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Monday, April 21, 2008
The Scene Grand Slam Charlotte Finals
Posted By Kia Moore on Mon, Apr 21, 2008 at 10:03 AM
The McGlohon Theatre in Spirit Square was almost filled to fire code capacity by poetry lovers and onlookers. The “Grand Slam Finals” poetry competition was held last Friday, April 18. The lower level filled quickly, and late arrivals made the drudging hike to the balcony. The balcony has never been used during a SlamCharlotte competition, said Bluz, Slam Master.
The finals determine the members of the SlamCharlotte team, who represent the city in local, regional and national poetry competitions. The 2007 SlamCharlotte team took first place at the National Poetry Slam last year.
The top 12 poets with the highest scores from this year's past slams placed in the finals. They were CP Maze, Filmore, Tavis Brunson, Q, BlackSwan, Ocean, Blaqbaree, Lovo, Norris Guest, Mike Simms, Carlos, and Starr.
Round one, all recited passionate poems filled with content, body language and voice usage. Competition was fierce, and the passion the poets displayed on stage leaked into the audience as the crowd responded verbally to words and gestures of the poets. Roaring “Boos”echoed throughout the theater if a score of nine or less was given by random audience member judges (based on a 1 to 10 decimal point scale.) Q, Lovo, Ocean, Filmore, Norris and Tavis were eliminated.
Round two, six poets left waiting anxiously on the wall for their opportunity to unleash their words on the stage. These poems were even more meaningful and personal, referencing determination, child soldiers, devastating results on the minds and bodies of post Vietnam Vets, always blaming problems on “the man,” and broken relationships. Blaqbaree and CP Maze were eliminated. “Clearly that was a devastating blow to some of you,” said Bluz, after the crowd realized Maze was gone.
Our 2008 SlamCharlotte team is Mike Simms, Swan, Carlos and Starr.
Round 3 was just for bragging rights and the 2008 “Grand Slam Champion” is Starr.
Speaking of The Scene, Grand-Slam-Poetry-Finals-in-Charlotte
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