Slammin' Night at the Drake

Dave Silverberg at the Toronto Poetry Slam

This past Saturday night's Toronto Poetry Slam featured stories about Superman, horny unicorns, the Skyline Diner, and ten-cow wives; as cliché as it sounds, you can expect the unexpected at the Toronto Poetry Slam.

The Toronto Poetry Slam (TPS) is a monthly celebration of competitive spoken word, where all styles of performance poetry is welcome and the audience plays judge. Or, as TPS founder and host Dave Silverberg says it, "the democratization of poetry." Saturday's slam — which was also the final qualifier for the Toronto team at the upcoming National Festival of Spoken Word — drew a crowd of over 150 people that packed into The Underground at the Drake Hotel. The night featured five open mic performances (including one by yours truly), a headlining set by Def Poetry Jam artist Rives, and a heated three-round competition featuring nine of the this city's best slam poets.

The competition was tight, with all nine competing poets bringing their best material in each round, culminating in an intense final between slam veterans Krystle, Amanda, and June TPS winner Leviathan. In the end, Amanda captured the July slam title, and secured her place (along with four other poets) on the Toronto slam team.

The next Toronto Poetry Slam will take place on August 19, 2006 at Cervejaria. See TorontoPoetrySlam.com for more information.

More photos and a short video clip of Rives' performance from Saturday below:

RD at the Toronto Poetry Slam

Rives at the Toronto Poetry Slam

Spencer at the Toronto Poetry Slam

Crowd at the Toronto Poetry Slam

Krystle at the Toronto Poetry Slam

Reader Reviews and Comments

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Sameer, great job in reporting on my slam. And way to rock the stage yourself!
If you didn't hit up the slam, you missed out on of those nights that make you say: "Damn, why didn't I know this existed before!" What a killer set, especially from Rives...man, I wished he came to Canada more often...
And congrats to the official slam team repping Toronto in 2006: Amanda, Spencer, Leviathan and Krystle

Posted by: Dave at July 24, 2006 10:45 AM

i was riding the spadina streetcar home at 12:30, and i met someone who had just come from this event - Lauren - and she said it was good times. I would've liked to been there. hopefully there will be more.

Posted by: matt [TypeKey Profile Page] at July 24, 2006 2:51 PM

fun times would be an understatement as to how crazy saturday night was. don't worry matt, there's one every month, and i can guarantee a phenomenal evening.

and dave, thanks for setting it all up, once again. and hey, i'm working on some new material, so be ready for me to throw it down in august! =)

Posted by: Sameer Vasta [TypeKey Profile Page] at July 24, 2006 9:43 PM

Excellent pics man, and it was really cool hearing your piece, I really enjoyed. Props for taking video of my favourite piece of the night from Rives.

I am on blogger as well, I actually just recently joined, I left you my link. I have no idea how you add friends or anything like that, but if there is such a thing add me.

Take care dude,

Valentino

Posted by: Valentino Assenza at July 25, 2006 8:51 AM

thank goodness there's some video record of that man's performance. i was heartbroken when i found we weren't filming july's slam. his stuff has this force to it that only truth has...

all in all, though, a truly wonderful night, thanks in no small part to a really responsive audience.

thanks for posting this, sameer.

Posted by: Smitty at July 25, 2006 11:47 AM

This looks great (that video sold me!). When is the next slam? I'd love to check it out.

Posted by: jerrold at July 25, 2006 12:20 PM

Valentino! Thanks for the support, it was really nice meeting you. I'll drop you an email once I finally make it home (haven't been back to my apartment in a few days) and add your blog to my RSS reader. I'll give you a shout about August 4th as well.

Smitty, was Idris not taping this month's slam? I thought he was, I was definitely looking forward to picking it up. Audience was definitely great, but I credit Rives for hyping everyone up, he was amazing!

And Jerrold, if you're really interested in heading down, the next one is on August 19. I'm definitely going to be there, so let me know.

Posted by: Sameer Vasta [TypeKey Profile Page] at July 25, 2006 1:26 PM

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