June 20, 2000

10:24 PM

Poetry Slam 2000will be in of all places Providence Rhode Island this August 8th-12th. I have liked this idea and yet could never wholly embrace it. The intensity is strong but the angst seems repetitive.
posted by ZachsMind (8 comments total)

How ironic for me. I used to live there.
posted by Ezrael at 11:38 PM on June 20, 2000

I *do* live there. Um, here. There's a good art and writing scene here, actually, with folks from Brown and RISD, AS220, etc. circling the artsy wagons.
posted by billpena at 1:13 AM on June 21, 2000

heh. I always liked things that had slam in it. think about it.
posted by tiaka at 4:46 AM on June 21, 2000

I'd rather not. Hurts the head.

Having been born in Texas, Rhode Island has always perplexed me. How can anything happen in a place that's about two miles long and one mile wide?

I picked up a copy of Slams Volume I at a Border's yesterday. I've known about this more inyourface competitive style of poetry reading for awhile. It began being popular back when I used to frequent poetry readings in Fort Worth almost a decade ago.

I've been wandering the 'Net the last day or two since buying the CD, trying to find out if it's still alive in this area. Last year they held the competition in Austin. This year it's moved to Rhode Island. I can't find anything happening here in Dallas though. Guess I'll keep looking.

I recommend the CD by the way if you're into the Spoken Word genre. Tara's "next" is very sarcastic and revealing. For all I know I could be living down the street from these people. I've lived in this city for years and continue to learn new things about it even now.
posted by ZachsMind at 8:00 AM on June 21, 2000

There are slams a few nights a week in Deep Ellum. Tuesday nights at insomnia, Friday nights at club clearview. guidelive has the goods. And you could always drop down to Oak Cliff on Saturday night and visit the Oak Cliff Circle of Poets . Not really a slam event, but some good poetry. And if you need an online fix Mp3lit has more spoken word download that you can shake an angry fist at.
posted by Jeremy at 8:54 AM on June 21, 2000

Zach, my friend, while Rhode Island has its problems, worrying about what Texans think of it has never been one of them. :)
posted by Ezrael at 8:38 PM on June 21, 2000

Wow. Thanks Jeremy. I've been focusing my attention on the music scene around here and haven't realized the spoken word genre is still so intense in DFW. I'll give it a looksee in the weeks to come.
posted by ZachsMind at 5:55 AM on June 24, 2000

Oh... and I can't exactly "drop down to Oak Cliff". I live there.

posted by ZachsMind at 5:36 PM on June 24, 2000