Van Slam

On January 9th, Van Slam held its 5th annual Women of the World Poetry Slam Playoffs. The top eight female-identifying poets took the stage to compete in three rounds of poetry: a one-minute round, a two-minute round, and a four-minute round.

Competing in this year’s playoffs were former two-time WOWPS champ Julie Peters, 2011 Grand Slam Champ Olivia B, 2011 Van Slam Team member Lisa B, BeDRoCC 2011 Grand Slam Champ Jillian Christmas, BeDRoCC 2011 Team member Sonya Littlejohn, Leah Horlick, Sho Wiley, and Maddie Gorman.

All of them turned in tremendous performances at yet another sold out show. After all the scores were added, Lisa B came out on top. She won a fully paid trip to compete in WOWPS in Denver, Colorado from March 7–10 as Van Slam’s representative.

Who is Lisa B and how did she get so awesome? We sat down with her (via the internets) to find out.

1. How long have you been performing spoken word?

My first gig was in November of 2001, a queer cabaret in Victoria called FLAUNT. I was wretchedly nervous.

2. How do you prepare for a big competition like the WOWPS playoffs?

Sometimes I get some coaching from one or two Chrises (Gilpin or Masson.) But it seems that I do best when I don’t really think I have a shot at winning, don’t focus much on preparation, and am just excited to participate.

3. How did the night of WOWPS playoffs at Café Deux Soleils feel to you? Were there any poems that struck you and stayed with you after? (ok, that’s a double question. I’m cheating a bit here.)

It was a gorgeous night. I thoroughly enjoyed the warmth and mutual supportiveness of all the women competing. And there was a lot of kickass poetry that night…Two pieces that come to mind right away are two of Leah Horlick’s. First she addressed white privilege, and then she critiqued nationalism. High-five, Leah.

4. You used to live in Manchester, UK and perform at their slams. What was that like?

Really different from North American slams. There’s a wide range of accents, of course, and an equally wide range of poetry styles. You’d hear limericks and sonnets alongside more slammy pieces. And for the most part it’s read off the page, there’s a lot less focus on memorization there.

5. If you could bring one aspect of the UK slam scene to Canada, what would it be?

My friends Michelle Green, Tony Walsh, Fergus Evans…

6. Sometimes you go by the nickname ‘goat’. How did you acquire that name?

It must have originally been an astrology reference which fit well. I have some goatlike qualities.

7. Meditation is a big part of your life. How does that influence your art? How does it influence my everything, you mean?

Shit man, I could take several pages to answer that one. But in the interests of brevity, I’ll tell you that I’m not really the type to write lots when I’m angsty or overwhelmed. I’m at my most prolific and expressive when I’m happy and grounded, and in the simplest terms, I sit everyday because it keeps me happy and grounded.

8. What is your favourite book and why?

ONE book?? Are you mad? No, I’m rewriting this question, really you wanted to know what themes appear in the pile on my nightstand, right? Ok, without cheating: trashy sci-fi – various materials on addressing violence within activist and marginalized communities/ some edgy American female poets/ a self-help book about surviving a borderline parent/ some slightly less trashy sci-fi/ an overdue Louise Erdrich novel/ some chapbooks/ Barbara Kingsolver’s take on the fragility of our food systems.

Find out more about Lisa B on her website: http://www.luckygoat.org

The Van Slam Family gathered at Brittania Community Centre on November 29th to elect the next Slammaster. Sean McGarragle has served as national Slammaster for the past four years, leading the community into an era of once-a-week slams. Duncan Shields has served for the past couple years as the international Slammaster, taking care of the logistics of sending poets to American tournaments and spearheading the Vancouver Poetry Slam’s Youtube channel.

Before the election, it was decided that the two roles would be combined into one and that the new single Slammaster would remain a volunteer position. Then the election took place. There were four excellent candidates and a runoff vote was required. In the end, Jessica Mason-Paull emerged as the Slammaster Elect. She will be working with Sean and Duncan for the rest of the winter season to learn the ins and outs of the job before taking the reins herself in May 2012.

We spoke on the phone with Jessica earlier this week to hear more about her perspective on the Vancouver Poetry Slam and her vision for it moving forward.

How did you originally discover Van Slam?

I remember hearing about poetry slam back in Bristol in the late nineties and sadly, I was still of the belief that I was the popular kid at high school, so I wouldn’t go to something like that. (laughs) When I moved to Vancouver, I happened to move to a block away from where the slam is. The first slam I came too though, I heard about on the radio from one of RC Weslowski’s announcements.

What were your first impressions of Van Slam?

I remember thinking it was one of the coolest arts communities I’ve ever walked in on. I think that’s because people get up and say whatever they want and everyone listens. That doesn’t happen anywhere else.

Who are some of your favourite poets and why?

My favourite poem is “Tourettes” by Patrick Swan. My favourite performers would be Buddy Wakefield because he stands up there and clearly has something to say. I don’t always agree with everything he says, but I love that he says it. Also, RC Weslowski and Chris Masson because they’re such wicked performers. They get onstage and they don’t even have say anything and everyone shuts up. They have things to share and I think the world needs to hear it.

There is a question that everyone wants to ask you–

Am I single? Yes.

(laughs) I’ll put that in too. Actually, I was going to ask: what is the secret to being a great heckler at the Vancouver Poetry Slam?

It’s a combination of speaking exactly what’s on your mind and a certain amount of English sarcasm and wit. And saying it very loudly.

Why did you want to become Slammaster?

Oh my god, I’ve always wanted to be Slammaster. Because I’m an organization freak. Because I love the community and I really want to serve it, as cheesy as that sounds. I would love to put all my efforts into making sure there are more people here, hearing what poets have to say.

How do you envision Van Slam changing over your two-year term as Slammaster?

Well, a hot English woman is going to be running the show. That will be the principal change. (laughs) I will be really focusing on the local talent that we’ve already developed and to really help them to become great and internationally known. I’d love to have a diversity of international – and by that I don’t mean just American – poets on our stage. I’d also like to keep sending our Van Slam ninjas around the world.

A common criticism of poetry slam is that its competitive nature does not encourage artistic excellence. How would you respond to this?

We’d all like to live in a hippie utopia, but if we’re honest, we’re judging each other all the time. The competition encourages poets to work within set limits and challenges them to push themselves and their art. So I’d completely disagree.

What are some ways that people can get involved in the Vancouver Poetry Slam?

Everything that happens at the poetry slam needs help from volunteers. You can send me an email at jessica@vancouverpoetryhouse.com telling me what you’re interested in and I’ll get right back to you. There are opportunities in everything from score-keeping to logistics to hosting. You can also email our volunteer coordinator, Kyle, through hello@vancouverpoetryhouse.com. Most of all though, we need performers. If you write poetry, but you’re too afraid to sign up, send me some of it. Then, I’ll bug you to get up and share it on stage.

Just in case you missed it the Van Slam Family Meeting has been postponed from Nov 15th to Nov 29th.  All the other details are the same…the start time, the location and the agenda items as well.  You can check out all the details of what is up for debate on the VPH Site.

Key issues include the electing of a new slammaster and amalgamating the current two slammaster positions into one.  Also up for debate is the idea of providing and honourarium for the new amalgamated position of $500 a month.

If you are interested in running for slammaster please contact Sean McGarragle at mcgarragle@gmail.com ahead of time so we can let people know who is interested in the position.  At last report three people have put their names forward, Jillian Christmas, Jessica Masson-Paul and Angus Adair (aka The Svelte Ms. Spelt.)

When: November 15th, 2011, 7pm–10pm

Where: Brittania Community Centre, 1661 Napier Street, signs to the specific room will be in the main outside area

Who: Anyone can attend. You are required to have attended at least four slams in the last 12 months to be eligible to vote.

facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=228713283860218

discussion on VPH Forum: http://vancouverpoetryhouse.com/forum/smf/index.php/topic,1731.0.html

Below is a message from Co-Slammaster, Sean McGarragle. He can be reached at: mcgarragle@gmail.com

On Tuesday November 15th, the Vancouver Poetry Slam Family will be meeting to decide many things pertaining to the future of the poetry slam and who will be looking after it in the coming months, years,etc. If there is anything you’d like added to the agenda for the meeting, please feel free to shoot Duncan Shields or myself a message. Thus far the agenda will include

New Van Slam Agenda (as of November 4th)

Agenda
…
Reports
1) A financial report on the slam for the previous year by Sean.
2) Review of the current points system and presentation by the current Rules Committee.
3) A report on the 2011 Van Slam team (by a yet to be determined slam team member) and the outgoing slammasters.
4) A quick report on the Van Slam Team contract and whether it is necessary moving forward by the two outgoing slammasters.
5) An Update on the Awards Committe and the construction of the Van Slam Trophies by Sean
6) Report on PSI events/new by Duncan.
7) Report on Spocan events/news by Sean.
8 ) Report on Hullabaloo by Chris.
9) Information on Canadian Indies and VIP by Sean.
10) The Youth Slam by RC Weslowski
11) Information on VPH and how one can be part of VPH and the benefits therein.

Proposals
12) A proposal for a new show (non competitive) by Sean.
13) An idea/motion put forward by the VPH board as to its relationship with the Van Slam (to be fleshed out by the VPH board shortly).
There is a thread that Lisa Slater started on the VPH forum which fleshes out the VPH proposal along with the tasks and time spent for Duncan and myself in the previous year.

http://vancouverpoetryhouse.com/forum/smf/index.php/topic,1740.0.html

14) Elections of both slammaster positions (Duncan Shields and myself are not running for re-election but will be carrying on until after April 2012).
15) Elections of Rules Committee positions for the next two years.

New Business
16)

Again, there is no proxy voting at this event so if you wish to have a hand in making decisions or if you want to run for one of the positions, you must attend. Remember, Van Slam generates over $45,000.00 per year in revenue and those who attend this meeting decide on the direction the slam moves in the future. Whether we continue to attend NPS, CFSW, IWPS and Wowps or change how teams or individuals attend said festivals could be discussed at this meeting.

The meeting starts at 7 PM and I have booked time till 10 PM.

And if you are interested in running for either of the slammaster positions or one of the three Rules Committee positions (the other two are held by the slammasters) then please contact Duncan or myself no later than November 7th. Late notices will not be accepted and Duncan and I add job descriptions to all the positions shortly.

I hope you’re all well,

Sean

On Tuesday November 15th, the Vancouver Poetry Slam Family will be meeting to decide many things pertaining to the future of the poetry slam and who will be looking after it in the coming months, years,etc.

Where: Brittania community centre, 1661 Napier Street

Thus far the agenda will include

Agenda

Reports
1) A financial report on the slam for the previous year by Sean.
2) Review of the current points system and presentation by the current Rules Committee.
3) A report on the 2011 Van Slam team (by a yet to be determined slam team member) and the outgoing slammasters.
4) A quick report on the Van Slam Team contract and whether it is necessary moving forward by the two outgoing slammasters.
5) An Update on the Awards Committe and the construction of the Van Slam Trophies by Sean
6) Report on PSI events/new by Duncan.
7) Report on Spocan events/news by Sean.
8 ) Report on Hullabaloo by Chris.
9) Information on Canadian Indies and VIP by Sean.
10) Information on VPH and how one can be part of VPH and the benefits therein.

Proposals
11) A proposal for a new show (non competitive) by Sean.
12) An idea/motion put forward by the VPH board as to its relationship with the Van Slam (to be fleshed out by the VPH board shortly).
13) Elections of both slammaster positions (Duncan Shields and myself are not running for re-election but will be carrying on until after April 2012).
14) Elections of Rules Committee positions for the next two years.

New Business
15)

Again, there is no proxy voting at this event so if you wish to have a hand in making decisions or if you want to run for one of the positions, you must attend. Remember, Van Slam generates over $45,000.00 per year in revenue and those who attend this meeting decide on the direction the slam moves in the future. Whether we continue to attend NPS, CFSW, IWPS and Wowps or change how teams or individuals attend said festivals could be discussed at this meeting.

The meeting starts at 7 PM and I have booked time till 10 PM.

And if you are interested in running for either of the slammaster positions or one of the three Rules Committee positions (the other two are held by the slammasters) then please contact Duncan or myself no later than November 7th. Late notices will not be accepted and Duncan and I will add job descriptions to all the positions shortly.

I hope you’re all well,

Sean

On Monday September 12th, the highest-scoring poets of the Vancouver Poetry Slam’s summer season met and battled it out for the honour of representing Vancouver at the Individual World Poetry Slam in Cleveland Idaho in October. Similar competitions were taking place all over North America and the world. Over 70 poets will meet in Cleveland between October 12th to the 15th to decide who this year’s best poet is.

Vancouver’s poetry scene is a diverse one with an affinity for wit and comedy on top of the usual tropes found in most slams and Monday was no exception. It was a roller coaster ride of confessions, admissions, tongue-in-cheek lambasting, scathing rhetoric and metaphorical expression. From poet to poet the audience waited in anticipation, not knowing what was coming next. The judges worked hard to maintain even judging as style after style was thrown at their ears.

Starting with a ‘lightning’ round of one-minute poems, the two lowest-scoring poets were cut. After that, the three-minute round said goodbye to one poet because of a tie and then the six remaining poets entered the four-minute poem round. Three poets were cut after that and four poets went into the final round of two-minute poems. Newcomer Maddie Gorman, Fernando Raguero, Chris Gilpin and RC Weslowski duked it out and when the dust settled, Chris Gilpin was our champion.

The night was a literary show of fireworks as every poet brought their best work. Although ‘competitive poetry’ may seem like an oxymoron to some, there was no doubt in the minds of the cheering, laughing, crying audience that competition brought out the best in one of the most amazing poetry scenes in North America.

~ by Duncan Shields, International Slammaster of the Vancouver Poetry Slam

Now until the start of September all the regular qualifying poetry slams on Monday nights have a new format.

There are now three rounds of poetry.  The 1st round has a maximum of 12 poets each doing 3 minute long poems.  The second round gets cut down to 8 poets doing 2 minute long poems.  The third round will be 4 poets competing in a 1 minute poem round.

There is a clean slate of scores each round.  This means your scores don’t carry over round to round, there is no cumulative total throughout the night.

This new format is meant to challenge your writing and performance repetoire and prepare our poets for international competitions such as the Individual World Poetry Slam (IWPS) or the Women of the World Poetry Slam (WOWPS) which feature poetry skill sets that the new format encourages.

Sign up is still at 7 o’clock.  Show starts at 8pm.  5 judges and a room full of rock ‘em sock ‘em words.  It all still happens at Cafe Deux Soleils: 2096 Commercial Drive.

IWPS is short for Individual World Poetry Slam.  It’s a poetry slam competition for individuals that happens in a different city in North America each year….it was held in Vancouver in 2007.  This year the festival returns to Charlotte, North Carolina this December and attending will be Sasha Langford.

Sasha finished first at the Vancouver IWPS playoff beating out 9 others including 2 time defending IWPS Vancouver Champion, Zaccheus Jackson.  Zaccheus tied for second place with Graeme Lo El who flew in from Ottawa just to compete.

Sasha is also a member of the 2010 Vancouver Poetry Slam Team so they should be read hot and rocking for the team’s trip to Ottawa in October for the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word.

Congratulations to Sasha and to all the folks who competed and qualified for the playoff of the summer.

Hi, everyone

Starting on Monday September 6th each and every Vancouver Poetry Slam WILL NOW START AT 8pm.

That means sign up will begin at 7PM.  The show WILL START AT 8pm.

This means our shows will be ending earlier too and you’ll have a better chance to stay the entire night.  Hooray.

Once again starting on September 6th at the annual Labour Slam and from then on ALL VANCOUVER POETRY SLAMS WILL START AT 8pm.

Hopefully this means we’ll have even more friends like you come out to the show.

Thanks,

RC

Hello poetry enthusiasts,

The Vancouver Poetry Slam Finals Night is only one month away. This is the biggest poetry night of the year, the culmination of eight months of qualifying and semi-final poetry slams. Eight of the best performance poets in the city will compete for four spots (and an alternate slot) on the Vancouver Poetry Slam Team, and the top poet will be crowned Grand Slam Champion. More importantly, this is your chance to experience some of the most incredible poetry being written and performed anywhere in Canada.

Finals Night this year will feature Individual World Poetry Slam champion, Joaquín Zihuatanejo!

When: April 19th, 2010, doors at 7pm, show at 8pm
Where: Rio Theatre, 1660 East Broadway (by Commercial Dr.)
How much: $12 in advance ($13 online), $15 at the door
(Group rates available for schools.)

Last year’s Finals Night featuring Shane Koyczan (now of Olympic opening ceremonies fame) was completely sold out, and we expect the same could happen this year, so get your tickets early.

You can buy tickets every Monday at Café Deux Soleils during the Vancouver Poetry Slam, or at any time online through our secure web ordering system at:

http://vancouverpoetryhouse.com/vanslam/153

Our feature, Joaquín, has been called by critics, “one of the most dynamic and passionate performance poets in the country, melding equal parts comedy, poetry, and dramatic monologue into a crowd-pleasing display of verbal fireworks…always thrilling, Joaquín’s hilariously manic presentation is full of compassion and nuance, never sacrificing substance for style, leading many to call him poetry slam’s answer to John Leguizamo.”

A National Poetry Slam Finalist, Grand Slam Spoken Word Champion, and HBO Def Poet, Joaquín has performed his poetry at universities, conferences and poetry slams all over the Unites States, Canada, Mexico and Europe.

In 2005, Joaquin was featured on season five of Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry for HBO. Filmed in front of a live audience at the majestic Supper Club Theater just off Broadway in New York City, Joaquin performed in front of a capacity crowd and received a standing ovation for his performance.

On January 31st, the Vancouver Poetry Slam will be having a Van Slam Family Meeting to discuss and decide on the following topics/projects…

So for those that are interested…

The January Van Slam Family meeting will be held on January 31st at 6:30 PM at the Brittania Community Centre (1661 Napier Street) , specifically at the Learning Resource Centre. We’ve rented the space for 2 1/2 hours and I hope we finish in 1 hour but on the off chance we can’t eat through everything in the first hour and a half we’ll take a break then for 5 or 10 and then come back and go through the rest.

1) VOTING: The election of the local slammaster
2) INFORMATIONAL: Finals Night at the Rio
3) INFORMATIONAL: Canadian Indies
4) Possibly something from the Rules Committee
5) VOTING: Changing the Youth Slam proceeds from going from half to Van Slam and half to the youth slam to all going to the Youth Slam
6) VOTING: The purchasing of a video camera for the slam for the purpose of video taping and posting on youtube, our myspace, website and facebook groups poems from the 2nd round of each and every slam
7) VOTING: The Rookie of the Year Award
8) VOTING: Proposed Van Slam Budget for 2010 and financial update

All of the topics have been posted for discussion on the Vancouver Poetry House forum so please chime in on any and all topics there.

Hope to see you all there,

Sean and Duncan