A little spoken word ditty stitched together with hope strings and UFO parts and butterfly guts and laser beams with a lotta backbone.

11 MP3 Songs
SPOKEN WORD: Poetry, SPOKEN WORD: Comedy



Details:
Dan Leamen placed 5th at the 2007 Individual World Poetry Slam (making him the current 5th ranked performance poet in the world). He is also the two-time Omaha City Slam Champion, winner of the first Lincoln City Slam Championship, and member of the 2005-2006 Omaha National Slam team. Dan has performed extensively throughout the Midwest including venues such of The Mercury Café (home of the 2006-2007 Denver National Poetry Slam championship team) and Chicagoâs The Green Mill (the home of this silly little ditty Dan does for a living).

When Dan was a little lad he would run outside on rainy days and build beaver dams on the slope of the street his family called âhomeâ. Being a little one he at first constructed the dams strictly out of twigs and rocks. Realizing that this method was not exactly effective; Dan set his tiny heart on finding a way to stop the flow of water down the street. Spending massive hours in his backyard, mixing magic and hope, stirring in a little bit grit and a dollop of being there he concocted a concrete substance which he would claim for a year was his invention. In the third grade his world was shattered when he was informed that this substance was something called âmudâ and that it had been around for awhile.

Dan lives in Lincoln, NE and teaches gifted lads and lasses in the Lincoln Public School system. He tinkers with dreams. In his back bone he keeps a dream tree and in his chest there is a strong man knitting a scarf to keep you warm on your coldest of nights. He teaches poetry workshops at local high schools and universities. His dream is to become an Olympic curler, play professional broom ball, pick up his hopes again, and travel the world in a sailboat.

Dan has shared the stage with poets such as Mike McGee, Andrea Gibson, Johnny Tornado, and Matt Mason. He has published two books of poetry, Grapefruit Warrior (Morpo Press) and Denver, Pants Now (Morpo Press). He is currently working on a third book titled The Halved-Heart Meadow of Butterfly-Lust Shanties (XOXO Independent Press). He has released one spoken word album titled iloveyouisback (XOXO Independent).

Dan likes orange soda. He drinks lots of water. He loves hammocks and he is always taking tickets to the show. He (along with Matt Mason and John Mark Huscher) was a recipient of the 2006 Nebraska Book Award for Best Anthology for his work as a compiling editor and contributor to Slamma Lamma Ding Dong (an anthology of 35 Nebraska Slam Poets).

Dan is a founder and member of Solomon Sparrowâs Electric Whale Revival a spoken word troupe comprised of Anis Mojgani, Buddy Wakefield, Derrick Brown, and Mike McGee. The group is held together by side splits and UFO parts and has been called, âA burly backbone of heart-soaked truth lasers.â They all believe that that probably means something special or at least sounds tasty.