Featured Poets
Posted on February 2, 2007“Whether they’re the fierce undercurrent of a poet’s musings or simply jammin’ on their own, the Jeff Robinson Trio exhibit a power and confidence that flirts with perfection.” Patricia Smith
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August
Yoga On The Dance Floor
Yoga on the Dance Floor with Ekayani and the Tom Glide Space have been setting dance floors on fire by offering an integrative experience combining guided meditation that leads seamlessly into a concert and full blown dance party.The acts tri- lingual vocalist Ekayani takes us on a musical journey that “transports the yoga studio to the club world through the funky goddess of house music ” (LA Yoga Magazine 12/09). Singing in Bengali and Sanskrit awash in Glide’s Reggae Dub and chilled Brazilian rhythms this presentation is the perfect vehicle for yogi’s and newbies alike to let loose.
About Ekayani and the Tom Glide Space:
Made up of the Brooklyn based singer Ekayani and French dj and house music producer who goes by the name Tom Glide,the duo have created a top selling album in this niche market. Yoga on the Dance Floor and Sanskrit Mantras combines world class electronica with chants in Bengali and Sanskrit. The album itself was rated Four Stars in the Club section of Time Out New York (11/15/08) and has received a recent spate of accolades from LA Yoga Magazine (12/1/09) and Conscious Dancer Magazine (1/10/10). Released at the Amsterdam Dance Event their tracks are spun by the worlds top dj’s and used in yoga studios across the country from New York to Taos
Kwe – 8
Kwe
kwe is an original Afro Roots Hop artist – pure afro dub, roots reggae and hip hop poetry. After traveling the Midwest and West Coast over the last seven years, kwe has returned to Boston to release his first book of poetry (dirges of becoming), a manuscript accepted for the Masters of Arts in the Humanities at the University of Chicago (2003). kwe’s poetry was first introduced to the Boston audiences in 2000 at the Lizard Lounge, the Milky Way Lounge and Slades before independently releasing his first solo project Sonrise in 2002.
kwe has travelled extensively across the continental United States to conduct workshops, attend conferences, teach or perform. The diversity of venues where Dirges of Becoming have been performed (Second City Chicago, University of Chicago, The Hothouse, Grassroots Media Festival, UC Berkeley and many more) reflect the appeal of its message to the public. The poem Wind was published in the Spring 2004 edition of Contrary Magazine. In 2007, kwe was awarded the Bedell Scholarship by the Aspen Writers Foundation to attend and perform at the Aspen Writers Foundation Summer Words series, a literary festival focused on work by Africans, including Wole Soyinka and Chimamanda Adichie. The book in print is accompanied by an audio-CD of the poetry performed over soundscape dubs. This album, entitled Dawn, is a soundtrack guiding the reader through its meditations, moods and moments of becoming.
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Vernon "VCR" Robinson
VCR (Vernon C. Robinson) is a Dorchester native born and raised in Boston. He has been doing his thing in the poetry/spoken word scene and other cultural artistic aspects for over 25 years.
As a poet, VCR has performed at several local open mic spots and gatherings as a feature and participant. VCR has been a featured poet at The Lizard Lounge in Cambridge plenty times in his career. He has poetically graced the same stage and opened up for such notable recording artists as dead prez, The S.O.S. Band, Pharoahe Monch, Lakeside, Les Nubians, New Birth and a few more. He has also done the same for amazing poets like Amiri Baraka, Suheir Hammad, Last Poets, Jessica Care Moore, Georgia ME and others. Besides the Massachusetts areas, VCR has taken his poetry at cities and states such as New York (including the famous Nuyorican Poets Café), Atlanta, Chicago, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Dallas, Cleveland, New Hampshire, Baltimore, Los Angeles and surprisingly Cuba back in 2002 where he met the legendary Assata Shakur.
VCR is also a cultural event organizer and promoter under the company known as BloodSkinLand Productions. From that umbrella, he has created many annual gatherings which include Winter Words, Maylennium, Devotion…Black Love Day, Megacipher, SistaHood, Body Language, Young Gifted & Black, Afro-Cinema and The Red Black & Green Affair (a dedication in honor of Marcus Garvey). His most recognized gathering is an ongoing event called VerBaLizAtiOn, which is currently the longest-running open mic spot in the Boston area.
Through VCR’s performances, there is an array of memorable poems that are popular to the ears of spectators who have witnessed his stage presence and gift of gab whenever he blessed the microphone. Poems like “Tooth Decay”, “Alphabet Killaz”, and “Pigs…That Other White Meat” are among the favorites and most requested from supporters of VCR’s work. In fact, those three pieces and others can be found on his debut CD entitled “Poetic Insanity”. He has also been nominated for Best Male Spoken Word Artist at the first annual New England Urban Music Awards in 2006 and twice for Best Spoken Word Artist at the 2006 and 2007 M.I.C. Hip-Hop Awards.
In the near future, VCR has plans for perhaps a second CD, a book of his work, a possible Kwanzaa CD and one or two new annual cultural events. Please stay tuned!
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“The Lizard Lounge is the Blue Note of spoken word. Backed up by The Jeff Robinson Trio, my words felt held, or rather anointed, in the garb of jazz, which, of course, they were. I cannot wait until I can get back!” Award winning poet Taylor Mali