It’s time, folks. We’re starting up monthly theme slams, and the first in the series is the Secret Santa Slam.

For the first round, we’ll have each poet “gifting” a poem to their assigned Secret Santas, then doing a send up of that poet in the second round! With people planning some costumes and some wrench-in-the-spokes poetry presents, it’s sure to be an entertaining night. Sick of all the hum drum super serious poetry? THIS IS YOUR NIGHT.

The sign-up list is already decided, and here are the participating names:
RJ Reynolds
The A-Brain
Kari O’Connor
AJ Moyer
Katie Shipp
Jorge Lara
Mick Axelrod
Calamity J
Michael Vanozzi
Cactus
Brittany Viesca

Don’t miss out on some of the wild and wacky pairings we have! They’re sure to lead to some interesting send-ups and some treacherous “gifts.”

Start off the end of 2011 with the Las Vegas Slam! (Please read the end note in this section for special details about a bonus slam to be held Dec. 15)

If’n you don’t know the drill for a slam, here’s the rundown:
- Poets sign up to compete for 2 rounds (which means 2 poems)
- We pick 5 judges from the audience
- Poets have 3 minutes to perform their pieces w/ a ten-second grace period before they start to lose points
- Poets may not use work by another writer, and may not use any props or musical accompaniment that isn’t created by their own body
- Top 3 scores of the night qualify for the postseason to compete for a space on the 2012 Las Vegas Slam Team going to National Poetry Slam in Charlotte, NC!

We don’t have a feature this month, but that’s not going to stop us from bringing some extra specialness to the show. We will still be holding our 2-hour pre-slam workshop starting at 4:30PM at Yayo Taco.

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Also, we will be holding a special extra slam on Dec. 15 to meet certification requirements for Poetry Slam, Inc. (the fine folks who run National Poetry Slam, Individual World Poetry Slam, and Women of the World Poetry Slam annually).
To make this bonus slam EXTRA special, we’ve decided to throw in a fun twist, so it’s going to be…. THE FIRST EVER SECRET SANTA SLAM!!!
All sign-ups for the Dec. 15th event will be PRE-ARRANGED. If you would like to sign up for Dec. 15th, please either make it known here on this event page in a comment, with a message to our slammaster A.J. Moyer, or by signing up at the Dec. 1st slam.
Between rounds on Dec. 1st, we will put the names of everyone signed up into a hat and draw to assign our Secret Santas. Whoever’s name you draw, you get to “Gift” that person a poem to be performed at the Dec. 15 Secret Santa Slam! For the second round of Secret Santa, your goal is to EMULATE YOUR SECRET SANTA!

So, for an example, let’s say AJ draws Calamity J’s name. He gets to assign Calamity J a poem to perform, let’s say Beau Sia’s “Horse Cock Manifesto,” and then for round two, AJ has to perform something as close to Calamity J’s style as possible, or even cover one of her poems!
This balances out a little of the disadvantage of surprise poems in round one and should be a ton of fun! This event will NOT count toward qualifications, but we still hope to see a ton of people out for a heckuva kickoff to the holidays!

It seems like every month we have new blood come through and tear the roof off. Will it be YOU this month?

If you’ve never been to a poetry slam, it goes like this:
- We have 2 rounds, so all poets must be ready with 2 poems to perform.
- Five judges will be selected from the audience to score all the poems.
- All poems must be of the performer’s own original composition.
- Poems must come in under 3 minutes and ten seconds, or points will be deducted.
- No props are allowed, and no musical accompaniment that the performer can’t make with his/her own body.

And that’s it! Sign-ups are open to the public starting at 6:30P, and there’s NO CHARGE to come watch or sign up to compete, which means more money in your pocket to buy merch from our touring feature or to fill yourself up on the wonderful food and libations available from our host venue, Yayo Taco!

DON’T THINK YOU’RE READY TO SLAM YET?
That’s cool! We’ve got a FREE TWO-HOUR WORKSHOP run by our feature, John Survivor Blake, where he’ll put his wealth of knowledge and experience in the slam scene on display to help you and everyone else hone their stage and page skills to become better slam poets!

This month’s feature is John Survivor Blake, a multiple time National Poetry Slam and Individual World Poetry Slam competitor. He’s toured all over the nation teaching and performing, and now he’s coming here to Vegas to give us one hell of a show! Survivor will have 6 books available, so make sure to bring some extra money to support the touring poet and take home some great merch!
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You see them every day; addicts, homeless and hopeless, asking for change, seemingly stuck in a deadly cycle. We all are small degrees of separation from someone in this circumstance. This is the story of one man and his fight against the drown, back to the surface. John “Survivor” Blake will tell you he simply loves poetry; what happens when one speaks and another listens with little effort. He will not brag about what he has overcome. Instead, he confesses that he loves when the almost-quit realize this will get better, realize this because John Survivor Blake is still here, but he will say “If it wasn’t me, it would have been someone else”. We know better.
John Survivor Blake will claim to be “fortunate” as opposed to being successful; addicted to heroin and alcohol, endured poverty in the Baruch Housing Projects on the lower east side of Manhattan, stretched but never snapped at the hands of chemically addicted parents. Survivor believes his biracial experiences have enabled him to understand two sides of a cultural sword. He will say that spending his adolescence visiting his mother in prison was divine intervention. He will tell you that burying his father from AIDS has taught him how to forgive. John Survivor Blake has beaten more than odds.
Now, a recovering addict and alcoholic, he has managed to escape what took the lives of his entire family, and has now been published in Naugatuck River Review Journal of Narrative Poetry, BeyondRaceMag, InTheFray Mag, PenIt Mag, Urban Weekly, and Adobe Walls. He’s also shared performance stages with Saul Williams, Tara Hardy, Amiri Baraka, Suheir Hammad, Tara Betts, and many, many others. He’s toured the United States; over 100 cities, facilitated writing and performance workshops as well as lectured at many universities: Columbia, Drury, Westchester Community, Virginia Tech and more.
He’s done this because he believes poetry saved his life and he is simply making said life one gigantic Thank You card. John has facilitated workshops for youth organizations and festivals as well as classrooms nationwide. This is what he lives for.

After facilitating writing and performance workshops, coaching both youth and adult poetry slam teams for the Slam Richmond Reading Series in Virginia for four years, John is still instructing poetry for young writers, now at Warehouse508 in Albuquerque, and outreach through writing at Santa Fe’s Juvenile Detention Center.
John Survivor Blake is not concerned with where he’s been, but where all of us are going!

The Preseason Slam tested the mettle of competitors.

Qualifier #1 forged their tenacity in fire.

Now it’s time for Qualifier #2 – Where the blade hits the page!

Sign-ups are open to any and all who wish to read.
There are two rounds, so all poets must have two poems prepared.
Poems are limited to 3 minutes, 10 seconds before points are deducted.
5 judges will be selected from the audience to score all poems.

Our feature for this month is reigning 2011 Grand Slam Champion, KASEY BEAN!!!

Sign-ups at 6:30P.
Slam begins PROMPTLY at 7:00P.
Free to watch, free to sign-up.

And support the venue that supports us! Yayo Taco offers a great selection of unbelievably delicious food and a head-spinning array of beers and tequilas.

It’s our first slam qualifier of the season!

After a great preseason slam to settle in at our new venue, we’re ready to get the season started with a full-on qualifier bout this Wednesday!

Sign-ups are at 6:30, Slam begins at 7. Get there early to get seats, order some food, and maybe volunteer to be a judge.

The slam is ALL AGES, and Yayo Taco offers great food and drink options for everyone. For adult beverages, you can’t beat their selection of beers and tequilas, all at outstanding prices.

Bring your friends!!! But there WILL be adult themes and language, so maybe leave the really innocent ones at home.

(PS: Seldom Seen Poets at Sunrise Coffee is going dark to accommodate us on this one-time switch to a Wednesday night. Our deepest gratitude goes to Hannah Marisahl for so graciously shutting down just to help us out. Future slams will all be on the first Thursday of the night, and we have some great features coming to town so keep your eyes on the Las Vegas Slam fan page for all the details!)

It’s open season y’all! We’re back with a new venue on a new night, ready to kick off the 2011-2012 slam season with a bang! Come down to Yayo Taco on Maryland for a couple hours of poetic madness and verbal combat. Free entry. Open sign-ups begin at 6:30.