Archive for January 2nd, 2012
Victory
Victory
When: October: 15th 2010
Where: Its A Grind
Victory is a performance poet, writer, singer, artist, graphic designer, stupid romantic, mother, daughter, daydream believer, introvert with severe social anxiety (and yet possessed by a masochistic urge to make a spectacle of herself).
She has been performing poetry on stage and competing in poetry slams since 2001 and has been on several slam teams that have gone to compete in the National Poetry Slam, including the 2004 Dallas Slam Poetry team that took 3rd place nationally.
She currently is the editor, head writer, photographer and oversees layout for two north Texas community newspapers (names withheld to protect the innocent).
Victory is available to perform at birthday parties, bar mitzvahs, Quinceañeras, funerals and office Christmas parties. Probably not the best choice for a wedding. These have been unlucky so far.
Fans, potential employers, former boyfriends, stalkers and other interested parties can contact her at coffeepup@gmail.com. She dares ya.
Hosted by Rock Baby and Alexandra Marie
Dallas Slam Featured Reader
Carlos Salas Giselle Ichat: Scott Pierce
Carlos Salas Giselle Ichat: Scott Pierce
When: October 13th, 2010
Where: Kessler X+ Art Gallery
Carlos Salas, poet/painter/ father/husband/friend/ co-proprietor of Oak Cliff’s best bookstore Cliff Notes Prolonged Media. He is also, co-host of monthly open mic reading held at Mighty Fine Arts Gallery, also located in Oak Cliff. Locally, Carlos has been involved in the humanities in one form or another from literature, art, film, theatre, and music. He is a seeker of all things, harmonious, believer of all things, impermanent, believer of all things, interdependent.
RockCityPoet,Giselle–For this native of St. Thomas Virgin Islands, words became the comfort and color of her life when she was too ill to even leave her home. She moved to Ft. Worth seeking healthcare for her son two years ago and performs her soul all over the metroplex. Below is an excerpt of Giselle’s reading at The Kessler.
Scott Pierce was born in 1975 and lives for the moment in Austin with his partner, the poet Cindy St. John. He is the author of TV Poems (BlazeVox 2004) and Some Bridges Migrate (Small Fires Press 2009). He edits the publications of Effing Press which include the Effing Chapbook Series, full-length poetry collections, and the lit/viz art journal effing magazine.
Hosted by Karen X
James “4 Real” Walker
James “4 Real” Walker
When: September 17th, 2010
Where: Its A Grind
James “4Real” Walker has embraced his gifts since adolescence. He is a performance poet, actor, songwriter, rapper, and has grown into an astonishing artist whose words can resurrect the dead in spirit; giving those who witness his gifts, the motivation they need to seek the kingdom of heaven. He has had the opportunity to share his gifts on radio stations and television shows, and has even performed on a national level. Currently he is the president of a Christian ministry called J.U.D.A.H. Outreach (Jesus’ United Disciples At Hand). He is using his gifts in effort to lead souls to Christ, and continues to make a contribution to his community and to the world, by expanding his creativity and encouraging the leaders of J.U.D.A.H. to do likewise.
Hosted by Rock Baby and Alexandra Marie
Dallas Slam Featured Reader
Cindy St. John and Venus Opal Reese
Cindy St. John and Venus Opal Reese
When: September 16th, 2010
Where: Members Only Salon
Cindy St. John is the author of City Poems (Effing Press 2009) and People Who Are in Love Will Read This Book Differently (Dancing Girl Press 2009). Her poems have appeared in many magazines, including The Southern Review, H_NGM_N andCimarron Review. She holds an MFA from Western Michigan University and currently teaches literature and creative writing in Austin, TX.
Map of Summer by Cindy St. John
Speak/swallow highways you take to
horizontal your fist on the horizon squint one eye
sink/eat/starve 500 miles in a car you don’t own
with lips that are not your own and a language you have only half-
memorized to get here
bend/lengthen under the sound
of wind of box fans like no sound or white light or distance
tap the glass remember the body
sweat in the sheet of stars soundless
speak/tip toe over orange
faces/names/tequila bottles
swim/drive your field of vision infinitely
multiplying the weight of your arms you lived/died
Break the glass
fade/disappear into the landscape isn’t that
what you wanted?
Venus Opal Reese is a tenured professor of Aesthetic Studies at the University of Texas at Dallas, an award winning solo performer, playwright, director, choreographer and poet. She has performed nationally and internationally for over 20 years. Her solo performance work, Split Ends, was featured on the cover of the Palo Alto Weekly, showcased at the Black Repertory Theatre in Rhode Island and ran off-Broadway at La MaMa ETC. Split Ends was nominated for an AUDELCO Award. Dr. Reese was recently featured on ABC News and in Glamour Magazine and Diversity Inc., as an expert on race, beauty, and culture. Her performance with the Hip-Hop theatre play, Will Power’s The Seven, was featured in the American Theatre Magazine and won 3 Critic Choice Awards.
Venus has presented and performed internationally at the Sorbonne, Paris, France under the auspices of the W.E.B. Dubois Institute at Harvard University, La MaMa Umbria International, Spoleto, Italy, and Universita di Padova, Padova, Italy. Nationally she has performed and directed with Cultural Odyssey, AfroSolo, the LA Women’s Festival, and the Hip-Hop Theatre Festival, NYC.
As a scholar, Dr. Reese’s research links Africa, the Middle Passage, Antebellum Slavery, minstrelsy and popular culture through the stories we tell. She offers and designs courses in Spoken Word, Arts and Performance, Theatre, Movement Theatre, African Dance, Hip-Hop Dance, American Character, Acting, Performativity, Cultural Studies, Womanism/Feminism, Queer Theory, Literary Theory, Critical Race Theory, and Identity and Media.
Dr. Reese’s scholarly performative writing has been published in the Women and Performance journal, the Journal for Global Transformation, as well as edited volumes like Recharting the Black Atlantic: Modern Cultures, Local Communities, Global Connections and The Politics of American Actor Training, both with Routledge.
AN EXCERPT
Strange Fruits
(This piece is done as a woman who has come undone–she remembers herself as a little girl.)
(lights up on her singing/slurring bits of Strange Fruit)
…and the twisted mouf
I wasn’t always this way.
(With pride and power.)
I use to be smart.
History was my thing
(Deflated.)
Now I sing for my supper.
I use to be pretty.
They would—the men—would
play in my hair and say how
(She has difficulty saying this word)
be-au-ti-ful I was
I would sing
(she sings pieces of songs that she can remember)
Givin’ up is so hard to do when you love someone…
Members Only Salon
Lisa Huffaker, Christopher Carmona, Scooter Smith, Ichat: Janaka Stucky
Lisa Huffaker, Christopher Carmona, Scooter Smith, Ichat: Janaka Stucky
When: September 8th, 2010
Where: Kessler X+ Art Gallery
The WordSpace Reading Series at the Kessler X+ Art Gallery is held in partnership with The Kessler Theater in Oak Cliff. Originally built by Gene Autry, then destroyed by tornado, The Kessler has been beautifully resurrected as an arts/music complex. The new ambience maximizes our exciting presentations of both emerging and experienced writers, and mixes it up with our innovative use of web-cam-technology to broadcast live readings via Ichat/Skype, inter-connecting with writers from around the world. The events are held 2nd Wednesdays, as part of The Kessler’s Residency Nights of music. Begin the evening with Community Happy Hour, join us upstairs for the readings and check out their website to see who will be performing those nights!
Special Thanks to our friends –Owner, Edwin Cabiniss and Artistic Director, Jeffrey Liles.
Lisa Huffaker has sung with the Dallas Opera for ten years, is a member of Dancing Tongue performance poetry ensemble, an award winning poet and has been published by Southwest Review among other others. She comes to poetic language through a background of classical singing. In studying the world’s great art songs and opera libretti, she has delved into the work of great poets in their original languages, ranging from Rilke and Verlaine to Walt Whitman. Lisa’s poetry has been featured by Wordspace, The Dallas Poets’ Community, and Dancing Tongue, where her talents as a singer and a performance artist also come into play. She holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Boise State University and a Master of Music degree from the New England Conservatory. She resides in Dallas with her husband, poet Tim Cloward.
Below is an excerpt from Lisa’s reading at The Kessler.
Christopher Carmona hails from the Rio Grande Valley in Deep South Texas. He is beat poet following in the tradition of beat poets like Jack Kerouac, Bob Kaufman, and Raul Salinas. Much of his work works to redefine what it means to be ‘beat’ as a poet and scholar. He is currently pursuing his PhD at Texas A&M University. He has had poems published in the Writers’ Block and Beatlick Art & News. Currently he is working on his first book of poetry simply titled beat and is editing an anthology of Beat Texas writings for UT Press with Chuck Taylor and Rob Johnson. Below is an excerpt from Christopher’s reading at The Kessler.
Scooter Smith is the art director and webmaster of Moonlady News, web illustrator and animator, videographer including in many video festivals. He will be sharing his moving video honoring those who died senselessly during the events of 9-11–”Our Live Like Rain”.
Janaka Stucky is the founder and managing editor of Black Ocean, and publishes the magazine Handsome. Since receiving his BFA from Emerson and an MFA in Poetry from Vermont College in 2003, he remains rooted in Boston—spending his life traveling, writing, and caring for the dead. Some of his poems appear or are forthcoming in: Denver Quarterly, North American Review, Redivider, and VOLT.
Janaka practices the perfection of effort while working on silent relationships with knives, pugilism, and a history of tentacles. He was recently voted “Boston’s Best Poet” for 2010 in the Boston Phoenix. He likes his whiskey neat and his music dirty.
Hosted by Karen X
Dallas Slam “Old vs. New” Slam
Dallas Slam “Old vs. New” Slam
When: July 2nd, 2010
Where: Back Beat Cafe
Dallas Poetry Slam Founder, Clebo Rainey, will participate in the Dallas Slam warm up for their upcoming National competition:
Past Dallas Grand Slam Champions slated to perform include GNO, Twain, Nnamdi, Nastasha and 2008, 2009 Individual World Poetry Slam Champion and European World Cup Poetry Slam Champion, Joaquin Zihuatanejo.
The “Old vs New” Slam is part of the team’s preparations for the National Poetry Slam in St. Paul, Minnesota, representing the City of Dallas. The 2010 Dallas Poetry Slam team will test their mettle against wordsmiths of former teams.
Patrons will experience beatnik style poetry from Clebo Rainey, the celebrated founder of “Dallas Poetry Slam and Dallas’ first underground record store “Metamorphosis Records”, whose poetry was influenced by the likes of Allen Ginsberg and Lawrence Ferlinghetti who questioned mainstream politics and culture.
Hosted by HBO Def Poet and Dallas Poetry Slam organizer, Roderick “Rock Baby” Goudy.
Dallas Slam Featured Reader Series
Southwest Shootout Regional Poetry Slam
Southwest Shootout Regional Poetry Slam
When: June 11th, 2010
Where: Kessler Theater
The Southwest Shootout is a regional poetry competition held every year in a different city in the Southwestern United States, ranging from Arizona, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas. Teams of poets compete against each other in a 4 round preliminary bout on June 11th. The top four teams move on to the Final Poetry Slam on the 12th. Over the past 7 years, these teams have consistently placed in the finals at the National Poetry Slam. A number of Russell Simmon’s HBO “Def Poetry Jam” poets will be participating in this competition. This will be the second time in three years for Dallas to host this event. Price: $10 all inclusive ticket for both nights. $7 advanced purchase final ticket for Saturday only, $10 at the door on Final Night.
Music/Arts – Recital
Andrew Osborne and Peter Gurnis
Andrew Osborne and Peter Gurnis
When: May 20th, 2010
Where: Members Only Salon
Andrew Osborn teaches literature and creative writing as a professor of English at the University of Dallas. His chapbook, Plato’s Aviary, was selected by Robert Hass as co-winner of the 2002 Aldrich Poetry Competition. His poetry has appeared in American Letters & Commentary, Bat City Review, the Blanton Poetry Project, Colorado Review, Denver Quarterly, Fence, Notre Dame Review, and Southwest Review, where it received a 2008 Morton Marr Poetry Prize.
Peter Gurnis is the author of the Body of Liberties from Burning Deck press (1987). Over the years he has published poems in 26, Beloit Poetry Journal, Colorado Review, First Intensity, and Ploughshares. In 2004-5, he received a year-long fellowship from the Howard Foundation and completed a book-length poem Berlin and Eden.
Militant X. Amerikkkan
Militant X. Amerikkkan
When: May 7th, 2010
Where: Back beat Cafe
Militant X. Amerikkkan is a lyricist, performance poet, writer, musician, and activist based in Dallas, TX. He also is one of the organizers and hosts of the Dallas Poetry Slam and has coached several Dallas poetry slam teams that compete at the National Poetry Slam annually. For over 25 years Militant has performed his poetry at poetry slams, open mics, arts festivals, and at private gatherings. In 2002, he authored his first book of poetry, No War, No Peace. His work has been featured in two anthologies devoted to arts, literature, poetry and culture, Taj Mahal Review’s Cyberwit’s International Journal and Voyages of World Poetry. Additionally, he was featured on satellite radio, in the Dallas Observer and his work can be found in many online sites and independent papers. Militant has recorded two full length CDs of poetry, Rogue State of Mind of an Original Terrorist and Amerikkka Can Do Better.
Dallas Slams – Featured Reader Series
Collaborative Works: g&h (iChat Boulder) and Desmene Statum&Chris Zimmerly
Collaborative Works: g&h (iChat Boulder) and Desmene Statum&Chris Zimmerly
When: May 1st, 2010
Where: Paperbacks Plus
Desmene Statum, a poet gypsy from Alabama, has been in Dallas, Texas for 10 years. She has published two chapbooks, Coagulation and Two Fisted Whiskey Love Songs and featured in DL5, Voice of the Lunatic Fringe, Mad Swirl VI The Blue Issue. She has been influenced by Octavio Paz, Allen Ginsberg, Rumi, and Rilke. Dez takes the ride of life at full speed hoping to find the poem that saves her soul. She has performed in galleries, bars, and festivals all over DFW. Dez enjoys doing freestyle poems with her good friends and never met a cowboy she didn’t like.
Chris Zimmerly is a local poet, former open mic host, songwriter and musician. “Hootenanny Now!”
G and H are Texas natives, veteran travelers, live-word poets, and members of the sub-cult electro-pop band Sci-Fi Uterus. They were active performance poets in the pre-Slam Deep Ellum scene and collaborated with a community of multi-media artists in the late eighties’ Cowtown underground. For the last 20 years, G and H have found beat bucolic bliss in the mythical farming community of Gowanda, Colorado—home of the avant-garde juggernaut Grant R Productions.
2010 WordSpace Spring Reading Series at Paperbacks Plus
Hosted by Laney Yarber
Suggested donation: $5
