Does anyone know of any venues having poetry slams in the area?

I did the poetry slam thing from '95-2000, when I retired out of disgust. I went to the Nationals on the Athens GA team in '95 and the Knoxville team in 2000. I hear the regular Knoxville slam is still going on, but no longer at Barley's. I also hear that the material has gotten worse (if that's possible).

I also heard of a new slam that Dan Roop was supposed to be starting up in some new venue, but haven't figured out if it has started yet or not.

I suppose I could slam some poetry...

(or did you mean something other than insult it?)

DarkVader wrote:I suppose I could slam some poetry...

(or did you mean something other than insult it?)

Bad Vader!

DarkVader wrote:I suppose I could slam some poetry...

(or did you mean something other than insult it?)

Whens Thrall get back in town? Someone has too much free time

i used to slam all the fucking time in chattanooga....and my shit was (intentionally) really shitty.

Allthough my boy Ray, took home money, fame and all that other shit so many times its not even funny....he has a lot of really good new stuff, and i think he would dig this as well...so if anyone does know anything...please think outloud

I'v been 2 several poetry readingz (awhile ago), but I'v never heard ov a "poetry slam" ...

Poetry slams go like this:

Poets have three minutes to perform. They are judged by random audience members picked ahead of time. Highest scores make it to the next round. There are typically three rounds.

Then:

A young black man gets up and raps about injustice, which the guilty white yuppies in the crowd score 9s and 10s.

A young white man gets up and raps about "How To Understand Tupac Shakur" (I am not making that up) and gets 9s and 10s.

A young woman gets up and rants about injustice and gets 8s, 9s or 10s.

A white guy anywhere between 18 and 30 gets up and rants in a really funny style on some manner of hip topic and sometimes gets 7s and sometimes gets 10s, with no real way of determining the criteria other than the way the judges feel.

Repeat that cycle for 12 or so poets in the first round, then continue.

Scores go up as the night goes on so that in the last round everyone is getting a 9.8 or 10.

I used to win a lot, until it turned into that. It used to be a lot more fair. I had to resort to poems that were years old and "hit singles" to get high scores.

At the Regional and National levels, it's even worse. Everyone - literally everyone - who wins those is doing poems they already did long long ago, with no variation. It's like an Aerosmith concert.

The same team won in '95 and 2000. And with one exception, they were the same people doing the exact same poems. I shit you not.

That's (part of) why I retired.

My friend that will be in town at the end of the month is quite active in the slams in St Paul. I wonder if J might think about a mini slam incorporated into Temple. Just to see if it might be fun.

jjenisis wrote:I wonder if J might think about a mini slam incorporated into Temple. Just to see if it might be fun.

I honestly don't think the crowd would be into it.

But I'd come out of retirement if only to do my all-time greatest hit, "Why Mortals Have the Advantage Over Vampires" (which I once performed opening for Evil Twin).

with my vast expierience here, jack, i think you forgot about hillbilly jesus jodi doing black leather straight jacket in there.

YES!!! he said hillybilly jesus