Poe-Film Tuesday
The First Tuesday of Every Month – $5/$3 for students
Tuesday October 1, 2013 – 7pm
Michael Joseph O’Hara & SLAM NATION: The Sport of Spoken Word
Michael Joseph O’Hara developed a Stockholm Syndrome love of literature while imprisoned for weeks in 4th grade library detention after an epic schoolyard fight. While locked down he developed an interest in narrative writing in general, the Arthurian Legends in particular, and managed to not get traded to any other kids for a pack of candy cigarettes. Since then, Michael’s gone through some pretty good fights and books and did some writing of his own.
He’s written the now out of print Chapbook “The Fine Art of Selling Out”, the now in print Chapbook “The Year with no Holidays”, been selected in two issues of Philadelphia’s APIARY Literary Magazine and been published by the United Nations in their anthology “Dialogue Among Civilizations through Poetry”. Once upon a time some nice people allowed him to perform at The Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival.
He’s performed in Chicago, New York City, Seattle, Minneapolis, Princeton, Providence, Trenton, Boston, Austin, Madison, West Palm Beach, Baltimore, Denver, Lancaster, Wilmington, Newark Delaware and Newark New Jersey. Most often he’s found in West Philly helping his poetry family keep The Fuze Open Mic and Poetry Slam up and running like clockwork.
Slam Nation – Before Russell Simmons’ highly acclaimed HBO series Def Poetry Jam, SLAMNATION captured the cutthroat world of spoken-word poetry with an “energy that pulses, snaps and crackles” (Chicago Tribune), Beginning in New York City at the Nuyorican Poets Café’s Grand Slam tournament, the film follows slam champion Saul Williams and three other top poets–Beau Sia, Mums the Schemer, and Jessica Care Moore–as they journey to the annual National Poetry Slam, the Super Bowl of spoken-word poetry. Judges, chosen randomly from the audience, score poets on a scale from 0 to 10.The drama unfolds as rivalries are revealed and controversies arise, underscoring larger questions of art versus ego and self-expression versus self-advancement. Produced and directed by Emmy award-winner Paul SLAMNATION will expose you to the raw energy and sheer talent of some of the greatest performance poets in the world.
Open reading starts at 7pm, followed by the feature, followed by an interview with the feature, followed by the film – Warren Longmire Host: “Us poets are notoriously bad at math, but this we know: Philly poetry is fun. Movies are fun. Poetry x movies = funner squared. If you’re ready for something a little different in your literary delights, look no ffurther then Poe-Film Tuesdays”