I'd like to meet:
Friends—
----Berkeley Poetry Slam is a weekly spoken word showcase built around an audience-judged competition. Established in 1998, we meet every Wednesday, give away $150 in prizes, feature top poets, live jazz, and incredible poetry! Most weeks, it's $8 to get in. Check the calendar for special events. Our home is the Starry Plough pub, 3101 Shattuck Ave, near Ashby BART.
----Here's what you can expect: When you arrive, you'll find a large room full of diverse and friendly people, colorful characters, a few crusty locals, and the hum of conversation. It'll probably smell like pizza cooking, and sound like funky live music. The Starry Plough is a venerable local Irish Bar and feels like family.
----If you arrived early, you may find a table or a seat (lucky!). Sign up to slam, if you wish. Sign-ups start at 7:30. Be aware that we have up to 30 people sign up each week, so we do a lottery to choose the 12 poets who will slam.
----Berkeley Slam starts at 8:30 with the first round of the competition. It may be loud, thoughtful, funny, painful, inspiring, intimate or rawcus. Probably all of the above. Poets are competing for $150 in prizes and a spot on our Nationally-acclaimed team, so expect the competition to be FIERCE, though our audience is very forgiving of newcomers. We have a live jazz band or DJ perform between the poets, and we usually have a couple tricks up our sleeves to keep folks awake.
----After the break, we return with our feature(s). We have featured virtually every notable slam champion, local legend, and touring poet from across the English speaking world. Immediately after our feature, the top five poets bring their best in the second half of the slam. Prizes are awarded, Words Of Wisdom are shared, and we end the show by inviting you to stay for a couple beers and some conversation!
----Our first slam at the Starry Plough was held in 1998 as a fund-raiser for KALX. It was such a hit, we were invited back to start a regular show, which began in March of 99. We went weekly in 2001. Our slam team regularly finishes in the top 10 nationally, including a 3rd place finish in 1999 (as half of 'Team Oakland' and a 4th place finish in 2004. Our team is currently the National Team Piece champions. We are the longest-running slam in NorCal, with a solid audience of 130 and our talent pool runs deep.
----To join the NorCal Slam UPDATE weekly mailing list, which lists ALL the poetry slams in NorCal, write to [email protected].
----See Ya At Tha Slam!