Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry @ HBO TV ch

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Does any know some 'boudis? :) I mean how can one participate in it? Been there and no guidelines or other instructions. Am I to understand that the participants are chosen and invited by the host w/o pitching or querying him?

Thanks,

Dan
 

aboyd

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Well, Poetri is a member of Writer's Write. You can see his profile here:

http://wwforums.com/eve/myspace?x_myspace_page=profile&u=259607035

However, the last time he posted was over a year ago. He's been on the DPJ tour since then, I think. Whatever the case, you could become a member of wwforums.com, and send a PM to Poetri. Maybe he could be your advocate.

You'd probably need to already have a few good performance pieces under your belt. Good luck.

-Tony
 

aboyd

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Poetri is a poet on Russell Simmon's Def Poetry Jam tour.

The HBO show is simply highlights from the nightly shows they do. That's why I say that you'd likely need a good amount of performance poetry already under your belt -- to get on the HBO show, you're typically a member of the tour and perform many many times before appearing on TV.

-Tony
 

aboyd

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I'm not a member of the tour, I don't really know anything about how it is conducted. I was surprised to hear you say that the tour isn't mentioned on the DPJ site, so I went to have a look. You're right. It's not there anymore. So maybe it's over. I don't know.

I saw the show live when it was in San Francisco, and I've seen Poetri on the HBO show. At the live show, there were a lot of great performances (it's poetry, but there is a LOT of theatre going on), and a couple weak performances. The one young woman with the poem about her mother in the kitchen, cooking traditional Spanish (I think?) meals, man, that was amazing.

Anyway, contact the performers. Send a PM to Poetri, or try someone else you've seen on the show. Most of them have Web sites. Ask them. In fact, ask two of them. See if they both respond with the same info, or completely different stuff.

-Tony