1. Tell us a little about yourself.
Alright, well to start my name is Jonathon Peterson Sr. I have been doing spoken word under the artist name JpdaPoet for about four months now. I am 27 years of age. I was born in Los Angeles California. My mother is from El Salvador. I went to Huffman High School in Birmingham Alabama as well as Alabama State University. I have one child a son named Jonathon Peterson Jr who is the source of my inspiration and motivation . I have been fortunate to jump headfirst into the spoken word scene and looking forward to people enjoying my work.
2. What inspired you to become a spoken word artist?
My son moved away to Texas last year and it’s been a struggle to cope with going from seeing him every other day to only seeing him in the summer and during Christmas break. I was given advice to start a journal around the same time I was able to check out my mentor (Queen the Poetess) performing. The first piece I ever wrote was the piece I now perform dedicated to my son entitled “Not My Day” I shared that piece with a few friends and from there I was told that other people need to hear my work. After that I was challenged by my mentor to write another piece from there I started performing and the third time I performed I was fortunate enough to win the Birmingham Public Library Bards And Brews spoken word poetry slam..so here I and no looking back lol.
3. Where do you perform?
Really anywhere I can lol… I have performed at The Foreign Exchange Experience, Boss Ultra Lounge, The Historic Carver Theater, Pure Artistry Literacy Cafe, The House of Ambience, The Avondale Brewery, Good Peoples Brewery, Apache Cafe, as well as other venues . I’m also looking forward to traveling and getting a fan base in other cities I haven’t had the chance to visit yet.. working on it tho!
4. What else do you do?                                                                                                           I write lyrics to songs, I work full time, I’m a dad, I live life to the fullest.
5. Have you considered producing an album of your work, whether audio or visual?                                                                                                                                                Yes, I’m actually working on my first cd project now entitled Pages of my Notebook, look for it around the beginning of the year and its absolutely free to anyone who wants to check it out.
6. How do you break the ice when performing to a tough audience?                                                                                                                                                                                                                       I haven’t had that problem yet maybe because I’m so new to performing or because the crowd is usually great but that hasn’t been an issue yet. Before each performance I try to pray to ease my nervousness then focus on getting on stage and giving the best performance I can for anyone willing to support the movement.
7. Do you have any upcoming projects?                                                                                                                                                                                       Yes I’m recording my cd project I’m very proud of as well as promoting the movement of JPdaPoet..I have a YouTube Channel under JpdaPoet as well as you can check my work out on Face book at www.facebook.com/jpdapoet, also when my cd is finished it will be free to anyone that wants to check it out so it’s really not a reason to not #justhearme. Thank you Gumptown Magazine for the opportunity to share with everyone.
