CASUALENCOUNTERSZ: HOSTEDBYAGATHEPINARDANDSAMMYLOREN The Manor, Atwater Village, Cal. Sept. 23, 2023
When I arrive at this roving alt-lit reading, at a small, tastefully decorated house in Atwater Village, a sign on the door instructs, “Casual Encountersz: Enter through side gate.” First things first: the bathroom. Turning left after the kitchen, I find it nestled between two bedrooms. On one door, another handwritten sign warns, “Keep closed! Cats inside.” Behind the other door, I would learn, a 4‑month-old infant slumbers peacefully. (Mom is in the audience carrying a baby walkie-talkie.)
The invite had stated “BYOB — we’re chic, but beatnikz,” and yet a plastic bucket overflows with ice and flavored vodka sodas. (Mine was grapefruit guava.)
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Ryan Anderson
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Sep 27, 2023 11:42 am
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Omar Tyree and Anthony Brinkley perform at open mic.
Pärlā Creative Festival Presents: Open Mic Poetry & Hip-Hop Night Letterman’s Lounge Sept. 21, 2023
“Good poets talk about the loss. Great poets teach you how to win.”
These words were spoken by Phetote Mshairi, a local poet and Tulsa Artist Fellow, who performed last week from a makeshift stage at Letterman’s Lounge.
At this quaint spot, tucked behind a breezeway in a strip mall plaza, Thursday nights are usually reserved for open mic hip-hop. But on this night J’Parlé and the Underground Collective decided to collaborate, creating a space for both poets and rappers to show up. And believe me, they did.
It’s late. We’re late. But the friend I’m walking with, a regular at this specific open mic, though he’s not performing tonight, assures me that it goes late every time, the show is impossible to miss. I fear this information is an ill-omen portending of disorganization.
We arrive at the bar, the historic and notorious KGB, known by all for its catering to a rowdy crowd of degenerate literati. But it is the speakeasy on the third floor for which we are headed. Following our ascent, out of breath at the top of three flights of stairs not counting the grimy stoop outside, we slide in hoping not to disturb the performance currently underway.
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Sasha Patkin
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Sep 8, 2023 10:55 am
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Sasha Patkin Photo
Host Sar at the mic.
Poetry Open Mic Night Trident Booksellers & Cafe 338 Newbury St, Boston Sept. 3, 2023
“And next up, Tony!” called the host of Trident Booksellers’s Poetry Open Mic Night.
Instead of one person standing and walking toward the mic to read a poem as had happened all evening, two people got up from a table at the back of the café. One of them ducked to the side, and started filming on her phone as Tony approached the mic.
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Alicia Chesser
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Aug 17, 2023 10:34 am
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Cassidy McCants Photo
Karl Jones' turn at the story slam mic.
“OK, So” Story Slam: Hot Mess Aug. 11, 2023 Living Arts of Tulsa
The literary theorist Roland Barthes believed it was a photographer’s job to “shock” — in other words, capture a gesture at the point on its course where the eye on its own can’t catch it. To accomplish this, the photographer needs many skills, but most important is the gift of trouvaille: “the lucky find.” I think this could be true of all art. And the lucky find is what OK, So monthly story slams are all about.
“Hot mess,” the theme of August’s slam, is a hot topic. We love hot messes. We don’t want to be hot messes — or do we? We want to be hot — significant — even if it’s embarrassing.
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Sasha Patkin
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Aug 9, 2023 1:59 pm
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Detail from one of Gu Wenda's pieces on display.
The introductory video to Gu Wenda’s “United Nations” exhibit, currently on display in the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Mass., states that a single strand of hair contains enough DNA to identify one of us from a billion of us. When the Chinese-born artist creates his pieces from the combined hair of thousands of people, therefore, his work becomes a collective portrait that both transcends and unites the singular human experience.
This theme of individuality and connection was woven throughout a special Moth event that also took place at the museum. Participating storytellers were invited to view Wenda’s exhibition and then tell their own stories on the theme of “Hair.”
Hay Beacon performing at Oakland's weekly outdoor comedy venue: “People read me as high femme but I just need eyeliner to look healthy.
I often wonder if male comics are required to mention their significant other onstage, and, well, it seems they still do.
“We like women!” their wedding rings and wife-loving jokes proclaim. “And one of them loves me back!”
We must be informed of this, lest this crowd of mostly couples of and queers watching closely from their folding chairs in a parking lot otherwise go wild over the funny men.
On a hot night in Oakland, a packed house listened to Black men get vulnerable and share stories about their journeys.
Produced by Create the Space, 2ME4U: Stories of Self-Exploration from the Heart took place last weekend at Kinfolk, a Black-owned coffee shop and event space on Telegraph Avenue that provided the perfect backdrop for the evening. The airy, plant-filled room with art by local artists adorning the walls lent a feeling of intimacy indicative of the stories the men would share.
