Mike McGee’s Kitchen Sessions

HOUSEMATE
I brought in a roommate to my house back in April. It made sense: I have two bedrooms, rent is cheap, and even cheaper with a second person added to the mix. I had my “hermit time” this winter. I got to live alone for four months. I liked it, but since I travel so much, it finally made sense to keep the place in use whenever I was on the road. It is in good use now. Her name is Melinda and she is one helluva new poet as well. She’s my homie and her being vegan is helping me eat less crap. Sort of. I would have a very hard time practicing veganism, but I can appreciate the values of it. I have always felt pescetarian in my own right, prefering seafood to red meat any day. I made vegan shepherd’s pie the other night and it ruled our faces.

KITCHEN SESSIONS
Being a lover of intimate poetry readings, I have wanted to hold something awesome in my house. I have always felt that some of the best audiences are small, familiar crowds–ones that get to sit very close, where no microphone is needed. I have performed spontaneously in hundreds of homes and apartments, but I have always wanted to host a regular night in my residence. When I brought this up to Melinda (who I am prone to call Minja), she was excited and all for it. When I head out on tour, she may run them.

Kitchen Sessions may become a monthly event. The format can be played with, but the crux of it will be focused on the invited, and likely, traveling feature. Someone not from Worcester. Since March, I have wanted Simone Beaubien to take on the first Kitchen Session. She is not only the super-organized slammaster for the Boston Cantab, but probably one of its best, and most under-appreciated poets. She really is a well-respected sweet nugget.

Since there are so many weekly events in Worcester, I couldn’t decide what night to hold KS regularly. Melinda hoped I would hold it on her nights off, Fridays or Sundays. Friday is always a weird day to hold poetry events, and Sundays are Poets’ Asylum, Worcester’s original open mic and slam. I asked Simone, and she was available on July 26. During our conversation, we realized that Poets’ Asylum usually ends around 9:00pm, giving ample time to hold another event right after. With PA’s venue being a “family cafe” there are limits on language, holding a KS right after PA will allow people to get their fill of fuck.

The first Kitchen Session will be hosted by Melinda and I at our house on Sunday, July 26, 2009 from approximately 9:30pm to 11:00pm.

We will invite three to four local poets to open the night with two new poems each (mandatorially new work!), then pass the kitchen over to Simone for the remaining time. This should give the featured poet up to an hour to bring out obscure works and really talk to the room.

I will make every attempt to webcast it on BlogTV or some equivalent streaming site. DJ Muse has offered to attempt a recording of the audio as well. This will take some work, but I am graciously accepting that offer.

There is no reason people cannot hold their own poetry house event. This is probably happening around the world, I just want to bring my kitchen to as many people as possible.

Considering the amount of venues that do AND could hold poetry events, versus the amount of HOMES that do AND could host poetry events, I believe homes win that battle. Imagine the beautiful intimacy of a poet spilling their guts, mingling with friends, then sleeping on the couch in the next room (if needed.)

If I ask everyone to bring a snack to share, a beverage to share, and $3 to $5 for the feature, then everyone’s full and the feature makes some cash.

My place ain’t huge, which is why I want to do this event. People will be free to move about the kitchen, and they should be able to hear the poet from the front porch to the livingroom without a microphone.

I won’t always be around to host these, which is why they’ll be monthly events at most, and probably never landing on the same day each month, but it feels good to have an event locked down and to debut it with such a strong feature. The scheduling will be a bit irregular, but when have I had a regular schedule since 2003?

Since my homie David Perez, one of my best friends (Team San Jo, what!?!), is dropping in for a visit after NPS in August, as is Lara Bozabailian from Toronto, I think Melinda and I have August locked up for Kitchen Session features. David and Lara don’t know this yet. I should tell them. Same with hosting Jack McCarthy in the fall. Oh, Jack, I love you so much…

With so many poets in my neighborhood, the local pool is so fantastic. There should be some wonderful things going on in my kitchen each month.

If you are sure to attend on July 26, please RSVP ASAP ROFLMAO CBS ABC JK TCB:
ILIKEMIKE at Google’s mail service, or send me a private Facebook message. Or talk to me tonight at Poets’ Asylum.
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Word to the nerd.

This entry was written by Mike McGee, posted on 12 July, 2009 at 6:26 AM, filed under Writing and tagged gathering, intimate, july, kitchen-sessions, performance, poetry, snacks, spoken word, webcast. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.