12 - The Michigan Daily Weeke d Ma=aine -Thursday, September 5, 1996 The Michigan DailyWeekeni Maga2 National Poetry Slam champions nation's best By 4&se Harwin Daily Music Editor I hate poetry. Or at least I did. But wvithin just a few minutes, the 1996 National Poetry Slam changed all my ideas, prejudices and overall con- tempt of the genre. Held in Portland, Ore., this year's championship was a treat not to be missed. The best poets and teams from all over the country were put together for four days of poetry, ranging from obscene to thought-provoking, and covering subjects from abuse to supermarkets. A wide rand, indeed. The Slam process in itself is an interesting one. The Slam is the brainchild of Chicagoan Marc Smith, who in 1984, found a way to encourage an audience to actively respond to poetry. Smith felt that far too many poetry readings were losing (or had lost) their passion for performance, and that the poets had forgotten an audience existed on the other side of the microphone. He started his own readings at the Get Me High Lounge, Fast and letting members of the audi- ence "score" the poems from this year one to 10, Olympic-style. By s staging his readings s com- am pro petitons, the audience felt of empowered to react to a poem (usually by comment- e ing on the judges' scores) e and the poets started to read p ror to the audience, not at them. Now at The Green Mill every Sunday night, the Slam is one of the most popular shows in Chicago. Over the last 10 years. Slams have spread across the country faster than athlete's foot. A loosely orga- nized performance poetry circuit has emerged in over 35 North American cities,. and Portland, this year's host, was not immune. In 1993,. Jeff Meyer moved from Chicago to Portland and brought the Slam with him. The first year was a lean one, though afte& two moves the Portland Slam has become extremely popular, with its audience increasing from 30 to 150 members per show. Truly, the Slam expe- tf 0' IV rience is now getting the attention it so richly deserves. Perhaps the most-asked question by newcomers to the Slam is, "How exactly does it work?" After every- body is seated, five judges are picked at random from the audience. After each poet performs his or her piece, the judges hold up score cards with numbers ranging from one to 10. The top and bottom scores are then dropped, leaving the middle three scores for a total between 0 and 30. At the end of the competition, the total of each team's four poets determines who won the bout. After three nights of competition in the National Slam setting, and an elaborate ranking sys- tem, the top four teams and sik individuals will emerge to compete in the finals. The process is again repeated that night to determine the 1996 National Champions. While there are many rules to follow for per- formance poetry, a few of the most important ones during the Slam s are:Each poet has three uIous, minutes to perform one > j piece; Poets must present s NatrIonai their own original work; Competitors may not use ided props, music or costumes; Multi-voiced team pieces are allowed; and Poets should check their egos at the door. ices .Fast and furious, this year's National Slam pro- vided some of the most energetic performances the attendees had ever seen. Held at four different venues, each night. was more crowded than the prev ious one had been. Starting August 21, the Slam began at 7:30 p.m.with music provided by a different artist each night. Then, at 8 p.m., the real action began. Each night contained two bouts, with three different teams competing during each bout. For those of you who aren't math majors, this worked out to approximately six teams a night. And for insomniacs, late-night open poetry readings could often be found at several other explanatory. In addition, these events were open for anyone to participate, with hopefuls signing up about a half- hour before the start of the readings. First, it must be mentioned that there were 120 poets performing. Then, it must be said that they represented 27 cities from the United States and Canada, spanning the map from our own Ann Arbor, home of the 1995 Nationals, to the Ozarks. There were self-educated poets like DJ Renegade, an individual finalist, and teachers like Taylor Mali, another individual finalist and a member of the winning Providence, R.I. team. There were P grandparents and college students, a true sampling of the melting pot of our country. But the finals were what really brought the cream of the crop, along with audiences and other poets, together. As stated before, only four teams made the cutoff to go on to the finals, along with only six individual members, who either came from cities without a team or had received the best scores during the earlier bouts. The competition was stiff. Each round contained four poets, each one performing very different types of poems. Very rarely did one poet's mate- rial appeal to all five judges. making the judg- ing, at times, irritating to the audience. As with nearly all slams, one judge, just to be different, will consistently giv e extremely low scores to all 1996 Nat the poets. Knowing this, the Poetry Sl process of throwing out the I low and high scores makes Individual Compe obvious sense r 1. Patricia Johns obvius snse.2. Taylor Mali Despite the judging, the DJ Renegade teams continued to be in close 4. Evert Eden competition throughout the final rounds, often having score Team Competitioi differences of only a tenth of a 1. Providence. Rh point. But as with all competi- 2. Berwyn, linoi tions, there must be a winner, 3. Austin, Texas which in this case was 4. New York, New Providence. In the individual finals were poets Wammo, DJ Renegade, Saul Williams, Taylor Mali, Patricia Johnson and Evert Eden. These poets went through only two rounds, the first eliminating the two lowest scorers and the sec- ond placing the remaining four. The winner of the individual slam was Patricia Johnson. All the poets were outstanding in their own way, performing terrifically in front of an audience of hundreds. They each deserve a tremendous amount of congratulations for a job well done. . d ATIONAL OETR LAM UGUST 'Pic-A-the-litter-Nic' basket of 'toon tunes through the "Space Ghost" and "Secret Squirrel" themes. "Space Ghost" is also seriously composed, but has slightly goofy space sounds littering it up, while "Secret Squirrel" has serious music and goofy lyrics and vocals. Overall, the second CD is the most eclectic as far as sounds go. There's a little bit of everything on it. It's really the swing disc of the set. As Ann Arbor poet Steve Marsh was quoted, "I learned early that the quickest way to a per- son's heart is through its face. For that reason, I try to stay in your face. I have undertaken to heighten consciousness through an anachronis- tic and nearly moribund style. In the last few years, I've found that poetry nal is about the same all over n Winners this continent. Mine's a little better than most, not as good Jon: as some. Come judge for yourself." io all tit ;on n h is U U Try our famous collidersl Choose any o oux-22 fruit, cereal, and candy toppings to create your own Colombo non-fat yogut shake. 812 South State SPECIALIZING IN * %4KbI#ic$te &t ueemu} ( c5, Street 769-5650 locations around the city. These nightly events could range from the "Evening of Bad Habits," con- sisting of poetry about smoking, drinking, drugs and nymphoma- nia, to the "Midnight Erotic Readings," which are fairly self- In answer to these words, though the National Slam is over for this year, those hun- :, gry for a taste of the experi- ode Island ence should check out the Heidelberg's poetry readings on the first Thursday cf each York month. Anyone is welcome to attend and participate. Until then, remember that in a Slam, the audience gets a chance to have its own say. Let the judges know what you're thinking and, most importantly, have a good time! Or, in the immortal words of Wammo, summing up his poetic life, "Adjective, adjective, accom- plishment, adjective blah blah, cable music chan- nel poetry tour, blah blah, Lollapablahblah, book, blah, runner-up blah, blah album, blah." No other poet could have said it any better, The third may have the largest ber of individually good songs, the even if it_ is the frighteningly m themed Flintstone disc. With no than three versions of the show's th and 20 other tracks, it's Flint-tastic There're a surprising numbe songs really being sung on the "Rockin' Bird" is a normal pop- song of the '50s. "Star Dust" is sui By Ted Watts Daily Arts Writer When Rhino Records sets out to do something, they do it in style. The box set of "Hanna Barbera's Pic-A-Nic Basket" is no exception, even if it is on their kiddy label. The first recognizable thing about the set is the packag- ing. About the size of ® Hanna the now-extinct long- Pic-A-1 box, but twice as thick, the box has a V Various, cartoony wood grain RhinoR and two lids that flip( up, just like an actual **** (ou picnic basket. There are even illustrated hinges. But there's more. A handle can be flipped up, mak- ing the box set just as portable as its namesake. These touches all add a lot of fun visually, but the lids make it hard to remove the big booklet and CDs, and the handle has a tendency to flop around a bit. Still, a really good effort. The inserts for each of the four CDs inside also add to the lunchy concept, as they each depict in a retro way various foods, from chicken legs to watermelon. The final effect is something like a sur- realist mass production with a '50s feel. Each of the four CDs has its own con- centration. The first is made up almost entirely of music from late '50s/early '60s Hanna Barbera cartoons. From the opening jingle of the "Ruff and Reddy" theme, a lush wash of band music comes gushing at the listener. The music shows the movement away from the more classical scores of theatrical car- toons of the '40s and '50s. Both the structure and instrumentation is newer and looser. Due to time constraints, bud- gets a fraction of those of theatrical car- toons, and the lack of a major studio's symphony orchestra, Hanna Barbera Studios had to do with a lot less. But their initial output was still of high qual- ity. Their early cartoons didn't have full animation, but their designs had flair and their writing was good. And, as this shows, their music was superb past the point where the visuals and the writing of the cartoons went to hell. The lyric-oriented theme songs of char- acters were a big difference from most existing cartoon music. Some Disney characters had themes, but they aren't as memorable as the Hanna Barbera exam- ples. "Huckleberry Hound"'s theme is quick and catchy. Of course, it is nothing next to Yogi Bear's. Isn't "Yogi Bear is smarter than the average bear..." still rat- tling around inside your head somewhere, making you think about all those missing picnic baskets from Jellystone Park? And on this recording you get to hear the orig- inal sponsorparts of the theme, like the lit- tle line promoting Kellogg's cereal in the Yogi theme. Of course, even Yogi can't compete with the Flintstones. You don't even need to have that theme in your head. Just turn on the Cartoon Network for a couple of hours and you're sure to hear the theme song along with an episode of the show. Everything about that show has dug its way into the con- sciousness ofTVland and made itself a more or less permanent fixture there. Also on this CD is a "Flintstone Jazz Underscore," although it's a small vein, considering the Flintstones is on the third CD in this box. . The CD is filled out with a grab-bag of lesser-known themes, including some interesting "Magilla Gorilla" music, Barbera's and even more ic Basket interesting ads for Ideal Toys rtists piggy-backed on cords them. Oddly I A te t of 5) enough, "Scooby the Doo" theme (plus a variation for the "New Scooby Doo Movies") is included. It's odd because it's a few years older than the rest of the material on the first disc, and it's a human-oriented show instead of anthropomorphic dogs or ducks. Well, OK, there's one anthropomorphic dog regularly on the show, and the Flintstones were people, but you know what I mean. Oh well, it's very enter- taining and fits well as far as lyric- based tuneage goes. I still don't see why it wasn't on the second disc. Sure, it has some more "Flintstones" material on it, and some talking.-animal stuff, but it's really the second direction for the studio and comes together the- matically that way. Humans arf much more prevalent as main characters here. The Jetsons, Jonny Ques, Space Ghost, and Josie and the Pussycats, amongst others, are here. After an initial slew of more conven- tional Hanna Barbera material like the moderately jazzy "Top Cat" under- scores, comes the hyper, shrill and futuristic theme for "The Jetsons." Again, an immediately recognizable tune with super-recognizable lyrics ("Daughter Judy / Jane his wife"), "The Jetsons"' music still has an underlying band presence to it, but is pushed for- ward musically by the need t sound somewhat convincingly like the future. There are a lot of higher-pitched instru- ments and faster even-tempo rhythms, and occasional sci-fi nods (I think there's even a very brief therem:i part in the underscore). "The J.sons"' music is sort of a mid-step of evolution for the Hanna Barbera music. A tune in the underscore, rife with organs, seems to have been recycled rather closely into the "Josie and the Pussycats" theme, which is a guitar-based jingle with lots of flutes in the background, but is essentially a pop-song composi- tion (fun fact: Cheryl Ladd sings on this song). In the same category are songs like the "Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show" theme and "Hong Kong Phooey' although all have a distinct novelty flavor. On the other side is the "Jonny Quest" theme, with its adventurous music and low, grumbly bass sound. It can almost be seen as the ultimate instrumental to come from Hanna Barbera, as it sounds good without a trace of irony in it. It is simply strong and percussive. Themusic links back to tho rest-of Rann# Barbera pretty clearly University Student Gathering WEDNESDAYS 9:00pm fun,food provocative discussions Campus Chapel stimulating community Christian Reformed Sunday Worship 10:00am campus ministry 1236 Washtenaw Ct. 913-03971668-7421 (one block south of CORB -at Geddes and Washtenaw) HT gR[CORDS & USED CDg SELECTION, QUALITY & PRICE ARE ALWAYS OUR TOP PRIORITY!! BUY-SELL-TRADE- RECYCLE JAZZ BLUES ROCK SOUL CLASSICAL PUNK FUNK OPE 7 DAYS-AIR CONDITIONED. 617-8 PACKARD- NEAR ILL ST.-663-3441 UPSTAIRS FROM UBWAYU1 we've got hundreds of eds at 5S and less! Join The Michigan Daily Come to a mass meeting at 420 Maynard: Sept. Sept. Sept. 11 at 7 p.m. 17 at 7 p.m. 19 at 7.p.m. Call 76-DAILY for more information.