FEBRUARY 5thBio for featured poet Michael "Fitz" Fitzgerald: Already known for his excellence among the inner circle of Boston's Spoken Word Community, Hampshire Slam Collective is proud to offer Michael Fitzgerald his first feature. Michael Fitzgerald has been writing. He has lived in Massachusetts his whole life and it is one of a handful of things that he loves for honest, along with his first car, his mother and the coast of aforementioned state. He reads. All his favorite authors used to be the favorite authors of girls he thought he loved for honest - his favorite bands remain his own and always will. He is the books and the albums and the odd angled winding of the roads he has known - from here, to there and ever folding back.
Damn, what an awesome start to the semester. After a good sized open mic, we welcomed Michael Fitzgerald to his first featured performance. His set was amazing - using witty banter to keep the audience comfortable between bittersweet poems about ex lovers and heartfelt tributes to his favorite musicians, Fitz truly demonstrated himself as a master performer. His pieces, while thick with metaphor, were also wonderfully accessible and beautifully genuine, leaving pleasant thoughts buzzing around my head by the time he finished.
Afterwards, we hosted our second College Team Semi-Final Slam. Thank you to everyone who turned out (including Boston poet Artie Moffa for sacrificing), and thank you to all five slammers: Sam Teitel, Cassandra De Alba, Sophia Holtz, Esme Vaandrager, and Maya Harder-Montoya. You all put on a great show.
Esme Vaandrager and Sam Teitel took the slam, respectively, and will be competing next week against our prior qualified poets: Sean Conlon, Charley Pope, Andy Locke, and Emily O'neill.
