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Spoken word event goes with the flow
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Shawn A. Wright will carry mixed feelings when he walks into Le Grand Fromage in Atlantic City on Nov. 19.
Wright, a former rapper, started the open- microphone event known as The Flow Session: Music & Spoken Word in May 2003. It comes to an end Thursday with a grand finale edition featuring an all-star alumni lineup.
"There will be some sadness, but I will also feel I succeeded. It's the ending of one thing and the start of a new creative endeavor," said Wright, 41.
Flow Session was an open-mic event for amateur singers, poets, rappers and spoken-word artists. For some of the participants, it was their first opportunity to step behind a microphone in front of a live audience.
A slow night might feature 10 artists performing for 35 people. Some evenings offered as many as 25 different artists facing more than 100 people.
Wright said he started The Flow Session because there was no regular venue for artists to perfect their craft at that time. The Pleasantville man was inspired by open-microphone events he'd visited as an artist and a spectator in Philadelphia and Atlantic City.
"Some people here did it before me. I was continuing something that was passed on directly or indirectly," Wright said.
The Flow Session began at the Fantasea Resorts Flagship in Atlantic City when Wright learned the Ozone Lounge inside the hotel needed a DJ. After a couple of months on the job, Wright organized the first Flow Session. Wright holds bittersweet memories of The Flow Session's first year. His fiancee, Terri Lynn Martin, who was instrumental in helping start The Flow Session, passed away from sickle cell anemia before the event's first anniversary.
Wright's events became known as the place where rappers, poets and singers could try something new.
Poet Dave "D Verse" Harris never performed in front of an audience before getting involved with The Flow Session six years ago. He was inspired enough to start his own performance event, "The Nook," outside his home in Atlantic City.
"Shawn opened his arms to everyone who came through ... to get on the microphone and express themselves," said Harris, 39.
Even though Wright is ending his events, artists will not be left out in the cold. Radio host Raymond Tyler of Atlantic City starts hosting open-mic sessions from 3 to 5 p.m. Nov. 29 in the Doris Jazz Room at Wash's Inn in Pleasantville. Admission will be the same as the Flow Session, $5.
Wright's next project is making a documentary using footage from the many sessions he recorded on VHS and digitally.
"It (the film) would be something permanent to showcase the variety of talent. I like the sensation of a new idea. It stimulates my brain," said Wright, who is a DJ and also works in the marketing department at the Tropicana Casino and Resort in Atlantic City.
Contact Vincent Jackson:
609-272-7202
The Flow Session: Music & Spoken Word (The Grand Finale Edition)
9 p.m. Thursday at Le Grand Fromage,
25 Gordon's Alley, Atlantic City.
Free admission with a canned good donation. Only those 21 and older with ID will be admitted.
Posted in Life on Sunday, November 15, 2009 12:00 am Updated: 6:29 am.
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