by: Susan Spit-Fire
Hey everybody! Come unwind with us at the ultra-hot (and super-cool) Cigar Inn on Thurs., July 14th as we prepare for another exhilarating session of Open Mic Night @ The Inn (Doors-8; Show-9). Our Featured Artist for the night will be 29 year old Detroit, MI native Robia "IggNhyte" Fields, a phenomenal Spoken Word Artist, Poet, Writer, and Author.
Her powerful onstage presence and persona command your attention, and her word skills are one of a kind. She is quite famous in the greater St. Louis region and the Metro East, and has been featured at many local shows, among them SoulSTAGE (St. Louis’ Finest Bar & Grill), and most recently at S.W.A.U. (Spoken Word Addicts Unleashed - Escalades).
In addition, Robia has performed in cities around the country such as Kansas City, Detroit, Kalamazoo, Cincinnati, Columbia, Fulton (MO), and Jefferson City (MO). She was also honored with the chance to open up for esteemed poets J. Ivy and Jessica Care Moore, and R&B artists Jeremiah, Dwele, and Day 26. Ms. Fields earned a B.S. Degree in Biology from Lincoln University and a Master’s Degree in Social Work from the University Of Missouri. Her interests include writing, singing, swimming, and performing. She currently resides in St. Louis, MO, where she works in Youth Drug Intervention.
Kelli Allen, highly acclaimed Poet, Author, Editor, and Scholar from St. Louis, will open for Robia. She is the Managing Editor of UMSL’s literary magazine Natural Bridge and is a graduate of Purdue University. Some of the publications her award-winning work has appeared in include The Greatest Lakes Review, Bad Shoe, The Blue Sofa Review, Women Arts Quarterly, Foliate Oak, The Chaffey Review, and The Lugh Review. Kelli’s poetry will soon be featured in upcoming editions of Ante Review and The Caper Review. She’s authored two chapbooks – Picturing What Breaks and Applied Cryptography.
Ms. Allen is often featured at Poems, Prose, and Pints, and was just featured at Duff’s Tangled in Verse with Steven Schreiner. She’s a board member of The Missouri Writer’s Guild, and has been teaching Creative Writing workshops for the last ten years. She also established The Graduate Writer’s Reading Series. Kelli’s other interests include dancing and reading. Her influences are Robert Bly, Rainer Maria Rilke, John Berger, Mary Oliver, Rumi, and Kabir.
Roxana, IL, Actor, Poet, Author, and Spoken Word Artist Shane Signorino will join us. He sparks vital echoes of the past with his unusual style of beat-poetry. His intense live performances reflect a high level of creativity and originality. He’s performed at Duff’s (Hungry Young Poets Series), Black Bear Bakery, FOAM, and Sacred Grounds. Shane’s presently enrolled in the MA Poetry-Writing Program at SIUE. And he’s a teaching assistant there, educating students in English 101 and 102. He’s earned undergrad degrees in English and Creative Writing, Theatre Performance, and Experimental Psychology.
Signorino is a gifted actor as well, having acted with many professional companies, among them St. Louis Shakespeare, Hot City, and ITP. He’s a St. Louis Slam champion several times over, was the recipient of The William Carlin Slattery Memorial Award for Poetry, and was featured twice on KDHX 88.1 FM’s radio show Literature for The Halibut. His poems have been published in Mixed Fruit, River Bluff Review, and LocusPoint. At this time he’s working on a book of poetry called Bughouse Bound and a new CD featuring Spoken Word and Hip-Hop.
South Carolinian Vocalist, Producer, Poet, and Spoken Word Artist Taylored Poet will grace the stage as well. She is highly respected in the Arts community. She made her debut in 2002 as a Singer and Spoken Word Artist at St. Louis’s own Legacy Books and Café (Urb Open Mic) and has been rocking stages across the country ever since. Her performances are compelling and incredibly touching. Taylored Poet has been featured all over the Bi-State area, and in New York, South Carolina, and many other places. She started her own business - Out Tha Box Entertainment, and is the producer and host of The Sipher, which goes down every third Sunday in The Lou. Her wildly popular spoken word CD Shades of Gray was released in 2005. She is currently devoting her time to her studies at Kaplan University and to the creation of her first novel. She and her wife reside in the city of St. Louis.
Our Special Guest will be Dominique “Awwe She’It” Whittier, a distinctive and enormously clever Poet, Writer, and Spoken Word Artist from St. Louis, Mo. She has been featured at many of the hottest local clubs and venues and is known for her fiery and bold poetry and prose. Ms. Whittier has competed in a host of regional Poetry Slams. Her hobbies are comprised of watching boxing, reading, and watching movies. Her influences include Coria, Enoch is Real, Fior Baptiste, The Immortal Soul Era, and The Real Hip Hop!
Can’t wait to meet you there, this is going to be another must-see event!! It’s going to be fun y’all! We will have Free-Wi-Fi, dope drink specials, fine cigars, an Open Mic, and the best live entertainment all for your enjoyment. See you soon!
Love & Hugs, Spit-Fire
