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In additional we held more than 20 slams, a dozen of which were used to select the 2005 Worcester Slam team (Gary Hoare, Shira Erlichman, Bobby Gibbs and Nick Davis) and start the process of choosing the 2006 Slam team.
The Poets' Asylum also hosted the 2004 Individual Poetry Slam Championship which featured 60 of the best performance poets in the world and saw the crowning of two time champ Buddy Wakefield. It was one last hurrah for the Bijou Cinema and a great time for Worcester poetry.
But that's not all... we also took part in the New England Slam League, , published our fourth annual anthology - "Setting the Stage" and a CD of the 2005 Worcester Slam Tea, Where We're Coming From, held the annual Poets' Asylum Auction, our major fundraiser in support of the slam team (thanks to everyone who participated), sent the team to a Albuquerque, NM to represent Worcester at NPS '05, and hosted two slams as part of First Night Worcester 2006.
For those of you who dwell in the details here are the specifics.
| 01/02 | The first Asylum gathering of 2005 took place in fine style with a packed open mic and a stellar Cover Slam. Eight competitors presented the "poetry" from artists as varied as Ken Hunt, Ryk McIntyre, Anthony Ray, Matt Cook, Jack McCarthy and Peter Mulvey. Their performances were judged by five stout hearted individuals. Jon Wolf kept things moving. A round of applause for all the competitors - Dave Eye, Alex Charalambides, Bobby Gibbs, Rushelle Frazier, Dave Macpherson, Gigglez, Eric Darby, and Bill MacMillan. At the end of the night Alex Charalambides won top honors (and got his tab picked up by the Asylum) with the poetry of Rives and Andrea Gibson. |
| 01/09 | Stunt host Ryk McIntyre kept the peace at this week's gathering of the
Poets' Asylum. The open mic was packed with tasty goodness and new
voices. We hope you'll join us again.
Following the open a couple of crazy guys from Normal (IL) brought down the house. Robbie Q. and Joel Chmara offered up dual voice and solo wo rks that showed humor and insight. Whether it was a about an unintended slight over a biscuit or brave little 74 from the town of Halfway they gave us a great performance. It's no wonder they've been wowing audiences around the country. Thanks guys! |
| 01/16 | A little snow can't keep a good poetry reading down and so the Poets' Asylum provided another great show this past week. Following a stellar open mic (and a bit of a break) our feature, Sonya Renee, performed her heart out. It was easy to see how she came out at the top of heap in the Indy competition at NPS '04. Bursting with energy and offering a flawless performance she served up hot words for a cold winter night. Thank you Sonya! |
| 01/23 | Small reading tonight due to the "Blizzad of 2005" socking in most of the area. Round robin poetry at it's finest. Rock on! |
| 01/30 | Another fine night of Asylum poetry has come and gone. If you weren't there you missed a quality open mic with several new voices. On top of that you lost the opportunity to catch a great double poet feature. Kat Sanford and Ed Zeppelin brought a mixture of humor and politics to the Asylum stage this week. They brought us poems about sex, bad break-ups, love, being an American in the 21st century, rememberance, abortion rights, and working at Denny's. Catch them on tour at a venue near you. |
| 02/06 | Another fabulous night of poetry at the Poets' Asylum this past week. Despite some silly little game on TV we had a good sized open mic and a spectacular feature, Marj Hahne. The search for home sums up the theme of her feature. Her poetry touched on this search and the need each of us has to find a place to call home, be it a structure, a community (such as the International Women's Writing Guild or just a feeling. She offered us snapshots of her life, it's joys and it's low points. Thank you Marj for sharing your words. |
| 02/13 | It was a packed house this week at the Poets' Asylum for the iWPS Showcase. We had a handful of new voices take the stage and a ton of regulars share their good words. In fitting tribute to the past week Buddy Wakefield, the 2005 iWPS Champ, closed out the night with a trio of poems. Great stuff and we are the first to hear the two time champ perform. Thanks to everyone who joined us. |
| 02/20 | This week we held the first open qualifying slam for the 2005
Worcester Slam team. The slam list was full before the reading started,
it pays to get there early. Eight slammers competed in our standard
2-round, 3-minute time limit slam with the top 2 finishers moving on to
the spring semi-final (on May 8th). Competing this week were Bobby,
Paulie, Melissa, Heather, Jessica, Jen, Dan and Ryk. The five judges
rendered their verdicts in quick and consistent fashion. Lots of tens
were handed out tonight with one poet reaching nirvana with 5 10s. It
wasn't the top poet of the night however.
At the end of the night, with all the score checked and double checked, the winner was Jen with Bobby taking second place. Thanks to all the slammers for their words, the judges for their hard work and fast scores and to the audience for keeping the enthusiasm high. Visit the Slam page to check out the scores. |
| 02/27 | A packed night of poetry at the Asylum this week as the 2005
Worcester Youth Slam Team Finals took the stage after an
overflowing open mic. The talented poets from the Speak Out Poetry
Collective, led by youth slammaster Alex Charalambides, took part
in a 3 round slam. The top four finishers have formed the team that
will represent Worcester at the International Youth Poetry Slam in April.
A round of applause for all the youth slammers who took part in tonight's event: Winter, Raphael, Vo, Gigglez, Michelle, Sam and Danny. Thanks to the judges for taking on a difficult job and to the audience for keeping the poetic vibe humming. After resolving a small glitch (nothing like losing a judge during the first poem of the third round) the finals scores were tabulated and the winners were announced. Congratulations to the 2005 Worcester Youth Slam Team - Sam Gaskin, Truong Vo, Danny Balel and Gigglez. Scores can be found here. |
| 03/06 | Another doozy of a reading at the Poets' Asylum this week. First there was the overflowing crowd. Then there was the 24 poet open mic. Last but certainly not least there was the amazing feature, Seren Divine Brevigleiri. Offering a mix of musically accompanied work and solo pieces Seren showed off mostly new work not heard at the Asylum before. From hot erotica to sensitive words about loss and a short piece about the Blackstone River Seren brought good poetry to the Java Hut. Thanks to her accompanist, Danielle, for sharing her talent too. |
| 03/13 | The house was packed with regulars and visitors as this week's Asylum
brought Jace Langone to our stage. Jace performed poems and
blues songs from his new collection with the able assistance of
guitarist Shugi Shaoto. Ranging from rants against the obsession with
reality TV to stories of friendship to sex his words captured the
attention of the audience.
Jace dedicated the collection, as well as his feature, to the memory of his friend, C.L. Fernando, who died during the tsunami disaster in Sri Lanka on December 26, 2004. All the money raised in the bucket pass as well as the profits from book sales are being donated to the tsunami relief effort. Thank you for sharing your words and heart with us Jace! |
| 03/20 | It was another jam packed night at the Asylum with a short but sweet
open mic, a kick ass feature by Mighty Mike McGee and a rockin' slam
featuring 8 smokin' hot poets. Host and slammaster Jon Wolf was joined
in the hosting duties by Sou MacMillan. A couple of new voices graced
the open mic; welcome and please come again.
A full house greeted Mike's second visit to the Asylum. His set was mostly about the funny such as "Like" with moments of intense wisdom as found in the the amazing piece "Open Letter to Neil Armstrong". His 30 minute set had the gathered clutching their sides in joy and seeking out his merch after he left the stage. Thanks for joining us Mike, have a safe trip to Alaska. Following the open eight hearty competitors took the stage in the poetic jousting match know as Slam. Competing this week were Melissa, Ryk, Paulie, Ansel, Jessica, Eric, Dave and Heather. Three time penalties hit the competitors and they made the difference between second and third place. Special thanks to Christina for her sacrifice poem, our fine, fine judges and the audience for keeping the energy up. At the end of the night the top two finishers in the slam were Ansel and Ryk. They move on to semi-finals on May 8th were they join Jen and Bobby (and the winners of the upcoming slams on April 3rd & April 17th). Visit the Slam page to check out the scores. |
| 03/27 | Great words were flowing along this week at the Asylum. With a styling new stage (thanks Jon, Jeff, Bill, Dave and whoever else labored into the wee hours of the morning) the full up open mic rocked the room with covers of Ken Hunt, fresh words and old favorites. Following the open Ria Thompson took the stage as our feature. Ria brought a powerful voice to our new stage, setting a standard for upcoming features. Her work covered the gamut including pieces on politics, reality TV, sex, body image, love and the F word. Half way through her set she brought up fellow poet and tour partner KJ. He shared a trio of well crafted poems including an emotional his friend Melissa. Thank you both for sharing your talent and words with us. |
| 04/03 | Congratulations to the winners of this week's slam - Shira and Eric! They move on to the semi-finals match on May 8th. A round of applause for our other competitors, Jayce (a first timer) and Gary plus our sacrifice Christina, the judges, and host with the most Sou MacMillan. |
| 04/10 | Another packed house at the Asylum. Uber full open mic with a couple of new voices; y'all come again. Half way through the open traveling poet Alvin Lau of Chicago gave us an energetic spotlight set of four poems. Following the close of the open the seven person Clark Slam Team took the stage to show us what they've been doing. With practiced ease they moved between poems, building off each others words. Thank you all for sharing yourselves with us. |
| 04/17 | A fun-filled night at the Poets' Asylum saw Jai and April
winning the final qualifying slam of the season. They will join
the winners of the past 3 slams on May 8th for a four-round semi-final
slam. Special thanks to Corrina Bain for her sacrifice poem and our
nifty pack of judges for their hard work. Congrats to all the
competitors for your excellent words.
In other Slam related news Asylum semi-finalists Ryk McIntyre and Eric Darby made the Cantab team when they held their team slam-off. Best of luck guys. This moves Dave Mac and Gary Hoare into the semi-final slam on May 8th along with Jen, Bobby, Ansel, Shira, Jai and April. Semi-finals is a four-round bout, all three minutes, and finals is a three-round bout, all three minutes. There is a no repeat rule between semi-finals and finals. Translation: you must have seven poems prepared to make it all the way through. |
| 04/24 | It was a word filled night at the Poets' Asylum with a full open mic and an amazing feature. Good poetry was on tap throughout the night. Tod Caviness, all the way from Orlando, FL, gave a polished performance. He shared toy box memories, words from his mother, and a brilliant evil genius persona piece. His honest style and open humor drew an already enthusiastic crowd to a frenzy. Thanks for the words Tod, toodle pip old chap. |
| 05/01 | A fine night at the Asylum this week. Excellent work in the open mic with a special welcome and thank you to first time reader Emily; please share your words again. Following the open Casey Rocheteau and Brian Ellis of Hampshire College took the stage as our feature. They offered up a tasty mix of performance poetry for our pleasure. Their diverse selection touched on subjects such as racism, identity, drugs, longing, and the nature of life. This was a tight set from two talented poems. Thanks for the good words Casey and Brian. |
| 05/08 | Another great night at the Poets' Asylum. Following a fine open mic
seven hearty poets took the stage for the Spring Semi-Final Slam.
An amazing mix of serious, silly, weighty and ethereal poetry from the
competitors - Ansel, Gary, April, Jen, Dave, Shira and Bobby. After
four rounds of hard work the judges decision was revealed. A round of
applause for all the competitors, judges, co-hosts Sou and Jon,
sacrifice Eric Darby and the awesome audience.
Moving on to the Slam Finals on May 22nd are Shira, Gary, Dave and Bobby. Scores and time penalties can be found on the Slam page. |
| 05/15 | Simply amazing. That's how to describe Oscar Bermeo's feature at the Asylum. A BRIO Award winning poet from New York, he brought a fresh voice to our stage. His full length feature covered a mix of topics, ranging from bus riding romance to dancefloor mercy. Perhaps most powerful were his shorter works, caramel poems as our hosts call them. We are so glad you joined us Oscar. Big thanks to your traveling companions, amazing poets in their own right, for sharing their words in our open mic. |
| 05/22 | First up we had the jam packed Last Chance Slam. Nine
competitors took part in this 4 round slam. A round of applause please
for Urban, Rachel, Christina, Jeff, Adam, Dave G. Danny, Ansel and
Jessica A. When the judges wisdom was tabulated Adam stood at
the top of scores. He had a brief reprieve during the open mic before
the main event of the evening.
Following the open mic we held the 2005 Worcester Slam Team Finals. Eight strong competitors took the stage and it was a high scoring slam from the onset. The slammers for the 3-round final were Jen, Ed, Shira, Bobby, Nick, Dave Mac, and Gary. Time penalties definitely effected the outcome; remember kids, it's only a game. Great work from everyone involved. Scores and time penalities from the Last Chance Slam can be found here. Congratulations to the 2005 Worcester Slam team - Gary Hoare, Shira Erlichman, Bobby Gibbs and Nick Davis! They will represent Worcester at the 2005 National Poetry Slam in Albuquerque, NM from August 10 through 13. Scores and time penalties from Finals can be found on the Slam page. Thanks to everyone who made this an amazing night of poetry! |
| 05/29 | It was a quiet night at the Poet's Asylum. Holiday weekends will do that. We held an extended open mic. Thanks to everyone who shared their excellent words. |
| 06/05 | Our scheduled feature couldn't make it due to a scheduling malfunction. In place of the feature we held a just-for-fun written right now style slam. Eight competitors took part and the winner of the night was the wacky and talented Eric Urban. |
| 06/12 | A super night at the Asylum with a packed house, a full up open mic and an amazing feature. Simone Beaubien gave us a excellent set with pieces that demonstrated her diverse repertoire. With practiced ease she shared dreams of arcade retirement, the hurt of broken relationships, the less than glamorous life of an EMT and so much more. Thank you Simone! |
| 06/19 | It was a fine night at the Asylum. The open mic was kickin' with a handful of new voices and a cast of regulars. A special welcome to the gaggle of recent high school grads hanging out in the back; thanks for sharing your words and listening to ours. Following the open Ellen Mary Hayes and Stephanie Weber took the stage as our feature. They gave us a 45 minute set, a mixed bag of styles and presentation. Thank you ladies. |
| 06/26 | This week the Asylum Auction took center stage. Thanks to everyone who came out to support the slam team. Throughout the extended open mic hosts/auctioneers Sou and Jon sold off donated items ranging from original art work to Red Sox tickets. All the proceeds help to send the team to NPS '05. Between the auction and bucket pass we raised a little over $1100. |
| 07/03 | Future folk-music star and rock star poet Sam Gaskin was our feature on this fine holiday weekend. Sam's set included a mix of acoustical music and poetry including his submission to this year's Asylum Anthology, Weird Al Yankovic vs. Kurt Cobain Death Cage Match Supreme XXXIV. An enthusiastic performer, Sam's performance brought peals of laughter and applause. Thanks Sam for making our holiday jolly and bright. |
| 07/10 | Another excellent feature at the Asylum this week with Ragan Fox sharing an energetic and enthusiastically received set. His poems ranging from well established crowd favorites to hard edge biting commentary to touchingly tender remembrances. The audience ate it all up and rewarded his efforts with thunderous applause and a line waiting to chat up the author is Heterophobia. |
| 07/17 | This week the Poets' Asylum welcomed Andrea Gibson as our feature. She brought us a self-described "very gay set" full of energy and emotion. Her poetry covered a variety of topics from kindergarten questions to marriage rights. Thank you for sharing your words with us Andrea. |
| 07/24 | The New
England Slam League took over the Asylum this week and loads
of fun was had by all. After another packed open mic teams from
Worcester, the Lizard Lounge and a super special pick-up team took the
stage in the final regular NESL bout of the season. This 6 round bout
had a 4 minute round, two 3 minute rounds, two 2 minute rounds and a
single 1 minute round. The poetry was flying and the performers where
giving it there all. Some of what they were giving was pretty original,
trust me, you had to be there. At the end of the night the Lizard
Lounge were the clear winners with the super special pick-up team and
Team Worcester filling in spots 2 and 3.
Thanks to everyone who made this such a fun night. Taking the stage this week for Team Worcester were Bobby Gibbs, Shira Erlichman, Nick Davis, Gary Hoare and Sam Gaskin. Representing the Lizard Lounge were Ross Johnson, Kit Yan, Marlon Carey, Iyeoka Okoawo, and Adina Martinboro. Props to the last minute replacement for the Portland, ME team who were unable to join us - Alex Charalambides, Bill MacMillan, Ryk McIntyre and Andrew Watt. |
| 07/31 | Chris Fortin was our feature this week and he rocked the mic. Chris shared an excellent set with images of god, poems for ex-girlfriends, emotional remembranceand words written in silence. He covered a poem by Dave Blank and used it as a jumping point for a couple of his own pieces. He even shared some new work, something we love to hear. |
| 08/07 | What a fantastic night of poetry at the Asylum this week. The packed open mic was stellar. Three-fifths of the Providence Slam team were in the house and gave us a sample of what they'll be doing at Nationals. Our feature for the night was the 2005 Worcester Slam team - Nick Davis, Shira Erlichman, Bobby Gibbs and Gary Hoare. They showed us what three months of practice and hard work can produce with excellent individual performances and some amazing multi-voice pieces. No matter what happens in Albuquerque this week Worcester can be proud of it's representatives. Best of luck gang and remember, have fun. |
| 08/14 | While the team was away the poets did play. A great neight at the Asylum was had by all who journeyed through the rain and sound effects to join in the fun. Welcome to the new voices that graced our open mic this week; be sure to join us again some time soon. Following the open Dave Macpherson gave us a killer set as the only member of the Other Team able to make it to the reading tonight. Dave shared a diverse array of poems ranging from comic book homage to forbidden longings to quick bit of poetic roasting for the missing Other Teamers. A fabulous night from one of our best. |
| 08/21 | This week brought fun and laugh filled night to the Asylum as the annual Anti-Slam was held. Following an excellent open mic members of the 2005 Worcester Slam team performed their amazing slam poems in the style of our slammaster's choosing. If you weren't there you missed Bobby Gibbs performing as a sportscaster, Shira Erlichman kicking out an astonishing Prince imitation, Gary Hoare as a computer generated voice and the not one but two Nick Davis stunt doubles (Jon Wolf and good sport Eric Darby) showing us the poetic stylings of a couple of well-known slam personalities. It was all in good fun and provided a good bit of laughter for the team and audience. |
| 08/28 | Packed house this week at the Asylum weekly reading. Welcome to all the new voices that graced our stage. Please join us again. Following the open mic Peddlar of the Highway Poets took the stage as our feature. He shared some great poetry including old favorites and some new stuff he's never read anywhere before. An excellent night all around. |
| 09/04 | It was a funky holiday weekend at the Asylum. Special welcome to the new voices who blessed our open mic tonight; please come again. Our feature this week was Caroline Harvey. She shared a variety of works, touching on many emotion drenched subjects. She spoke of pain and healing, offering us a glimpse of her journey. Thank you Caroline for sharing your voice. |
| 09/11 | Tony Brown was the feature this week. As he has done many times before
he delivered a well rounded feature, mixing mostly newer pieces with
some lesser known older works. He easily held the attention of the
crowded room, working it only as seasoned performer. Tony performed a
blend of polical, humorous and personal reminiscences poems, balancing
the mood of his performance. If you missed it you missed one of the
best.
A special bucket pass was made during the open mic with the proceeds going to the Red Cross for Katrina Relief efforts. Tony generously donated money collected from his chapbook sales to the till. Thanks to everyone who threw a buck or two in. We'll be sending a check for $114 out later this week. |
| 09/18 | A packed Java Hut was the scene this week for the return of two-time individual world poetry champion Buddy Wakefield to the Poets' Asylum. Performing a mix of newer work and old favorites Buddy had the audience following his highs and lows with rapt attention. There were giveaways, stories from the road and a loud standing ovation to cap off the night. |
| 09/25 | Another fine week at the Poets' Asylum with a quick moving open mic and a strong feature. Truong Vo and Danny Balel were members of the 2005 Worcester Youth Slam team. They took the stage in a tight 30 minute set that showed depth and promise. Time will tell whether these talented youth slammers will challenge the long time slammers as the next Asylum slam season gets under way in mid October. Thanks for the good words and hard work guys. |
| 10/02 | Erich Hagan was our feature this week in his first ever feature. Erich shared a tightly constructed set. His set included a sweet little persona poem about Sirus, poems about relationships, past mistakes and a delightful cover from the City Lights Anthology. Nice work from this up and comer. |
| 10/09 | Stellar night at the Asylum this week. The open night included some great poetry from Dave K., a rare visit from Eleanor Vincelette and whole contingent of folks from Lowell. Following the open Denver's Paulie Lipman gave us a high energy feature that included revival style opener about dangers of potential and wound down to the mad stylings of the DJ poet. In between there was great words, impassioned shouts about beauty and a salute to survivors. Another amazing feature, thanks Paulie. |
| 10/16 | Theoretically the Asylum held the first qualifying slam of the
2005/2006 Slam Season last night. Your intrepid webmaster wasn't there
so he doesn't have the skinny on who competed, who won or even if there
was a slam at all. Drop a note to webmaster@poetsasylum.org
if you have any info to share and you could earn my fleeting gratitude.
:-)
Update on 10/24 - Danny Balel and Gigglez were the winners of the 10/16 slam. |
| 10/23 | This week the Poets' Asylum held a just-for-fun Sock Puppet Slam. Competitors were provided with clean socks and all the materials for crafting a puppet during the open mic. Host Sou MacMillan built a fabulous stage for the night. The competition was fierce. At the end of the night Nick Davis pulled out the win. |
| 10/30 | Ryk McIntyre was the feature this week at the Asylum and he did not disappoint. From his opening cover of a short story by Steven Dobbs to his closing poem The Only Place To Go Is Here he shared well rounded set. Also in his set were a homage to Batman and a tasty poem about a lady of the night. The gathered gave Ryk a standing ovation for his efforts and cobbled up his new chapbook, Love is a Flashlight. Thanks Ryk. |
| 11/06 | Rich Villar was our feature this week and he rocked the house. Hailing from New York be brought us tasty poetry from A to Z. He started the feature with a cover of a poem by Adrian Castro, followed it up with an Ode to the Gatway Arch and ran the audience from there. He gave us short poems, bilingual poem, slam poems and a whole bunch of other stuff as well. An excellent feature that you really should have been there for. Thanks Rich! |
| 11/13 | This week Kim Johnson featured at the Asylum. Here's what randomly
queried members of the audience thought of her performance.
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| 11/20 | Richard Loranger was our feature this week at the Poets' Asylum. His set started with a number of excellent pieces including a series of short pieces from his chapbooks Hello Poems and The Day Was Warm and Blue. He moved into some longer works from his full size book Poems for Teeth, offering us words from the teeth of entropy, anger and exhibition. A fine feature. Thank you Richard. |
| 11/27 | Congratulations to MC Spiel and Ryk McInytre on winning the top two spots in the qualifying slam this past Sunday. Spiel and McIntyre move on to the Winter Semi-final and iWPS Slam-off on January 1st. |
| 12/04 | Our scheduled feature and her emergency replacement were unable to make it this week. :-( An extended open mic was held instead with some excellent poetry. We hope to reschedule Mahogany Browne for another time. |
| 12/11 | Congratulations to Urban and Nick Davis on taking the top two spots in the open qualifying slam we held this week. They move on to the Winter semi-final on January 1st. |
| 12/18 | Congratulations to the winners of this weeks open qualifying slam, Gary Hoare and Bobby Gibbs. They move on to the Winter Semi-final and iWPS Slam-off which will be held in two weeks. |
Looking for info on our past events? We have lists of info going back to 2001.
| 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001 |
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