Well, ladies & gentlemen, here we are again for another season of words veering from the sublime to the ridiculous. A new photographer (Viola) but sadly the same SpokenWord hosts, myself and Signore Rigettini. We do however have a larger than usual number of top hats.

So, last week began with myself and Dareka of the Downtown Slam (46 rue Jean-Pierre Timbaud, same time and day as us… check out their parallel universe!). Dareka’s bathroom – a cage for Tasha’s drunken angel. Margot with a Liberation text on gay & lesbian marriage. Kate had Jose Saramago: Cain comments on Abraham’s readiness to sacrifice his son. Jason began a flight through dreams of violence; tear gas corroded skin. “I’m reading this for me, not you,” he began. An honest man. Alberto seems to be getting a lot of strange emails from concerned people who want to help him. You know, Russian brides who want to marry him, people keen to extend the size of his baguette, doctors stranded in airports who need a few thousand dollars. He decided to reply… Round one ended with Pearlann dancing to Let’s Dance…

Round 2: The Good Slamaritan pledged allegiance to a nation of underdogs & invisible dreamers. We grow numb and number by the day… He too is down at the Downtown Slam when not with us. Helen posted a postcard of a short holiday with a potential mother-in-law. Becca & Jacob translated into various Google variations. Ben’s every word was contagious. The workless gift darkens with the mind. Angela and Nick did piano and whistle, the forgotten pioneer. Joe’s pigeon heart shuddered. Moe Seager closed with a story of when beat was an attitude and the polyester stretch.

And that was almost it. Most folks left. But for those who stayed we did a more informal spontaneous Third Round. Which will remain entirely mysterious and secretive for those who weren’t there.
Well maybe I’ll just say that Nick sang along the road to Gundagoi, Pearlann was tension & release while the world was a pale blue dot – Voyager’s last photograph – Noemie was on automoatic, writing. I rattled off into the forest dark. Ben: She lent on him, and he lent back…

Be there tomorrow for more strangeness and poetics, song and other! Plus these 3 as Featured Performers:

PETER CARLAFTES is an NYC playwright, poet, and performer. He is the author of 12 plays, including a noir treatment of Knut Hamsun’s Hunger, and his own celebrity rehab center spoof, Spin-Dry. Carlaftes has recently published three books: A Year on Facebook (humor), Drunkyard Dog (poetry) and Triumph for Rent (3 plays). He is co-founder and editor of Three Rooms Press; their most recent books include Maintenant 6: A Journal of Contemporary Dada Writing and Art; Have a NYC: New York Short Stories; and Mike Watt: On and Off Bass, a collection of photos and distilled tour diaries from the great punk rock bass player.

KAT GEORGES is an NYC poet, playwright, performer and designer. Her full-length poetry collection, Our Lady of the Hunger will be released soon on Three Rooms Press. In New York since 2003, she has directed numerous Off-Broadway plays, curated poetry readings (including the bi-monthly Son of a Pony poetry reading series at Cornelia Street Cafe), and performed widely. She is co-founder and editor of Three Rooms Press; their most recent books include Maintenant 6: A Journal of Contemporary Dada Writing and Art; Have a NYC: New York Short Stories; and Mike Watt: On and Off Bass, a collection of photos and distilled tour diaries from the great punk rock bass player.

VIDEO of Kat
http://youtu.be/CUPeR3dcmyo

Pearlann is an experimental postmodern performing artist from the United States with a philosophy of using jazz as a verb. Her concept of ‘freejazz’ is a direct reaction to the commercialism, technical and presentation constraints of contemporary Western dance; an original method of physical-musicality that spontaneously plays the motion of the body as a jazz musician would play their instrument. Her work in freejazz intends to challenge the common perceptions of what is ‘dance’, who is a ‘dancer’ and where dance is found in the zeitgeist. “All movement is dance… and everyone is always dancing”.

Cheers all,
David