Lizard Lounge Poetry Jam to Present "A Party at the Crossroads"

On Sunday, October 26, the legendary Lizard Lounge in Cambridge will open its doors for a singular performance that blurs the lines between concert, cabaret, and confessional. The feature slot at the Lounge's long-running Jazz Poetry Jam will belong to Mwalim DaPhunkee Professor, a masterful performer whose work spans music, theater, literature, and education. That night, he'll deliver an abridged version of his celebrated solo show, A Party at the Crossroads: A Post-Modernist Cabaret-a rich tapestry of spoken word, blues, and memory that's been evolving for over two decades.

The show, both semi-autobiographical and deeply theatrical, draws from Mwalim's personal and artistic journey through the worlds of music and performance. A natural storyteller with a philosopher's heart and a musician's ear, he crafts a space where the audience is both witness and participant-drawn into his life not through spectacle, but through shared recognition. From humorous tales of teenage mischief to vivid portraits of life on the road, from ancestral echoes to studio sessions gone awry, Mwalim's stories carry the humor, heartbreak, and rhythm of lived experience.

Much of the material in Crossroads traces its roots back to Mwalim's upbringing between the Bronx and Mashpee, and the cultural crossroads of his Wampanoag, Afro-Caribbean, and African American heritage. These influences breathe through every story, every lyric, every riff on the piano or strum of the guitar. It's a performance that manages to feel both intimate and expansive, like sitting across from someone who's lived a dozen lives and is ready to share the soundtrack that scored them all.

Audiences who experienced the full version of the show during its 2023 run at Cotuit Center for the Arts called it charming, relatable, and emotionally resonant. "It felt like being out with friends at a club or local watering hole," one reviewer wrote, noting how seamlessly the show moved between music and storytelling, memory and laughter. Mwalim was joined by his son, The ZYG 808, and GroovaLottos bandmate Chuck V-both of whom added layers of percussion, harmony, and familial synergy to the performance.

While the upcoming Lizard Lounge performance will be a stripped-down, solo rendition of A Party at the Crossroads, it promises no less power or presence. The Jazz Poetry Jam format, with its lively open mic and grassroots spirit, provides a perfect canvas for Mwalim's magnetic blend of wit and wisdom. It's easy to imagine the cozy, red-lit basement vibrating with laughter, verse, and the low hum of bass lines as he steps to the mic, guitar or keyboard at hand, ready to dive into another chapter.

Fans of his musical work will recognize selections from the show featured on his 2024 album THUNDERCHILD, released through Poly-Groove Records. The album captures the bluesy, soul-infused essence of the stage performance, offering a studio counterpart to the stories shared live. Tracks like "Temple of a Sacred Clown" carry lyrical weight as well as groove, reflecting the show's central theme of resilience, reinvention, and creative survival. "Just like a river that keeps on flowing / I'll reinvent myself and keep on going," Mwalim sings-a personal manifesto in melodic form.

Outside the spotlight, Mwalim is a professor of English, Communications, and Black Studies at UMass Dartmouth, a Grammy-nominated member of The GroovaLottos, and a co-founder of the Oversoul Theatre Collective, which develops and presents work by and about Black and Native American people. But it's onstage, telling stories and making music, where all those identities converge into something singular and immediate.