...okay, that's actually a line from a showtune, but i won't tell if you won't. Now let's get down to brass tacks; the line-up to set the summer off all proper-like:
--June 5th: LOGAN PHILLIPS will be blessing us all the way from Flagstaff, AZ. He's been on tour for a minute now, and here's a synopsis of Logan from fellow poet and National Poetry Slam finalist Suzy La Follette:
"Logan Phillips writes from the most intricate and deeply set valve of his heart. His word are bilingual, binational and accessible to all. He breaks borders with his breath and rips down walls with words. His poetry melts cultures into people, languages into pure communication and races into humanity. He is the young voice of the southwest. His work is like no other in the poetry scene from style to subject matter he is perfectly unique. His performance is passionate as his words simply take him over. You will not be the same person after hearing him speak."
And the word on the street is he's kinda hunky, too. So there ya go. Transformative words from a grade-A looker. Be there.
--June 12: He's been wowing us at the Palmer as of late, he powered his way onto the 2006 Gang Green Slam Team (heading to Big Sur if all goes well), and we're damned exciting to let him open up and rock a full feature: JASON MCBEATH will be wrapping his big brain around your heart and soul, and if you're not affected by this cat's words, that's cool. We're used to the WALKING DEAD hanging out with us. Support Jason at the Palmer on the 12th--you will not regret it.
--June 19: ARIEL ROBELLO is a poet based in Echo Park. In 2002, she was awarded an Emerging Voices Rosenthal Fellowship with PEN West. She is the founder of Full Moon Phases, a multi-ethnic, multi-generational women’s poetry cipher.
She has featured at the World Stage, the Los Angeles Poetry Festival, and Voz Alta. Her poems have appeared, or are forthcoming in Urban Latino Magazine, el Aviso Magazine, The Sense of Site Project produced by Writers at Work, Poetry Is Not A Luxury, an Anthology of Poems by Women of Color in Los Angeles, the Luna Xol Anthology cd and the Never Ending Battle (produced by 5th Battalion). She has a new book, "My Sweet Unconditional", which has been described as a book that "speaks to the political and personal traumas of our times. With language as radiant and dangerous as broken glass ariel cuts away at the political dogma and superficial beauty of a world unhinged to reveal a bloody but dignified glimpse of love". WHEW! There ya have it! A powerful dose of positivity at Green!
--June 26: JUDAH 1. If you haven't heard of this multi-time slam team member, here's a bit of a blurb:
From an unexpected death springs forth a new life… A friends suicide at the age of sixteen forced Judah 1 to write.
•Six years later he is still writing. At the age of twenty-two he has become an accomplished performing poet, by accident at first, now everything he does and says is filled with purpose. Out of nowhere he took the LA poetry scene by surprise, rocking audiences in Poetry Slams before he even understood what a Slam was.
•In his first year competing, he has slammed against HBO Def Poets and the best Poets the LA Poetry scene has had to offer, and won a spot on the LA Slam Team 2005 and went on the represent the best LA had to offer at the National Poetry Slam in Albuquerque, New Mexico. And he’s not even from LA, he’s from the suburbs.
He's on the Downtown LA Slam Team this year, headed to Austin to rep Los Angeles nationally...give him some love at the Palmer this week!
ALSO: THE SECOND AND LAST QUALIFYING SLAM for THE GANG GREEN SLAM TEAM happens TONIGHT! Jason and Jonathan have their spots on lock, who will be the final three to head to Big Sur to rep the Island of Misfit Toys? It's anybody's game! Three rounds, no prisoners, it will be BRUTAL! But fun. $5 at the door. SUPPORT!!!!
See ya at the Palmer,
Slim, Jedi, Joshua, and the recovering Mikecheck
