It felt like home.  Many familiar faces from the Word of Mouth Community joined forces with GPI to create quite a ride.   Shamaine, Lance, Jonathan, Brady, Shahid, Laurie, Jess, Shervin, Elizabeth all blessed the mic to the beats of Ken, Mustafa, Jess and others……  see a review from one of the attendees — couldn’t sum it up better:

http://capitolb.wordpress.com/2008/11/11/womecoming-at-bossa-bistro/

Wow — of course you already know that the Young Women Drumming Empowerment Young Women ROCKED THE HOUSE! Not only did they lay down the beats, but they also spat their own truths on the mic. It’s a beautiful thing to be able to support the up and coming female leaders in our city.

Graciela talked about transformation of ego, Bashira her sudden change of heart, as well as rocking a song with Camile. Amina spoke of the youth and what they need to flourish. Laurie, Kristen and Jessica harmonized this little light of mine, Ted led us all in a “close them down” chant around torture, Lacy asked us to pay attention, Courtney’s beautiful voice lead the way, Elizabeth talked about slack-activists and Kelly, Ollo and Will rounded out the evening.

Abasi, Ken, Johanna, Mark, Kristen & Elizabeth dropped beats — and everyone was grooving.

Thanks for helping us wrap up our 2008 outdoor season. We’ll be back out doors in April/May, depending on the weather!

Don’t forget — we take it inside next month — see our calendar for details!

THANK YOU - beautiful community - those who were there and those who wanted to be — for helping mark our 5th year anniversary with peace and creativity.

See you next month — remember we are now shifting to the 2nd Monday of each month. Join us for that indoor vibe!

For those of you who came out — you know how AMAZING the evening was!  We had several new voices I-J, James, Matthew, Greg and Harold.  Co-founders in from CA, Laila and Fadi spat fire on the drums and mic.  Some of the usual crew, Damian, Laurie, Ted, Lacy, Nick, Jessica, Hawah and Cherie — all in da house (Cherie debuted an amazing new song).  Jali-D our musical feature (assisted by some new sound expertise & equipment via Gerri Ruef and Mark Nickens) was OFF THE HOOK!  Not to mention our full-on percussion section with Ken, Johanna, Vicki, Fadi and others.  However, the highlight of the evening, was the return of Lauren, our youngest guerrilla.  We celebrate our 5-year anniversary in October – and Lauren used to come in 03-05 when she was 3-5 years old.  Last night she returned as a growing 8.5 year-old and treated us all to several songs and encouraged us to “raise your hands, people.”   Even if you aren’t an old-time GPIer, she undoubtedly melted your heart!  Thanks to all that came out read and supported the space.  Don’t miss our FINAL outdoor open mic of 2008 on October 20!

Hey everyone — just a quick shout out to let you know we started a Facebook Group - DC Guerrilla Poetry Insurgency.

Alot easier for sharing photos and videos (although it would be great if you would keep those coming here too).

Join us here, there and everywhere!

Next Open Mic is Monday - 9/15, 7pm at Dupont Circle (at fountain).  Jali-D is the musical feature — and he’s amazin!

Lea, with bassist, Will and Kristen on djembe, filled the Dupont airwaves with soulful sounds. Sprinkled in were Ronnie, Laurie, Mo, Jeff, Dylan, Ellie, Damian, Jessica, Mario, Kristy, Ann, Ted, Jorge (from Word of Mouth days!), Kristen and Chris. Duets by Jeff and Dylan and Laurie and Jessica. Joe Kennedy provided color with his flute and Graciela gave us a little belly dancing healing. We are grateful to everyone who created tonight’s show. It’s not just the artists, but all the amazing energy that comes from the audience that makes 3rd Monday’s in Dupont magical. Thanks for coming out!

The heat was on and not just because of the humdity! Christylez Bacon and Slice D were sic — beatboxing, strumming, drumming and spittin rhymes. Sidewalk chalkers in da house - creating artistic delights. Lacy was shaking that booty and balancing the hoops. A young breaker threw down some moves. Johanna, Vicky and Joe provided additional rhythm — and of course poets. A personal highlight was Elizabeth Croydon but she was not alone — amazing creations spewed forth Chris, Jeff, Laurie, Lois Thundercloud, Damian, Dana (boobs!), Ronny, Gayle, Joyce Robinson Hall (FREE DC), Ted, Zaccai, Godson, JT, Mark, Lacy, Ilene, Jay and K-lo Flow (b-more in da house) all represented DC poetry magic. And the crowd….the shizzle bizzle.

Don’t miss August 18 — or next Lyrical Ambush — Mo will be the MC so you know it’s gonna be fun. We’ll announce the musical feature once we have it lined up!

Blessings and gratitude to all who came — physically and in spirit!

It was recently the 27th anniversary of the Proposition One Vigil outside of the White House. Prop One is an anti nuclear grassroots movement, that has been doing the vigil since june 3rd 1981 when William Thomas though most know him as just Thomas sat down and then later Concepcion Picciotto (just known by her first name) sat down with him and well there begins some history and here is my poem about it that was written for their big 25th celebration

In 1981 a man sat down

he sat down on the cold white house ground

all he wanted was honesty and wisdom but the president 

couldn’t make a  nuclear proliferation treaty 

cause he kept building tanks missiles and bombs 

didn’t care if the world was soon to be gone

then very soon a lady sat down

she sat down on the cold white house ground

she joined up with the man, Thomas his name, 

Concepcion hers, they weren’t playing a game

they built up many signs, some big and some small

they drummed and fasted throughout the fall, but the cops came and took them away

said you will not have a better day, but they all came back 

and stayed there through years of tragedies tears and presidential fears

they stood up tall and they will not fall 25 (now 27) years and thats not all

For more info about the vigil and whatnot

http://prop1.org/

The rain can’t wash away the guerrillas! Clearing up just in time for us to have a spectacular evening! Poets were spitting their words  — seasoned vets Mo, Ted and Jeff were joined by newcomers Willow, Ronnie, Chris and Timothy Tattoo. Special shout-out to all the women who answered the call, Lyndi, Lacy, Kristen, Laurie and especially Cherie whose beautiful voice touched the soul. Vishal Kanwar, Sriram Gopal and Kristin Arant got the circle bumping with fusion music featuring the live Tablas, flute and various percussion instruments laid against some hot beats. The sidewalk chalking was sic with Cesar & Wendy leading the charge. Folks are digging our new format incorporating musical features into our Ambushes. Pulling in quite an audience, including a full out dance party to end the evening last night’s Open Mic exceeded our wildest expectations. We create the vehicle and YOU create the show. Much love, blessings and gratitude to all that came out and all those there in spirit. Next Lyrical Ambush is Monday, July 21, 7pm! You won’t want to miss it!

Tonight, the SF Collaborative Arts Insurgency celebrates its 5th anniversary with its weekly lyrical ambush outside the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) station at 16th & Mission Streets. The crew's been rocking since 2003, and recently got noted by a series of weekly papers, including SF Weekly, the Bay Guardian, and even The Onion!

In addition to the weekly open mic, some cats from the scene also hold down the 16th & Mission Review, a monthly poetry anthology. To submit your work for publication, email submissions to Brandon at seven7htangent [at] gmail.com. Also, an initiative organized by some of the CAI's founders saw the third annual Poems Under the Dome just a few weeks ago, featuring an evening of poetry inside SF's elaborate City Hall.

Anytime you're in SF, pass by 16th & Mission on Thursday night. We'll be out in force from 9pm until around midnight…..