Mall of Andy ([info]elph8) wrote,
@ 2005-08-30 08:18:00
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Itchy
I read at The Hideout last night---the first time I've read at a non-slam event in months and months. I almost never go to readings other than the slam, which is half by design, often by forgetfulness. And when all you do is slam, you forget what it's like to leave a stage without scores popping up. Turns out, I like that. And then you also get to see poems you'd never see---like this girl, Jen, covering Barbara Adler, and Chris and Luv premiering a group piece, and Danny's weird fish poem, and my lovely Sarah's biting tongue.

How do you slammers feel about open mics?

Leaving there, though, I thought about London. And Dublin. Walking down Congress at night, the streets almost empty, the Capitol looming ahead, I realized how itchy I am to leave. And not because I don't love it here, but because I do.

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[info]randomcelestial
2005-08-30 01:31 pm UTC (link)
When you're used to watch writing and performance in highly critical and exciting settings, it's hard to get a rise out of open mics. It's like smoking crack and then going back to freebasing Draino.

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I find there can be some real energy at open mics
[info]frogman1975
2005-08-30 02:10 pm UTC (link)
sometimes. But you so often have to sit through too many droning mumbled journal entries. Then there are the "poetry purist" who sneer at anyone who ever slams.
I don't know. I used to do a couple of open mics a week in addition to occassionaly performing at the slam. Now I just try and do the slam once or twice a month, maybe hit San Antonio.
I know what you mean though. I was home doing the open mic I used to host last week and the energy was great fun.
That place was fun to visit too, but I was itchy to leave there. Not because I don't love eastern Kentucky/southern Ohio. But because Austin feels like home now.
I say, if you can afford it, get your travel on. It has felt really good for me to take a couple weeks off.

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Re: I find there can be some real energy at open mics
[info]funkaliciouslj
2005-08-30 02:27 pm UTC (link)
I have to agree that there are some open mics that leave something to be desired. I'm not looking for a flutist behind a poem that is something that should stay on paper. But that Hideout open mic can get pretty interesting. And I really enjoy the laid back atmosphere. I can see people do pieces they wouldn't slam because they aren't highly perfected yet. I prefer the imperfections.

And the fact that it is not the drinking crowd, it is just people who are there for poetry helps me concentrate more. I saw some completely different aspects of people's poems, Andy's in particular, last night. Primarily that they just seemed more real. That was pleasant.

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Re: I find there can be some real energy at open mics
[info]frogman1975
2005-08-30 04:19 pm UTC (link)
Oh, I totally agree to an extent, because the most poetic poems don't always go over well in a slam. And sometimes I want someone to be able to go longer than 3 minutes and 10 seconds. And they have the opportunity to do complementary pieces back to back. There are lots of advantages to open mics. But there are disadvantages too that should not be overlooked. The anti-slam "purists" for one.
Those smug fuckers get my goat.

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Re: I find there can be some real energy at open mics
[info]funkaliciouslj
2005-08-30 05:25 pm UTC (link)
I just ignore that shit. What people say, says more about them than those they talk about.

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Ah, The Hideout
[info]tweekedcat
2005-08-30 02:26 pm UTC (link)
I've read there a couple of times and I like it. It's good to have a different crowd, a different experience -- thuogh the last time I was there the audience was really small & it kinda freaked me out. At the slam, you can mentally merge everyone together into one huge entity, but with a smaller crowd you become painfully aware of each and every set of eyes on you. I need to get back to The Hideout soon.

Travel is good. I was planning on going to New Orleans sometime in October but, uh, well, I'm not a strong swimmer.

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[info]scottwoods
2005-08-30 02:41 pm UTC (link)
An open mic is only as good as its poets, just like a slam (though the slam does possess the added "benefit" of potentially being as entertaining as the scores).

I run a weekly open mic that HAPPENS to have a monthly slam, so I think they're great.

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[info]radioactiveart
2005-08-30 02:57 pm UTC (link)
Right there with you, Scott.

AS I've gotten older, I find I vastly prefer open mics to slams.

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[info]scottwoods
2005-08-31 02:22 am UTC (link)
Me too. I challenge myself with slams to do what I do better, but I tend to STRETCH myself in open mics.

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[info]phoenixsinking
2005-08-30 02:54 pm UTC (link)
I said the exact same thing about wanting to leave in a poem, except I said "It's not because I don't love you, it's because I do." The more caught up you get in the Austin life the more you want to go somewhere else to breathe and remember who you are outside of what you have always known to be reality. I have been really torn since Nationals as to whether I want to study abroad again in the spring or dedicate myself to the slam and try to win, possible be on a team god willing. I don't want to miss the Nationals in Austin and slam has become my heart beat, but I still have that itch shaped like latin america.

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itch shaped like latin america...fantastic
[info]funkaliciouslj
2005-08-30 03:14 pm UTC (link)
I agree with this leaving home idea. Amazing insights come when we step out of the familiar. Just this morning I took a different route than usual around town lake and now I'm going to take skulling lessons...who knew?

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I say
[info]frogman1975
2005-08-30 04:27 pm UTC (link)
if you dedicate yourself THAT strongly to the Slam, that you are going to focus on making the team to the detriment of all other experiences, the writing will become more like work and you will burn yourself out.
I think the pieces should just "flow" from experience, so I say, immerse yourself in experience.
That means, if you are feeling the itch to travel. Travel. I know I write more about home now that I have the benefit of seperation from Kentucky, and that I learn to love it more and more. (Most isn't slam type material, but I'm a writer, not a slammer. I just happen to slam some of the stuff I write that fits the format)
Nothing is as good for getting the creative juices flowing, in my opinion, than traveling, getting out of the familiar, and contemplating why the familiar is familiar, where the similarities and connections are between disimilar things, etc.
So do whatever feels right.

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Re: I say
[info]phoenixsinking
2005-08-31 12:08 am UTC (link)
you've got a good point, like I said, I'm torn.

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Re: I say
[info]frogman1975
2005-08-31 04:25 am UTC (link)
hmmmm, I know that feeling...
I say don't stress about it or you'll end up NOT enjoying whatever you do. Just be sure to enjoy whatever happens (like I even need to tell you that)

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[info]kat0ninetales
2005-08-30 04:24 pm UTC (link)
I don't have a lot of experience with open mics, but LA Green is awesome. It seems to be more of a community--the audience and the poets--than would otherwise be the case. At a slam the audience is more critical of you because they want to mentally assign you a score because of the format. That's the name of the game. At an open mic, they just want to hear what you have to say.

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[info]bigsleep666
2005-08-30 04:41 pm UTC (link)
The Neo Soul open mic is the best open mic in town and I highly recommend it. Brian keeps the energy up and the audience is really into it. A lot of people at Neo Soul go to listen. At the Hideout and Ruta Maya open mics, a lot of people go to read, so it's a little different feeling. Not necessarily good or bad, but different. When time permits, I like to go to all three. The slam, however, is more of an event. It's much more of a show.

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[info]dny
2005-08-30 06:11 pm UTC (link)
I agree with this... neo soul is definitely the best open mic in town. neo-soul has so much energy it's practically a slam.

followed closedly by the hideout... but the first hour often drags.

:)

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yeah
[info]frogman1975
2005-08-31 04:28 am UTC (link)
Nothing against Chris, he is a great guy and tries his damndest, but the Hideout, as a Monday night gig, is just way chill.
Neo-Soul, from my one time there, was WAY high energy. But erotic type pieces really seemed to go over better there than anything else, and I'm too demure for that.

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[info]brazencaucasian
2005-08-30 04:53 pm UTC (link)
at Mental Graffiti we do open mics as kind of an extension of the slam. you don't get scored but you're encouraged to not go too long. i dig the open mic. you get to see more daring unconventional work.... like joel with a miners lamp reading personal ads.

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[info]violetdusk
2005-08-30 06:18 pm UTC (link)
I get the itch to leave Austin all the time. I love it so much, it has nothing to do with that. It's strange though, a month after I'm gone, I start to miss it with my whole soul. It's like I just had to get away from it to realize why it's the greatest city I've ever lived in. Then, after a few months away, I come home and it makes it that much sweeter.

Come visit me before leaving on your world tour! ;)

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[info]elph8
2005-08-30 09:05 pm UTC (link)
Or maybe YOU should just move home. Ya know, hooooooooooome.

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[info]modmoda
2005-08-30 08:50 pm UTC (link)
Do you have plans yet for Friday night? Dinner??

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[info]elph8
2005-08-30 09:05 pm UTC (link)
There are tentative plans, which I expect to fall through. Holla.

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