"While the poets who got it all started will never be forgotten, the man who organized the birth of San Antonio bar poetry, Ben Ortiz has somehow become synonymous with the word infamous ... While his downright arrogant and in your face behavior got him into confrontations at times, it was that same direct approach that engraved the much-needed mentality to establish an aggressive stage presence. ... Even today, the no holds barred remnants of what Ortiz began are still seen momentarily in the present day molding of what makes up today's lighter show. ..."
Firecracker Magazine feature on the San Antonio Poetry Slam
circa May 2002
For the faithful local underground community who remember the glory days of The Re:Verb Lounge, they might recall more than the infamous flying drumstick that ended the short, but much heralded Tuesday night run which marked the beginning of San Antonio's first and only Nationally Certified Poetry Slam.
As Puro Slam prepares to begin the three-week long trial process in selecting this year's local team to represent S.A. at Nationals for the third time, people can't help but recall and celebrate the early impressions made by the Re:Verb poets with their performances. On April 29th, the newest underground open mic, FREEDOM, will be holding a one time only Re:Verb Slam Reunion to honor, celebrate and showcase the roots of underground bar poetry in San Antonio. The show will get rolling around 10:00PM at Strutters on St. Mary's, and sign up begins at 9:00PM and will be limited only to those who "slammed for food" at The Re:Verb. For those who miss the old days, simply weren't old enough to attend or were just plain oblivious about the show, this will be a rare chance to catch some of the greatest poets, emcees, and performance artists this city has ever had all in one single performance.
These poet's unique styles and talents worked overtime to represent the variety reflective of the audience, including the early outpour of women willing to take control of the show and tell men what it really was like to be woman. Jacquie "Kickasses" Moody, Amalia Ortiz, Shannon McGarvey, Dragonfly, and Heather Mockridge all paved the way for other females looking for someone to represent the sometimes-overlooked presence of women lost in all the machismo of San Antonio men.
Each of the women addressed long running stereotypes and taboos with an aggressive humor and style unique in their own way. Whether addressing the lifestyle of being raised as a catholic schoolgirl, the paranoia of a Peeping Juan, or the irritation of Cat Calls, they each made their presence known locally in a sport dominated by males on the national level. Nowadays, it's become harder and harder to find strong local female competitors and discussing it with the city's first ever Def Poet, Amalia Ortiz, revealed the difficulty for women to bare themselves in front of a judgmental audience. For Ortiz, she has used her theatrical background to prep herself and encourages more women to step up to the stage.
While the poets who got it all started will never be forgotten, the man who organized the birth of San Antonio bar poetry, Ben Ortiz has somehow become synonymous with the word infamous, rather than adjectives leaning more towards the positive. While his downright arrogant and in your face behavior got him into confrontations at times, it was that same direct approach that engraved the much-needed mentality to establish an aggressive stage presence. That trademark "It's A Fucking Slam" attitude is what allowed San Antonio to become known as one of the toughest spots in the nation to grab an audience…a grocery list just won't do. Even today, the no holds barred remnants of what Ortiz began are still seen momentarily in the present day molding of what makes up today's lighter show.
The all too important hosting duties which had never really reached the consistency in which B. Ortiz achieved has apparently found a winning formula with a musical chairs format of four female hosts. The rotation consists of A. Ortiz who makes her presence by trying not to, and leaving the pace to the poets and their audience. As for Dragonfly, you could count on no such thing and at times, she should remind herself of the three-minute time limit. McGarvey also takes a drive over from San Marcos where she now attends SWT to entertain the audience with her sassy and raunchy take on hosting duties. The final member represents the latest generation of Slam Poets in Monique, who hosts the monthly "Bling-Bling Slam" which awards the first place poet with cash as the just reward.
In speaking with current organizer Jason "Shaggy" Gossard, one has to wonder how Puro Slam, which has become one of the most consistent weekly draws on a national level, can't draw more touring performers. With Def Poets on HBO slowly formatting Spoken Word Poetry into pop culture form, why haven't the big names penned S.A. on their stop list when the crowds at Sam's Burger Joint are reaching all time highs. Partly due in part to the many new gimmicks such as the Bling-Bling Slam, The Survivor Slam and The Cover Slam and an overall curiosity about the booming poetry scene across the board.
Gossard reminds those who haven't stepped to the mic at a regular slam, the fact remains you must earn the respect of an audience because they don't give a damn about who you are, or where you're from. They only care about what you have to say and how you say it.
He also feels that for the most part, San Antonio has become a much needed reality check for some nameless traveling poets who expected the red carpet treatment upon their arrival. Those rights are only reserved for a handful of local poets here in the underground world of poetry and their names aren't Sandra or Naomi.
The names used most often in association with the Re:Verb Slam, can be narrowed down to seven gentleman who, with the before mentioned women, combined to create the chemistry which drew sitting on the floor type crowds week in and week out. The first ever S.A. Poetry Grand Slam Champion, Juan Antonio Meza-Campeon moved on to print Revolutionary Reborn, as well as continue to work on the current CD project he hopes to release soon. Charles Peters known as one of the Southtown Poets, has made his mark as one the city's most respected self-published writers. His phenomenal show runs of the second Friday of each month at Simply The Best Catering, and is known as bringing out some of the most talented performers around today.
Other poets used their hip-hop influences, emcee techniques and musical talents to further their artistic dreams later on down the road. Those gentleman were simply known as Cosmo, Cros-One and Dagger. Cosmo now performs as lead vocalist with Taco Land's legacy to local fame, The Shit City Dreamgirls. Cros-One and Dagger teamed with a host of other emcees to form Konstant Output for a brief run, who each split their own ways upon Cros's momentary departure to Las Vegas. Dagger and Cros-One joined forces upon his return, to head into the studio on what will be more of a spoken word format with Dagger laying down the beats to create a unique flavor to the always-eccentric diversity in this city.
Two other notable regulars include somewhat of a mythological spirit who appears from time to time in the form of Oliver Carey Grimball and the entertaining consistency from Oba. Carey stormed into his first slam at The Re:Verb halfway through the first round and walked out not only as the night's champion, but as somewhat of an icon for those who had the luxury of being taken by his work. A. Ortiz and myself included, still regard Carey as one of the most influential and inspirational poets we've ever seen along with Peters, whom has not had the opportunity to head to the National Level of Slam. One of the most traveled poets locally, Peters has yet to fully achieve the national notoriety he well deserves as one of the hardest working and most talented poets in the business, along with Campeon.
Somehow over time and a number of venue changes, many of these poets moved on and made way for other fine artists to take over Puro Slam and give it their own run. A. Ortiz and Gossard reminisced over the team's Cinderella first run at The 2000 Nationals, in which the team took second place in a field of 55 teams. Performing with the couple were T-Bone and Rich Perin, who made waves with their powerful group piece on the NRA. Team alternates included Moody and cult favorite, Dan Allen who still regularly competes in his trademark style. While their first trip in 2000 to what has become known as "Poetry Summer Camp" was magical, their second served up as a rude awakening of sorts. Unable to draw from the unresponsive audience at an unsuspecting Seattle restaurant, the team failed to make it out of the first round of competition.
In trying not to dwell on the past too much, Puro Slam now continues onward after the recent departure of Slam Master, Phil West. They will now head out with their third coach in Gossard, who will be switching over from team member status after a two-year run. With Perin, Moody, T-Bone, Gossard, and possibly A.Ortiz all stepping aside, that leaves Monique and 2001 alternate Celeste Davis as the only possible returnees for the 2002 team tryouts. This now allows room for newcomers like fan favorites Randy, Stefan, Adam and Jay to take a shot at the limelight in Minneapolis. Or who knows, maybe someone from the Re:Verb folklore like the well deserving McGarvey, Campeon, Peters or Cros-One will come out and take the legacy to a National Level. For now, we can only celebrate the immense amount of talent in this city, while never forgetting the roots which sprouted at the Re:Verb. Let's never forget, that the success for the 2002 Puro Slam Team to be selected later on this month would never have been possible, should that infamous chant had not been created and echoed weekly on the corner of Avenue B. Never Forget it…"It's a Fucking Slam!"
By Angel Castorena
Will Salas 'slam' for the arts?
Ben Ortiz ... has cultivated San Antonio's highly entertaining "Puro Slam"
performances through various venues for more than a year now ... [and] the
audience has grown to the hundreds for recent performances. But Ortiz,
entertainment editor of the weekly Current, wants to make the Slam even
hotter.
Isn't life entertaining? New York is consumed with righteous debate about a
cartoon painting daubed with elephant dung. The Gothic horror tale of
"Frankenstein," as retold by City Council's gothic activist Mario Salas, is
a cause célébre.
Surprised? Heck no.
This is, after all, the entertainment age. It's also the age of
"information" overload, of short-little-attention-span, when even the
nightly news is recast as entertainment, snappy sound bites rule even high
politics, and sports are a slam-dunk.
Which leads us to the Slam.
In case you didn't know it, San Antonio is home to an emerging art form
called the poetry slam - slams, as the most recent form of the venerable
poetry reading. High-energy, pop-culture "slams" bear roughly the same
relationship to traditional poetry readings as Chris Ofili's "Holy Virgin
Mary" bears to the "Mona Lisa."
You don't have to be a poet to slam. You show up, you perform your "poem,"
and randomly selected judges rate you for entertainment value. It's
entertainment.
Ben Ortiz, who has cultivated San Antonio's highly entertaining "Puro Slam"
performances through various venues for more than a year now, says the
audience has grown to the hundreds for recent performances. But Ortiz,
entertainment editor of the weekly Current, wants to make the Slam even
hotter.
He's invited Mario Salas to slam out a few bars of his "Frankenstein" at
the next slam, set for Tuesday at the El Toro Club on North St. Mary's.
"San Antonio's puro ˇSLAM! would be willing to contribute $1 and one bottle
of Shiner Bock toward the publication of 'Frankenstein: The Dawning and the
Passing,' so long as Councilman Mario Salas would be willing to read a
portion of the book at our spoken-word scrimmage against other local poets
who likewise are struggling artists in search of patrons," Ortiz offered in
an e-mail to media folks.
To deepen the political implications of the proposed event, he's throwing
open the Slam to members of the city's Ethics Review Board, recently
slammed by Salas.
"Mr. Salas will not be able to shout anyone down, nor will he be able to
keep members from citing newspaper or other media reports, if they choose
to slam," Ortiz says.
This could be a supreme political entertainment, raising the rough comedy
of City Council to an art, and garnering attention for yet another worthy
local art event.
Another hint: Since popular artist Robert Tatum, whose clever,
controversial cubist mural of the Virgin of Guadalupe created a flap in
'97, has supported the Slam with prizes in the past, perhaps he'd do a
special tribute to Ofili's much-more-celebrated (and considerably more
offal) art as a prize.
Think national media coverage! Think putting S.A. on the map!
"We're hoping Mr. Salas will seriously consider helping us lobby City
Council for funds to build the SLAMAMODOME spoken-wordatorium that could
conceivably host the National Poetry Slam, say, in the year 2005," Ortiz
says.
Entertainment indeed.
By Susan Yerkes
Express-News columnist
San Antonio Express-News_S.A. Life section, 10/6/99