My friend, Wes (weslink), a young slammer from San Jose recently asked me this question as a comment on my last blog entry. I'm pretty sure he is 18 and surely out of high school because I missed his graduation last June.

It occurred to me that some of you may have words of wisdom to add as well. Here is his question and my response below it.

Wes, be sure to thank the nice people for their time.

WES: Curious, how early should a poet trying to schedule their first tour start contacting slams?

McGEE: Well, Wes, I think age has very little to do with touring. It sounds like you have the bug to get out there and see the road. It's a neat road.

I would say it's definitely best to wait until one is 18 to tour, this way you avoid any legal troubles a minor might encounter in strange places. I know some teens that have toured, but they were with an adult or very irresponsible. It might benefit you to wait until you're 21 as well, since a good portion of you first gigs will be in bars and some venues won't have you in that case.

As for when you should tour as an adult, I would gauge it with experience. If you've ever been on a slam team, had work published, made lots of contacts in a regional or national poetry scene, and/or acquired a title or two in a regional/national/international competition, then you're probably ready on an aesthetic level. Most of your first gigs will be at slams, and in order for a slammaster to want to book you, they usually want to know who you are first, and that is usually through hearing about you from other poets/slammers and not by you in the form of an introdctory email. Although, when sending that initial email, be kind, ask questions about their show, and don't brag. Bragging to a slammaster/organizer about tiny, local accomplishments might get you deleted.

The more you perform and make contacts in your region, the more you will be mentioned by poets/slammasters to others in regionsnorth  outside of your own. Especially if you do well. It ain't pretty, and it ain't even an honest system, but it's a system and it is widely used in North American slam and open mics.

If you enjoy slamming, go out for a team. If you enjoy writing, get something published in a paper, magazine, zine or periodical. The more you get published, the more people may want to publish you. If you're a good writer, age should carry no weight.

By winning a slot on a slam team, you afford yourself an opportunity to go to the National Poetry Slam where not only will you perform in front of other poets and slammasters from different regions, but you can also use that opportunity to introduce yourself to most of the regular National slam community. There you can learn more about other scenes and trade contact information with slammasters and poets.

Give it time. If you rush into touring, you could plan it poorly and hurt yourself and your enjoyment of poetry. A bad tour can have a lasting effect on your interest in it poetry and performance later on.

I open this up to others for debate or to provide additional information.
(If you're reading this from my website, click here to read the comments.)
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Word to the nerd.