Upcoming Gig: Anti Slam London!

Roses are, er, red, violets are blue
Valentine's day poetry... watch out, I'm coming through!



Here's the official info:

The Anti-Slam returns to London with an Anti-Valentine’s Day Special, where the poet with the lowest score wins!

You may know what a poetry slam is: a group of poets present their self written texts, round after round. And then the few winners of those rounds compete in a final round. The poet with the highest score, or loudest applause, or largest number of hands raised wins. It’s fun, it’s competitive, it’s entertaining for the audience.

But what if the format of the slam was turned on its head? What if the point wasn’t performing the best piece – but the worst. We don’t just mean bad: we mean hilariously terrible. Laugh-out-loud embarrassing. Entertainingly cringe worthy. Poetry so bad it transcends quality… and becomes genius.

Ladies and gentlemen… The Anti-Slam! Where the poet with the lowest score wins! Featuring:
Judges:
Niall O’Sullivan | Kat Francois | Adam Kammerling (current UK Anti-Slam Champ!).
Competitors:
Emma Jones | Charlie Dupre | Amy Acre | Amy McAllister | Stephanie Dogfoot |Peter Hayhoe | Katie Bonna | Keith Jarrett | Superbard | Paul Cree
Hosts:
Paula Varjack | Dan Simpson
With poets this good, being this bad, it’s going to be awesome.
When: Friday 15 February, 7.30pm
Where: The Gallery Café, 21 Old Ford Road, Bethnal Green, London E2 9PL
Tickets: £5 / £4 concessions – on the door
Info: paulavarjack@googlemail.com / dan@dansimpsonpoet.co.uk

5 things to get February started...

1 - last chance to see When Words Collide (expires at 9pm tonight)

2 - come see my mug at Guildhall Art Gallery, among others, as part of the Fierce exhibition by Ajamu. Honored to be there!

3 - check out Upcoming events over the next couple of days... will be in Manchester tues, school showcases on weds/thurs (the Spoken Word Educator showcase is on Thursday! See earlier post). My next public gig in London will be the Anti-Slam on February 15th. Expect some wonderfully bad poetry and plenty of love and laughs.

4 - Poetry is dying, apparently. Check out the latest buzz from yesterday. I really don't want to get too involved - a lot of these arguments are very tiring and many people have said all I could ever say on the matter, but it's good to see people I know holding it down and holding the guilty to account.

First up, we had an article in the Independent criticising Spoken Word, and slams in particular, yesterday (see it here). The irony is that the author has been well-documented performing poetry... and recently (see video below.

Then we had a few responses - ranging in strength of derision - such as Poejazzi's, Niall O'Sullivan's and Raymond Antrobus', which showed several of the holes apparent in the article. It's good to see poetry making news, perhaps? Although, it's bad news to see these throw-away drama-invoking statements are still in fashion. Rock 'n' roll is dead. Poetry is dying/dead. The King is dead. Long live the king! etc. I'm bored.  

5 - I can't actually remember the fifth element. It was on the tip of the tongue and then this "poetry is dying" nonsense distracted me. I'll leave it there for now and fill you in the rest tomorrow.

Ciao!