Queer Slam

Today's episode was recorded live on March 31st, 2022 over Zoom. We begin with a touching open mic– then we get into our lovely headliners. First, is Brian Sonia-Wallace, he currently serves as the West Hollywood City Poet Laureate, and is a Laureate Fellow for the Academy of American Poets for LGBTQ+ poetry activism. He curates Pride Poets, which brings queer poets on typewriters to write for the public at Pride in June. Check out his book, The Poetry of Strangers: What I Learned Traveling America with a Typewriter, a memoir of his career as a poet-for-hire across the country. Rounding out the entire series is the incomparable Hank Henderson. He is a writer & performer whose work has been produced by the WeHo Pride Festival and Highways Performance space. He curated the LGBTQ+ reading series homo-centric for over 12 years. A 2018 Lambda Literary Fellow, he was most recently published in the anthology, Under the Belly Of the Beast.

Today’s episode was recorded live on April 25th, 2022 over Zoom. We begin today with a short and sweet open mic before getting right to our headliners. First, Gabriel Carnick is an award winning Poet, Film Director, and Cinematographer. Her works have been published in Calliope Magazine as well as Scholastic Art and Writing multiple times. She has two manuscripts currently in competition, the latest being ‘A Cacophony of Silence’. Gabriel’s film work concentrates on queer and social justice oriented stories and is available on Amazon and Youtube and you can find out more about her on IG at @GabrielCarnick and at her website GabrielCarnick.com.

Then, is Kyle Sanders, he is a Kentucky native, a Chicago resident, and a National Treasure. He's an alum of iO Theater's School of Improv and a contributing writer for the Chicago Independent Radio Project, who also writes one two-line joke a day to keep some semblance of sanity. He has performed at other storytelling events such as Outspoken and Do Not Submit, and hopes to live long enough to be considered the "Fran Lebowitz of Chicago."

We begin with a wonderful set of open mic performers before jumping into our headliners— first is Charles Jensen (he/him) is the author of the poetry collection Nanopedia and six chapbooks of poems. His third collection, Instructions Between Takeoff and Landing, was published by the University of Akron Press in 2022. He hosts The Write Process, a podcast in which one writer tells the story of crafting one work from concept to completion. He lives in Los Angeles and directs the Writers’ Program at UCLA Extension. Then, Ryan L. Gosling , a multi-hyphenate theater artist, poet, and model based in West Palm Beach Florida, with a Bachelor of Arts in Communications and African- American Studies, he attributes his competitive background in forensics, or speech and debate, as well as his deep dive into the Pan-African experience as the catalyst for his literary achievements. Ryan’s Debut project BlackBoy Magic is a short collection of poetry divulging the experiences and perspectives of a Black, Fem, Gay, Christian coming of age. Following the author's mental and spiritual journey using the written language to reckon with the intersections of two marginalizing identities, Black and Queer.

Today's episode was recorded live over Zoom on February 28th, 2022. We start with a healthy open mic before we get into our headliners. First, is David Pevsner an LA-based actor, writer, and personal organizer. His diverse stage career ranges from regional theatre to Broadway, and he has appeared in many network TV shows and films. He continues his anti-shame, anti-ageism, pro-nudity and sexuality mission with his first book Damn Shame: A Memoir of Desire, Defiance, and Show Tunes which was recently published by Random House Canada. Then we hear from Gabriel Ramirez, a Queer Afro-Latinx poet, activist, and teaching artist. He has performed on Broadway at the New Amsterdam Theatre, United Nations, The Lincoln Center, Apollo Theatre and has been featured in Huffington Post, VIBE Magazine, Blavity, and Upworthy. His electrifying writing and performance are catalysts towards healing and brings awareness to mental health, Afro-Latinidad, the African Diaspora, self love, masculinity, and social change.

Today's episode was recorded live on January 24th, 2022. We begin the show with a stacked open mic, before our two amazing headliners. First, is Sister Unity, a gay orange Hindu drag nun and one of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence with whom she has corrupted the corrupt and upheld Queer dharma for the last 26 years. Then, we have Baruch Porras-Hernandez, who has featured and competed in Poetry Slams all over the country, and in Montreal, Canada! He is a queer gay Mexican living in San Francisco who runs the Latinx variety literary showcase “Donde Esta Mi Gente?” often sponsored by KQED!

On today’s episode, we take a look back at some of our favorite pieces from 2021. You'll hear from open micers, headliners, and our wonderful host Tony Soto with his reflections on the past year.

Today's episode was recorded live on November 22nd, 2021-- we start with our open mic and then jump into our headliners. First is, Raven Daniels, a Brooklyn bred, New Orleans based artist, poet and teacher on a quest to understand themself and the world they live in. Using analog photography and poetry as a tool to question the nuance and parallels of identity, spirituality and ancestry. Then we hear from Ray, an 18 yr old youth poet from the city of Miami. Her work tries hard to reflect the world around her. She writes on blackness, queerness, religion, and having a body. She recently performed a piece at the Perez Art Museum in answer to their newest art exhibition The Artist as Poet. She continues to be as active as possible in the poetry community and is a part of a local poetry collective called "Voices: Poetry for the People."

Today’s episode was recorded live on October 25th, 2021 on Zoom. We begin with some new voices at our open mic before this month's headliners. First, Queer author, activist, and grassroots historian Owen Keehnen. His newest book, Voices in Isolation: 4 Queer Plays at a Social Distance, comes out next month. He is a cofounder of the LGBTQ history, arts, education organization, the Legacy Project and was inducted into the Chicago LGBT Hall of Fame in 2011. He is part of the founding group dedicated to making AIDS Garden Chicago a reality. He lives in Chicago with his husband Carl and their two dogs. Then, Kai Davis, she is a Black Queer writer, performer, and teaching artist from Philadelphia. Her work explores Blackness, Queerness, womanhood, and the many ways these identities converge. In 2017 Kai received the Leeway Transformation Award for her art for social change work in Philadelphia. She is currently a Co-Organizer for The Philly Pigeon poetry slam and retreat, Poetry Editor for Apiary Magazine, member of The Philadelphia Poet Laureate Committee, and the 2020 NextFab x Leeway Art and Technology Artist-in-Residence. Kai has performed for TEDX Philly, CNN, BET, PBS, and NPR, and her work has been published in The Offing (2018), The Shade Journal (2019), and Mouths of Rain (2021) among others.

It’s our Three Year Anniversary! Today's episode was recorded live over Zoom on September 27th, 2021. First, James Sie is the author of the YA novel All Kinds of Other, which was listed by Kirkus as one of “Eight YA books that Could Change Your Mind.” His debut novel, Still Life Las Vegas, was a Lambda Literary Award nominee for Best Gay Fiction. An award-winning playwright, he has had productions performed in Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, and across the country. He has contributed essays to Pen America, The Rumpus, and The Advocate. In addition to writing, James is also a voiceover artist for many cartoons and games, including Stillwater, Jackie Chan Adventures, and Avatar: The Last Airbender, where his excessive love of cabbages has earned him immortal fame. James lives in Los Angeles with his husband and son. Then, Kennon B Raines was a member of LA's first poetry slam team to San Francisco in ’93. She is an actress & performance poet having performed her poetry in: London, Paris, Montreal, Toronto, Boston, Dallas, Atlanta, NYC and Los Angeles. Her poetry was presented in a one-woman show at LaMama E.T.C. in NYC, at the Toronto Film Festival, and in several independent films. She’s lived in Virginia, Georgia, NYC, and Los Angeles. Yet no matter where she lived throughout her adult life, to paraphrase Tennessee Williams, she has always been nurtured by the kindness of gay men.

Today’s episode was recorded live on August 23rd, 2021 on Zoom.this month we are featuring and raising money for the LA Writer’s walk team participating in AIDS Walk LA which funds the critical work done by AIDS Project Los Angeles . Some of the walk team members are here for the open mic and will be sharing some beautiful stories with us. Our first headliner is Gordon Blitz. After spending forty years as an accountant, Gordon retired in 2017 and became a writing machine. During 2020, Gordon had published work in Wingless Dreamer, Two Hawks Quarterly, The Doctor T.J.Eckleburg Review, Issue #22 of Really Systems, Gay Wicked Ways and Emeritus Chronicles. On January 1st 2021, his novella Shipped Off was published as part of the Running Wild Press Novella Anthology Volume four, book one. He’s a standup comic who has performed at Canter’s and The Blackbox Theater at the GLBT Village in Hollywood. He was also a contestant on “Hear My Story” that was featured on

IMRU. His blog URL is:

https://culturecritique.blog/

Finally we hear from C.R.U.S.H., a literary and spoken word artist who has performed internationally and is a nationally ranked slam poet. They are the15th ranked female poet in the nation (Women of the World Poetry Slam 2020) and the 30th ranked poet in the world (iWPS). They are a member of the Dallas Poetry Slam Team where they took 1st place at Southwest Shootout 2019 Team Competition and 2nd Place at SoFried 2019 and IPS 2021 Regional Poetry Team Competition Their purpose is merging poetry, art, and positive energy to help others find healing and inner power to create their desired realities.