Alive and Kicking at the Edge of the World There are theatre festivals all around the world, and there is The Edge of The World Theatre Festival. And The Edge of The World Theatre Festival had a spoken word event last night for the first time in its history. And the event took place in (downtown) Los Angeles. And we were ALIVE IN LOS ANGELES!!! Very much alive...
Thanks to Chris Dewan (the "daddy" of The Edge of The World Festival), Rachel Kann (our gacious hostess for the evening), and Mike Sonksen (the original "Alive in Los Angeles" poet from the Underground), Los Angeles showed to the (edge of the) world that spoken word is very much alive here and kicking some serious butt. (Pardon my French!) The theme of the evening was - what else but - "Alive in Los Angeles," and for those who don't know, "Alive in Los Angeles" is an ever-growing poem originally created by Mike Sonksen. When he first performed it on stage, Philip Martin joined in, and that's how the legend of a group poetry piece began. Judging by the performance last night, this act has turned into an all-out poetic orgy for all I know. It all started by Musing Mike (Sonksen), then PhilHarmonic (Martin) created some harmony, followed by a not so Bashful Dragon (yes, yours truly), Jiving Jordan (Erlich), Best-of-the-best Besskepp, Big-word Brandon (Backhous), Marvellous Mindy (Nettifee), Ground-shattering Gaknew, Rapturous Rachel (Kann), Brilliant Bridget (Gray), Inimitable Ismael, Smooth-rhyming Slim, and You'll-never-forget-her Yvette, only to return back to Mike for the final words. Needless to say, by the time the piece ended, half of the audience were on their feet. Way to start a poetic theatre first (alive) in Los Angeles!
The night continued with a few open mic readers, and then we smoothly sailed through the virtual maze of featured poets: Angela Boyce from Sacramento; LA's own Pocho Joe; Rebecca Gray; Michael Cirelli from Oakland, currently domiciled in Los Angeles; absolutely amazing L.A. poetry diva, Nikki Skies; Phil(Harmonic) Martin with the little help from his friends, Mike and Yvette; Jeff Trancher from San Jose; San Francisco "pocket Amazon," Emily Kagan currently "on assignment" in San Diego; this time without a mic and under bright lights, Besskepp; Long Beach slaminatrix, Mindy Nettifee; Leimert Park goddess, Jaha Zainabu; unavoidable and inimitable Ratpack Slim; Riverside's best and brightest, Mark Gonzales; sweet-faced and big-worded Snowplow; brilliant and beautiful Bridget Gray; imam-imitating Ismael; the Windy City's long-winded Rob Neil; and of course, the girl with big a$$ words herself, Rachel Kann.
Then, five more poets tried their luck on the open mic, and then everybody spilled out into the rainy and early Los Angeles morning. Ain't life great?!?!? Oh, and I almost forgot... I'm alive in Los Angeles!!! I'm alive in Los Angeles!!!
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