Jack McCarthy at Bridge Street Cafe

SLAM FREE OR DIE presents the 2nd annual DEAD AUTHORS SLAM and HALLOWEEN OPEN MIC

Special feature by performance poetry legend JACK McCARTHY

Slam Free or Die at the Bridge Cafe in Manchester, NH , will present a special evening of poetry on Friday, Oct. 30 to celebrate Halloween.

The festivities will include a Spooky Halloween Open Mic, the second annual Dead Author's Slam, and a special feature by performance poetry legend, Jack McCarthy. Doors open at 6pm. There will be a $5 cover for this evening.

The sign-up sheet for the open mic goes on the counter around 6pm and the open mic itself will begin as soon as the list is full. As this is one of our most popular events all year, it is recommended that people arrive early.



About the Dead Authors Slam
The "Dead Authors Slam" will be a be a standard 4x4 team competition, in which competing teams of four members each will face off. Unlike a typical slam, however, this one will have a special 'Halloween' them.

Costumes and originality rules will be relaxed, so that participating poets can slam as their favorite dead authors. The field of material will not be limited to poets -- authors of any kind and musicians can also serve as inspiration.

Teams for this slam are organized by cause of death: Suicide, Murder, Tragic Mishap, and Natural Causes. Just to give a taste of what's on deck, some of the authors already signed up to slam are: Sylvia Plath, Jim Carroll, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Allen Ginsberg and a number of other deceased authors. This is the ultimate showdown to decide who is the baddest scribe in the boneyard!.

About Jack McCarthy
Jack McCarthy (www.standuppoet.net) was a member of the Boston team at the 1996 National Poetry Slam, and was an engaging minor character in the feature film "Slamnation," which documented those proceedings. He was a member of the Worcester team at the 2000 National Poetry Slam, where he finished as the 10th ranked individual in the country. The Boston Phoenix has named him "Best Standup Poet," the Boston Poetry Awards "Best Love Poet," and the Cambridge Poetry Awards "Best Spoken Word" and "Best Humorous Poet ."

The Boston Globe says, "In the poetry world, he's (Jack McCarthy) a rock star." McCarthy has published "Grace Notes," two chapbooks ("Actual Grace Notes" and "Too Old to Make Excuses (But Still Young Enough to Make Love)"), a 60-minute cassette tape (Poems for Hannah), and a CD (Breaking Down Outside a Gas Station). A major book, "Say Goodnight, Grace Notes", was released in 2003 by EM Press. His work has appeared in a number of anthologies, including The Spoken Word Revolution.