friday, oct 12, 2001
ok- we got our 5 judges (thanks to tonight's enlistment officer kelli parrish!).. we got a score-keeper, we got 12 slammers all lined up.. and yours truly is ready to sacrifice- let's rock! first let me introduce the judges for tonight, beginning with esteemed local actor el-zee; also two sets of friends both wanting to judge- at one table, carla & isabel; and at another table, the princess and jazzcat.. on calculator tonight, handling the all-important role of score-keeping: give it up for rene (or maybe spelled renay) but anyway, we sure did appreciate his sharply-honed math skills tonight not to mention his quick-draw totals.. wouldn't you know, one of our first-time-ever slammers is called up to go first tonight- curran jeffery, our unofficial poetic mayor of hillcrest, handled himself skillfully up at the mic, and was deflowered, so to speak, in a matter of 3 minutes.. other first-timer's tonight included taylor (who placed 6th at the end of the night- an auspicious start, I'd say..), joy de la cruz, and rob iverson.. also at his first san diego slam, from my former home of boulder, colorado- tim rohrer, a frequent slammer at the mercury lounge in denver. tim divides his time between here and there, and we were stoked to finally have him slam the urban grind with us.. slam regulars tonight included cristina continelli, who took my coffee-scented breath away with her "when this place was a desert"; also flo somerville, and rush limbaugh-biographer (jus' kiddin'- it was a piece she did tonight that spurred that wise-crack from me..) micki adams, coming in 4th tonight. but what a close slam it was tonight, folks.. each of the 12 slammers all within 10 cumulative points of one another.. in 3rd place tonight, with a cumulative 57.84, local poet/artist/activist jihmye collins- tho' he's attended many SD Slams, I believe this was jihmye's first time up at the mic with us- fabuloso, jihmye! in 2nd place, with a cumulative 58.12, and taking home ten bucks- jay perez.. and with a little more than a half-point more, in 1st place with a 58.18 cumulative, it was shannon perkins, reprising her winning poem from 2000, whose year of retirement was up last month! shannon's cash jackpot tonight was $23.. and we put another $14 into the slam's "30% fund", which goes to help fund next year's slam team.. thanks to all who came out tonight, hope you had a blast.. special thanks again to rene for score-keeping; to all our judges, with a special shout-out to isabel for giving us one of her poems between rounds; also to jonathan pollard, who arrived too late to sign-up tonight due to a near-tangle with a skunk in his house.. not to worry, he didn't spray anything- the skunk, that is.. sorry! jonathan entertained us with some of his poetry after Round 1 and again after Round 2; and, as always, was enthusiastically cheered on!
sunday, oct 28, 2001
tonight's the night- finally! it's the annual props & costume slam.. I've been looking forward to this one since back in april when we decided to move the slam to hillcrest, which here is halloween central.. a good omen for the night- folks were signing up to judge before we even had the first poets in the hat.. kimberly dark, who won a slam back in september, opted to do her community service judging in costume tonight.. yes, in case you may have forgotten, we ask that everyone who wins a slam volunteer to judge at the next slam they are able to attend.. our other judges tonight included mariah, cathy and local poets miguel ortega turner and john parker. special guest ross ross emceed first round- said he was from minnesota and told us how his parents gave him a first name the same as their last name, so that people would "remember that boy".. they needn't have worried about folks not remembering him, what with his penchant for unzipping, and then unceremoniously stepping out of his coveralls, revealing himself as rosslyn, in high heels & cocktail dress replete with pink boa.. SD Slam co-host, lizzie wann, dressed as minnie pearl (dude, lizzie does one well-honed How-dee!) was score-keeper for Round 1 and agreed to sacrifice as well- her poem pulled down a very respectable 26.31 and the slam was begun! we had 9 poets up at the mic tonight, including first-time slammer ian; from the veterans pool we were treated to the stylings of beast, flo somerville, micki adams, and pretty in punk pink cristina continelli.. additionally, finishing in 4th place tonight, using judge mariah as a human prop, was t-rod aka taylor, with a 54.57; in 3rd place with a cumulative 54.93 was a trekkie-like costumed chris vannoy utilizing boom-box over-voicing on his poem "clone"; in 2nd place, with a 56.06 and pocketing seven bucks (20 percent of the take), jonathan pollard; and winning his 1st san diego slam, having slammed previously in berkeley and oakland, reverbist matt weatherman, taking home $24.. he actually won on a ballsy first-draft about joe camel; but we're going to retire the other piece he did, called "who are you dying for", cuz who in good conscience could retire a first-draft, I ask you? that would be disrespectful to his muse, methinks.. oh, don't want to forget to point out we added another $17 to the slam team fund tonight also.. thanks everyone who came out and gave a dollar or two for the cause- hope we gave you a good show!
hey- here's pictures from the october slams..
next slam is friday, nov 16- hope to see you then..
your slammaster
and faithful servant,
ro'ss.
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