Fan Mail From Slam Bag

December 14, 2009

TO THE SLAM PAPI,
Here’s what I don’t know, amigo, Why are you pushing all these god damn pc poets who spend two seconds thinking and ten minutes puking their half-cocked opinions on stage to people who you, Mr. So What Smith, encourage to applaud even when they don’t agree with the shit they hear but [...]

Read the full article →

Summer’s Almost Over

August 24, 2009

Chicago Slam Works engineered another successful event this past weekend — initiating the banking public in the art of writing haiku at a promotional program sponsored by Chase Bank. Lots of new people exposed to the better side of slam.
And by the way congrats and hoorays go out to Henry Sampson (and Maria) and all [...]

Read the full article →

Sabbatical

August 18, 2009

As some folks know, I’ve been taking time off from most slam things. (I’m even taking Sundays off now and then.) For the next couple weeks I’ll be hiding out in upstate Michigan and I hope to pay a visit to Terry Wooten’s Stone Circle reading near Traverse Bay. Terry has keeping the oral tradition [...]

Read the full article →

Marc Plays Hooky on Sundays

July 16, 2009

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 [...]

Read the full article →

Brave New Voices

July 15, 2009

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 [...]

Read the full article →

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 from around [...]

Read the full article →

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 [...]

Read the full article →

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 [...]

Read the full article →

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 [...]

Read the full article →

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 [...]

Read the full article →

← Previous Entries

Next Entries →