Archive for December 2005
19
Letters From A Parallel Universe – Chapter 1
1 Comment | Posted by Hellslam in Letters from a Parallel Universe
Dear Friend,
Please do not be alarmed by what I am about to tell you, but I have been monitoring your universe for some time now. How I have accomplished this strange feat is as much a mystery to me as it should be to you. Accidents happen. (Those of you who believe that there are no such things as accidents are probably the same people who believe that there are no such things as parallel universes. My answer to both these questions is, Oh, but there are, there are.)
Holidays inspire poetry just like every other misery inducing phenomenon. Generally, this poetry is bad. Which is why we host the Annual Bad Poetry Slam the First Tuesday of the New Year ! January 3rd, 2006 come to the Heidelberg to experience the worst poetry you will ever love. Since we lost veteran Bad Slammer Almighty Ray, we are sure to crown a new Worst Poet in Ann Arbor.
If you have been wondering what ever happened to Ann Arbor Slam favorite Ken Cormier, he’s alive and well and still performing. Taylor Mali of the Urbana Poetry Slam writes in their newsletter…
This week’s featured performer, Elis Eil recording artist Ken Cormier, may be well known to you. Cormier began his career as a recording artist & performance poet in Ann Arbor in 1995 with the self-released cassette tape “God Damn Doghouse.” Club-goers soon became enamored with Cormier’s wild performance style. His accessible melodies, percussion-driven arrangements, adventurous lyrics, and frantic fiction readings rated highly among audiences and critics in Ann Arbor, Detroit, New York City, and back in his native New England. With his trademark boom-box background tapes and his jerky, spasmodic gyrations, Cormier is instantly striking. Think David Byrne meets William S. Burroughs. He is quirky and inventive, with a subversive sense of humor. Currently finishing up his PhD at UConn, he has featured at Urbana once or twice before, years ago, with great success. Come check out this memorable poet/rock star!
It’s also the last open slam before next week’s semifinal! This is going to
be a good one.As always, there’s an eight-poet open mic before the feature.
Sign-ups start at 6:30 pm and close at 7 pm. I found one last SCRABBLE board back from when we were sponsored by them, and I plan on giving it to Shappy to dispose of how he pleases.Hope you can make it!
Metaphorically yours,
Taylor
If Ken is touring, you know I’m going to try to get him to come home to Ann Arbor. I’ll keep you posted.
When we were out of chairs before the show started I knew the night was going to be great. Roger Bonair-Agard’s celebrity had brought more than a few folks out into the cold for a night of poetry and performance, and both he, and the A2Slam community delivered. I had only seen Bonair-Agard in competition, 3 minutes of poetry a few times a year. It was a treat to see his set, as he delivered more than a half hour of poems, most of which I had never heard. I had heard Bullet Points, and I will never tire of hearing it.
The iWPS qualifier was a ride for sure, with a suprise or two. Versiz of Detroit (yes, that Versiz) beat Karrie Waarala (formerly of K’Zoo) in the final round by a tenth of a point. Versiz has been showing up for our slam every once in a while, and told me he may even try out for the A2 Slam Team for NPS:Austin. I’ll give you the round by round on the next page.
