| Buddy Wakefield | |
|---|---|
| Born | June 4, 1974 in Shreveport, Louisiana |
| Genres | Spoken Word |
| Years active | 1999–present |
| Labels | Righteous Babe Records |
| Website | www.buddywakefield.com |
Buddy Wakefield (born June 4, 1974) is an American performance poet/slam poet. He is a two-time Individual World Poetry Slam Champion (2004 and 2005)[1] whose latest works have been released by Righteous Babe Records (CD) and Write Bloody Publishing (books).
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Buddy Wakefield was born in Shreveport, Louisiana and raised in Baytown, Texas. In 2001, he left his position as an executive assistant for a biomedical firm[2] in Gig Harbor, Washington, sold or gave away everything he owned, and moved into a Honda Civic to tour North American poetry venues.[3]
In 2004 and again in 2005, Buddy Wakefield won the Individual World Poetry Slam Championship title, becoming the first poet to win the title two consecutive years.[4] Wakefield has been a member of several slam poetry teams, including Team Seattle in 2006 and 2007.
Wakefield continues to make his living through his poetry and performance, serving as his own booking agent. In an interview with the online literary journal, The Splinter Generation, he describes the difficulties and evolutions of booking your own poetry tours:
| “ | I am a bit of a neat freak. I am really organized. That’s where it stops for most folks because they actually have to work, and it’s a non-stop grind. I still pay my own health insurance, I still make sure that there is money coming in. If a college from Indiana calls and says, “We want you to come out. We are going to fly you out to do this gig,” then, while I am out there, I rent a car and make sure that I book things that are close by. I can book 7-8 gigs. The “Gentleman Practice” tour is the first solo tour I have done since I lived in my car in 2003. I book everything myself, sell all my own merchandise, drive 4-8 hours a day. I am dealing with 43 shows right now, and then having the energy to stay healthy and be on stage every night. I am stoked about the challenge and the opportunity, also to reflect on, what it was like in the beginning when Motel 6 was a super splurge. But it’s also ten years later, and Hotwire.com exists.[5] | ” |
In addition to touring the country solo, Wakefield has also been a core member of several traveling poetry groups, including 2007's Solomon Sparrow's Electric Whale Revival, 2008's Junkyard Ghost Revival, 2009's Elephant Engine High Dive Revival and 2010's Night Kite Revival, where he shared the stage with poets such as Derrick Brown, Anis Mojgani, Andrea Gibson and Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz, among others.[6]
When not on tour, Wakefield lives in Seattle, Washington. He currently serves on the board of Youth Speaks Seattle, a non-profit literary arts organization.[7]
Wakefield has published three books of poetry: Some They Can't Contain (2004, originally The Wordsmith Press; reissued by Write Bloody Publishing), Live for a Living (2007, Write Bloody Publishing).[8] and Gentleman Practice (2011, Write Bloody Publishing)
Wakefield has also released three full-length spoken word albums: A Stretch of Presence (1999), Run On Anything (2006) which was released by Strange Famous Records,[9] and Live at the Typer Cannon Grand (2009) which was released by Ani DiFranco's Righteous Babe Records.[10] DiFranco first became aware of Wakefield when her mother saw him perform at an art gallery in Buffalo NY (where DiFranco and her family lives) and gave DiFranco a print out of Wakefield's website, saying, “You have to do something with this guy.”[11] The album contains both studio-produced tracks and recordings of live performances, including several from Wakefield's numerous times opening for DiFranco on her tour.
Wakefield has had a profound impact on the contemporary poetry slam movement, both in his performance and writing style as well as how he has conducted his career. In her book, Words in Your Face: A Guided Tour Through Twenty Years of the New York City Poetry Slam, author Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz named Wakefield as "the modern poetry slam role model." She wrote,
| “ | ...[Wakefield] sold everything he owned and toured the country, living out of his car when he wasn't crashing on couches. He was not the first slam poet to do this and certainly not the last, but he was definitely the most high-profile, and he really set the stage for what I like to call the "Troubadour Movement" in slam, the whole desire simply to tour, to reach out and be with your community.[12] | ” |