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SHAPPY'S ONLINE DIARY:
Sunday, August 28, 2005
HOWLED OUT!
This past week was the HOWL! Festival all throughout the Lower East Side which meant I heard the poem HOWL by Ginsberg every night I worked! I saw the best minds of my generation get drunk on the Bowery damn near nightly! Meanwhile across the street the last days of CBGB'S is bringing people out in droves. Word on the street is that it's gonna be closed by the end of August. I got to see a lot of cool stuff while making great money all week long. I heard Anne Waldman, The Last Poets, The Fugs and all my poetry pals and thier assorted shows. I work with a lot of talented folks! I'm pretty tuckered out but not so tired that me and Cristin didn't stay up late to watch Roadhouse for the first time together! An amazing piece of cinema!
posted by Shappy at 4:18 PM
Monday, August 22, 2005 Awesome weekend with Cristin! After a week in NM and then working at the BPC it was nice to have a nice two snoos weekend. Saturday I went to see my pal Morgan Taylor's new kiddie rock show-Gustafer Yellowgold's Wide Wild World It was pretty cool to see Crad in action. The kid's at this show were a little too young to dig the vibe but they all had their lil' eyes glued to the screen showing all of Morgan's cartoons come to life! It's cool to see friend's passions all come together in an entertaining package! Cristin interviewed Bob Holman at the BPC and it was like a NPR show. We had a earler supper at Olive Garden (it's fun to eat at touristy places in NYC!)Then we saw the funniest movie of he year-The 40 Year Old Virgin! Steve Carrell has the coolest collection of action figures ever seen in modern cinema! I just about shat myself when they commented on his Oscar Goldman (The Six Million Dollar Man's boss, which I owned and came with an exploding briefcase!) and it was great to hear all the nerds in the crowd freak out when Katherine Keener pushed all of his mint-in-package toys off the bed! Such a sweet flick that delivers on all levels! Also, we didn't even notice, but apparently the AC was out so we got free movie tickets! Sunday we went out to brunch and hit a couple of Soho shops. Saw some really cool antique toys and found a $85 Henry Darger book for $29! We played some Scrabble and I watched Inside 9/11 on cable. Speaking of cable, have you seen Al Gore's Current TV? It's like (and I quote Ms. Aptowicz) "watching TV in the future". It's kinda like surfing the web and watching all of these crazy downloads. I can't stop watching it! I need to be on it! They were at the National Poetry Slam so keep your eyes peeled! Lots of performance oppurtunities are presenting themselves recently and this week is the HOWL! Lower East Side Arts Fest celebrating the 50th anniversary of Ginsberg's classic poem which means I'll hear it evry day I work! I'm having some "special guests" this Tuesday at Nite Cap w/Shap tomorrow night! Do drop in! posted by Shappy at 2:30 PM
Monday, August 15, 2005
Remember how I work at a poetry club and then on my vacation I go to the National Poetry Slam? I must be some kinda poetry cowbell and we all need MORE COWBELL! Just got back late Sunday after spending all day in an airport of course my luggage is lost in delayed flight luggage limbo. No one could get into NYC yesterday. I just hope I get it back before we go to cat-sit later this week. Plus our beloved stuffed doxie Pretzel is all alone! Plus my lightsaber, my Risk board, my Homer Simpson flip-flops, all the cool books I bought in NM, my Spock tee-shirt, in other words-MY ESSENTIALS!!!(update-it arrived on Tuesday) Anyway NPS 2005 was one of the best Nationals we've had in a long time. I'll go through day by day-
Tuesday-Smooth travels our hotel is very classy La Posada of course the party hotel where everyone else is staying is 6 blocks away. There was a a meet and greet with free beer and tequila! That got things off to a crazy start. I walked back into town with Rives and Mike Henry and found the legendary Star Wars table at Anodyne (the only cool bar on the strip). I go to 7-11 at the last possible minute to procure beer with Kenn Rodriguez of Albuqurque's slam team and get a discount for reading a poem! I then sell beers for a dollar and double my money! Always bartending!
Wednesday- Opening ceremonies! Despite the fact that all the NYC teams have recieved NYC UNITED WE SLAM t-shirts less than half wear them! Ah, unity! Urbana takes 2nd place behind Charlotte, NC. I get to host a hot bout where I hear 2 awesome nerd poems and watch Jaime Kennedy assualt the crowd verbally. My scorekeeper wears bat-wings and is called the Word Faerie. Awesome. I go fetch my Risk board and play Tim Stafford from CHicago, Andy Buck from Austin, Coy King and I think there was 2 more but I can't remember who. RISKY!!!
Thursday- Time for the Nerd Slam! As I arrive to the outdoor stage that looks like a Hobbit Shire I notice black stuff in my ears! My earphones had melted in the sun!!!
The Nerd Slam attracts a huge crowd! Robbie Q from Normal is on target as co-host. I read "I Am That Nerd" as innvocation. Robbie sings the theme song to "Dino Dudes" a cool carton show from the 80's that only exsists in Robbie's mind. The trivia challenge is on and many would-be nerds "get served"! So many awesome poems but I have to say Tod Caviness got one of the best responses with his Super-Villian's Lament piece. Team Normal rocked out with an awesome robot group piece. There was no stopping The Klute from Mesa who totally served J. Bradley of FLA! I am now convinced The Klute is indeed a trivia man-machine! Big Ups to Ed Garcia for providing some awesome prizes and closing out the best Nerd Slam ever! After that I host a bout with Ft. Worth and Hawaii. It's big space and it's hard to get the crowd revved up. Then I go to the East Coast bloodbath bout. It's Urbana vs Bar 13-Louder Arts vs Central Jersey vs DC/Baltimore vs Oklahoma City. The place was packed, un-air-conditioned and had no bar! FUN!!! It was intense! Bar 13 beat us and Urbana takes 2nd again but because the scores were so high, Urbana ends up in Semi-Finals but only after having to use a lot of their A-list poems. Still our rookie members Akua and Chad Anderson rocked some great poems among some intense slam competetion! I get over to the Slammaster's Slam and end up winning it! This now makes me and Cristin the most powerful slam couple of all time! I wasn't there to claim my victory as it was time for MORE RISK! This time Matthew John Connelly and Chris Bundy got in on it. I'm so glad I brought my RISK board!
Friday- I declare this day a poetry-free day and go off to explore. I check out an awesome used bookstore and find a cool paperback of Yellow Submarine and I finally pick up my own copy of Kaviler & Clay. The best part was when I was looking at the graphic novels the clerk lady asked if I thought it was weird to have beat poetry next to the graphic novels and I said "Not in my world!" The comic shop was closed but I did get to have lunch at the Frontier for a second time (the first time was with Nick Fox, Tim Cook & Brandy) I get a steak platter and the best OJ on the face of the planet. Semis was in a tiny cramped joint but the bar up front is cozy with lots of booths so I chill with Beau and the Marshes and Slick Daniels from Ann Arbor.
Urbana gets a bad reaction in the first round and the team's fate was pretty much sealed. Chad kicked his Math poem and Taylor read a piece about his wife who died last year and then announced his retirement from slam! We ended up taking 3rd in the semis (still not sure where that puts us nationally, somewhere in the teens, not bad considering there was 75 teams) The team did great and we now have 2 new slam vets!
Later was Indie Semi's which became Spring Break 2005 thanks to the Normal crew who made t-shirts for everybody. I was dubbed "THE WIZARD". What a hoot! When I say "cos" you say "tume"! Somehow I ended up hosting some of it on the radio! Cool moment Anis had the lights go out during his poem and the crowd kept flashing thier cameras for him. Precious Slam Moments!
Saturday- Finals. Everyone is tired and bitter. My pal Fish sells boxes of candy for $2. Anis mentions us Spring Breakers in his poems and ends up winning Indies (he was on Urbana's team last year). Then Albuqurque won it's own Nationals! Then a bunch of idiots protested on stage ruining one of the smoothest Nats ever. Poets is the silliest peoples!
I'm sure there's lots more and I'll try to post more stuff as I think of it. It was great to see all my old pals and to make new ones. I can't wait for Austin!
posted by Shappy at 5:53 PM
Monday, August 08, 2005 I leave for the National Poetry Slam in Albuquerque TOMORROW! I have an entire suitcase loaded with prizes for the NERD SLAM on Thursday and my RISK and SCRABBLE boards! It's like summer camp for poets! Cristin went last year by herself and I;m going this year solo. Had a groovy weekend with Cristin. On Saturday we had a speakeasy themed show at the BPC. I helped host and Cristin did SNIPS 4 TIPS! We then had late nite burgers. Then we took a stroll an Sunday. I wish I had a better weekend tips-wise. Plus our paychecks got all screwed up so I'm not sure when I get paid. Hopefully before NPS is over! I do have some books to sell and most of my meals are covered so I should be okay. I'll try to keep you up to date as stuff happens at Nationals. Not sure how I'll get on-line but I'll try! Wish me and Urbana luck! posted by Shappy at 6:29 PM
Wednesday, August 03, 2005
Creepy!
So it was me and 3 other guys after hours and I went to check my e-mail and I hear "Shappy" like it was whispered in my ear. It sounded like a girl and I was like "All right, MF's, who was that?" and all 3 guys were like,"What are you talking about?". I got goosebumps! The Bowery Poetry Club gots ghosts! And they know my name! Brrrrrrrrrrr!
posted by Shappy at 5:08 AM
Monday, August 01, 2005 Friday kinda went according to plan. I got Letica to open the bar and went to Lil' Frankie's for a nice anniversary dinner with Cristin. Then I went back to club to barback! Turns out the 8 o'clock show was busy! Then the normally tepid hip-hop show was busy as well! The club did great business and I walked out with a wad o' cash! I didn't make it to Nuyorican but the Urrbana team came in 2nd! Cristin came by and we didn't get home til 3! Saturday we went to Neptune then Cristin slept most of the day! We watched movies and had fish sticks and tater tots for dinner. The next day we hiked all over the greater Astoria area. Tonight is the last of the NY regionals and we have dinner with the woman we cat-sit for. Beau Sia is in town as well. I'm hoping to write a couple of new poems to read at Nationals. Also, I got an e-mail from the "other Shappy". You've probally seen this guy on TV. Check him out at shappy.net! posted by Shappy at 2:11 PM
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