Tonight at the Asylum…

Well, despite the open reading being a bit of a sausage fest…it was a great night. Packed house, pretty decent poetry overall.

After pimping the hell out of the new reading, I did “Snakes On A Plane” which went over well…and I did it off page, much to my surprise. Something’s going on — I seem to have gotten my ability to memorize back. First time reading it, too…that’s three new poems off page in the last two months. You’d think I was getting ready to slam again or something. (No.)

After the open, thisisstar and her band The Bad Idea Party took the stage, bringing us all an intense mix of poetry and music. The band tonight was Star on cello, an acoustic guitarist, and a violist. Amazing work. Star’s voice is haunting and lovely, and at least one of her poems (a powerful metaphorical piece combining imagery of a woman and a piano) left me jealous, as in “Damn, I wish I’d written that…and I know I couldn’t have.”

I’ve watched Star grow as an artist ever since she was a budding teenage poet at the Hut. This was a remarkable and gratifying feature to watch on many levels. If the Bad Idea Party is playing near you, go see them.