SWEET BLACK COFFEE – FEB. 16, 2011 PART ONE

February 18, 2011

Nigel Wade* waves and calls to me from the storefront as I scope out the street signs cruising along Doctor Martin Luther King Drive on the north side of Milwaukee.
“You’ve got the right place.”
And I know I do you pulling a U-ey and parking my Mustang (oh how I love my darling car) [...]

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Give Me Adventure

November 16, 2010

Most poetry readings are episodic. Poet after poet reading one, two, or more poems, and where there may be an arc in the poem that stirs interest and creates suspense — in the collective performance there is none. After an hour (or less) of episodic presentation an audience usually has had enough. Long before the [...]

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Another Question to Ask

November 11, 2010

Another question for slam organizers to ask is: Is your slam show mostly poets reading to poets?
If so, you are guilty of creating the same environment I (and those who follow my lead) reacted against back in 1984 when most poetry readings, deadly and boring to be sure, were attended by ganders of self-absorbed [...]

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Slam 2011

November 9, 2010

There’s some discussion going on, lately, about how poetry slams have evolved and will evolve in the next few years. My feeling is that 2011 (the 25th Anniversary year) is going to be a good opportunity for the American slam communities to re-examine themselves and asked some critical questions. For instance:
Does your slam show appeal [...]

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Slam History Salons

November 6, 2010

As I’ve mentioned on other posts, next year is the 25th Anniversary of Slam’s beginning at the Green Mill Tavern in Chicago. One of the projects Chicago Slam Works is cooking up to celebrate is an on-going series of video-documented salon nights for sharing slam stories and history. If you’re planning a trip to Chicago [...]

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25th Anniversary Adventure — Road Trip

November 1, 2010

Slammers I need you’re help. The old man is going to spend the next year visiting the children and grandchildren of slam. I’m starting in the Midwest and then branching out east and west. Let me know where the slams (big and small, old and new) are in your area so I can schedule a [...]

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Dead Poets Haunt Green Mill on Halloween

October 29, 2010

For the past eight years Zarek the Magnificent (me dressed up spooky) has conjured the Weird Sisters, one of Chicago finest Cabaret acts, out of the mists to spend another year dazzling audiences. Alas, they are no more. (Many hearts are broken.) To fill their slippers (a huge task) Zarek and Cook County Coroner Doctor [...]

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Tonight Tonight

March 26, 2010

Gonna dust off the oldies and swing with some newbies tonight in Scottsdale, Arizona at my dear friend Jeff’s Club Mardi Gras. In typical Marc style it will be anything goes. Looking forward to hearing from some of the local poets and hopefully some old slam friends — Sarge, Bob Nelson, Ed Marbry. We’ll see [...]

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On the Road Again

March 23, 2010

Last time I took a trip west like this I was nineteen years, kicked out of the house, and anticipating joining the Peace Corp. I hit the road in my Dodge convertible with my college buddy (and still my dear friend) Kit Cartsens and a pocket-sized copy of Zobra the Greek. When we got from [...]

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Marc’s Leave of Absence — 2000

January 13, 2010

At the end of the 1999 NPS (National Poetry Slam) I announced the first of two leaves of absence I would take from my leadership role as lifetime president of Poetry Slam Inc.
In a letter I read to the Slam Family at the Chopin Theater (Chicago) I outlined some concerns about slam’s evolution and [...]

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