Dan Sullivan’s first performance at the Mental Graffiti open mike was on April 7, 2003–the day he turned 21 and thus the first night Funky Buddha Lounge would let him in. Host Krystal Ashe knew him from the all-ages slam scene–he’d won the 2002 Gwendolyn Brooks Open Mic Poetry Award–and scheduled him to perform at the beginning and at the end, right before the evening’s featured poet.
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“It’s supposed to be an honor to be able to do that,” says Sullivan, who goes by “Sully” onstage. “And coming in there on my birthday, she gave that to me, which right away was like, that’s love, a welcoming to the community.” Sullivan’s first poem was a fiery piece about the sacrifices artists make for their writing; his second was a more playful ode to the charms of women in hip-hop. In between he took full advantage of being old enough to drink.
“Itchie and I first started kicking it when we would do open mike across the street at [the now defunct cafe] Square One,” Sullivan joked with the crowd at Big Horse on October 20. “I’d see there was this dark room back here, but I never knew what was going on, and it seemed like going in would be like what happened on Muppet Babies whenever they’d open a door out of the room and there’d be crazy stuff behind it, like a rhinoceros or something. Now we’re the crazy stuff happening behind the door on Muppet Babies.”
