Lizard Lounge Poetry Jam

Iyeoka was the featured poet last Sunday and she was amazing as usual! I can’t explain how proud I am of Iyeoka! She’s been with the Lizard Lounge Poetry Jam from the very beginning and she has turned herself into a national performance poet. She tours the country alot now.

Her feature was incredible! She knows how to take over a room and move people!! It was a good house despite the Oscars!! Afro DZ ac won the slam again with Douglas Bishop coming in second. That opens up another wildcard slot in the semi-finals. It was a close slam. Afro beat Doug by one tenth of a point. I hosted the slam this time and it was fun. The people were hyped and ready for some action!! We are half way throw out qualifying season. Just a few slam left to make it to the semi-finals. Come down and get in the slam or the open mic if you don’t like the competition.

We had an incredible time at the Lizard Lounge Tenth Anniversary Celebration. For me, it started early putting up decorations with Jeff, his friend Wesley (Malcolm X to Jeff’s Martin Luther King, Jr. in the play “The Meeting”), Margot, Trish, Joey, and the Lounge staff. Wesley was a master at our toughest job - blowing up all those balloons. Suzanne, the manager, was setting up for all the wonderful food the Lounge contributed, including my favorite - the gigantic martini glass filled with Hershey’s kisses! Trish’s nieces made my other favorite - two DELICIOUS and beautifully decorated chocolate cakes to pay tribute to the Jeff Robinson Trio and our Tenth Anniversary. Our former doorman and longtime Lizard Love Keith aka DJ Axel Foley was there to spin records and infuse the house with the proper beats. Jeff invited all the musicians who sub or have played for us to sit in with the Trio and set up early. Our gorgeous and fabulous bartenders Brynn and KC were on hand to serve food and drinks. Our doorwoman and sister poet Meghan took the night off to party with us. Some of our former staff and regulars joined us. I was thrilled to meet the owners who have been so supportive to us over the years - they seemed to have had a great time as well and joked that in the beginning they didn’t think the Poetry Jam would last six weeks never mind 10 years.

We had a packed house. The first hundred people through the door got a CD of the Jeff Robinson Trio that Jeff had made for the occasion and a T-shirt that management surprised us with that has a lizard and a mic on the front and congratulations for “Ten Years of Words, Beats, and Love” to the Poetry Jam and the Jeff Robinson Trio on the back. Billy Beard, the booking agent for the club who first gave Jeff the gig, designed the fabulous T-shirts and was on hand to help us celebrate. A select few – Jerome, Blake, Trish, Tom our SLAM scorekeeper, and yours truly SlamMama – got from Jeff special Lizard Lounge Poetry Jam canvas bags, which I’m sure will be all the rage! Trish had special gifts for the band as well.

I hosted the SLAM, which was high energy and the stage an obstacle course with the DJ and all the band members’ gear, adding to the excitement. The sign-up sheet was overfull before 8 PM - we can only have 8 slammers but people added numbers to the list. I asked the additional slammers to come back next week. (Our SLAMs have been full pretty much all this year, so come early to sign up!) I easily found judges early on who did a great job. AfroDZak won the SLAM and went on to play trumpet with the band for the rest of the evening.

The feature, commemorating the work and lives of Thomas Grimes and Lisa King, was wonderful and moving. Jeff set a beautiful tone by reminding us that as poets our words live on even after we are no longer here. Friends and family of Thomas and Lisa shared their favorite pieces by the authors with humor, grace, and much love.

Bryonn Bain, a longtime Poetry Jam supporter and one of my favorite poets who was on our first national SLAM team, made a special appearance to host our open mic with his usual vibrant spirit and enthusiasm and brought along two other superstars from the national scene – Stacyann Chinn and Jason Carney. They, along with our own Regie Gibson, gave wonderful performances. Because of the large crowd, however, many people who signed up were not able to get on the open mic and Bryonn didn’t bring poets up in order, so there were some hurt feelings, including mine, at the end of the evening. I had prepared a special dedication for the Trio but did not get to present it until after the bar had closed. But, it was a wonderful evening nonetheless and I hope anyone who had wanted to read comes back next week – it’s Iyeoka’s feature and we’ll be continuing our celebration!!!

Well, I don’t know where to start!! it was a great evening that also had some very low notes! I understand that not everyone had as good a time as I did and I am very sorry for that!

I can’t say how proud we weathered the storms and “The Truth marched On” last Sunday!! If you were not there you should just ask somebody. You are bound to get many different views of what the night was like but I am probably not the best person to tell you but I will say I am getting ready for the next one! I wont make the mistakes I made for this last one and I will add on to the good stuff!!

I want to apologize for the website crash but we are back and kicking! Speaking of being back and kicking, Omekongo Dibinga was the featured poet on February 11th. Omekongo was on our very first slam team and he had his first feature at the Lizard Lounge more than five years ago. he now lives in DC but was back to rock the house last Sunday! He was great and inspiring! He has done so much since he relocated to DC. He has a publishing company and has released several CDs and books and has performed with everyone from Nikki Giovanni to Nelson Mandela! His beautiful wife Kendra was there as well and they now have a nine month daughter!

Omekongo’s work is very political and conscious and he has grown very much in his performance and presentation. I am very proud to have given him his first feature. he is now studying for his PhD!

Shira won the slam! She was electric and funny and I had a feeling she would be hard to beat. Christopher Johnson gave her a good push in the final round but he went overtime and she edged him out by one tenth of a point!

Eric Darby was our host. He is back from iWPS and it was good to see him. He’s a fun host and good poet. Great slam and wonderful vibe!

Next Sunday is our 10th Anniversary celebration! An event not to be missed!