Messages

16

General Discussion / Re: Slam: "Mock" Competition- What are the national events today?

« on: April 25, 2011, 08:44:59 PM »

I love everything Scott wrote only because I think its awesome that so much thought went into it, that so many people may or may not get upset/inspired by it, that SLAM has become this beast that so many people use for so many different reasons.

Personally, I run the slam in San Antonio because a) I am super competitive, b) I love heckling and c) I love poets who embrace both.  Take the competition AND the heckling out of slam, and I am bored and I am off to start something called PLAM!  I love the fact that the poets and poetry fans in my city have created a scene that outright offends some poets and yet outright thrills others.  We look nothing like most of the slams in our own state, yet we are still a slam and proudly call ourselves a slam and call those other non-heckling wussy slams (kidding) our brothers and sisters.

Stop defining "Slam".  Yes, we have hoops to jump through (though most of us stumble through them) if we want to compete at NATS or WOWPS or IWPS, but those are necessary evils.  Other than that, make slam your own beast and put on the show you want to put on.  And if it feeds your audience's hunger, it will thrive.  If not, add some salt and sugar and try again.

Maybe I missed Scott's point entirely, but I love that post. 

MALIK ROSE!

Shaggy
PuroSlam Slmamaster

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General Discussion / Re: WHY DO YOU SLAM?

« on: April 10, 2011, 05:25:16 PM »

For the money.

18

General Discussion / Re: Attention Kindle Owners/Fiction lovers

« on: March 16, 2011, 11:12:39 AM »

Could you tell me the amazon link of your ebook?

Of course....that would probably help.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Hallucinogenic-Bible-ebook/dp/B004IE9VOU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=books&qid=1300291924&sr=8-1

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General Discussion / Attention Kindle Owners/Fiction lovers

« on: February 07, 2011, 07:17:34 PM »

Warning: This is a completely self-serving, self-promoting post.  Thanks to the lovely Ms. Simone, however, your friendly forum moderator, I got permission to post- respectfully- this info on the forum, as I am a hard-working, dues paying, sweat wringing slammaster.  That being said...:

If there are any Kindle owners/fiction lovers out there, I recently published a novel, "The Hallucinogenic Bible", on Amazon.com.  It is a fictionalized narrative based on 10+ years of following the Grateful Dead around the country, living out of my car, selling food and drink and stuff to make a living, avoiding cops, taking too many drugs.  It's a road trip novel, dealing with spirituality, music, ritual, religion, and lots of other heady stuff with which I try to validate a life of following a band around the country.  Plus, for you people who have ever seen me slam, this 350 page book is actually based- loosely inspired- by a 3 minute poem called "Yet Another Hippie Poem".  So there IS a slam connection!  Plus, local SA poet Joshua "Lakey" Hinson designed the cover...so that's 2 connections! Yeah!

Anyway, that's it.  Thanks for your time and see you at slam!

Jason "Shaggy" Gossard
PuroSlam Slammaster/San Antonio, TX

20

General Discussion / Re: Surge in Spam Members/Posts

« on: August 05, 2010, 05:55:03 PM »

One of the poets on the Puroslam team has a poem about Spam (the food).  Will she get banned from Nats if she whips it out tonight?

Just wondering, cause it's lonely in this forum during Nats....

21

General Discussion / Re: Question about purchasing passes for NPS...

« on: July 29, 2010, 10:31:01 AM »

FYI, when you're asking for an SM ID card, you're still asking for a pass.  Still costs one way or another. 

Yes, but I had in mind something more permanent like a SM ID card that each SM would receive upon registering their slam.  Something that would not need to be reissued every Nats, though I understand the nightmarish logistics of ex-slammasters using old passes, keeping an up-to-date data base, etc etc.  It just seems to me that SMs, by simple virtue of being an SM, should receive some sort of benefit above and beyond regular PSI members. 

Just saying...

22

General Discussion / Re: Question about purchasing passes for NPS...

« on: July 29, 2010, 09:56:55 AM »

All,

Here is what the EC has investigated, discussed, argued, motioned and voted on in the last week ro so since this issue came up:

We determined that the EC had, at one of our meetings during last year's NPS, had in fact agreed to limit passes for team to 5.
Problem?  We didn't publicize that decision and we certainly had bigger fish to fry at the time. 

We have since rectified that by doing the following:

1) Motion to limit teams to 5 passes for NPS was approved. 
2) Motion to start that limit next year, not this year (meaning teams this year get up to 6 passes just like the old system and with the old considerations) also passes.  This is the "my bad" motion.

So up to 6 this year, down to a flat 5 next year.

Thank you for the quick and clear response Scott.

Question: It is still possible for slams to send 5 person teams next year, right? If that is the case, what is the problem with giving each team 6 passes?  Not 6 goodie bags, or T-shirts, or anything of that sort- but passes.  Heck, not even passes. How about issuing some kind of Slammaster ID card that grants Slammasters admission into all NPS events at which their slam is competing?  Has that ever been discussed? Is that an option?

Poets will always be there, but without the work the Slammasters put in year round, Nationals would not happen, at least in any form that resembles organized and coherent.  How do people feel about creating some sort of All Access Pass (not backstage or anything, but into venues) for the backbone of the national PSI scene?

23

General Discussion / Re: Question about purchasing passes for NPS...

« on: July 29, 2010, 08:32:19 AM »

I have to chime in and agree with the Colonel.  As a slammaster, every year I question whether or not paying $500 for Nationals plus another $120 to register my team AND myself as PSI members in order for us to compete at NPS is the best way to spend the hard earned money our slam makes.  Then to find out that the hardest working member of those 6- namely me, the guy who fills out the paperwork, promotes the slam on a weekly basis, makes sure we have all those ever changing ducks in a row- isn't considered worthy of a free pass?? Yeah, it's pretty discouraging.  I have already paid $620 and PSI still needs my money in order to survive.  Is that the case??

And I don't think it should matter how many members are on your team.  If I have 4 poets on my team, I am still paying $500 to compete, just like those 5 person teams.  And in past years here in SA, we have had 5 poets, 1 coach, and 1 slammaster, all working their asses off to make the Nationals experience work.  For the $640 we pay to compete (guaranteed to read only 2x in 5 days), couldn't we get 7 passes?

24

General Discussion / Re: Inspire slammers to write new poems!....?

« on: July 22, 2010, 03:09:18 PM »

I just wish more local slams would institute more stringent "no repeat" rules. At Mental Graffiti (Chgo.), no repeat til the Grand Slam.

In San Antonio, I've considered a "no repeat" rule, but as slam master, I have always put "The Show" above the poets or the competition.  I really never had a problem with the same poets winning every week because these poets put on a great show (3 minutes at a time), and for those audience members who were new or who only came out once a month (we are weekly), having these poets in the mix helped the slam.  My response to the poets who complained about hearing- and losing!- to the same poems every week was, "Heck, you know what they are going  to read- literally, you know the exact poem that is coming!- so write something better."  That didn't work so I resorted to the New Poem Every Week challenge and got results WHILE raising interest in the weekly slam.

My slam philosophy is that Poets Are Like Bands, and there is nothing wrong with pulling out the hits to make the crowd go wild! The poets will always be there- its the audience I worry about.  So I never took the "no repeat" rule step because some of my best poets (who people come to see) are the laziest people I know, and I use them on slow nights (i.e. beg them to slam!) to keep the customer satisfied.

So I was trying something different and non-restrictive that wasn't Authority From Above Declares!!! And it worked....

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General Discussion / Inspire slammers to write new poems!....?

« on: July 22, 2010, 09:48:39 AM »

Hey y'all-
 Someone suggested I share this with y'all just because of the success we have had here with it in San Antonio:
  Last year, we had a situation where the same handful of poets were winning every slam using the same handful of poems.  The audience loved em but many of the non-winning poets started getting pissed and started issuing weekly challenges- in the form of new poems and by devoting their three minutes to pure improv- that called for New Poems!!!  After things got pretty heated one week last October, I, as slammaster, accepted the challenge and announced- in hopes of calming the drama AND inspiring new poetry- that I would write a new poem every Tuesday and then read it as a sacrifice poem that same Tuesday.
   That was 35 weeks ago and after having done this for close to 9 months, the results have been awesome.  Those people winning the slam every week with the same old poems? Well they are writing new poems and doing some interesting stuff with their new work.  More new poets have come out of the woodwork and some have personally credited this project as a motivating factor.  The slam is no longer ruled by the same three or four voices and any given week, there is no odds on favorite as to who will win.

I'm not posting this to credit myself but I did want to share something with the community that has had a positive effect on our local slam.  As a poet, it has done wonders for my writing and I recommend this for anyone willing to challenge themselves.  As a slammaster, it has issued a "Show Don't Tell" proclamation that has quelled drama in our scene.

Just wanted to share that with y'all....

26

General Discussion / Okarks/Sulphur Springs?

« on: July 20, 2010, 03:26:08 PM »

Does anyone on here have any info about an Ozarks poetry reading in or near Sulphur Springs? I poet in SA heard about it somewhere and will be in the area soon and wants to check it out, if possible?

Any and all info would be great- when, where, who runs it, etc.  Thanks!!!!

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General Discussion / Re: What are the dates for NPS 2009?

« on: February 16, 2009, 04:16:24 PM »

Thank you!!!!!

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General Discussion / What are the dates for NPS 2009?

« on: February 16, 2009, 01:55:10 PM »

So....what are the dates for NPS 2009?

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General Discussion / Re: An open letter re:Ching chong accents, midget samurais, yadda yadda

« on: August 16, 2008, 03:29:11 PM »

Puroshaggy, Klute, Marcopolo:

Between your three posts, I have seen dissent and the above-mentioned dialogue in action (alebit indirectly). Sorry to bend so easily, but you're right. The denial of Free Speech - or disqualification aspect of it - is not the responsibility of the slam venue. That portion of the rule was written when I was a budding slam master in 2006. I'm merely an advisor now, and shouldn't pass along that legacy to the next SM.

I'm glad my insertion into this thread didn't derail it, but glad I spoke (wrote) up.

The boldface is gone. Disqualification based upon content is a denial of Free Speech... but the part about dialoguing will be inserted as a guideline, as we do have, here and there, people who like to push envelopes, often unnecessarily.

Thanks, slamily.

~TSP

Awesome!  Just like this forum has been since Nats....dialogue rocks!

30

General Discussion / Re: An open letter re:Ching chong accents, midget samurais, yadda yadda

« on: August 15, 2008, 07:03:39 PM »

In addition, any poets performing material deemed offensive such as racist, homophobic, pedophilic, unnecessarily sacrilegious or pornographic, or threatening to the well-being of others will be interrupted, removed from the stage and disqualified from the event.

I don't want to start a whole other thread, so maybe you can email me backchannel if no one else wants to discuss this (pincheshhh@yahoo.com), but I have such a problem with the above statement, ESPECIALLY the "unnecessarily sacrilegious or pornographic" part leading to "removed from the stage and disqualified".

Here in San Anto, we are 100% Free Speech, to a fault, with the attitude (successfully so far except in one high profile case) that when racist, homophobic, etc poetry gets read, those who are offended are encouraged to talk- TALK- with the offender and work issues out.  This has happened numerous times in the 10 years I have been with the slam, and EVERY TIME, except in the aforementiond high profile case involving a NAME poet, the poet and the offended audience members came to an understanding/resolution.  No removal or disqaulification has ever been needed.

I think that your attitude/code presupposes that issues cannot be talked out and that you, as a slam, need to step in- in a DRASTIC fashion- in order to stop bigger problems.  Allow Free Speech but encourage post-offensive-poetry discussion.  if you as a slammaster, and the majority of your audience, are in agreement and working together, bad offensive poems can turn into learning moments.  We even had one case where an out of town first timer used an extremely racist characterization, was booed heavily, and then, after his poem, sat down, by himself, with 9 very angry poets/audience members, and talked things out.  That poet came back the following week and has never offended again.

The one instance of the name poet who refused to talk- he promised never to return to our slam and so far, never has.  No learning came of it whatsoever.