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DEEP IN THE HEART REPORT 03.01
My attention is admittedly divided right now. On one hand, there's all this incredible poetry news to type out, as scores of poets manage to find their way to Texas during the spring months for two of the premiere poetry festivals in the entire nation. On the other hand, or more accurately, in the other room, the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament has begun. The poetry notes to the left of my keyboard are fluttering slightly in the spring breeze wisping through my office, and I can hear the announcer's call on Kentucky-Holy Cross one room over. Welcome to my heaven. This is a great day to have a day off, although I'll be taking a job with sa360.com starting next week, in charge of the San Antonio Web site's events channel. And there's plenty going on in SA, so I'll be keeping busy. Heck, there's plenty going on everywhere, especially in the world of poetry. And basketball. (Watch for my dad's alma mater, UCLA, to upset Duke in the third round. That's my upset special. By the time this gets archived, I'll look prescient or foolish.)
SXSW SPOKEN WORD, AS WE SPEAK
By the time this gets out, the 2001 version of SXSW spoken word will be in the books. This year's spoken word lineup was scaled back from previous years, but Austin poet and Austin Poetry Slam Webmaster Ernie Cline brought Austin an unofficial SXSW slam, labeled the Top Gun Slam and held at Gaby 'n' Mo's, with posters incorporating Tom Cruise and Val Kilmer. (I loved that Iceman character. What a self-assured young man he was.) The Saturday night showcase featured possibly the best lineup in the history of the event. Though Saul Williams was a late cancellation, there was still plenty of star power, particularly if you're tapped into the slam world. Check out this lineup: new Austin transplant Matthew John Conley, National Poetry Slam championship team member Eitan Kadosh, Dallas poetry ensemble Ordained in Lyrics, NPS championship team member Noel Jones, NPS two-time championship team member Beau Sia, NPS two-time championship team member Danny Solis, NPS indie finalist and rising star Al Letson, Pelt author and performance poet vet Daphne Gottlieb, NPS indie finalist and funniest-man-alive Shappy, Slammaster of this year's NPS champs and fellow Museletter correspondent Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz, two-time Dallas Slam Team member and national touring poet Tara Sheath, and the 2000 San Antonio Slam Team -- you know, the ones who missed being national champs by a tenth of a point. This all hosted by PSI President Mike Henry and NPS champ and tireless touring poet Big Poppa E. Yes, it's a mouthful. Yes, it's a big, impressive list. Yes, it's just about this good every year.
IF I LISTED ALL THE AIPF POETS, YOU'D BE READING FOR WEEKS
Well, perhaps that's an exaggeration, but not by much. The ninth version of the annual Austin International Poetry Festival is set for April 19-22. For the second straight year, the largest open registration poetry festival in the US promises over 200 poets. This year's main attractions include Texas poet laureate James Hoggard, professor and renowned poet Cyrus Cassels, and David Watts and Joan Baranow. For the first time anywhere outside of a National Poetry Slam, this year's poetry festival will feature three National Poetry Slam individual champions -- Gayle Danley (as seen in 60 Minutes; she won in 1994), Regie Gibson (as heard on National Public Radio; he won in 1998), and the 1999 champ, Roger Bonair-Agard. The schedule of events is similar to previous years, including all the features you've come to know and love.
HELLO, MOVING VANS
In a carefully-orchestrated joint maneuver (actually, a stunning coincidence, if you want to know the truth), the Austin Poetry Slam and San Antonio's puro ¡SLAM! have both moved locations in the last month. On March 7, the Austin Poetry Slam moved from its home for the last 18 months, the aforementioned Gaby 'n' Mo's, to the Mercury Room at Jazz (214 E. 6th). The Mercury Room, site of major poetry events like last year's Austin Slam Finals and last year's stop on the SlamAmerica tour, was chosen in part to accommodate the near-overflow crowds the APS has been generating of late. The move brings with it a day change, from Thursday to Wednesday, but this change allows slam to piggyback onto Hip Hop Humpday, one of the best offerings of the week for Austin entertainment.
On February 27, San Antonio's new home for slam, Sam's Burger Joint (330 E. Grayson), opened its doors to what remains one of the best-attended slams in the nation. In its first three weeks, the puro ¡SLAM! crowds have swelled to over 150 (on Tuesday nights, no less), drawn in part by new resident turntablist DJ Klassen, an eighteen-year-old whiz kid who brings the freestylers out in force. The aforementioned Regie Gibson, recently on a tour of San Antonio and Austin centered around a Gemini Ink appearance, managed to be the first featured poet at both cities' new venues. Both sets of organizers, by the way, are ecstatic about the new digs.
DON'T CRY FOR GABY, ARGENTINA
Despite the Austin Poetry Slam's move, poetry will still be housed in Austin's favorite queer girls mecca. On March 23, the Austin Poetry Slam kicked off its Sirens series, a monthly poetry reading featuring an all-female lineup, hosted by Austin slam organizer/2000 team member/grant writer extraordinare Sonya Feher. And on March 29, in the former Thursday slot of the Austin Slam, the Eastside Poetry Slam is slated to start up. The 2000 Austin Slam Champion, Gerald Youngblood, will host the event along with a rotating cast of poets. The first featured poets will be the Austin Youth Poetry Slam Team (Harmony McGill, Ileana Zea, Jason Kelly, Panika Dillon, Amy Rivera), who will journey to Ann Arbor this summer for the National Youth Poetry Slam Championships. History lesson: Austin first traveled to the National Poetry Slam in 1995, going to (clang the coincidence bell here) Ann Arbor. Congrats to the team, who will receive funding from the nice folks at AIPF to help them in their endeavors.
DID I NOT CALL IT LAST ISSUE?
Last Museletter out, I talked about the developing hip factor for San Antonio, and I have been waiting for more artists to take the route I took, namely I-35 80 miles south to the land of Half Of What You'll Pay For Rent In Austin and A More Aesthetically Pleasing Downtown Skyline. Sharon Bridgforth, named Best Austin Poet in the latest Austin Chronicle poll, now calls SanAnto home, and hooked up directly with Esperanza Peace and Justice Center, the best-known political art organization in the city, to perform her work “con flama” March 16 and 17. There are still Austin connections to her work -- UT professor Joni Jones directed her performance, but she's made the move that more artists might be making in the near future. (Although some slam poets are contemplating following Matthew John Conley's lead in moving to Austin.)
Bridgforth is curating a monthly reading series at Esperanza (922 San Pedro, 210.228.0201). Taking place the second Wednesday of every month, the WORD! series encourages all types of writers at all levels to participate in an open mike format. The Esperanza Center has most recently been in the news over a court case in which they took the city to court over their funding -- a case which brought up issues ranging from institutionalized homophobia to San Antonio's arts funding history, which many contend to be less than stellar. Supporters of the Center throughout SanAnto display red and yellow “¡Todos Somos Esperanza!” yard signs, and while this is Spanish for “We are all hope,” it means “a liberal lives here” to San Antonians.
PUSH PLAY AND RECORD
Man about San Antonio Edgar Pace has started up a project to record work for SanAnto poets and storytellers. Though the first round of auditions wrapped up a couple of weeks ago, the search continues for literary work which will eventually find its home on a CD. Those San Antonians interested should jump over to www.pagetripper.com for more details, or contact Pace directly at poet@poetsmind.com.
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Two minutes left, Utah State and Ohio State are tied, and I picked Utah State in the upset... That's my cue. Please send your Texas poetry news to pinata@texas.net.
