Write Bloody Book Tour, 2010

I’m excited to announce the preliminary dates for my 2010 Book Release Tour. My new book of poems, “Ceremony for the Choking Ghost” comes out on Write Bloody Press on February 14, 2010. Here are my preliminary dates but I’m still booking!

Poets, Slammasters, this is the first time I’ve booked my own tour and I could really use your help. If you know of a show I should try and add to this line-up, I would love to hear about it. Thank you in advance!

Write Bloody Book Tour, 2010

February 14, Portland Poetry Slam

March 3, Seattle Poetry Slam

March 18, SEATTLE BOOK RELEASE PARTY, Richard Hugo House

March 22, Poetry Night, Bellingham, WA

March 31, Berzerkeley Poetry Slam, CA

April 6, Wordplay, Chicago, IL

April 7, The Encyclopedia Show, Chicago, IL

April 9, Workshop with Vox Ferus, Chicago, IL

April 11, The Green Mill, Chicago, IL

April 14, Cantab Lounge, Boston, MA

April 15, Providence Poetry Slam, RI

April 19, Louder Arts at Bar 13, NYC

April 20, Urbana, Bowery Poetry Club, NYC

April 22, Loser Slam, New Jersey

April 23, Nuyorican Poets Cafe, NYC

April, Austin Slam Off (date unconfirmed)

October, Honolulu (date unconfirmed)

Vancouver Youth Slam & C.R. Avery’s new album

In late October, I went up to Vancouver, BC to feature at VanSlam’s Youth Slam. The crowd was incredible, packing out Cafe Deux Soleils, and showing lots of enthusiastic love throughout my set. I sold out of books. It was a great night!

The crowd at Cafe Deux Soleils

Our host was the hilarious R.C. Weslowski. R.C. is one of the funniest poets in the slam scene and also a fantastic host. It’s not surprising that Vancouver has such a consistently well-attended slam.

R.C. Weslowski

In Vancouver I stayed with my good friend and former touring partner, C.R. Avery. (Please check out his website. It is gorgeous!) C.R. has always been one of my favorite poet/musicians and he continues to improve at breakneck pace. I met C.R. early in my spoken word exploration and, in some ways, I feel like I’ve grown up with him as an artist. In 2002, I went on tour as part of C.R.’s hip hop opera, “Shotgun Wedding.”

Here’s video of one of my favorite C.R. pieces, “Birdcage.”

During my visit, C.R., his clothing-designer girlfriend Toni and I had a little breakfast jam session to share new work. I walked away with C.R.’s new album, “The Great Canadian Novel.” Each track on the album has a chapter title, and the album follows the story telling logic of a Haruki Murakami book. It is interesting that C.R. went on tour opening for Billy Bragg, because in some ways the album reminded me of my favorite Billy Bragg & Wilco album, “Mermaid Avenue.”

The songs on the album toggle from roots to blues to spoken word to rock ‘n roll to string arrangements. It’s like being in the middle an elevator full of musicians from different genres and they are all pushing you around. My favorite tracks are “chapter twelve, pierre elliott trudeau” and “chapter thirteen, channeling frustrated energy.” The production values on this album are high and show C.R.’s continuing development as an artist moving successfully in ten directions at once. The tracks are filled with the usual raw power that spills over C.R.’s artistic cup.

C.R. is planning his slow takeover of America by winning a fan base out of regular, monthly shows. He’s waiting on a work visa and then he intends to start up monthly sets in Seattle featuring Canadian and US musicians and poets. Plan now to be a regular.

Cooper School/Youngstown Open House Dec 5 & 6

The Cooper School Historic Artist Housing (located at Youngstown Cultural Arts Center in West Seattle) is having our annual Open House on Dec. 5 & 6. I plan to perform on Dec. 5 in the theatre around 9pm. It’s a great chance to see open studios at Youngstown and meet the artists who live and work there.

“Crystal Radio”

What a great and unexpected week for my poem “Crystal Radio.” “Crystal Radio” (which I sometimes just call “the light bulb poem”) is a spoken word piece I wrote about two years ago and have performed only a few times in front of an audience. I started to fear that the piece was too obscure and the narrative convoluted. So, I just sort of stopped doing it. Then, just this week, two wonderful things happened.

First, a Seattle-based artist named Jenn Eakin sent me a link to two visual art pieces she created that were inspired by my poem. I’m in love with them, especially the second one called, “is your heart then a nuclear reactor?” Check them out at Jenn’s blog here:

http://boxtwenty.tumblr.com

Then, I found the link to a blog created by Chicago-based designer and writer, John Paul Davis (a Writer-in-Residence with Vox Ferus) who wrote such a good post about the poem that I understand the poem better myself! This post might be better crafted than the poem. A great compliment. The post is called, “Implication as a Poetic Device.”

 

http://www.johnpauldavis.org

There is no better compliment I can think of than finding the work of these two artists and knowing I had a role in providing some inspiration. A great week to be a (poor and struggling) writer!

Video of “Crystal Radio” recorded at Portland’s WordStock in 2008:

KUOW, “The Poetics of Great Lyrics”

Today at 1:20 on on Seattle station, KUOW, I’ll be talking about “The Poetics of Great Lyrics,” with Jeremy Richards. The interview is also available on the KUOW website here.

Jeremy asked me to select three songs that had lyrics we could talk about as poetry. I chose Neil Young, “Helpless,” The Cure, “Just like Heaven” and Beth Orton, “The Sweetest Decline.” Listen to the interview and hear me overuse the word “evocative.”  (The microphones in the studio are the size of prize winning cucumbers which can be unnerving.) Also, listen for the moment when I  refer to song lyrics as a “gateway drug to poetry.”

Things that didn’t make it on the air: 1.) I included “Helpless” on a break-up mix tape (remember those?) I made for my first boyfriend our senior year of high school. 2.) I heard “Just like Heaven” for the first time when my unbearable high school crush (hint: he was a drummer in the marching band and in Frederick’s only alternative band) gave me a ride home from a football game. Can you imagine hearing that song for the first time that way? Ah, youth.

Richard Hugo House Writing Residency: Come Vist!

I’m finishing up my first month as one of the new Writers-in-Residence at Seattle’s Richard Hugo House. My residency lasts all year, with an option to continue for another. The most important aspect of the residencies is the Office Hours, which provide anyone the chance to come meet with a writer-in-residence and talk about all things writing, performance, publishing and the creative lifestyle.

Located on 11th in Capitol Hill

Richard Hugo House is a 16,206-square-foot Victorian house that dates to 1902. What’s so awesome about Hugo House (in descending # of exclamation points):

• The SECOND LARGEST literary arts center in the country!!!!
• Housing the largest (that we know of) ZINE LIBRARY in the world!!!
• Featuring a Theatre and a Cabaret performance space & little cafe!!
• Offering ongoing classes for adults and youth with renowned writers!

If all that wasn’t enough, RHH supports two local writers through residencies in the house. Fiction writer Ryan Budinot, author of The Littlest Hitler (Counterpoint, 2006) is sharing the little WIR office with me located on the second floor off the kitchen.

The door to our humble office

Here’s how it works. ANYONE (member or not) can make an appointment to meet with one of Hugo House’s Writers-in-Residence for FREE. Generally, these meetings are for 1 hour at the house at a mutually agreed upon time.  We usually meet up to 3 times with one person, just to spread around our availability.

So far, I’ve worked with folks on both writing and performance. These can be accomplished or beginning writers, adult or youth writers, and folks who just want to practice giving readings.

Since my RHH email seems to be gliching, feel free to email me at karenfinneyfrock@hotmail.com to set up an appointment.

Also, for youth poets (high school age), I’m facilitating a weekly writing circle called The Write Time.

Our meeting space for The Write Time

The Write Time meets every Wednesday from 6p-7p. We start by looking at a poem(s) by a poet, discuss, free write and then read around the table. It has been incredibly successful so far and an amazing community is forming. This is FREE and DROP-IN, but again this is only for TEENS. Make it your regular, weekly creative space.

So, make use of the outstanding resource that is Richard Hugo House. Make an appointment, come to a reading, take a class, visit the Zine Library! Come join us in the house and we will all sit by the windows together and wait out the rain.

individual World Poetry Slam (iWPS) 09

The Individual World Poetry Slam has wrapped. It was a wild ride, full of ups, downs and outs. Here is my top ten list. Hope you enjoy.

1. Megan Thoma. If this sassy east coast minx wasn’t busy organizing a party in her hotel room, she was planting a life sized devil baby in the hall and knocking on random poet’s doors before hiding. I’m still mad I didn’t get to see Megan perform, but I did get this photo of her.

Whaaaaa?

2. The Starry Plough. Any poets who have visited the Berkeley Poetry Slam before know their home venue on Shattuck, the Starry Plough. Registration, day events and late night events were there and walking in felt a little like coming home. Also, it was a straight shot walking from the hotel or one stop away on the BART. No thinking involved!

3. Bay Area Poets are SO NICE!!! Seriously. The poets in the bay were cheering for everybody from everywhere and the hospitality was beyond. Special love to Nazelah Jeffries and Dahled Jeffries for working their Oakland tails off to make us happy. More thanks to Charles Ekabhumi Ellik, our host city host. You guys are in my heart forever!

Three bay area poets and one mysterious stranger. Who is that poet in the hat?

4. Team Tourette’s during the New Word Series. (Yes, sorry that’s their real name.) Every poem was so astounding and daring and boundary breaking that it reminded me why I love slam.

5. Finally meeting Rob Sturma, another Write Bloody author whose book is coming out this year. Four of the Write Bloody Class of 09 were at iWPS: Rob, Siera DeMulder (who made finals stage), Jeanann Verlee and me!

Write Bloodier

6. Alvin Lau. Alvin Lau doesn’t want you to know that his heart is filled with marbles and super bouncing balls. If you poke him right, everything comes spilling out and some things break. Alvin was great to me and Tara all week and I relished seeing him take the paper out of his pocket on finals stage and read something vulnerable and lovely. I only kept one of the marbles.

7. Seeing Tara on FINALS STAGE! It’s not a carefully guarded secret that Tara Hardy and I choose outfits which disguise the fact that we are conjoined twins. Whenever Tara gets off stage, I have the urge to jump up and yell, “Do you see? Do you SEE?” The thing is, they always do. Tara was luminous and brave and generous at iWPS and she brought home a well earned 7th place.

Nice pose ladies!

8. Seeing Sean Conlon and April Ranger read gloriously in my second bout. These two poets are growing at such a rapid rate, it is terrifying. They are both bringing work that has an original point of view and unique sound that still manages to win consistently. Continuing the love affair between Seattle and Boston…

I know, right?

9. Ninja.

10. Bed Ninja.

11. Chris August to Karen Finneyfrock, “It was a pleasure plummeting from the top of the rankings with you last night.” Chris and I were both in the top 10 after the first night of bouts. The second night…not so much. In the end, I took 18th place and was thrilled to read my brand new poem on Finals Stage. It’s called, “What Lot’s Wife Would Have Said, If She Wasn’t a Pillar of Salt.”

Baltimore's Chris August

12. Brickman killed her second bout at her first iWPS. Proud.

Never make Daemond look at you like this!

12. Damien Flores 1 minute poem. Where can I get a copy of this stunning piece of work? Also, a poet I’ve never seen before named Jessica Lopez killed me with every piece I saw her perform.

14. If you’ve never been to one of these big slam events, you should know that people literally danced in the aisles when Amy Everhart of Denver won the title of Individual World Poetry Slam Champion. The energy was electric and if I wasn’t sitting in the middle of a row, I might have danced too. This was the only video I could find of Amy on the web and the quality isn’t great. But, I’m sure her online presence is about to have a make over.

15. Brian Ellis. One of these days we’re going back to San Francisco and we’re going to go take that picture in that park and it’s going to be perfect.

Perfect.

Buddy Wakefield on Righteous Babe Records!

I’ve been working on an idea for a new series of Blog Posts called “My Talented Friends,” in which I spotlight the work (artistic or otherwise) of someone I love.

First up…BUDDY WAKEFIELD!

Photo by Inti St. Clair, Photoshop by Jason Byron Nelson

I met Buddy when I moved to Seattle 10 years ago and went to my first Seattle Poetry Slam. I had already been on the DC Slam Team before moving here, and I remember talking to the DC Slammaster on the phone about my new scene.

Nikki Miller: “So, who’s hot in Seattle?”

me: “BUDDY WAKEFIELD is hot in Seattle.”

Nikki: “Oh, I’ve never heard of him.”

Ten years later, I doubt there is a performance poet in the country who hasn’t heard of Buddy Wakefield. Most can quote you several of Buddy’s lines if not entire poems. Since 2000, Buddy has won the Individual World Poetry Slam (!) TWICE (!!), defended the title at the International Poetry Slam in Rotterdam, toured all over the world as a spoken word artist AND opened on tour for both Ani DiFranco and Sage Francis.

Photo by Inti St. Clair, Photoshop by Jason Byron Nelson

I really can’t say enough about how much I admire Buddy’s work. He proves himself again and again to be one of the freshest writers in the country while fully owning the stage in performance. You can hear echos of Buddy’s unique sound at every slam venue in the country. His footprint on the sound of spoken word poetry is so big, most people don’t know they are hearing it.

These days, Buddy tours with the Revival (this year’s is called “Elephant Engine High Dive Revival Tour“) along with Derrick Brown and Anis Mojgani. This year, the tour has added a fourth member, the insanely talented Shira Erlichman. Watch for the Elephant Engine tour to touch down in Seattle on November 21, location TBD. More tour dates available here.

Photo by Inti St. Clair, Photoshop by Jason Byron Nelson

But, here is the SUPER BIG NEWS about My Talented Friend Buddy. Buddy’s first live spoken word album,  LIVE AT THE TYPER CANNON GRAND is being put out by Ani DiFranco’s own independent label Righteous Babe Records! The word on the street is that this album is a definitive spoken word collection that will probably help characterize the movement that is performance poetry.

The official release date for the CD is October 13…BUT the CD will be available on the Revival Tour AND if you order the CD through Buddy’s website, you can probably get your hands on one before the release date.

Also, you should click on Buddy’s home page just to see an insanely cool website. And, if you’ve never heard Buddy Wakefield before, take a look at this performance of his poem “Jean Heath.”

I truly believe that Buddy Wakefield is one of the most exciting writers and performers out there today. Drop everything to attend the Elephant Engine High Dive Revival Tour on Nov. 21 and see for yourself.

Seattle Magazine

If you pick up a current issue of Seattle Magazine and open to page 72, you will see this picture of me smirking a little in cowboy boots. It is a great article. Among other things, Brangien Davis said that I give off a “punk-rock librarian vibe.” Read the full text here.

I’m really thankful to Brangien Davis and Seattle Magazine for this article. For a young artist getting started, coverage like this is invaluable.

Berzerkeley Poetry Slam

Taking a little break during my CA writing retreat, I took Wednesday night off to attend the Berzerkeley Poetry Slam held at the Starry Plough in Berkeley. It’s one of the longer running slams in the country, getting ready to celebrate its 10th Anniversary.

I had some drama getting to the venue. I accidentally took the Pittsburg Train from Oakland instead of the Richmond Train. From my home state of Maryland, that would be like going North to Pennsylvania when you meant to go south to Virgina. I added at least 30 min to my BART trip. Luckily, waiting to rescue me at the BART station was ‘09 Berkeley Slam Team member Danny Scuderi.

Danny Scuderi is a charming tour guide

Danny and I both signed up to slam that night, but with 30 poets wanting to compete and 12 slots, our numbers did not come up. However, thanks to the hospitality of Berkeley Slammaster Charles Ekabhumi and our awesome host Dre, Danny and I were both asked to sacrifice for the slam.

Charles Ekabhumi and Dre ran the show

If you don’t eat and breathe poetry slam, then you might not know that a sacrificial poet is a test run poet for the slam. They warm up the audience and the judges but they aren’t actually in the competition.

The room was packed with poets! So many poets from current and past Bay Area teams were in the house that I could spend my whole blog name dropping. Among others, the crowd included: Hillary Thomas (who LIVES in the bay now), Jaylee Alde, Mona Webb, Lucky Sevan, Jason Bayani (on a break from getting his MFA), all members of the SF Slam Team and most members of the Berkeley Slam Team. Lastly, there was SEATTLE’S OWN Denise Jolly! I am happy to report that the bay area loves Denise almost as much as Seattle does.

She confirmed that she misses Seattle!

The night was charged. I was the first sacrificial which meant that I would be the first poet of the night to read. I got pretty nervous about reading in a strange venue and going first and then I had some mike issues on stage. Overall, I wasn’t that happy with my performance of The Newer Colossus, but it was nice to get the chance to read.

The first round featured 12 poets. There were some outstanding pieces, but I have to give special attention to Jen Genius, whose poem “Monsters and the Women who Love Them,” starts this way:

Ted Bundy received love letters on death row, most of them sealed in lipstick. The front rows of his trials were packed with young women screaming for him like Elvis Presley’s hips swayed in his murdering fingers.

Another stand out for me is Stephen Meads, a clean writer whose use of humor is superb. I enjoy hearing him every time I get the chance.

After round one, we heard two features from an organization called CalSlam, Abe Becker and Hadas Goshen. Abe was on the Berkeley Slam Team this year at nationals and it was a true pleasure to hear more of his work. His performance style swings from awkward to intimate in a head spinning display. He had a love poem that broke some hearts (mine included.) His final piece was a duet with Jason Bayani that brought the house down! Hadas is a young poet who has only been writing a year, which is jaw dropping. She had some really nice lines last night and I enjoyed a poem she did about her grandmother in the first half.

Hadas Goshen and Abe Becker

Two members of the Berkeley Slam Team, Danny Scuderi and Lee Knight, Jr. warmed up the second half of the show with a duet about Oakland. I looked everywhere online for a video of this piece and couldn’t find one.  Instead, check out the duet Berkeley did on finals stage (feat. Danny Scuderi and John Mark.)

Six poets advanced to round 2 including:

Matt Blesse

Stephen Meads

Kevin Holmes,

Mumbles (Baraka Noel)

Patrick (whose last name I did not get)

and

Karen Finneyfrock

What? How did a sacrifical poet make Round 2!? Berkeley Slam includes an Audience Choice prize for best written poem in round one of their slam. So, although I was the sacrificial poet, audience vote brought me back for round 2 of the slam. In round 2, I got to read last (oddly making me the poet to open and close the night.) I did my poem “Rube Goldberg Machine” and did well enough to tie for 1st place with Matt Blesse! Check out one of Matt’s poems here. Had I read the rules, I would have known that Berkeley breaks ties with Sudden Death Haiku Battle. The haiku is pre-written (in Seattle we make poets improv Haiku.) Lucky for me, I had a few haiku in my pocket.

I went first with this haiku:

Crystal Meth Haiku

First, your teeth fall out

Then your life withdraws from you

like a train you missed

Matt Blesse went second with this haiku:

I can’t be hip hop

because I act too ASIAN?

please, talk to wu tang

Matt and I were then made to stand shoulder to shoulder on stage with our heads bowed while audience applause determined the winner. After a few minutes of love from the crowd, Matt took home a well-deserved 1st place prize.

me and Matt Blesse

The whole Bay Area slam scene was so welcoming to me that night! I love the poets down here and their big hearts.The whole scene is gearing up to host the Individual World Poetry Slam competition here in October. Here are a few teasers direct from Festival Director Charles Ekabhumi:

• Nazila Jamison is in charge of hospitality!
• Charles is a master of promotion, getting 150 to his regular shows. He’s been hard at work ensuring our audiences.
  
• Charles believes a good party is critical to a good iWPS

Poets hanging out after the show