Culture Watch

Class Of Slam ‘Em High

There was a time, not all that long ago, when the idea of putting competitive performance poetry into the mainstream culture would have seemed absurd. Sure, there were those weird poetry nerds and their “slams”—but at least it was a fringe-culture thing, swept underground by the very nerdiness of it all. And then, in the mid-1990s, something changed. Performance poetry suddenly became kind of cool, with its own HBO series (Def Poetry) and everything. Of course, over the past decade or so, interest in performance poetry seems to have peaked. Sure, there are still slams and readings, but coming into the mainstream means that it’s lost a little of its underground appeal. In fact, performance poetry is rapidly becoming institutionalized. Take, for instance, the “Poetry Out Loud” series, a National Endowment for the Arts-funded program that aims to help kids get excited about poetry through a slam-like series of competitions. Although it’s a little toothless when compared to a regular slam (as competitors must read from a pre-approved list of poems by nationally recognized writers), that doesn’t mean it’s free of cutthroat drama. At the North Carolina finals held in Raleigh earlier this month, Buncombe County representative Annelise Caldwell (a freshman at Buncombe County Early College) was trounced by Aimee Isbell of Mooresville City Schools. Isbell takes home $200 and an all-expenses-paid trip to Washington to compete for the national championship. Of course, the school gets a little more than prestige for their efforts, too. The state winner’s school receives a $500 stipend for the purchase of—you guessed it—poetry books. For more info, check out poetryoutloud.org.

If You’re Going To Be A Corporate Shill, Do It Drunk

And speaking of hard work paying off, local cover band The Sharkadelics recently dropped two big announcements through bulletins on MySpace. After “5 months of hard work and communication” the band was given an official sponsorship by Jägermeister, the herb-and-licorice-flavored liquor that makes up half of the ever-popular bar special the Jäger Bomb. Although the exact details of the sponsorship remain unclear, the official Jägermusic sponsorship page explains that bands may be given logo-covered freebies ranging from “posters to guitar picks, t-shirts to hats.” And what does Jägermeister get out of the deal? A lot of hype, including band members who will “mention Jägermeister between and during sets, imbib[e] a shot on stage, hang a few banners” and wear a Jägermeister T-shirt. But, what’s more, the Sharkadelics appear to have decided to pull away from the cover-band thing, announcing in the same bulletin that they’ll be spending the next few months writing songs for a yet-to-be-titled debut CD. Learn more at sharkadelics.com.

[Contact Steve Shanafelt at unknowncity@hotmail.com.]