#55 It Was An Ambush

I like to give readings, and I am proudly average at it.  The more I do, the better I get, I think.  In support of this claim, I've gathered the few videos there are of the few readings I've done, and compiled them here.  Please note the evolution of hand gestures: from fragile/protective to instrumental to gestural/pseudo/sorta-communicative.  Way to go hands.

I read Pee On Water this evening.  Wish I knew Rachel Glaser.

I also read this interview today.  I would have liked to have known William Gaddis, but maybe only through a third party.  Like if an old friend of mine who was also buddies with Gaddis, and who had initially vouched for me in order to bring me into the social circle, always stuck around to make sure he didn't give me a hard time.

I also wrote a new story today about a shark-tooth necklace and one relentless jellyfish.

#54 Happy Holidays

#53 Quick Disappointment

So there is a "stats" section in this blogbuilder which allows me to look at the number of hits the site has received in a single day, as well as which websites have referred people, or what they searched for in order to find themselves here.  It's often what you'd expect: a huge amount of people link from facebook, a few people from the Ukraine, people redirected from my website, people doing searches for some of the authors/musicians/artists mentioned throughout the site...but yesterday morning someone came to the site having searched the words "10 minute deer skinner"+review.  What a disappointment that must have been, really and truly.  I feel like I let that person down.  So from now on, I will only reference things I plan to treat accordingly.  For instance, if I use the phrase "special holiday deals," I will contextualize it:  "I can't hardly wait for all of those special holiday deals and extra great work from home opportunites for barely legal teens looking to hook up at the discoteque this holiday season."+ben stiller.

#52 From a New Series

But I love her Dad: A Grammatical Error

For Brian Morton

It was only the issue of a comma, but our fathers wouldn’t have it.  My professor wouldn’t have it.  Desperate, I emailed Ben Zimmer at the New York Times and he never got back to me.  He wouldn’t have it.  Clever, he might have written, but where are you going with this?  It was a mistake, plain and simple, but one that complicated things.  It was a gentle failure, my mistake, but I sympathized with it.  It seemed somehow relevant to what was feeling more and more like an unreasonably confused outlook, and I wanted to prove to it its own potential.  Pragmatic, I wondered where and how and why would there be some small corner of the world in which this expressive predicament could exist.  I wrote a little story for it, but things quickly got out of hand.  So, I wore this burden on my back and climbed to the very top of the very highest mountain where I saw Chris Burden crucified to a Volkswagen.  Oh Great, I said.  Great great great.  This is perfect.  Look.  Chris raised his head.  I pulled out a pistol and held it to my little mistake’s depressed forehead.  I fired.  That’s not interesting, Chris said.  He lowered his head.  It is irresponsible and unforgivable.  Oh, I replied, a little heartbroken, fair enough.  I started back down the mountain alone.  You’re not leaving that here, he said, struggling against the railroad spikes, I won’t have it.

#51 The Dot Com Boom

Howdy Folks,

Dear Navigator is hosting a launch party this Thursday (Dec. 16th) at Inntertown Pub in Chicago, IL to celebrate the...launch...of our second issue :: The Crush.  

The event runs from 7:30pm to 11, so make sure to stop by.

We'll be reading from the new issue, and yours truly will be reading a few pieces by the great Zachary Schomburg. 

Hope to see you all there!

***

#50 Necessary Update

New story up here.

Entry #49 What I was Convinced of, How I was Wrong, and What I Plan to Do About It.

So far, for the lifetime of this blog...

Entry #48 ...Mrs. Place.

Had the pleasure of meeting Vanessa Place the other day.  Afterward, I recorded her reading at the Green Lantern Gallery here in Chicago.  So here's the footage.


Vanessa Place Reading


Vanessa Place reading "Scum Manifesto"


Vanessa Place on Pussy and "Statement of Facts"


Vanessa Place read from her book, "Dies: A Sentence"

***

Happening this Friday:

I'll be showing a performance-based sound piece, so if you're in the area, do stop by.

Make sure to come by on the 11th as well.  Vanessa Place will be performing a response piece live from LA, CA.

Not to be missed!

#47

This arrive in the mail yesterday, in this condition.  It's a copy of Gabriel Boyer's book - "Survey of My Failures This Far."  For most of the night, I blamed the USPS for the condition of the package in my mailbox...but once I opened the book to find it riddled with post-it notes from Gabe, post-it notes that acted as place-markers/explanations of revisions to come, I began to think the packaging might or might not been another one of the many failures inside and outside of this book.  This thing is a sprawling beast of mainly, but not only, prose work.  All of which has the charm of a bold and fully-realized attempt.  The style shifts and the content swells or shrinks, and all the while there is a Beckett-like pressure to write, to produce, in spite of the inevitable failure.  I still haven't read most of this book, it is very long, but I'm happy to have it and encourage others to seek it out at www.mutablesound.com.  Maybe I'll post a video or two of me reading selections from the book...I wonder if Gabe would like that?  Either way, you can find video of Gabe reading from the book in Entry #41 - Ten Minute Deer Skinner.

Who's going to AWP this year?  Answer me that.

My dad is about to interview me for a job...wish me luck

#46 Placement

Okay, so very soon, check back for video of Vanessa Place's reading at the Green Lantern Gallery in Chicago, IL.  I'll also post some footage from her talk at SAIC earlier that day about Conceptual Poetry.  You may think you recognize a certain timid blogger's voice cracking out a question or two, but feel free to ignore it...it probably only be the wind.

Let's see, what else.  I'm looking to make a website...that's needed, right?  This blog is like a depository for me, I'm just dumping info/rant content here and leaving it to soak.  I'd like to make a website that's more about you.  That's right.  You.  Someone else is going to read this and assume I'm talking about them, but you know by you I mean you and actually on you and not some general "you" but the you who I mean who is reading this.  Hopefully it will be fun for you.  And you deserve it.

#45 Everday I Write the Book

Everyone be sure to check this month's Everyday Genius, edited by the fabulous Chloe Cooper Jones.  She's put together a great line-up for this month, including a brand spanking new piece by yours truly. 

There will be a new piece posted every day of December, mine will be up December 31st, New Year's Eve.  Read it aloud to the tune of the count-down and make sure to kiss extra hard at the climax!