Author Archives: Oscar Bermeo

forget poetry for a minute–

-92.7 WLIR goes off the air… this happened at the start of the new year and was a shock to the system. lir was the first station that i actually felt listened to the people. the vision network gang would send them requests via fax and they would read em out with all our dumb comments and all. more importantly, this was the station that dared to be different. before it was the rage, they took a chance with bands called pearl jam, rage against the machine and alice in chains to name a few… even after alternative went mainstream, they were playing the songs that made these bands great and you could count on some 80s obscurity popping up very now and then… nothing like some early u2 or peter gabriel to keep you grounded… then they fucked up and went with mainstream with their alternative… figuring that they had the best DJs and a finger on the pulse of long island youth (angst- personified), they went national… in the process losing their grassroots touch… not only that but they couldnt compete with the big boys and as every one was playing stone temple pilots, LIR got left in the dust… they resurfaced by playing the europe techno grooves that were becoming the norm of the clubs… not just the sheet you heard on other stations but more intense tunes that had a complexity all their own… it wasnt for everybody.. they lost some folks but gained back their core audience and as alternative faded to teen pop… LIR rose high again as the station that dared to be different… i still tune over to 92.7 to see if this is some bad joke but its not… more info here

-A-Rod!… once again, the yankees play the off field game better than everybody else… a move that started as a- we cant let boston get him turned into the trade of this century thanks to a random knee injury… are the yanks better… in hitting, yes… in infield defense, yes… in merchandise sales, hell yeah (btw, the sale of a-rod gear will easily make this deal a profitable situation)… attendance, up… outfield defense, spotty… pitching, critically in need of a lefty… middle relief, a joke… closing, its mariano or nothing and this is the man who makes or breaks the yanks every year… the whole world hates the yankees even more and thats just fine… if they dont love you now- they never will- so why bother… “your whole team is bought!” our catcher, shortstop, DH, closer and 3 starter are all home grown from day one. name two other teams that can boast that. (at the end of last season we also had a home grown second baseman and 2 starter, btw)… the yanks are one of the last home grown teams out there that realized that its a buyers market… sadly, this accelerates the process of full corporate take over of sports, a reality that took hold with the dodgers leaving brooklyn and free agency- all way before the era of steinbernner

-the job… my nemesis at work got the ax yesterday… she pushed the last button and it was done… not a real happy time cuz she forced my boss to do what she had to and it was fucked up… on the flip, it was only a question of time and me and my lil band realized that as soon as we started catching her heat… my coworker was gonna riff and i told her to chill cuz we were gonna end up on the wrong side of the blame game cuz i knew that homegirl was more apt to talk behind the back shit than we were and that she had more moments of solitude with my boss… sorry to see ya go

-the beard.. i grew it as a kinda warm up to mondays feature… the knicks did it once in the post season with all of em (except ewing) shaving their heads (done dat) and the devils all grew out their beards in their quest for a stanley cup.. we aint shavin till we win!… i figured i would get all grizzly adams till the big day and then resurface in my old form.. really surprised with the random and unprovoked “looks good!”… for now, its sticking around cuz, as a bald man, i dont have very much to help keep me styling so i resort to messin with the facial hair… maybe i will go with the braided biker goatee look next (not!)

-the blog… having more fun but as i told jess last nite… this bad boy is for me and to keep a record of my thoughts on shit… i know the feature report was hella long but i dont care… it aint for y’all… its for me

-new ideas… in my head… real ones… not just the ones that i get from people or from the past… me and guy were munching after encomium last week and i was bringing up mad shit from the past… i know i freaked him out with the shit that sticks with me which is why i always raise an eyebrow when random ideas suddenly “appear” cuz i am pretty sure that they came from old convos and other discourse… but hey, columbus discovered america, right?… lincoln freed the slaves… marc smith invented slam… its all about your PR… a good spin doctor is the shit… ya know?… i can freely say that most of my ideas are straight out of somebody else’s play book and from what i’ve seen of the people that i hang with- they probably picked it up from someone else’s play book… and so on and so on… nothing new under the sun.. since i just realized that this great new idea i had was actually somebody else’s suggestion… let’s see how it can be tweaked

also, thanks to all of the blog.tribe that showed up at the feature… love ya like if i stole this line from a trini poet!

one mo time with the blogger ritual- in two hours ima be at johnny o’s in the bronx doing my thing and it looks like a good number of well wishers will be in attendance. i’ve never been comfortable with self-promotion. i can plug the shit out of an event and even an ensemble i am in but for my own personal stuff- nah. normally, i tell a few choice folks and then wait to see what crowd the venue generates cuz, on the real, i hate to be dissapointed.

my very first time reading at 13 i told my friend chris(tina) all about it. me and chris had been hanging hard for the last few months and survived a lot of shit together and when a mutual friend pulled some shit- chris backed me up. it was getting to the point where i was calling her parents “mom and dad” and nobody was batting an eye (except chris- she hated that shit and thats why 99% of the time her parents would play along) so, chris had been seeing all my “break up” poems and all my “there are way too many metaphors in here” poems and was always impressed with my, errr. work leading me to belive that my stage debut would be hot shit. i was right- she jumped up and down and was all hugging me when i told her. “i will SO be there when you go on.”

she wasnt and that was that. my patience for her bullshit (turns out that she precipitated the argument between me and the other friend. a fact i didnt find out about till moths later) became thin and soon enough, as i am prone to do, she slipped thru the cracks of my life.

the female lead in the ‘ceviche’ poem almost did the same shit but luckily for both of us, she didnt and her presence at the inital reading of the poem kick started my “rise” in poetic stock.

i am a lot more mature about all this shit now and i rarely take an adscence badly. if you didnt show- you didnt show. doesnt really matter to me why cuz i dont claim to be the most important thing on the planet. if you promised you would be there- an explanation would be nice but, again, not neccesary. which leads to one of the best feelings in the world- the surprise turn out. when folks just show up without being prompted or anything that feels SO good. last year the louder crew showed up at one of my “poetically incorrect” features unannounced and really made my muthafuckin day.

this time around i hit my e-list HARD and almost 200 people got hit up with announcements plus a couple of listserves. yeah, i havent been doing this for this long and not acquired a pretty good sized database. the way things are going my acentos crew will be in the house and thats all i really need. for me, if an acentos feature brings in 10 of their own people- they did their job and i think that i am going to comfortable hit that number. and, of course, im competing against loudermondays so that will be fun and i am wondering what a night at 13 is gonna be like sans the latino contingent. of course, the acentos crew isnt a race thing and i consider someone like matt siegel a die hard acentos fan and a part of the fam.

ok, ive just gotten five phone calls of folks verifying the address. i feel better and my ‘are people gonna show up’ nerves are calm which leads into my ‘i better do myself and m’people proud’ nerves kicking into gear.

wish me luck, you pretty jibaros!

whew! i think in the fever of my pissed off i dont really get across the fact that the de_burgos tribute was a great night and that i did have a good time.

friday involved some discussion of ideas both through email and person. in the end, everything worked out fine. i heard some things that i didnt want to hear mostly about myself but i was able to absorb it all and think i am the better for it.

then it was off to the nuyo to see bonafide get his ass waxed. that is not a dig on bon but a group of us KNOW that we will not do good at a nuyo slam. some of those someones actually win slams in different venues (not just 13) and thus do not fall into my ‘well i dont win anywhere so why am i making excuses?’ category. (yes, i know i am hung up on the slam.) back to the point, we attack the nuyo like leonidas marching to thermopylae– we know we’re gonna die but living isnt what being a soldier is all about and thus, scoring well isnt what being a poet is all about.

thank gawd there was no line and we had a lil celebrity moment as karen jaime stops her normal flow on the mic, squints and exclaims

“oscar? whats with the beard?!?”

shit like that is good fro the ego, let me tell ya.

fish got some props too and rich was just rich chillin in the corner and then i see fish move into julio’s seat for a second and DAMN! he looks like he was born to be there.

the slam was the slam- bon did well (but not well enough)

“what would you like me to read, o?”

basquiat

(bon gives me that- you know they dont get that shit here- look)

life (un)titled- since you didnt do it at acentos and its one of my favorites

“yeah but how about…”

i finally convince pelo bueno to read it and he scores really well with it

i then get to hear ben porter lewis rip it onstage while chilling next to al letson (who remembers me from WAY back) and everything is cool breeze. some folks are pandering like mad on stage, some are working it out looking for their voice and some people is just who they is and everything is cool breeze.

last night was la feria del beso at wanda ortiz’s mi sala gathering, it was my first sala and it wont be my last. wanda was an awesome host and the night had a cool vice (the fact that they kept wanting people to kiss all night was a bit of a pain but its v-day and sheet) the theme for the next event is mama africa something thats been on this fair skinned, light eyed, if i had it it would be pelo bueno, boys mind a lot lately. a good night for sure but i did catch that “damn, i want to read up there” bug, again. the same one that bit me at the de_burgos center. i got the sickness and i hope that this monday (johnny o’s @ 8pm up in the bronx… come on down!) takes care of it or maybe not. i havent been hungry (in the wanting the mic sense) in a minute and if it means more writing and more poems then let the bug live.

in less than two hours the bowery will look like if banco popular was givin it away to la gente and i will be a part of it. i hope by then i have digested the dulce de leche cheesecake that has me all weighed down.

list of artists that did not get invited to perform at the de burgos center last night (but should have)

Oscar Bermeo

Fish

Edward Garcia

Guy LeCharles Gonzalez

Raymond Daniel Medina

Nina

Bonafide Rojas

Jessica Torres

Rich Villar

yeah… i am shouting out my Acentos peeps but you know this crew right here will give you the most kick ass show possible. they all respect the audience and realize that being on the mic is a privilege and not a right. they all would have donated their time if asked. (there are many more talented names as well but i dont know them well enough to know whether they were invited or not to perform last night)

oh, well. i will take this to mean that there is work to do and that its time to do it. i can also take it as meaning that there may be a secular group of artists that dont give a shit as to whether anyone under the age of thirty-five continues said movement. sad shit- i aint even rican! and here i am on the high pedestal maybe i should hook up with the other ecuadorians and come up with the nuyoecua squad or something…

on to better news- for all those who have asked- i got the job. i am now a duly, truly certified immigrant that has to ask if he can write on the other side of the paper when being asked what he does for a living. and who was a big factor in the whole thing?

that’s right- ed garcia. dude, you are the man! lil known story-

“hey, you ever thought about doing that salsa poem for a slam? you should… its a really good poem” puts his hand on my shoulder “it’s REALLY good.”

yeah, ed was the one who made me think that people would get it and all i can say is– thanks, brah. thanks for that and all the advice you gave me early on and just for being there when nobody else was. after guy left, the whole latino contingent was ed and bonafide. on the up and coming list was me and luis cartagena and we had only these two dudes to look up to on the mic.

i remember swearing that i would find all the lost latino souls at the nuyorican poets cafe and instead i walked into a reading at an NYU dorm.

another (as rich would put it) surreal moment was luis coming up to me one day and asking what i was planning on doing about the lack of latinos. me? who the fuck am i? i stutter through half my words on the mic and get roasted every time i put my name on the slam list… what am i going to do about latinos on the mic? shit, what am i gonna do about ME on the mic?

i kinda actually said all that right back to him cuz i really had no idea what he was referring to. i told him that if all the latinos started getting together maybe something could come out of it… maybe.

ray started becoming more of a regular after that and then fish joined the fold… now, of course, it looks like the bx36 bus made an unscheduled emergency stop at union square. add the bowery and nuyo as well.

and where were all the fabled nuyoricans? who knows. certainly not at the open mics that most folks go to hit when they first jump on the scene. for real not at the mecca of spoken word.

kinda bitter? yeah. shit is different now and a young latina/latino can search the ‘net, as most folks are prone to do, and find a reading where you dont have to explain what the two step is, or the magical medicinal properties of vapor rub or the many ways rice can be cooked or what the ladies in front of the stoop are talking about or what danger means or any of that sheet.

and to all of you cats that were around back in the day. come on down- there’s always room on the open mic.