Reflections: One Imagination presents: Break the Silence! 4 Year Anniversary!

forWord had an AMAZING experience at One Imagination’s BREAK the Silence! last night. HAPPY 4 YEAR ANNIVERSARY!!!

• One Imagination empowers the current and next generation of leaders through written and oral expression. As a collective based in the Long Beach/South Bay area, we believe that through conscious artistic programming, community education and outreach, and leadership development, we can cultivate a world free of hatred, ignorance, injustice, inequality, and oppression.

Mark, Steph, and I carpooled together to Long Beach. It’s how we roll. Must save gas! Susan aka oneWord was unable to make it, but she was there in spirit. forWord presses on.

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The venue was PACKED. People standing and all the chairs and tables were filled up. This was Steph’s and my second time at the venue. Last time we were here, the TV near the stage was on. But this time around, it was turned off. The speakers also were at full volume and the audience were respectful of the people on the mic. THIS was BREAK THE SILENCE!

June was the host for the evening and a wonderful one at that because she sure made everyone feel right at home. On a side note, we knew her from APIA Summit when it was in the Bay Area two years ago. It was cool to reconnect. Next APIA Spoken Word & Poetry Summit is THIS summer in Minnesota! Get your tickets now. It will change your life. Real talk.

Back to last night, all the acts were amazing in their own right, such as Shining Sons, Sumiko Braun, Antonio, and Tim aka Big Brotha, as well as many more performers that made the night as wonderful as it was. Without each and every one of them, this celebration would not have been one. We love this COMMUNITY.

Representing as forWord, Stephanie and I performed, “Shared Roots” and Mark performed, “Untitled.” The crowd was awesome. Personally, I will never forget meeting Romeo who also blazed the stage with his rhymes. After we performed, he talked with us. He was very genuine. He was telling us how he really felt our words and it reminded him of when he first started writing. This then reminded me why I write: to inspire others. I don’t write to impress. I write to express. Through this, I hope to incite inspiration to encourage self-expression in others. This is what poetry is all about. Inspiration is what makes the world go round, so let’s increase the momentum.

At the end, Canela Negra closed off the night with live music. People were getting out of their chairs and making their way from standing idle to the front of the room to dance the night away. Music, poetry, AND dancing are what makes us human.

Big Brotha also created this game, “SPIT YOU’RE IT!” in which people have these cards and that allows them to tag you at any moment, any place, anywhere. When you’re tagged, you have to spit something. It can be ANYTHING. It can be your poem. It can be your favorite poet’s poem. It can be read. It can be memorized. It can be freestyle. It can be ANYTHING. So Big Brotha tagged Mark and then set off this chain reaction through the circle of artists. I also got tagged. There will be videos which will be uploaded soon.

Shout outs to Big Brotha (if I haven’t already said his name enough), Kasi, Amery, Antonio, Nelson, June, Anna, Kevin, Christine, Romeo, Jay, Josh, Sumiko and everyone we met last night. This is why forWord writes: to connect and form a community of like-minded souls through the art of the written and spoken word. 

All in all, it was an amazing night. I can’t stop saying “amazing” because it was exactly that. I know I should use a Thesaurus, but forget it, I am just going to write how I am feeling now and spill it out. This night INSPIRED us.

• Break the Silence! every LAST THURSDAY of the month at Pizza Pi on 649 E. Broadway, Long Beach CA from 7:00 - 10:00 PM.

We will definitely be back for the next Break the Silence! You should check it out too!

- Eddy M. Gana Jr.

Reflections: Break the Silence! Open Mic

Today, forWord members Steph, Susan, and I visited Pizza Pi in Downtown Long Beach for the Break the Silence! Open Mic. We have not been to BTS! since they were at Mirage Coffee House a year or two ago. Coincidentally, we came across Pizza Pi a week ago when we were looking for a place to eat. But that’s a completely different story…

In any case, Steph and I arrived at 7:00 PM. We thought the open mic sign-ups were at 6:30 PM, but it didn’t start until later. We ordered pizza and drinks. Susan arrived later on. They have the set arranged at the front of the restaurant toward the corner of the room. There was chill music blasting with a DJ so it set the mood right.

At around 8:00 PM, the open mic started. We signed up at around 4th or 5th on the list. The acts varied from electric guitarist to spoken word to singing to acoustic guitar playing to reggae to rapping to spitting poetry over instrumentals.

For the first half of the show, it was very difficult to hear the performers due to people talking and the kitchen working. I performed an old piece titled “A Place to Call Home” and Steph performed a brand new piece called “Chalk Days.” At some points though, it was hard to even hear ourselves speak. We still did our best to project our voice, but the noise was sometimes too much. Also the pauses we made in our poetry as well as with every other poet were overtaken by sounds of chit-chat and clink-clank.

Moreover, there is a huge flat-screen TV above the set playing the LA Lakers vs. Dallas Mavericks game which I strongly feel makes a huge distraction and takes away from the people stepping up to the mic to speak. It is an open mic after all. This Pizza Pi restaurant needs to change up a few things to cater to One Imagination who runs BTS! because they are holding it down no doubt. The establishment is a different matter.

For the second half of the show, the audience was more respectful and the kitchen was not as noisy because people were no longer ordering food. The performers were all DOPE, but again the restaurant needs to unplug that TV out of respect for the performers. Shining Sons and June(sp?) were amazing on the mic. I am not sure if they remember us, but we were all participants at the APIA Summit Bay ‘09.

Speaking of which, the next APIA Summit is this Summer in the Twin Cities, Minnesota!

• The Asian Pacific Islander American (APIA) Spoken Word & Poetry Summit is a BI-ANNUAL gathering of Asian Pacific Islander spoken word artists, poets and rappers, founded in 2001. In 2011, they are going to be gathering in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota.

Back to the open mic, one suggestion for One Imagination to improve the venue is to have the host take some time to remind people inside the restaurant to be respectful of the performers because it is an open mic and it takes a lot of courage to step up to a mic and share with absolute strangers your life or what you’ve been going through. I know that One Imagination knows this because I’ve seen them hold it down in the past, but today the host could have made it clear at the start of the open mic to help moderate the noise level.

Other than what I have already mentioned, our experience at BTS! was a positive one overall. Knowledge was told. People were listening. People were sharing. A few people complimented on our poems afterward so it showed that some people were able to listen despite the noise. We complimented other artists there. All love. Respect everywhere. That is the BTS! that I remember. Like any other venue, it is has room for improvement. But BTS! is too dope of a venue to not go back again. Looking back at everything as a whole, I left the venue with silence broken. Open mic every last Thursday of the month at Pizza Pi in Downtown Long Beach from 8 - 11 PM.

By the way, what do you know? Amery, Kasi, Porschia, and Tim (all from SP!!T) were there too doing their thing kickin’ it with us. Tim and Kasi performed too! Representing it for SP!!T. Much love and respect!

- Eddy M. Gana Jr.