The t-shirts just arrived and they look mah-velous! They will be available this Saturday for $15. Cheap! Don't sleep.

Met with Eric and Helen over lunch earlier today to hash out the format and came out with some great ideas as well as identifying some potential pitfalls to avoid. I've gone from nervous and excited to nervous and ecstatic. It's either going to be a home run or a foul tip off the big toe!

Last night's Acentos 1st anniversary show was a new high as the Blue Ox was packed old-school Nuyorican-style, with people on the floor and packed in wall-to-wall. Appropriate as Miguel Algarin was the feature. He's one of those people the old cliche applies to: "He could read the phone book and make it sound interesting." His stage presence is amazing and his personality is sincere and natural that you almost don't even notice that his poems are pretty good, too!

I had a 101.5 fever just before I got to the bar that Motrin kept in check long enough for me to enjoy the whole show. The three showcases were spread nicely through the night, though at first I wasn't feeling the final one coming after a break following Miguel's feature as the fever was creeping back up. Some people left, but many more stayed and those that did got the special treat of seeing Mayda del Valle kick a mini-feature. Last time I saw her was last summer just before she was headed to Scotland for the Def Poetry tour. This time she's taking a break from Def Poetry and headed back to Chicago before jumping into the expanded Declare Yourself tour next month. Got to talk to her for a while after the show about the past couple of years, the whirlwind of activity, the highs and lows, the jealousy and hate thrown her way as a result. Was glad to see that through it all, she's still Mayda, and the "pseudo-fame," as she called it, hasn't changed her a bit. I would so love to get her on a louder than words with someone like Miguel or even Willie Perdomo.