I really commend anyone who can get up in front of a crowd here and do stuff. Even if you’ve got amazing talent it’s still got to be nerve-wracking. I’ve been in audiences where the crowd doesn’t exactly have the best response, and it’s pretty uncomfortable for everyone. After seeing ShakaZine publisher (and Shaka Talk TV host) Doug Upp jump up on stage at the monthly HawaiiSlam, I was already getting a bit shifty in my chair. I remember his presentation at Pecha Kucha a few months back that left some of the museum people in the audience uncomfortable to say the least. That’s a pretty open-minded crowd, too. He just doesn’t hold anything back. Not anything. While most times I respect when people do that, Doug tends to take it about three steps too far. I love reading his blog, and I’m somewhat jealous about how candid he can be, especially about sexuality. It’s a guilty pleasure to read him, but in real life when he’s on stage is where it gets to be a little much.

I never thought it would be possible to make the HawaiiSlam crowd uncomfortable. Those people have seen and heard just about everything, and for years they’ve all come together to pour their hearts and souls out in a very supportive setting. No matter what, people respond to each other’s words. They have to; it’s not easy to get up there, as guests are reminded by host and keeper of the peace Kealoha before and during the event. So there I was at Nextdoor, watching Doug get up on stage first to deliver his performance. It was one of the few times I’ve seen him not performing in drag. “I’m going to do something a little different tonight,” he had told me earlier as I walked in and saw him at the sign-up table.

The setting was beautiful, and had exactly the same vibe as I remembered from back in the Studio 1 days. Kealoha had laid out freshly picked plumerias and bamboo mats at Nextdoor, a temporary venue for the popular slam poetry competition that’s usually at Pipeline. The lights were down and everybody was smiling and greeting each other. They’ve all known each other for years and have revealed their inner most feelings and emotions to each other from the stage. I’ve only been to a handful of slams over the past few years so I’m not sure how familiar the crowd was with Doug, but damn if he didn’t make every single person in there extremely uncomfortable. The audience’s laughter became more uneasy with every hand motion he did as he graphically described encounters with gentlemen he meets in various situations. It impressed the hell out of me. I mean, at these things you see people like Bridget Gray stand up and bring people to tears. They’re pros, and you’ll be right there with them feeling their joy or sadness or contempt or love with every word that spills out of their mouths. It could have been the first time an audience was ever more nervous than the person on stage, which I think is exactly the reaction he was going for. His scores were terrible, and the applause when he was finished was light to say the least, with a lot more head shaking than hands clapping. Still, I couldn’t help but admire him for getting up there. That’s what these events are all about, right?

Shakazine - Jason Tom pre-interview intro mess-a-round

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