Urban Grind, Hillcrest
the July slams..


friday july 12, 2002

hey all, this being the last slam before west coast regionals at big sur- well, I kinda figured the team players would be out in force, lookin' to pocket some of that urban grind prize money.. but it was not to be; though we did have jimmy jazz with us for a short while- and thus available to sacrifice for us tonight! 13 names in the blackfelt hat by 7:40 pm, so we rolled forward with introducing our judges to the audience. fulfilling their community service for winning recent slams, jennifer joseph and dizzy order occupied the judicial bench, along with claire de lune regular ryan suter, sd slam booster la shawn and audience volunteer (and real-life professional statistician) steve.. so mr. jazz gave us his "invocation to a riot" as the calibration poem for our judges; oh yeah, they liked it- scoring it two 9.9's (one of which we dropped as the high score), plus a 9.2, an 8.79 and a 6 (which got dropped as the low score), thus yielding the out-of-breath poet a spirited 27.89 and we're ready to begin drawing names from the afore-mentioned blackfelt hat, so bring it on.. first-time slammers who performed one round only tonight were: hugh hyde in daring (or is that darling?) checkered-jacket-with-floral-hat; jim sather, ken kopelson, deno, and roshan burnham, giving us a slice of one very harried student's life here.. ok, going into a second round tonight, it was veterans micki adams, lyman dunnik, who painted a strangely unforgettable picture of the star of "fight club", brad pitt, doing gay porn instead.. is it hot in here, or is it just me? anyway, that piece pulled down some 9's and guaranteed the man a spot in second round.. cecil reprised his piece condemning mediocrity from last slam, but still hadn't edited it down far enough to avoid a time penalty.. but unlike last slam, he was able to make it into second-round, and produced for us an homage to jimmy jazz, entitled "we need a new belushi".. kelli parrish also suffered a time penalty tonight on her second-round piece which begins "I wish I could give you a political poem.." but she didn't care; she needed to log some stage time.. it's just like I always say- bring it back, slam the revised piece again and again til you get it right, win the slam and we have to retire it! alright, the top finishers tonight were all sd slam first-timers, which is always cool. finishing with a 46.49- it was ari, come down from the city by the bay to see her sweetie (and one of my personal fave people on earth): tina. in 4th place tonight, with a 49.2, give it up for natas- play it backwards and there's a message there somewhere.. in 3rd place, with a 49.4 (and doing a killer charles kuralt impression): richard kirk, who would actually have stolen 2nd place from micki adams had he not suffered a time penalty in round two.. and finally, in 1st place with a 56.05, the man's name is lyric, and now you know why.. gifted, I tell you! oh yeah, he took home $14 for winning tonight.. before we sign off, I got to tell you about lizzie wann's penchant for filling idle time as 2nd round emcee, by taking one line from each piece in that round, and turning it into a spontaneous, or "found poem".. here's the one from tonight:

Walk a mile for a camel / continous coloration of music,
sometimes I hear the chanting play through my mind..
a man's soul shines through a crack'd door,
skies are clothed in dreams;
tell me now if forever is too much to be asking,
this man has sold his soul to faust
and is ready to call dean wormer a pussy to his face.

Thanks everyone who came out tonight, and special thanks to the visitor from norhern cali who scorekept second round for us tonight.. thanks also to barristas steve and brian for keeping us supplied with java, chocolate and the absolute best hummus in hillcrest.

sunday july 28, 2002

ok, so lizzie wann is busy tonight, over at sdsu's open air theater.. opening for jewel! HELLO! yeah, jewel had spoken-word artists as well as musicians help open her shows this summer, and lizzie was selected for the san diego show! click right here to see lizzie's very cool "soul city cafe" page, as well as some of the other folks who opened over the course of jewel's tour. so, in lizzie's absence, shannon perkins, founding member of the able-minded poets, agreed to help out with emcee duties! judges tonight included audience volunteers miguel, brian, & melissa along with sd slam veterans linda bauer and eneri. first-round first-timers included david h, cara, kimberly leone, and cedric.. veterans in round 1 tonight were sherre myers, down from north county, and ryan suter, who also did double duty as scorekeep tonight.. ok, veterans in second round tonight were kelli parrish, chris mosher, lyman dunnik, john rubio, and matt weatherman who is on his way to reed college up in oregon by now; hopefully we see him at the slam between semesters.. dig this stat: the intelligently irreverent cecil came in 6th tonight with a 54.5; ron dyste was 5th with a 55.4 and joy delacruz came in 4th tonight, with a 55.8; now check out the hyper-jump in scores between 4th and 3rd.. it was rob tavakoli in 3rd place, with a 58.85 and how about that artful piece he did about the guy who asks to "tell me a poem".. in 2nd place, taking home $12, it was bear wolf, down from san bernadino.. watch this guy, he's another one that's got a gift, I tell ya! and in 1st place, with an impressive 59.78 and grabbing $18 for himself- elijah baxter with his homage to black music history in a heavily politicized world of white record labels and corporate radio. be sure not to miss elijah's feature on sept 27 at gallery 504 north.. oh before we sign off, I also want to post tonight's "found poem", which I dutifully wrote down in lizzie's absence..

Wet on the pages she denies
as the pigeonshit hit me in my face,
goddamn my man, I am what I am!
take your shades off and let your hate breathe.
The sheriff said "sorry y'all"
and I dreamed of daisy's dukes-
I could break it down like whatever you want;
don't go chasin' waterfalls, go chasin' dragons..
kiss me with your dentures out,
I ain't talkin' no bullshit hollywood happy ending..
I am unemployed, getting old and fat.

special thanks to shannon perkins again, for helping me out with emceeing duties while lizzie took the stage with jewel tonight, and be sure to catch able minded poets on sept 20 at gallery 504 north.
next slam is friday, aug 16..

your slammaster
and faithful servant,
ro'ss.


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