Berkeley Poetry SLAM!
BERZERKELEY SLAM — Every Wednesday.
Chaz checks in:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
—THIS WEEK: $190 In Cash And Prizes! Live Jazz!
Touring Poets! 2ND TO LAST OPEN QUALIFYING SLAM
BEFORE SEMI’S!!!
—Featuring: Meliza Banales & Phoenix’s Manifest
Destiny.
–Meliza Bañales has been called, "The girl with
the sense of humor of a jackknife." She now lives
in Portland, but her fans have not forgotten her.
Oakland’s Grand Slam Champ in 03, she is a living
bridge between (and within) the slam, theater,
literary, and GLBT communities. She was a terror
in the local slam scene, showing up and taking
home cash at will. We feature her every year for
good reason. From her bio: She’s performed in
parks, bars, street corners, universities,
restaurants, cross-country, internationally. Her
work is in numerous anthologies & mags, and has
been called "edgy", "political", & "muy caliente".
Always looking to fight the good fight, Meliza’s
work uses humor and personal stories to display
larger truths.
–Manifest Destiny is a heavyweight at the Phoenix
Slam, now touring with a new CD, "Broke Ass Bus
Pass". His philosophy on life: "just live and
become you." His challenge: "to change the face of
spoken word and music and release the real people
from the poverties of tomorrow." This is his
first Berkeley feature.
http://manifestdestinyinc.com/
—LAST WEEK: We had a very solid show. Full
house, tons of sign-ups, lots of energy, and
excellent work from our features. Round 1: It
looked like our judges were in a hatin’ mood,
dishing out scores as low as 16. That is, until
Jon Brown stepped up and ripped "Holy War" for a
28.6. The bar was set and everyone else had to
play catch-up. Sara Lihz delivered a beautiful
piece that won the Audience Choice Award but the
judges disregarded. Joshua’s "My God’s Name"
rattled the competition: 28.5. D.Silence earned a
29.1 for "Race Card", but took a massive 1.2 time
penalty! Amy White debuted a new piece and
squeezed into R2 with "Toenails".
–Our features: Derrick Brown was his usual
delightful self: great writing, pathos and humor,
mixed with super-smooth performance and off-the-
cuff improv. Marc delivered his Hiphop-flavored
work in winning form (he went on to win the
Tourettes slam next night!).
—Round 2: Lucky 7 debuted "Henny Penny Pt 2" and
Sara sang "A Song For Andrew" but both got benched
by the judges. D Silence took ANOTHER 2.6 time
penalty and had to settle for 4th. Joshua wrote an
ode to himself and earned 3rd. Amy White returned
with a rant about PMS to finish 2nd. Jon Brown
never looked back, earning high score both rounds
and winning it all by over 3 points!
—UPCOMING: Apr 19: Seattle’s Christa Bell &
Boise’s Cheryl Maddalena. LAST Open Slam April 19!
SEMI’S BEGIN April 26!!
***FINALS: May 10!***
—STANDINGS: Things are getting CRAZY as poets
from the bottom 18 kick ass and move to the top 16:
Sara L=18; Xian Drake=17; Stephen M=16; J Bayani=9;
Hillary H=9; Andrew L=8; Amy=7; Jon=7;
L.A.Kenyatta=7; Mark=7; Chesko=5; Joshua=5,
D.Silence=5, Guinevere=4; Big Nate=4; Dahled=4;
Dawn=4; Karen=4; Prez.L.Davis=4; Elliot H=4;
George W=4.
——STARRY PLOUGH. 3101 Shattuck. 510-841-2082.
(1 block uphill of Ashby BART). EVERY WEDS.
8:30-11pm. Sign-ups: 7:30. All ages before 9pm.
$90 Cash Prizes. $7 door, $5 students w/I.D.
Hosts: Charles Ellik, Betsy Roll & Friends.
Live Music: 3 Blind Mice, & DJ Agana.
http://www.berkeleypoetryslam.com
Media Sponsor: http://www.eastbayexpress.com
Yoga Sponsor: http://www.yogamandalastudio.com
Coolness Sponsor: http://www.timbuk2.com
Contact: voluptuary@hotmail.com