The Inspired Word's (Le) Poisson Rouge Night - Thursday, Oct. 14!

Mike Geffner Presents The Inspired Word NYC poetry/spoken word event, featuring one-woman-show sensation Erica Bradshaw, Inspired Word "American Idol" contest winner Glennwood Urbz, and the angelic sound of singer/songwriter/musician Jenna Maranga. Also, a 12-slot open mic (open not only to poets and spoken word artists but also to comedians, storytellers, singers, and musicians).

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When: Thursday, Oct. 14, 2010

Where: (Le) Poisson Rouge (downstairs Gallery Bar)
158 Bleecker Street (between Sullivan and Thompson)
Manhattan, NYC

Time: 7pm (open mic sign-up starts at 6:30)

Cover Charge: $7 before 7:30, $10 after 7:30

Must be 21 years of age or older. Please make sure to bring ID.

*****

Erica Bradshaw is a professional Actor and emerging Playwright. She began her professional acting career in the world-premiere Off-Broadway production of Arthur Millers’, Mr. Peters Connections, starring Peter Falk, at Signature Theatre, NYC. She worked in various New York theatres until departing for Los Angeles in 1999 where she was a founding member of, ‘Bitches Funny’, an all female sketch comedy group opening for such acts as Andrew Dice Clay and Eddie Griffin at The Comedy Store and Masquers Cabaret. While in Los Angeles Erica performed in several productions including, Antigone. Tertiary. Sexxx (2001 LA Weekly Award Nominee Best Comedy Direction) and The Exonerated, (Nominated for five Ovation awards 2002). Moving to New York in 2005, Erica immediately landed a Court Clerk role on Law and Order: SVU, it was slated to be a one day day-player role and has parlayed into a five year recurring role on the hit television series. In 2009, Erica worked on ‘The Good Wife’, with Julianna Marguiles. So far in 2010 Erica has a Tribeca Film festival commercial and an LG commercial running. Also, Erica debuted her solo show, ‘White America Hero’ and most recently she played Larenz Tate’s sister – LaQueefa, on the F/X show ‘Rescue Me’ starring Dennis Leary.

Barefoot and usually draped in a floral gown, Jenna Maranga utilizes her dark melodies and minimalist acoustics to whisk away an audience to a bygone era of musical purity. Currently a student at New York University's Clive Davis Department of Recorded Music, Jenna has just begun to perform on the beautifully chaotic streets of New York City as if they were the wooden porches of her backyard.



Glennwood Urbz, the winner of The Inspired Word's first ever American Idol Open Mic contest. was the Alabama Slam Champion in 2005 and Alabama's Spoken Word Artist of the Year in 2007. He's also the founder of Speak Art youth poetry and the co Founder of The Loveshooter Lounge Open Mic Experience. A lifelong resident of Birmingham, Alabama, he has performed in Miami, Las Vegas, Atlanta, Chicago, Houston, New Orleans and many points in between.

Rachel Shukert, Emanuel Xavier, Deborah Collage Grison Headline The Inspired Word - Oct. 7!

Mike Geffner Presents The Inspired Word reading series, featuring Rachel Shukert, Emanuel Xavier, Deborah Collage Grison + 12-slot open mic (open to not only poets and spoken word artists but fiction/nonfiction writers, comedians, monologists, singers, and musicians).

When: Thursday, Oct. 7, 2010

Where: One and One Bar & Restaurant (downstairs Nexus Lounge)
76 East 1st Street (corner of 1st Avenue)
Manhattan, NYC
http://www.oneandoneny.com/
Phone: (212) 598-9126

Time: 7pm (open mic sign-up starts at 6:30)

Cover Charge: $10

Must be 21 years of age or older. Please make sure to bring ID.

*****

Rachel Shukert is the author the the critically acclaimed memoirs "Everything Is Going To Be Great" and "Have You No Shame?" Her writing has appeared in numerous publications including Salon, McSweeney's, Slate, Gawker, the Daily Beast, Heeb, and Nerve, and been featured on National Public RAdio. She has also contributed to a variety of anthologies, including Click: When We Knew We Were Feminists and Best American Erotic Poetry: 1800 to the Present. Her plays include Bloody Mary (NYIT nominee), Johnny Applef*&ker, Everything's Coming Up Moses, The Sporting Life and The Nosemaker's Apprentice (both with Nick Jones) and The Three Gabor Sisters, and have been produced and developed by Ars Nova, Soho Think Tank, the Williamstown Theater Festival, and the Ontological/Hysteric, as well as extensively throughout the Netherlands. With Julie Klausner, Rachel co-created, co-wrote, and co-starred in Wasp Cove, New York's favorite live prime-time 1980's soap opera. She is currently developing her first feature with Yarn Films in Los Angeles. Rachel is also a contributing editor at Tablet Magazine, and an alumnus of the Ars Nova Play Group. She received a BFA from Tisch School of the Arts, and now lives in New York City with her husband Ben and her bipolar cat, Anjelica Huston. For more info, visit http://www.rachelshukert.com/



Emanuel Xavier is author of the novel, Christ Like, and editor of several anthologies including the forthcoming, Me No Habla With Acento: Contemporary Latino Poetry. A spoken word/music compilation album, Legendary, and his new poetry collection, If Jesus Were Gay & other poems, were recently released. Recipient of the Marsha A. Gomez Cultural Heritage Award, a New York City Council Citation, and a World Pride Award, he has been featured on Russell Simmons presents Def Poetry and works for Random House. He also curates a monthly spoken word poetry series for El Museo del Barrio and was recently proclaimed a 2010 GLBT Icon by the Equality Forum for his activism and contributions to the gay community. www.emanuelxavier.com



Deborah Collage Grison is a native Chicagoan and has been writing and performing for over 20 years. She has shared the stage with some of the world’s greatest literarians and spoken word artists of our time such as Gwendolyn Brooks, Dr. Sonia Sanchez, Nikki Giovanni, Stacye Ann Chin, Regi Gibson, Saul Williams, KRS-One and The Last Poets. She received her Master of Fine Arts in Poetry from Sarah Lawrence College located in Bronxville, New York. Her work has been featured in various journals and anthologies. Collage’s first collection of work The Attic: words from the top (Writes of Passage Publishing Group) was published in 2001 received critical acclaim, as did her current publication A Love Supreme: a poemoir which was released in April 2010. This collection is a memoir told through poetry that tells the story of, with, to, through away from and back to the ultimate love of self, community, family, friendship and God. You can check her out at http://www.deborahcollagegrison.com/ or www.facebook.com/deborahcollagegrison.


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Inspired Word on Twitter: http://twitter.com/InspiredWordNYC
Inspired Word YouTube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/NYCInspiredWord
Inspired Word Meetup Group: http://www.meetup.com/InspiredWordNYC/

Poets Patricia Smith & Willie Perdomo Headline The Inspired Word - Thursday, Sept. 30!

Fascinating interview with Orson Welles about being an artist, Citizen Kane, & Rosebud

Lemon Andersen Headlines @ Mike Geffner's Inspired Word - Thursday, Sept. 23!

Mike Geffner Presents The Inspired Word NYC poetry/spoken word event, featuring the dazzling talents of HBO Def Poetry superstar Lemon Andersen + a 15-slot open mic (open not only to poets and spoken word artists but also comedians, monologists, singers, and musicians).

When: Thursday, Sept. 23, 2010

Where: One and One Bar/Restaurant (downstairs Nexus Lounge)
76 East 1st Street (corner of 1st Avenue)
Manhattan, NYC
http://www.oneandoneny.com/
Phone: (212) 598-9126

Time: 7pm (open mic sign-up starts at 6:30)

Cover Charge: $10

Must be 21 years of age or older. Please make sure to bring ID.

*****

LEMON ANDERSEN is an original cast member of Russell Simmons’ Def Poetry Jam on Broadway. The show took home the Tony Award for “Special Theatrical Event” in 2003 and the Drama Desk nomination for “Unique Theatrical Experience.” Lemon’s film acting credits include The Soloist, starring Robert Downey, Jr. and Jamie Foxx, as well as Spike Lee’s Miracle At St. Anna, Sucker Free City, She Hate Me, and he appeared opposite Denzel Washington in Inside Man. His theater credits include Slanguage, which was directed by Jo Bonney and premiered at the New York Theater Workshop to rave reviews and sold out shows. He is currently touring County of Kings the show which was produced by Spike Lee and the Culture Project at the Public Theater. The book based on the show is the Grand Prize Winner of the 2010 New York Book Festival. His poetry has been featured on everything from radio spots, to print ads, to the limited edition Absolut Brooklyn bottle and most recently on a viral spot directed by Rik Cordero. A native New Yorker, Lemon was born, raised, and currently resides in Brooklyn.

Mike Geffner's Inspired Word NYC Poetry/Spoken Word Event - Thursday, Sept. 16!

Mike Geffner Presents The Inspired Word poetry/spoken word event, featuring poets/spoken word/performance artists Luis Bernard, Jason Schneiderman, the Three GoD/Desses + 10-slot open mic.

When: Thursday, Sept. 16, 2010

Where: One and One Bar/Restaurant (downstairs Nexus Lounge)
76 East 1st Street (corner of 1st Avenue)
Manhattan, NYC
http://www.oneandoneny.com/
Phone: (212) 598-9126

Time: 7pm (open mic sign-up starts at 6:30)

Cover Charge: $10

Must be 21 years of age or older. Please make sure to bring ID.

*****

Bios:

Born in Spanish Harlem and, as he puts it, "raised in Activism." Luis Bernard is a Residential Mentor and Director of Workshops for the performance poetry group The Babble{0}nianz, which addresses community issues. He created a youth outreach organization called “The In Progress Group," has been a staunch advocate for citywide educational support for the physically challenged, and taught poetry, creative writing, public speaking and has coached participants for the ACT-SO (Afro-Academic, Cultural, Technological and Scientific Olympics) Regional competitions as well as being a committee member. He's been a featured poet at “Soul Food @ Bookies” in Portland Oregon, appeared in “DuEwa M. Frazier’s “Bringing in the New: Poems for the City” at the Nuyorican Poets Café, Vibe Theory in both Manhattan and Brooklyn. He currently lives in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn.

Jason Schneiderman is the author of Sublimation Point, a Stahlecker Selection from Four Way Books, and Striking Surface, winner of the 2009 Richard Snyder Prize from Ashland Poetry Press. His poetry and essays have appeared in numerous journals and anthologies, including American Poetry Review, The Best American Poetry, Poetry London, Grand Street, The Penguin Book of the Sonnet, Story Quarterly, and Tin House. He has received fellowships from Yaddo, The Fine Arts Work Center, and The Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference. He was the recipient of the Emily Dickinson Award from the Poetry Society of America in 2004. A graduate of the MFA program at NYU, he is currently completing his doctorate at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York.

"A Night Of Three GoD/Desses" Presents: Land of Milk, Honey and Rose" featuring MilDred "Dred" Gerestant, Tantra-zawadi and Sokhna Heathyre Mabin in an evening of music, dance/movement, poetry, and gender expression. MilDred Gerestant's work is about BEing FREE to be yourSELF without worrying about if society will accept you or not. Tantra-zawadi describes her work as "the love that I make through my art to the vision of the unseen reality." Soulful and sublime, her poetry explores love in all its forms. Tantra's latest book "Gathered at Her Sky" is available at Lulu and Amazon.com. Sokhna Heathyre Mabin creates from self-reflected observations of longing to be one with nature. A self taught artist, she has performed on stages, beaches, in caves and in sacred gardens all around the world. For more information about the God/desses or to have "A Night of Three God/desses" perform at your event, please contact Mildred Gerestant at www.dredlove.com.

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Inspired Blog: http://inspiredwordnyc.blogspot.com/
Inspired Twitter: http://twitter.com/InspiredWordNYC
Inspired YouTube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/NYCInspiredWord
Inspired Meetup Group: http://www.meetup.com/InspiredWordNYC/

JK Rowling: The fringe benefits of failure

J.K. Rowling Speaks at Harvard Commencement from Harvard Magazine on Vimeo.

Oveous & Vaimoana Headline @ The Inspired Word NYC Poetry/Spoken Word Event Sept. 9th!

Mike Geffner Presents The Inspired Word poetry/spoken word event, featuring the amazingly talented, not-be-missed Oveous Maximus!

The fabulous poet/performance artist Vaimoana Litia Makakaufaki Niumeitolu will join Oveous in the lineup, making her second Inspired Word appearance.

And, as always, there will be a 10-slot open mic (open to ANYTHING and with each person getting 3 1/2 minutes).

*****

When: Thursday, Sept. 9, 2010

Where: (Le) Poisson Rouge (downstairs gallery)
158 Bleecker Street (between Thompson and Sullivan)
Manhattan, New York City
http://lepoissonrouge.com/
Phone: (212) 505-3474

Time: 7pm (open mic sign-up starts at 6:30)

Cover Charge: $10

Must be 21 years of age or older. Please make sure to bring ID.

*****

Bios:

Oveous is a recording artist who tricked everyone into believing he was only a poet. He grew up in the Bronx and Washington Heights exposed to the richness of jazz, soul, hip hop, and latin music. An honorary member of the world-famous Nuyorican Poets Cafe, Oveous shares his own brand of "rap & spokenword". He became a National Poetry slam finalist three years in a row, is a multiple time winner at the Apollo Theater, has performed on the hit series HBO Def Poetry, and has recorded music with grammy award winner Louie Vega. Currently, you can download Oveous' albums ("Future Intentions" & "The Iambic Moment") online for free via his blog site: http://oveous.blogspot.com/



Vaimoana Litia Makakaufaki Niumeitolu is a poet, painter, actor, activist, and educator. She was born in Nuku‘alofa, Tonga; raised in Hawai‘i and Utah; and now lives, creates, and loves in New York City. Moana is the author of a poetry, performance text, and visual art chapbook, tonga provo harlem. She is a co-founding member of the women of color performance troupe, Mahina Movement, which has performed at more than 400 stages. Their CD is Speak the Fire. moana has shared her poetry and painting across the U.S. and in Fiji, Tonga, Ireland, Italy, and South Africa. She has been seen acting at the Metropolitan Opera and sharing her one-woman show, Tongue-in Paint, which had its world premiere in the soloNOVA Arts Festival at Performance Space 122 in NYC. Her other production, A Prayer for Tonga, premiered at Harvard University. She graduated from New York University, earned the Ellen Battell Stoeckel Fellowship from Yale University, and attended Columbia University’s M.F.A. Program in Acting.



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The Inspired Word Blog: http://inspiredwordnyc.blogspot.com/
The Inspired Word on Twitter: http://twitter.com/InspiredWordNYC
The Inspired Word YouTube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/NYCInspiredWord
The Inspired Word Meetup: http://www.meetup.com/InspiredWordNYC/

NYC Open Mic - Poetry, Comedy, Spoken Word, Fiction, Nonfiction, Song, ANYTHING!

Mike Geffner Presents The Inspired Word - NYC Open Mic EVERY Thursday night!

Show us what you got in four minutes or less. Poetry, Comedy, Spoken Word, Fiction, Nonfiction, Song. ANYTHING!

Mike Geffner's Inspired Word NYC Poetry/Spoken Word Event/Thursday, Sept. 2 - Molly Kat, Jamaal St.John, Tahani Salah, Justin Vinokur + open mic

Mike Geffner Presents The Inspired Word poetry/spoken word event, featuring Molly Kat, Jamaal St.John, Tahani Salah, Justin Vinokur + 10-slot open mic.

When: Thursday, Sept. 2, 2010

Where: One and One Bar & Restaurant (downstairs Nexus Lounge)
76 East 1st Street (corner of 1st Avenue)
Manhattan, NYC
http://www.oneandoneny.com/
Phone: (212) 598-9126

Time: 7pm (open mic sign-up starts at 6:30)

Cover Charge: $10

Must be 21 years of age or older. Please make sure to bring ID.

*****

Molly Kat has a degree in English Literature and Creative Writing from Binghamton University where she graduated Summa Cum Laude. She attended an international honors poetry program at Cambridge University in England and has had work published in Ragazine, ETC, Pedestal Magazine, The Fib Review, Omega Magazine, Muzzle Magazine, Howling Dog Press, and Muse Pie Press. Molly started the Binghamton University Slam team and recently became a slam master of the PSI certified venue she started in Binghamton. She competed in the Women of the World Poetry slam in Columbus, Ohio as a storm poet. She also started, publishes, produces, and edits a literary publication called “Linus” that has published poets from around the globe. Molly has shared the stage with Ainsely Burrows, John Survivor Blake, Caits Meissner, Kelly Zen-Yie Tsai, Shanelle Gabriel, Tantra Zawadi, Bonafide Rojas, Erik Words Maldonado, Tara Hardy, Tristan Silverman, and many other talented poets.



Jamaal St.John is a 34 year old poet who hails from New Rochelle NY. He is a 6 time Grand Slam Finalist for the Nuyorican Poet's Cafe. He is the 2008 Grand Slam Champion for The Nuyorican and is currently a member of The Nuyorican National Slam Team that just placed second in the nation during The National Poetry Slam held in St.Paul, MN. He is a 5 time winner of the Toronto International Poetry Slam and has performed all over the United States and Canada. He currently resides in West Orange, NJ with his wife of 8 years, Nile. He is also a member of a theatre ensemble known as The Male Ego who have performed extensively across the US. He has 3 CD's to his credit: Enterlightenment,Won't Catch Me Runnin', and Southpaw Stance.



Tahani Salah is a dynamic performer, poet and activist from Brooklyn. She’s a member of the 2007 Nuyorican National Slam Team and a graduate of Columbia University. She has a wide variety of work experience from the United Nations to non-profits like Urban Word NYC, Family International Support Team, and the AAFSC. She has been with Urban Word NYC for the last 8 years and is now the Youth Outreach Coordinator and has a place on the Urban Word Youth Board(word wide). Tahani is a 2006 Urban Word NYC Slam Team Member. She is also working on her collection of poetry available this winter titled *Respect the Mic*. Tahani has performed on a number of world famous stages from the Apollo Theater in NYC to universities in South Africa and Munich. Shehas appeared on the HBO series Def Poetry Jam. As a Muslim Palestinian-American woman, Tahani is committed to bringing light and solutions to problems faced by people from communities and experiences whose voices are silenced.



Justin Vinokur's poetry has been described as being repeatedly punched in the face. He has a degree in English and Creative Writing from Binghamton University, where he started Binghamton's only Artistic Development Group called "Breeding Grounds". Breeding Grounds is an environment aimed at fostering creativity between club members through the exchange of ideas, thoughts, and artistic works. Justin is a two time Binghamton Slam Team member, and was this year's Grand Slam Champion. He Co-hosts the Belmar open mic and poetry slam series with Molly Kat. Justin creates all the beats he uses for his tracks and is an expert on sound and intricate rhyme schemes. Some of his biggest influences are Pharaohe Monch, Tonedeff, John Coltrane, and Nat Turner.