I volunteered at the Capital Slam Semifinals at the Mercury Lounge last night. The place was packed, literally: the doors opened at 6:30, and by 7:30 we couldn't let anyone else in. I wound up working the door for a while, telling the stragglers that they couldn't get in, and no, their friends hadn't bought them tickets that would allow them in, and no, they couldn't just hang out in the staircase to wait, and no, if someone left I couldn't let them in, because I wasn't about to try and do the math, but if they wanted to trade admission bracelets outside with people who were leaving, that would be fine...
Did I mention that this was for a poetry show? I love this town.
When, at the Writers Festival, Anne Simpson exclaimed about the big audience that had turned out for poetry, that was pretty cool. This was sold-out, jam-packed, standing-room only, turning-people-away, scalper's-paradise crowded. The inimitable Jessica Ruano, who was the official door girl (and who I admire greatly, not just because I could only handle the door for the first set before I kind of freaked out about having to tell people to go away whose friends were already inside)... anyway, Jessica said that someone actually tried to bribe her: "If I pay you extra, can I get in?"
This is a new high for Ottawa poetry. Attempted bribery at the door.
And it was good to hear some really interesting new voices from the Capital Poetry Collective. The semifinalists were Poetic Speed, Marcus Jameel, Open Secret, Free Will, Rusty Priske, Bart Cormier, Festrell, Kevin Matthews, Danielle K. L. Gregoire, Nathanael Larochette, Thomas McKinley, and Steve Sauve. Some of these folks are long-standing Ottawa poets, some of them have just started out. In particular I was floored by Poetic Speed, with his second-set poem, an open letter to William Lynch, the purported author of a speech given in 1712 to Viriginian plantation owners on how to keep their slaves in line (okay, so the speech itself is probably a hoax, but Poetic Speed's performance dropped my jaw.)
A couple of other newcomers that shone: Marcus Jameel, whose voice is just made for performance, and a pretty gutsy performance by Bart Cormier, who wasn't afraid to stand up and be a geek. Stick to it, Bart: the slam scene needs its nerditude, and the occasional welcome infusion of humor and lightness.
And a word to the wise: Get to the finals (June 7th, hosted by CBC's Alan Neal, of Bandwidth fame) early if you're coming. Don't show up an hour after the show starts and try to tell the door girl that you know Kevin Matthews.
