Asheville Slam History
A little background info on the rich history of the AVL Slam. Let's keep adding to this y'all.
Asheville has a long history in the international Poetry Slam movement. In 1992, just
a few years after the first ever National Poetry Slam was held, Asheville began holding
a slam at the Green Door on Carolina Lane. Poets to have been involved with the
Asheville Slam at that time included Allan Wolf, then slammaster who would go on to
publish children’s book and found Poetry Alive, Jim Nave, host of the bi-yearly slam
held at LEAF, Ted Pope, Chris LuAllen, and Christine Lassiter. Just two years later, the
yearly Nationals competition was hosted by Asheville and the following year the team
from the Green Door won Nationals. The Asheville team that won the 1995 Nationals
in Ann Arbor, MI included Danny Solis, who went on to compete with teams in Austin,
TX and Albuquerque, NM, Pat Storm, who after his early death was honored by Poetry
Slam, Inc. by his name designating individual poets competing at the National Slam, Kim
Holzer, and Ted Vacca.
Asheville was also the original host of the Southern Fried Competition, which was the
first on-going regional competition.
Other poets to have been involved with the Asheville Slam in the 1990s are Glenis
Redmond, internationally renowned performer, winner of the individual competition
at Nationals, and multiple winner of the designation of the Best Poet in Western North
Carolina in the Moutain Xpress yearly reader’s poll, and Laura Hope-Gill, founder and
director of Asheville WordFest, a yearly festival that brings world-renowned poets to
Asheville.
In 2002, Asheville once again sent a team to the National competition held in Chicago.
The slammaster was A.J. Geil and the team included Nick Fox, Terry Creech, Carrie
Gerstman, and Frankie Bolt.
Asheville slam poetry remerged in October 2007 at the Dripolator, hosted by slammaster Kapila McNary. In September 2008, Douglas Rogers created Poetry Slam Asheville at Firestorm Books and Café. Rogers recruited Tim Cook, veteran of the Chicago slam scene, to host. In May 2010, the Slam moved to the Hookah Bar on North French Broad.
Poetry Slam Asheville made yet another exciting move in November 2010 into the Historic Masonic Temple. The new space was packed for the inaugural slam which featured 22 poets and our newest slammaster, Griffin Payne. This incarnation of Poetry Slam Asheville culminated in Asheville's return to the national poetry scene as PSA sent it's first team in a decade, consisting of Steve Shell, Andrew Procyk, Emma Erbach and Kevin Barger, to Southern Fried.
a few years after the first ever National Poetry Slam was held, Asheville began holding
a slam at the Green Door on Carolina Lane. Poets to have been involved with the
Asheville Slam at that time included Allan Wolf, then slammaster who would go on to
publish children’s book and found Poetry Alive, Jim Nave, host of the bi-yearly slam
held at LEAF, Ted Pope, Chris LuAllen, and Christine Lassiter. Just two years later, the
yearly Nationals competition was hosted by Asheville and the following year the team
from the Green Door won Nationals. The Asheville team that won the 1995 Nationals
in Ann Arbor, MI included Danny Solis, who went on to compete with teams in Austin,
TX and Albuquerque, NM, Pat Storm, who after his early death was honored by Poetry
Slam, Inc. by his name designating individual poets competing at the National Slam, Kim
Holzer, and Ted Vacca.
Asheville was also the original host of the Southern Fried Competition, which was the
first on-going regional competition.
Other poets to have been involved with the Asheville Slam in the 1990s are Glenis
Redmond, internationally renowned performer, winner of the individual competition
at Nationals, and multiple winner of the designation of the Best Poet in Western North
Carolina in the Moutain Xpress yearly reader’s poll, and Laura Hope-Gill, founder and
director of Asheville WordFest, a yearly festival that brings world-renowned poets to
Asheville.
In 2002, Asheville once again sent a team to the National competition held in Chicago.
The slammaster was A.J. Geil and the team included Nick Fox, Terry Creech, Carrie
Gerstman, and Frankie Bolt.
Asheville slam poetry remerged in October 2007 at the Dripolator, hosted by slammaster Kapila McNary. In September 2008, Douglas Rogers created Poetry Slam Asheville at Firestorm Books and Café. Rogers recruited Tim Cook, veteran of the Chicago slam scene, to host. In May 2010, the Slam moved to the Hookah Bar on North French Broad.
Poetry Slam Asheville made yet another exciting move in November 2010 into the Historic Masonic Temple. The new space was packed for the inaugural slam which featured 22 poets and our newest slammaster, Griffin Payne. This incarnation of Poetry Slam Asheville culminated in Asheville's return to the national poetry scene as PSA sent it's first team in a decade, consisting of Steve Shell, Andrew Procyk, Emma Erbach and Kevin Barger, to Southern Fried.
Shortly after Southern Fried 2010, and following Slam Master Griffin Payne's departure to teach in Paris, PSA moved from The Masonic Temple to the River Arts District to take up residence in The Magnetic Field, a theatre dedicated solely to original works. New Slam Master Steve Shell and host Andrew Procyk weathered a rocky transition and eventually sold out the house multiple times including the groundbreaking Old School VS. New School slam in June of 2012, in which an adult slam team of Kevin Barger, Steve Shell, Zac Hedgewood and Justin Evans took on four teams of high school kids. Some of whom were preparing to enter international competition at Brave New Voices that year. The kids won decisively, and ushered in an era of youth dominance in Asheville.
In November of 2012, the adult slam entered a state of hiatus. With The Magnetic Field unfortunately closing, and new excitement growing in the youth slam community, Steve Shell and newly returned Co-Slammaster Griffin Payne migrated PSA to NC Stage Company where the SLAM THIS!: The AVL Youth Poetry Slam was born. Regularly selling out NCSTAGE, ST! became a monthly Tuesday night staple to serious youth poets from all over western NC. In collaboration with Asheville Wordslam, a high school slam sponsored by Asheville Writers in the Schools, PSA helped name the second Asheville team to go to Brave New Voices consisting of ST! Grand Champion Bryan Head, Wordslam Champion Shanita Jackson,Liam Kelly Black, Matt Kerber, Colin Miller and Oliana Luke. This group of AVL youth poets would go on to be ranked in the top 8 youth slam teams in the world.
In October of 2013 PSA finds itself in one of its strongest incarnations ever. The adult slam, still helmed by Griffin Payne and Steve Shell has been resurrected and moved to The Odditorium, a west Asheville bar/theatre and are excited about mounting a new team for Southern Fried in the summer of 2014. SLAM THIS! has evolved into AVL/BNV: The Asheville Youth Poetry Slam, a program specifically targeting competitive youth poetry and participation in the Brave New Voices festival in Philadelphia in 2014. PSA is currently poised to rise to its potential in a way unseen in a long time. With a staff of volunteers and a board consisting of members of various communities interested in competing around WNC, PSA is poised to become, once again, a force in both competitive slam poetry and in creating a space where ALL voices of ALL ages can be heard and celebrated.
