Northbeast Poetry Slam Recording

On December 7th, AS220 hosted the (1st annual?) Northbeast Slam Competition. This regional event brought together eight poets, who came from the cities Worcester, Boston, Manchester, Providence, and New York. The show was a smash hit. Jeff was, oddly enough, one of the judges. At times he had assistance from his friends, who were more sober, or at least more present as audience members.

This is the description from the myspace of the Providence Poetry Slam (which you should visit if you have any interest in spoken word events--there are events every Thursday):

December, 6 2007 at NORTHBEAST Individual FINALS!!
115 Empire Stree, PROVIDENCE, Rhode Island 02903
Cost : $6.00


The NorthBEAST Individual Poetry Slam FINALS at AS220!! 7 OUT OF 8 POETRY GRANDSLAM CHAMPS FROM NEW ENGLAND/ NEW YORK CITY & SELECTED NOMINEE’S! Featuring: *Simone Beaubien, 2007 Boston Cantab Champ *Aja Monet, 2007 NYC New Yorican Cafe Champ *Iyeoka Okoawo, 2007 Boston Lizard Lounge Champ *Darian Dauchan, 2007 NYC Urbana Champ *Jared Paul, 2007 Providence Champ *Trevor Byrne-Smith, 2007 Worcester Champ *Eric Urban, 2007 Manchester Champ *Brian S. Ellis, Bos. Cantab Champion of Champions *Oz, Indy Finalist@2007 National Poetry Slam *Gary Hicks, published author/local LEGEND. What else can we say?! THIS IS GOING TO BE A SLAM LOADED WITH 10-12 OF THE TOP PERFORMERS IN THE NORTHEAST: 7 OUT OF 8 GRANDSLAM CHAMPS IN THE REGION!! THIS IS A MUST SEE SHOW!! PROVIDENCE FOLKS, COME OUT AND REPRESENT: HELP US SHOW WHAT PROVIDENCE SLAM AND AS220 ARE ALL ABOUT!! THURSDAY DECEMBER 6TH AS220: 115 EMPIRE STREET $6 SHOW STARTS AT 8PM NO SLAM/NO OPEN MIC WWW.AS220.ORG


I enjoyed the performance myself. Unlike usual slams, the styles and presentations of the poems were much more diverse. There was the usual sentimental, tear-jerking drivel, but there was a wide assortment of social critique and sheer humor bits.

In editing the audio tracks, I did not include the scoring because it took up a lot of time. I figured a little audience cheering at the end made each track as realistic as possible without putting too much into the track. For those who are more interested in hearing every part of the show, the easiest recommendation I can provide is that you attend one of these stellar performances.

Here are links to free mp3 files from that evening. Just click on the link of each part of the evening and it'll take you to a page where you can either stream the file or download it (so you can listen to it forever).

Intro and Sacrificial Poets:
01 - Intro to the Slam
02 - Sacrificial Poet 1 - Sham
03 - Sacrificial Poet 2 - Meg

Round 1:
01 - Simone Beaubien
02 - Iyeoka Okoawo
03 - Jared Paul
04 - Gary Hicks
05 - Eric Urban
06 - Trevor Byrne-Smith
07 - Oz
08 - Darian Dauchan

Round 2:
01 - Round 2 Intro
02 - Darian Dauchan
03 - Oz
04 - Jared Paul
05 - Trevor Byrne-Smith
06 - Eric Urban
07 - Iyeoka Okoawo
08 - Simone Beaubien
09 - Gary Hicks

Round 3:
01 - Eric Urban
02 - Jared Paul
03 - Iyeoka Okoawo
04 - Trevor Byrne-Smith
05 - Darian Dauchan
06 - Oz
07 - Closing Remarks

Oh yeah. Oz did win the slam. I agree as far as that goes, though each performer had their own strengths.