|
|
:: menu
:: bio
::
diary :: shows
::
buy crap
:: reviews :: audio :: video :: gallery :: auctions :: links :: contact | ||||
|
|
|
|
|
| |
SHAPPY'S ONLINE DIARY:
Sunday, August 27, 2006
Man! This summer is flying by! Last weekend Cristin and I went up to visit her folks on the Jersey Shore. The first day we hit an Outlet Mall and Cristin got a lot of new clothes for the fall. I got some new Vans sneakers and Cristin got me a pretty nice denim jacket. I also found a Merlin for $5 and the last Matrix movie for $5. That night Mr. A made chicken on the grill it was dee-lish! The next day we all took a drive to Atlantic City where they don't let you put nickels in the nickel slots! All the machines only take $5 bills! Can you believe it? I think most of the fun of playing the slot machines is the chance that you can turn one coin into a bunch of coins. There's no time for that in A.C.! In fact, it was a little depressing seeing all of these senior citizens literally hooked up to the slots by retractable cords connected to a gambling credit card. There is no actual money coming out of the machines just little reciepts! At least in Vegas you actually see some people winning, not so much in Atlantic City. I did take my chances on the Star Wars slots but the Force wasn't with me! The only deal we got was 3 pretzels for a dollar and cheap salt water taffy! Later that night I learned how to play Pinocle for future visits to the Aptowicz compound. The next day Cristin cut hair and paddled around the lagoon with her pops then we headed back to NYC.
We are heading out of the dog days of August at the club. But Thursday night was a biggie with a good-bye party for Sean from Magic Hat which was one of the biggest nights I've ever worked solo. Made great tips! The next day I found a boxed set of SPACED which is like one of the greatest brit-coms ever featuring Simon Pegg and Nick Frost from Sean of the Dead. We had some fun bands and then 3rd Party. I got to work with Moonshine for the first time in a long time. The best part is that I got to walk home to our cat-sitting gig!(even though it was pouring rain!) The next day we went out for brunch and then to a baby shower for John S. Hall and his wife. We got them a Spudtrooper and some stuffed wiener dogs. Then off we went to the BPC for the 1st Annual Bartender's Slam-which I won! It was a hoot! Everyone was funny. Just wish there had been more of a crowd, oh well! We ordered in and watched cable and then wandered around Barnes & Noble and then got ice cream. Another crazy Saturday night for two snoos! We headed back to Queens in downpour and had brunch at Neptune's and then watched the Emmys and guessed mostly wrong on all the catagories.
Today I delve into housework and errands and of course wishing my dad and sister-in-law HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!
posted by Shappy at 11:18 PM
Monday, August 21, 2006
Okay-Here's the rest of my day to day report on NPS 2006!
DAY THREE (Thursday)-NERD SLAM!!! This was the fifth year I hosted the Nerd Slam at Nationals. Every year it gets bigger and nerdier! This year I assigned Trivia-Masters to stream-line the show. It goes like this- girls and group pieces get a "free pass" to read. Guys have to put their names and their field of trivia expertise in a cup and have to win a trivia-off in order to read. We had The Klute on movies and sci-fi, J. Bradley on cartoons, Zach on pro-wrestling and one of the guys from the local comic shop (Austin Books) on comic book trivia. I would also like to thank Mike Whalen for hooking us up with Austin Books who not only supplied us with 60 gift bags to give out as prizes, but also set up a table with FREE COMIC BOOKS for the entire crowd! They also put comics in all of the poets welcome bags as well!
I opened with I AM THAT NERD which was kinda freaky cuz a lot of poetry nerds were doing it with me! My awesome co-host Robbie Q opened with MUPPETS ARE AWESOME and the insanity commenced! Some highlights-
-Mike and Element's black super-hero duet
-Hannah's dirty web porn poem
-guy claiming to be a "hip-hop nerd" being forced off the stage by the crowd chanting "NOT A NERD!"
-the girl who schooled Big Poppa E on Harry Potter spells
-the guys from Team Normal winning their trivia-off's legitimately and reading awesome poems about Nintendo and Vikings
-Tod Caviness almost having an aneurysm because he couldn't name 3 Minutemen from 100 Bullets ( he got 2!)
-Stephen Mead closing out the show with a great Anakin Skywalker piece.
We need more time for this slam! I think we could go at least 3 hours without it getting boring! We only got an hour and a half. Of course, I 'd love to hear as much nerd poetry as possible. The trivia -off makes it a more of a competition instead of an open-mic and encourages audience participation, in my opinion. There is talk of doing a Geek Slam and a Nerd Slam, but if had more time or split it for 2 days, we could have some awesome match-ups. Anyway you slice it, it was a HUGE success! Liz Jones (day events coordinator) told me after the fact that we had the biggest attendance of ALL OF THE DAY EVENTS! NERD POWER!
Also, if you participated or have a nerd poem and didn't get to read it at Nerd Slam or if you just have a nerd poem pass it along to me at nerds@uncleshappy.com! I am planning on putting together an anthology of nerd poetry and hopefully having it ready for when we return to Austin next year!
Later that night Urbana won it's second bout by like 3 points which got us into semi-finals and Jaimie was the high-scoring poet of the night so he got into Indie Finals! Not bad for a first-timer! I stuck around for the Slam-Master's Slam (which I won last year) and performed NOT WITHOUT MY BABIES and worked the crowd up into a nice lather and confused a lot of judges. Headed over to catch the end of the Hip-Hop showcase and then ended up back at the hotel for late-night debauchery and ended up with a copy of a Snakes on a Plane anthology which included a poem by Tony Brown from Wooster which now makes him the coolest motha-fuckin' slam poet, EVAH!
DAY FOUR (Friday)-I shocked Taylor Mali by actually showing up at 10 AM for the Slam-Master's meeting. I take my duties serious, y'all! A vote was taken on having a regional slam-off around the country in which teams compete locally and have to win twice to be considered to be eligible for Nationals. It passed. Let the NYC blood-bath begin! It's gonna get INTENSE! I slept until it was time to gather the troops for semi-finals. We lucked out and got a nice, big venue (Ruta Maya) but we didn't luck out with our draw. We were up against last year's champs (Albuquerque), the number one ranked team at this year's NPS (Charlotte, NC), Hawaii (always a crowd favorite) and Baltimore/DC (which had former National Champ Gayle Danley)! It was neck and neck but in the end we ended up fourth after a two-way tie for first between Charlotte and DC/Baltimore. DC/Baltimore won. I am very proud of our team which consisted of 3 rookies(Jeanann, Sarah Kay & Jaimie) and one returning member from last year's team (Akua). Especially Sarah Kay who just turned 18(!) and held her own with a solo piece in our last rotation! Everyone felt good about their performances and that's really what it's all about.
From there we headed over to the Paramount Theatre for the last ever Individual Finals (they are eliminating it from Nationals next year because there is now the Individual World Poetry Slam in winter) to cheer on Jaimie! He squeaks by in each round due to other poets going over-time. He ends up 5th in the NATION with Anis Mojgani winning the whole darn thing! Anis was on the Urbana team in 2004 so I feel like I can take credit for his victory. Plus, he can fit inside a teacup!
I shuffle off to Ego's to host karaoke (thanks for the ride Panika!) which Mike Henry announced to a crowd of over 3,000! I get there to find only one song sheet and the machine is not set-up! Yikes! A friendly guy at the bar sets up the machine for me and Wammo set up the sound board. I end up hosting, singing and DJ-ing! My efforts are rewarded by not having to pay for one drink! I close out with Dead or Alive by Bon Jovi and all are happy! Big up's to Jeff and Ingrid of Ego's for all of their support and awesome-ness! I was Ego's pretty much every night of the week and was happy to be there every time. In fact, I am the standing Movie Trivia Champ on the machine there, so try and knock me down Austin poets!
DAY FIVE (Saturday)- Finally! A day to enjoy the great city of Austin! I run into Susan and Beau who are on their way to Tamale House for migas! So good! Then off to Hogwild where I search for pop-culture artifacts but come up fruitless. Mainly because after 3 days of poetry and stuff I can't afford their prices. However, a trip across the street to Room Service Vintage makes Shappy very happy! I am able to find a vintage ceramic wiener dog snack tray for Cristin, a vinyl Linus doll from the 50's , a Cat Steven's 8-track and a denim Justice League shirt! All under $50! From there we head to the Buffalo Exchange where I score some blue Chuck Taylor's for $20! We head back to the hotel where I find my weary team wondering when we are heading to finals. I gather the troops one last time and we head over to Bennigan's for dinner! I love going to chain restraunts! I ordered a "extra-fun size" salad. The waiter gets all my fussy vegetarian team's orders wrong and then we head off to the Palm aircraft hangar for the big finish. We all sit in the back with the wisenheimers and have fun cheering on the one NYC team to make it to Finals LouderArts. I protest not winning Spirit of the Slam by crossing my arms in a X formation. Denver wins with some awesome groupwork and actually does a video-game duet! NERDS! The after-party has a 80's prom theme and I have a great time catching up with everybody and reflecting on the awesomeness of Austin. I get a ride back to the hotel with Susan, Beau Sia & Jeff McDaniel to find my team ready to go and liquid-free! I come home to the arms of my fussy lady and have breakfast at Neptune's with her. Ah, Astoria!
And that's that! I had a great time and look forward to doing it again next year! Also, a big shout out to all the brave reporters of the Tattler for keeping it real on the slam gossip tip!
posted by Shappy at 1:25 PM
Wednesday, August 16, 2006
Dear LORD!!! I am back in the New York groove after the week long poetry party we call the National Poetry Slam! So much to say about how AWESOME this year's NPS was, but first I'd like to shout out all the Austin folk who ran the damn thang-Mike Henry, Phil West, Krissi Reeves, Sonya Feher, Tara Seth, Mike Whalen, Liz Jones, Andy Buck, Traci Jackson, David Hendler and I suppose every dad-blamed slammer in Austin had a hand in making this not only a great slam but a great poetry FESTIVAL as well! Huzzah to all!
So I guess I'll try to break this down in a day-by-day-
Day ONE (Tuesday)-Flight goes smoothly, no snakes. As soon as we get to the baggage claim there is a volunteer telling us our shuttle will be right up! We get all checked in and hit the BBQ. Free beer and vodka! Bob Whoopiecat had a mile-long BBQ Pit O' Meat happening which really irked my mostly vegetarian team! If they had waited they would've eventually got veggie burgers. I ate my weight in brisket! Got caught up with lots of folk and got to hand off some KISS 8-tracks I brought for Wammo since a homeless guy got into his rehearsal space and pooped all over his 8-track collection! Susan B Anthony Sommers finally arrived and it was off to Opal Divines for some fine local beer and fancy sippin' whiskey!
DAY TWO (Wednesday)-Woke up to find the entire team had gone to IHOP without me! Grrr! Thankfully, they brought me an order of biscuits and gravy! Yay! We headed over to opening ceremonies around noon. Lordy-loo, was it HOT outside! They did a couple of poems and then annouced FREE SUSHI inside for all! I took this opportunity to hand out the water they had out in the sushi room reminding people of Spirit Of The Slam Award that goes to whomever personifies slamminess at NPS! I watched the team practice for a spell and then headed over to the Legends showcase to see Beau Sia do his thang! Went to a meeting for the hosts and got a t-shirt then headed over to Progress Coffee to host my first bout (Montevallo, Charlotte, Pittsburgh, Vancouver) with Andy Buck as my Bout Manager. The coffee joint is tiny and much re-arranging is done with the help of some Texas amazons. Things go pretty smooth. Leticia does her PEEPS poem as the sacrificial poet. Charlotte wins with a lot of group pieces and Vancouver brings the kooky vibe especially Magpie Ulysses who drank crick-water from the hotel lobby! I get to be the sacrificial poet for the next round and do "Quacky" which gets a pretty good score! I still gots it! Urbana goes up against Denver in the first bout. We take 2nd which is pretty good considering Denver went on to win the whole damn thing! We head over to the Hip-Hop showcase to see Beau and Celena Glenn host and because we hear free pizza! I hide one pizza so that when someone went up to the empty boxes and get all bummed out-I come over with a slice-Spirit Of The Slam!!!
Me and Leticia head over to Ego's for the "I ROCK!" open-mic in which Wammo has a band of Austin musicians back up your poems! I kill with "Butterfly". Leticia rocks out with "Allergic To Beans" and then people started slam-dancing in the rolling chairs Ego's has. We head back to the hotel and find a room full of cheese.
DAY THREE & beyond tomorrow!
posted by Shappy at 6:10 PM
Monday, August 07, 2006
Well, I leave for the National Poetry Slam in Austin, TX tomorrow! As I predicted, my tips were for shit this past week so I don't have as big a bankroll as I had hoped, but hopefully I'll sell some product out there. Plus, there's a lot of free food and stuff floating around this year so I should be alright. If you are in the great city of Austin here's where I'll be!
NERD SLAM! 3-5 PM
Thursday, August 10
Antone's
213 W. Fifth St
Austin, TX 78701
(512) 320-8424
antones.net
Karaoke with Shappy! 11pm-???
Friday, August 11
Ego's
510 South Congress Avenue
Austin, TX 78704
(512) 474-7091
Those are my two big shows this year! I'll also be hosting bouts both Wednesday and Thursday nights (bouts #5 and #26) if you are attending the festivities! I'm all over the place at these things and you can for sure find me playing RISK til the sun comes up at the hotel!
I'm bringing a dark horse Urbana team this year and can't wait to see how things shake out! Be sure to check poetryslam.com for updates throughout the week!
posted by Shappy at 10:25 PM
Wednesday, August 02, 2006
Like every other blogger in NYC let me just start off by saying-OH MY FREAKIN' GOD IT'S SOOOO F'N HOT!!! We're breaking all sorts of records here in the baked apple! It's kinda freaky having all the bridges and monuments dark for fear of a black-out. No one knows better than we Astorians how much that would suck! I'm doing my part by not turning on lights and unplugging all non-essentials. The a/c is on low and on power save so it's turning itself off from time to time. Of course the Verizon repair guys never showed today. We are having problems with our phone jack and aren't getting a dial tone. Boo! Of course no one is going out in this oppressive 100 degree weather which means I'm not expecting to make a lot of money at work. Last night we were done before midnight! Not that Tuesdays are a big night anyway. But enough of the suck, here's some fun stuff that's happened recently-
-got a box of Superman Crunch!
-watched the special editon of Road House with commentary by Kevin Smith!
-they've added an Adult Graphic Novel section at my library!
-the guy at Blockbuster showed me where all the new 4 for $20 DVD's were cuz he knows I'm always digging around for deals there, I got some good stuff!
-just found out we got a shitload of prizes for the Nerd Slam at Nationals! Thanks Mike Whalen!
-the team is doing really well! I'm real proud of them. Plus, it's always a plus being a dark horse team!
-Taylor Mali brought me a mini Space Shuttle from Space Camp!
-as always, I love my tiny, baby snoo!
Stay cool, fool!
posted by Shappy at 6:18 PM
menu | bio | diary | shows | buy crap | reviews
audio | video | gallery | auctions | links | contact
www.uncleshappy.com
shappy@uncleshappy.com