Only two days remain in this year's National Poetry Slam. This time on Sunday, new team and indy champs will have been crowned...until next year's slam in Madison, WI. The Parish and the 501 Studios Soundstage [map] join Antone's, Ruta Maya, and Dominican Joe as 25 teams face off in the Team Semi-Finals. All venues at 7pm. We won't know the semi-finalists at press time, but you can always check the official NPS site later......

As the days go by, things get more intense at Slam Central. Each night, votes for the team bouts are tallied, and teams and individuals learn where they stand. The scores as of the wee hours of Wednesday morning have been posted, and while it's way too early to start popping the bubbly, we're excited to see Team Ego's in second place! First is Team Killeen (please tell us there's at least one slamming soldier......

Another day, another schedule of packed-to-the-gills programming for the National Poetry Slam. It's extremely tough to pick just one or two things to highlight, but here're the events that most piqued our curiosity. Daytime Programming All daytime programs are FREE, so if you live or work downtown, consider popping in for one of these events. NPS won't be in Austin again for a very long time, so this is something of a one-time chance. It......

The poets have arrived! For the second year in a row, the National Poetry Slam will be held in our highly literate, most-educated city. This five-day competition showcases slam poets from around the U.S. and comes to a head in a fierce battle for team and individual top nods, held at the Paramount Theatre on August 10 and 11. Last year's finals sold out, so consider getting your tickets early! Opening ceremonies are this afternoon......

Some 300 competitors in 75 teams are set to converge upon Austin next week for the 2007 National Poetry Slam, a five-day competition that will feature some of the country's most talented slam artistry. NPS officially runs from August 7 through August 11th, but event organizers are hosting a series of preview events starting today to showcase some of what you can expect to see at the performances. "We're fortunate to be able to again......

Trust your instincts, faithful readers. That is a disturbance you've sensed in the force. For the second year in a row, the nation's finest and funniest poets plan to pummel Austin with their poesy, prose, puns...and all sorts of other p-words we can't mention here. Starting August 7, National Poetry Slam 2007 will transform Austin into the epicenter of all things slammarific, with five days of knock-down, drag-out, no-holds-barred competition to find out who can......

The final event of the National Poetry Slam is Saturday Night, 7-10pm, at the Palmer Events Center. TeamAustin/NeoSoul, in their first NPS ever, handily made it to Finals, so come out and root for our hometown talent to win the Team Championship! Competing teams are: DC-Baltimore Denver CO Miami FL TeamAustin/NeoSoul NYC/LouderARTS Venue and Ticket Info Palmer Events Center 900 Barton Spring Road, 404-4500 $25.50 general admission - purchase online......

Prelims concluded at the National Poetry Slam last night, and the results are in! After the final round, new kids on the block TeamAustin/NeoSoul placed 2nd, and old hands TeamAustin/Ego's placed 7th. The top 25 bracket is posted here. These 25 teams go on to semi-finals tonight at 6:30pm, taking place in various venues in South Austin. Once again we're wishing our awesome, hometown talent some ass-whoopin' luck as they take on the competition......

Austin's teams finished second and tenth (out of 73 total teams) in last night's first prelim rounds for the National Poetry Slam. To put it in perspective, a perfect score is 90; TeamAustin/NeoSoul (which we've erroneously been calling South Flavas, mea culpa) scored 87.2, and TeamAustin/Ego's scored 80.9. We'd like to point out that NeoSoul is competing in their first nationals ever. Way to kick some ass! We're mighty proud of our local poet......

Today at noon the National Poetry Slam officially kicks off with opening ceremonies at City Hall. Mayor Will Winn and 2006 NPS Artistic Director Mike Henry will be there to preside over the ceremonies, hosting an "estimated 500 competitors, coaches, staff members, and volunteers". Dang. That's a lot of poets. And poet friends. Folks with NPS badges get free lunch! There is so much amazing programming for NPS this year, a lot of it......

May your withdrawals subside now.... We did indeed miss a day of NPS countdown, so today's tips are for tonight and tomorrow night. Choosing from tonight's offerings is tough, but for our top pick we've got to go with the man who introduced us to slam, Big Poppa E. He'll be hosting a Haiku Battle at 8pm tonight on the rooftop at Zen's south location. FREE. (Sheesh, there sure are plenty of First Thursday......

Let's play a word association game. You know how this works. We say apple and you say pie. We say table and you say chair. And so on. We'll start easy. Up. Did you say down? Okay, drag. Did you say worm? How about this one: poet. Did you say invading Austin next week with days and days of action-packed, slammarific insanity? No?? Well where have you been? The National Poetry Slam officially opens......