LAST CALL!

Glasses up, everyone! Tomorrow night's the season finale for "Fireside Follies," the monthly reading series I co-curate with Michael Lala. Celebrate the new year again at Brooklyn Fire Proof!

TONIGHT!!!

Tonight's the monthly event I host "Fireside Follies" out at Brooklyn Fire Proof. Not only is this the third month I've done this with Mike Lala, but it's also our 'holiday edition'. We have a stellar lineup and there's a very special surprise guest coming as well! Come out and be corny for the season, see and hear something amazing and drink your face off with your pals and get merry and all that.

Stick n' Poke!!

Andrew Smith, promoter/writer/renaissance man and myself got together last Thursday at his Greenpoint loft, where he gave me an ole fashioned stick n' poke tattoo. The wonderfully talented Emily Poole, photographer and web-designer for Knickerbocker Circus Publishing was there to capture the magic.

Andy and I met after I went to one of his Knife Fight parties and knew he was onto something really cool. It turns out I had been to one of his infamous shows before (with this guy, this girl and these girls over here). This little fact didn't surface until Andy and I put on a nice show at Pete's Candy Store in Williamsburg as part of the Noches de los Artistes series he did over the summer. One cool motherfucker.

Finished product (as you can kinda see) is a triangle with the numbers "973" on there, my old area code from Jersey. Special thanks to Andy and Emily! Andy will be reading at the next Fireside Follies next month and has promised a new true-life tale to dazzle us with.

The L Magazine Interview

Mike Lala and I got interviewed by the L magazine, a weekly NYC culture mag. Awesome!

Updates!

Last weekend was the annual RVA Zine Fest and as usual it was amazing! Special thanks to Nicole Harris and especially to Liz Canfield for making me feel so damn welcome. If you're in Richmond, be sure to stop by and visit the Wingnut House, where they're straight up doing some amazing work in the community there. Pictures are to come soon....


This weekend brings chaos. Friday night I begin filming a short video art piece with a few people. Saturday is the WFMU Record Fair and then of course the inaugural reading of Fireside Follies! Finally, Sunday I'll be teaching a workshop on zines at Baltimore's DIY Fest.
Ready? Let's do this.

Fireside Follies!!!

This is the new monthly series I'm curating with my buddy Mike Lala. We also got press for it from the Brooklyn Eagle and FreeWilliamsburg. Yay!

"Wait, Where Are You Going?" IS HERE!!!

Release Party is Sunday, October 7 at 7pm
at Brooklyn Fireproof
120 Ingraham St.
Brooklyn, NY
L train to Morgan

California

Here's some pictures I took when I went to do readings in Cali last month. As you can see, it aint hard to tell why it's called the Best Coast.

Hippie Hill San Francisco. A crackhead wanted to give me his pipe. I said no thanks. Then I went barhopping on Haight Street with two random people.

Pettibon's Bungalow. I stayed in the other bedroom.

UC Berkeley. A nice little spot tucked away.

Gorgeous view from Pettibon's sun deck. I dug LA a lot, I got so much work done and caught a tan at the same time.

Killadelphia First Friday and Notes on Pork Roll/ Taylor Ham

The Eastern Seaboard Showcase Part 1 went down on Friday, to a good-sized crowd at the Philadelphia Center for the Book pop-up store on South Street and S. 6th. I read with the talented Sarah Heady, Angel Hogan, Hailey Higdon, Matt Zingg and Michael Lala, the only fiction writer of the bunch. The guys and I stayed with photographer/poet Brandon Lake in South Philly and celebrated with style and class as per usual.
Besides Tattooed Mom's, which Mike and I drink at everytime we're in Society Hill, we ate at South Philly's best diner the Melrose Diner. The waitresses here are the best. Also, I ate this:



Definitely my favorite breakfast food ever, only available in the Philadelphia area and all of New Jersey. This is Philly/South Jersey's brand.

This is the North Jersey (and maybe a few NYC locations as I haven't found) brand, called "Taylor Ham". The difference between the two brands is in amount of spice, but really in nomenclature and will forever split the state. That and the whole difference in population and urban planning.

Best Email Ever!

I got this in my inbox today. No words (which at first led me to believe his email was hacked) in the body or subject line, just this. Seriously the best email ever. To be referenced by a master, now that's some real shit right there!

Blood n Pudding Release Party Video!! or East Meets West

I read this the night I returned from Cali, taking a red eye back to make it in time for Katelan Foisy's release party reading that night. This was at Bluestockings Bookstore, a really cool spot in the Lower East Side.

West Coast- Best Coast!

My California mini-tour came and went in almost a blur, even though it was 7 days of fun and sun. I don't think I've ever been treated so well as I was out there, and have tons of people to thank:

-Otessa, Davey and everyone at House of the Dead Rat in San Jose (seriously, a punk house 10x cleaner than my apartment)
-My Oakland people for putting the reading on at Pegasus Books in downtown Berkeley and the crowd that showed up!! Specifically thanks to Tomas Muniz and to Elwin Cotman for comin out.
-Devri Richmond and Ted Nava from Book Soup for bein such sweethearts.
-Last but especially not least, my West Coast mentor Ray Pettibon and the wonderful Aida Ruilova for being the epitome of Los Angeles hospitality.

Dancing Days

Much has been going on as of late. I read to a packed house in both Cambridge and back in Brooklyn, two days in a row last weekend. Tim Gager's Dire Reading Series is pretty amazing, bringing tons of people out even without any flyers, which to me says a lot. The Midnight Special was also amazing, packing Northeast Kingdom's Den. Thanks to all of those who read, came out and took pictures. Mike Lala and I will be curating/hosting a monthly series there starting in October.
The Philadelphia Alternative Comics Expo, held at the Rotunda, was Sunday and I went with the lovely Caitlin McGurk. Like everytime I go to Philly (which is about once every other month now, sometimes more) I was not disappointed. There were some incredibly talented artists there.
Next week I'll be in sunny California, reading on the 17th at Pegasus Books with some fantastic Bay Area zine writers.


Then down to LA to read at Book Soup. The event listing is on Book Forum's website, which is A-Okay in my book!

The Midnight Special

Join me and Katelan Foisy, Caitlin McGurk, Mike Lala, Allyson Platy and Matthew Zingg on Saturday, August 7 at 7pm. Fine literature, good hooch.

Dog Days of Summer

July is slipping through our fingers, leading us into the brutally hot days of August. Of course, all East Coasters know how unusually hot it's been (especially in the Big Apple) but that hasn't slowed me or my partners-in-crime down at all!

Updates:
The next reading I'm curating will be at Northeast Kingdom on August 7 at 7pm. Lineup and flyer to come soon.

Thanks to the wonderful people of Baltimore who came out to see Numu Collective at Hexagon Space during Artscape! Also, big props to Rachel for giving us the show and Keri for the crash pad. Thanks also to the gentleman who screamed "Die hipster scum!" at us from his car as we did the walk of shame back to the car the next morning. You're right up there with the gentleman who threw his drink at me at South Street Seaport.

I did get to go to my beloved Wawa though! (Philly Cheesesteak and Egg Hoagie= Breakfast of Champeens)

Hey Cambridge, remember me? Well, I'm back on August 6 as part of the Dire Reading Series.

I'm also doing a reading with Tomas Muniz (of "Rad Dad" zine fame!) and Hollie Hardy, among others at Pegasus in Berkeley, CA on August 17. Tomas is the man and we read at Book Thug Nation a few months ago when he came to the East Coast.
Meanwhile, half of the Philly/NYC collab is finalized...
Two other big things are in the works.....details to come!

New Things.....and KNIFE FIGHT!

Hell yes!!! Andy Smith is more or less the man and I and everyone else are excited to read tomorrow at Pete's. Please join us!

New Things:
-Look out for a Philadelphia/New York collaboration coming in early September.
-Artscape in Baltimore is next weekend.
-Victoria Cho is a force to be reckoned with!




An Old Thing:

Summer Reading List

Here's my list of what I plan to read this summer now that it's official:
(Updated June 30; read titles are bolded with new title in italics.)
Anais Nin's Diaries, Vol. 1 1931-1934
The Ice Man by Philip Carlo
Suttree by Cormac McCarthy
A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
The Three Musketeers for Alexander Dumas
Imperial Bedroom by Bret Easton Ellis
Paris Review's Summer Issue
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
Pere Geriot by Honore de Balzac

What are you reading?

Recent Updates

I curated/hosted a reading last night in Bushwick's (Brooklyn) Northeast Kingdom. It was a smashing success, despite a last minute change in venue. Thanks to everyone who came out and supported us or read, especially Rydell Bixby who came up from Richmond, VA!! We had 30 people show up, filling up the lounge, and people really dug it. Hooray for Bushwick Open Studios!!

Meanwhile....
-I will be curating several more events in the next several months besides the ones I have listed in the "Readings" section. One will be a midnight reading at a secretly disclosed location in North Brooklyn in an industrial park.
-I've also been asked to curate a show at the Williamsburg Art & Historical Center in late October as part of their "Book Art" show. Come the fall, there will be a reading series in place as well. Stay tuned!

Virginia Is For Lovers

...and apparently me, as well. Despite the usual irritations that come with traveling to anywhere by bus for longer than an hour, it was a wonderful trip and a great way to end my Northeast/Mid-Atlantic "tour". This is the second time I went to Richmond to read and as always everyone was super friendly and receptive. Bought some VHS tapes at Plan 9, got my Drinky Crow tattoo touched up at Heroes and Ghosts Tattoos, wrote a ton and read the following:

Latest issues of the New Yorker and New York Review of Books
Bret Easton Ellis' American Psycho AND Less Than Zero
David Boring by Daniel Clowes
The Adventures of Tony Millionaire's Sock Monkey

Go RVA!

Friday Videos!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5YebZ4BAUs
I watched this originally for the part where Bugs pretends to be a beautician. THEN I saw the end...