This is the official blog of Northern Arizona slam poet Christopher Fox Graham. Begun in 2002, and transferred to blogspot in 2006, FoxTheBlog has recorded more than 670,000 hits since 2009. This blog cover's Graham's poetry, the Arizona poetry slam community and offers tips for slam poets from sources around the Internet. Read CFG's full biography here. Looking for just that one poem? You know the one ... click here to find it.
Showing posts with label Austin Slam. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Austin Slam. Show all posts

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

St. Paul wins 2010 National Poetry Slam, second year in a row

Host: Nazelah J. Jeffries is a talented and energetic performance poet, actress and vocalist based in Oakland, Calif. Born in Bamberg, S.C., nazelah had a love of performance from a very early age, taking her first dance lessons at the age of 4; at 5, she practiced for days in the mirror hoping to audition for the musical motion picture “Annie!”, only to be disappointed when the auditions never even came near her tiny town.

Nazelah discovered Poetry Slam in 1999 and began to compete, subsequently going to the National Poetry Slam Competition five times on various Bay Area teams. More recently, she and her husband, poet Dahled, produce the Oakland Poetry Slam & have coached Team Oakland to Nationals the last three years. Since 2000, she has been hosting many Bay Area spoken word events as well. She is a gifted emcee, and producers and performers alike are put at ease by her demeanor; she is currently working on two chapbooks, as well as a musical collaboration and a video project. Her love of hip-hop translates onto the stage.

- - - Round 1 - - -

Nuyorican: Jamal St. John, 27.4
Austin Neo Soul: Scott Frank, 25.9
Durham, N.C., four-poet group poem, 27.0
St. Paul: Six is Nine, 28.0

St. Paul leads 28.0 at the end of the first round
(2) Nuyorican, 27.4, -0.6
(3) Durham, 27.0, -1.0
(4) Austin Neo Soul, 25.9, -2.1

- - - Round 2 - - -
Durham, N.C., Dahsan, 26.2, 53.2
Nuyorican: Kenneth Arkind, 27.0, 54.4
St. Paul: Guante, 27.4, 55.4
Austin Neo Soul: duo, 25.9, 51.8

St. Paul leads 55.4 at the end of the second round
(2) Nuyorican, 54.4, -1.0
(3) Durham, 53.2, -2.2
(4) Austin Neo Soul, 51.8, -3.6
- - - Round 3 - - -

St. Paul: Sierra DeMulder, 27.0, 82.4
Durham, N.C., duo poem, 26.9, 80.1
Austin Neo Soul: Scott Frank, 26.3, 78.1
Nuyorican: Jarrod Singer, 27.1, 81.5

St. Paul leads 82.4 at the end of the third round
(2) Nuyorican, 81.5, -0.9
(3) Durham, 80.1, -2.3
(4) Austin Neo Soul, 78.1, -4.3

- - - Round 4 - - -

Austin Neo Soul: trio, 26.8, 104.9
St. Paul: Shane Hollen, 27.6, 110.0
Nuyorican: 27.1, 108.6
Durham, N.C., 27.7, 107.8

St. Paul wins with a 110.0
(2) Nuyorican, 108.6, -1.4
(3) Durham, 107.8, -2.2
(4) Austin Neo Soul, 104.9, -5.1

The championship team of Soap Boxing, St. Paul's Poetry Slam:
Khary J. (aka "6 is 9") is a playwright, teaching artist and poet who is glad to represent St Paul for the fourth time. He's proud of the poetry the Twin Cities is consistently producing, and hopes to remain a part of the scene in various ways in the future.

Kyle “Guante” Myhre has been Grand Slam champ of Saint Paul, Minneapolis and Madison, and was part of the 2009 National Poetry Slam champion Saint Paul team. As a rapper, he's a member of the Tru Ruts crew and has shared the stage with Talib Kweli, Sage Francis, Brother Ali, Zion I and many others. Guante is currently serving as arts coordinator of the Canvas, a Saint Paul teen arts center, and continues to lead workshops through the MN Spoken-Word Association. For more, see www.myspace.com/elguante or El Guante's blog.

Sierra DeMulder In addition to winning the 2009 National Poetry Slam with Saint Paul, Sierra DeMulder ranked 9th at the IWPS, 11th at WoWPS and coached Macalester College to Final Stage at CUPSI 2010. She was awarded Best Female Poet at CUPSI 2009 and in January 2010, her first full-length manuscript was published by Write Bloody Publishing.

Shane Hawley is a spoken word artist who dabbles in hip-hop and stand-up comedy. He is a four time member of the Minneapolis National Poetry Slam team, and a former Minneapolis Grand Slam champion. He has opened for national acts such as P.O.S, Dessa Darling, and Jeremy Messersmith. As a St. Paul native, he is eager to represent his city in his city at the 2010 National Poetry Slam.

Photos from MinnesotaMicrophone.com
Bios from www.Soap-Boxing.com

Monday, September 21, 2009

Rules of Poetry Slam ... Animated

For the love of all things holy, someone, please animate me.

Mike Henry, the subject of this awesome little animation is the former president of Poetry Slam Inc., the organization governing the National Poetry Slam, the International World Poetry Slam (iWPS).

He's been a longtime member of the Austin, Texas, slam scene, specifically 1995 Team Member, 1996 Slam Team Coach, 1997 Team Coach, 1998 National Poetry Slam Organizer and 1999 Team Member.

He spent the next few years running the madness that is PSi.

Again, this video is awesome.