Toronto

March 3rd at 7:30 PM
Location: Hugh's Room
Host: Garvia Bailey, Host of Big City, Small World

Poets:
David Silverberg
Queen Tiyessential
Krystle Mullin * WINNER!
Yogi
JD Era


About the Event:

Toronto's Hugh's Room was standing room only for the eighth annual Poetry Face Off.

Host Garvia Bailey warmed up the crowd with her sense of humor and her way of putting people at ease. I think the most exciting part of the evening was having JD Era perform on stage. This was his first time to poetry. As a young hip hop artist, he has plenty of experience performing in front of a crowd but without music and turntables to hide behind--he explained this was a different experience for him. I think the crowds could see his nerves show through from time to time but it didn't seem to matter. When the votes were counted at the end of the night, he was only a few votes away from our winner Krystle Mullin.

This year our audience seemed to be extra raucous--they weren't shy to add their two cents from the floor throughout the evening.

David SilverbergDavid Silverberg is a poet, editor, promoter, host, journalist and artistic director. He founded the now-defunct Suburban Spoken Word in North York, Ontario, and then founded Toronto Poetry Slam (a spoken word competition), where he currently serves as host and artistic director. He is part of the Toronto poetry troupe Last Call Poets, and his most recent book of poetry is Bags of Wires (LyricalMyrical). He is the editor of Mic Check (Quattro Books), a Canadian spoken word anthology. Find him at the Toronto Poetry Slam site.

Queen TiyessentialQueen Tiyessential, aka Ashley McFarlane, is a 23 year old activist and artist who enjoys working with photography, film, and journalism to create socially engaging and empowering messages. She is a member of Toronto Dub Poets Collective and when not performing can be found studying holistic health, reading sci-fi, watching documentaries, and dancing.

Krystle MullinKrystle Mullin’s distinct raspy voice may well be taller than she is (she stands only 5’3) but a lack of vertical height hasn’t stopped this spoken word artist from reaching unimaginable heights in a short period of time.  She has been performing for 3 years and has already toured across Canada and the U.S., been a 3 time member of the Toronto Slam Team and performed at esteemed festivals such as Hillside and The Eden Mills Writers' Festival. 

YogiYogi writes for truth, justice and the Homo Sapien way; really, he just writes in the name of expression. Yogi (Jogindra Sonbass Siewrattan) came from Baton Rouge, Louisiana and Ft. Lauderdale, Florida to now makes Mississauga, Ontario his home. He was a member of the Toronto Poetry Slam 2008 team, a slam champion and feature performer at venues throughout the Greater Toronto Area. He is the author of a book of poems and stories, titled "Telling Moments." Yogi is also a graphic artist who has provided custom designs and logos for many of Toronto's regional poetry events and other organizations.

.

JD Era JD Era was barely 16 he won his first freestyle competition. Considered by many in the industry to be one of Canada’s top freestyle lyricists, JD possess an unrelenting demeanor and competitive attitude that will most definitely continue to serve him in his promising career. In the last two years Era has performed alongside artists like Nas, Pretty Ricki, K-OS, Kardinall Offisial and The Clipse. In 2008, he took home the hardware for Best Rap at the Toronto Independent Music Awards.