Posts tagged calslam

WHEN: SATURDAY (11/13)

Doors/Sign-Ups 6pm. Show 6:30pm

WHERE: The Tilden Room

(Top floor, MLK Building @ UC Berkeley)

FEATURING: JASON BAYANI

2003 Berkeley and San Francisco Grand Slam Champion

decolonize |dēˈkäləˌnīz|
verb [ trans. ]
(of a country) withdraw from (a colony), leaving it independent

The Thanksgiving/Thingstaken time of the year should be a chilling reminder of European colonization of the American continent. Centuries later, as a country, we still feel the repercussions of a history of oppression and appropriation by a dominating class. Countries across the globe are in the midst of war, turmoil, and poverty resulting directly from the effects of colonization. In our daily lives we fight against the appropriation of our own resources - culture, bodies, minds, lives - by manipulative individuals, a society obsessed with conformity, and a system that too often destroys those it pledges to protect.

Share your histories, stories of, inspiration, and calls for decolonization - how will you claim your independence?

As always, the event will feature both an open mic and poetry slam. Slam participants will be competing to make the CalSlam poetry team, which will represent UC Berkeley and compete in the Spring at the 2011 College Unions Poetry Slam Invitation (CUPSI). (For a better explanation of how a slam works, check this post.) Everyone is welcome to watch, participate, and perform.

Come pre-game for your Saturday night with some dope, thought-provocative poetry!

$3-5 admission

Where: Tilden Room. 5th Floor MLK Student Union Building (take the elevator)

When: Saturday Nov 20th
Doors/Sign-up 6:30
Show 7pm

Join CalSLAM Saturday (Nov20) after the Cal x Stanfurd game for the last regular slam of the year. Student poets will compete to earn the last remaining points to be one of the 11 poets to step onto the Final Slam Stage (Dec2), which will determine the 4 poets to represent UC Berkeley in the College Union Poetry Slam Invitational

As it stands, here is the current point distribution from the 3 monthly slams:
1. Brandon Young – 7 Points
2. Isa – 6 Points
3. Gabriel – 5 Points
4. Teruko – 5 Points
5. Ian – 5 Points
6. Natasha – 4 Points
7. Mathew – 4 Points
8. Noor – 3 Points
9. Jade – 2 Points
10. Ines – 2 Points
11. Xochil – 1 Point
12. Vicky – 1 Point

Remember Poets - 1st gets 5 points, 2nd gets 4 points, and so on and so on to 5th place with 1 point. The Top 11 Poets compete on finals stage. Make sure you’re safe!

 
2060 Valley Life Science Building @ UC Berkeley Campus
Doors - 6:30pm
Show - 7pm
$5-7

After a long semester of poetry and four long slams, it’s finally here: the slam that will determine the four poets who will represent CalSLAM and UC Berkeley at the 2011 College Union Poetry Slam Invitational (CUPSI) in Michigan

Here are your top eleven poets from the Fall 2010 semester that will compete on Finals Stage:
NATASHA, BRANDON, ISA, GABRIEL, TERUKO, IAN, REBECA, NOOR, JT, JADE, XOCHIL

Also gracing the stage, the Dumbledore of CalSLAM, ISAAC MILLER

Isaac’s Bio: Isaac Miller was the 2007 Youth Speaks Bay Area Teen Poetry Slam Co-Champion (sharing the title with Terry Taplin). That year he was also a member of the Cal Slam team that placed 4th at CUPSI, the national college poetry slam, and a member of the Berkeley Slam team that was featured on the finals stage of the National Poetry Slam. While a student at UC Berkeley, Isaac organized with Cal Slam and the student political coalition CalSERVE. A long time performer, Isaac has shared the stage with artists such as KRS-ONE, Robert Redford, Saul Williams, Zion I, Jeff Chang, Invincible, and Marc Bamuthi Joseph. He currently lives in Detroit, MI, teaching poetry with high school students and working with media-justice organization Allied Media Projects and the youth collective Detroit Summer.

INFO FOR THE COMPETITORS:
Be there by 6:30 if not EARLIER. We have a long competition and we have to get the show on the road at 7pm SHARP.

Rules:
ALL competitors will throw down in ALL THREE rounds with an individual time limit of THREE MINUTES (+ a ten second grace-period) each round. After passing 3:10 and with every 10 seconds that follows, poets are deducted .5 points from their cumulative score. Time starts AT FIRST UTTERANCE.
Poets will be scored on a scale from 0-10 by FIVE randomly selected judges from the audience, chopping the top and bottom scores. The top four highest cumulative scores after three rounds make the team

AS ALWAYS: Misogynistic content and similarly oppressive material is GREATLY discouraged

For any questions or concerns, send an email to: gcortez08@berkeley.edu or nhuey@berkeley.edu

Congratulations to Natasha, Gabe, Isa, Teruko, and Brandon for making the national slam team this year! They’ll be heading off to Michigan to represent UC Berkeley at the College Union Poetry Slam Invitational

It was a great slam, but for those of you who missed it, we managed to get an audio recording of some of the performances that night.

Download Part 1 Here: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=7D9K3GDX

Order of Poets: Natasha Huey, Ian Ornstein, Noor Al-Samarrai, Teruko Dobashi, Jade Cho, Brandon Young, Gabriel Cortez, and Isabella Borgeson

Download Part 2 Here: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=D45QYS8X

Order of Poets: Isabella Borgeson, Gabriel Cortez, Teruko Dobashi, Jade Cho, Noor Al-Samarrai, Ian Ornstein, and Natasha Huey.

Download Part 3 here: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=7Y3P2JAP

Order of Poets: Natasha Huey, Gabriel Cortez, Isabella Borgeson, Teruko Dobashi, Brandon Young, Jade Cho, Ian Ornstein, and Noor Al-Samarrai.

———-

ALSO: We have a new donation button to the left. Help our poets get to Michigan! Look out for a post about that coming soon

Come and help us raise money to compete in National Competition this April!

145 Dwinelle Hall @ UC Berkeley Campus
Doors - 7:30pm
Show - 8-10:30pm
Admission - $5

The 2011 CalSLAM team is teaming up with Project V.O.I.C.E. {Sarah and Phil Kay[e]} to welcome you back to school. One part open mic (bring that Winter Break inspiration) and two parts raw poetry feature, this is a performance you don’t want to miss.

Info about Project V.O.I.C.E.

Sarah Kay is a Spoken Word Poet who grew up in New York City and began performing her poetry when she was only fourteen years old.  Even though she was often the youngest poet by a decade, Sarah made herself at home at the Bowery Poetry Club, one of New York’s most famous Spoken Word venues.  In 2006, she joined the Bowery Poetry Club’s Poetry Slam Team, NYC Urbana, and competed in the 2006 National Poetry Slam in Austin, Texas.  That year, she was the youngest poet competing at Nationals.  Sarah was featured on the sixth season of the television series Russell Simmons presents HBO Def Poetry Jam, where she performed her poem “Hands.”  She has performed in venues across the country including the United Nations, where she was a featured performer for the launch of the 2004 World Youth Report.  She has performed side by side with Spoken Word superstars like Beau Sia, Taylor Mali, Buddy Wakefield, and many others.  Sarah is also a published author, whose work can be found in literary publications such as Foundling Review, Damselfly Press, decomP, among others.  In 2004, Sarah founded Project V.O.I.C.E. to encourage teenagers toward creative self-expression through Spoken Word workshops.  She has taught Spoken Word to students of all ages and most recently she has been teaching a weekly after-school Spoken Word class at Hope High School in Providence, Rhode Island.

See Sarah perform: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pn0zAUVkCgE

Hailing from Southern California, Phil Kaye has been writing, performing and teaching Spoken Word Poetry since he was seventeen years old.  Crowned “The Illest Collegiate Poet in the Northeast” by Brandeis University’s Poetry Grand Slam, Phil has performed around the country and shared the stage with such poetry legends as Anis Mojgani, Derrick Brown, and Amir Sulaiman. In 2010 alone, Phil not only attended, but was a semifinalist at both the National Poetry Slam and the College National Poetry Slam (CUPSI), as well as the top ranked poet of Brown University and Rhode Island, and will finish 2010 by representing Rhode Island at the Individual World Poetry Slam. A published author, Phil’s work can regularly be found in CHAOS Magazine. Phil has been the keynote speaker and performer at MassSTAR, the Massachusetts Department of Education’s youth leadership conference, and is also the creator of “Beyond Color” – a Southern California lecture series that explores the deep roots of racism and marginalization in modern society. A performer, writer and teacher, Phil has had experience all over the nation, from performing in the famous Fitzgerald Theater to teaching weekly workshops to Maximum Security Inmates.

See Phil perform: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-spXvscU80

For more on Project V.O.I.C.E. visit: http://www.project-voice.net/

Join the Facebook movement: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=184805004882606

For any questions or concerns, send an email to: gcortez08@berkeley.edu or nhuey@berkeley.edu

AS ALWAYS: As always, CalSLAM offers you a safe space so misogynistic content and similarly oppressive material is GREATLY discouraged

What up ya’ll. Just wanted to let you know CalSLAM is holding writing workshops every Monday night from 7-9pm in 254 Dwinelle from now until infinity, or at least until the end of the semester.

Our student facilitators accommodate all skill levels. Just bring a pen, a page, some inspiration, and we’ll do the rest.

Where: 254 Dwinelle

When: Monday Nights, 7-9pm

When: Thursday, February 24th

Where: 145 Dwinelle

Doors: 7pm

Show: 7.5pm

Admissions: $5

Prepare for a poetic war of words at CalSLAM’s 2011 Battle Of The Bay, where the poets from CalSLAM team will represent UC Berkeley against other heavyweight nationally competing slam teams from UC Santa Cruz, Stanford, and The University of San Francisco. As always, we are raising money to pay our way to national competition in Ann Arbor Michigan just two months away!

This is another SLAM! you don’t want to miss. Guaranteed to split your mind open and fill it with raw bay area poetic content.

Dear CalSLAM Community,

1st) Thank you so much for making Battle of the Bay a magical night. If you missed it, you missed a big one! Stay posted for the next performance date.

2nd) I apologize for the late notice but CalSLAM will be having General Meetings beginning tomorrow at 2pm at 101 Wheeler Hall. Wanna talk, write, plan, or just hang out with the CalSLAM community? Come to CalSLAM’s General Meetings on Saturdays. Share yourself with us!

Sincerely,
The CalSLAM team

Date: Wed, March 3

Doors: 6:30pm

Show: 7pm

Location: 10 Evans, UCB campus

HERE WE GO AGAIN. To get you back into the poetry groove and re-energize you after Spring Break, CalSLAM is hosting another open and poetry slam WEDNESDAY, MARCH 3RD. Bring your best poetry. Winner gets a giftcard!

Follow it on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=112550445491572&pending

Microphones, spoken word, eloquence, similes, love, angst, fury, sarcasm, passion, and, most of all, live poetry. Experience Cal’s award winning Cal Slam Poetry Team showcase in the Cal Bookstore. (description taken from the official Cal Day general listing)

The team is back, fresh from the College Union Poetry Slam Invitational. There is guaranteed to be some performances you do not want to miss. THIS IS AN OPEN MIC AND OPEN SLAM. Bless the stage with your words!

When: Saturday, April 16
Where: Cal Student Store (MLK Building, next to the magazines)

Sign-ups: 2:30pm

Show: 3pm
Admissions: FREE

Follow it on FB: https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=178103808907879

—

EDIT: Congratulations to “Hallway Slam” Champion, Isa Borgeson for bringing the heat. Also, props to UC Santa Cruz poet, Casey Rummel, for bringing the heat. Also, props to host, Rahul Patel for keeping it real. Open House Open Mind, yeah right…

For all of you that have been asking me where the good slam poetry’s at over the summer break, the annual teen slam poetry competition, Brave New Voices, starts tomorrow (Wednesday, July 20th) on the Mario Savio steps of our very own Upper Sproul. Expect events to continue through the rest of the week til Saturday. If you want to see some of the best up and coming poets from all over the US (and some international poets as well) paint the bay area red with their hearts, and if you want to cry ((Yes, you will cry at these)), I suggest you shimmy your mouse over to the official Youth Speaks website and cop you a seat.

BNV Schedule: http://www.bravenewvoices.org/about/festival-schedule-2/

ALSO: CalSLAM’s very own alumni poet, Matt Blesse, is taking a journey to Corea and documenting it through a very well-crafted and beautiful blog called “Perpetual Motion Of Search.” The blog is still in its infancy but he has already shared some really moving words.

Here is a selection from Matt’s second post, “Modernity’s Price”

“…The flight was fine, and not only included a huge selection of movies but also had some good music. My take-off soundtrack, courtesy of Korean air, was Nas’ Illmatic. According to the entertainment system description, the album was written by “the eastern hip hop artist known as the best all time hip hop singer”. [insert unreasonably-passionate Nas vs Jova debate here]. Also enjoyed bi bim bap on the plane, which made other airlines’ food taste like a 5 day-old slice of unheated Dominos.

The ride to our orientation site in Geosan was about 2 and a half hours. Our bus swam through hillsides that dripped fog like thick milk, and brushed past residential towers that shot from the ground like sterile NYC project housing. Every angle of this country seemed as green as the air was heavy. In each breath beyond the air conditioners waited a fresh rainstorm you could taste, a story sticking itself to the lungs…”

Enlighten yourself and check for Matt’s updates: http://perpetualmotionofsearch.wordpress.com/