Summer Slam – July Edition

Posted on July 10, 2011

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With a killer Finals night on our rearview, you would think that Capital Slam would take a break – rest on our laurels and bask in the glory of another great season and a new amazing team.

 

And you would be right, to a certain extent.

 

In the summer, Capital Slam drops from our normal, frenetic, twice-per-month pace down to a single monthly show.

 

But what a show!

 

The show was hosted by the new Capital Poetry Collective Director, Brad Morden, and had a guest DJ, Rusty Priske, of Once Upon a Slam fame {ahem}. The Slam Master of the Story Slam, Ruthanne Edward, ran the door and FIFTEEN different people performed on stage!

We started with a packed open mic, that included newcomers Rebecca and Austin dropping some poems, followed by Open Mic favourite, DJ Aunt Heather, and then another newcomer, Natalie, strapping on a guitar to share a song.

Then on to the Slam! Host Brad Morden started us off by being the Sacrificial Poet for the evening. (Word to the wise: Brad is competing at the Urban Legends Finals on June 15th at GCTC. DO NOT miss that show!)

The first round kicked off with Rage talking about her roots. Then Rusty Priske (Capital Slam 2011 Team Coach/Alt) gave us his take on the anti-immigration laws in Arizona. Vanessa Baker (who made a big splash at the Capital Slam Semi-Finals) did a piece about sexism in the shark world… kind of. Great piece.

Newcomer Mia Morgan was next. She may have been new, but what a great performer! We understand that she will only be with us until the end of the summer, but I hope the Kitchener scene is ready!

ArRay-of-WoRds dropped one of the strong pieces he brought back from his adventures in the Philippines and Nicaragua. Then Loh El showed what put him on the 2011 Capital Slam team.

Rastabula overcame Brad’s complete inability to pronounce his name to give us a strong poem. (Rastabula plies his trade at the Ottawa Youth Poetry Slam, but I think he was even better tonight.) Then Hannah Christie made the jump from fan to stage!

 

Then came the feature. Steve Miller hails from Vancouver and is on a two-month, cross country tour and we were the beneficiaries! He mixed pathos and humour just as he mixed the power of his voice with pre-recorded backing tracks. I have caught Steve the last few years at CFSW (and he will be there again as alt/coach for the BedRocc team from Van City). He was a member of the Wild Card team this year and was one of the voices that Ottawa was so pleased to host.

The second round brought the top 5 poets from the first round (in random order) , starting with ArRay-of-WoRds, who challenged the judges to give him either a 10 or a ZERO. (Two of them took him up on it, and they didn’t give zeros). Rusty Priske was up next and did a piece about missing your dreams. Mia Morgan was up third and wowed the crowd AGAIN! For a newcomer, she sure was polished! Rastabula and Loh El rounded out the second round, with Loh El getting a perfect 30 for his Man of the New Millenium poem!

In the end, the final rankings looked like this:

  1. Loh El
  2. Mia Morgan
  3. ArRay-of-WoRds
  4. Rusty Priske
  5. Rastabula
  6. Vanessa Baker
  7. Rage
  8. Hanna Christie
The night was rounded off with the official presentation of the Capital Slam belt to the 2011 Champion, Sense-Say, who dropped a poem for the lucky crowd!
All in all, a great show and we have another great one lined up for August 6th when Mary Pinkoski comes in from Edmonton to share the stage!
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