Time to process everything that went down last night.
The positives easily overweighed the negatives, by a landslide.
Yes, I had a bad day at work but I left that at the office.
Yes, there was rain but it actually chilled for a minute.
Yes, there was a drunken rabble rouser but he was actually digging the poetry.
Yes, it was hella loud & packed in the Bruckner but we survived.
I think that might be it. Otherwise, an insane night of poetry that left everybody (including ye olde cynic) stunned.
The Open Mic was A game ready and loaded with folks that have been supporting us and what we do. In no particular order: Kyra Wolfe, Kamila Aisha Moon, Rachel Griffiths, Raul Maldonado, Chris Brandt, Ed Garcia, Roger Bonair-Agard, Eliel Lucero, Jessica Torres, Rich Villar, Marty McConnell, Jai Chakrabarti, Lynne Procope, Lovella Rose, Matthew Charles Siegel, Maria Nieves, Christopher White, Liz Nieves, Jorge Monterossa, Carlos Andrés Gómez , Mara Jebsen, Oscar Bermeo, Dawn Saylor, C R Avery and Sandra Maria Estevez
This lineup looks All-Star in mad mad ways. The carpet micers did not come out in force and I was kinda expectin that anyway cuz they are more apt to show up for names that have high media value versus high literary value.
I started out the evening nervous. Nothing new there. By the third open micer, I was good to go. 25 people got on the Open in 75 minutes. Not too shabby. Shows how cool our folks are and there respect for the mic.
NEW SHIT! Yeah, people brought some and the crowd ate it up. Highlight: Jai with the new ‘sestina’ shit. Werd.
The feature. Damn, y’all. MartÃn is a pro. Punto. He went up there and rocked out. Part history lesson, motivational speech, rallying cry and all poesia, he was ON and the crowd looked on him with the proper rock star status he deserves.
The after jam was craziness cuz I finally was able to sit and talk with MartÃn. It is no big secret that the man has consistently left me awestruck and flabbergasted. I have met a lot of names over the last four years and have hung tough with most but MartÃn was always the enigma but last night we talked and laughed and the walls came crashing down.
“You know it’s cuz of your poem that I met my girl friend, right?†That was the level that we brought it to, where I could be straight up fan boy and still be cool. Then my whole world was changed with some words that MartÃn dropped my way. (Hate to pull the nebulous curtain but that stuff stays with me for now and, maybe, for always)
A little trip downtown and then we were in full jackass mode. I was acting quite the fool aka par for the course. Over some good eats I get a call from Bella and then I put her on the phone with MartÃn which was all kinds of funny as he was dropping the “hot choe.coh.latte voice†Hysterical!
Let me say this, I am exhausted. Beat. Done. Out for the count. But ready to raise the bar just a little higher.
Who’s next?!?!
