Marc Plays Hooky on Sundays

by Marc Kelly Smith - Slampapi on July 16, 2009 · 0 comments

More and more I’m taking Sunday nights off to travel and to stay (working my butt off) at my rehab houses in Savanna, Illinois. (Two I’m restoring and one I’m tearing down. All on Walnut Street. Drop by some time.) And while I’m truant from the show I have a great crew of Chicago slammers to fill in as hosts. Two Sunday ago it was Robbie Q. I hear he did a great job. Decide for yourself:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORXws_ulNGw

I plan to be back hosting Sundays for the rest of July and August, but don’t be surprised if you find me not there, playing hooky. This week is the 23rd anniversary of the Green Mill slam. I think I’m entitled to a few nights off.

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Brave New Voices

by Marc Kelly Smith - Slampapi on July 15, 2009 · 0 comments

A shout out to all those Brave New Voices (and a bunch of old voices too) at Chicago’s Art Institute Ballroom yesterday. What a fantastic gathering of hope! It was an honor to be there with you. Please forgive me if I don’t hit you back with a personal reply on Facebook, My Space, and all those other e-things I know little about. My son and his friends pick up the slack for me when I let them pile up. Old man Marc likes it face to face, hug to hug, word to ear and back like it was yesterday. Good luck to you all throughout the week — be good to each other.

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Fuel Your Inner Poet

July 7, 2009

Chicago Slam Works, Chi-town’s newly formed non-project made its presence known at the Printers Row Book Fair managing the Poetry Stage. Now it’s launching its second project: “Fuel Your Inner Poet” a series workshop sessions presented at the Hemingway Museum in Oak Park, Illinois. There will be eight sessions taught by various (TBA) poet/instructors [...]

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Speaking (or Howling) of Allen Wolf

June 17, 2009

One of my greatest sources of joy is to hear of the great literary accomplishment of those folks who unselfishly dedicated themselves to advancing the slam community’s cause. And here’s one to howl about. Allen Wolf has won a BIG AWARD.
ZANE’S TRACE (Candlewick Press) by Allen Wolf has just been awarded the 2009 North Carolina [...]

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Bonesteel’s Sandburg

June 8, 2009

As many of you know I am a strong advocate of Carl Sandburg’s poetry. Over the years I’ve added many of his poems to my performance repertoire and have also enlisted musicians Michael Kent Smith, Steven Hashimoto, Carter Luke, Al Ehrich, and Scott Hirstenstein to help me create a musical adaptation of Sandburg’s work entitled [...]

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Blame Marc Smith — I love it!

June 5, 2009

Getting a lot of ink these days. It’s wild. Sometimes the shortest interviews produce the best results. Lauren Viera’s article in Tribune today is a gem. (check it out at http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/lifestyle/chi-0604-poetry-slamjun04,0,7524276.story ) Laura the bartender’s perspective takes center stage. And what does she mean when she says, “He’s really good at handling a crowd and [...]

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Self-Serve Soft Slam

June 4, 2009

Another front page funny picture of Marc at the Green Mill and another quote of Amiri Baraka calling the slam a “carnival … commercial showiness, emphasizing the most backward elements” of poetry. Is he speaking of Slam or Jam? Or are his opinions just old guy wham?

Here’s a link to the article if you want [...]

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17th Annual Southern Fried Poetry Slam

May 29, 2009

Next week I’m traveling to a stellar event, the 17th Annual Southern Fried Poetry Slam festival, the longest running regional slam in the world. It was started by famous slam elder ALLEN WOLF (”the points are not the point — the point is poetry”) after returning from one of my first stabs at a regional [...]

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Slam Goes Daily

May 28, 2009

Jon Stewart asked “who cares” whether it’s a Poetry Jam or a Poetry Slam?

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart
M - Th 11p / 10c

Old Man Stewart Shakes His Fist at White House Poetry Jams

thedailyshow.com

Daily Show Full Episodes
Economic Crisis
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Answer: Only thousands of nobodies who have dedicated their lives to an outsider art movement that’s under [...]

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Finally Legit — Printers Row

May 27, 2009

I guess when the infamous C. J. Laity tried to brand me as a poetry “insider” he might of been right, despite my refusal to stoop to poetry “establishment” status.
Many years after helping start the “Poetry Tent” at Printers Row Book Fair I’ve been invited back. (Actually, I was invited last year but had a [...]

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