INTRODUCING... THE LONG BEACH/ORANGE COUNTY POETRY SLAM TEAM
After a grueling three-round competition, Ben Porter Lewis, Besskepp, Mark Gonzales, Rachel Kann and R-A-C have emerged as this year’s Long Beach/Orange County Poetry Slam Team.

So far, their pre-Nationals trials by fire have been pretty successful: They won the first Battle for Los Angeles against the Hollywood and Los Angeles slam teams, and the following week they won again, competing against the brand, spanking new San Diego team. The winning streak ended, however, at Da Poetry Lounge, where the team took fourth against LA, Hollywood and “Sanocla,” which consisted of poets from San Antonio, Orange County and LA. Ooooh.... that’s gotta smart. Can they rebound? Find out at one of these appearances:

• Battle for Los Angeles, Round 3: Thursday, July 5th, Bistro West, 8457 Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood, CA, 323.822.1165. 8 pm, $5.
  
  
• LBC/OC vs. Flagstaff, Arizona: Sunday, July 8th, The Blue Cafe, 210 the Promenade, Long Beach, CA, 562.983.7111. 3 pm, free.
  
  
• Slam Team Fundraiser: Monday, July 9th, Gypsy Den Grand-Central, 125 N. Broadway, Artist's Village, Santa Ana, CA, 714.835.8840. Free.
  
  
• LBC/OC vs. San Diego, Round 2: Friday, July 13, Urban Grind, 3797 Park Blvd., San Diego, CA, 619.294.2920. 7 pm, free.

• The Big Damn Poetry Slam CD, $15
  Featuring Hope Alvarado, Besskepp, Derrick Brown, Lea C. Deschenes, Victor D. Infante, Eitan Kadosh, Rachel Kann, Ben Porter Lewis, Daniel McGinn, Mindy Nettifee, Jaimes Palacio, Michael Paul, R-A-C, Steve Ramirez, Mark Schaefer, Paul Suntup and Lauren Wheeler.
  
  
• The Big Damn Poetry Slam Chapbook, $5
  Featuring Besskepp, Lea C. Deschenes, Rachel Kann, Daniel McGinn, Jaimes Palacio, R-A-C, Steve Ramirez, Mark Schaefer and Chris Tannahill.
  
  
• The Big Damn Poetry Slam T-shirt, $15
  A nice black T-Shirt with our logo and our motto, “Rule #3: It's Not About You,” printed on it.

Steve Ramirez
1009 N. Placentia #C
Fullerton, CA 92831

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ANTHOLOGY! INCIDENTAL BUILDINGS AND ACCIDENTAL BEAUTY
Incidental Buildings and Accidental Beauty, the gorgeous new anthology of Orange County and Long Beach poetry, is now out and available from Tebot Bach. The book features Charles Harper Webb, Gerald Locklin, Robert Peters, Derrick Brown, Charles Ardinger, Michelle Ben-Hur, Carrie Etter and many, many others. You can read my review of it in the OC Weekly and pick up a copy at July’s Tebot Bach Reading Series, featuring Matthew Niblock, Robert Wynne and Jeanette Clough, at the Fidelity Federal Bank, 19900 Beach Blvd., Huntington Beach, 714.968.0905, Friday, July 27th at 8 pm. Free. Contact Paul Suntup for more info at zelsun@home.com.

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BYE-BYE PENGUINS
As previously mentioned, Jaimes Palacio will be ending his Penguins Hooked on Macaronics reading at Gypsy-Den Grand Central the last week of July, closing out on an up note with poets Matthew Niblock, Marcia Cohee and Margaret Elyse Garcia.

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ODDS AND ENDS

• Lee Mallory is throwing his annual Performance Poetry Competition at Gypsy Den Grand-Central this year, on July 20th at 8 pm. Sign-ups begin at 6:30 pm. As always, there’ll be cash prizes, etc.
  
  
• Pat Cohee, director of Laguna Poets, will no longer be producing a chapbook for each of the reading’s weekly features, ending the series’ more than two-hundred book run.
  
  
• Thee Instagon Foundation has posted a Web site of some of the late Gary Tomlinson’s poems.
  
  
• And finally, my new book, Invisible Ghetto, has just come out, and is available from me for $5 at ocvictor@hotmail.com.

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Ciao,

Victor Infante