Prelim #2

The second preliminary poetry slam for the 2009/2010 Worcester Youth & Clark University “Unified” season was another spectacular evening of spoken word. The night saw a change of venue, as the shin-dig moved on over to the Bistro in the Higgins Student Center. This is a pretty good space that the Youth Slam used last year for their weekly readings, the main difference this year was the size of the audience. We are proud to say that we PACKED the ROOM and were glad to see a great mix of Clark Students and Youth Slam Supporters out in force to keep the great momentum going. DJ Muse (aka Anne O’Neil) kept the music jumping all night, keeping the energy energetic and even inspiring your humble host to do the “Charlie Brown / Peanuts” dance… at least once….

The evening kicked off with a short showcase, including former Providence Poetry Slam Team Member Richard Edouard Denour, former Worcester Poetry Slam Team Member Jon Wolf, former youth & adult team member Nick Davis and Clark University Poetry Slam Co-Director Kate “Tak” Mogel, taking the stage to help warm the audience up. The Youth Poetry Slam was the first competition of the evening… another full list of 7 slammers, including new-comers Brian Ortiz (pictured below), Devin Samuels, Melinda Lee and Kendel Joseph joining regulars April Tang, Taylor Liljegren & Eric Devenney in a close competition. After two rounds of hard fought performance battle and excellent words, the judges had their say and after the dust settled, Devin Samuels was the night’s top scored, with Taylor taking second and Eric taking third. They all scored points towards making the 2010 Poetry Grand Slam, taking place this April.

The final scores:

Poet               Round#1              Round#2             Final               Place

Devin            28.0                              26.5                       54.5                1st

Taylor          26.6                               27.7                      54.3                2nd

Eric               27.2                               25.6                       52.8                3rd

Melinda       27.1                               24.3                       51.4                4th

Kendel         24.8                               26.2                       51.o                 5th

Brian             21.6                              23.5                       45.1                 6th

April             21.0                              21.7                       42.7                7th

(April pictured left)

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Devin (pictured right)

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After the slam, our feature, GEORGE WATSKY, HBO Def Poet, Emcee and Playwrite celebrated his recent graduation from Emerson College with an absolutely outstanding featured set of new material, sprinkled with a couple oldies, which is hilarious, considering that he’s only 22 years old. George is one of the greatest spoken word artists ever to come out of the San Francisco (and Brave New Voices for that matter) youth poetry scene, and he helped our poetry show enter another dimension altogether with a blistering set that included advice for those who wish to become robots, family tributes and just all around amazing vocal control and word control and audience control. The crowd of over 70 went crazy for this young word slinger and rewarded him with unsolicited applause and heavy merch sales.

We ended the evening with a Clark University Poetry Slam. In a tough, one on one poetry slam bout, Eric edged out new-comer Franklin by a total cumulative score of 42.0 to 38.o, earning Eric a spot alongside Tak Mogel for the Clark University Poetry Slam Team Finals. Truly another fantastic night of spoken word in Worcester. Good words, good people, good high fives and good wishes ended our second preliminary poetry slam. Thanks to all who made it a memorable evening. Nick Davis manned the merch booth, Jon Wolf kept score, Tak Mogel hosted the Clark Slam, DJ Muse, and many thanks to George Watsky, a great talent who you’ll be hearing much more from in the future. check out www.georgewatsky.com for all things Watsky! His new album is ridiculously good! He truly does not need an emcee name!

THANK YOU FOR MAKING IT A GREAT NIGHT!