friday, dec 14, 2001
ok, I am really beginning to hate this rush hour thing on friday nights; it's getting just as choked heading south into the city as it always has been for those poor north-bound souls.. but I made it home in time to get changed into my pajama's and set up the room over at the urban grind before anyone was signed up to slam.. as lizzie polled us at some point tonight, did anyone else find it a little strange to get home from work and change into pj's before heading out the door again?! 'course, she added that she wouldn't mind having every slam a pajamaslam! so we knew it was going to be a quiet night- every company in town is having their xmas parties tonight; there are 'messiah' karaoke sing-along concerts in every little suburban arts center this weekend, not to mention the big spoken word happening tonight down at sushi, featuring the poets of 'goat song', including chris vannoy, scotch and others.. but by 7:30 pm it was apparent that we'd be settling for another 3-judge slam, just like the one right after darkestday 9-11.. we started the slam with only 6 poets signed up.. my pal dave blue, who judged last month, pulls me aside before we start tonight, and points out to me that the slowest part of the show each time is my going over the rules.. he's right, of course.. but I hate to skimp on 'splaining the rules, especially when there are so many first-time slam folk out there.. but I did try to speed it up a little tonight, and told myself that me & lizzie need to get this rules thang down to a "group piece" or something like that.. make the slowest part of the evening more slam-worthy, more entertaining.. anyway, judging tonight were arlena, at her first slam ever (hey, that's a perfect quality to be a judge in my book!); also billi badass aka isabel; and down from riverside county, at her first-ever slam, kimberly dark's hot new love interest star, and don't even be thinking there's a stank of favoritism permeating the u.g. tonight.. I got all the stats before me, and star's high-score handout tonight was only an 8! yes, it was given to kimberly, but suffice it to say, she was our taliban judge of the evening- I'll fill you in on more of the details later in this journal entry.. anyway, yours truly sacrificed tonight.. I wanted to- this is the only time of year I can legitimately dust off my "john waters xmas" and put it out to a whole new audience.. I grabbed me a 6 from star, a 7.13 from arlena, and a sweet 9.2 from billi- that adds up to 22.33, which hurts o how it hurts, but that's what being a sacrifice is all about, so on with the show.. veterans tonight included righteous babe aka taylor; also chris mosher & heather bliss and hope they forgive me & lizzie for poking our noses into their bidness and asking them to publicly define their relationship for us- oh it's not that we meant them any harm, but we had just gotten curious cuz they always come to the slam together, they always leave together, and they make such a damn cute couple, so our inquiring minds got the best of us and we just had to know- are they an item? so chris was a good sport and jokingly tells us the nature of their relationship is incestuous i.e. they are real-life brother & sister.. we have decided to believe him, for now.. and I gotta testify here, that heather is starting to kick some ass up there on that mic- she is finding her voice more & more at each and every slam.. our newbies tonight were
jennifer burton, who had a pretty strong stage presence for someone who just turned 14- yeah, she about got herself a standing 'o' on that little
announcement from her! also sherre myers, who came in 2nd tonight with a cumulative 47.7, and took home $7 at her first-ever slam! and it was a 50.8 cumulative score which gave a 1st-place finish tonight for the afore-mentioned kimberly dark, who collected $12 from us.. we also put $19 more dollars into the team fund as well.. thanks everyone who brought canned food items to help replenish the SD Food Bank! thanks lizzie, I couldn't do it without you.. thanks also to judges, especially star for being such a good sport, what with us all over her like a grom's brandnew christmas morning wetsuit encouraging her to judge, and her repeating over & over how it was her first slam and she just wanted to watch, and then finally acquiescing only to be poked fun at for being so taliban with her numbers.. but the girl was so friggin' consistent, and that's what counts most.. myself, I like a strict judge, a real stickler for poetic quality.. keeps us more closely aligned with the talent pool elsewhere in the country..
hey, next slam is dec 30, new year's eve eve..
sunday, dec 30, 2001
right smack in the middle of a 4-day holiday weekend, but we got you covered with
this, the last "last sunday" slam of 2001.. seven poets hit the mic tonight, hoping to
have their name put up on the wall of champs.. but first let me introduce our judges for tonight- poets chris vannoy, linda bauer, and matt weatherman; and from north county, poet gertrude and her pal chauncey .. first-time slammers tonight included dustin, jason, and dave blue.. dave's been to many of our slams, and open readings, of course; it's just that tonight he got up and slammed for the first time! veterans tonight included chris mosher, heather bliss, and although a regular at Red's (the open reading), someone we haven't seen at the slam since the 2000 season over at the rendezvous, byron harder; see, the man's on his way to okinawa for 6 months, and wanted to get a slam in before he left.. and he kicked it good up there on that mic, coming in 3rd tonight with a cumulative 48.0! in 2nd place, with a 49.35, the aforementioned chris mosher, who got hisself $11 stuffed into his hands for doing so well tonight.. the man even went off mic and swept the room clean with his spoken word sequences tonight.. and in 1st place, taking home $16 for his winning 52.5 cumulative- it was jay perez, reprising his "redirect" piece that got him 2nd place back in the fall.. y'know the one, "my country tis of thee, sweet land of sla-ver-y".. we gonna retire his poem for one year, as we do all the winning poems at the san diego slam.. hey, it keeps us all writing new stuff.. special thanks tonight to linda blue for volunteering to be score-keeper in lizzie's absence- linda, I'd have been *so* lost without you tonight!
next slam is friday, jan 11- it's a qualifying slam, as are all the slams between january 11 and april 28..
btw- here's pictures from recent slams..
your slammaster
and faithful servant,
ro'ss.
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