Jan. 16th: Justin Katko & Michael Basinski

Friday, January 16th

10PM

Justin Katko is a poet and publisher. He edits the small press Critical Documents, which specializes in contemporary poetry from the UK and the US. He is completing an MFA in Electronic Writing at Brown University.

Michael Basinski is the curator of The Poetry Collection at the State University of New York at Buffalo. He performs his work as a solo poet and in ensemble with BuffFluxus. Among his many books of poetry are Of Venus 93 (Little Scratch Pad); All My Eggs Are Broken (BlazeVox); Heka (Factory School); Strange Things Begin to Happen When a Meteor Crashes in the Arizona Desert (Burning Press); and AuXin (an Amphibole book, Amphibole is a vehicle of They Are Flying Planes). His poems have appeared in Dandelion, BoxKite, Antennae, Unbearables Magazine, Open Letter, Torgue, Leopold Bloom, Wooden Head Review, Basta, Kiosk, Explosive Magazine, Deluxe Rubber Chicken, First Offense, Terrible Work, Juxta, Kenning, Witz, Lungfull, Lvng, Generator, Tinfish, Curicule Patterns, Score, Unarmed, Rampike, First Intensity, House Organ, Ferrum Wheel, End Note, Ur Vox, Damn the Caesars, Pilot, 1913, Filling Station, Public Illumination, Words, They Are Flying Planes and in others. 

12/5: HEY, WHAT'S ALL THE HOOPLAH?

Friday, December 5th

10PM

Forget the impending breadlines, grab your polka-dotted canvas bindle, bundle up and bustle your way over to hear the tales of times said and gone and the prophetic parables of a new generation of poets, storytellers and musicians. Featuring music and performances by John Houx, Elizabeth Devlin, Frank Hoier & Jessy Carolina. 

Mr. Houx grew up in West coast cattle country and "hoboed" his way to New York in 2007, where he was quickly embraced by the East Village's Antifolk scene and traditional folk music circles. With appearances on radio and television (broadcast and online), John is presently planning his first full-length record and a small European tour. 

Elizabeth Devlin has traveled the world to invoke influences from scratchy American and French phonographs, combining bitter-sweet, haunting vocals with angelic, cacophonous Autoharp melodies. Her forthcoming full-length album will be released on December 6th, 2008. 

Frank Hoier is poised at the front of a new wave of modern Americana roots music. Backed by rock'n'roll prodigy siblings, The Weber Brothers, Frank's self released album Lovers & Dollars is set for it's national debut on November 11, 2008. Frank Hoier brings a fresh perspective and a rock'n'roll energy to Folk music. His Guthrie-esque anthem "Jesus Don't Give Tax Breaks To The Rich" has been hailed as "the most perfect protest song written yet this millennium" (PopHeadWound).

Nov. 21: Potluck & Thanksgiving Reading

Poets' Potluck III

Friday, 10:00 pm

Natives and newcomers alike join the Three Sisters (the harvest; or Diana Hamilton, Nicole Wallace and Corrine Fitzpatrick) for a giving of thanks, foods, poetry, music, and autumnal beverages. A two-time staple of last-year's series, the night will again feature performances by many and food by everyone so inclined, including Stacy Szymaszek, who will be grilling turkey burgers in the parish hall on the George Foreman and who has already contributed one can of corn to the cause. Other confirmed gobblers, to name a few: Jim Behrle, Will Edmiston, Kareem Estefan, Gordon Faylor, Kelly Ginger, Susi Gomez, Stephanie Gray, Eddie Hopely, Ellis Isenberg, Derek Kroessler, Judah Rubin, Anne Tardos, Dustin Williamson, Sara Wintz and the Three Sisters themselves. So, grab your canned pumpkin, plastic cool whip containers, and blue-lined notebooks, and pilgrim your way over...

Halloween!

This Halloween, performers including (but not limited to) writer Chris Leo, dancer Amy Baumgarten, poet Nathaniel Siegel, performance artist Jennifer Berklich, and the musical sounds of So L'il will be channeling other artists, dead or alive, and performing their works. The evening will also feature guest appearances of as-yet unidentified ghosts, including the 1986 echoes of Lou Reed and Laurie Anderson . Please join guest host Ben Malkin of So L'il for this haunted and certainly magical evening. Come dressed as an other, living or gone.

Ben Malkin's updated list of performers is now:

Jennifer Berklich

Amy Baumgarten

Control Freak

Chris Leo

Gracefully

Nathaniel Siegal

Somebody Else's

and Bernie Q

+ special guests...

Oct. 17: Marie Buck, Gordon Faylor & Eddie Hopely

Marie Buck's first book of poems, Life & Style, is forthcoming from Patrick Lovelace Editions. She co-edits, with Brad Flis, the small poetry journal Model Homes. She lives and studies in Detroit. 

Gordon Faylor and Edward Hopely will read from, perform and distribute a new collaborative work for two readers. Gordon Faylor presently serves as the Assistant Editor of mid)rib and as Editor of its upcoming chapbook series. Edward Hopely is the author of some chapbooks and ran the “Hammered All Around Their Nail Heads” reading series this past year.

Oct. 10: Vanessa Place and Steven Zultanski

Vanessa Place is a writer and lawyer, and co-director of Les Figues Press. She is the author of Dies: A Sentence, a 50,000-word, one-sentence novella, the post-conceptual novel La Medusa (Fiction Collective 2), a chapbook, Figure from The Gates of Paradise (Woodland Editions/Five Fingers Review) and the forthcoming Conceptualisms: An Ill-Conceived Guide to Kinda Conceptual, Post-Conceptual, Extant and Taxonomical Writings, etc., written with Robert Fitterman (Ugly Duckling Presse). Her nonfiction book, The Guilt Project: Rape and Morality, will be published in Fall 2009 by Other Press. Her collaboration with artist/performer Lamya Regragui will debut at Cent Quatre in Paris/Los Angeles in 2009, and she is collaborating with conceptual artist Stephanie Taylor on Olady, a visual/sound project. She lives in Los Angeles.

"Babygirl, you're going to pop," her daddy said once, catching her.
But that was a long time ago and not true. Two ways not true, that is, she wasn't going to pop and her daddy never said that to her, though it was the sort of thing she thought he would say if he could, like if he thought of to say it. But people are mostly not like how they could, for example, she rolls over, for example, the last time when Daddy came back from overseas, she was so excited.

From La Medusa

Steven Zultanski is the author of the chapbooks Homoem (Radical Readout, 2005), This and That Lenin (BookThug, 2008) and Steve's Poem (Lettermachine, forthcoming). He edits President's Choice magazine, a Lil' Norton publication. His poetry has appeared in Antennae, FO(A)RM, The Physical Poets, Shiny, and elsewhere.

Steve will be performing with a musician.

Why don’t you have a boyfriend?
It’s no secret to you that I have an irrational little crush on Chicken John.
Keith fixes his belt, stuffs a tissue in his pants’ front pockets. The tassels on his fly swing. He paces around the living room with Marcus on the phone.
“I’m no pumpkin-eater.” He whistles. “I don’t wait for moods.”
He leaves el casa del Marcus.
Paco is rubbing puddle water. Keith breaks into a passing song about heartbreak and
joy and mold.

From "Paula and Keith"

Sept. 26: Slovene Poetry: Cucnik, Pepelnik, Podlogar, Šalamun, Skrjanec

A book-release celebration with the participation of the following visiting poets from Slovenia: Primoz Cucnik, Ana Pepelnik, Gregor Podlogar, Tomaž Šalamun and Tone Skrjanec. A book signing for the second editions of Tomaž Šalamun’s Poker and Tone Skrjanec's Sun On A Knee. A special chapbook featuring the work of all five poets in English translation comes free with admission. *This event, a collaboration between Ugly Duckling Presse (Brooklyn) and Literatura Magazine (Ljubljana), kicks off a whole weekend of Slovene poetry in New York City.

In the future, there will be important information to consult. Now, there is an empty blog. With links to friends.

The season starts the last week of September. We'll see you there.