Is Slam in Danger of Going Soft? http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/03/books/03slam.html?hp Slam's new round: The founder of the poetry slam issues two books to renew the genre http://chicago.timeout.com/articles/books/74004/marc-smith-of-uptown-poetry-slam Obama Hosts White House Poetry Night http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=104079608 Poetry Slam,...

To celebrate its grand re-opening after a six-year closure for extensive remodeling, the National Portrait Gallery presents the first-ever Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition. A jury selected 51 portraits from more than 4,000 entries submitted by artists from all over the United States to be included in the exhibition, all of which can be viewed at the Web site. Also at the site is "Portrait of...

The worlds of theater, tourism, and urban development all come together in this delightful and intriguing digital collection. Created by staff members at the University of Washington Libraries Digital Collection group, the collection includes pamphlets, books, and theater programs that cover tourism in Washington State, urban development in Seattle, the world of theatrical amusements in the area,...

Recently, PBS redesigned the section of its main homepage dedicated to the arts programming featured on the network. The results are quite impressive and the hope is that this new site will "bring audiences directly into the creative process." The homepage has a Featured Art area that includes a digital remix of Mister Rogers singing, along with craft shows from the gifted Randall Darwall. The...

After brushing up on one's Shakespeare, it is probably a good idea to catch all of the latest news and activities about the world of theater at the Playbill site. As their website notes, they have been "Serving theatre since 1884", and visitors with a compelling interest in these matters will definitely want to spend sometime online here. Astute followers of the Great White Way (and touring...

Americans love to drive, and Doug Kirby, Ken Smith, Mike Wilkins have been tracking the rather unique (and sometimes, quite bizarre) elements of the roadside landscape for more than 20 years. Beginning in 1996, they began to offer their findings on the Roadside America website so the general public would have full knowledge of what types of roadside oddities they might encounter on any given road...

Come along as the folks at the University of Missouri show you the history of their college days through the Show Me magazine. It's a wonderful collection of college humor published from 1946 to 1963. First-time visitors would do well to read about the magazine's colorful past, courtesy of Jerry Smith. A good place to start is the November 1920 issue (easily found when you browse by date), which...

Birds come in many shapes and sizes, and this particularly lovely Songbird application can be customized in ways that aren't currently possible with say, a robin or the common barn owl. This open source application is part digital jukebox, part web browse mash-up. It allows users to play just about any media file available, and users can also customize with two unique skins, which the makers of...

Paul Anka and Francis Scott Key don't usually come up in the same sentence (or paragraph, most likely), but here in the Songwriters Hall of Fame Virtual Museum both men are part of the heady mix that visitors will find on this interesting and entertaining website. This Hall of Fame has a distinguished pedigree as its first president in 1969 was Tin Pan Alley icon Johnny Mercer, who himself was...

The Bing Crosby Internet Museum, organized around a list of 65 FAQ's about Bing Crosby, allows you to test your knowledge of this legendary crooner. Each question links to detailed information about Crosby, his career, and his music. There are many music clips to download, including Crosby's 1932 recording of "Please," which Paul McCartney credited with inspiring the Beatles' "Please Please Me."...