by Toronto Poetry Project
The first slam of 2012 and the first time TPS has gone bi-weekly was nothing short of a mad success. It didn't matter that it was on a Sunday night, as The Drake was still at capacity by the time the show begun. And what a show it was.
Host Amanda Hiebert busted our guts with her banter, stories, and a couple of cuss words tossed in along the way. The night started off with a hot open mic including former TPS teammates Kiki and Relevant, and Dave "Big Deal" Silverberg taking a step down on the hosting duties for the night, instead dropping a "Mad Libs" version of Allen Ginsberg's "Howl" with the help of the audience.
Then the room was ready for the slam. Full of vets like Cathy Petch, Macer, Ritallin, Alessandra, Lip Balm and Eytan Crouton, some fresh faces like Segal and Jy Harris also rocked the mic. We saw a team piece from Cathy, Eytan and Lip Balm, and Alessandra put Steven Harper in his place. The second round had Lip Balm do a Foghorn Leghorn impression, Eytan Crouton hate on night clubs, and Ritallin dropped one of the best pieces of the night called "Cupid".
In the third round Ritallin and Macer each went up and got the same score, leaving Eytan Crouton in the anchor spot. Needing to score higher than both, he delivered his "Cocaine and Poetry Slams" rap and took the win, along with $80 and a bye into semi finals in March.
And let's not forget our rocking ass feature. High energy drunk party rock group Hi Heels Lo Fi took over The Drake stage and had us laughing and dancing all at once. When Cynthia called up all the women to dance on stage to “You Don’t Need a Cock to Rock,” the response was overwhelming, and the stage was swarming with girls shaking their bootays. Be sure to find out when High Heels Lo Gi play next in Toronto.
Our next slam is the Canadian Indies qualifier, on Jan. 17 @ Supermarket, see ya then!
