Battle of Ohio II

***This was going to be a much more vibrant and detailed post, but word of Gabrielle's passing knocked the wind out of me***

To fulfill our obligation for the Win and You're In Slam system, the powers that be in Ohio put together the 2nd Annual Battle of Ohio Slam. The first one was hosted in Columbus by Writer's Block (1st place - Writer's Block, then Writing Wrongs, Cleveland & Dayton). This year, we brought it back to Columbus and Writing Wrongs hosted it. The night was very, very fun. I left all the hosting duties up to the staff, but was still running around with my head cut off. I thought I had most things ready to go (most things anyway), but learned some lessons for hosting a Win & You're in Bout (should I ever need to again). I do believe the night ran pretty smoothly from the Open Mic to the slam and Spike definitely deserves a lot of credit for that. To spare any suspense, here was the final tally of the night:

Writing Wrongs Poetry Slam - 118.8
Cleveland Poetry Slam - 116.9
Writer's Block Poetry Slam - 115.7
Dayton Poetry Slam - 107.2

I was pretty proud of my squad. I felt like everyone came out and performed really well, put their own stamp on the night by winning pretty handily. I was most happy/nervous for Jason Brazwell. Look, I love the guy, love the work and it was a joy slamming with him, hopefully beyond just the one night. He also had the most at stake slamming that night as well. Jason had never slammed in a team event that wasn't with Writer's Block before, so it was a departure for him regardless, let alone the fact he was taking this big step AGAINST Writer's Block. Isn't necessarily how I would've scripted it for him, but he was up for the challenge and he KILLED. Damn, he killed it...Lets hope this lit a fire under him for the Writing Wrongs Slam season. That would be spectacular.

Other highlights/notes: Besides anything my team did, Rachel Wiley's poem was my favorite of the night. She's tough, real tough.

I don't know who in Dayton broke a kicked a puppy when they were younger, but they have the worst luck/fortune. Like, the LA Clippers type of luck. Two team members either had car trouble or were MIA altogether. Luckily, they had some people (Link being one of them) just there to take in the festivities that could slam, otherwise they may not have been able to field a team. I enjoyed what they're team put up, but they were at a disadvantage just from the fact that they had a couple of team members unaware that they'd be slamming when they arrived. Kudos to that. Me, I'd be pulling my hair out over shit like that.

I thought Scott's poem should've scored better. Good piece.

O' Cleveland. What a good showing. A couple of vets, a couple of rookies...either way they did the damn thing. It was funny standing back there with Tom Noy watching him employ what he calls 'Will Evans' slam-tactics. Which is flattering until Cleveland ends up kicking our ass in the future. Hopefully he surpasses that manual. But I was really impressed by them all. And then there's Dave 'Muthafuckin' Nichols. I mean, after the nickname, is there anything else to say? That cat is electric and Tom placed him perfectly in the first round.

I decided to do a duet in the last round (or my slot in the slam) for the wow factor if nothing else. The poem, 'Curtain' is a piece Barbara and I adapted from a short poem I wrote during April last year and I'm really proud of it (which I don't profess out loud too much about my work I'm not realizing). But the language is kind of experimental, its intended to be just a storyboard of images and limited narrative and I was so excited when I saw what Barb had wrote to compliment what I had started previously. So we pulled it out, knowing most people in the room and had never heard it. Jason and I went back and forth over three new poems I had written while on tour for my slot previous to the slam, but doing the duet and getting Barb up on the Mic again (there were two 30s during the night, Barb had both of them) won out for me. I was just glad we could do it in front of the people we knew would like it.

Fun, fun times all the way around and it was nice to come out with a win. I'm looking forward to Episode III in Cleveland next year.

(Attempting to) Beast in the East: 1

If you're scoring at home on how to test a marriage four months after its union, this the second departure and cumulatively 3rd week I've been on the road in the last couple of months. This week, I was able to take Niobe (that would be my 1999 Acura 2.3 CL in case you weren't aware) on an almost non-stop drive to Providence, RI on Tuesday.

I don't want to write any preemptive eulogies here, but I was intent on doing my Tryst through the Tri-State with my Acura as opposed to taking Leah's Pontiac Vibe like I do on most road trips. I've had Niobe for a long time. But she is getting up there. And I was determined to let her have one more long road trip left in her before getting myself a younger, giggly, still can walk the run way model later on in the year. Its been a good trip so far for her. She's held up remarkably well and wants to prove to me that she's still capable of being my steady. We'll see.

Anyways, I started my mini run at Got Poetry Live which was a pretty nice treat. I don't think I've ever been that far north east before, so it was a treat before I even entered the venue. The reading is intimate, but extremely attentive and welcoming. I felt like I could really run the gauntlet of subject matter in the room and everything was being received well. And getting to hear some Tony Brown and Ryk McIntyre live is always a good thing.

Wednesday, I made my way up to Boston for my feature at the Cantab. Look, the Cantab is the muthafuckin Cantab. That's all there is to it. Far better poets than me have described what its like to rip a set there, so I won't bore you with my analogies. I'll just say it feels like home. The room was ridiculously stacked, standing room much of it. J.W. Baz had featured at Hampshire College the day before so he and some incredibly talented Hampshire kids made the trip down there to see this hack from Columbus feature. Mike McGee was also in the house which always makes the room three times more comfortable. My set felt good. Real good. I did everything I wanted as far as a set list and got rewarded with a standing 'O' for it. Aww shucks, Boston. I fuckin love this scene. It always stays with me a little after the night.

So the next day or so I spend hanging with Simone Beaubien. Simone and I can talk for HOURS (as we proved over the course of a couple days). Her unflinching honesty is infectious, her perspectives are completely unique, even within our poetry slam fam. She's like the anti-cliche. We must have spent two hours alone making fun of all the 'fem and esses' isms (as in her favorite title in the world, Fem-cee) that our community has created. At any rate, if Leah ever comes to her senses and realizes that she's way out of my league before dropping me like a kidney stone, I'd have to add the Boston Area to my short list of relocation spots (for those scoring at home, said list is Chicago, Boston, Phoenix, NYC & Charlotte, in that order).

Tonight I make my way to the NYC for my co feature at the Nuyorican with Brian Ellis. So, I'm geeking out a little bit because Brian is probably my favorite poet doing his thing right now. Period. So sharing a Nuyo stage with him should be pretty damn exciting. After that, I'm gonna make a non-emergency run home for the weekend. Cuz ya know, I wanna see my wife. I'm so anti-Tiger living son. I'll come back to NYC on Monday for a co-feature with Aricka Foreman at LouderArts, Urbana on Tuesday, deconstruction of poems with Roger on Wednesday, then Loser Slam on Thursday. Then the big boat ride home Friday morning.

Till then homies (and homie-esses)

Writings Wrongs first full Year, 2009

Writing Wrongs had a pretty good year, for it being the first full year of its existence. The audience stayed up for the most part with a consistency I couldn't have really expected. We had some great features, I mean great. I'd have to say that my favorite features of the year were Blair and Brian Ellis, though we had so many just destroy the spot. I'm quite sure Rachel gave the best feature nobody saw (as part of an experimented Saturday night show, a spectacle I plan to make amends for in 2010). Some of our shows were so packed, we had to steal chairs from the coffee shop itself and we would still have a standing room. I saw so much growth amongst poets this year that I hope it becomes a trend for years to come. As far as slamming goes, here's how it went down

Women of the World Poetry Slam '09
Rep: Barbara Fant


If you've got a problem with Barbara Fant, then you're a horrible human being that needs to question your existence. Yeah, I said it. People LOVE Barb and that's before they hear her actually recite a poem. Then it just gets stalkerish. At any rate, this was Barb's second WOWPS appearance and she finished 24th overall

National Poetry Slam '09
Team Members: Wyk McGowan (1st), William Evans (4th), Barbara Fant (2nd), Mike 'Spike' Cowell (3rd), Ethan Rivera (1st)


This team was pretty fun. We should've had more than we did. This team did well. We should've done better. I'll chalk that up as my shortcoming for not utilizing the prep time the best in having our team ready to perform like we could've. Nevertheless, we finished 27th (out of 68 teams). Its the best finish for a Columbus team since 2004. I'm quite sure its a top five finish for Columbus' history. A nice building block, especially for the first year of Writing Wrongs being in competition

Individual World Poetry Slam
Representative: Ethan Rivera


Ethan was the lightning rod for Writing Wrongs for the duration of the year. He showed the most growth and work ethic in making himself a better poet and it showed when he won our IWPS slam-off pretty easily. He finished 76th at IWPS, which I know disappointed him initially, but it became evident that he was learning on the fly and earning the respect and admiration of his peers. His poetry will be a force to deal with in '10.

So many crazy things are set to pop off this upcoming year, I'm definitely happy to have such a great seat for the show that Writing Wrongs will be.

Ahhh...2009

For the Writing Wrongs end year blog, go here


I'm not gonna lie or even exaggerate here...to date, 2009 has been the best year of my life. Lets review, shall we


January


+ I release my first Chapbook: Humble Shell Casings
+ Watched the first Black Person elected President being sworn into office

February

- Lost my job (in a manner of speaking) at Cardinal Health
+ Started the Upwords Youth Poetry Slam

March

+ Signed on with Penmanship Books

April

+ Started Projecting Murals LLC
+ Hosted the first Columbus All District High School Slam
+ Won the Writing Wrongs National Team Grand Slam

May

+ Was on the winning 2009 Rustbelt Regional Slam Team and finished 3rd overall as an individual

August

+ Coached the Writing Wrongs National Team to a top 30 finish (a personal best for me and the highest finish for a Columbus team since 2004)
+ Released my first full manuscript on Penmanship, In The Event you are Caught Behind Enemy Lines

September

+++ I got married...Can you believe that shit?

October

+ Made my first Finals stage at the Individual World Poetry Slam

November

+ I turned 30 years old (yes, I'm putting this as a plus. A big one actually. The only thing worst than getting old is not getting old)

December

+ Went on a mini tour to the west coast

Yeah, I'd call that a pretty good year. The highlight of my year without question was finishing 3rd at Rustbelt...I kid.

Seriously, without a prolonged amount of mush, meeting Leah years ago (let alone marrying her in September) was the kind of life altering experience you wish for. And life was pretty damn good before I met Leah, but now, it seems so dismal to think what might have happened had we not crossed paths.

From a poetry aspect, I expected good things to happen, but had no idea what that would really entail. Having just finally gotten around to doing a chapbook (and only because I was approached to do one, not because it was in my original plans), I find it hard to fathom that I would put out a full manuscript of new work just over 6 months later. And the book has done really well as I've sold thru half of my second run already.
The biggest revelation to me this year in poetry was that I had no idea how people felt about my work. Sure, I got the usual compliments and I think I'm a pretty decent poet because I've really put in the work, experimented and always tried to be original within my voice. But between IWPS and doing the tour at the beginning of December, I learned of an appreciation for the work that I hadn't anticipated. And you know what, it makes me want to be a hell of a lot better because I know where the walls are I have yet to knock down. Gives me something to climb towards for 2010.

I hope everyone got that the wanted for Christmas and get what you want for New Years (which in many cases is just a fresh start at something), but I hope to see you all in prosperous winds in the New Year

Website Launch

Thanks to the lovely Lauren Zuniga, I know have a functional website. Its not 100% done, but its pretty damn nice if I say so myself (and for Lauren). Since I got rid of my Myspace page, this is definitely the go to site for info my goings on.

WWW.WILLIAMTHE3RD.COM, please check it out

Arizona & the Big Boat Ride Home: 3

When we last spoke, I had just finished performing at Black Pearl Tempe & Phoenix while being wowed by a phenomenal 13 yr musician Alex Aiono. On Saturday, Edward, the beautiful Tamika (part of the Black Pearl Arizona team) and I ventured to Tuscon for the Ocotillo Slam. Great night, great poetry. Doc Luben was a great host and super entertaining throughout the night. I got my first extended look at Lindsey Miller who won the slam and was quite impressed. I now feel sorry that I was out of town when they came thru Columbus together. I'm sure it was a hell of a show. As for me, I think I did my best feature of the tour. I got to do 3 new poems that I wrote after the tour started two weeks ago and they felt right. Just right. Again, a great night.

Back in Phoenix on Sunday night for the Home Base Poetry night. For those familiar with Black Pearl when it was in Columbus (at the Brownstone), it was like that, on steroids. About 250 people, 90% black, filling up a hotel ballroom for nothing more than poetry. Very interesting evening. I did a 3 poem set and got a standing 'O', which felt like a good way to end the tour.

As for personal goals that I set out at the beginning of the tour, I did marginally well: Wrote 5 poems, which all feel like keepers.
I didn't finish the essays, but I did write the outlines and framing for two of them.
Did not eat any meat or dairy. And you know what, I feel pretty ok.
Did not get any running done, though I did work out...some. The weather really fucked with my ambition of running.
As an unforeseen accomplishment, I sold out of all my books, which I'm pretty proud of since I got 50 of them shipped to me on Monday while I was still in the Bay.

Overall, I had an amazing, amazing time and loved every locale I hit. I'll write a more decompressed wrap up of the trip when I get the chance. Right now, I'm just focused on getting home to my wife.

Travelling Mercies: 2

If a mini tour is a pregnancy (which its not, don't kill me women, I just need a measurable time parallel), then my tryst through the Bay Area would've been the 2nd Trimester. Some kind of amazing, I'll tell you. I did almost as much spectating as I did featuring, but I had a great time. Features, I got to see: Buddy Wakefield in Oakland, Ainsley Burrows at the City Slam (for which I spotlit) and Chas Jackson at the Golden State Slam, all of which impressed, A LOT. In between, I also featured at San Jose for the wonderful Kat Dietrich and concluded my time there by featuring at Berkeley.

Yo...This shit was awesome.

So many of the Bay's finest we're in the house that night including a beat-boxing 9 year old that rocked the house before my teaser. As good as he was, he would not be the most impressive youngin I would see on this tour (in the business, we call that foreshadowing). The Berkeley Slam was hosted by Jamie DeWolf and my God, I never wanted to see a Tourettes show so badly. He was unreal, which you can imagine I'm sure. Funny, rude, engaging, just an unflinching energy that was awesome to see. My set went over extremely well. Even debuted a new piece about infidelity I was slightly nervous about. I definitely have to shout out the people I hung with most of the week: Ekabhumi, Kristina Robertson (who I saw every single show), Tatyana Brown, Jaime Britton & Stephen Meads (who probably did my favorite poem/performance of this tour so far). Thank you all for making me feel at home 2,000 plus miles away.

By Thursday, I was on my way to Arizona to do a few shoes and hang with my man, 50 Grand Ed Mabrey. Ed, did this up right, set up shows for me, treated me like a brother coming into town and we've had a great time thus far. On Thursday night, I got to be part of a benefit concert that included quite a few bands. Including my new favorite artists. I will now direct you to the Alex Aiono section of the blog.

Meet Alex Aiono



He's 13 years old. He's Samoan. He plays the ukulele. He's a good looking kid. He's all kinds of awesome.



Its not just the fact that he's an immensely talented pre-teenager, that sounds like a grown damn man and is charismatic as hell. He's super humble about it all. Which means he's just that good of a kid (shout out to his parents on that one) or he has no idea of the kind of attention/praise/love/female attention/accolades that will get thrown at him in the next 3-6 years. He's also got a great family as evidenced below



And for the John Legend fans, you'll appreciate this:



Ok, I'm done now.

So its Saturday and I'm headed to Tuscon tonight to do the Ocotillo Slam. Lindsey actually, extended their season and created this show since I was going to be in town...no pressure there. I guess I better not suck tonight. But I'm really looking forward to it. Sunday, I've doing an appearance at one more Open Mic, then headed home on Monday morning. Can't wait to see my wife. And I keep hearing about all this snow Bullshit happening back east. If my flights get fucked with even a little bit, its gonna be me, Mother Nature and a hate crime, trust me on that.