Amy Ali is continually finding a way to bring her inspirations to life. A Champaign native, Ali has always been inspired by the wonders of Chicago and searched for a way to bring that intrigue close to home. “In the city art is everywhere. I could just get on the L and ride around all day and feel inspired,” said Ali.
Using the feel of Chicago as a template, Ali was determined to bring artistic expression to the Champaign nightlife in a small, jazz lounge setting.
Ali wrote some poetry as a teenager but she cites her separation from her husband as her turning point in her need to find an emotional outlet. “When I wrote poems I was invisible and now I want to be seen.”
With a renewed sense of creative vigor, Ali wanted to create a space for others to get involved and to be inspired to write. “As poets, we write to free the thoughts and emotions from our minds. We perform to free them from the page. Poetry is not about the showmanship.”
Unhappy with the open mic at the Highdive, which she described as a “rap battle” that overwhelmed the soft-spoken poetry, Ali spoke with Robb Tobias, general manager of Boltini. Describing her vision of a “calm night of with music and poetry,” she and Tobias came to an agreement. Ali was given free reign to bring her vision to downtown Champaign. “Sometimes you want something artistic where you can walk away feeling inspired,” said Ali.
The result was Exposed, which began on February 4, 2010 with essentially an open mic format but is now an organized event in which poets are recruited by Ali and work is submitted in advance. Ali also provides a broad theme for the week with the aid of suggestions from the artists themselves. “It’s not to keep them restricted but to give them a sense of focus,” said Ali.
Exposed will begin its second run tonight, September 9, at Boltini lounge in downtown Champaign. This time around, Ali will be combining forces with DJ Mertz (Brian Mertz) and Dubwise, the name given to Mertz’s night of Jamaican music and the music influenced by Jamaican dub culture. Ali and Exposed will be in the back pit area of Boltini while Mertz will spin up front. According to Ali, both the music and the poetry will broadcast simultaneously on the overhead system throughout the bar.
Mertz is looking forward to the collaboration and what it can bring to Champaign. “When Amy approached me about combining our nights and explained that she had used live musicians in the past to accompany the spoken word performances, I was really excited because I knew that the poets were alright with music they didn’t exactly know accompanying their poetry. This was great news and made me think Dubwise and Exposed could actually work well together,” said Mertz. “There is a long tradition in Jamaica of spoken word being performed over dub music. In Jamaica, they call it ‘toasting.'”
Mertz assures that things will go smoothly and compliment each other nicely, even if the changes sounds a little confusing or hard to imagine. “I completely understand if a person hasn’t heard a lot of Dub before or if they only know Bob Marley and Peter Tosh. It might not sound like a natural fit on paper, but I’m very confident once people hear Dub Poetry at Boltini, they’re going to love it,” said Mertz.
Another change on the horizon is targeted at Ali’s hopes of exposing people to more poets. Ali says she plans on selecting a poem to coincide with the theme each week in hopes of bringing in a sense of history.
“All in all I am very excited about the changes and the collaborations that are taking place. I think Mertz is a great fit for Exposed and I can’t wait to see how this unfolds. It will definitely be something I have never seen done in Champaign before and I think it will add a bit of flavor to downtown,” said Ali.
Through the preliminary stages of collaboration, Mertz has already recognized Ali’s efforts to inspire. “It’s been good already working with Amy because it’s obvious that she wants to bring something new and interesting to the downtown Champaign scene. People with those kind of ideas that are willing to put in the work to make them reality are the people that make Champaign a great place to pursue creative endeavors,” said Mertz.
Still, amidst all of the creative structure and unique opportunity that she has created, Ali stressed the importance of her inspirations behind the scenes. “Most of all [my inspiration] comes from my two children, whom I tell everyday that no matter what it is in life, no matter how big or small it is in comparison to the rest of the world, if you want it, go get it. And sometimes, in some cases, actions still speak louder than words,” said Ali.