Poetry haboob: B-Jam takes the desert slam scene by storm
HARK!
I hear…a wordstorm…
Define poetry?
Might as well try to define the ocean, that pristine paradox, eternally ephemeral, a quiet sunset fading into a raging storm…
Set against those who create elegant, straight-line aaaaahhhhh poetry of captured-moment beauty, B-Jam is chaotic and unpredictable, blowing winds in every direction.
At sea, sailors would call the likes of him a howler.
And howl he does.
Whether (or weather?) he whips up into a full-scale hurricane slammer is not to be known for some time; too many variables for an accurate forecast at this point regarding this mini-typhoon.
Better put: a rising haboob.
Yes, “desert storm” is the best term for him, as B-Jam might be new to the Valley’s spoken poetry scene commonly known as slams, but Ben Gardea—the Bruce Wayne to his Batman—is a Phoenician to the core.
“Believe it or not, I’m a Phoenix local,” Gardea said with a chuckle during a Zoom interview. “Born at Good Samaritan Hospital, spent most of my life on the westside.”
Going to Glendale schools in the Nineties, he was a creative type: “I was a trombone player in the jazz band. Sang in an a cappella group; I was very involved. I did a couple of talent shows, hung out with friends who did a little hip hop. Nothing very serious.
“Back then I was just a kid who was lost and didn’t think I had anything to say.”
After school days, you could say he was Tased and confused—slapped and zapped by cops after raising holy hell.
Not the best scenario for the young artist.
“I’ve always kind of wrote a lot, but I went through some controversy,” he said, grimacing at the memories of dark days and blackout nights. “Now, I’m in my fourth year of sobriety; I’d been a severe alcoholic for many, many, years. Drinking every day…
“I got lost in suburbia,” is how he puts his time of staggering drunk around the westside, just to get up and do it again.
“Once I got sober, it brought up a lot of emotions.”
As he would later write (“on top of a mountain in Sedona”) of his struggles:
The fight between
dark and light
Ain’t quite that
black and white
When most of us
live in the gray
But I know I’m alive
and inside
God’s saying
it’ll be all right
Cause despite all this grind
I’m gonna keep my head in
Never letting myself
fall outta line
Well all right, I guess
there was a few times
Admittedly
there was a few crimes
Dealing not only with a new-found lifestyle but hip replacement surgery at age 43, he was literally getting his legs under him early last year when he happened on something that knocked him off his feet, in a good way: a poetry slam night at the Lawn Gnome.
These people were talking a different language!
And he understood it!
“I’d never went to a poetry show before,” he said. “These were authentic poets; it blew my mind. Everything changed from that—it was a whole world I never understood before…
“I went home and busted out a pen and paper.”
A few months later, Ben Gardea became B-Jam and grabbed the mic at Lawn Gnome himself.
It was May 5: Cinco de Mayo, the holiday celebrating the Mexican army’s victory over France at the Battle of Puebla in 1862. One hundred fifty-nine years later, B-Jam took on his fears, his past, his doubts…and won the battle.
He didn’t just get up in front of a crowd and mumble a few thoughts, he howled lines from his soul.
And he had that feeling that singers, dancers, musicians, actors and slammers get when they put their skills to the test on stage, in front of a love-em-or-hate-em audience: This is where I belong.
Since then, B-Jam has become a regular in the Phoenix slam scene.
“I try to go out as much as I can,” he said. “If there’s a place I can find poetry, I’m going to go do it.
“I didn’t expect this to happen,” he humbly added, “but a lot of people enjoy the stuff I’ve been doing.”
Yes indeed, people can sense it: This is the real deal, a poet with steel.
Wednesday, Feb. 16, B-Jam will spout poetry at the Ghost Poetry night at the Rebel Lounge. Next week, he’s on the bill at the Poetic Soul show at Club Dwntwn.
…
I’m coming out
from my hideout
Cause it’s my time
to shine now
click for B-Jam's Facebook Live with HARK Valley
other links
IG: https://www.instagram.com/bjam5000/
Youtube oct 21
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fh1_w3X_d8w