At Put Up or Shut Up the crowd pays attention

Six nights out of the week The Mix is a place for dancing, drinking and dining. Tuesday night is the exception.

On Tuesdays it becomes a spot where spoken word poets take the stage. Songwriters and musicians let the audience in on what they've been working up and comics see if they have what it takes to get a laugh. And they do it without the distraction of members of the audience chatting with one another. 

This is Put Up or Shut Up and when an act is on the stage they do not put up with patrons who want to talk among themselves. In fact you will be told it's time to shut up. At this venue the artist has a chance to be heard. 

Then again, so does the audience. If an audience member doesn't like what is coming from the stage they pick up a cow bell from the table in front of them and ring it. If three people ring their bells, the act must get off the stage.

Marcel Price, whose pen name is Fable the Poet, and Mitch Burns, PoetLikePoe, emcee the shows each week and they brought the format to Kalamazoo that has proven successful in Grand Rapids. There it's called the Retort and can be found every Monday at Stella's Lounge. 

Price explains that in a bar environment there has to be an element of crowd control for the type of show they are presenting. At the beginning of each evening the audience shouts out the rules so everyone knows what's expected. 

With a loud "Say What" the repeating of the rules begins: If you hear something you like make noise (No finger snapping. It's too quiet.) If you hear something you don't like ring a bell. Get off the stage if three bells ring. Have a good time. No fighting. 

If you get caught talking you are called up to the front of the room where you will be embarrassed by being asked to do something stupid--think Ace Ventura talking with his butt, or you being asked to do a booty pop. For most people that mild humiliation is all it takes to remember to keep it focused on the stage. 

"Once it happens, once a night, that's all it takes for everyone to behave," Price says. 

Some might think it would be hard on poets to be "belled" off the stage. But Burns explains it really is constructive. It tells the poet what parts of the piece are working and what ones need to be tightened or redrafted.

"Sometimes people get in front of others and they find out they had a lot of work to do," Burns says. "That can be shocking if they've only been told they are the best." 

Those who are there to find out how their work is received don't take the cow bells personally, but instead use the experience to learn more about improving their writing.

For the past six months the Tuesday night momentum has been building at the club at 2804 W Michigan Ave., near the WMU campus.

In the early days, a lot of people turned out for clubbing and then stayed to listen to hear the poetry. "That's how it grows. It could be the new date night for people who want to support local artists," Burns says.

Price and Burns (and their audiences) have been regularly impressed with the quality of those who have taken the stage. As Price recently posted on Facebook: Kalamazoo has artists coming out of the woodworks! He's also exclaimed over the work of those reading for the first time at the Tuesday night affairs, "virgins" in the vernacular of the show.

Not only do Burns and Price work together putting on shows here and in Grand Rapids, but they are fast friends. "Sometimes you meet a person and you know they are someone you won't be able to get rid of? That's Fable," Burns says. 

Burns' daughter thinks of Fable as family. He also says the passion that the passion Fable shows onstage is the same offstage.  

Supporting community is not new for Burns and Price. In Grand Rapids, they and seven others are part of a group known as Diatribe. They describe themselves as a very diverse group of eight artists consisting of MC's, photographers, humanitarians, and a few fathers who have spoken word poetry in common. 

The two poets' connections in the world of spoken word means that some of the top artists around, some of them nationally known, are finding their way to the Tuesday night shows. And those connections are leading to a cross pollination of spoken word artists between Kalamazoo, Detroit and Grand Rapids. 

They have been working to find a way to create something bigger with their poetry, much as Kinetic Affect has in Kalamazoo, across the state, and nationally. Since relocating to Kalamazoo to be near family they have connected with Gabriel Giron and Kirk Lattimer to learn more about the business of Spoken Word Poetry. 

Getting into schools to work with young people has always been a goal. It is happening in Grand Rapids. Burns explains they wanted to teach in Grand Rapids and didn't know how to get started. Through the connections they made after entering Art Prize they were asked to do workshops and work with groups.

"I was working at the Bob (a downtown Grand Rapids pub and eatery) during Art Prize and a large number of visually impaired people came through," Burs says. "The person who was describing the artwork to them came to one piece that I had been enjoying all week. It was so elaborate  he couldn't describe it so he just kept walking. It made me wonder what are they really getting out of this?"

That experience inspired him to bring the idea to his friends to create an Art Prize entry that could be enjoyed by everyone. The created "WORD" ,  a Spoken Word/Hip-Hop influenced ArtPrize exhibit, displaying the Power, Beauty, and Versatility of words, as an art form.

Doors started to open after that. Now they are working to build connections between communities. 

Or as Burns puts it: They are seeing what's possible with the right drive and passion. 

For works by the poets, check below. 

Fable, here:

Burns, here:

Kathy Jennings is the managing editor of Second Wave Media. She is a freelance writer and editor.