BB123 Slam

Bill Brown’s 1-2-3 Slam Toronto is unique in the family of regularly running monthly poetry slam events in Canada. It is the only show that utilizes a format that sees poets perform 1-minute, 2-minute and 3-minute poems in successive rounds. The winner of the final Showdown Round wins Bill Brown … and if you don’t know who Bill Brown is, you better ask somebody!

Shows are on the third Wednesday of every month at Waterfalls Indian Tapas Bar & Grill, located at 303 Augusta Avenue in Kensington Market. Doors open at 7 pm and the show begins at 8 pm sharp. Poets should arrive a half-hour before showtime to sign up to slam. Admission is $5 at the door. There is no open mic at BB123 Slam Toronto.

The dates for the first season of shows are:

January 18 (featuring Brendan McLeod)
February 15 (featuring Dwayne Morgan)
March 21 (featuring Christian Drake)
April 18 (feature Yogi)
May 16 (featuring Alessandra Naccarato)
June 20 (Finals)

The top eight scoring poets over the course of the season will be invited to compete in the Finals. The top five poets at Finals will form a team that will represent BB123 Slam Toronto in the new SLAMtario provincial slam championship event scheduled for July 2012 in Toronto.

Rankings will be posted here after each show. To qualify for Finals on June 20, a poet must:

- Slam in at least two shows between January and May;
- Be ranked in the top 8 of all poets who compete during the season.

The top eight are determined by a system originally devised by Cytopoetics Creative Director Greg Frankson called the Frankson-Priske Ranking Method. Slam scores and placements at monthly shows are both factored into the ranking system, so that the discrepancy between judging on individual nights is balanced by placement relative to other poets in a slam.

If you have questions about the ranking method or any other aspect of the organization of BB123 Slam Toronto, please send a message to the Slammaster at cytoinfo [at] cytopoetics [dot] ca.