History will little note, nor long remember that, on a cool December 10th evening, in 2014....
at the weekly Write About Now Poetry/Spoken Word Open Mic on the stage at the popular AvantGarden Social Patio Bar & Lounge, in the Montrose District of Houston, TX....
The Mad Houstonian, Kiril Kundurazieff, made his open mic debut...introducing himself to the creative community of Houston.
OK, relax...you can stop freaking out, friends and fans....the above scene is what played out on the stage of my nervous mind as I exited the real stage after reading my 2 poems.
Reality was a hell of a lot better, hee, hee!
I spent the evening doing something I had not done since the Summer before I left SoCal for Houston, in Sept. 2012.
That night's return to sharing my creativity with a live audience was for Two Idiots in Orange County who do so much to encourage the poets of SoCal and for the small, but passionate, crowd of readers and listeners who attend the weekly open mic they host, at The Ugly Mug Cafe, in Old Town Orange.
Founded by writer/spoken word performer Amir Safi, Write About Now is a poetry-slam/ open mic that takes place at 7:30 PM at AvantGarden every Wednesday night, lasting until 10pm or a little after. It is the latest effort at having such a regular event in Houston and, from what I gather, has gained a following of lovers of the spoken word and those who like to perform such creative pieces of writing. There is even a You Tube Channel featuring videos performances by Amir and a host of others as well as an Instagram account.
( 3/17/15 - Huge News Update, re new website, below!)
The hosts, each week, vary between Amir, Chibbi or Zach. Zach also mans the entrance to take visitor $5 cover charge fees to enter.
There was certainly a large, enthusiastic crowd there on this night.
The venue? AvantGarden inhabits a piece of Houston history; a beautiful, inside and out, turn-of-the-century Kraft house.
"Here, families once celebrated the stages of their lives, loved laughed and finished out their days; the public now calls it Home."
The venue began life as a private home where Howard Hughes played as a child, then went from being a half-way house to an abandoned crack house before being rehabilitated, in the 90's, as a bar, live music and artistic venue, under 2 names over the following decade.
In 2007 it received a complete restoration/adaptation as AvantGarden, a popular establishment where, on any given night, one can experience film showings, musical performances and a weekly spoken word gathering, among other events of a creative and artistic nature, as well as private parties and weddings.
For a place that doesn't advertise, at least in the usual ways (it has a page on Facebook and a Twitter account), thus making it a well-kept secret (hell, the place is only open from 6pm to 2am!), word sure does get around if you know how and where to look online and the New York Times has even given it its seal of approval by naming it as one of the "top must visit spots in Houston."
Upon arrival I found myself in a large room with a well-stocked bar on one side of a large, above the floor, stage on another side, with tables and chairs spread around under low lighting enough for any reading and writing one might want to do.
There is a brick floor and the room is surrounded by walls covered in greenery.
Oh, and it is enveloped by the smell of tobacco smoke in the air, so if you are not one who usually finds yourself in close quarters with smokers it takes a little getting used to.
With an open door, though, the smoke has somewhere else to go, and soon one is so wrapped up in creativity that, unless a smoker sits or stands near you, you might forget about it.
The music being played by a DJ was easy on the sensibilities of a 50ish white dude from SoCal whose tastes run to Classical, Country, Instrumental jazz and Big Band-era, and styles other musical genres from the pre-70's, hee, hee!
I paid my $5 cover charge to enter, signed up for the open mic, bought a beer and settled into a seat.
I soon found myself sharing a table with a young black man, named Jonathan, who, when his turn came shared a powerful piece about his military service days.
The crowd was an eclectic, friendly, boisterous, mix of young (mostly) and older (closer to my age of 54), as well as of Houston's racial groups and sexual orientations, and in addition to tattoos and interesting hairstyles, male and female, you will encounter piercings, full face paint (or tattoo), and, eventually, I'm sure, someone incorporating all, or most, of the above in one package (sharing a poem onstage, to boot!).
Some views, on a variety of topics, seem somewhat to my left, but hey...
the place IS in the Montrose District after all, hee, hee!
If being in such a crowd makes you uncomfortable then this event is not for you.
It will be interesting to see what sort of reception some of my poetry will get, as time goes by.
When I told the bartender (also a poet) that I'd last seen similar looks to her hairstyle over 2 years ago in SoCal, she laughed.
The variety of poems and spoken word pieces shared was quite interesting and entertaining; race, food, cancer, virginity, the past, violence against women, food, the internet, politics, Houston neighborhoods, testosterone, more...
About being a black woman.
About the monsters we invent to make ourselves happy.
About the first time the performer was in church.
About ones looks and how one feels about them,
About knowing you are black; a piece that was part historical name dropping and political statement and part cultural and part takedown of those who do and act stupid.
My favorite was a funny piece about the struggle of being tall and black by a 6ft 7 3/4 in. tall man who writes poetry and plays guitar, not basketball, for a living.
When it was my turn to take the stage I introduced myself and paid tribute to my open mic past and then turn to reading my chosen poems, with brief explanatory intros for each, based on what I'd written when first shared on this blog:
The Coming of the Mad Houstonian
Whispering Sweet Nothings: A Poem
A big deal was made by the MC when a virgin performer made their first foray to the stage and I was no exception; in fact this night saw more newbies than usual,
The difficult lighting made me feel a little awkward, bending over so I could have enough light on my clipboard to see to read.
My audience seemed to really like my second poem as it got a few laughs. As I walked back to my seat I even heard a young woman say "monster taco" as a question...did she divine some double entendre and was looking for confirmation from her companion? Hee, hee!
I kept hearing people snap their fingers during readings and asked Jonathan Jackson, the friendly black guy I spent evening sitting next to, and who also went on stage to share a poem about his military service, what that meant. I learned that in spoken word culture it's a way for people to show appreciation for a line instead of clapping.
My next question was ..."was there any during either of MY poems?" I was told that, yes, spread out through both.
He called my performance more "poet" than "spoken word".
What is the difference?
"Spoken word poetry is poetry that is written on a page but performed for an audience. Because it is performed, this poetry tends to demonstrate a heavy use of rhythm, improvisation, free association, rhymes, rich poetic phrases, word play and slang. It is more aggressive and “in your face” than more traditional forms of poetry."
Glenn North
For more, read his essay on the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art website.
During the intermission I went back to the stage to make the photo with me leaning forward more than I actually did while performing, only later seeing the picture on the wall after, giving me a chance to have more fun with the photo than planned.
Also, someone came up and asked to take a photo of me and my sweater...I learned, this morning, that the image was posted to WAN's Instagram and so far has 31 likes!
After intermission the featured poets came on stage.
Korim & Brent, a pair of young poets from Austin, shared poems about their personal struggles, a fascinating, thought-provoking and even funny mix of works that I really enjoyed.
The evening ended with "ad libs" where brave poets create instant poetry based on 3 words they are given to use. The audience shouts out words and 3 are chosen from all the noise, in this case "lemonade, melancholy, and s'mores.
Funny and entertaining, and no I didn't be one of the brave.
Afterwards I chatted with a woman who has 5 cats and met a woman who told me her brother was a co-worker of mine, on the overnight shift, and she figured out where I worked from the clues in my 2nd poem.
It is said that if you want to stay passionate, you have to stay productive...you have to have a reason to get out of bed in the morning.
My reason was so I could spend this wonderful evening introducing myself to the creative community of Houston.
I returned the next week and attended my very first Poetry Slam.
The featured poet for the night was 2014 National Poetry Slam Champion Pages Matam.
What is poetry slam?
"Simply put, poetry slam is the competitive art of performance poetry. It puts a dual emphasis on writing and performance, encouraging poets to focus on what they're saying and how they're saying it."
What is a poetry slam?
"A poetry slam is a competitive event in which poets perform their work and are judged by members of the audience. Typically, the host or another organizer selects the judges, who are instructed to give numerical scores (on a zero to 10 or one to 10 scale) based on the poets' content and performance."
In this case poets, who dare, compete with 3 minute performances that are judged by 5 randomly chosen audience judges with no ties to the performers, using their personal feeling and judgements, and are winnowed down until a winner is chosen after 2 rounds. Audience reactions may or may not influence the judges and the audience can even react to the judges scores.
The winner got a small cash prize.
Patrick Pages performance was an interesting and entertaining one. Billed as being "on tour, from DC, by way of Cameroon in Central Africa" he is a poet, author, and teaches students to become poets.
One piece he shared was one about what he wanted to be when he grew up and is addressed to his 7 year old son.
Another piece was about John Wayne Gacy.
My favorite was one about preserving his cultural identity and name and still becoming a part of America.
Poetry Slams are a really powerful creative force, nationally, and around the world, something I knew little about before moving to Houston and trying to discover open mic venues and the poetry community in my new home.
Let me end by saying that, as readers know, I've attended a workshop given by the first poet laureate of Houston and am slowly building a collection of Houston area and Texas creative writing links (Suggestions welcome! Send to email in the sidebar) and, since I have next Wednesday off, I will be attending the WAN Open Mic again, where I will share 2 more poems.
If you read this piece and happen to attend, next week, let me know what you think.
NEXT UP: WAN Open Mic: The Mad Houstonian's Triumphant Encore
March 17th, 2015 update: Write About Now has just opened up a brand new website as its central home online! This blog post is featured on its Press Page!
Dear Kiril,
Thanks for sharing your informative and fascinating experience with us at Friendship Friday at Create With Joy! Except for the smoke, I would thoroughly enjoy this experience!
I am so glad to hear you are making these wonderful creative connections in Houston. Would love to hear - via email - some of the creative places you frequented when you were still in SoCal!
Posted by: Create With Joy | January 24, 2015 at 04:08 AM
What a wonderful perspective of a fascinating cultural and professional event. You are SO living your dreams instead of just talking about them. This was the most important sentence I read: "It is said that if you want to stay passionate, you have to stay productive...you have to have a reason to get out of bed in the morning." I think you are more of an inspiration than you think.
Posted by: SocciWriter | January 24, 2015 at 10:41 AM
What fun!!! I'm so glad you had a wonderful debut ... and you'll no doubt return, right?
Congrats!!!
Posted by: Marilynn | January 25, 2015 at 03:43 PM
CWJ: I will most definitely get back to you!
SocciWriter: Than you Amanda, my friend, for the kind words. I am trying, slowly, but surely, to move forward in new ways. It is not easy, but I so, somehow, want to learn and succeed in ways I've not done the past 12 years.
Marilynn, my friend, yes, I WILL return, days off willing. This coming Wednesday will be my 2nd chance to read at their Open Mic and my intent is to introduce Houston to Cat Poetry by reading a couple of pieces by ol' Nikita. :-D
Feb 4th is also a day off so, even if it's only a Slam Night, I plan on coming out again.
It would be cool if someone who knows me actually showed up to lend support some night. :-D
One day I also hope to see and hear a performance of mine on video, but I think it would take something better than the un-tried video tool of my point/shoot camera to pull off. :-D
Posted by: Kiril Kundurazieff | January 25, 2015 at 06:16 PM