Skip this babbling, on to the slam!



In order to honor National Poetry Month on Thursday April 22nd 1999 at 7:15 PM our second Grand Slam Invitational was moved to a special day and location. It was held in the Century Theater of the Memorial Union on the campus of North Dakota State University. Marc Smith, the Father of the Poetry Slam, dished up the goods as our feature performer with 1998 Fargo Grand Slam Champ, Charles Hinton conducting the warm up for Mr. Smith. Originally, the entire evening was transmitted as a live audio Internet broadcast at the following site:

Poets who had won slams or demonstrated success as runners-up, or gained high placed 3rd finishes since July 1998 were invited to participate. A wildcard was also offered to the winner of the Fergus Falls Poetry Slam (Fergus Falls, MN) held on April 15, 1999. Robb Thibault served as guest host for the event. Fifteen invitations were offered with fourteen poets accepting the opportunity to tango in the slam dance of performance poetry. The following poets were offered invitations: Vanessa Landsberger, Lyska Janecek, Alicia Iverson, Kristin Garaas, Dave Kragnes, Lia Tilly, Kevin Zepper, Angela Johnson, Jerry Covington, Marian Aanerud, Benjamin Gil, Vanesa Littlecrow, Andrea Heldt, Alison Carley and the Fergus Falls Wildcard: Larry Haus. Only Lia Tilly declined the invitation.

The process for the evening rested in the rule that all poets would perform only one poem in a sudden death style slam with the order randomly selected from a can of names. Tie breakers for first or the fourth position would be determined by an additional round. The top four high scorers would fill the team slots with the "5th poet" serving an our official alternate. We did have a tie breaker for the forth and fifth position. Here is how our top poets finished.



Kristin Garaas (26.9)- The Champ. Took home $50 and the Slam Dragon Trophy
Jerry Covington (26.2)- The Runner up.
Lyska Janecek (25.7) - She makes a second appearance at Nationals
Kevin Zepper (25.2 / 26.3) - He had to compete in a tie breaker round to earn his spot.
Andrea Heldt (25.2 / 25.2) - She is the "5Th Poet" / Team Alternate..
*Benjamin Gil (21.3) Rounded out the evening as "the best poet, being last" and got a gift certificate for a free meal at our venue, The Conservatory at Luigis.

The evening raised more than $175.00 for the YWCA Women's Shelter of Fargo

PROCEED (on to the slam!)