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Albany Poets Podcast

An interesting, lively and appealing program, the Albany Poets Podcast is podcasted live from different cafes and clubs in Albany.
The show features an open mic event where poets and songwriters take the stage to perform for the crowd in the club and for the crowd around the world.

Ω Technical Review

The sound quality of the podcast is not spectacular but it gets the job done. The stream captures each performer’s intonations, accentuations and feeling in a grainy, almost garage sound. The recordings sound like they are not soundboard but that element – in a way - adds to the feel and nature of poetry in a city café.
There is no studio magic either. Several singers fearlessly step to the microphone and their miscues and sharp notes are very noticeable. The whole experience is very raw.
The site is quick and streams well. There was very little buffering time and downloading was quick. The group’s main Web site http://www.albanypoets.com is accessible and offers information about the poets, the events and all the other creative things the group does in upstate New York.
To date, there are three available casts on the Web site. The latest is half of a show that was held at Valentine’s, a café in Albany, on Jan. 3.
This event featured a performance by local musician Krysta Dennis and the names of the open mic poets and musicians were Billy, Jared Funari, Matt McWatters, and Katherine Zaleski.

Ω Content Review

Get this Podcast streaming, put on some headphones and close your eyes and you are in a poetry café. The show is uncut and features all the pauses and applauses of every poet and singer’s performance.

To start it off, the MC opens the event with a poem, and immediately it’s apparent that this isn’t kid’s hour with Dr. Seuss. In the latest Podcast, the opening poem is by Allen Ginsberg and is a striking blow to the country’s pollution and oil dependence problems.
“(That poem) was written in 1974, it’s kind of fitting today,” the MC says. “Welcome to Albany Poets presents…”
A large variety of styles of both music and poetry are featured in the podcasts such as beat poetry, satirical commentary poetry, folk music, alterna-folk and female folk singing.
It’s interesting to hear the reactions of the crowd and how they take to certain performers. It seems like their attention is something that each performer has to fight for, as some artists barely receive a clap as others will get roars and whistles.
This type of podcast is important for creative writing and performance. In a time where poetry and the atmosphere of a poetry reading are out of date, this podcast updates that atmosphere and brings it to the Internet and to people's pods.
More people will be able to appreciate modern poetry, storytelling and acoustic music. It will be able to expose artists to a large amount of people and also expose the type of lifestyle these particular poets live.
It’s like the small “in” crowd that everyone in the world can be a part of.