Itchy

[elph8]

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

Comments

[randomcelestial]

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.

I find there can be some real energy at open mics

[frogman1975]

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.

Re: I find there can be some real energy at open mics

[funkaliciouslj]

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.

Re: I find there can be some real energy at open mics

[frogman1975]

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.

Re: I find there can be some real energy at open mics

[funkaliciouslj]

I just ignore that shit. What people say, says more about them than those they talk about.

Ah, The Hideout

[tweekedcat]

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.

[scottwoods]

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.

[radioactiveart]

Right there with you, Scott.

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

[scottwoods]

Me too. I challenge myself with slams to do what I do better, but I tend to STRETCH myself in open mics.

[phoenixsinking]

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.

itch shaped like latin america...fantastic

[funkaliciouslj]

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?

I say

[frogman1975]

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.

Re: I say

[phoenixsinking]

you've got a good point, like I said, I'm torn.