Mike McGee’s Podcast: Episode 9

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Internet in Groton, Connecticut=Plentiful and Free!
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Mike McGee’s Podcast: Episode 9
Third Week of February
Episode 9 Show Notes (RT-30:00)

Opening Show Theme: Bryce Dumont’s “Raincoat” (http://www.myspace.com/brycedumontetal)

Track 1: Alex Charalambides’ “New Car” (http://www.cdbaby/cd/charalambides)

Music Bed: Anis Mojgani’s “Diamond Sponge” (http://www.myspace.com/mojgani)

Track 2: Joshua Walters’ “Detach the Scrotum” (http://www.myspace.com/thejoshuawalters)

Slam Idol Promo (http://slamidol.tripod.com)

Track 3: Rah Rah’s “Cuba vs. Peru” (http://www.myspace.com/rahrah)

Everyday Muse Promo (http://www.prosodyetc.com)

Closing Show Theme by Jimmy Newell (http://www.myspace.com/thejimmy)

All tracks, songs, poems and music used with express permission from original artist/composer.

OTHER LINKS: Derrick C. Brown-(http://www.brownpoetry.com)
Robbie Q-(http://www.robbieq.com)
Mudu Multimedia-(http://www.mudumultimedia.com)
All Black Cinema-(http://www.myspace.com/AllBlackCinema)

Come see Mike, along with Buddy Wakefield, Derrick Brown, Dan Leamen, and Anis Mojgani
in their national tour—–> Solomon’s Sparrow’s Electric Whale Revival: (http://www.myspace.com/whalerevival)

Shownotes and Information: http://www.mikemcgee.net/podcast or http://mikemcgee.libsyn.com

Mike McGee is a member of the Association of Poetry Podcasting at http://www.poetrypodcasting.org This podcast is produced on an Apple MacBook by Mike McGee, and is hosted at http://www.libsyn.com

Contact Mike at mightymikemcgee at gmail about submitting independent poetry and music.

Copyright 2007 MikeMcGee.net
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Word to the nerd.
2007: Go for it!

This entry was written by Mike McGee, posted on 21 February, 2007 at 4:46 PM, filed under Personal Updates and tagged acerbic, airlines, all black cinema, anis mojgani, bad mood, buddy wakefield, colleges, delayed flights, denver poetry slam, derrick brown, great dane, mudu multimedia, naca, nashville, national association for campus activiti, national poetry slam, opryland hotel, rah rah, spicy, touring, Travel, universities, winter's effects. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.

Question From A Friend

My friend, Wes (

weslink

), a young slammer from San Jose recently asked me this question as a comment on my last blog entry. I’m pretty sure he is 18 and surely out of high school because I missed his graduation last June.

It occurred to me that some of you may have words of wisdom to add as well. Here is his question and my response below it.

Wes, be sure to thank the nice people for their time.

WES: Curious, how early should a poet trying to schedule their first tour start contacting slams?

McGEE: Well, Wes, I think age has very little to do with touring. It sounds like you have the bug to get out there and see the road. It’s a neat road.

I would say it’s definitely best to wait until one is 18 to tour, this way you avoid any legal troubles a minor might encounter in strange places. I know some teens that have toured, but they were with an adult or very irresponsible. It might benefit you to wait until you’re 21 as well, since a good portion of you first gigs will be in bars and some venues won’t have you in that case.

As for when you should tour as an adult, I would gauge it with experience. If you’ve ever been on a slam team, had work published, made lots of contacts in a regional or national poetry scene, and/or acquired a title or two in a regional/national/international competition, then you’re probably ready on an aesthetic level. Most of your first gigs will be at slams, and in order for a slammaster to want to book you, they usually want to know who you are first, and that is usually through hearing about you from other poets/slammers and not by you in the form of an introdctory email. Although, when sending that initial email, be kind, ask questions about their show, and don’t brag. Bragging to a slammaster/organizer about tiny, local accomplishments might get you deleted.

The more you perform and make contacts in your region, the more you will be mentioned by poets/slammasters to others in regionsnorth  outside of your own. Especially if you do well. It ain’t pretty, and it ain’t even an honest system, but it’s a system and it is widely used in North American slam and open mics.

If you enjoy slamming, go out for a team. If you enjoy writing, get something published in a paper, magazine, zine or periodical. The more you get published, the more people may want to publish you. If you’re a good writer, age should carry no weight.

By winning a slot on a slam team, you afford yourself an opportunity to go to the National Poetry Slam where not only will you perform in front of other poets and slammasters from different regions, but you can also use that opportunity to introduce yourself to most of the regular National slam community. There you can learn more about other scenes and trade contact information with slammasters and poets.

Give it time. If you rush into touring, you could plan it poorly and hurt yourself and your enjoyment of poetry. A bad tour can have a lasting effect on your interest in it poetry and performance later on.

I open this up to others for debate or to provide additional information.
(If you’re reading this from my website, click here to read the comments.)
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Word to the nerd.

This entry was written by Mike McGee, posted on 15 January, 2007 at 11:18 AM, filed under Personal Updates and tagged advice, Performance Poetry and Spoken Word, poetry tour, touring. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.