Poetry Slam at the Cantab Lounge: 2004 Team NPS Diary

Thursday, August 05, 2004

NPS Update from St. Louis!

In last night's bout were Ft. Lauderdale, Miami, Charlotte, Cantab Lounge, and Ann Arbor (in that order). The night started heavy and political and Charlotte came out strong in the first round with an impressive group piece that pulled a 29.9. Since we had to follow that, we settled on me opening with Too Many Girls, which was enough to hold down third after the first round, 0.4 behind Miami.

We opened the second round and Samantha performed Toothpaste, hoping to be the first to bring the funny. Her performance was right on and the audience was with her all the way, but the in the next two slots Ann Arbor brought up a 5-person group piece and Asia from Ft. Lauderdale brought the house down with an incredible Filipino identity poem that really cashed in on the Viet Nam imagery and momentum from Ann Arbor's poem. We settled into fifth at the end of the second round, but with a 2.2-point spread, it was still anybody's bout.

With the anti-war vibe still high in the room, we decided to send up Eric with his steel mill piece, although we hadn't done it at practice it that day, as we hadn't expected to use it that night. With five minutes of warm-up in the back room, Eric performed the piece far better than any of us had seen all summer (and Michael, you would have been proud of the ending), pulling a 29.8. Ann Arbor followed and wasn't able to come through, but Ft. Lauderdale finished the bout strong with Chunky pulling a 29.9.

Final scores: 1. Charlotte (88.2), 2. Ft. Lauderdale (86.7), 3. (tie) Miami/Cantab Lounge (86.1), 5. Ann Arbor (85.2).

Cantab ranks 31 (out of 69) for Wednesday evening. Eric Darby ranks 18 individually.

I did get a chance to swing by the Providence, Wicker Park, Worcester, Hawaii, Corpus Christi bout afterwards. Providence owned the room all night, finishing with Corrina Bain garnering a standing ovation for her moon poem. Worcester performed well, squeaking out a 3 over Hawaii by a tenth of a point, but falling just under Wicker Park.

Of local interest: Providence ranks 6, Lizard Lounge ranks 13, Worcester ranks 32. Individually, Corrina Bain ranks 6, Omoisele Okoawo ranks 11.

Tonight, we're looking forward to performing against the Lizard Lounge, Mesa, Pittsburgh, and Columbia, MO. Boston in the house!

posted by simone at 12:10 p.m.

Friday, August 06, 2004

Yesterday was the first real day of workshops and side events, so we all headed out to our favorites. Samantha and I performed Myopia at the Nerd Slam and it was very well received; people came up to us all day to tell us how much they enjoyed the piece.

The bout last night had a much tougher crowd; Ryk termed our venue "the country-western bar from hell." At least all five teams were on the same ground. Competing were Pittsburgh, Mesa, Columbia (MO), Cantab, and the Lizard Lounge (in that order). Gary Hoare (from Worcester) opened with his corporate advertising poem as the sacrifice.

The venue was difficult to read, but more serious, dense stuff seemed to be going over well, so we sent up Ansel to open with Heaven as a Record Label. The Lizard Lounge followed us with Iyeoka's "sing" poem (sorry, not sure of the title) backed by Marlon and Oz. Lizard took the number one slot in the round with a 28.6 and Ansel got us settled nicely in the three spot with a 27.5.

Samantha and I opened round two with Myopia. Regrettably, we did not nail the piece as hoped, but a 26.6 was enough to keep us in third, behind Mesa by a point and 0.1 ahead of Pittsburgh. Marlon Carey pulled the high score of the round (27.4) to give the Lizard a commanding lead.

By the end of the round, the noise level in the venue was seriously rising, due to the crowd of folks filtering in for the dance show scheduled for after our bout, and everybody was having difficulty being heard. We sent Eric up to follow two quiet poems with Von Dutch. His 27.2 (after time penalty) was quite respectable, considering the room, but Chris Johnson followed up with his "I crack that whip" poem and pulled the high score so far, a 28.7, making the Lizard Lounge the confirmed winner of the bout. A piece from Pittsburgh, the last of the night, surpassed even Chris' efforts to garner a 29.6 and knock us down to fourth place in the bout.

All in all, a bittersweet night, as it ended any hopes we'd had for semi-finals, but did allow us the joy of watching the Lizard do so well.

Final scores: 1. Lizard Lounge (84.7), 2. Pittsburgh (83.6), 3. Mesa (82.7), 4. Cantab (81.3), 5. Columbia, MO (78.5)

Cantab ranks 44 (out of 69) after prelims. Eric Darby ranks 15 individually!

Of local interest: Worcester ranks 34 and Providence and Lizard Lounge make semi-finals (top 20).

posted by simone at 7:15 a.m.

Saturday, August 06, 2004

Day two of workshops was yesterday, but Eric, Oz and I skipped town to see Collinsville, Indiana's giant ketchup bottle instead. It was hot, but not as hot as Ansel at the Rookie Slam, where he took first! As far as I am concerned, that ranks Ansel as the 2004 Rookie of the Year. I am just about busting with pride, in case you can't tell.

My ears are still ringing from last night's semi-finals. I decided to head out to the bout that included Hollywood and Vancouver, since Worcester had been honored with a showcase spot and I figured it would be my last chance to see Crisis at the Breakfast Table performed as a group piece. I will decline to comment on the performance at this time, but will simply state that it was wackier than usual, as a certain bunny bunny put in a surprise appearance at breakfast.

The bout I watched included Hollywood, Vancouver, Detroit, Ft. Lauderdale, and two other teams (sorry, they have slipped my mind). Yes, you counted right; due to a tie, it was a 6-team semi-final. The venue was an extremely nice space and there were some fantastic pieces performed; the sacrifice poem was the best piece I'd seen at Nationals to date.

I wasn't keeping score, as I figured my coaching duties were well over, but it generally seemed to be between Vancouver and Hollywood. Vancouver performed an incredible group piece (C.R. Avery's "woman on the freeway" poem) that actually gave my shivers, but it was Hollywood's Golden Child who really nailed the bout for Hollywood. Again, a bittersweet night, because I would have liked to see both teams in finals. Can't have everything.

After the bout, pretty much everybody ran over to Mississippi Nights for the indy semi-finals. The venue was absolutely packed to the gills and the enthusiasm in the room was incredible. I missed most of the first two rounds (in which Rives was apparently eliminated), but the final four came down to Shane Koyczan, Jaylee (Berkeley), Will Da Real One (Miami), and a woman whose name has slipped my mind who proceeded to kick all their butts on her way to first place. I feel like a big dork forgetting her name, too, since of the four finalists, she was my pick to win. She was extremely gracious and sweet and seemed very surprised and gratified to have won.

Edited on 9/3/04 to add: The name of the indy winner is Sonya Renee! Thanks, Sonya, for emailing me. I am still a big dork, clearly.

Finals tonight will be Hollywood, Detroit, Dallas, and Berkeley.

posted by simone at 10:15 a.m.

Sunday, August 07, 2004

Last day in St. Louis! I am totally exhausted, but gratified to announce that there was great poetry on the finals stage last night, which I enjoyed immensely. The showcase was quite good and the team from Normal performed what I think was my favorite piece of the weekend. Seriously, I was in stitches.

Corrina Bain (Providence) sacrificed for the finals bout, which was fantastic. I didn't take notes on the play-by-play, so the rest of the bout is sort of a blur of group pieces for me, of which there were many. I think there were only four or five solo performances in the bout, mostly by indy finalists, actually: Rives, Jaylee and Andrea Gibson, plus Golden Child and a woman from Berkeley. Denver brought a lot of really original group work to the stage, but seemed a tiny bit nervous compared to the other teams. Hollywood pulled out ahead early, thanks to Rives and then a duet (Get the Fuck Down). Denver almost closed the gap with a rapid-fire five-person group piece (Suburbia), but were overtaken by Dallas' strong duet ("sometimes you have the right to say...") and then their almost indescribable ode to the vagina.

As I recall, Hollywood's final duet (a job interview with Mr. Black and Mr. White) pulled out the win over Dallas, with Denver and Berkeley trailing. A good time was had by all.

The four of us are splitting up and heading home today (well, Eric left yesterday). We'll see you all soon at the Cantab!

posted by simone at 11:00 a.m.

All pages copyright 2004-2007 by slamnews.com.
Questions? Email us at cantab@slamnews.com.