Start Time: Thursday, August 5, 2010 at 7:00pm
End Time: Friday, August 6, 2010 at 12:00am
Location: Vibe Lounge
Street: 203 Audubon Ave. @ 175 st
City/Town: Washington Heights, NY


In this 6th installment of The W.H.A.T? Show we're featuring 2 of the nationally renown super group El Grito De Poetas; Chance & Simply Rob.

Chance has been reciting and hosting for about 8 years. As the eldest of three, he receives inspiration from everyday life situations and most commonly uses a blend of comedy and drama to reflect his real-life experience. Chance has become recognized in many poetry venues and Universities which he has been a featured performer at such as The Bowery Poetry Club, Cemi Underground, Cornelia Street Café, The Green (in L.A.), The Nuyorican Poets Cafe, Amherst University, Boston University, Fordham University, John Jay College, Pace University, Sarah Lawrence College, to name just a few. He’s been the popular host of "No intro’s" a monthly showcase which he co-curates for the past 4 years. Chance also hosted The First Annual New York Hip-Hop Dance Convention at Sony Studios. Chance has been published in Raul Maldonado`s The Company We Keep and “erato” Park Slope Poetry Project. Chance is the founding member of the hardest working poetry troupe on the scene "El Grito de Poetas" a collective of diverse Latino and Latina poets dedicated to the craft and performance of modern poetry., Chance`s confident stage presence makes him a performer to watch.

Simply Rob is an activist, youth mentor, role model, storyteller, poem scriber and weaver of dreams. Simply Rob is a survivor of the turbulent discrimination toward gay men and has been taking to the streets and learning how to fend for himself paved the road for his spoken word journey with concrete inspiration for quite some time now. His life experience led him to dedicate himself to working with the "at risk" inner city youth of NYC focusing on issues of sex/sexual identity and HIV/AIDS prevention and education. He has been blessed to work with many LGBT adolescents, their straight counter parts and those who might be questioning. He is also a founding member of El Grito De Poetas.

This month's co-host: Andres Chulisi, writer, producer and director of a comedy trouipe called Lose Control TV. check them on youtube- losecontroltv. Going 5 years strong, their next performance is July 16. And Aug 20. He also has written An off Broadway play Called Quien Yo Soy. And 2 slams with Advocate of Words called Conjunction Funktion. He is now set on the uplifting of Latinos in the industry and makes sure he gives them a voice (stage) in which to stand. He has been acting for 21 Yes. Toured with a Latin jazz band as the lead vocalist and is now embarking on writing his poetry book and urban fiction novels.

The Rundown:

Taino Spirit's Reina aka Red Clay Woman & WBAI's Divino DeNegro will be Co-Hosting.
DJ Polarity will be sole controlling the sounds the you'll be enjoying.
La Boricua Goddess will be qualifying who's cool enough to get in & top billing aka accounting.
Marthalicia will be pleasing your eyes. With her live painting, don't get it twisted.
Sandra Guzman will be flashing lights and capturing life.
NYCSueBee & Skematics will be PR'ing & chilling.

7pm: Doors open; Cover is $5; $3 Drinks in effect; DJ Polarity will be going in!

9pm: 1st Half Open Mic begins; Cover goes up. (Get in b4 9pm!)

10pm: Drinks go up in price, Chance & Simply Rob move the crowd.

10:40pm: Intermission

10:45: 2nd Half Open Mic is in session

11:45: Speed Round Cipher

& beddiebeddiebeddie That's all Folks!

*Subject To Change*

21 to drink
18 to smoke Hookahs
All Ages Are Welcom

What's up everybody! I am so excited to tell you that J Skye and myself, Charlie Poems, will be hosting a POETRY / ART FUSION event Saturday, July 31 7pm
This first show will be dedicated to WATER to bring about awareness of todays current issues revolving around water.
There will be music and if you want to bring your instruments to play live, please do so.

A reminder: your art does not have to reflect that of water but if you got it then you got it.
This is going to be a good start to many, hope you are a part of it. Bless!

Note: This event is going to be filmed for the Spanish-language CUNY cable TV show "Nueva York"!


Nowhere, Charlie Vázquez, and featured reader Karen Jaime host a fierce lineup of queer Latina poets and writers who have something they want to say to you. And you and you and you! Please join us for this sure-to-be breakthrough evening of queer Latina politics, desire, words, and celebration.

Oh, and salsa music guaranteed.


The readers:


Sherisse Alvarez’s work has appeared in Palimpsest: Yale Literary and Arts Magazine; Daylight Magazine; the anthology Becoming: Young Ideas on Gender, Identity, and Sexuality; Luna Park Review; Hamilton Stone Review, and other publications. Her one-act plays have been produced at the Clark Studio Theater at Lincoln Center and the Blue Heron Theater in New York City. She has been a resident at the National Book Foundation and the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown. Sherisse is currently an MFA candidate in the Creative Nonfiction program at Hunter College.

J Skye Cabrera was born in the Bronx, has featured at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe and City College of NY, and is a member of the New York City Latina Writers Group. She is the speech for those who cannot speak. Her next project is to write a one-woman show. She likes the underground and is a Scorpio.

Nívea Castro, a Boricua Nuyorican, has been an LGBT womanist activist since coming out soon after Stonewall. She is a lawyer, a teacher, scuba diver, salsa dancer, world traveler, and a newbie photographer. Nívea's newest venture--she documents with photos and essays Latina dykes’ experiences throughout Latina America. Her writing has been in the legal field, short short stories and now for the first time, poetry for the spoken form.

Featured reader/performer Karen Jaime is a New York-based spoken word/performance artist, cultural activist and writer. Karen served as the host/curator of the Friday Night Slam at the Nuyorican Poets Café from 2002-2005. A graduate of Cornell University, Jaime has performed at The Public Theater, The Town Hall, Dixon Place Experimental Theater, the Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance, the Nuyorican Poets Café, the Bowery Poetry Club, and other performance venues, alongside numerous colleges/universities throughout the Northeast and Latin America. A doctoral candidate in the Department of Performance Studies at New York University, Jaime received a 2003 Rockefeller Humanities Research Fellowship, and is currently completing work on a dissertation that focuses on spoken word, slam poetry and hip-hop theater.

Meriam Rodriguez was born and raised in the Bronx. She was educated in the classrooms, and made knowledgeable by, the school of New York City. She started reading at the age of 3 and fell in love with the beauty of words. She started writing pieces and short stories at the age of 7. Meriam is also an actress, having traveled the college circuit with Latino Flavored productions in "Jose Can Speak," and "The Chronicles of BC Jenny." She has performed at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe, the Bowery Poetry Club, Bar 13 open mics, and has recently discovered the highly talented and inspirational NYC Latinas Writers Group and their entourage.

Gabrielle Rivera was born and raised in the Bronx. She is a poet, writer and director. Gabrielle's first short film "Spanish Girls are Beautiful" was screened at the Red Hook Film Festival. It is currently being developed as a web series. Her short story "Juliet Takes a Breath" was published in the Lambda Literary Award winning anthology "Portland Queer: Tales of the Rose City." Gabrielle is also in the process of writing her first novel based on that short story. Aside from her own creative projects, Gabrielle works in the TV and film industry, alternating between production and location departments. She's a beer-pong champ, a foodie and a nerd for spoken word.

Alicia Anabel Santos is a proud New York-born Dominicana who attended New York University and Rhode Island College. She is the Founder and CEO of the New York City Latina Writers Group, with over 160 members. She is completing a historical novel entitled The Daughters of the Revolution and a play entitled I WAS BORN. Alicia's extensive writing experience includes hosting podcasts, her blog Finding Your Force, magazine and newspaper articles and script-writing. An article published in Urban Latino Magazine, “Two Cultures Marching to One Drum,” gained the attention of Producer Renzo Devia. He invited Alicia to partner with him on a project that will change the way the world sees color and race relations in Latin America, and in 2008, Alicia joined Creador Pictures as Writer and Co-Producer of its first documentary, "Afro Latinos: La Historia Que Nunca Nos Contaron.”