Rob "Ratpack Slim" Sturma

ROB STURMA has been getting open on mics since 2000, when a sweet California lass brought him to the Los Angeles open mic Da Poetry Lounge, and where he subsequently fell in love with the art of performance poetry and spoken word. He performed for a number of years under the monicker Ratpack Slim, and during those years, he was on the Los Feliz Slam Team two years running (2003-2004), made it to the finals stage with Team Hollywood in 2005, and as slammaster of Western Regional slam team Gang Green, took three teams to Big Sur, rocking nationally ranked teams outta their seats. He was the host of the seminal Los Angeles open mic Green from 2003-2007 with DJ Jedi (Digable Planets) and Joshua Silverstein. He was the poetry editor for GetUnderground.com and Kotori Magazine, did a series of webstories called "Children of Slam" for kcet.org, was seen in the documentary Sp!t, and on the BET show "The Way We Do It". David Alan Grier gave him a 9.5 in a Comedy Central slam pilot, Snakes On A Plane/ Wolverine producer Jeff Katz called Rob's poetry "outstanding", and Hardcore Legend Mick Foley said Rob's poem about him "gave him goosebumps". His new full-length book of poems will be available on Write Bloody Press in Fall 2009, and you can see him performing on TNA Wrestling's "Spin Cycle" exclusive web show, the first poet to do so!