MCC on Main: Urban StoryTellers Review
Courtesy of twitter.com
Poetry is a lot of things. Sometimes it rhymes, sometimes it has a beat, sometimes it makes you laugh, sometimes it makes you cry. But it’s always just a series of words on a page, right?
Wrong.
The gallery at MCC on Main hosts a regular event called Urban Storytellers, where poets and musicians showcase their talents and bring poetry to life. Performers come in by invitation and treat a crowd to an evening of culture and emotion, sharing their personal thoughts and creations with the world.
On Saturday September 21st, the evening was hosted by Hawk T. Poet, a slam poet who has been writing since his childhood. He performed several of his poems, everything from dramatic stories he’d heard from friends to shockingly personal recollections of his own experiences. The raw emotion evident in his poetry and performance gave a spectacular insight into the vibrant and vicious truth of the human spirit. At one point in the event, he even invited members of the audience up to the mic to perform some of their own works. Two audience members in particular, Jade Medeiros and Cynthia Peck, took him up on this offer, sharing poems they had written and adding to the variety of thoughts and feelings running thick and fast in the air that night.
No artistic event would be complete, however, without a bit of music, and the Podunk Throwbacks were happy to oblige. A lively acoustic trio, the Podunk Throwbacks consist of Todd Skilton on guitar and vocals, Amy Jones on violin, and Chris Morales on various hand percussion instruments. They brought the evening together perfectly with an upbeat set of original songs, all composed by Skilton, and all with a fresh sound not often heard in the mass-produced, pre-packaged, over-electronic cookie cutter music spewed out by the modern music industry. Though they are, at times, reminiscent of many acoustic rock groups through the ages, the honesty and rarity of their sound made for a nice breath of fresh air and fit in flawlessly with the creativity and flow of the other performers of the evening.
Overall, the Urban Storytellers event was well worth the measly five-dollar admission fee. For anyone interested in the event, it will be returning to MCC on Main, located at 903 Main Street, Manchester, on October 12, featuring Tracy Caldwell, and again on November 9, featuring Mike Peterson. 
Hawk T. Poet’s online work and future events can be found on his Facebook page, as well as his website, at http://myactoremail.wix.com/warrenhawk. The Podunk Throwbacks have several upcoming performances, all of which can be found on their website, at http://www.podunkthrowbacks.com/gig/.
