Next Up to The Mic

In this second episode, we welcome Avery Stempel who was our featured reader at Poets Speak Loud at the Lark Tavern on March 29, 2010.

Avery Stempel is a psycho-spiritual philosopher-poet turned mushroom farmer from the Capital Region. He enjoys wandering walks through the woods, growing delicious nutraceutical fungi for his friends, family, and the local community, and sometimes he scribbles barely decipherable things on scrap paper and calls them poems.

Please welcome, next up to the mic, Avery Stempel.

To find out more about the great poetry and spoken word community in upstate New York, go to albanypoets.com

Our theme music was “Imagination” by Danijel Zambo (https://uppbeat.io/t/danijel-zambo/imagination) License code: 44TCGFPF1L1434BE

In this first episode, we welcome Brandon Williamson who was our featured reader at Nitty Gritty Slam #89 at The Low Beat on March 3, 2015.

Brandon Williamson was born and raised in Buffalo NY. A proud Fredonia graduate, Brandon has made it his life goal to reach out to students in inner-city neighborhoods similar to the one he grew up in, painting a path for them to follow to their future. In this process, Brandon spent time as a high school teacher before creating the Pure Ink Poetry Slam. As the only monthly running poetry slam in Buffalo, the Pure Ink Poetry Slam caters to the community of poets in the area, as well as authors, musicians, dancers, and comedians. Brandon works hard to build a community of art that everyone can be a part of. He has facilitated writing and performance workshops for organizations like Planned Parenthood, Teen Reality Theatre, Buffalo Public Schools, Summer School of the Arts, University at Buffalo, Buffalo State University, and more. He has performed, competed, and won poetry slams and been featured throughout New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Ontario, Michigan, California, and parts of Europe.

Please welcome, next up to the mic, Brandon Williamson.

To find out more about the great poetry and spoken word community in upstate New York, go to albanypoets.com

Our theme music was “Imagination” by Danijel Zambo (https://uppbeat.io/t/danijel-zambo/imagination) License code: 44TCGFPF1L1434BE

We are very excited to announce the new podcast from Albany Poets - Next Up to The Mic! Each week we bring you performances from poets and spoken word artists that have graced our stages over the years. 

We are kicking off the new series on Wednesday, March 3, 2021 with the featured performance from Brandon Williamson from Nitty Gritty Slam #89 that took place on March 3, 2015 at The Low Beat on Central Avenue in Albany, NY.