Where Is The Love??

Where is the love for the open mic venues?? It seems to have abscond as suddenly as it entered our lives.At one point from everyone seeming ubiquitous and now a passing thought. Well I'll say that goes for some and while others of us are so deeply rooted within our love for poetry that we muddle about in public appearances just to get an earful of this delight we crave so much....spoken word. I rarely see any of the would be considered elders of the poetry community out anymore. It use to be a time when I could not count on one hand how many different venues were going on at one time and now that thought seems to be a passing one. The newcomers...well some of them anyway , are barely giving the audience sustenance to fill their stomachs, hearts and minds with. Every other he or she claiming to be the next big poetry thing just leaves me longing for the days of old, nostalgia kicks in and I'm swept back to a time when Friday would come and I would damn near break my neck to make it to Legacy by 9pm just so that I could secure a spot on the list.To be in the place where so many poetic hopefuls would frequent and so many poetic greats got their start. I knew I was going to have a great evening because not only would my soul be filled with poetic sustenance I would have the camaraderie of my fellow poets to keep me company that evening.....Mk, Impakt, Invisible Man, Starlite, Brother Ting, Mocha , Poetry In Motion, Chill, Meru, Copasetic Soul,Cheeroz,Derek Brown, MsInterpretation, Ill skillz, ,Reign, Montague,Sole Element,Epi-c,Spoken,Que and the list goes on of eager intellectuals that you were bound to have a conversation with because you just never knew who was going to be in the house. That's the type of poetic love I long for , that is what I want to see the venues filled with but these days its hard to even get people to acknowledge the presence of each other. Everything is so cliquish and no one wants to come someplace unless "THEY PEEPS" are performing. I really just want all the ignorance to stop and for the poets to try a little harder to give the audience something they can feel and word of mouth will definitely bring the love back. until then I'll continue to be Patiently Waiting(poem plug).

Unsolicited Feedback

Back in April 2009, I was critical of a poet out of Michigan who goes by the name of The Future (or something like that).  My basic critique was that dude had a way of performing that was formulaic: Taalam Acey plus rapper minus the originality. I also mentioned that he loved his look and mentioned it in his performance. Other than his vanity and familiar performance, dude had some clever lines and could move the crowd.  After I posted my review of his performance on my website and he found out about it, an internet beef erupted with his supporters blasting me on my Myspace page (amazingly) and my website. He and his followers tried to friend me on FaceBook in attempt to hit up my wall. Lesson? Public criticism invites retaliation and, apparently, attention. I think back on that time and wonder why didn’t I just accept his FB friendship? I don't know if we would have been cool but I would have reiterated my points in a more accessible manner for him.

Poets, I am an artist and a critic. I will perform a poem, criticize my performance, and watch the next poet perform. If I’m critical of my performance, then know that I will have some thoughts about another person’s.  In that spirit, I offer my service to spoken word poetry. I offer criticism for the refinement of stanzas and improvement of performance. Since the goal is excellence for some poets, then take my comments in consideration toward that end.  That’s what my posts on Wadded Paper will be about; review of performances and written work. Any humor I use will be to make my prose readable. If someone takes offense at my comments, then friend me on FB and blast me on my wall or we can go at it on Twitter. Just remember, I only give a fuck about the art, not somebody’s feelings. 

Poets, if you are interested in having your work reviewed then get at me on Twitter, @afroscribe.  Otherwise, we will pick public works that we want to single out for praise or as a cautionary tale for where poetry goes wrong.  Consider this unsolicited feedback.

S.O.N.G.B.I.R.D....a review

There have been many who have stated that "the game is to be sold, not told", which in most circles is true. But here, I would be remiss if I didn't help build up and only tore down. So, here's my nugget for the day: Some works are to be performed as if you are having an individual conversation with someone...but only using prose...similar to how songs are used in musicals. Dialogue and storyline are moving along, they just happen to be singing it. Your audience should feel as if they are being spoken to individually. This is key for your "performance". There are some who get in front of a mic and sound as if they're reporting the news....and then there are some that don't need one. This brings me to our artist in review, S.O.N.G.B.I.R.D.


Hailing from Georgia (see Jawjuh...Decatur,ATL shawty!!), this sister traveled here on Greyhound. Having taken that trip from 'Skegee many a time, she already had my attention. We found out about this as she addressed the crowd before her set. We found her personable and direct as she asked us to "take off our cool". Having a good personality, being "real", "honest" and "real honest" will definitely get the listener's ear....not to mention bringing a tambourine up to the stage with you.

Stepping away from the stage and literally into the audience to begin her set, she began her first piece with a song, "Fatherless Child". Her take on women who manipulate their children in attempts to manipulate the father was refreshing. Her use of humor, frankness and wordplay kept us engaged. Having never heard her (I had but my memory is not what it used to be), I was impressed. I equate it to a cook who when knowing what ingredients to use, adds a little something not on the page...and its not a regular measure. (see pinch of this..dash of that.) After her testimony of conquering some vices, her next poem was a bit of a slice of life on what it's like to get over getting over. This blues song required a bit of audience participation. Much to my surprise, a willing audience assisted THROUGH THE ENTIRE SONG. We found ourselves laughing at her and then ourselves at how when trying to get past one thing, we often get behind another. She ended which an ode to black love; not about making love or infatuation but appreciation of love and what it takes to stay and remember when times seem against us both.
I spoke briefly with her afterwards and found her to be the same person I had just witnessed on stage. And that, my friends, is The Sound Of a New Generation Believing In Realized Destiny indeed.

STOP THE MADNESS!!!

Do you know what kills me??? When poets, so called HOT TO DEATH ass artist pull out the paper and say "I can't remember none of my pieces..." and then proceeds to attempt to read and as you guessed they jack that all the way up too. I mean damn, first off you probably don't have but one or two poems so why don't you take the time to commit that malarkey to memory it adds so much more professionalism to your presentation. Yet then again if its wack no amount of rehearsing or memorizing is going to assist this Charmin or Angel Soft worthy work come out any easier. It frustrates the hell out of me when new poets get on the mic and proceed to spew an overabundance of one line ad libs just to receive some type of acknowledgement or undue praise from the audience.Leaves me thinking is this a poetry venue or a very bad rap concert?! Yet this poet is not to be upstaged by the one who attempts to foist audience participation pieces and I hate them (the pieces) because I'm desperately trying so hard to focus on when I'm suppose to say whatever asinine phrase you're trying to get me to spit, I'm sorry I meant regurgitate, that I fail to listen to the lyrical content or lack there of in the so called poem that I feel cheated. I mean seriously we did not pay our money to come in and spit your piece for you . Why are working for you this feels like slave labor because now I feel pressured to do it and if I don't everyone around me, so called refined and cultured patrons, are looking at me like "WHY YOU AIN'T BEING SUPPORTIVE, THIS IS HOT TO DEATH (clearly not)!!" I'm thinking well "DAMN" I am still sitting here digesting this muddled mess of audience cadence filled participated lack luster dullness aren't I, so quit your whining and let the Hickory Dickory Dock one liner Jeezy ad lib wanna be crayon scribble on over sized lined tablet copier (because you're no Spoken Word Artist) finish so I can BLINK!!!! Look this is almost like playing football people. Any coach worth his salt has reviewed game tape after tape of game footage and has perfected his technique so that his team comes out and wins or at least plays one hell of game. Some of you NEW and OLD poets should do the same, go back and watch some clips of some of the greats that came before you. Watch some clips of some successful not so famous poets, some elders or anyone other than yourself that has style, presentation, technique, interesting subject matter and most of all SKILL . Then perhaps it will assist you into getting out of that vortex of unpoetical sludge and from that point forth helping you to be deemed as A SPOKEN WORD ARTIST and not a sheep or loquacious puppet that resembles The Sandman....seriously time to STOP THE MADNESS!!!!

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.