Also this issue: Taking the Stage After years in the making, the Philadelphia Gay & Lesbian Theatre Festival becomes a reality. -Lewis Whittington Feast on Furniture -Lori Hill Artquicks More stuff going on this week... Wonders in Wood -Susan Hagen The Importance of Being Earnest -Juliet Fletcher BigSmorgasbord WunderWerk -Steve Cohen Happy Alliance -David Anthony Fox See Red -Toby Zinman

June 5-11, 2003

artpicks

Day of the Poet

Going long and strong for eight years, Kevin O'Neill's Day of the Poet, Philly's premier spoken-word throwdown, whips up a talented frenzy with their All Star Mega Jam. Wrenching poetry from the latte-laden grip of the coffeehouse and the grimy, liquor-breathed bar, DOTP elevated spoken word to its rightful place -- a state-of-the-art theater. Alumni Camille Edwards, Brother Mukham, Don Carlos Price, The Twin Poets, Big Rich Medina, Trapeta B. Mayson, The Young Philly Poets Collective and DOTP founder himself, Mr. O'Neill, lead the charge for this bash. Trucking down I-95, straight out of the famed Nuyorican Poets Café, are wordsters Keith Roach and Faraji Salim. Also on tap is Red Clay Country (The Milieu Will Kill You), a video documentary delving deep within the walls of the Graterford maximum-security penitentiary, featuring members of O'Neill's Inmate Poetry Project. It's First Friday at its best. Instead of checking out the latest hip art gracing the walls of trendy Old City galleries, you can hear mind-shattering, thought-provoking verse as poets dish on everything from love to revolution. As always, the open mic beckons the brave with DJ Razor Ramone on the turntables. Just eight years after its birth, this wordy little baby is slammin' like no other.

Day of the Poet, Fri., June 6, 9 p.m., $10, Painted Bride, Gerry Givnish Theater, 230 Vine St., 215-922-9914.