Slam Words and Notes

May 23, 1997

Central Florida has a growing poetry and spoken-word scene, along with many fine acoustic musicians. However, these artists tend to exercise their talents on week nights, leaving those who prefer more thoughtful fare with mostly amplified entertainment options on the weekends. This situation is about to change, perhaps for good, on Saturday, May 31.

That night, The Slant and The Orlando Reporter, a leftist, anti-authoritarian webzine of news, views and politics, will stage their first-ever Poetry Thrash. The venue will be the patio of Barnie's Coffee, in the Colonial Plaza Marketplace. (Located at the corner of Bumby and East Colonial in Orlando. For more information, call 895-9711.) This free event will feature readings by several local poets and spoken-word artists, starting at 8 p.m. They will be followed by live acoustic music around 10 p.m.: Smiley and Thumper, Marble Feather and John David Baldridge.

According to Richard Miller, a contributing editor on The Orlando Reporter, "a blatant lack of literary stimulation in this community" during the weekends prompted him to create and help organize the "thrash." He said that while the event may not be decibel-intensive, he hopes it will be artistically intense. Added Miller: "We [The Slant and The Orlando Reporter] have taken the initiative and tried to make positive [cultural] change in our community."

Playwright Patrick Scott Barnes will be the featured poet and spoken-word artist. His work - provocative, edgy, funny and militantly political - is unlike anything else on the local scene. During the week, Barnes hosts Backroom Words, the open-mic poetry night at Orlando's Go! Lounge. He also has had three dramas produced by Theatre Downtown, including Drinkin' Buddies in 1996.

Baldridge, an Orlando-based singer-songwriter, describes his sound as "very lyrical with an acoustic punch." He cites Bob Dylan, the late folk-protest troubadour Phil Ochs and seminal country legend Hank Williams as his main influences.

The three musicians in Marble Feather conjure up a haunting, folk-based sound created by combining guitar, 'cello and conga drums, the latter played by Richard Rodriguez. Rodriguez also provides the Latin-based percussion rhythms for the headliners, Smiley and Thumper, whose folk-rock-based sound is anchored by guitarist Jack Smiley.

The Poetry Thrash will continue on Sat., June 7, same Bat-time, same Bat-location, with more poetry and spoken words, and more acoustic tunes from Baldridge and others (to be announced). Miller promises that if the first two "thrashes" are well supported by the public and creative community, they could become a regular fixture on our area's literary scene.

Ben Markeson
I'm a first-generation Floridian, a second-generation American, a college drop-out and have a strong anti-authoritarian, anti-corporate bent. I edited and published two local "alternative" newspapers - The Orlando Collegian and The Orlando Spectator (three if you count The Orlando Reporter, which had one paper issue before becoming an e-zine), and also free-lanced for The Orlando Weekly. But I don't call myself a journalist because that sounds pretentious.