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The Open Mic Project: Alex Pogosov
Alex Pogosov is one of the Dallas area’s most eclectic talents, whose artistic endeavors have ranged from the spoken and printed word to the visual and the performance arts, band management, and promotion. Born in May 1983, Alex moved with his family to the United States from Russia at the age of seven. A prodigious and talented youngster, he quickly mastered his new language and began to hone his skills in the areas of verbal and visual communications. At the age of 12, Alex won first place in his sixth grade poetry contest. He soon realized, however, that satire and the performing arts were his true passions, and he has refined his art in these areas to become a foremost comedic performer whose monologues combine a love for wordplay with a keen insight into the foibles and failings of the human condition. Since June 2003, he has performed his work at various readings and salons around the Dallas area. Most notable among these are the Oak Cliff Circle of Poets, Outlaws of the Spoken Word, Mad Swirl, Poets on X+, and the first generation of readings at Bill’s Records & Tapes, where he was a regular performer and ultimately host until December 2005. One of his pieces, “Audio-Slave,” was published in local poetry / art magazine Death List Five.
Alongside the stand-up routines, Alex includes writing and playing guitar for his ongoing indie / alternative musical project Scarletien, as well as for various other musical side projects pursued from time to time. Alex infuses much of his songwriting with his own particular brand of satirical, tongue-in-cheek humor. His non-Scarletien material, performed on occasion at various open mics around town, includes parodies of such noteworthy artists as Billy Joel, Johnny Cash, and Type O Negative, as well as original compositions such as “I Hate the Government,” “The Pimp Song,” and “The Prostate Song.”
Alex’s interests include local history, poetry, chemistry, architecture, music, art, martial arts, and journalism. He contributed a regular column called Reverb to the University of Texas at Dallas newspaper The UTD Mercury from 2007-2008, managed local rock band God’s Joke, and ran a small scale concert booking operation and chronicle of the Dallas arts scene under the name of Knife Six Productions. From May 2010 until June 2011, he served as host and organizer of the second generation of open mics at Bill’s, the Lost Art Open Mic. Alex is a student of the My Jhong Law Horn style of Kung Fu, enjoys bad horror movies, and was a regular crew member of a Dallas-area production of The Rocky Horror Picture Show from 2003 to 2005.
“I credit my general lack of direction for my output being so diverse.”