If you’ve never heard of The Fugitives, I somewhat envy you. Because on Thursday you can experience them for the first time and fall in love. Because you can marvel at their blend of spoken word, enchanting melodies, accordion riffs and overall charming stage presence.

The Fugitives is a spoken word-folk band coming to The Drake Underground on THURSDAY JULY 11, 8pm. Cover won’t be more than $10 I think.

For those familiar with the Slam scene, you might recognize two key members of the Fugitives: Barbara Adler and Brendan McLeod (the latter is featuring at TPS in July). Both talented wordsmiths and accomplished performers, both great to chug beers with, too.

If there’s any non-slam event to check out in July, this is it, my friends.

See you Thursday.

On June 21, Toronto Poetry Slam will feature 6 is 9, a spoken word artist from St. Paul, Minn. To learn more about his creative process and slam experience, Toronto Poetry Slam asked him a few questions recently. Get to know 6 is 9 before he takes the stage at the Drake Hotel:

TPS: What got you into spoken word/poetry?

6 is 9: My best friend in high school was a poet. He inspired me, and I wrote my first poem for a girl. I didn’t get the girl, but I got poetry, and I stuck with it.

TPS: What kind of topics and themes are you attracted to when you write?

6: I’m known (possibly notorious) for writing a LOT, and about virtually anything. Among my favorite poems right now are about Chucky the killer doll, crazy kindergarteners, a love poem to a cancer patient, and a persona piece about an old man losing his grip.

TPS: Every city has its own poetic flavour, its own style (sometimes). What is St. Paul like? How would you describe it to someone who has never been there before?

6: I really enjoy the Twin Cities poetry scene right now. We’re colorful and diverse in styles and content, and very supportive of each other on the whole. We truly value quality writing, and have regular writing workshops at Common Roots Cafe where they let us use the back room. Comedy tends to do well here at slams, but serious work is rewarded as well.

TPS: You’re coming to Toronto for the first time. What are you hoping to achieve with your gig at TPS? Canadian fans? Merch sales madness? Smarties to take back home (the U.S. doesn’t have Smarties)?

6: I want to put on a great show. I want to sell stuff. And I want to see a good bit of Toronto, since the weather should be nicer. And I want to spread the word that the Twin Cities is for real. I’m counting down the days…

Every year, TPS puts on the Anything Goes show where competitors are encouraged to break the rules. And break them they did.

In the first round alone, we heard a poem entirely in French courtesy of Jocelyn; Dust n’ Mumbles rocked the mic for the first team piece of many; That Brown Bastard covered Fernando Raguero with a piece about anal fissures; That White Bastard followed with a satirical piece/ode to That Brown Bastard’s I’m So Brown poem; and Krystle challenged three poets from the crowd — Valentino, TBB, Amy David — to come up with poems on the spot using three words shouted from the audience: apple, vodka, cunnilingus.

Let’s just say her 5:10 chaotic masterpiece was welllll worth it.

The aforementioned Amy David wowed the judges in the first round, netting her a 29 with an hilarious piece about banning hetero marriage. The Chicago slam poet complemented her poem with a great bridesmaid dress.

Also, Made Wade impressed the judges and crowd. In the first round, with the help of beatboxer Scott Jackson, he netted a 29.4, instantly vaulting him into the 2nd round.

Before the wild competition resumed, we got a whallop of comedy thanks to comedy troupe The Imponderables. The four-person troupe had the audience gaspin with laughter during their skits and pre-made videos. Yes, they simulated sexual positions on stage. Yes, they screened a trailer called The Waldo Ultimatum. And yes, none of us will forget the phrase “mini pants” for a long long time.

The second round gave us a smattering of team pieces from Dust, and Wade once against dropped his genie poem with some beatboxin love to add some hiphop heft. Newcomer Darya was passionate on stage with every verse, and we can’t wait to see what she has in store for us next time.

Amy David got a tad swazzled through the night, as she admitted on stage, but still rocked it hard enough to make it to the third round. Her poems hit the mark, and got serious laughs from the crowd. But it was Made Wade’s “bus fare” poem that took top prize in the third, earning him $80 and wild applause.

Once again, the poets came through with some imaginative creativity and challenged themselves and the audience. What will happen next year? Animal acts? Improv juggling? Guest appearance by Joey from Degrassi?

The next slam is on a Sunday night, June 21, featuring 6 is 9 from St. Paul. Also, be sure to check out the amazingly awesome Rustbelt Poetry Slam going down May 28 to 31 at various venues. For info go to www.rustbelttoronto.com

The Toronto Poetry Project (the group who bring you the Toronto Poetry Slam @ the Drake) is partnering with Up From the Roots to announce a ground-breaking slam poetry event for this city.

With the help of Mid-West poetry ambassadors the Toronto Slam Fam, we will be hosting a four-day slam poetry festival called “The Rustbelt Poetry Slam”. The Rustbelt has been a Midwestern poetry slam tradition for a decade with Toronto’s Slam Fam sending a team down to the US for the past 3 years. For their special tenth anniversary, the first non-Midwestern US city to have the honour to host this event is Toronto.

On May 28, the fest starts off with a Wild Card Slam. There will be a slam open to anyone for two spots on a team that will feature Toronto Poetry Slam’s Tomy Bewick and UFTR’s Dwayne Morgan at the Dominion on Queen ($5 at the door).

On the 29th, preliminaries begin at the Poor Alex Theatre (772A Dundas St W ) at 7pm with a DJ after the two preliminary bouts.

The next day (May 30) at noon the second preliminariies will be held at the Trane studio (964 Bathurst Ave). Oh yes, daylight and poetry slam, together at last.

Finals will be held Sat. May 30 at the historic Bloor Cinema. This is HUGE, because it will be the first time a poetry slam has been hosted at Bloor Cinema. (If there’s one event to check out during Rustbelt, this is it)

Finally, on the Sunday all the hosts and some of the competitors will be performing for free at the first Pedestrian Sunday at Kensington Market for the season. Most likely near Uprising.

So why should you come?

1/ If you were not at the CFSW when Toronto was the host you probably haven’t felt the energy a team slam poetry event creates. With over 500 rabid slam poetry fanatics. Here’s your chance to feel that energy in the heart of the Annex!

2/ A number of the teams coming have poets who have featured at the Toronto Poetry Slam (Will Evans, Dave Nichols), competed on national stages such as; CFSW and US Nationals (Dwayne Morgan, J.W. Baz), and world stages such as; IWPS, WOWS, (Versiz, Barbara Fant)

3/ The Toronto team features three past Toronto Poetry Slam champions (the allegedly retired Dane Jah Ras, gypsy eyes and Made Wade) and we also have Tomy Bewick as a TPS representative on the Wild Card team.

4/ Local and guest hosts include the hosts of the second oldest slam in the world (Steve and Deb Marsh), the 2007 Individual World Champion (Ed Mabrey), multi - Toronto Poetry Slam team member White Noise, $100 Slam’s Soulfistikato, Word Jam’s Yehuda “PAN” Fisher and the “Big Deal” David Silverberg.

Both prelims will be $8 at the door while the finals shall be $20 at the door. Alternatively, passes for both preliminaries and finals can be ordered online at http://www.rustbelttoronto.com for the recently reduced price of $25 dollars, while tickets for the finals can be purchased for $15 at TOTix.ca

(Or get a hold of me to link up to get tix.)

For more details, teams coming, tickets and passes, etc., check out our event website http://www.rustbelttoronto.com

Don’t miss out on this historic event in Toronto Poetry Slam evolution.

It’s like Toronto Poetry Slam x WTF.

It was the night we’d all been hungry for. The Slam Finals determined who would be on the Toronto Slam Team reppin the city in major fests, like National Poetry Slam and the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word. And who’d be in the public eye a helluva lot more than most poets, what with fundraisers and poetry shows to get $$ to go to those fests.

In front of a packed wall-to-wall crowd at Hugh’s Room, the poets took the stage and dropped their hardest shit. Valentino went sweeping romantic and also tender, while Nolan brought the funny in two of his pieces. Kimiko didn’t shy away from emotionally wraught pieces on self-esteem and conviction. Ariel also went heavy with pieces about violent abuse and an ode to her father.

The audience got a taste of the poetically lyrical courtesy of Lara’s stage presence. And Peace gave us a hiphop flavour in his 2-minute song-poems. Truth Is gave us some old and new pieces in her stage time, doing a very un-Truth thing and not going over time. Tomy Bewick told people to “cut me” and also cried out how he prefers his U.S. presidents and coffee: “strong and black.”

Oh, and let’s not forget about the mind-blowing features: Shane Koyczan (Vancouver) and Mike McGee (Mass.) rocked the house with a 45-minute set filled with fart anecdotes, duets, heartbreaking poems on bullying and lines such as “I like you like muppets like fisting.” (On a side note, my mom was in attendance and asked me what fisting was. I just couldn’t man up and tell her. I just said it was something sexual).

And so who’s on the team? Truth Is, Lara, Ariel and Kimiko, with Tomy as the alternate. And guess what — it’s the first all-female team in Toronto, and perhaps Canada! A very historic night, and this new crew is hungry to drop the hotness. I can tell.

Expect to see a lot of their names in flyers and promo in events to come. And remember, the next Toronto Poetry Slam is May 23 @ Drake Hotel — the Anything Goes Slam!

Can you feel the energy? I can. It kinda tickles. And it means that the Super Bowl of poetry slams is coming crazy soon. Like this Saturday night.

On April 25, Hugh’s Room will be packed wall to wall with poetry fans coming to see the top 8 finalists battle it out to make the Toronto Poetry Slam Team.

Plus, they’ll be treated to bonus awesomeness courtesy of slam poet champs Mike McGee and Shane Koyczan. Expect hilarity, odes to pudding and funky duets.

Standing room tix are available at the door for $15-$20, and best to show up before 8pm.

Hugh’s Room is south of Dundas West Station, at 2261 Dundas St. W.

See ya Sat.!

Dave

For those in the dark….Toronto Poetry Project produced its first ever Youth Poetry Slam last night @ the Central, on Markham Street. And if you missed it, well, you missed something special.

Hosted by PAN (aka Yehuda Fisher), the Youth Slam featured 10 poets ranging from 12 to 19. The packed crowd was treated to a poem by Aishe about teachers who kill students slowly with homework to Pablo’s piece on what kind of boyfriend he wasn’t to Saraina’s powerful coming-out prayer. There were moments of tender grief from Tanya and flashes of humor from Spencer. The first round also co-starred Kimiko, a finalist in the Toronto Poetry Slam Finals night.

After the first round, the main feature slayed it on stage. Made Wade was joined by beatboxer extraordinnaire Scott Jackson, who had excellent command of the kids’ attention. Wade and Scott busted some hot hip-hoppery, getting some heads a-bobbing, especially during Got Myself a Genie. Wade then went solo with some spoken word, and he didnt disappoint in them department either.

The second round saw 5 poets battle it out for some cash and respect. When the dust settled, Spencer and Pablo came second and third, while Kimiko took home the top prize. It was her first poetry slam win and definitely well-deserved.

Rest assured we’ve started something big here, peoples. Many poets said they’ll be spreading the word to their friends, so expect the next Youth Slam to even be more energetic, more packed with poetic goodness.

PAN has told us the next Youth Slam will be on May 13 @ the Central. $5 cover. See ya there, young poets and slam fans!

You can still buy advanced tix for non-tables, for stools by the bar. Or just show up the night of, pay $20 and risk standing in the back part of Hugh’s Room.

Called today and found out only one table is available as of Sat. 6pm. Wow. Many thanks to the eager poetry fans who have gobbled up Finals tix. It’s gonna be one heckuva show.

Reminder: Those with tables, advanced tix, must be at the venue for 6pm, otherwise their table reservation is forfeited. Those are for people who are dining.

Best to show up at 7pm latest because it should be a packed house.

Venue is Hugh’s Room, 2261 Dundas St. W. Call them at 416 531 6604

For info, drop us a line at info@torontopoetryslam.com

See ya on the 25th!

Guest Contributor: KJ Mullins, from DigitalJournal.com

(KJ, a citizen journalist, wrote about the Toronto Poetry Slam Finalis on the news site DigitalJournal.com and here’s her report. Originally found at http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/270050)

If you’re lucky enough to live in Toronto you can come to Poetry Slams at the Drake Underground on Queen Street West every month. On March 28, it was the Toronto Poetry Slam’s semi finals hosted by Dave “Big Deal” Silverberg.

This Saturday night’s show featured some of Toronto’s best Slam Poets along with special guest Jamaal St. John from New Jersey.

People had to be turned away tonight. There was no room to find a chair so the floor had to make due for many lucky enough to find a spot to rest. My spot on the ground was beside Valentino Assenza’s mother who told me how very proud of her son she was.

Teens on a first date and teachers wanting to have a first experience joined others who live for Slam. Screaming out the Slam Anthem we all became one, a mass of souls ready to hear the spoken word.

Tomy, Lara,Truth Is, Nolan, White Noise Machine, Yogi, Peace, Pan, Valentino Assenza, Ariel Platt, Kimiko and Mike Lipsius were all completing for the eight spots to go onto the finals in April. The final winners will be representing Toronto not only at the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word in November but at the National Poetry Slam in West Palm Springs, Florida later this year.

Slam Poetry isn’t your momma’s poetry. It’s gutsy, new age and in your face. Topics can range from comedy to tears. The energy is infectious and the emotions are raw. Tonight’s spoken words did not fail the standing room only audience. From the fears of Iraq and the pain of the recent fighting in the Gaza Strip the horrors of war were expressed by many of the poets. Self doubt, body size, capitalism and the spoken word rounded out the mix. Two of my personal favorites were spoken by Tomy and Truth Is. Truth Is spoke of wanting to be able to sing a love song to one’s self and fearing that the words would never ring true. Tomy spoke of his daughter’s silent first minutes of life. Both poems are raw and powerful, as were all of the poems tonight.

The eight finalist that will move on to the Finals on April 25, 2009 at Hugh’s Room at 2261 Dundas St. West are:

Tomy, Lara, Truth Is, Nolan, Peace, Valentino Assenza, Ariel Platt and Kimiko. Kimiko and Peace are newcomers to the Toronto Slam scene while the other six have been touching the crowds for a while now.

As with all Slam’s an international star is featured. Tonight the audience was graced with the stylings of Jamaal St. John from New Jersey. He was amazing. From his poem honouring women who know what Lane Bryant’s is and how he knows there is a God because real women have curves to his final piece the questioned a man who told him that Barack Obama wasn’t black enough to earn his vote, his words rang true.

If you have the chance to hit up Hugh’s Room on April 25 don’t hesitate. It goes down at Hugh’s Room, 2261 Dundas St. W., 8pm, featuring Shane Koyczan and Mike McGee. This slam, you need to get tickets in advance, $15. At the door, $20, but it’ll sell out. Call 416 531-6604 to reserve a spot.

Can you taste the anticipation? Can you feel the wordplay about to wrap around your cerebrals?

The Toronto Poetry Slam SEMI FINALS will be taking over the Drake Hotel Underground (1150 Queen St. W.) on SATURDAY MARCH 28.

The top 12 poets from the 08/09 season are competing to move on to the Finals.

Doors 7pm, slam 8pm. Don’t be late, or else you’ll be standing!

$5 cover.

See ya Saturday!