MUSELETTER #36
6/17/2000
This very night, your guide Bob Holman is on stage at the Taos Poetry Circus as challenger to Sherman Alexie in the World Heavyweight Poetry Bout. You can read Bob's “Boutpreppome” on our site this week, & we'll have a full report of the week-long Circus next week.
This Museletter brings you Phil West's “Deep in the Heart” report from Texas & notes & news from our readers. New York correspondent Cristin Aptowicz' column has been delayed a week by computer snafus, so you won't see her report until the next Museletter.
I'm sending poetic beamz across country to Bob & I hope you all bend your thoughts his way, too, when you read this Museletter. Happy poem-making & poem-reading to you all!
Margy Snyder
Your About.com Poetry Guide
POETRY IS EVERYWHERE AT ABOUT.COM
- British Theatre Guide Peter Lathan is coordinating the creation of a collaborative play, pasted together from online visitor submissions. Poets! Let's infuse the play with poetry. Read what's been written so far & submit your contribution to the experiment.
- French Culture Guide Thomas DeLaine's collection of literary links will lead you to French poets from Louis Aragon to Henri Michaux, and to the Club des Poètes, a must-see if you get to Paris.
DEEP IN THE HEART REPORT: TEXAS
I start this report with a move announcement and a confession.
I've Moved
I've moved to San Antonio. The boxes are unpacked, the art is up, and although I'm still hunting for some of the essentials (ATM machines, copy machines), I have found the best Mexican food anywhere. Taco Haven (at 1032 S. Presa) is nestled at the corner of my neighborhood (King William, Baja King William, or Southtown, depending on your map or lingo), and proclaims, in large painted letters on the outside of the building, “This is taco country.” Boy, you ain't kidding. I can still be reached at the pony@austinslam.com email address, and still make it to Austin a couple of times a week, so it's not like I've totally left Austin. But I'm here, in the city you really should never call the Alamo City, with a phone number that once belonged to one James Joyce. How's that for an omen?
A Confession
I¹m deeply into fantasy baseball, and this year, for some inexplicable reason, my team is awful. They're hitting gamely, they're pitching terribly, they're a lot worse than they should be. Like, they're in last place in my rotisserie league. I've had the efforts of several good players negated by the cataclysmic bumbling of others. I've had two players this season hampered with, of all things, nasal problems. So, although I could look toward my prospects for next year, I look to a different breed of grand slam-capable athlete. Therefore, I start my report in earnest with. . . .
The 2000 Texas League Report
Spring not only brings the start of the baseball season, but the start of team slam season, as final rosters are drawn up and poets begin limbering up for the World Series of Slam (aka the National Poetry Slam, held this year in Providence). Here are the team reports for the Austin Tinas, the Dallas Superheroes, and the San Antonio Puros.
AUSTIN TINAS
(Home field: Gaby Œn' Mo's) An all-rookie team this year, although much of the squad has worked their way up to the big leagues. Speedster Ragan Fox sharpened his tools in AA University Speech and Debate Competitions before playing winter ball at the Austin Slam. Jeff Knight, who managed the '98 Tinas and put up impressive pitching numbers in the last two seasons, and Sonya Feher, who had big numbers in AAA Corpus Slam this past January and was dominant at the recent Taos Poetry Circus Slam, provide quite a backbone for the squad. Power hitter Gerald Youngblood, scouted by all three Texas League teams this spring, put up perfect numbers in the final round of the 2000 Austin Slamoff, and has inked a deal with the Tinas. A perennial semifinals team, the Tinas hope that they can get to the finals this year, and wonder if they'll face Dallas in the playoffs for the fourth straight year.
DALLAS SUPERHEROES
(Home field: The Red Room at Club Clearview) Five-tools poet Jason Carney, who challenged for the Triple Crown last year, and third-year slammer Tara Sheath return to the 2000 Superheroes squad. There's plenty of power in the lineup, with GNO returning from a year playing in Japan, and with touted prospect Kontaq an early candidate for Rookie of the Year honors. Clebo Rainey, who led the squad in bombastic mayhem during his five years with the Club Clearview Club, trades his glove for a clipboard this year as he takes over managerial duties. GNO and veteran journeyman Danny Solis are reportedly set to square-off in a home run derby in Dallas this summer -- talk about your mid-season classics!
SAN ANTONIO PUROS
(Home field: El Toro) Much of the off-season news about the expansion Puros has been the bidding war between Austin and San Antonio for exciting prospect Rich Perin. The Puros got Perin, adding him to an already-impressive lineup. Consensus Rookie of the Year candidate Amalia L. Ortiz, who sat out most of the 99-00 Interleague Slams, opting for political activism and adapting and directing an all-women's performance piece, had a strong spring at the 2000 San Antonio Finals. Jason “Shaggy” Gossard, the most improved pitcher in the Puros' farm system, has added a curveball and a screwball to his fastball-slider combo, and T-Bone has quickly climbed his way through the minors to secure a spot on the Puro squad. Manager Benjamin Ortiz, Jr., working his way through the biographies of Ty Cobb and Billy Martin for inspiration and edification, promises exciting, offensive-minded baseball for the Puros' inaugural season.
The pivotal series of the year, prior to Nationals, should be the July 7 - 8 Texas Regionals. On Friday, July 7, the teams square off at the Off Center in Austin, and on Saturday, July 8, the series moves to San Antonio, at a location to be determined. Other teams may jump into the fray as well. Check the Austin Slam site for definitive updates. Getting onto the new Austin Poetry Slam mailing list will get those updates directly into your in-box.
Young Tongues Performance Festival
And now, for news that has nothing to do with my baseball obsession: the Young Tongues Performance Festival in San Antonio. An ambitious month-long series with a DIY sensibility and bigwig backing, the Young Tongues Festival is a month-long series featuring twentysomethings working in myriad artistic genres. Some of the upcoming highlights include:
- Young Tongue-A-Palooza on Saturday, July 17, 10 pm, at the madmedia Studio (811 S. Flores), which will feature some of the city's best local bands and DJs.
- Tongue-In-Cheek on Thursday, June 22, 8 pm, at Jump-Start Theater (Building B, Blue Star Arts Complex, South Alamo and Probandt), hosted by local poetess Dragonfly and featuring young poets such as the ever-smooth Charles Peters and 16-year-old Ednisha McKnighten.
- Estro-Flow and Cross 1's joint showcase to close out the festival on Sunday, June 25, 8 pm, at Jumpstart. Estro-Flow, featuring Austin's Piper Anderson and Florinda Bryant, is a performance piece exploring the lives of young women of color, while Cross 1, a familiar face to San Antonio ¡Slam! fans, specializes in the art of freestyle.
Speaking of Estro-Flow
Anderson and Bryant, who will showcase the Estro-Flow performance to close out Young Tongues, are instrumental members of Aje's Voice, a performance and poetry collective quickly making their presence felt in Austin. In addition to staging performances in Austin and beyond, they recently hosted the first all-women's slam in Austin history. The final edition of their BAM! series will be Wednesday, June 21, 8 pm, at Austin's Hyde Park Theater (511 W. 43rd Street). Presented as a party, dialogue, and brainstorming session, it will include reports from Anderson and Bryant on their recent trip to New York. If you want to get in at ground zero of the revolution, contact them at ajesvoice@hotmail.com.
And Now For Something Completely Different
My pal Brian Clements, a Dallas-based poet whose fantasy baseball team is doing much better than mine, is one of nine poets involved in Collected Not Spewed, which may or may not be a history-making reading on Wednesday, June 28, at 7:51 pm, at the McKinney Avenue Contemporary in Dallas (3120 McKinney Avenue). According to the release, “This is a 'reverse' reading since, rather than the poets standing up and reading their work, the work will be posted on the walls and the audience will be free to roam from poem to poem and read what they want. Note also that rather than paying to get in, the audience will be paid for coming. Free T-shirts will be given away and a toaster oven will be raffled. Synthetic poetry is a new method and style of poetry writing which should be almost completely dead by Wednesday, June 28 at 7:51 pm.” Remember, that's 7:51 pm.
SlamAmerica Is Coming!
Official dates have been set for the SlamAmerica tour's swing through Texas. SlamAmerica is bringing a number of talented and energetic performance poets to venues across the nation -- 32 cities, in fact, at last count. Friday, July 21, at 8 pm, the bus rolls into Dallas at the home of Dallas slam, the Red Room at Club Clearview, on Crowdus and Elm in the bustling neighborhood of Deep Ellum. Saturday, July 22, the tour comes to San Antonio for a 3 pm show at Borders at Huebner Oaks, 11745 IH-10 West. That same Saturday, at 7 pm, the show comes to Austin, at the Mercury @ Jazz (214 E. 6th Street). Don't miss these shows. They'll change your life, or, at the very least, make you want to buy one of the slam anthologies from Manic D Press [http://www.manicdpress.com/] that will be on sale at all the shows.
A Moment of Silence, Please
Glen Alyn, an Austin poet and musician whose work included honest, straightforward, and engaging work about his experiences in the Vietnam War, and his daughter Sequoia, also locally active as a poet, were killed in an automobile accident outside Austin on June 4. Please direct your prayers and/or good thoughts to those near and dear to them.
That's it for now. Remember, I'm greedy for Texas poetry news.
READER-SUBMITTED POETRY NEWS BRIEFS
From Ninian's Poetry Cafe:
P2K - The Future Of Poetry Now! Join us as the poets take the country by storm!
Where? Burlington, Ontario, Canada
When? July 26-30th, 2000
How? Check out all the information at P2K
Hope to see you there!
From Randy Gross:
Calling all poets to Harrisburg, PA! The 1st annual Heavyword Poetry Championship, a fundraiser for this summer's Arts for Peace and Justice Exhibition, is now in its planning stages. Set for 7 pm on Tuesday, July 11th, at the Saint Moritz, 714 North Third Street in Harrisburg, the organizers are designing the capital city's first-ever slam to be “more genteel in atmosphere than bigger-city contests.” Poets who desire to compete, or spectate, are welcome, and needed. $5 admission charge at the door; $20 entry fee for competitors (all, or some of which entrants are encouraged to raise from sponsors). Top prize is $125, with assortment of donated prizes (primarily gift certificates) going to runners-up. Slam entrants must pre-register by 5 pm July 7th. For rules sheet, sponsorship form, and mailing address, call the Arts for Peace and Justice/Heavyword Poetry Championship Information Line at 717.234.0672. Or visit Arts for Peace and Justice.
From L. Egan:
Performance Poets Association presents 13-20 monthly open reading events on Long Island each month. For a complete list of summer events, go to the PPA Web site or send a SASE to PPA, 2176 Third Street, East Meadow, LI 11554.
From Lip, Tongue & Ear Poetry Productions:
Poetry Workshop: POETRY 1.02, “Putting Your Words To Music,” Rap/Jazz/Blues/Contemporary, CD/Tape, Saturday, June 24, 10:00 am - noon. Lecturer: World renowned jazz artist, folklorist, storyteller, poet Oscar Brown, Jr. Caleb Auditorium, N.W. 54th Street and N.W. 22nd Avenue, Liberty City, Miami. Admission: Free (but you must reserve your seat ahead of time as space is limited - so do call me - Shamele Jenkins, 305.754.4232). Hosted By: Lip, Tongue & Ear Productions, Diaspora Arts Coalition. Immediately following the workshop, join us in the Atrium & Pavilion areas for the Black Music Month Festival featuring some of LTE's finalist poets and other musical performances by the tri-county community! ALL FREE.
