April 20: What rhymes with Discovery Night winner?
For years the Art Bar series has awarded a feature to the winner of the Discovery Night competition each January.
The last time around we awarded two features to Jennifer Marston and Eytan Millstone, who tied for first place. Which was interesting, because two poets couldn’t be more different.
Spoken-word artist Relevant fit the evening’s spirit very nicely. His opening set doubled as a vocal warm-up for the audience.
A note to would-be features. The next Discovery Night will be coming up soon, on January 11, 2011.
(Photo by Cynthia Gould)
Relevant says his main mission is to get you to think… Then MELT YOUR BRAIN with sheer awesomeness!!! He is probably the best human beatbox to hit the Art Bar stage (yes there have been others).He’s a bit a poetry remix artist, who sampled Billy Jean, K’naan’s “Somalia” and a poem by previous Art Bar feature Chris Gilpin. He’s written probably the only love poem to mention eye-gouging. He also put down heartfelt social commentary about war, suicide and D’jibouti his African birthplace.
(Photo by Cynthia Gould)
Jennifer Marston tells everyone, “Tonight I’m going to read all my poems.”
While she is an active freelance writer and blogger, Jennifer confesses she doesn’t write many poems. Nonetheless, specimens of her humble output were enough to impress Discovery night judges.
After Relevant’s poems about big issues, Marston offered smaller narratives, to quote her poet friend Nathaniel G. Moore.
Her poems talk about the small details of a friendship, a house, a romance.
“Small and soft things can cause great damage,” she observes in a soft voice that is sometimes lost in the room’s echoes in this recording.
(Photo by Cynthia Gould)
Before his Discovery night victory Eytan Millstone (aka Eytan Crouton 1st Disciple) was, and still remains, a regular at the Art Bar open stage.
Eytan not your usual rapper. He rhymes about how he loves his parents, doesn’t fight, hates nightclubs and isn’t gangster.
Eytan’s own take on keepin’ it real has won more than the Discovery Night. He’s also fared well at a number of local slams.
(Readings recorded by Mindi Saint)
