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Freestyle, spoken word and dance.

Three performers at the Channel 5 Carnival talent show in Denver, and one piece of writing worth the whole evening: a spoken-word answer to the question of what mental health feels like for an immigrant father.

The poem opens on exhaustion, “I’ve been running on fumes, can’t run like I used to,” and a car alarm that will not stop, and turns when the speaker asks his father the question. “He says, son, restoration is a journey It’s a journey of repairs and replacements. Some parts of me have to stay, and other parts of me, they have to change. But I am still the same vehicle, and how often do you throw your vehicle away?”

Then the host’s hypotheticals. E, just the letter E, is asked which Channel 5 character he would share a studio apartment with for a year, and the story behind the animal psychic who charged $1,200 a session and sent a grieving man to strangers’ home addresses. E has no talent to declare, “but I do always love to have a good time,” so he dances.

George Raaton closes with a freestyle on topics shouted from the crowd: the gentrification of ski country by Vail Corporation, “I can’t afford to live here cause I’m living here,” mass surveillance, and the redcoats. The lo-fi beat, the handstand and most of the dancing are in the video rather than the transcript.

Transcribed from loud stage audio without the voice filter the rest of the archive uses, so the crowd and the beat are only partly on the page. Filmed from the floor at the Paramount Theatre by We Them Media.

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Transcript

Transcribed with Whisper from the original audio, so nothing is masked. Names corrected. Published in full, as spoken, so it can be read, searched and quoted. Search every transcript →

0:00Any of us find the time to reimagine the things that need to be healed these days. I’ve just been having problems breathing. I’ve been running on fumes, can’t run like I used to. I’m leaning, learning, unlearning, never turning on. I’m blasting heat on my AC because my car alarm keeps going off, but that’s because there’s a water in the reservoir. I’m tired. I’m tired just like all of y’all. Misaligned and unbalanced, letting air escape me So I, just like all of you, have been trying to find alignment Rotated our ways and now we tread on what we breathe these days When I ask my dad, what does it feel like to go through mental health as an immigrant right now?

0:45Do you know what he tells me? He says, son, restoration is a journey It’s a journey of repairs and replacements. Some parts of me have to stay, and other parts of me, they have to change. But I am still the same vehicle, and how often do you throw your vehicle away?

1:23Welcome to the stage, how are you doing today, what’s your name? My name is E, just the letter E Yeah, thanks for coming to the stage, I got a question for you, a channel 5 hypothetical question Would you rather share a studio apartment in downtown Denver for one year, you can only leave the house once a week with either clavicular or Martha-Valone-Animal-Psychic I feel like Martha would be real interesting almost She’s definitely the feeling of the doctor

1:54Want to get to know someone like that? She costs $1200 per session That would lay around, that would lay around Okay, here’s what’s fucked up by that scene, we’ll get to your topic in a second But like, I thought that Martha would like help him find closure, you know what I mean? I thought it’s kind of like a sort of woo-woo way of her game. Like, I talked to Morrison and he’s saying you need to move on like he’s in heaven. That was sort of a sweet, psychic thing, but she was like sending him to people’s home addresses, so... It was so fucked up. The best off-camera moment was like after ten different address stops, Rick looks at me and he’s like,

2:29You think Martha’s full of shit? So we blocked her number together.

2:39I don’t have much of a talent, but I do always love to have a good time

2:48Your soul and you need a song could that song be the six

3:04Yee! Go Alonso! Everybody wants to get down to the margarita door! Okay. Okay. Okay. Yeah. Well done.

3:20No way she’s going on the handstand. Perfect execution! The title of the show for the awards, party degrees!

3:34Give a good scenario Oh!

3:43With the Nike press to the sky with the first Everybody else can do some shit like that Everything down there

3:55Amazing job, thank you so much You did a great job Thanks for your following man, thanks so much for coming to the show Oh Shit The Fit and Morgon may be challenged by this man Ho ho ho ho What is he gonna do? Good to see you man, what’s your name? Ben, George Raaton George Raaton, what are you doing today bro? Oh we’re gonna freestyle and dance a little bit for ya Okay cool, freestyle rap Oh yeah I’m gonna hold the mic to you while you’re dancing and do my best to dynamically track your movements across the stage, okay? Advanced fucking Challenger? Yeah, would you like a lo-fi hip-hop song that kind of accompanied this journey that’s good?

4:30This sounds good. Can you give me a topic? Oh, you want topics? You want freestyle topics? Alright, here’s what we’re gonna do. Do we have two microphones? You can do some word association. So, I’m gonna have you start rapping. You’re gonna have about a minute or two. I’m gonna go into the crowd. I’m gonna get some words for you to spit on every hate bars, okay? Oh. Who would like to command them by the first time? Oh, talk about the gentrification of the Ski Country by Vail Corporation.

5:00Hey, GJ got some shit down Anything C’mon boy Where am I going acapella? Acapella? Kicking it down and we gotta say We ain’t that Coachella We got that snow coming down, trickling down that mail Going on the ground out of your own town I say I can’t afford to live here cause I’m living here What you doing when you visit? If you ain’t eating while I’m kicking, well I kick it clear We Need A Little Rap New Topic

5:34Master Veilance Master Veilance Big Brother Watching Us Master Veilance Master Veilance

5:59We got one more topic in the chamber, sir, what is it talking about? One more topic. Redcoats. Redcoats, the British Air. Redcoats are coming, Redcoats are coming, Redcoats are coming. I said, you’re coming to get a motor running. Gotta get the oil I got in the line. Gotta do it as you can. Make it on stage as you can. I love it when you’re bouncing and motherfucking trouncing. Gotta kick it, man, you do the world right. While we’re bouncing, you did that man right in that documentary. I’m gonna read, into this family, his spirit, all I see is free, and you, you’re gonna read. Thank you so much. I appreciate it.

6:42Fuck yeah. Thanks so much for coming to the stage, I really appreciate it. How’s it going tonight? Good, what’s your name? Mikaela. Mikaela, where are you coming from? Uh, originally from Minnesota.

6:55Now, would you rather share a studio apartment in downtown Denver for one year and not be able to leave with Crip Mac or Nick Shirley? Crip Mac! Crip Mac! Crip Mac! Crip Mac! Crip Mac! Crip Mac! Crip Mac for you! He says that on the same stuff all night. Crip Mac! Crip Mac! So what’s your talent today? Um, I’m a nude model, so I’m just gonna get naked. This is not a 21 plus show, right? It’s a 21 plus show Yeah, 21 plus show Can you play 6 foot 7 foot real quick?

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