New Archive:
December 2000 Issue
Hey, Big
Mouth!
Pisk Dares You to Slam Your Verse
By Pearl
Gluck
Pisk,
Yiddish for Big Mouth, is a series of cultural events celebrating the
fringe and emerging arts in New York's artistic landscape sponsored by
the JCC on the
Upper West Side. On a montly basis, each event is capped by a poetry
slam, a spoken word noncompetitive competition between cutting edge poets
judged by the audience. This series is hosted by the
JCC on the Upper West Side.
Pisk is part slam, part vaudeville, where spoken word artists are given a venue to experiment with their work and perform for an interactive audience. Amateur writers share a stage with award-winning spoken word artists.
The slam is open to anyone and is introduced by a featured artist who previews his/her work. In this way, we support local Jewish artists by promoting them and informing our audience of interesting programs in New York City at large. Some of our co-hosts have been Shout Magazine, Oxygen.com, A Gathering of the Tribes, and tattoojew.com. Our featured artists have ranged from Hal Sirowitz to Amy Sohn to slammers such as those profiled below.
What's a slam?
Slams have been around since the late seventies and are rooted in beat culture. The idea is to bring poetry to the people and make the spoken word accessible. Pisk provides a space for down to earth, rowdy, raunchy, straight-forward approaches to Jewish work.
How does a slam work?
Judges are chosen randomly from the audience to score the poets on their work Olympic-style, using numbers 1-10 (with decimals) and a sense of humor. At the end of the night, the scores are tallied up and the winner is awarded.
After the season (9 months), the winners of each month compete in a Grand Slam. The slam performance is peppered with a variety of spoken-word talent. One poet might read a poem based on the Talmud, while another might jive to the rhythm of a downtown hip-hop artist. Be sure to sign on to web week (December 21-29) and take action when GenerationJ.com broadcasts our December slam: listen to the poets do their thing, and then you get to participate!
Here's a sneak peak at some of the talent coming your way in December:
Dan Sieradksi, aka The Mobiustrip, is 21 years old, born in Brooklyn,
raised in Jersey, and has been writing poetry since the 3rd grade. He
has been known to claim his heaviest writing influences as Jack Kerouac,
Allen Ginsberg, William S. Burroughs, Ernest Hemingway, Shel Silverstein,
Jim Morrison, Robert Anton Wilson, & The Wu-Tang Clan. Now, there's an
idea for an anthology!
Dan is a a published journalist and a past winner of some of the Pisk slams. He spearheads his own indie media production house and record label (the44.net) that will feature spoken word artists, cyberculture heroes, and other cutting edge artists, musicians, and writers. His own spoken word is a not-to-be-missed sensational blend of hip hop, Jewish mysticism, and street cred attitude. In addition to his charity work with Students For a Free Tibet and The Rainbow Family, Dan is a member of NORML, The Revolution Party & the Church of the Subgenius. Sample his stuff here or write him at mobiustrip@the44.net.
The irreverent "Reverend Jen," aka Jennifer Miller, is not for the faint
at heart. In fact, she'll give your artistic sensibility such a boost
you'll want to redefine your own threshold for performance art. She started
her own religion called Hal,
the tenets of which might be dangerous to outline. In short, and to quote:
it's about being honest.
Honest and straight-forward is definitely the underlying trait in all of Reverend Jen's work, where she talks about her obsession with trolls, monkeys, and unicorns. She herself is an elf, I'm told, and you, too, can check it out on her website.
Jen is best known for her groundbreaking series, "The Anti-Slam," which does not support competition in the spoken word arts: "The whole idea that you could reduce art to a mathematical equation made me sick. I couldn't believe that people were voluntarily subjecting themselves to that sort of [thing]," she said, and the Anti Slam was born.
Despite her take on it, Reverend Jen will be participating in our online Slam! Reverend Jen performs around New York and in particular the Lower East Side where she hosts events and holds forth on her unique take on life as lived in general.
JJ Appleton, aka Jason Appleton, a musician and songwriter who inhabits
the land between Pop, Blues, and Rock and Roll. JJ Appleton cooks up an
intensely addictive mix of dirty guitar licks, catchy lyrics, and heartfelt
soul. His unique voice and deeply personal words catch the listener and
bring them into his world of music. Who is JJ Appleton? Well, he's actually
a writing duo of Jason Appleton and David Wolfert. The two have been writing
together for the last two years and creating a repertoire of poetic pop
and roll. The tunes keep coming and the fans keep doubling, so be sure
to come check out the next JJ gig in New York or online during Jewish
Web Week.
JJ has written for a number of TV spots including ones for ABC, Bravo, Discovery, Food Network and many more. As a staunch supporter of the Screen Actors Guild strike, you may have caught JJ in the act during his performance at the recent Bryant Park SAG rally. Check out his site, and listen to his tunes www.jjappleton.com or write him at jbone99@hotmail.com.
So,
catch us online during web week, and/or come on down to Pisk on December
18th to get lit a whole new way on Hanukkah. Join Leanne Sims (her poetry
is in this issue of No Exit) with Laura Berman (check
out her music,) and other featured slammers such as Reverend Jen and
Dan Sieradski. To sign up to read, write Pearl
Gluck, or call 212.580.0099 x204. Or, just show up @ CB's Gallery,
313 Bowery (off Bleecker Street). It starts at 8 and it's $5.
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