Jam discussion

[Doreen Peri]

I was typing this to reply to a topic about Jams which when I pushed "post", had disappeared. I'm posting it anyway.

________

I've written some of my best work (in my opinion) during jams.

I'm a spontaneous writer, always have been. I miss it, but I can't make it come out right now. Some of the writings I wrote during jams turned into performance pieces and recorded pieces. It's very inspiring to me, too. Unfortunately, my words are stifled. They are sort of a reflection of where I am in life. I'm stuck. Hard to explain. Maybe if the words get unstuck, so will I. I don't know. Or maybe if I get unstuck, the words will get unstuck.

I've noticed the last few planned jams we've had, hardly anybody shows up. It's slow and I suspect probably at least half of our memberlist uses different email addresses now and there's no way to get in touch with them. That's my thoughts on it anyway.

We could have another planned jam, of course...

[Doreen Peri]

I'm very proud of this review. A poet on another site, Bob Kaven wrote this about the fact that I write spontaneous poetry. He's usually quite a critic so I was very surprised to get such a review from him. I'm going to save this forever. Here's what he said:

"Yer a Guerrilla poet, Doreen. Most everything of yours I've seen is a dip into an ongoing river of language which sometimes washes the local bridges out and on occasion sweeps away a local village or two. You can see the goats protesting in the trees three days downstream, on occasion, when the red cross sends the rescue efforts with medical supplies for the survivors. It usually works to good purpose, and you usually have the best sense of where and when one of your pieces needs tinkering with. That's been my experience. Also, you like to play with explosives. It's part of who you are. It's part of your charm, and it often works out well for you. Seems to me that you've got them pretty much under control."

-Bob Kaven

[WIREMAN]

Doreen...u caught me....just felt i was, oh i guess asking a ? which i was answering already within the writing of it.....it just puzzles me how jam was so much a part of our unity as writers and now its gasping for breath....i miss jamming with u and others....i miss the interaction we all had, maybe it was just something that had its day? i dunno....

[WIREMAN]

if u want me to put it back up i have it saved as a screen shot?

[WIREMAN]

oh yeah that review is awesome, u damn sure should be proud of it

[Doreen Peri]

If I didn't think the dynamic would come back again, I'd close the site down. I DO think it can be revived. People have gone their ways and there's just not as many people here any more. That's one of the problems. Can we invite more people? I know I'm not doing my part to promote the site or create and announce events any more, but the thing is, many of the long-time members have probably changed their email addresses. Everybody's doing Facebook and Twitter and Instagram and who knows what else. We really need people to make a jam revival. But again, i truly think it's worth keeping the site open since some people still post regularly and I think there can be a revival of jamming again. I miss it, too, Mark!

Guerrilla Poetry is just that.. it's a spontaneous word, I think. Maybe we should have a new event called Guerrilla Poetry! What do you think?

[Doreen Peri]

I not only miss jamming itself... I miss jamming with you!

[WIREMAN]

i think thats a real cool idea, the whole jam thing has a negative vibe for those who are into form, especially musicians and song writers.....i feel the only way to create new words, ideas, and thought, be it visual or spoken is thru the spontaneous process.....without spontaneity how can one be original?.....

[Doreen Peri]

I agree. Spontaneity is what makes the creative process thrive! When our planned jams were the most successful, though, is when more people showed up at the same time and the spontenaeity (I can't spell that word) was contagious! I'd LOVE to see that again! Do you think there's a way where we can get at least 10 people here at once? Wouldn't that be cool?

[Doreen Peri]

Even 5 people would be good.

[WIREMAN]

it would be for sure....without that being in the same time frame it loses meaning and gets away from what the internet does, that being instantaneousness, if thats not a word it should be

[Doreen Peri]

I just did a search for Guerilla Poetry... hah! check this out!
http://www.guerrillapoets.org/

The DC Guerrilla Poetry Insurgency (GPI) is an anti-authoritarian, collaborative, pro-humanity artists' collective incorporating music, rhythm, spoken word, community and resistance.

They're doin' it live right here in DC!

....

But hey, I like the concept of Guerilla Poetry which is like a spontaneous public attack! I'd like to use the term for our next jam.

That was what was so cool about our jams, so many people here at one time. I remember announcing the jam and watching people come and I couldn't keep up with the posts. It was awesome! I hope we can make that happen again.

Thanks for being such a hardcore jammer and for reminding us what we're here for, Mark! Let's figure out how we can get more people to come participate in the next one. Right now, going offline but I'll be back tomorrow and I look forward to your ideas!

[WIREMAN]

but i feel this too, its not just the quantity of participants its the quality....id much rather have 5 people listening at a show than have a bar full of noisy people half listening and giving cursory applause.....same with a jam, u gotta bring the add, lay something special on the mix, its not just bullshit words like some might think, excuse my french.....

[WIREMAN]

last post is a step behind u.....i dig what your saying......this is already getting that feeling going again for me and its just us 2.....WOW!!!......i better get some sleep, wakeup call @ 330 am. ugh!....good night my friend

[judih]

I jam. You jam. What's the issue?
If you want more people, then we'll have to advertise.
Mingo jams with himself - almost all the time
So that's 4.
mnaz jams, arcadia jams, whoaisme jams - that makes 7!
See? we're already filling a page.
yes, people have changed e-mails - but Doreen, you have facebook friends, so you can advertise on your own page and fill a room or two.

Make a date - like Fall equinox
or Guerillas meet Fall Head-On
and let's do it.