened up this summer and is a FABULOUS, huge NYC warehouse like spot. There's couches, plenty of breathing space, murals.

I remember when I was going to the Poetry Jam in boston from the beginning. It feels awesome to be a part of a growing and evolving creative community. The Poetry Jam is celebrating it's 13TH YEAR. www.poetryjam.com Let's make this!

Your help in spreading the word is awesome to me.

MUSICIANS! CONTACT ME IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN BEING A PART OF THIS. If you are a good listener and think you can support the mood of any kind of poem and improvise with others. Margotproductions@yahoo.com

Spoken Word and Hip Hop at Valentines Tonight

Poetry, spoken word, music, hip hop and more is happening tonight at Valentines as The Intangible Collective is coming into town for what is sure to be a great show.  If you remember, these guys were a big part of the Psycho Cluster F*#k at the 2006 Albany Word Fest (Download Albany Poets Podcast #13 mp3).

Here is the info from Dan Stalter:

Static After The Storm
Friday 11/6 // Valentines 9PM // $5 Cover // 18+

The world ends often. Every moment offers the opportunity of new beginnings, as our past becomes engulfed in the apocalypse of our future. If you survive, the choice becomes yours: wallow in despair or effect change upon circumstance. 28 of us chose creation. This is Intangible. This is Collective. This is the Static After the Storm.

The Intangible Collective will kick off the evening with a full set of spoken word poetry at 9pm. A handful of local Albany Poets [editors note: Murrow and Dan Wilcox, among others] will also read. Following the poetry we will shift gears and bring Hip Hop to the stage. Headling the set will be Xkwisit, Killa Kev, Absolute, & DJ SG. Representing the Intangible Hip Hop faction will be Fascious, Bamboo MC, & B.Nice

For more information: http://www.intangiblecollective.com and http://www.valentinesalbany.com

One Week Until The 2009 Albany Word Fest

We are one week away from the 2009 Albany Word Fest! 

The first Albany Word Fest was held in September 2001 in Thatcher Park.  It featured poets from all over the upstate area sharing their words all day and into the evening in a beautiful outdoor setting.  Through all of the Word Fest since then, we have kept the same idea in mind; invite the poets and spoken word artists from all over the capital region and beyond to share their words and show that “poetry lives in Albany”.

This year is no different as we are having a 12-hour open mic for poetry on Friday night starting at 7:00PM at the UAG Gallery (247 Lark Street, Albany).  We already have more than 25 poets signed up for this all night event.  During the open mic we will be having some special featured poets perform including poets from Voorheesville, Albany area poetry workshop participants, and all three of this years “Best Poets” from the Metroland readers poll (Mary Panza, R.M. Engelhardt, and Dan Wilcox).  The open mic will end on Saturday morning with a very special performance by A.C. Everson and Friends.

Saturday night we come back to the UAG with music and poetry from the Rambling Jug Stompers, Margot Malia Lynch, Daniel Nester, Mother Judge, and Murrow. 

Since moving the Word Fest from September to April in 2005, The Albany Word Fest has become spring time tradition here in Albany celebrating not just National Poetry Month, but celebrating the Poets and Poetry of Upstate New York.  Like Dan Wilcox says, “In Albany, everyday is Poetry Month!”

For more information, go to www.albanywordfest.com.  See everyone at the Word Fest!

Albany Poets Presents The Worst Song Lyrics In The World

The next Albany Poets Presents (Tuesday, November 6, starting at 8:00PM) at Valentines will be an open mic with a bit of a twist. 

Last month Mary Panza laid down the challenge...perform the best dramatic reading of the worst song lyrics and you win a featured reading at the Poets Speak Loud open mic at the Lark Tavern in the future, even if you have already featured. 

I then gave an example of what we are looking for by reading the lyrics to the extremely famous song, Escape by Rupert Holmes:

I was tired of my lady, we'd been together too long.
Like a worn-out recording, of a favorite song.
So while she lay there sleeping, I read the paper in bed.
And in the personals column, there was this letter I read:

"If you like Pina Coladas, and getting caught in the rain.
If you're not into yoga, if you have half-a-brain.
If you like making love at midnight, in the dunes of the cape.
I'm the lady you've looked for, write to me, and escape."

If you do not have any bad lyrics with you on Novemeber 6, don't worry, you can still read your own poetry through out the evening at the open mic.

Remember that the December edition of Albany Poets Presents is the Second Annual Airing of Grievances and Feats of Strength.  Stay tuned for more details on the "most innovative, interesting, and irrelevant annual event at a poetry and spoken word open mic in upstate New York".

Poetry on MTV? It is Not the First Time

Way back in 1993, MTV (which, at that time, was a television channel that aired programs that featured music) had a series called Unplugged, where some of the biggest names in music would play in a small studio with acoustic instruments.  On one episode of the show poetry and spoken word took the stage and gave the mainstream audience of the time a taste of what was going on in the cafes and bars of the time all around the country.

Fast forward to 2007 and poetry is returning to the MTV family of fine networks on mtvU, their 24-hour channel that is broadcast to more than 750 college and university campuses across the United States.  There are two new "landmark initiatives"  underway to get young people more involved in reading and writing poetry.

Here is the text from the CNN/Money website with the story:

"This semester, mtvU introduces two new landmark initiatives to help inspire the next generation of great poets and poetry readers. First, the network is honored to name John Ashbery - one of the most vital and acclaimed American poets of the 20th century - as the first-ever mtvU Poet Laureate. Throughout the fall and spring semesters, mtvU will place poetry from Mr. Ashbery's storied career, along with new poems, front and center on the channel, exposing his work to millions of students who may not already know it. The first in a series of eighteen promo spots, with excerpts from standout books including "Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror," "Where Shall I Wander?" and "Can You Hear, Bird?" begins airing on mtvU today. Each spot directs viewers to mtvU.com, where they can read more of Mr. Ashbery's work and share it with their friends.

Today mtvU also unveils a first-of-its-kind opportunity for a top college poet to be published by HarperCollins as part of the prestigious National Poetry Series (NPS). For nearly 30 years the NPS has held an annual competition to find and expose the best emerging and standout poets in the country, and next year, for the first time, one of the series' five published titles will be designated as a book-length manuscript composed by a college student. Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Yusef Komunyakaa will judge submissions for the National Poetry Series mtvU Prize, and the winning student will interview Mr. Komunyakaa for an episode of mtvU's series "My Shot With..." Submissions will be accepted beginning later this fall, and the winning manuscript will be published in 2008 as part of the NPS' 30th anniversary series.

mtvU is committing the equivalent of at least $750,000 of airtime to showcasing Mr. Ashbery's poetry and promoting the National Poetry Series mtvU prize during the 07-08 school year."

To read the rest of the article and to find out what else is happening this semsester on mtvU, click here to head over to CNN/Money.

Durham becoming a national hotbed for spoken-word poetry

There is a great article up now on the website for the Independent Weekly from Raleigh, North Carolina area about the growing poetry and spoken word scene in Durham. 

"Connected to words like Siamese twins": That line from Dasan Ahanu's poem "Deep in Thought" epitomizes the rise of the Triangle's spoken-word community. Metaphors and similes dangle with cadence and intonation. The words—bled from poets who carry pens, pads and bags filled with homemade books and CDs in store-bought cases—entertain and inspire. These poets live in these words, and, symbiotically, those words live off of their poets.

The article goes on to talk about why these young artists got involved in the community and what they are doing to keep the movement going, including hosting events and organizing teams for the National Poetry Slam.

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