...poets to ever publish with Soft Skull. And the first poet now has her own press, called Bloof!, wherein she now publishes the second and third, and they're all going on a poetry road-trip together, so here's the schedule. (So if you're a resident of Milwaukee, Chicago, Bloomington, Lawrence, Urbana-Champaign, etc, check 'em them...)
The Gotham Comedy Club at 208 W 23rd Street here in NYC is hosting a benefit tribute to mark the 14th anniversary of Bill Hicks's passing on Tuesday, February 26 starting at 8pm. Hosted by Jesse Joyce, the night will include films of Bill (with funny material pre-inserted), plus live performances by Ted Alexandro and Greg Giraldo. Also on hand will be Bill's brother, Steve, and the producers of the upcoming BBC programme about Bill—Paul Thomas and Matt Harlock—who will present a sneak preview of the first 20 minutes. Proceeds from the night will benefit the Bill Hicks Foundation for Wildlife Rehabilitation in Austin, Texas.
FYI, we'll be re-issuing Love All the People in the Fall...
Here's some Bill Hicks for today...
I was in Nashville, Tennesee last year. After the show I went to a Waffle House. I'm not proud of it, I was hungry. And I'm alone, I'm eating and I'm reading a book, right? Waitress walks over to me: "Hey, whatchoo readin' for?" Isn't that the weirdest fucking question you've ever heard? Not what am I readING, but what am I reading *for*? Well, godammit, ya stumped me! Why do I read? Well... hmmm... I dunno... I guess I read for a lot of reasons, and the main one is so I don't end up being a fucking waffle waitress.
So Baltimore has a story-telling series, The Stoop, much on the spirit of The Moth. Much as I adore The Wire and its forerunner Homicide, it's nice to see this Baltimore incarnation is on The Stoop rather than The Corner. And, as usual, I only find out about it because one of our peops, Jonathan Scott Fuqua, he of Gone and Back Again, read there...Video here.
Press release
Official Document
Title: Announcement of New York Declaration on Inauthenticity
Type: INS Press Release
Authorised: First Committee, INS Authorisation Code: TMcC180807
Document follows
The New York Declaration 2007
Joint Statement by the Chief Philosopher and General Secretary of the International Necronautical Society (INS) on Inauthenticity
The Drawing Center, 35 Wooster St., 25th September 2007, 6.30 p.m. (admission $5, free to Drawing Centre members)
INS General Secretary and author of TINTIN AND THE SECRET OF LITERATURE (Counterpoint/Soft Skull 2008) Tom McCarthy and INS Chief Philosopher and author of INFINITELY DEMANDING (Verso 2007) Simon Critchley will present a statement on the subject of Inauthenticity—in art, literature, philosophy, economics and politics—advancing it as a central tenet in INS doctrine.
Questions from the press and public will be taken after the declaration.
Issued by INS Department of Propaganda. Official INS propaganda may be freely distributed, distorted, appropriated or adapted as the reader sees fit.
I may yet regret this, but I thought Soft Skull should try to twitter for BEA...So, should anyone be curious about the mad rhythms of a indie publisher's BEA activities, here's the RSS.
Also, here's our author schedule for BEA:
Saturday, June 2nd
10:30-11:30am Traditional Autographing Area, Table #5
MATTHEW SHARPE signing finished copies of JAMESTOWN: A NOVEL (Mar 07) “A work of hectic brilliance and immense sadness.”—Laura Miller, Salon “[A] wild, violent, mordantly hilarious retelling of how the first permanent English settlement in the New World came into being.—LA Times Book Review
3:00-3:30pm Foreword Magazine’s Indie’s @ Second Stage
ROBERT POLNER, editor of AMERICA’S MAYOR, AMERICA’S PRESIDENT? discusses the current front-runner for the Republic nomination…“[A] welcome antidote to the encomiums heaped upon America’s mayor…”—New York Times
4:00-5:00 Traditional Autographing Area, Table #25
DAVID SILVERMAN signing finished copies of
TYPO: THE LAST AMERICAN TYPE-SETTER (June 2007)
“[A]musing, appalling, infuriating and wonderfully written.”—Wall Street Journal
Sunday, June 3rd
(All signings in Booth 4311)
12:00-12:30—CRISTIN O’KEEFE APTOWICZ, author of WORDS IN YOUR FACE: A GUIDE TOUR THROUGH TWENTY YEARS OF THE NEW YORK CITY POETRY SLAM (Oct 07) Signing copies of her recent poetry chapbook
12:30-1:00 MATTHEA HARVEY and ELIZABETH ZECHEL signing posters for their all-ages picture book THE LITTLE GENERAL AND THE GIANT SNOWFLAKE (Oct 07)
1:00-1:30 MATTHUE ROTH signing his personal soundtrack to his Nancy-Drew-ish kung-fu 1:30-2:00 Wayne Koestenbaum signing ARC’s of HOTEL THEORY (July 07), “adding to his mind-altering oeuvre, Wayne Koestenbaum delivers a coup d’etat…”—Bookforum
We've a few folks doing a bunch of events at the PEN World Voices Festival so, in addition to telling you about their panels (schedule below), we're also co-hosting a little shindig. Come one, come all, etc...
Please join Soft Skull Press, Transition Magazine, the German Book Office, and French Publishers Agency in celebrating PEN World Voices festival authors Dorothea Dieckmann and Alain Mabanckou, and their respective Soft Skull books Guantanamo and African Psycho.
Wednesday April 25, 9—11pm
Beauty Bar
241 E. 14th Street (between 2nd & 3rd)
Also, the schedule of events for Alain and Dorothea and Wayne Koestenbaum (who didn't have as far to travel so he doesn't get a party, sorry Wayne) during the Festival follows.
Conversation: Alain Mabanckou & Dany Laferrière, with Anderson Tepper — Wednesday, 4/25, 1pm
Location: La Maison Française of NYU, 16 Washington Mews
Participants: Dany Laferrière, Alain Mabanckou, Anderson Tepper
Town Hall Readings: Writing Home —Wednesday, 4/25, 8pm
Location: Town Hall, 123 West 43rd St.
Participants: Don DeLillo, Kiran Desai, Neil Gaiman, Nadine Gordimer, Alain Mabanckou, Steve Martin, Salman Rushdie, Pia Tafdrup, Tatyana Tolstaya, Saadi Youssef.
Multiple Passports: Writers on Homeland and Identity —Thursday, 4/26, 1pm
Location: Lang Recital Hall, Hunter College, 695 Park Ave.
Participants: Alain Mabanckou, Henrik Nordbrandt, Pia Tafdrup, Adriaan van Dis, with Ian Buruma.
Dirty Wars — Thursday, 4/26, 7pm
Location: Joe’s Pub, 425 Lafayette St
Participants: Mark Danner, Dorothea Dieckmann, Arnon Grunberg, Rose Styron, and others.
Words Without Borders: The World Through the Eyes of Writers —Thursday, 4/26, 7.30pm
Location: President’s Room, Columbia University, Faculty House, 400 West 117th St.
Participants: Ma Jian, Heidi Julavits, Dany Laferrière, Alain Mabanckou, Marilynne Robinson; moderated by Margo Jefferson.
Mixing Art and Politics — Saturday, 4/28, 12pm
Location: Instituto Cervantes, 211-215 East 49th St.
Participants: Dorothea Dieckmann, Almudena Grandes, Janne Teller, Saul Williams, moderated by Sam Tanenhaus.
Sex and Danger — Sunday, 4/29, 4–5:30 p.m.
Location: New York Public Library, Celeste Bartos Forum: 5th Ave. & 42nd St.
Participants: Tinling Choong, Camelia Entekhabifard, Dany Laferrière, Edmund White; moderated by Wayne Koestenbaum
A rather cool festival/forum being put together in Ghana for Summer of 2008
Pan African Literary ForuM: GHANA
July 3-18, 2008
Jeffery Renard Allen, Director
Arthur Flowers, Co-Director
Meri Nana-Ama Danquah, Program Director
Sean Hill, Administrative Manager
Week-long Workshops in Accra and a week-long Retreat and Master Classes in the Asante city of Kumasi
Faculty:
Colin Channer, Junot Diaz, Niq Mhlongo—Fiction
Kwame Dawes, Yusef Komunyakaa, Patricia Jabbeh Wesley—Poetry
E. Ethelbert Miller, Binavanga Wainaina—Creative Nonfiction
Sheree Thomas—Speculative Fiction
Sapphire—Performance Poetry
Special Guests Include:
Chimamanda Adichie, Mohammed Nassehu Ali, Jeffery Renard Allen, Doreen Baingana, Calvin Baker, Sherwin Bitsui, Walt Cummins, Meri Nana-Ama Danquah, Hope Eghagha, Arthur Flowers, Ntoi Edjabe, Nina Foxx, Mary Gaitskill, James Gibbons, Manu Herbstein, Duriel Harris, Honoree Fanonne Jeffers, Major Jackson, Tyheimba Jess, Mat Johnson, Josip Novakovich, Bayo Ojikutu, Ed Pavlic, Caryl Phillips, Robert Polito, Francine Prose, Nelly Rosario, Lore Segal, Matthew Sharpe, Terese Svoboda, Peter Trachtenberg, Eisa Ulen, Quincy Troupe, and John Edgar Wideman
Craft Classes and Lectures
Panels, Programs, and Consultations with faculty, agents, editors, and publishers
Tours and Special Cultural Events
Award Competitions: Special Competition for emerging writers from Africa and the African Diaspora
Judges:
Junot Diaz—Fiction
Quincy Troupe—Poetry
Meri Nana-Ama Danquah—Creative Nonfiction
Winners will receive a Free Trip to the Conference and publication in The Literary Review and in a special insert of A Public Space
Open Competition for anyone who wishes to submit work
Judges:
John Edgar Wideman—Fiction
Terese Svoboda—Poetry
Josip Novakovich—Creative Nonfiction
Winners will receive a Free Trip to the Conference and publication in The Literary Review
Financial Aid, Scholarships and Fellowships Available
For more information, write us at:
Pan African Literary Forum
544, 511 Avenue of the Americas
New York, New York 10011-8436
Email us at:
admin@panafricanliteraryforum.com
JeffAllen@panafricanliteraryforum.com
Aflowers@panafricanliteraryforum.com
Seanhill@panafricanliteraryforum.com
Phone us at: (917) 834-1852
Contest guidelines and other information at:
http://www.panafricanliteraryforum.com
A rather obscure headline for some of our readers, no doubt, but a very exciting one for a few, so it behooves us to spread the word:
COSTES USA Tour 2007
"Les Petits Oiseaux Chient" or “Little Birds Shit”
starring: Jean Louis Costes and Lisou Prout
with support act: Mr Natural (on most dates)
www.costes.org www.radoncollective.org
www.glkweb.com
The return of Jean-Louis Costes to the USA is
certainly one of the most highly anticipated noise
tours of the year. His 2003 presentation of “Holy
Virgin Cult”, both thrilled his long-time fans and
earned him a legion of new listeners. After surviving
malaria, the Paris riots and the authoring of his
first book, this historic cult figure tours the USA in
2007.
“Little Birds Shit” is the story of an ordinary
couple. They meet...they flirt…they fuck…They make a
baby. Gradually they find themselves falling into
the trappings of normal existence. Working to make
money becomes their new focus. As they grow weary
from the struggles of life, they find solace in
bizarre acts of S&M sex.
Yet cruel, earthly fates conspire to keep them down.
The couple must finally come to
The logical conclusion of this journey, finishing in
Hell.
FEBRUARY
Fri 9 : Johnson City, TN @ Heather's Hideaway
Sat l0 Asheville, NC @ Static Age w/ Mr Natural
Sun ll Hickory, NC @ Chez Marque w/ Mr Natural
Mon l2 Chapel Hill, NC @ Nightlife w/ Mr Natural, Klang Quartet, Jason Crumner
Wed l4 Jacksonville, FL @ Yesterday's Pre-Party International Noise Conference w/ Mr. Natural and 15+ artists from the INC line-up
Sat l7 Miami, FL @ Churchill's Hideaway International Noise Conferance
Mon l9 Tallahasse, FL @ Full Circle Gallery w/ Realicide, Rotten Milk, Mr Natural
Tue 20 Atlanta, GA @ Eyedrum
Wed 2l Birmingham, AL @ Bottletree w/ Mr Natural, U Can Unlearn Guitar
Fri 23 Houston, TX @ Superhappy Funland
Sat 24 Austin, TX @ Scott's Red Inn
Wed 28 Los Angeles @ The Smell w/ Captain Ahab, Mr Natura;
MARCH
Thu l San Francisco, CA or Oakland, CA tba
Sat 3 Portland, OR @ Someday Lounge w/ Mr Natural
Sun 4 Seattle, WA @ Rebar w/ Mortii, Mr Natural
Wed 7: Rapids City. SD @ tba
Thu 8: Sioux Falls, SD @ Dischordia w/ Question, Thrash Wave
Saturday 10: Minneapolis @ The Church
Sunday 11: Chicago @ 3219 s morgan st w/ Cock ESP, Panicsville, Mr Natural
Wed l4 Pittsburg, PA @ Smiling Moose w/ Plastered Bastards, Cock ESP
Thu l5 Rochester, NY @ The AV Room w/ Cock ESP
Fri l6 NYC @ House party! w/ Cock ESP, Rubbed Raw
Sat l7 Boston @ School of the Museum of Fine Arts w/ Cock ESP
Sun l8 Providence, Ri @ InZane Gallery w/ Two Dead Sluts One Good Fuck
wed 21 New Brunswick, NJ @ Plum Street
thu 22 Philladelphia, Pa @ Pageant Gallery w/ Rubbed Raw
fri 23 Washington DC @ Velvet Lounge
...because why not.
Dear Mailing List,
Big update here:
http://www.mnftiu.cc
ALSO:
It is my honor to give the M. Victor Leventritt Lecture at Harvard University this Thursday (11/16). The lecture is in conjunction with "Dissent!"-- an exhibit of political art at Harvard's Fogg Museum. Since the exhibit includes some GYWO comics, they asked if I would give a lecture. I said, "Yes-- if it means I can be on the short list to become the next president of Harvard University."
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, I AM IN THE RUNNING!!!
My campaign motto: "We Should Pay Down 100% of Harvard's Endowment in Five Years-- Our Goal is a Zero-Balance Endowment."
Anyway, here is the lecture info:
Thursday, November 16
Harvard University
Cambridge, MA
Arthur M. Sackler Museum
485 Broadway
(617) 495-9400
6:00 PM
FREE
===========
And now, a private message for any optometrists or ophthalmologists:
Hello, I am developing a stand-up comedy routine about ophthalmology and refractive surgery. Yes you read that correctly, all your wildest dreams are about to come true: Everything from jokes about radial keratotomy to jokes about matrix metalloproteinase expression in corneal wounds. Does this entice you? Oh, and also, jokes about LASIK lasers-- VISX versus NIDEK. Anyway, what I need is an appreciate audience. Could you please book me a gig at an ophthalmology conference and pay me $5,000 to perform this act? PLEASE SAY YES. Contact me at dr@mnftiu.cc Thanks!
If you ever wondered what an American author touring in Europe sounded like, you can derive a sense of it from two events in NYC this week, wherein the foreign language writer reads a little bit him/herself, and then has a chunk performed by an actor (which is how they do it "abroad"). I came across these events in part because I'd the pleasure of meeting one participant—Germany's leading queer theorist Thomas Meinecke (as in the muffler, sort of)—last month, and the pleasure of hearing about a great urban theorist named Bruce Begout from his cool French indie publisher Max Milo. The fact that both of them were in fact doing these two events together, well I just had to alert folks. Below is the details, forgive the cut-'n'-paste from the German, I think y'all can figure it out...
19. Oktober 2006
19:00 Uhr
New Literature from Europe: The Writer in the City
Lesung aus „Hellblau“ und Diskussion an The New School
Theresa Lang Center
The New School
55 W. 13th St., 2nd Floor
New York, NY
21. Oktober 2006
19:00 Uhr
New Writers from Europe
Lesung aus “Tomboy” in der Buchhandlung “192 Books”
Adresse:
192 Books
192 Tenth Ave./21st St.
New York, NY 10011
tel.: 212-255-4022
This just in from Anne Elizabeth Moore, series edtor of Best American Comics, Associate Publisher of Punk Planet, all around maveness, and author of Hey Kidz! Buy This Book: A Radical Primer on Corporate and Governmental Propaganda and Artistic Activism for Short People
My friend John Pierson of the Neo-Futurists here in Chicago has written and staged a two-minute, live-action version of HEY KIDZ BUY THIS BOOK for adults, and it's running in their show Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind.
Just in time for the fifth anniversary of the War on Terror... after a sold-out run in Austin... the GET YOUR WAR ON play is going on tour.
The Rude Mechs Theatre Company are hitting the road with their critically acclaimed adaptation of GET YOUR WAR ON!
The following are some requests from David Rees himself, in which we heartily concur:
- Please, PLEASE, if you have friends or family in these towns, let them know about the play!
- If you have a myspace page that is frequented by Defense Department officials, let them know about the play!
- If you have William F. Buckley's pager number, hit him up and let him know about the play!
- The more people who see it, the better chance there is of a larger tour later.
*** THE RUDE MECHS PRESENT: GET YOUR WAR ON***
PHILADELPHIA, PA
September 13 - 16
Live Arts Festival
HOUSTON, TX
September 21 - 30
DiverseWorks Theatre
WASHINGTON, DC
October 5 - 14
Woolly Mammoth Theatre
MARFA, TX
October 20 - 21
Ballroom Marfa
Here's a quick web animation to GET YOU PUMPED:
Isn't it time you treated yourself to an evening of theatre?
Thanks for your interest,
David Rees
So Kenny G of WFMU has assembled 150 cover versions from all over the world of the Todd Colby poem "Cake." I just got word but he's interviewing Todd as I write (started at 3 PM EST today @ wfmu.org) and willthen playing all the versions that people have sent in (three hours worth).
I gather from Todd (because my life is lived pretty much second- and thirdhand) that the recordings people have sent in are truly amazing and hilarious. Especially the three year old boy reading it named Irving Sendra.
There's a complete list that you can listen to.
And the sharp-eyed amongst you might recall that Todd Colby's collection Tremble & Shine is one of the bonuses for those who sign up for the 2006 Soft Skull Poetry Subscription.
Cheers,
Todd Colby
The following is an annoucement about National Small Press Month, an announcement e-mailed to me to encourage us, as an independent press, to get the word out about a month that celebrates the universe of which we are but a tiny component. We will of course be doing our best, and part of what I thought I'd do is re-write it slightly, as an address to readers of this blog, who I imagine to be a mix of bloggers, writers, perhaps the occasional bookseller and librarian?
March 2006 is the tenth anniversary of National Small Press Month. Co-founded by the Small Press Center and the PMA, the Independent Book Publishers Association, National Small Press Month is a yearly celebration of independent publishing, much in the same vein as National Poetry Month. It has taken place each March since 1996, and so far has been somewhat of a quiet effort. In this, the tenth year, we aim to make more of an impact on a nationwide level, promoting independent presses in general and their authors in particular. This year our theme is National Small Press Month: Books Beyond the Obvious.
To help publicize any events that are being organized, Small Press Month posters, which are free of charge, may be requested. This year, Kurt Vonnegut has graciously allowed his self-portrait to be used on the eye-catching, color posters that look great in libraries, stores, schools and local gathering spots.
We are looking to generate enthusiasm and action on all fronts of independent publishing—from the distributors to publishers to bookstores to writers. By involving different segments of the small and independent publishing community, we can make more of a collective effort to raise public awareness of the important work published by small presses.Independent Presses are a key factor in the success of National Small Press Month. We are encouraging you to in turn contact your local bookstores and libraries to schedule readings, arrange for displays of your titles, book ads in area papers, among many other suggestions.
You may go to our website at www.smallpressmonth.org or the Small Press Center website at www.smallpress.org to download 31 Suggestions of What Publishers Can Do for National Small Press Month, plus 10 Things Bookstores and Libraries can do to take part, as well as a Poster Request Form.
Given how many of those if you reading this are fans of, or even indebted to small/independent presses in some fashion, you're probably all alreday doing things to help. But perhaps score a couple of posters and prevail upon your local bookseller and library to put them up, or mention the Month when you're annoucing events you're mentioning on your site or blog, or if you're a freelancer, see if you can pitch an article to your editor?
Together, we can raise awareness in support of the hundreds of publishers and the amazing work they all do. On behalf of Small Press Month coordinating committee, which includes the Small Press Center, PMA, Book Sense and CLMP, [and Soft Skull Press] thank you for your time and consideration.
Herewith a semi-promotional, semi-unselfinterested item: a plea from the director of a DIY film called Quality of Life (" tells the story of two young graffiti writers who struggle to maintain their friendship as their lives unravel and the cops close in.") to pre-order a ticket this week so as to encourage the Pioneer Theatre to give them a longer run...
It's a semi-promo item because we'll be publishing a book based on the film in August. Called Putting the Pieces Together, it included interviews, photos, the screenplay, and also a "DIY film school"—how to make your own DIY movie...
It got some lovely reviews at the festivals:
"Extraordinary" —Berlin International Film Festival Jury (WINNER - Special Mention)
"The film is amazing"—WoosterCollective.com
"A powerful and emotionally satisfying film"—Jane Ganahl, San Francisco Chronicle
"Excellent"—Jeff Anderson, San Francisco Examiner
"Supreme acting and great music...captivating"—Stockholm International Film Festival Jr. Jury (WINNER - Best Youth Film)
"Streetwise honesty...powerful"—Seattle Post-Intelligencer
There's a cool trailer...
And, as another of our authors, Josh McPhee wrote, in that lovely low-key hyperbole that exemplfies the DIY activist artists we know:
I hear this movie is phenomenal, and the director seems like a pretty cool guy, interested in sparking a real dialogue about the role of graffiti in society and a serious questioning of the results of the criminalization of the art...
so, if you are interested, maybe buy a ticket and help them out!!
PLEASE HELP QUALITY OF LIFE GET A WIDER RELEASE!
As you know, we are self-distributing Quality of Life in limited theaters before we release the dvd this summer. We played in SF for 6 strong weeks and are now set to embark upon our national release, including New York City April 6-12 (Pioneer Theater, 155 East 3rd Street between A and B)
A strong showing in NYC will open doors for future screenings. At this point, the theater in New York has us booked for one week, one screening a day. We have proven that there is a strong and hungry audience for this film. However, since we are self-distributing and do not bring ad dollars to the table, the theater owners remain unconvinced. Which is where you come in.
The NYC theater has agreed to schedule more screenings if and only if we are able to sell a few tix this week. (Unlike a traditional booking which gets held over based on actual Box Office performance, calendar houses like this must book months in advance.) Please buy your tix today and help give us an opportunity to prove the film has legs.
For complicated reasons, we weren't able to get word out about this (my fault, not the staff...) so I figured I should blog it... (We publish the Essential Bill Hicks)
This Friday, we are excited to present the BILL HICKS BIRTHDAY PARTY at the Bowery Poetry Club, a tribute to the iconoclastic comedian the late Richard Pryor once called “an inspired and inspiring truth teller, dangerous and brave and scary, all at once.”
Featuring Rick Shapiro and a screening of the new Bill Hicks DVD!
Friday, December 16 at 8:00pm
Bowery Poetry Club
308 Bowery (@ Bleecker)
Manhattan
$10
ABOUT BILL HICKS:
In 1993, not long after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, controversial comedian Bill Hicks found his final, scathing appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman abruptly excised at network demand. Months later, at age 33, he was dead.
Hicks could have been on all the chat shows. He could have had his own show on prime time. He could have got rich and fat and frightened. But Hicks didn't go the easy way (give or take the occasional dick joke). He turned down every offer Satan made him. Instead he figured out his best shot at truth and then he said it. He attacked the lies that justified and prettified the carnage of the First Gulf War. He attacked the easy surrender of art to commerce, the demeaning cynicism of the marketing culture and the preposterous power of the mainstream media to confuse and corrupt. In an admiring profile by the New Yorker critic John Lahr — reissued in Lahr’s collection of essays, Light Fantastic, and reproduced in Love All The People — Hicks describes the comic’s vocation as being “the antithesis of the mob mentality.”
“He was a genius. He was one of the five best comics I've ever seen in my life.”—Dennis Miller
“An inspired and inspring truth teller, dangerous and brave and scary, all at once.”—Richard Pryor
“Bill Hicks—blowtorch, excavator, truth-sayer, and brain specialist, like a reverend waving a gun around. He will correct your vision. Others will drive on the road he built”— Tom Waits
“Savage, brilliant, funny, tremendously intelligent.”—John Cleese
“Bill was right up there with Lenny Bruce and Richard Pryor. He was easily the best comic of my generation.”—Brett Butler
“He was hilarious, brilliant, brave, and right about everything” — Henry Rollins
“That this house notes with sadness the 10th anniversary of the death of Bill Hicks, on February 26th 1994, at the age of 33; recalls his assertion that his words would be a bullet in the heart of consumerism, capitalism and the American Dream; and mourns the passing of one of the few people who may be mentioned as being worthy of inclusion with Lenny Bruce in any list of unflinching and painfully honest political philosophers.”—Stephen Pound MP; Parliamentary House of Commons
We hope to see you there!
Lisa Crystal Carver is the author of Drugs are Nice which is publishing this week. Lisa'a having a wild shindig tonight, first at KGB, 85 East 4th Street, where she will give an unconventional and unforgettable lecture on post punk: why it happened and what went wrong. Accompanied by ethereal comic artist Dame Darcy on the singing saw, Lisa will draw diagrams and dry erase, explaining how chaotic, self-violent, transgressive performers like GG Allin, Suckdog, Lydia Lunch, and The Swans came to be. Also why they didn't wear colors and why they smelled so very bad. She will then turn the room (by top secret methods we would die rather than disclose here!) into a physical representation of ten minutes of the era she like to call "the late 80s, early 90s."
Then, since that's not enough, she's going to have a full-on party at Galapagos at 70 North 6th St in
Williamsburg, Brooklyn. I can't really say what exactly will happen there, but check out this interview with her in this weeks Philadelphia Weekly
Speaking of love from the alt weeklies (and this is what earns this the Shamelessing Hussying and Gloating categories), here's some more links to all the great things being written about Lisa this week: The DCist ; this from the Providence Phoenix: Provoke, provoke, provoke, spew, spew, spew, rant, rant, rant. Lisa "Suckdog" Carver has a million ways of foisting her opinion on you.; and from the Philadelphia City Paper, which requires me—because of content rather than any required subscription, to quote it in its entirety:
The Further Decline of Western Civilization
Lisa Carver must be post-post-punk. All the press photos for her new book, Drugs Are Nice: A Post-Punk Memoir, have her looking sorta sedate, posing with her kid and her dog. Like aw, the former fuck-off frontwoman of Suckdog has decided to drop her guitar and spend more time with the family. Of course if she were completely over it, she wouldn't be on tour reading from the diary of her misspent youth and lecturing on where post-punk went wrong. Yes, lecturing. Like with diagrams, time lines and a dry erase board. She'll expand on it with musical asides, backed by Meat Cake zine-maker Dame Darcy on the singing saw. Even when she was called Lisa Suckdog, everybody knew her as one of the most analytical minds in punk — that wasn't supposed to be a backhanded compliment — so she's exactly who you want discussing punk in scientific terms. Because when the lesson gets to the part where G.G. Allin smears shit on himself and calls it art, trust me, that's not pop culture, that's anthropology.