in the beginning.....

so here we are...welcome to Wadded Paper, a blog dedicated to critiquing performing spoken word artists and writers. now of course, we expect some backlash. "stop hating!" or "who are you to judge?" or "art is subjective". yeah, yeah...heard it all before.

first, i (personally) am a hater. i don't love or like EVERYTHING. i hate self righteous individuals, who in the name of poetry anoint themselves the second coming of a movement but only "write" poems that smell like somebody's movement. i hate audiences who would rather get caught up in the performance aspect and miss out on some really excellent writing because they heard some catchy simile and applauded. i hate people who think its all entertainment with poetry/spoken word/prose.

secondly, i am one to judge because we all do. also, i know great from good from 'get off the stage'. i've hosted it, written it, organized it, judged it, performed in it, watched it...all from the ground up. i will never claim to be an expert...but i know what i know.

lastly, i am and have always been an objective person regarding art. i don't have to like it in order to appreciate it. and just because i like it, doesn't mean it's good. however, there has to be a bar. in manufacturing they call this quality control. wonder why you can't find the decent amount of songs on the radio? how about tv programs? movies? no quality control. everybody is afraid to step on someone's toes in the name of being called a hater.

Wadded paper is a vehicle designed to help writers and performers become better. it's name refers to the old school process of writing/typing something and not being satisfied enough...so you wad it and toss it. this is not about bashing. it's about hearing unfiltered comments in the name of saving you the embarrassment. because what you don't know is that the audience could be saying the same thing we say...they're just not going to tell you.

but we will.