Labtop will meet twice monthly from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., for a workshop on the second Monday and an open mike on the third; tonight’s inaugural event features Slam Nuba poet Ayinde Russell, a choice Dougherty praises unequivocally. “I had a chance to work with Ayinde on the Merc team in 2009, and he’s an absolutely incredible writer and a dynamic performer; he has an amazing stage presence,” he says. “His work is some of the best around in making the jump from the page onto the stage.” That’s a good start — and in the future, Dougherty, who touts the event with the slogan “Get in the Lab,” hopes to mix up presenters, offering alternating male and female perspectives as well as lecturers from genres other than slam poetry.
Labtop Poetry is free and open to people age eighteen and older. The Bookery Nook is at 4280 Tennyson Street; for information, visit www.thebookerynook.com or look up Labtop Poetry on Facebook.
Mon., Sept. 13, 6:30-8:30 p.m., 2010
