Slam Season Three About to Begin!

  

Ben Cunningham, Season II 1st place slammer

Loosen your jaws and wiggle your tongues massmouth story slam season three has nearly begun. We have a fast paced exciting season planned for the upcoming year with a few new venues. We'll kick off the season at the historic Doyle's in Jamaica Plain on Sept.11th with the theme “Emergency”. The first slam of the season will be  hosted by Robin Maxfield and special guest Shawn Donovan.
Shawn has worked as an EMT and firefighter with the Boston F.D. He has cut cars open, picked up severed limbs, pulled people from burning buildings. During tough times Shawn has leaned on his sense of humor. Clear the roads and slide down the fire pole to hear his outrageous, funny, and heartwarming stories about real life emergencies. The dates and themes for Doyle’s have been set as follows: Sept.11th, “Emergency”, Oct.9th "supernatural", Nov. 13th” Obsession”, Dec. 11th "Gifts", Jan. 8th "Resolution", Feb.12th  “Playing Cupid”, and March 11th will be the semi finals for Doyle’s.

Doyle's on Washington Street in JP

Club Passim will be another new venue for massmouth in Cambridge. Club Passim has a long and rich history, in fact, Joan Baez and Bob Dylan played Passim! A quote from an anonymous patron "...The beauty of this place is that in 30 years, those of you who pass through this sacred room will have equally wonderful memories of performers whose careers were launched here. I hope your memories, felt years from now, will inspire the feelings of kinship with special musical experiences that mine do for me. Come here often. The specialness of this room will grow on you." We are delighted to begin our season in this new venue with massmouth member and host/producer Karen Given. Karen is the NPR producer of "It's Only A Game" with Bill Littlefield.  The dates are set for this venue OCT 17, NOV 12, JAN 16/, FEB 20 and MAR 19 and we have some unbelievable guests…but shhh it’s a secre t This year we are not going to announce our themes or hosts until our Halloween Fundraiser on October 22nd (with the exception of October 17th currently TBA).


During the summer massmouth has had an online contest to "Name That Theme" offering a theme for the upcoming season. The winner and theme will be announced at that time as well as the remainder of themes for the up coming year.  We will have special guest Judith Black co hosting and telling some out of this world horror stories.   Tickets will be available on eventbrite in Sept. The price is $20.00, which includes cocktail hour, d’oeuvres, and a chance to drop your name into the hat for the mini slam. Be the first to know the slam themes for the upcoming year. Start your story season early!

These two new venues are not the only venues and changes for the year. We will return to the Precinct with host Diana Wiesner and The Burren with host Michael Anderson in Somerville. We will be hosting our first South Shore Slam in Quincy at Blue22 with massmouth's Andrea Lovett producing, these dates are being finalized. Beyond the borders of Boston look for The BackPage Bar in Lowell with Obehi Janice producing and continuing the series of slams in Fitchburg hosted by Sally Craigin.

This year the semi finals will be held in each slam area venue. There will be a first and second place winner at each venue and an audience choice as well.  Five lucky winners will be sent onto the BIGMOUTHOFF this year at Coolidge Corner Theater where the semi finals were held last year. We have grown so incredibly fast we need to accommodate and the Coolidge Corner Theater's largest theater holds up to 440 seats. We are excited to be able to offer this kind of venue to our contestants at the BIGMOUTHOFF and our delighted guests. Watch for upcoming details to follow in future blog posts.