It's been a year!!

On December 26 a bunch of crazy and brave souls stepped out onto the stage at the pizza shoppe. 3 hours later it was decided we had to do it again, and again. And here we are one year later prepping for our one year anniversary.

That Year has seen a lot of performers both come and go, some people moved onto new places, others stepped up to the group and haven't left. All of them though have left us a year rich with stories, laughs and growth as artists and performers.

So come join us for our one year anniversary show on New Years Eve. The Samurai will rock the stage then invite the audience to join them in a pub crawl of Benson. We look forward to seeing you, and we hope to see you and more over the coming year.

Thank you all so much!!

We have New performers!!

Please help me to welcome two of our newest Samurai. Samuel Schrage an excellent stand up comedian. He opened the show properly in November and got us all on a roll, and he will be playing our Nov 26th Spotlight show.

And Jessica Taryn Kleckner. I'd call her a slam poet but somehow it seems a bit deeper than that. Come check her performance out on Dec 10. She lit the place up bigger than life at the last show, and We're sure she'll do it gain.

Pictures and other goodies in a little while.

Nov 26 Samurai Spotlight!!

Come join us on Nov 26th for a Samurai Spotlight Show. Two of our crew will go up and perform for you.
First We have Sam Schrage, A new member of the group who does amazing stand up.
Second we have the always engaging Marlowe Mapes. Who will bring to the stage her mix of poetry story telling and more!
Doors open at 630 there's an open mic at 7 and the show begins at 8.

Nov 26 at the Pizza Shoppe Collective. 6056 Maple st.
The Show is free but we will be taking donations on behalf of the American Red Cross.

Samurai Spotlight! Oct 29 The Pizza Shoppe

Two Samurai arrive and take the stage for longer sets than usual. Yep that's it. Two hours two samurai and an intermission. Come down and see how they fill the time they're given!

Show starts at 8 with an open mic night proceeding it at 7.
Admission is free. If you're in the mood feel free to donate to the nights charity.

The Venue

The Pizza Shoppe Collective
6056 maple st
Omaha Nebraska.

So skip football and join us for a night of entertainment that is out of the ordinary and performers who could be rightly called out of their minds.

Welcome To The Board, Ephemily!

I originally posted this on my own blog, ephemily.org.  I've reproduced it here for your reading pleasure.

I originally wrote about the idea of volunteering with Planned Parenthood in my post “Putting My Actions Where My Intentions Are”, but I thought I’d write an update to that.  Last night at a little after 10:00 PM, I got an email congratulating a group of us, and welcoming us to the Friends of Planned Parenthood Board.  I made it!  As far as what it means to be on the board, here’s an excerpt of the list of responsibilities that was sent to me before I applied for the position.

• The Friends of Planned Parenthood Board is charged with fundraising efforts for the benefit of Planned Parenthood of the Heartland.  It is also responsible for enhancing public awareness and understanding of Planned Parenthood.

It’s a 3 year term, with a maximum of 2 consecutive terms.  It is an unpaid position.  Board members are required to attend board meetings (held over lunch once a month), assist in fundraising, serve on one or more committees for the annual benefit, volunteer at events, and solicit donations.  We’re also tasked with being a liaison for Planned Parenthood, and advocate what the organization stands for.  Well, aside from the asking for money, I kinda already do that now.  So, I get to represent an organization I support already, and I can add the gig to my resume.  All around, I think the next three years will be an adventure.  I might have an inner politico after all!

The Return of Megan K. McGuire

Samurai Megan K. McGuire graced the crowd with her spellbinding presence this last week, where she read several poems by the late poet Adrienne Rich, who passed away in March of this year. She also read some of her original work, which included this rhythm piece- Apolitical

Wait - Adrienne Rich

In paradise every
the desert wind is rising
third thought
in hell there are no thoughts
is of earth
sand screams against your government
issued tent hell’s noise
in your nostrils crawl
into your ear-shell
wrap yourself in no-thought
wait no place for the little lyric
wedding-ring glint the reason why
on earth
they never told you

~*~*~*

Apolitical - Megan K. McGuire


If we continue down this path
Make the mistakes
we threaten
to- We're doomed.

You heard me. This is the
Slippery slope the
Road to hell
Disaster
how can we teach
This leave this to our
Children?

We owe it to them
Ourselves to stop
This heresy this injustice
Cannot stand

Cannot stand our rights
Our lies our way of life
Is at stake!

Is this
What you want?
Are you angry
Yet? Who are these clowns
These idiots who think
They can take what is ours?

We must defend ourselves!
Do you hear me?
We must defend
Our biggest fears
Will be
Realized. They are Greedy.
Realized. They are Corrupt.
Realized. They are un-natural
Unreal unlike us

Don't
wait,
do not
stop

March! Fight! Protest!
Pick up the phone and give!
Vote!
Vote for the person you want
voting for you

Don't let them ruin
The world. Watch out
For those who
Claim to
Speak the truth!

Just one more thing to
Decide.
Who the hell are "THEY".?


To see her work performed, check out the first half of the May 21st show on our Ustream Channel.

Who let the Rogues out?

So yesterday was a good day.
Not only did our show raise the bar on excellence, I had a personal milestone yesterday.
My fantasy novel, Rogues of the Black Fury, hit the streets.
Who let the Rogues out?
I did.
That's right, a kick-ass fantasy story that can be encapsulated as Navy SEALS vs. Al-Qaeda in a Renaissance-style fantasy setting.
A link to the Kindle edition is below, but it is also available in trade paperback and all e-reader formats.


“Bold, colorful characters pull the reader into an unforgettable adventure with the perfect mix of suspense, intrigue, and action.” —Jeanne Cavelos, author of The Passing of the Techno-mages 

“Rogues of the Black Fury mixes a berserk action thriller sharp as a mercenary’s sword with hard-bitten fantasy so gritty it might scour your bones clean by the time you’re done.” —Matt Forbeck, author of The Amortals and Carpathia

Samurai Dave Speaks!

For our April 30th show, we had two milestones.  First, we debuted at a brand new venue.  Thanks to the Slowdown for the opportunity to branch out and grow this thing we've made.  Second, we hit a record amount in donations to our cause.  Our local NPR affiliate of choice took home just over $500, or enough to keep them on the air for 4 hours.  Prior to the show, our own Dave Nesbit gave a radio interview with KIOS.  We're so proud!  He was up early, and even using big words!

You can listen to it here.  http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/kios/ppr/kios.m3u

Homemade Fusion

Samurai Megan McGuire is featured tomorrow night in 'Homemade Fusion' with the Candy Project at the Omaha Community Playhouse. Come on over and listen to a crazy bunch of singers rant about masturbation, stalkers and candy bar love. It's free- voluntary donations to the Playhouse accepted. Part of the 21 and Over performance series.

For more information, please visit their website:  http://www.thecandyproject.com/

The Samurai Perform at Dreaming, Sat May 5th

We so crazy! In just 3 days, the Samurai of Spoken Word take the stage at Dreaming. This time to raise money for St. Monica's House.

St. Monica’s is a behavioral health treatment organization dedicated to serving women. They accept women age 13 and over, who are diagnosed with substance abuse and/or co-existing mental health issues. Fees are assessed on a sliding scale, based on the income of a client, her ability to pay, and availability of funding.

See the show at 5:30pm, Saturday the 5th at 712 S 16th Street, Omaha, NE. 

An Appology to Our Fans

Dear Fans,

There was an mistake last night (4/30/2012) and we want to make sure that some great poets get credit for the works that were covered.
Rives - "Dirty Talk"
Anis Mojgani - "Shake The Dust"
Mike McGee - "I like You"
Shane Koyczan - 'This is My Voice' Remix

In the heat of great poetry we missed the proper mention, and we apologize.

Thanks for coming out and supporting poetry, storytelling, and whatever it is that Dave does.

~The Samurai 

 *Edit:  Ryan Lacy, as a result of the backlash of his performance on April 30th, has chosen to step down from the Samurai of Spoken Word troupe.

Experience the Samurai

Parenthood, the Samurai's pet cause, is holding a fundraiser in on Sunday, May 19th called "Are You Experienced?".  The event starts at 6:00 PM in the Orpheum Theater lobby, with tickets starting at $100.  This includes drinks, a buffet, and open seating.  All of the above, plus reserved seating and an after-party is available for $150 per seat.  Both levels include cocktails and silent auction.

Dave, our PR guy, reached out to Planned Parenthood and asked if we could somehow be involved to help raise money for the cause.  The theme of the night is experiences, but somewhat more, well, reserved than many of our live shows.  Keeping in mind that we need to keep anything we have to offer legal, we the Samurai, brainstormed a few ideas for what we had to offer.

You will find the following examples of experiences available to bid on during the auction:

Internet Famous, The Early Years

Somewhere along the way, we got noticed by a guy with a pen.  Well, keyboard, I suppose.  Mike Machian with Hear Nebraska sat down with several of the Samurai to interview, eavesdrop, and photograph for an upcoming story.  Despite being an upstart collection of artists of all genres, mediums, and experience, Mike breathes life into the recent past, present, and hopeful future of the rag tag group known as the Samurai of Spoken Word.  We'd like to thank Mike for his time, warm words, and fantastic photographs from our events.  We look forward to working with him in the future.

For your reading pleasure, here is the article in question.
http://hearnebraska.org/content/samurai-spoken-word-feature-story

Show Night! - April Assault of the Spoken Word

It's a new venue for the Samurai tonight.  We're taking over the Slowdown.  The doors open at 7:00 tonight, with the show getting underway at 8:00.  Since we packed the house at the Pizza Shoppe last time, we're really looking forward to seeing if we can keep the momentum going.  Regulars are welcome, new attendees are encouraged.  The show is free, as always, but we're raising money for a good cause.  Help us ring in the new stage and support KIOS, the local public radio affiliate. 

Promoting the Dream

So, so far today I have gone to Biker shops, Tattoo places, Comic shops and a few other places to hang up promotional stuff for dreaming and the art/poker run. all of them were cool, and awesome and thank you all very much. 

The one shop I went to who said no? Hobby Lobby. Really. An "art supply shop" said no to promotional material for an art show.

Fuck you people, my Gaelic is weak. A shame for an Irish American to admit, but perhaps Patricia Kennealy-Morrison could be kind enough to give me a word in that epic language for "Holy War." Cause seriously. It's on. All the nerds, and bikers, and tattoo freaks are in for helping art and charity, but a art shop run by "Christians" says no.

If you happen to be part of the local art community. Two words. "Dick Blick" take your money there.

~Dave N

Pasta and Plotting

Fellow Samurai, Dave Nesbit and Alysen Ficklen are part of a local group, the Tea and Villain's society.  Once a month, they all dress up in their evil finery and take a local eating establishment by storm.  Raised eyebrows abound because there's an awful lot of black, leather, PVC, studded accessories, and thick eye makeup.  For some silly reason, I had said I couldn't make the original meting, and thus hadn't heard anything more about it.  Silly me, I thought it was a one off and never followed up.

Come to find out, it's a monthly thing.  (Somewhere in here, there's a PMS joke.  I just know it!)  And where have I been?!  Thankfully, I'm now in the know and will be on the list of those informed about future gatherings.  The last meeting was this previous Sunday.  I'd heard about it at the very last moment, so I was under the gun to throw something together.   I was worried.  I mean, the majority of my closet is red or black.  I got this.  The real question was, to rock the eye patch and bitch boots, or not.  Decisions decisions.

The Well

Veronica Noir Smash submits her updated story about PTSD and Panic.  Originally read/performed at the March spoken word event.


Not so long ago, my life used to be sorrow… vast & wide, a chasm of lonely rocky purgatory that I was flung into the moment my Viking was flung from his steed into his own unknown abyss of darkness.  I spent months in a despair, climbing onto various ledges and facades, just to have fickle wild forces push me off.  Endlessly freefalling down, allowing myself to be swept away by forceful rivers of potent tears at the bottom, & so unused to human contact, I forgot how to think & communicate and I alienated everyone as I was alienated from the world I once knew.  I stopped fighting and exploring for egress because I forgot how, or why.  When I traveled I ambled in circles, without direction or purpose, tacitly accepting my lost fate & a purpose forgotten.  I was beaten against the rapids, bruised and bloody, so stoic I stopped feeling.  When I was too tired to struggle & direct myself, I would nearly perish on the craggy outcroppings that changed positions with the seasons.  I began to float on my back as the only means of survival, searching the sky for meaning when I could see it.  Given this slight shift in perspective, while lithely floating down sorrow’s eroding river, in a moment, a flash of more brilliant sunshine than seen previously before, I must have realized that, yes, I could devise a way out, at the point where the chasm was widest.  I began constructing step, by heavy, hard, cold step out of refurbished and corrected logic.  I toiled.  I floundered, discouraged.  I looked to the sky once more & redoubled my efforts towards the clouds only to languish, beset by apathy.   I debated whether or not to give up.  I hadn’t seen the world outside of the canyon for what felt like a lifetime…had it been a lifetime?  I was a different person than before, & the only things I knew were either in the past, or newly pertained to that barren stone depression that cut through my world, dividing it into then, and now.  What’s even out there?  What’s the point of facing more pain on the other side if the world was just the same cruel place that jettisoned me here?  Was it?  Why should I?  Wait, sunshine…I remembered the feelings he gave me, the new lush green warm world he opened up for me…I had hope I could possibly find that landscape again, or even make a new meadow in which to cherish those memories.

Show Night - March Madness

It's show night!  We're live at the Pizza Shoppe Collective at 7:00. The show is free as always, but donations will be accepted for Planned Parenthood.  If you can't make it, tune in live on our Ustream channel.

Report from the Winner's Circle

Our own Travis brings back fond memories and a first place showing in CINEQUEST Film Festival Writers Celebration.  We'd all like to congratulate him on his win!  Please see the following post, as originally appeared on his own blog, Blogging the Muse.

So this is the first blog post in a loooong time that hasn’t been a podcast episode or a reminder about some upcoming appearance. A job in academia tends to preclude a lot of basic writerly pursuits.

I’m sitting right now at a Starbuck’s in San Jose, CA, across from the San Jose Repertory Theatre, where I’ m awaiting the start of the CINEQUEST Film Festival Writers Celebration.  The screenplay I wrote with Jim Pinto, a horror-western called Death Wind, has made the Top 10 in the screenplay contest. This is not the first Top 10 or finalist status; DW got 2nd place at the H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival–L.A. and Top 10 in the Writers on the Storm screenplay contest, both of which felt like real achievements, except for the “always a bridesmaid, never a bride” result.  I’ve also participated in a bunch of panels at conventions like World Fantasy, Mile Hi Con, and, hopefully, World Horror in a couple of weeks.

Presenting Alysen, It's a Brand New Blog!

Our very own Alysen done got herself a blog.  Poetry on purpose.  Her first post is a piece she read on her very first night with the Samurai.  On the Day You Were Born.

Welcome to the internet, Alysen.  Now, let's go look at funny cat videos!

Why We Speak

During a group discussion today, it came up why we, as artists, do this.  I believe The Spider And The Fly said it best:

"We don't do this for outward attention (except Mikey). We do this to vent. We do this, because without something like spoken word, this would bottle up inside of us. That's why I've always written. This is more than "look at me!" (except Mikey) This is "listen to what I have to say." I don't want your body . . . I want your mind. (except Mikey) We are in this for that secret exhibitionism . . . but in the end, it's because we have to write. We have to speak. This is a great team of artists, that I now look up to. (except Mikey)"

It has yet to be determined what Mikey's motivations are.  I suspect it may be an excuse to wear crocs or an adult diaper in public and call it art.

Facebook Fan Page

We all know that blogs allow a person or group to publish something of substance pretty easily.  Or, perhaps more truthfully, blogs give you the chance to use your words for good or for evil.  But, what do you do when you have the attention span of a gnat?  You use facebook, that's what!

If you want to keep up with our verbal diarrhea, check us out there if you want up to the minute information on what we're doing. 

Keeping Up With Ephemily

I think each and every Samurai has at least one other outside project besides the spoken word events.  For me, it's blogging, facebook, twitter, and the occasional podcast.  It's been a while since I've been a Scurvy Girl.  But, I was able to make amends last week when Dave and Tim asked if I'd like to do another guest spot on their Omaha based podcast.  Of course I did.  So, while the scurvycast doesn't go live till tomorrow, here's a preview blog post to give you an idea what it's all about.

http://www.scurvycast.com/Scurvycast_2.0/Blog/Entries/2012/2/27_Ungrounded_Vibators.html

Day of Show - Love Gone Wrong

Today is the February show day!  The theme is Love Gone Wrong.  As always, the show is free, but all proceeds will go to support a good cause.  This month, in keeping with the theme, we're donating our time and humor, you're donating your money or time to the local Domestic Violence Crisis Center.   We will be streaming the action online, yes, but if you're on the fence about going to the Pizza Shoppe Collective in Benson tonight, consider this.  If my hypothetical set list, and the hints I've heard from the other performers is any indication, I think it's gonna be a doozy of a show.  And the reason I think that is two-fold.  Sure, the set lists sound amazing, but it's about 9:30 in the morning, and I have yet to do a damn bit of preparation for the show.

Some of you may know, I'm the one who'd credited for getting our show up on ustream, and I'm also the one who gets the blame for the audio glitch last month.  (I still say it was cable management that got the best of me.  Rearranging the cables is a good thing only if you remember to restart the feed after you're done.)  So, if you want to see the planned hilarity on stage with a sweet sweet side order of Ephemily with her hair on fire, tonight's the night!

Feb Show - Love Gone Wrong

Oh good gord, where did the time go?  We're almost ready for our next event! 

Now that you've gorged yourself on chocolate, your flowers have died, and you've realized that the dinner you had is a moment on the lips, and a lifetime on the hips, it's time to get real. Love stinks. Dating's hard. Why the fuck would any sane person do it in the first place? Because sometimes, you get either a really great match, or some god damned epic stories. And that's what we have to offer.

Monday, Jan 20th, at the Pizza Shoppe Collective, come watch

David Nesbit
Mikey Taylor
Megan K McGuire
Travis Heermann
Christopher Wiig
Veronica Noir Smash
and myself as Ephemily

as we regale you with stories and reasons why love sucks. The show is free, as always. However, bring your checkbook. All proceeds to the show will benefit the local domestic violence crisis center. As bad as we've got it, somebody's got it worse. 

If you can't make it, we will be streaming the show.  Same link, same time, new day.

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/spoken-word-events

 

January 16 Live Event

The hour is drawing close.  Monday, January 16th at the Pizza Shop Collective in Omaha, Ne, the Samurai of Spoken Word will present another show of comedy, original compositions, and fiction brought to life.

This month's performance benefits to Omaha Food Bank.  More and more people are needing the assistance, many of whom were once donors. According to the US census, in 2010, 17.2 million households, 14.5 percent of households (approximately one in seven), were food insecure, the highest number ever recorded in the United States.  Come enjoy a night of original composition, comedy, and fiction brought to larger than life.


If you can't make it to the show, we'll be broadcasting through ustream.

Watch live here:

January's Spoken Word Event: The January Spoken Word Jamorama to Benefit the Food Bank!

Monday, January 16th
7PM to 9:30PM at the Pizza Shop Collective in Benson

January Spoken Word Jam-orama....

We're back after our (frankly awesome) first event to support Planned Parenthood of the Heartland at our secret hide out "The Pizza Shoppe Collective" in Downtown Benson!