Wow. That sums up my sentiments for the head-spinning FINALS NIGHT at Toronto Poetry Slam. Wow because the poetry dropped in our faces was so deliciously honest and powerful, it would’ve made the hardest heart soften. Wow because 250+ people crowded into Hugh’s Room to hear poetry…even though the TTC went on strike and crippled transportation options for Torontonians. Wow because guest feature C.R. Avery pleasured our earholes with incredible music, poetry and storytelling. Wow because there was intense drama and beauty at the end of the evening.

So as you know, the Finals Night determined who made the Toronto Poetry Slam Team reppin’ the series at national festivals in the U.S. and Canada. Eight competitors took the stage and busted out their classic and new pieces, all performed with the gusto audiences have expected from these spoken word artists. We heard White Noise Machine proffer a different kind of political party; we enjoyed Arianna telling us about her comical moving day; we fell silent as Ziy divulged her pain at taking too many drugs to combat cancer; we were taken on a thirsty journey with Jogi’s powerful pieces; and Gypsy Eyes let us know a bit about him in his biopic poem filled with Ken Finkleman and OMRE references.

When the final poet rang in our ears, the team was determined…almost: the top four poets out of March’s Semis and April’s Finals were Arianna, Krystle, Truth Is and White Noise Machine. But there was a tie for the alternate! Yes, Jogi and Ziy tied for fifth which meant one more round to see who would take the final team spot.

Jogi went up first and performed a fluid poetic piece he delivered with comfortable ease. Then Ziy went up and just talked to us. No poetry, no wordplay. Just letting us know how beautiful it is to perform poetry to so many attentive people, reminding us to never take this art form for granted. It was honest, it was beautiful…but the judges weren’t feeling it, score-wise. Jogi took the final spot on the team as the alternate, and a hearty congrats to this young poet making tidal waves in the scene.

C.R. Avery had us mesmerized during his set. He beatboxed his way through poems about boxers and Jimi Hendrix, then moving to his piano to give us sweet ballads about gritty urban living. The dude is a multi-talented genius, and TPS was lucky to have him bring his unique voice to the stage.

A big high-five to Arianna, Krystle, Truth, White Noise and Jogi for making the team. Expect to see them at many a venue around Toronto, including international fests. And I want to extend my thanks to everyone who slammed during this season, no matter what you scored. You do what many people can’t and won’t do and that alone deserves recognition.

So that wraps up the season proper, but we’re returning to regular non-season slams on Sunday May 25 at the Drake Hotel. In fact, May’s slam is crazy-special: it’s the ANYTHING GOES Slam, where the rules are thrown out the window. See you then!

It’s what you’ve been waiting for — the beautifully delicious SLAM FINALS, featuring the top 8 poets from the season and multi-talented C.R. Avery from Vancouver.

It all goes down at Hugh’s Room, 2261 Dundas St. W, just south of Bloor (free parking at Loblaw’s across the street).
Doors 6pm, slam 8pm. $12 at door.

Hugh’s Room staffers informed me that seating is SOLD OUT and it’s standing room only now, so I highly suggest you arrive waaaay before 8pm to make sure you get a good sightline.

Yes, there’s the bloody TTC strike but I got faith in all the spoken word fans out there. No one has told me they’re cancelling yet, performer or pre-ticket buyer. Business as usual, insanity as unusual.

There’ll be a merch table selling hot hot hot CDs and books so bring extra cash!

Can you feel the power-passion rumbling through your veins? Know what that is? No, not diabetes but the anticipation of seeing some incredible poetry hit the stage tonight. It will be epic.

See you tonight, and look for an update to this space on Sunday or Monday to find out who won (if you’re foolish enough to miss the Finals tonight).

At many moments at last night’s Toronto Poetry Slam Semi Finals, the room was so quiet you could hear a sweat droplet run down someone’s neck. At other moments, sudden waves of laughter forced a poet to pause between lines. Those two contrasting scenarios summed up the memorable semi-finals poetry at the Drake Underground: Round 1 brought us the funny and the quirky, for the most part, while Round 2 delivered body-slams of emotional honesty.

In Round 1, Arianna, White Noise, Amanda and Macer kept things humorous but insightful, giving us a taste of their classic repertoire. It was also beautiful to see Jogi command the stage on his first playoffs appearance, while Ziy held her own with a whollop of a Middle East essay. Gypsy Eyes strayed from the funny theme by letting us into his relationship with his mother. Twelve poets gave us new flavours of spoken word with every piece, and the enthusiastic crowd energized the poets (and this MC) with a hailstorm of boos, applause and “what kinda score is that?”

J.W. Baz from Chicago absolutely slayed it on stage as the poetry feature, delivering his thoughtful poetry with impressive poise. It’s obvious why this cat has been a finalist at national U.S. slams. Props to Baz’s range – one poem remembered dancing to funk 45s with his father, while another poem listed off reasons why he falls for crazy women…or is it vice versa?

Round 2 got serious, as Amanda attacked a cop-pedophile in Sasketchewan with a powerful barrage-slash-unsent letter. Krystle showed us another side of her life by unveiling a new ode to her mother. Ziy reminded us about community’s strength in the face of same-old-same-old, and White Noise gave us the new hook for the night: “Muzak makes me want to murder.” And if you missed Lara’s new poem, I feel sorry for you: beg her to do it once again at her next feature.

After two rounds of nutritious poetry, we got the top 8 moving on to the Finals (in no particular order): Amanda, Krystle, Ziy, Arianna, White Noise Machine, Gypsy Eyes, Jogi, and Truth Is. These 8 will battle it out in another two-round wordfest on April 26, at Hugh’s Room. Tickets are $10 in advance, $12 at the door, 8pm. Featuring C.R. Avery from Vancouver. For advance tickets, call 416 531-6604.

HUGE kudos to Lara, Idriis, Macer and Wade for rippin it like they always do, and also a hearty shout-out to the lovely audience filling up the Underground last night. We do this for you, truly.

See ya at the finals…

A big FYI for all your slam poetry lovers out there…

TORONTO POETRY SLAM’s massive brain-ticklin orgasmic SEMI FINALS
goes down this SATURDAY MARCH 22 @ the Drake Hotel Underground, 1150 Queen St. W.
$5 cover
Doors 7pm. Slam 8pm.
No open mic. Invitational slam only.

The competing poets are: Idriis, White Noise Machine, Lara, Arianna, Gypsy Eyes, Ziy, Amanda Hiebert, Truth Is, Krystle Mullin, Wade, Macer and Jogi.

Feature guest poet: J.W. Baz from Chicago (multiple finalist at National Poetry Slam, overall kickass wordsmith)

If you have any questions, email info@torontopoetryslam.com

And in case you miss March 22, the big Finals Night is April 26 @ Hugh’s Room.

See ya Saturday.

(We have our lineup for the semifinals - scores are here. - Mike)

Maybe I’m biased ’cause I can feel the energy rush at me while I’m on stage hosting, but February’s slam was downright amazing! It was a veritable all-star cast who rocked the mic, whether it was Amanda giving us her emotionally riveting poems or Tomy Bewick reminding us she wasn’t always this way. Big props to the lone slam virgin at the slam, Andrew Nguyen, who pulled the dreaded #1 spot in the first round. Hope to see him hit the stage again.

Saturday night gave the rammed Drake audience a smattering of strong voices, both male and female. Lara kept ears and eyes hypnotized to her every word, and Made Wade invited us into his rap-tastic philosophies. Gypsy Eyes scored high points for not only his flawless renditions of an old classic, but also a couple of new pieces, proving he’s constantly maturing as an artist.

The final round saw Lara, Krystle and Gypsy battle it out for the cash prize, the sponsor prize of a TenSpot Spa gift certificate and a coveted spot in the semi’s. The final round was extremely tight, in two ways: tight as in impressive poetic talent, and tight as in the final scores were only separated by .3 differential. Damn! And when the dust settled, Krystle took top spot and looked as happy as a Silverberg in an egg nog store.

Massive kudos to the guest feature of the night, Q from Charlotte, North Carolina. This slam vet dropped some freestyle rhythms on our heads, while also delighting the musically inclined with some soulful singing interludes. His energetic presence delighted the audience so much Q practically sold out all his merch!

So now that the regular Slam season is over, we invite you to the playoffs going down in March and April. The semi-finals (invitational only) will be rockin the Drake on March 22, where 12 poets will perform for two rounds straight-up. And don’t miss the wild funktastic Finals on April 26 at Hugh’s Room.

And as always, please remember: the points are not the point. The poetry is the point!

The final slam of the regular season will be rockin the Drake Hotel Underground stage this Sat. Feb. 16, and we invite you to check out the intense poetic beast that has become Toronto Poetry Slam. It all goes down at 1150 Queen St. W. (downstairs), signup 7:30pm, slam at 8pm. The cover is $5.

We’re very excited to be featuring our first North Carolinan, Q from Charlotte. He’s got a dynamic stage presence and will give us a taste of some southern comfort during his 20-minute set.

Also, there’s be lots of cool stuff going down at the Slam on Saturday: a 50/50 draw so you can wish some cash; a celeb judge or two; random haikus from yours truly; a merch table with tons o’ CDs and chapbooks to take home; and a killer after-party somewhere on Queen St. (you’re just gonna hafta to come to find out where!).

Thanks for supporting spoken word in the city, and see you on Saturday.

(Scores are here. - Mike)

Later this month, CBC is debuting a new reality series called The Week the Women Went (guys taking care of kids and cooking? Oh the hilarity!). Toronto Poetry Slam could have produced a knock-off at January’s show called The Night the Women Dominated. Undoubtedly, the female slammers on Saturday night were strong and on point, powering through the second round and making the final round an all-estrogen affair.

Because January was the Story Slam, the audience of 180 people lapped up tales by Electric Jon (on casino hijinx), Tomy Bewick (on sneaky sales tactics), Ariel (on unexpected violence), and Krystle (on ten-cow wives). By the third round, Lara, Truth, Amanda and Arianna (a tie for third) gave us a medley of powerful poems, ranging from Amanda’s Melvin piece to Truth’s pen tale; but when the dust settled, Arianna took top spot, winning $80, two tickets to RAIN and a bye into March’s semi-finals.

Much love n’ respect to our guest features that night, San Jose’s Mike McGee and Chicago’s Robbie Q. Last year, they came to town at the same time but the audience didn’t get any repeats. These slam champs brought the heavy with beautiful emotional pieces while also spicing up the sets with more light-hearted poems. What was even more inspiring was hanging with Mike and Robbie after the gig at Shanghai Cowgirl, where we bought Mike drinks for his bday and talked about how frickin kick-ass an international poetry tour must be.

So that means there’s only one more slam in the Season in order for poets to qualify. February should be a nutty month of energy and intensity, so make sure you hit up the Drake on Feb. 16 to witness poetry in motion. Until then!

(Scores are here. - M)

Sunday night’s slam was a testament to the strength of the spoken word scene in Toronto. On one of the snowiest nights in Toronto’s history (so the media tell me), the Drake Hotel Underground was packed tight with poetry die-hards…meaning, both the slam poets who were hungry to compete and the audience aching for a good show to keep them distracted from the shoveling they’d be doing in 10 hours.

It was another busy night, which meant another sign-up lottery draw, and the open mic was tight with 6 poets. First round showed off some veteran poise sprinkled with newbie energy, and the crowd was lapping it up. They especially liked Sean Cullen’s 3.0 score to That Brown Bastard. Being a celebrity judge, Cullen wanted to play up TBB’s assholey vibe, and for once in a long time the banter between judge and poet was enjoyably fiery. Doesn’t happen often.

The audience was treated to classic gems like Gypsy Eyes’ who-am-I piece and Kate’s I Have a Camera and then veered to the left with new-to-the-ear poems from Ziy and Ariel. Props to Truth to making the room completely silent, all ears trained to her voice. Nestled comfortably at second last, Idriis took the stage with hip-hop-flavoured gusto, and wowed the judges by scoring the highest in the first round.

And it was Idriis who powered his way to the third and then landed a choice draw at last, so he could blast our soundholes with narrative rhymes about Spider Man and Star Wars. All in one poem, way under 3 minutes. Idriis took home top spot, $75, and a bye to the semi’s. It’s always great to see fresh blood winning love in their first slam in ages…Noticed it’s been happening a lot at TPS.

This review wouldn’t be a complete without a gushing holy-fuck props to Poizunus. The slam’s guest feature was the best non-poetic feature TPS ever invited — Poizunus beatboxed for 20 minutes, and it never sounded redundant. Instead, we heard epic tunes like Billy Jean and Sweet Dreams all beatboxed up; ihis scratching would’ve made Rahzel shit in his Sean John pants. It was mind-blowing, and fans like Brown Bastard were encoring Poiz for at least another 8 pieces.

Big love to all the people who navigated through tricky transportation chaos to bring their energy to the slam. It doesn’t go unappreciated, and at the afterparty we poets couldn’t stop talking about how impressive the turnout was. And sledding. We talked about sledding. And condoms. Long story.

The story slam is on Jan. 12, so interested poets should get their stories out of their bellies and onto some paper. Don’t drink too much egg nog, lovely readers, save some for me. Enjoy your holidays, stay poetic and see ya in 2008.

(Scores are here) - Mike

It was a night of brilliant talent befitting the two-year anniversary of Toronto Poetry Slam. Cervejaria was packed so intensely, the divider doors had to be opened so the other room could be used. Twelve poets in the first round, and I counted half as newbies to the stage. There were the vets, the White Noise Machine, Kate Leadbeater, Truth, Jogi, Ariel, R.D. And there were the rooks, who held their own impressively: Wade, Kate M., Dave P.

Round two kept some of the core events, including White Noise Machine, who deftly made the third round with a performative piece in the first round (Advertising), and a written poem anchoring him to the page in the second. But it was Jogi’s powerful performances that turned him to a highlight of the night. He must’ve been in the zone like never before, because the crowd reacted so feverishly like never before. Congrats to the Jogester for making third round.

Kate L. and Ariel are both masters of zipping from funny to serious within a stanza, and taking us along for rides in their somewhat-fractured lives. Kate displayed some nice range with pieces that spanned from I-love-him to I’ve-grown-up-too-quick. And is it me, or does Ariel have fire in the belly, hungry to make the slam team this year?

The two-year anniversary wouldn’t be complete with a rousing birthday song initiated by R.D. (taking up time in his poem, no less). Also, every good TPS needs an even greater feature, and Vancouver’s The Fugitives didn’t disappoint. They carried us through their debut album’s standout songs, and I don’t think those 160 people in Cervejaria will ever forget the words: “Right now!”

Another special moment of the night was the arrival of the celebrity judge, Raine Maida. Former frontman of Our Lady Peace, supporter of charities like War Child, married to Chantal Kreviatzcouldyouspellituk. Coming straight from the airport, Raine joined the slam by the middle of the first round, and I’ve never seen a dude’s jaw drop so hard while watching the Fugitives. Well, except mine, of course. And Raine was so impressed with the Fugees (and the slam, he admitted), he asked Mark Berube to play accordion at his Mod Club show two nights later. Rest assured, a bunch of us went to the gig, had a rockin time, and met Canada’s most well-known rock n’ roll relationship. Chantal and Raine…who would’ve thought they’d be linked to Toronto Poetry Slam?

Oh, you want to know who won? Oh reader, the points are not the point, the poetry is the point. But you’ve slogged through a long paragraph on Raine Maida, so here’s the payoff: and the winner of the November TPS was…WHITE NOISE MACHINE! Let’s all pat his back and offer encouraging words. And some of you strategists out there are likely thinking the WNM’s win is a good thing for the overall standings. Think about it.

Two years have passed, and I got too many people to thank in this last ‘graph. Instead, let me offer a bearhug-sized thanks to anyone who attended the slam, volunteered at the slam, judged at a slam, wrote about the slam, slammed, or showed love for the slam. Without you, it wouldn’t be what it is.

See ya Dec. 16.

(Scores are here - Mike)

It was a night of beginnings: the first slam of the official Toronto Poetry Slam season; the first time Vancouver spoken word poet Sean McGarragle has featured at TPS; and the first time the slam stage has been graced by so many new poets. In fact, there were practically only two TPS veterans in the first round - Yehuda Fisher and Ziy.

The first round gave us a good chance to see the various flavours of poetry out there: Livingstone Lacroix mixed song with her verse; Macer was dubbed the “Canadian Dr. Suess” by yours truly for bringing an appealing storytelling vibe to his poetry; Yaseemi gave the audience the blunt truths, no sugar coating; and Ziy returned to TPS after a year hiatus to rock our faces off with poems both classic and new.

But the freshest voice on Saturday night was also the highest scoring. Free Will, straight outta Ottawa and on the Capital Sleam 2007, brought the heat with memorized pieces on injustice, social activism and how people view money. Free Will powered into the third round to battle it out with Ziy and Yehuda, and he ended up the winner on Saturday night, earning him a spot in the semi-finals.

Not to be forgotten is Sean McGarragle, who blessed the stage with wonderful slices of his life. I don’t think anyone will forget lines like “Even if her period was gremlins” and “bodyfisting a fairy.” Oh Sean, always giving us such pleasant visuals.

Note that the next slam is coming up sooner than you think, on Nov. 10, and it’s at a different venue: Cervejaria, 842 College. It’s the slam’s two-year anniversary featuring The Fugitives, so get ready for a blow-your-soul-away kinda evening.