December Slam Review
Read or join the discussion on this post.
(Scores are here. - M)
Sunday night’s slam was a testament to the strength of the spoken word scene in Toronto. On one of the snowiest nights in Toronto’s history (so the media tell me), the Drake Hotel Underground was packed tight with poetry die-hards…meaning, both the slam poets who were hungry to compete and the audience aching for a good show to keep them distracted from the shoveling they’d be doing in 10 hours.
It was another busy night, which meant another sign-up lottery draw, and the open mic was tight with 6 poets. First round showed off some veteran poise sprinkled with newbie energy, and the crowd was lapping it up. They especially liked Sean Cullen’s 3.0 score to That Brown Bastard. Being a celebrity judge, Cullen wanted to play up TBB’s assholey vibe, and for once in a long time the banter between judge and poet was enjoyably fiery. Doesn’t happen often.
The audience was treated to classic gems like Gypsy Eyes’ who-am-I piece and Kate’s I Have a Camera and then veered to the left with new-to-the-ear poems from Ziy and Ariel. Props to Truth to making the room completely silent, all ears trained to her voice. Nestled comfortably at second last, Idriis took the stage with hip-hop-flavoured gusto, and wowed the judges by scoring the highest in the first round.
And it was Idriis who powered his way to the third and then landed a choice draw at last, so he could blast our soundholes with narrative rhymes about Spider Man and Star Wars. All in one poem, way under 3 minutes. Idriis took home top spot, $75, and a bye to the semi’s. It’s always great to see fresh blood winning love in their first slam in ages…Noticed it’s been happening a lot at TPS.
This review wouldn’t be a complete without a gushing holy-fuck props to Poizunus. The slam’s guest feature was the best non-poetic feature TPS ever invited — Poizunus beatboxed for 20 minutes, and it never sounded redundant. Instead, we heard epic tunes like Billy Jean and Sweet Dreams all beatboxed up; ihis scratching would’ve made Rahzel shit in his Sean John pants. It was mind-blowing, and fans like Brown Bastard were encoring Poiz for at least another 8 pieces.
Big love to all the people who navigated through tricky transportation chaos to bring their energy to the slam. It doesn’t go unappreciated, and at the afterparty we poets couldn’t stop talking about how impressive the turnout was. And sledding. We talked about sledding. And condoms. Long story.
The story slam is on Jan. 12, so interested poets should get their stories out of their bellies and onto some paper. Don’t drink too much egg nog, lovely readers, save some for me. Enjoy your holidays, stay poetic and see ya in 2008.
December 18th, 2007 at 12:34 am
Actually Idris went 6th in the first round, not second last, I know as I went 2nd last that round.
December 18th, 2007 at 4:35 pm
I’m wondering if I’m the only one who was bit perplexed by the judges obvious preference for certain things. the judging was off-kilter and I’m not just saying that cuz i scored terrible, a lot of people did. anyway, am i the only one?
December 18th, 2007 at 5:13 pm
Know what you mean…I think Poizunus definitely was feeling poets on the hiphop tip, like Idriis, and Sean was loving poems from the likes of Kate and Gypsy…Well, Sean liked Gypsy cuz he mentioned the Sean Cullen show.
Grace seemed fairly consistent and tough, and Jess was loving practically everything, scoring above 9 most of the time. Not sure if any of the judges had other preferences to certain topics or poets.
December 18th, 2007 at 6:11 pm
The judging seemed pretty consistent to me.
December 19th, 2007 at 3:01 pm
“assholey vibe”??? Hey, I’m a bastard not an asshole!
December 19th, 2007 at 4:10 pm
Yeah gypsy had a judge in his pocket, it was obvious, but only one, and he did win the second round w/ the highest scoring poem of the night.
December 19th, 2007 at 4:13 pm
Yeah thanks to Dane I could make that piece come to life.
December 19th, 2007 at 7:41 pm
Hmm, I don’t wanna sound bitter but I feel I may have fallen victim to score creep. That is the people who moved to the second round went in #5, #7-12. The judges realized that the higher the scores the more applause and needless to say the eights became nines…
Of course I could also just take responsibility for my performance… naw score creep sounds better to me. That said, some of the poets who were later in the round totally kicked ass!
December 20th, 2007 at 9:03 pm
Before complaining about the judging I am always brought back to the first time I did have an issue with the judging and it was Mike Smith that made two good points.
1.) The scores are from 0 - 10, not 7 - 10.
2.) It’s a testament to you as a slam poet if you can win over different sets of judges.
By that rationale, I would have to say that the judging at least for the first round seemed pretty consistent to me. I didn’t like the scores that I got, and I think I have pretty much fucked myself for any chance of getting into the semis. That however, is my own fault for stumbling three times during my piece, I notice time and time again from certain spoken word artists such as Boonaa and Truth Is how truly important it is to be tight.
However, the possibility that situations where judges just don’t feel you for reasons of their own does exist, and in cases like those it doesn’t matter how good a poet you are.
For me though, the best performance of the night wasn’t even in competition, Electric John and his singer gal pal brought me to my feet, that was awesome!
December 21st, 2007 at 12:38 pm
Why does everyone always refer to me by my full name?
December 21st, 2007 at 6:38 pm
so as not to confuse you with that other mike…?
December 21st, 2007 at 8:00 pm
Even when I was the only Mike?
It’s happened all my life. I don’t get it.
December 22nd, 2007 at 3:43 am
i dont know it has a nice ring to it