New Orleans Wedding

This is how you do it…

Readings Further Afield

Tonight! Brave Men Press is co-hosting a reading with Boog City in NYC. The amazing Luke Bloomfield, Brian Foley, Mark Leidner, Farrah Field, and Sampson Starkweather are reading at ACA Galleries (529 W. 20th St., 5th Flr) @ 6pm sharp.

Saturday! After the tryptophan wears off, I will be reading with Mike Young & Dan Boehl in Harvard Square as part of Brian Foley’s Deep Moat Reading Series. The reading starts at 5pm on-the-dot at the Pierre Menard Gallery, 10 Arrow Street, Cambridge.

Lady Gaga’s Hats

are spectacular. I’m kind of really obsessed with her right now—her pop hooks, style, and overall insouciance. Here are some great hats.

Also, I spent most of Thursday afternoon watching Lady Gaga music videos and live performances on YouTube. This was not a waste of time. My favorite hat appears in my favorite video of Gaga performing on Ellen. Please watch, you won’t be sorry.

Divine Magnet Reading Series

This is so super exciting.

Seth Landman of Invisible Ear has created The Divine Magnet Reading Series — an online, international, 24-7 happening. No conflicts! No need to carpool! They are bringing the poetry to you! So far Seth has posted readings by Natalie Lyalin (in Jerusalem) & Lewis Freedman (in Madison, WI), with beautifully-written introductions by Lesley Yalen & Jessica Fjeld, respectively.

(Also, the photo above is the #1 Google Image Search item for “Divine Magnet”. It’s a drawing of drag queen Divine on a magnet and you can buy it here.)

Daylight Savings

I just received this email from my father:

Thank you for subscribing to the Daddy-O daylight savings alert e-mail service.

This weekend is daylight standard time.  When you go to bed Saturday night *Fall behind.*  For example, if you go to bed at 12 midnight, set your clock back to 11 PM, and get an extra hour of sleep!!!!

Do not reply to this auto-generated e-mail.

If you wish to unsubscribe, you are out of luck.

I have no words. Set your clocks back, friends.

TGI Wild Things

Tuesday night I went to a packed late-show of Where The Wild Things Are. While I agree with many of the critics that the movie had some flaws—mostly the super-angsty relationships between the wild things—it is a beautiful piece of filmmaking and overall very magical. Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs co-produced the soundtrack and in the clip below you can see pieces of the collaborative process between her and Spike Jonze. The kids choir at the end is particularly fun.

Black River Chapbook Contest

Writer friends, submit!

Twice each year Black Lawrence Press runs the Black River Chapbook Competition for an unpublished chapbook of poems or short stories. The winner of this contest will receive book publication, a $500 cash award, and twenty-five copies of the book. Next Saturday, October 31 (Halloween!) is the deadline for the Fall, 2009 Black River Chapbook Competition.

For more information on the Black River Chapbook Competition, instructions on how to submit your work, information on purchasing chapbooks that have won the competition, and lists of previous winners and finalists, please visit blacklawrence.com/chapbook.html.

Readings, readings, everywhere

Tomorrow night Ben Estes & Brian Foley will read at Green Street Cafe @ 7:30.

Also tomorrow night! Noy Holland, Sam Michel, & Rachel B Glaser will read at Amherst Books @ 8.

Thursday night Lisa Olstein & Rebecca Wolff will read at UMass in Memorial Hall @ 8.

Friday morning the UMass Small Press Bonanza is hosting a breakfast with Rebecca Wolff. She’ll discuss her experiences creating and publishing Fence Magazine and Fence Books. Stop by Bartlett 316 between 10 and 11am. There will be coffee and treats from Black Sheep.

(Pssst! Mark your calendar for Thursday, January 28, 2010—Chris Cheney and I will be reading at Green Street Cafe. I will of course remind you closer to the date.)

TGIF

The new Kings of Convenience album, Declaration of Dependence, drops on Tuesday, Oct 20! Here’s the video for their single “Boat Behind”!

Just plain adorable.

I have a very special place in my heart for this band—especially this time of year—because I first started listening to their second album, Riot on an Empty Street, my first autumn living in New York so it evokes for me a new crispness in the air and a sense of comfort in a sometimes unfriendly city. Also, “I’d Rather Dance With You” is my happy song, I can’t help but smile and want to dance along every time I hear it.

Upcoming Readings

There are many!

Last Night (Oct 14) — Jedediah Berry @ Amherst Books @ 8pm (oops, moving retroactively at you)

Tonight (Oct 15) — Mass Poetry Festival — James Tate & Ellen Dore Watson & James Haug @ Amherst Cinema @ 7pm

Tomorrow (Oct 16) — Live Lit! @ Amherst Books @ 8pm

Sunday (Oct 18) — jubilat/Jones Series — Jordan Stempleman & Michelle Taransky @ The Jones Library @ 3pm

ps. Today the world looks like this: