Sometimes Plays Well With Others

​Maybe I come on too strong. I've been lamenting the fact that I can't win a slam at The Lizard Lounge during the slam season, which is when it counts. Why? Non-cumulative scoring. I always kill in the first round, win in the second round, and get edged out in the third. Last night, because there were only four poets, we had a cumulative slam. Yeup, I won. But had it been non-cumulative, J*Me would have edged me out in the last round.

The last time I lost a slam at The Cantab, a rather annoying girl in the audience pointed out that I did two poems about writing over the course of six rounds, and that the repetition is what cost me the match. I looked over the scores, and she was wrong. When I repeated a theme, my score went up. Three political poems? Good. Three funny poems? Good. Three love poems? Good. One love poem, one funny poem, and one political poem? Bad. Audience not get why poet not do same type of poem? Now I understand why the Def Poetry stage show works the way it does. Maybe the world at large would rather see "The Funny Faggot Poet," "The Bald Goateed Anarchist Political Poet," "The Poet Who Writes About How She's A Poet Who Writes From Her Soul," or "The Hot Chick Who Must Be A Lesbo Because Her Poetry is Anti-Men" than be confused by someone who can do both funny and serious.

I may start toying with slamming on a theme. Then I may shoot myself in the face.

***

Looks like I'll get to split the Memorial Day Weekend Show at the Lizard Lounge with mom_star. Wooooha! Our dual voice pieces will beat you into the ground, and demand that you sacrifice all your cliches, biznitches.

Also, at the end of June, I may be doing a group feature at The Lizard. Basically, a 45 minute set with 15 minutes of other poets doing the old hits, and me doing 30 minutes of group pieces with people such as mom_star, thisisstar, mstegosaurus, Oz, J*Me, and Su Millerz. It will probably be a lot of work, but I want to do something different. The last four features at the Lounge sucked the Giant Snow Beast of Suckiness's frozen left nut. Luckily, The Trio makes the shows tolerable.

NEXT WEEK @ THE LIZARD: The Jeff Robinson Trio features. Poetry by The General, The Minister, and The Professor. Find out if their writing is as good as their improv jazz playing. Oz will be on bass, Michael Brown on saxophone, and I'll be playing Animal on drums. (Ok, I may have made that last sentence up, but you'd have to admit, it'd be interesting) Be there or be Ron Jeremy's box of Kleenex.
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Tue, Feb. 24th, 2004 08:35 am (UTC)
kattullusdude, I know that you're all concerned about principles, but fuckit, slam is a racket, sell out like you're getting paid for it, winning is everything.

And after you've won the nationals a few years running you'll start releasing your difficult poems...
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Tue, Feb. 24th, 2004 08:41 pm (UTC)
akamuuOh, I have no issues "selling out." I don't really believe in the concept. It's more an issue of how many times can I listen to myself read the same drivel without throwing myself in front of an oncoming T.
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Wed, Feb. 25th, 2004 06:26 am (UTC)
kattullusof course, the good thing about reciting in clubs is that most of them don't have subway trains roaring through... though, on that note, never ever perform at The Third Rail