January 13, 2009 Literary Arts

Poetry never slammed so good

Throw Collective releases its first album of poetic beats

by Pascale Rose Licinio

Walt Whitman and Robert Frost combat for the ultimate honour of Slam Poetry Champion.
GRAPHIC Vivien Leung

Next Sunday, the Throw Collective is offering a 3-in-1 poetic night at Casa del Popolo, with a slam session, a concert of poetic music and the simultaneous launch of its first album.

On stage, poets will compete in the first slam session of the season. Poetry and music will merge during the Montreal debut of Instant Release, the band fronted by slam poet Greg “Ritalin” Frankson, one of the founders of Ottawa’s Capital Poetry Collective.

Copies of 3, 2, 1 THROW! will be sold in the café, featuring 20 slam poets who participated in recording the CD at Casa del Popolo last October. It features, among others, members of the collective such as Chris Masson, Jason Freure, Nick Denton and Chloe Haboush, special guest Kaie Kellough and members of Ottawa’s Capital Poetry Collective.

As Masson explained, the slam poets who participated and their fans now have a performance that will live on in the physical world, instead of just their memories.

“The ephemerality of spoken word shows is part of their magic, but it can be sort of bittersweet, like ‘Hey show, where’d you go? We were just starting to have fun... I miss you. Come back,’” said Masson, a Concordia student and head co-ordinator of the Throw Collective.

The album allows fans the opportunity to relive the experience, or, for others to enjoy it for the first time. “Sometimes a poem can hit you harder when you can focus in on the sound of it,” explained Denton, also a Concordia student.

The Throw Slam Poetry Collective has been very active over the past two years, helping make Montreal more visible on the Canadian Spoken Word scene. Thanks in part to that, Montreal will host the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word in 2010, which means that the best slam poets will meet and compete in the city for the national slam championships.

In preparation for the nationals in 2010, the Throw Collective will hold slams starting February at a new venue, Le Parc des Princes, on Avenue du Parc, the third Friday of every month at 7 p.m.

Masson said that the collective was also considering “a poetry-meets-circus cabaret style show,” as well as a new kind of performance inspired by an initiative born in Victoria under the name “Poetry in the Raw.”

“It’s like a regular spoken word show, except all the poets are naked,” he explained enthusiastically.

The show is free and starts at 7:30 p.m., Sunday January 18th, at Casa Del Popolo, 4848 Saint-Laurent. 3, 2, 1, THROW! (Wired on Words) costs $15.