Nitty Gritty Slam, February 21

Tonight, much to the chagrin of the official Slam bartender Kim, we were upstairs at Valentines to make room for a band in the usual poets' spot. We were just as funky & even louder to carry our voices over the sound of electric guitars & drums.

There was a respectably outrageous selection of poets signed up for the open mic, with Jess Listen to my Words, Leslie Michelle, Bless, D. Alexander Holiday, & Mojavi (riffing off "Moody's Mood for Love").

I had taken a week off from the Slam, but decided to jump back in tonight. The late addition of Jessica, who had also read at the open mic, brought the field up to 5 (= N) so that my performance of the 3 Guys from Albany classic "Physics" put me in 5th place, beaten out (or off) by Jess's masturbation poem.

But notable performances for the night were Shannon (In the Money) Shoemaker's newest piece, her advice for Slam competitors to "Whip it out", be that a strap-on or the real thing, & later in the second round, Elizag's piece that takes a slice from her memoir of helping a family to raise triplet boys in North Philadelphia, Walk With Us.

You can check out all the all the up-to-date Slam results at AlbanyPoets.com. Anywho, it is on the 1st & 3rd Tuesdays of the month at Valentines (usually downstairs), 7:30, with an open mic, $5.00 (or less with student ID).