Category Archives: Uncategorized

dont let the rain stop ya- come out tonight and hit up the bronx museum of the arts… its a real chill spot and we are going to do the reading by the windows that look out to the concourse… kinda like acentos but more quiet (and with AC)

the yankees are thinking they are the mets and are trying to make this penant race close… know why steinbrenner isnt sayin anything- cuz his shit sells tickets!… few weeks back the end yanks vs sox games would have been a nice chance to boo pedro and the boys… now its serious

starting to get a lil nervous about this hosting gig… its easier when i am doin shit in my own house (acentos) but when you go into someone else’s space its almost like house sitting… some advance hosting tips (courtesy of my early synonymUS gigs and the movie “a civil action”): never ask a question you dont already know the answer to

michele called me a bit ago and we nailed down some last minute specs… she is so gonna rock… i love the chance to let other people do their stuff

i finally got a chance to check out Camarades up in el barrio… the place is damn nice… good looking menu, too… also got to check out Jake’s as well… lets see: three years ago- NO latino mics in new york- now, three spots are happening in harlem… not sayin’, just sayin’

i havent gotten to that point in reviewing my recent gigs but just let me say that eliel rocked out in his uppercase feature… new work, old work, a lot of energy but effectively used in the right spots… i cant wait to see what is the next surprise that he pulls from his sleeve

i bought a fitness mag the other day… somebody that is sporting a god damn vw bug under their shirt comes up to me and comments on my gut… the last time this happened (in front of my ol’ roommates- mike & tom)… i went on a three week “bagel for breakfast, soup for lunch and no dinner” diet and upped my cardio at the gym… it was enough to do the trick… this time around- ima have to resort to some black coffee and crunches… lets see what happens

i thought i was finally gonna get a good night of sleep last night but it wasnt meant to be… my average is from 2am to 7am and sometimes not even that much…

synonymus is next week… you know why these shows always do well?… cuz ray medina busts his ass to make it that way… i am honored to host this suckah but mostly cuz i know it means ray trusts me with his baby… there have been three open jams for people to work their stuff and ray has been laying down new beats for mara & matt… the lil series that could is still makin it happen y’all

love ya like if ya called me while walking through campus…

to let y’all know about the open mic showcase goin’ down tomorrow in the bx!

SAMPLE

Hosted by Oscar Bermeo

An Open Mic Showcase

featuring Michele Kotler

and the Voices of Community~Word Project

Wednesday, September 8 @ 7:00 pm

Bronx Museum of the Arts

1040 Grand Concourse @ 165th St• Bronx, NY

718.681.6000

4 or D Train to 161st St Station

For more info: bxma.org

FREE!

friday, 08.20.04 (poetry in the park/cherry hill- central park)

:: travis from Not in Our Name organizes this suckah in record time

and gets a real impressive slam line up to appear. on ed garcia’s

recommendation he asks me to co-host with him. sure, why not. i get

SO friggin nervous that i show up an hour early for the thing! the

set-up is amazing.

picture a path in central park alongside the lake with some amazing

architecture filling in the space between the pet and the horizon

which is tinged with orange clouds that occasionally flash with

lightning. just amazing.

everyone rocked and kept true to the time limit. well, not everybody,

a bunch of me homies- scot, duffy and raj were on the open mic list

and they lamost didnt get to go on thanks to this one lady that

thought she was the feature. some other lady also ran off in a huff

when she couldnt get on since the cops were kicking us out at 9 on the

dot.

in nebulous news- i made an alliance and pissed some one off. i am

happy about the former and indifferent as to the latter.

a long walk, a dashed dream of peruvian shrimp soup, some good noodles

and laughs at the nuyo made this one of the events that made life

really worth it. oh yeah, i didnt fuck up in mah hosting duties or so

say some folks.

sunday, 08.08.04 (un-conventional poetry at the nuyorican)

:: this time around i have some more back up as ray, scot, raj and

mara join me and raina for this gig. the women who invited me is an

old workshop buddy who is busy documenting the insanity that will be

the RNC. the reading is cool. i start finding out that i have a lil

bit of political poetry in me thanks to ‘getting ronald reagan to

visit the south bronx’ and ‘sorta-rican’ this time around i nail them

both pretty well. raina also brings some new hotness and a classic.

mara keeps shining and glowing. raj’s star is rising. synonymus

almost gets screwed- again but i am able to bogart the mic and keep

the crowd from watching the boys set up their gear on the fly but at

least they didnt get jipped like they did earlier in the week when

they were told they would close out for 20 minutes and instead given

five. and the PROFE is back!!! rich arrives back from NPS half way

through and the love grows.

this time around both the reading and the after party rock in many, many

ways

review of some gigs i’ve done lately

thursday, 08.05.04 (latino cultural festival open mic in the queens theatre)

:: get to queens on time(!) but the trolley that is supposed to take us to the theatre is not showin up is what luis cartagena tells me. i tell em that i gots a map and a dream so lets troop it. we also grab a few folks that have been waiting around and lead em on the trek. luis and i go up fairly early in the program. i do “sorta-rican” and fuck up part 3 cuz i still brought the paper up with me like an ass. luis does a kick ass rendition of ‘putomayo.’ manny xavier does a great hosting gig. i am desperately listening for some new voices for acentos and vibe nicely on a few folks that would be great on the open. some 16 yr old kid comes up all cocky and sheet rapping about how great a lover he is. i am crackin’ up inside. the crowd does NOT feel him. i go up again and make up for my sad first half performance with ‘MOTB’ it generates a good feedback and the attention of a lady in the audience- job done!

some schmoozing afterwards and then me and luis walk through flushing meadows park at night (mad cholos pumpin mexican rock!) and the roles are reversed as luis does to me what i do to most folks- answer every question with a deeper question to the point where there is no right answer. im cool with that as it gets us talking about russian acting techniques and their application to performance poetry. nice!

a great night of meeting new folks and learning a lil bit more about my process.