The literary death match was an amazing experience for me. Check out http://www.opiummagazine.com/ - that was the host zine, but there were representatives from a couple publications i've submitted to before (canteen and beeswax, to name 2). The writing was mediocre, but the event was successful - entertaining and humorous, even though that's not what i wanted - and i couldn't help feeling pleased with the night. These people knew how to write, but their writing wasn't tops - and it felt good, that's all, i guess: being with people who at the very least shared the same sense of humor as me and, i would assume, one concurrent with yours. These people were there just as much for the chosen sequence of words as for the mood they presented.
As the hostess from Instant City was introducing the three judges she asked the first to respond with the first word that came to mind. He offered a humorous reply each time, and each time the audience got a bit more loose. It was already pretty loose; everyone seemed ready to laugh. I have to say this though: the first word I think about when I hear the word literature is "serious," and the event was not nearly serious enough for my liking. There were four competitors - five, actually, as they allowed a husband/wife team to compete together - and the event was broken into two rounds of head-to-head, capped off by a final round. The first two stories were really good, the first being overly sexual but captivating for that, I'll have to say - he did a good job staying away from detractors - and the second story, set in the 1980's AIDS boom, was the best-written thing I heard all night. The final image was a dozen birthday cakes being thrown out a window, candles blazing, the sidewalk a palette of plastered colors. He ended up winning the Death Match, but only because he was able to give the stage a back and forth with a copy of The Infinite Jest on his head faster than his competitor, the wife of the duo whose shtick was another kind of back and forth: banter about their respective experiences living with another writer. It was very amusing, and cute, but hardly literary. Especially the ending. Overall it was exhilarating, but not very impressive. Hmm.