24-Hour Summer Slumber Fest ’08
The awesome-ness I experienced at my 24-Hour Solo Soltice Set last December really made me look at performance from many different perspectives. I have realized over the last several months that embarking on such a long event alone has made me feel a bit self-centered and vain. When I attempted to convince other less conceited poets to try their own, they just didn’t seem interested in such an individualistic endeavor. Granted, the lack of sleep aspect is also not as alluring to people far wiser than I. It occurred to me that putting on such a long event should require a more community-based reasoning.
Upon discussing this with David Perez, who was pivotal in getting the original 24-Hour set off the ground, we decided that a true open-mic was necessary. We are organizing our next event to be 24-hours of 15-minute slots for anyone who signs up. That’s pretty much 96 feature slots in one day. We could go 25-hours to make it 100 slots. I doubt we’d get 100 performers, but David and I, along with our crew, will stick around to host and fill gaps in the sign up.
So if you’re around Downtown San José on the August 29 and 30, please come by MACLA to watch it all take place, or to help us make it take place.
David has established a $5-$7 sliding scale, but no one will be turned away, thus making it a $0-$∞ sliding scale. Everyone who pays, may come and go. Donations could really be of anything useful…
Comment here or email David or I about ideas, volunteering, donations of any sort, or signing up. We will need blankets, sleeping bags and pillows like mad. I recommend people wear jammies and such. I wonder if we should establish an online sign-up list to have the night ready at the onset, or to have all the sign ups as-we-go. Maybe the first half of the night could be pre-signs, then the last half as-we-go… Feel free to comment your ideas and thoughts on this blog or on my Facebook page
(or future Facebook group).
If you know of anyone in the area who might find this interesting, please send them the following information, or help us promote this event via papers, media and the likes. This could be huge! Whoa, what if we extended it due to sheer awesomeness!
SUMMER SLUMBER FEST 08 – HOSTED BY MIKE MCGEE & DAVID PEREZ
Starts: Friday, August 29, 2008, 8:00pm
Ends: Saturday, August 30, 2008, 8:00pm to 9:00pm
$5-7 sliding scale
No one turned away for lack of funds
Fresh out of hibernation with a pots of coffee in one hand and a box of chap books in the other, Mike McGee and David Perez return to MACLA for another 24-hour set of poetry. This time, he opens the mic to a band of loyal poetry-and-music-loving vampires to form the one and only, “Summer Slumberfest ’08”. We’re packing in couches, pillows, blankets and whatever else is soft and fluffy to make a never-before-seen Thunderdome of Comfort. Barefoot Coffee Roasters provides the caffeine. So peel back those eyelids and help us rock the night away by reading your own poetry or just kicking back, cuddling up and watching the show.
For more information contact David @ david@maclaarte.org
Visit MACLAarte.org for information
–––––––––
Word to the nerd.
Originally published at MIKE McGEE TOWN DAILY. You can comment here or there.
This entry was written by , posted on 18 July, 2008 at 9:13 PM, filed under Personal Updates and tagged 24-hour, coffee, macla, Music, open mic, open mike, San-Jose-California, slumber party, spoken word. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.
24-Hour Summer Slumber Fest ’08
The awesome-ness I experienced at my 24-Hour Solo Soltice Set last December really made me look at performance from many different perspectives. I have realized over the last several months that embarking on such a long event alone has made me feel a bit self-centered and vain. When I attempted to convince other less conceited poets to try their own, they just didn’t seem interested in such an individualistic endeavor. Granted, the lack of sleep aspect is also not as alluring to people far wiser than I. It occurred to me that putting on such a long event should require a more community-based reasoning.
Upon discussing this with David Perez, who was pivotal in getting the original 24-Hour set off the ground, we decided that a true open-mic was necessary. We are organizing our next event to be 24-hours of 15-minute slots for anyone who signs up. That’s pretty much 96 feature slots in one day. We could go 25-hours to make it 100 slots. I doubt we’d get 100 performers, but David and I, along with our crew, will stick around to host and fill gaps in the sign up.
So if you’re around Downtown San José on the August 29 and 30, please come by MACLA to watch it all take place, or to help us make it take place.
David has established a $5-$7 sliding scale, but no one will be turned away, thus making it a $0-$∞ sliding scale. Everyone who pays, may come and go. Donations could really be of anything useful…
Comment here or email David or I about ideas, volunteering, donations of any sort, or signing up. We will need blankets, sleeping bags and pillows like mad. I recommend people wear jammies and such. I wonder if we should establish an online sign-up list to have the night ready at the onset, or to have all the sign ups as-we-go. Maybe the first half of the night could be pre-signs, then the last half as-we-go… Feel free to comment your ideas and thoughts on this blog or on my Facebook page (or future Facebook group).
If you know of anyone in the area who might find this interesting, please send them the following information, or help us promote this event via papers, media and the likes. This could be huge! Whoa, what if we extended it due to sheer awesomeness!
SUMMER SLUMBER FEST 08 – HOSTED BY MIKE MCGEE & DAVID PEREZ
Starts: Friday, August 29, 2008, 8:00pm
Ends: Saturday, August 30, 2008, 8:00pm to 9:00pm
$5-7 sliding scale
No one turned away for lack of funds
Fresh out of hibernation with a pots of coffee in one hand and a box of chap books in the other, Mike McGee and David Perez return to MACLA for another 24-hour set of poetry. This time, he opens the mic to a band of loyal poetry-and-music-loving vampires to form the one and only, “Summer Slumberfest ’08”. We’re packing in couches, pillows, blankets and whatever else is soft and fluffy to make a never-before-seen Thunderdome of Comfort. Barefoot Coffee Roasters provides the caffeine. So peel back those eyelids and help us rock the night away by reading your own poetry or just kicking back, cuddling up and watching the show.
For more information contact David @ david@maclaarte.org
Visit MACLAarte.org for information
–––––––––
Word to the nerd.
This entry was written by , posted on at 3:33 PM, filed under Personal Updates and tagged 24-hour, event, macla, Music, poetry, San-Jose-California, spoken word, summer slumber fest, word. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.
San Jose Poetry Slam Tonight
San José Poetry Slam at MACLA
Tonight, June 9, 2008
Doors/Sign up at 7:30pm
$6:00 cover
at MACLA
510 S. FIrst Street
Downtown San Jose 95113
between William and Reed
I will be hosting and the featured poets will be the San José Youth Slam Team.
Want to compete? Bring at least two poems, three of you’re a strategist.
There will be beer and wine available, but most importantly, an opportunity to get into a great poetry groove.
Add the slam on Chris Bundy’s SJ Slam Myspace profile: http://www.myspace.com/sanjoseslam
The San José Poetry Slam is held at MACLA every 2nd Monday of the month.
NEXT SJPS: July 14 & August 11, 2008
This entry was written by , posted on 9 June, 2008 at 3:48 PM, filed under Personal Updates and tagged downtown, macla, Performance Poetry and Spoken Word, San-Jose-California, spoken word, youth team. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.
San José Poetry Slam Returns
Re-posted from http://www.mikemcgee.net:
On Monday night, at MACLA in downtown San José, California, I hosted the return of the San José Poetry Slam. The co-slammasters at the helm are Kat Dietrich and Chris Bundy, who finally made the move to bring the slam to MACLA (with lots of pressure on my part) after a two-year run at Britannia Arms pub on Santa Clara Street.
The night couldn’t have been any better, with newer local favorite Chris Locksin running the door, Tristissima at the scorekeeper’s table, and about 50 people ready to slam or witness slam, Silicon Valley Style.
Students Liam and Lorian drove all the way down from Dominican University, which lies well north of San Francisco. Liam took loads of pictures throughout the night for a school project. Max Hare came down from Stanford University and made it all the way to the second round. Turns out there’s a hefty handful of Stanford kids who love performing and slamming, and with his skill on the mic, I imagine he one of their leaders.
The doors opened at 7:30pm and people began signing up right away. With MACLA being an all ages venue, it was heartwarming to see some of my youth poetry students finally get a chance to weigh their words on the same stage with older slam veterans such as Kim Johnson and Anis Mojgani, who performed a subtle, stellar feature between two marvelous rounds of poetry. There were poetry fans of all ages chanting and lauding his verses as he performed the first slam feature of the year – and of this new venue – in the welcoming, darkened, black box theater.
We had a more-than-full sign up list for Round 1, taking on 11 slammers, narrowing the field down to the top 5 for Round 2. It felt like old times for me in a room full of new faces, many of whom drove from Santa Cruz or the East Bay and San Francisco just to be there. So many in fact, that all five of the 2nd Rounders were from everywhere but San José.
Third place went to Dusty Rose of Berkeley.
Second Place went to Baraka Noel of Berkeley.
First place went to Kevin Holmes of UC-Santa Cruz.
Along with our standard cash prizes, I gave out a mini “We Own The Night” poster for third, and let Baraka and Kevin duke it out over a mini “Superbad” poster and my Young MC tape. The tape ended up making a new home in Berkeley.
At the end of the night, as people helped stack chairs and mingle, Chris Bundy and I celebrated the success of the show. It truly felt like a re-birth. MACLA has been a haven for some of our slam finals and Battles of the Bay, but now it is definitely our home to stay. We were so happy last night.
In 1998, I began performing shortly before the very first San José Poetry Slam, just two blocks away from MACLA, in what used to be Café Babylon. That was in the fall. Ten years, five slammasters, and four venues later, we’re back on the street we started – First Street. Kind of poetic, really. The venue is perfect for us, and vice versa.
So we’ll be running every 2nd Monday of the month at MACLA. I intend to host through June, and hopefully onward from there. The next SJPS is March 10, 2008. It six bucks at the door. Sign up is at 7:30pm, show at 8:00pm. Come have a great time with us.
–––––––––
Word to the nerd.
2008: Doing it!
This entry was written by , posted on 13 February, 2008 at 3:35 PM, filed under Personal Updates and tagged dominican university, downtown, macla, Performance Poetry and Spoken Word, poem, San-Jose-California, santa cruz, slamming. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.
Upcoming 24-Hour Reading!
Reposted from http://mikemcgee.livejournal.com:
Hey, all.
As some of you may know, I will be reading poetry for 24-hours this weekend at MACLA in downtown San José.
Get all your info at MACLA’s site: http://www.maclaarte.org/
As I get closer to the event, the more I realize how prepared and unprepared I am in certain aspects of this performance. I am none too worried, as it is an experiment, and the main goal is to put focus on poetry and spoken word for an entire 24-hour period. I am especially pleased to be doing this in San Jose
*The coffee will be supplied by Barefoot Coffee Roasters of Santa Clara. Yay!
*Many people have opted to attend the whole show with me, which I encourage. The more the merrier. I recommend that you bring pillows, sleeping bags, blankets, snacks and such. Like a sleepover, only weirder.
*I will not turn anyone away if they cannot pay the cover. The costs are merely a recommended donation, really.
*Those of you with children, I am scheduling a foul-free children’s stories reading around noon on Sunday, for two hours. That’s definite.
*The schedule program will be posted here within a couple of days.
*You too can hold your own 24-hour reading in your very own town on April 5-6, 2008! Take the Scott Woods’ Challenge! Click here for more info.
Big thanks to 
scottwoods for the inspiration to do this, and the help and info he’s given me.
I am in the process of scheduling the whole series and have concluded that it would be easier to have large sections of relatively random readings during the late night hours. Nothing will be set in stone for that time, just me, armed with loads of poetry.
I have well over 300+ chapbooks, but I’d love to have more to read.
tabor36, I am most certainly reading the retail poem of yours you gave me years ago. I still love it.
So if you have a poem you think I should read, please feel free to email it to me, text only, no attachments to mightymikemcgee at gmail
Don’t be afraid! I will probably read it.
Emails should include:
Subject: My Poem For McGee’s Show
Name of author
Year written
Background of poem (optional)
Title of poem
Poem
If you know of a poem by a poet I may not know of, please send them my way as well. Let them know you did so if they are within contact. Please be sure to send the name of the author and any pertinent info you deem necessary.
Please have your poems in my inbox by 7:00pm on Saturday, although, in theory, if I am able to check my email during the show, I will probably read anything that comes in during the set. Not guaranteed though.
I will not answer my phone during the show, but I may read text messages to the audience.
I am stoked!
–––––––––
Word to the nerd.
2007: Go for it!
This entry was written by , posted on 19 December, 2007 at 10:10 PM, filed under Personal Updates and tagged barefoot coffee roasters, downtown, macla, performance, San-Jose-California, spoken word. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.
Upcoming 24-Hour Reading!
Reposted from http://mikemcgee.livejournal.com:
Hey, all.
As some of you may know, I will be reading poetry for 24-hours this weekend at MACLA in downtown San José.
Get all your info at MACLA’s site: http://www.maclaarte.org/
As I get closer to the event, the more I realize how prepared and unprepared I am in certain aspects of this performance. I am none too worried, as it is an experiment, and the main goal is to put focus on poetry and spoken word for an entire 24-hour period. I am especially pleased to be doing this in San Jose
*The coffee will be supplied by Barefoot Coffee Roasters of Santa Clara. Yay!
*Many people have opted to attend the whole show with me, which I encourage. The more the merrier. I recommend that you bring pillows, sleeping bags, blankets, snacks and such. Like a sleepover, only weirder.
*I will not turn anyone away if they cannot pay the cover. The costs are merely a recommended donation, really.
*Those of you with children, I am scheduling a foul-free children’s stories reading around noon on Sunday, for two hours. That’s definite.
*The schedule program will be posted here within a couple of days.
*You too can hold your own 24-hour reading in your very own town on April 5-6, 2008! Take the Scott Woods’ Challenge! Click here for more info.
Big thanks to scottwoods for the inspiration to do this, and the help and info he’s given me.
I am in the process of scheduling the whole series and have concluded that it would be easier to have large sections of relatively random readings during the late night hours. Nothing will be set in stone for that time, just me, armed with loads of poetry.
I have well over 300+ chapbooks, but I’d love to have more to read.
tabor36, I am most certainly reading the retail poem of yours you gave me years ago. I still love it.
So if you have a poem you think I should read, please feel free to email it to me, text only, no attachments to mightymikemcgee at gmail
Don’t be afraid! I will probably read it.
Emails should include:
Subject: My Poem For McGee’s Show
Name of author
Year written
Background of poem (optional)
Title of poem
Poem
If you know of a poem by a poet I may not know of, please send them my way as well. Let them know you did so if they are within contact. Please be sure to send the name of the author and any pertinent info you deem necessary.
Please have your poems in my inbox by 7:00pm on Saturday, although, in theory, if I am able to check my email during the show, I will probably read anything that comes in during the set. Not guaranteed though.
I will not answer my phone during the show, but I may read text messages to the audience.
I am stoked!
–––––––––
Word to the nerd.
2007: Go for it!
Originally published at MIKE McGEE TOWN DAILY. You can comment here or there.
This entry was written by , posted on at 10:10 PM, filed under Personal Updates and tagged downtown, macla, performance, personal updates, San-Jose-California, spoken word. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.
A Request For You Poets Out There
Hey, all.
As some of you may know, I will be reading poetry for 24-hours this weekend at MACLA in downtown San José.
Get all your info at MACLA’s site: http://www.maclaarte.org/
As I get closer to the event, the more I realize how prepared and unprepared I am in certain aspects of this performance. I am none too worried, as it is an experiment, and the main goal is to put focus on poetry and spoken word for an entire 24-hour period. I am especially pleased to be doing this in San Jose
*The coffee will be supplied by Barefoot Coffee Roasters of Santa Clara. Yay!
*Many people have opted to attend the whole show with me, which I encourage. The more the merrier. I recommend that you bring pillows, sleeping bags, blankets, snacks and such. Like a sleepover, only weirder.
*I will not turn anyone away if they cannot pay the cover. The costs are merely a recommended donation, really.
*Those of you with children, I am scheduling a foul-free children’s stories reading around noon on Sunday, for two hours. That’s definite.
*The schedule program will be posted here within a couple of days.
*You too can hold your own 24-hour reading in your very own town on April 5-6, 2008! Take the Scott Woods’ Challenge! Click here for more info.
Big thanks to
for the inspiration to do this, and the help and info he’s given me.
I am in the process of scheduling the whole series and have concluded that it would be easier to have large sections of relatively random readings during the late night hours. Nothing will be set in stone for that time, just me, armed with loads of poetry.
I have well over 300+ chapbooks, but I’d love to have more to read.
tabor36, I am most certainly reading the retail poem of yours you gave me years ago. I still love it.
So if you have a poem you think I should read, please feel free to email it to me, text only, no attachments to mightymikemcgee at gmail
Don’t be afraid! I will probably read it.
Emails should include:
Subject: My Poem For McGee’s Show
Name of author
Year written
Background of poem (optional)
Title of poem
Poem
If you know of a poem by a poet I may not know of, please send them my way as well. Let them know you did so if they are within contact. Please be sure to send the name of the author and any pertinent info you deem necessary.
Please have your poems in my inbox by 7:00pm on Saturday, although, in theory, if I am able to check my email during the show, I will probably read anything that comes in during the set. Not guaranteed though.
I will not answer my phone during the show, but I may read text messages to the audience.
I am stoked!
–––––––––
Word to the nerd.
2007: Go for it!
This entry was written by , posted on at 2:31 PM, filed under Personal Updates and tagged calfornia, macla, San-Jose-California, spoken word. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.
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