The official blog of Mike Geffner's Inspired Word NYC open mic/performance series that happens every week in downtown Manhattan, featuring the best spoken word artists, spoken word poets, singers, musicians, comedians and storytellers. Upcoming open mic event info; pics, words, videos from past open mic shows; current news in the performing arts, open mics, poetry, spoken word, comedy, music, and storytelling.
Spoken word poets Osagyefo and Jane LeCroy @ Mike Geffner Presents The Inspired Word NYC spoken word poetry event, Thursday, Jan. 13, 2011, (Le) Poisson Rouge, Manhattan, NYC.
The Inspired Word spoken word poetry weekly series celebrated its one-year anniversary with an extravaganza that included an all-star lineup of over 20 of the best performance poets in the New York City area - Patricia Smith, Willie Perdomo, Oveous, Vanessa Hidary, Gemineye, Brian Dykstra, Ngoma, Rico Frederick, Bonafide Rojas, Joanna Hoffman, Erica Miriam Fabri with Robin Andre, Jamaal St. John, Tahani Salah, Sean Patrick Conlon, Nathan P., Osagyefo, Jane LeCroy, Simply Rob, Jane Ormerod, Thomas Fucaloro, Advocate of Wordz, and Eliel Lucero.
It was an epic night.
An unforgettable night.
The Inspired Word is New York City's hottest new poetry/spoken word series, produced by longtime writer/journalist and former Village Voice columnist Mike Geffner.
Mike Geffner presents The Inspired Word New York City poetry/spoken word event, featuring Claudia Alick, Osagyefo, Sal Treppiedi + 10-slot open mic!
When: Thursday, July 1
Where: One and One Bar & Restaurant (downstairs Nexus Lounge)
76 East 1st Street (corner of 1st Avenue)
Manhattan, NYC http://www.oneandoneny.com/
Phone: (212) 598-9126
Time: 7pm (open mic sign-up starts at 6:30)
Cover Charge: $10
Must be 21 years of age or older. Please make sure to bring ID.
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Claudia Alick is a playwright, performance artist, actress, producer, teacher, journalist, and HBO Def Poetry poet. She produces the outdoor performance series "The Green Show" for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, has guest-lectured at New York University, Montgomery College, taught with Arena Stage and The Shakespeare Theatre, and was named by American Theater Magazine as one of 25 theater artists who will shape American Theater in the next 25 years. She has also served as the Artistic Director of Smokin' Word Productions, authored and directed plays staged at The Kennedy Center, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, LaMama E.T.C., Cherry Lane Theater, and the Hip Hop Theatre Festival, and is a member of the award winning NY Neofuturists. She lives in Ashland, Oregon.
Osagyefo is a Jamaican-born poet who never gives straight answers because he believes there are no straight answers in life. His words are filled with sound and power, the raw creative energy of the universe, as he "spits fiery rhymes,” Billboard once wrote of him. In other words, you don't just hear Osagyefo, you feel him. He has performed all over the world, from Africa to Jamaica, from Switzerland to England, and is the author of Psalms of Osagyefo…Chanting down Babylon. He was awarded the Zoo Award in 2002 for the best overall performer/reading for by the Farrago poetry society in London and currently resides in Brooklyn.
Sal Treppiedi is the author of two chapbooks: Random Thoughts of An Obese Mind (1998) and Tellin' Tales Out of School (2010). He was born in Brooklyn, NY, but currently lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico after a six year detour through Riverside, California. He has been an educator for almost 20 years, having spent the first 15 as a middle school English teacher and the last years as a high school activities director. Treppiedi is the founder of VE=NT (Voices Emerging=New Thunder), the annual New Mexico Middle School Poetry Slam. His work has appeared in several publications including Earthships: A New Mecca Poetry Collection, plus "Central Avenue," "Sage Trail" and "Lunarosity," an online journal. Treppiedi also headlined the recent Stepping Out Poetry Festival in Socorro, NM. He lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico (though his hometown is Brooklyn), is married to Deborah and has two daughters, Calle & Leah.
