Photo: Forgotton-Ny.com
I push my way past a heavy blue curtain. I see an overweight black man standing at a mic under dim lights in a large windowless room. There are people around. They are hanging on every single word he says. The energy is serious and intense. It smells a little like old beer and must. I am at a poetry slam at the Nuyorican Poet’s Café on 3rd Street and Avenue C.
I ask the guy behind the bar if he has a minute to answer a few questions about the place. He is fat, with a heavy New York accent.
“Don’t you see the performance going on?” He says sternly. I leave with my tail between my legs and blushing.
I stop back, relentlessly, every day for the next week and a half. I keep getting the same answers.
“Call the office! I’m busy!”
I call the office repeatedly. No one answers or gets back to my phone messages. I e-mail the information center. I’m beginning to think there is something about this place that the people don’t want me to know. Finally, the guy agrees to answer a few questions. He won’t tell me his name and his response to almost every single question is “it’s on the website!” He tells me, at the very least, that the place is a non-profit and has a rich artistic history. To each question I ask, he is rude and suspicious.
The Café, I learned, opened in 1973 in the 6th Street living room of a local artist. His goal was to foster the careers of struggling artists, musicians, poets, rappers and playwrights. By the 80’s, the center was well-known and respected in the neighborhood. The term “Nuyorican” is a slang portmanteau from the words “New York” and “Puerto Rican.” While I didn’t find out whether the café was harvesting any kind of top-secret scandals, I did find out that the Café is a thriving center that will likely not be affected by the current economic turmoil.
Luckily, I got some inside scoop from a friend of mine and regular Nuyorican poetry slam participant. Roque is tall, black New Jersey –born man with a knack for winning “10’s” at Thursday night open-mic night. Roque, or pen-name “Potus” has nothing but good things to say about the café. He has won slams several times and is working on building a nice rapport with the open-mic night regulars. He is in his early twenties and is easily one of the most talented of the urban poets on the scene.
“There is nowhere like it. I’ve been performing slam poetry for almost five years and have never experienced the type of crowd that the Nuyorican has. It’s somethin’ else.”
Having seen Potus’ performance several times at the café, I can tell that the energy of the place and his poems are products of one another. When he breaks between lines, which is rare and sometimes uncomfortable, a weighty feeling is evident even from the upstairs balcony that I prefer to hide on. When he finishes a particularly profound line, the crowd goes nuts with “Oooohs!” and cheers as Potus gracefully glides into the next stanza.
“I think the crowd is most definitely representative of this neighborhood,” he says thoughtfully. “There is a pretty large presence of Puerto Ricans here, of course. But even more than that, the neighborhood is so artsy. There is so much rich artistic history in the East Village. The place is like the Mecca for up-and coming artists. I mean, I think the Nuyorican is kinda like a modern day Café Wha? or something. There is so much good stuff coming out of it.”
When I ask about the economic state of the place, we both agree that $8 to get into an open-mic night is a little steep. Having lived adjacent to the café for almost a year, though, I can see that the recession has most definitely not affected the turnout, especially on weekend nights, at the café. The place’s stern policy on not opening up until 9’o clock sharp gives locals a chance to see just how exciting the place is. The mural next door is always completely curtained by throngs of people leaning impatiently until the doors open, rain or shine. The people are eager and thrilled to be attending.
“Drinks are pretty cheap and the vibe is so cool. Most people I know come over an hour to perform here.” Potus is no exception. His commute from Jersey is long and tiring, but he makes it excitedly each Thursday night.
Though the employees at the Nuyorican Poet’s Café may be a little tough and straight-faced when it comes to their pestering locals, their attitudes may just be a testament to the hard-working and intense vibe the Nuyorican stands for.
“These people have seen a lot. They are lightweight intense,” Potus tells me.
“It’s just because they are incredibly serious about what this place means. It is more than what it is. If they aren’t serious about it, I guess no one’s gonna be.”