For those who don’t know the original slam, The Uptown Poetry Slam at the Green Mill in Chicago, continues to this day, and I’m pretty sure that it’s the longest running weekly entertainment in Chicago. Twenty-three and half years. That’s about 1200 shows playing to full houses almost every night. Damn amazing for a poetry event.
Tonight’s guest poet is ROB STURMA. Rob has performed for a number of years under the monicker Ratpack Slim, and during those years, he was on the Los Feliz Slam Team two years running (2003-2004), made it to the finals stage with Team Hollywood in 2005, and as slammaster of Western Regional slam team Gang Green, took three teams to Big Sur, rocking nationally ranked teams outta their seats.
He was the host of the seminal Los Angeles open mic Green from 2003-2007, featuring everyone from Jack Hirschmann to Andrea Gibson (Buddy Wakefield and Mike McGee neck in neck for most repeat features). He was the poetry editor for GetUnderground.com and Kotori Magazine, did a series of webstories called “Children of Slam” for kcet.org, was seen in the documentary Sp!t, and on the BET show “The Way We Do It”.
David Alan Grier gave him a 9.5 in a Comedy Central slam pilot. Snakes On A Plane/ Wolverine producer Jeff Katz called Rob’s poetry “outstanding” and Hardcore Wrestling Legend Mick Foley said Sturma’s poem about him “gave him goosebumps”. His new collection of poems Miles of Hallelujah will be available on Write Bloody Press in Fall 2009.
That’s a lot of credentials which isn’t uncommon for slammers these days. But credentials don’t mean much in Chicago. We’re hoping he rocks the house and he probably will. If you’re nearby come out and see for yourself.
