Poetry, provocative? You bet your sweet sister. Step into the world of Slam Poetry and any preconceived notions you have about how drudgingly boring poetry is — especially listening to it — will be blown to hell. Slam Poetry is performance poetry. It’s wild ass drama, but at the same time it’s good stuff, gut level word crafting that speaks to the soul. Think a roller derby of words.

Become an initiate this week when Arkansas’ top slam poets go head-to-head in a slam between Fayetteville’s Ozark Poetry Slam and Little Rock’s Rock Town Slam at 7 p.m. Saturday at Rogue on Dickson Street.

As with all slams, the winners are decided by five judges, who are randomly selected from the audience. The judges score the poets using Olympic-style judging, ranking the poets from 0 to 10. The high and low scores for each poet are dropped.

Building itself on the shoulders of giants such as Clayton Scott and Brenda Moossy, the Ozark Poetry Slam team is made up of the best slam poets in the area. The team competes both locally and nationally, and will represent Arkansas at the National Poetry Slam in St. Paul, Minn., and also send a representative to the Individual World Poetry Slam championship. The team is Houston, Thomas French, Sparkman and Michelle Miesse.

Houston was introduced to slam in 2007 and headed a slam scene at Hendrix College that made three appearances at the College Unions Poetry Slam nationals, and won multiple individual awards. Houston has taught poetry seminars at high schools, the Arkansas Governor’s School and Hendrix. This year, after being on the Ozark Poetry Slam team for only one year, he grabbed the top spot on the team.

French recently graduated from the UA with a math degree, and according to his teammates, “being a mathematician, he is incredibly awkward.” His poetry is more like monologues. “He just gets up and says things. Sometimes they make sense. Often they are funny.” This is his first time on a poetry slam team.

Sparkman prides himself on being a homegrown poet from Prairie Grove. He represented his home state in the Individual World Poetry Championship last year and is currently studying poetry at the UA. He spends his spare time traveling across the U.S. to slam competitions.

Miesse has been involved in the Fayetteville poetry slam scene since 2007 when she joined the UA slam team. She helmed the UA Coffeehouse Committee for two years and was responsible for bringing slam poetry to the UA.

The slam alternate is veteran slammer Harry McDermott. McDermott was attending a “Death Party” where guests were required to write a poem about death. After a slam poet heard McDermott’s poem, he convinced McDermott that he should do slam poetry. It turned out that slam poetry was better than journaling for McDermott and a better opportunity for a cerebral peer group. So, once a month, McDermott takes his thoughts about life, swirls them into a knife, and stabs them into the hearts of unsuspecting audiences.

If you want to try the mic yourself, there’s an open mic before the match. Admission to the slam is $5 at the door.

The Music Gods Are Shining

The Indigo Girls will play The Amp on Wednesday night. PHOTO: MATT ODOM

It’s another one of those weeks in NWA, when the music options are outrageously fine. The big shows are The AMP shows under the big top at the Northwest Arkansas Mall. Saturday night is Blue Oyster Cult and Georgia Satellites — the Bikes, Blues & Hot Rods, Too event is going on at the mall this weekend, too — followed by The Indigo Girls on Wednesday night with Tiffany Christopher opening.

Next Thursday night, the Gulley Park free summer concert series kicks-off with NWA rockers, Big ’Uns led by NAMA Hall of Fame winner Darren Ray. The concert begins at 7 p.m. Bring seating.

Support local music by getting out for the Candy Lee and The Sweets CD release party Wednesday night at Teatro Scarpino and next Thursday night catch two recharged super acts doing all original tunes, Wade Ogle and The Mad Spirits and Jason Paul and New Wine at George’s.

And it you haven’t made it to Eureka Springs yet for the May Fine Arts Festival, there’s music all day in Basin Park and gallery walks on Friday and Saturday nights. All free!

Relatively new NWA rockers, Brave Soul — Nathan Cantorna, Robert David Lee, Edward Mekelburg and Stephan Pruitt — will be at George’s next Thursday night performing with Christmas Fuller Project. Check ’em out. PHOTO: LANDERS GREEN PHOTOGRAPHY

Tonight, the Fayetteville Square will be alive with First Thursday activities. There will be gallery openings, an outdoor film, live music and artists will be selling their work outdoors. The film “A Man Named Pearl” about topiary artist Pearl Fryar will be shown at the Town Center Plaza (bring lawn chairs). At Jammin Java there will be an “Art for Homeless Animals” art show by area artists.

Fayetteville Underground will unveil four new shows: Painter Leilani Law will show “Django” in the Revolver Gallery. Photographer Sabine Schmidt, will show “We’ve Been Holding This Moment for You” in the Hive Gallery. In the Underground’s E-Street Gallery, nationally acclaimed glass artist Ed Pennebaker will be featured and in the Vault Gallery, Chris Mostyn will show his monster drawings. Also featured will be art by students of Law. At Studio 3, 3 E. Mountain St., artists Kathy Thompson and Cindy Arsaga are “doing something different,” and selling “things that are live.” Activities begin at 5 p.m. and it’s all free.

Joe Martin Stage Race

One of our favorite springtime events is happening this week: the Joe Martin Stage Race, named for the late Fayetteville cycling enthusiast. This year’s race will bring 700 athletes from 19 countries and almost every state to Fayetteville. Racers will be competing for more than $50,000 in cash and $10,000 in merchandise. The race is part of the USA Cycling National Race Calendar, which operates under the United States Olympic Committee.

There’s an opportunity for everyone to be part of the excitement by cheering on the cyclists at the finish line, watching racers prep for the races or riding in the Cruiser Parade — all free. Visit www.joemartinstagerace. com for maps and details.

Today is time trials for the pro/elite racers. Racers will be at Devil’s Den State Park this afternoon.

Dickson Street is the place to be on Friday. The first Pro/elite racers will be crossing the finish line about 5 p.m. with final racers coming in about 6 p.m. The finish line is in front of Collier Drug. Cheering the racers as they pedal up Dickson Street is a great way to welcome the athletes.

On Saturday, amateur racers will be at Devil’s Den about 8:30 a.m. for an uphill time trial while pro racers will be competing in a road race that begins and ends at Razorback Road and Martin Luther King Blvd. The 23-mile loop turns at Hogeye. The first round of racers will takeoff about 11:30 a.m. and will hit the finish line about 2 p.m. The last round of racers will roll to the finish line about 6:20 p.m. The two prime viewing spots are the finish line and “The Wall” — a difficult uphill climb — on Arkansas 156 about 3 miles east of Arkansas 265 and Arkansas 156.

Sunday is Criterium day when everything converges on the Fayetteville Square. The racing will be fast and furious. Activities run from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. There will be a kid’s ride for ages 3-12 at 12:30 p.m. and a community cruiser parade also at 12:30 p.m. Parade riders are asked to decorate their bikes and come in costume. Go to the website to register or to the Ozark Offroad Cyclists booth on Sunday.

Racers came to town earlier this week to practice and get used to the climate. Drive carefully and salute these fine athletes, who may be future Olympians.

Homage To Mothers

Celebrate Mother’s Day at the OMNI Center and pay tribute to peacemaker Julie Ward Howe who created Mother’s Day in 1870 as a proclamation against war. OMNI has a new ArtSpace and will be hosting an exhibit called “The Art of Mothering” this month. Local artists including WWAM (Women With A Message) will be showing art that relates to mothering. There will be a special showing from 1 to 4 p.m. on Mother’s Day, with an open mic for songs, poems and performances about mothering. Desserts and beverages served and there will be flowers for the first 50 moms. ArtSpace will be open from 5 to 7 p.m. on Sundays in May. Omni is at 3274 N. Lee Ave. in Fayetteville.

Harmonious Wail

Madison, Wisconsin’s gypsy swing unit, Harmonious Wail will be at GoodFolk in Fayetteville for an 8 p.m. show on Saturday. The gypsy jazz takes its cue from the late French guitarist Django Reinhardt, but Harmonious Wail is a bit different than many of the gypsy bands working today. Harmonious Wail adds a female vocalist. The group has been around for 17 years and has performed worldwide. Tickets are $15 and available by calling 521-1812.

Fayetteville’s Meals on Wheels program is needing a little help, and you can chip in by enjoying a spaghetti dinner and an old-fashioned gospel sing from 6 to 8 p.m. Saturday at the Fayetteville Senior Center, 945 S. College Ave., just north of Walker Park. If you’ve never been to the Senior Center, that will be a treat in itself. It’s a beautiful building with open spaces, lots of glass, native stone and great outdoor areas. So if you’re too young to have ventured there before, this a your chance to check it out. Ten dollars gets you dinner and music by local gospel groups The Ridgeviews and the Faulkner Singers. Many seniors are on a waiting list for meals, so enjoy yourself and help get meals to those in need. For details or to donate call 571-2920.

Springfest This Weekend

The rites of spring will be celebrated Saturday in Fayetteville as always, with the annual Dickson Street festival, Springfest. Now in its 28th year, Springfest kicks off at 6 a.m. with a pancake breakfast at Jose’s. The $5 all-you-can-eat breakfast runs until 10 a.m. and is a benefit for CALMM Autism Resource.

At 10 a.m. the festival ramps up with street vendors selling crafts and the obligatory festival food. There will be a kids’ area with activities and fun informational booths from the arts and sciences departments at the University of Arkansas. The bigger kids will enjoy music by the Joe Giles Band, Benjamin Del Shreve, Likelike, Nathan Aronowitz and Keith Nicholson. The trademark event of Springfest, the Bed Races, will be pitting the brawny as they run the street pushing the contraptions. The free event wraps up at 5 p.m.

GardenFest At Botanical Garden Of The Ozarks

Head to the Botanical Garden of the Ozarks in northeast Fayetteville on Saturday for the second annual GardenFest. From 8 a.m. to noon, 10 vendors, including the BGO gardeners, will hold a plant sale. There will be native plants, exotics like orchids, perennials, annuals, colorful baskets, herbs and trees. From 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. activities will range from live music to delicious food. The popular folk/Americana group Three Penny Acre began playing a few years ago at the Fayetteville Farmers’ Market and soon moved onto bigger things. The band, Bayard Blain and Bernice and Bryan Hembree, have played several festivals and won awards at the Walnut Valley Festival and the 2009 NAMAs. They recently returned from a tour that took them to Missouri, Minnesota, Nebraska and Illinois. A new group, Flow Structure, composed of veteran players Richard Goodrum, Paul Burnham and Jeff Perkins will be filling the day with New Orleans style rhythm and blues. The Greenhouse Grille, Smiling Jacks’ and Shake’s Frozen Custard will be selling their delicious creations. And most of all, you can see the garden in its spring glory. The free event is a fundraiser for BGO.

Eaglesmith At GoodFolk

Steve Martin — yes the funny guy, the author and the musician — will be performing with his Grammy-winning band this week at the Walton Arts Center, but the show is sold out.

However, there are other great shows happening around town this week.

One of our all-time favorites, Canadian singer/songwriter Fred Eaglesmith, will play GoodFolk in Fayetteville on Tuesday night. Eaglesmith has played GoodFolk before and each time he visits the old Victorian house rocks like never before. Eaglesmith is ready to release a new album and is no doubt reeling from the success of the new Alan Jackson album, Freight Train, since Eaglesmith penned the title song.

Some people would pick Fred Eaglesmith over Steve Martin anyway. So go ahead, giveaway those Martin tickets and ante up the $17 for Fred and his sidekicks the Ginn Sisters. Call 521-1812 for tickets.

Those who missed the sold-out Pretty Lights show a few months ago are in luck. The Colorado-based electronic music powerhouse will play the Fayetteville Town Center on Friday night. Tickets are $23 and are available at georgesmajesticlounge.com.

Also hitting town from Colorado, will be bayou blues guitarist Spider Murphy and his band who will play Teatro Scarpino on Wednesday night.

There are vintage guitars and there are vintage guitar players, but not a lot of players who produce vintage guitar sounds. Spider Murphy is one of the few. The Berklee grad is adept at the tenor guitar and tenor banjo and is no newcomer to the scene. He played tenor banjo for Leon Redbone from 1980 until 1983. In the mid 80s he toured with Tom Waits as Waits’ opening act. Catch Murphy at Scarpino’s between his filming a segment of the History Channel’s “Pawn Stars” and an interview on New Orleans’ venerable WWOZ.

Palestine Film Festival

A diverse collection of short- and full-length films will be shown during the Palestine Film Festival April 15-16 on the University of Arkansas campus. Film festival organizers hope that the films will help raise awareness of the issues surrounding the conflict between Palestine and Israel and offer constructive and objective criticism. The filmmakers represent several nationalities including Israelis and Palestinians. A short talk and discussion will follow the film screening each night. The films will be shown from 6:30 to 10 p.m. nightly in Room 216 of the J.B. Hunt Building on the UA campus. The festival is free and there will be free food from Petra Café.

Springdale Slamfest

Most of the time when you read about a slamfest in the Free Weekly, you’re reading about

performance poets. But, hey, there’s another very different kind of slamfest and it’s happening Friday night. It’s a bit more physical than the poetry slams, but many say the performance value ranks right up there with any other kind of entert

ainment. We’re talking about pro wrestling.

In the ring will be Arkansas native Matt Riviera — of TV’s “Megan Wants A Millionaire” fame — who will be going head-to-head with Mr. Everybody Knows, Shawn Shultz. Also facing off will be Midnight Gold and Brian and Kip James, formerly the New Age Outlaws.

The match begins at 8 p.m. at the All Star Sports Arena, 1906 Cambridge St. in Springdale. Tickets are $10-$30.

Church and UFOs

Eureka Springs will be the site of two notable events this week.

Norris Church, wife of the late Norman Mailer, will be in town on Friday for a book signing at 7 p.m. at the New Delhi Café. Her latest novel, “A Ticket To The Circus” (Random House), was slated for release this week. This will be a repeat visit by the New York author, who came to The New Delhi a few years ago for a similar event. The event is free.

On Friday, Saturday and Sunday, the 22nd annual Ozark UFO Conference will be drawing the curious to the Best Western Inn of the Ozarks Convention Center. Speaking will be: Stephen Bassett, “Exopolitics, UFOlogy, Disclosure and the New World Order;” James Clarkson, “Finding June Crain: The Discovery of a Key Witness to the ongoing UFO cover-up;” Richard Dolan, “UFOs and the National Security State;” Debbie Kauble, “Intruders, 27 Years Later;” Linda Moulton Howe, “Telepathic Lights;” Jim Marrs, “What’s Next For UFOlogy?;” Bill Pitts, “Project Blue Book Remembered;” Nick Pope, “United Kingdom Ministry of Defense UFO Files;” and Jeff Wilson, “USA Crop Circles and the Return of the Thunderbirds.”

Cost for the three-day event, which includes a vendor show, is $50 in advance or $70 at the door. Single-day tickets are available at the door and are $25 for Friday, $40 for Saturday and $15 for Sunday. For advance tickets go to ozarkufo.com.

Music From Alaska And Italy

The Walton Arts Center is bringing in two musical acts of very different ilk this week. The Alaskan bluegrass quintet Bearfoot will play the Starlight Music Club — the WAC’s small theater — at 8 p.m. today and at 8 and 10 p.m. Friday. The group has been together since 1999 and keeps a busy touring calendar. In 2001, the band won the highly regarded Telluride Bluegrass Festival competition.

On Friday night in the large hall of the WAC, the Italian chamber orchestra, Interpreti Veneziani will perform an 8 p.m. show. The nine musicians will perform Vivaldi’s “The Four Seasons,” with five violins, viola, cello, bass and harpsichord. The program will also include works by Bach, Händel and Boccherini. Tickets are $10-$33.

Photos and audio from Daniel Gold at Honest Tunes:

Bearfoot 4-6-2010 Honest Tunes Radio Webcast