Alec is a clown

Pre-show, Progress & Process. Alec Hanley Bemis preps for his one-night-only role as co-host for Happy Ending...

Progress & Process & Pictures

Look at us posting photos a mere three weeks after the show! Before you know it, they'll be up before you can even say, "Wow, that was an awesome HES show I saw last week." Just you wait. In case you missed out on August fifth's "Progress and Process," Amanda Stern was joined by co-host and curator Alec Hanley Bemis (who apparently missed the "hosts don't have to take a public risk" memo), as well as readers Rachel Cohen (who requested five words from the audience to incorporate into her reading--"cantankerous" being the easiest of the five), Brandon Stosuy (whose presentation on American black metal came with its own ambassador), and Lawrence Weschler (whose powerpoint included photos of himself taking photos of himself--precisely what I'd expect from a National Book Critics Circle Award-winner). Colin Stetson made us consider the saxophone as more than just a great crescendo-builder in Hall&Oates songs (waaaay more), and Buke and Gass introduced us to some neat new instruments and some seriously powerful sound.

In case there wasn't enough pantomime in your life...

Just a heads up--two more days to get your summer's dose of strange, friends.  The NYC Fringe Festival ("New York City's best staycation") finishes out its run on the 30th.  I caught a coworker's show--"Some Editing and Some Theme Music"--which she describes as "a multi-media dance theater piece about blogging" and I describe as, "hella Fringe!"  If you missed out this go-round, and happen to be in Philly in September (2-27) or New Orleans in November (11-15), check out those states' Fringe fests, and pray pray pray you won't be called up on stage to do anything.

Arts + Crafts + Featherproof

At one point this summer, I turned to some young writer friends and said very excitedly, “What people need right now is a legit venue for fiction of uncomfortable sizes--the novellas and half-pagers of the world!” 

So maybe I hadn’t done my/even a tiny little bit of research.

Allow me to be schooled by Featherproof Books, a press that's been taking care of that since 2005.  Not only do they publish beautiful full-length (whatever that means…right?) books, but they also have free printable mini-books that are about 13 text pages long, and now they have an Iphone app that sends 333-word stories to your beloved little device.  Aaaaand you can subscribe at Paperegg and they’ll send you multiple books a year just because they like you (and you gave them $20).  Hello Christkwanzukkah gift that keeps on giving!

Next on Featherproof's paper slab is a book by Lindsay Hunter, hostess of the QUICKIES! reading series in Chicago.  While you wait for that, go ahead and hook yourself up with a free mini-book and some arts&crafts time.

Hustler of Culture

Amanda linked me to this site, and damn! Are there college courses in aggregation now? Either way, If you’re looking to always have something to do/eat/read/talk about, let HoC creator Souris be your guide to all goings-on LA and NYC. She’s seriously got your back.

Look at her smiling at that overwhelming supply of categories! I think I'd cry, but hustlin' is kind of her steez.

Whoops! This was 2 shows ago...

Sorry, we're late! Here are some photos from July 8th, Confession and Jealousy night. The show included readings by Nick Laird(and the cutest puppy in the world, Maud), Binnie Kirshenbaum (who elected to take the very risky risk of not risking at all) and Kevin Canty (gnidaer sdrawkcab). Elvis Perkins also knocked our collective socks off. Amanda started the show off with a few hilarious confessions and, in between acts, read off audience-submitted confessions and jealousies. Note: there was a butterfly-killer in our midst.

It all happens in Camden, Maine.

Yesterday, I met with Andrew Zolli, the Executive Director and Curator of Pop!Tech, a one of a kind conference, that brings together a collective of sophisticated, innovative and cutting edge people bent on creating cultural, social and artistic change. He gave me a visual tour of just some of the outstanding talent who descend on Camden, Maine each October. He played me the video below and it floored me. Gabriela looks like she's playing the strings like a tabla. Also, it reminded me of Kaki King and I wonder if this is partly where she drew her inspiration. Anyway, play it and then check out Pop!Tech, especially the Pop Tech Accelerator. They're doing unbelievably cool things. These guys are change-agents.


Click here to watch Rodrigo y Gabriela




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Amy Correia just added for 9/2 Happy Ending Show!

Trumpeted by my friend Sara Ivry for ages and ages, I finally sat my fat Jewish ass down and listened to some Amy Corrreia. Then I picked up my email phone and booked her. I'm so excited for this show. She'll join Laurie Sandell, Brian Selznick and Chip Kidd. Theme: Graphic Books.

Who do you get?

FROM LEAST TO MOST...people tell me I look like...

LILI TAYLOR. I love her, but outside of both being small, I don't see the resemblance.

TATUM O' NEAL & KRISTY MCNICHOL (I get both, but only in reference to this time period. So I guess I look like a pre-teen?)

MEREDITH SCOTT LYNN. I used to work at a talent agency and they represented her. I saw her headshot once and I swear to God, I thought it was me.

JENNIFER WESTFELDT (from Kissing Jessica Stein.)

KYRA SEDGWICK. The older I get, the more people compare me to Jennifer Grey (pre-nb) and the more people compare me to her. It happens so often that when I saw her at a party a couple months back I was tempted to stop her and say, "Oh my God, does everyone tell you that you look like me?"

THE WINNNER!!!!
JENNIFER GREY (everyone who tells me this makes clear, "before the nose job!" Yeah - I get it.)

My favorite Late Bloomer...

My dear friend, author of The Late Bloomer's Revolution, Amy Cohen, is this month's Moth's podcast about having the breast cancer gene and the decision she's forced to make.

YOU MUST LISTEN TO IT BECAUSE IT'S FANTASTIC, NOT BECAUSE I AM YELLING.

Hear, here: Amy Cohen, Fighting Chance

Nice shirt, Chris Martin!

Shilling for my brother in In Touch Magazine...Coolest yoga school t-shirt ever.

I'm obsessed with Dawn Landes.

I mean honestly. I can't get enough of her.

Kayla, the intern

Post show wrap-up by Kayla Morse, one of my two amazing interns! This is post Progress & Process Night curated by Alec Hanley Bemis.



So before I gush about Rachel Cohen, I would like to say a little bit about the programs, which the Intern Team designed. Creating a program for the theme "Progress and Process," guest-hosted by Alec Bemis, reminds me a little bit of what John Stewart said way back in the early 2000s about the idea of fighting a war on "terror": "what's next, a war on ennui?" Progress & Process, Alec? Abstraction & Intangible Concepts? Idea Things & Untouchables? Basically, it was hard. That's all I'm trying to say.

And now for the gushing. Rachel Cohen, we are your superfans. We are your street team. We may even be your groupies, even if you found no way to insert the word "butterfly" into your presentation as 1/5th of your risk. Seriously though, this reading on Joseph Cornell was that delightful and engaging--not to mention the fact that her voice was so soothing, I've already begun looking into Rachel Cohen sound machines to put my "Marpac Sleepmate 980" to rest.

Brandon Stosuy's presentation (on American Black Metal) won't be winning him any sleep machine contracts in the foreseeable future, but I get the feeling he prefers it that way. The reading did manage to work its way into my subconscious, though, because last night I dreamt I was robbed by some stringy-haired kid, and when he saw that I was wearing my prized old Gene Simmons KISS shirt he was like, "hand it over," and I was like, "you have to give me yours because I'm not going shirtless here." And then I realized his shirt was some sweet "vintage" band tee for an old Black Metal band (Mayhem, maybe?) and I didn't feel so bad about the trade. Brandon Stosuy's knowledge, helping me through the rough patches of my REM state.

Unfortunately I had to be behind the curtain for most of Lawrence Weschler's reading, but from what I could gather, he was doing some free association until we were suddenly ten minutes over our time limit and Amanda had to free associate him from the stage. Pity, because rumor is we missed out on Buke and Gass covering Cindi's "She Bop" and mind-blowing saxophonist Colin Stetson covering Dolly Parton's "9 to 5." Alright, maybe that last part's not true, but I can dream.

Emergencies Only

Please, people! I don't know what you think I do with my time, but I can assure you, it is not spent slacking off. I am working on my novel and I am working hard. You don't understand how hard I am working. I had to leave town in order to get done what I need to get done. I cannot be in town and do all that needs doing. Please, shut your eyes and imagine one person doing three full time jobs at once, now picture me. That is what I am doing as you read this. I am out of town doing the work of ten women and not one thing else. I need you to respect my urgent need for solitude in order for me to work on my goddamn novel! Please. Thank you.

Le petite mort

The Little Death has played at Happy Ending before and they will play again. But first, they've got a new album and a new show this Wednesday. Meet them...



The Little Death is Laura Dawn (lead vocals), Moby (bass, guitar), Daron Murphy (guitar, bass, & harmonica) , and Aaron A. Brooks (drums). Formed in 2008, their sound is like a drunken bar fight between John Lee Hooker and Kurt Weill or the desperate love-child of Big Mama Thornton and Robert Mitchum. Old blues, soul, and vintage psychedelia slam behind songs about fucking and despair, blind joy and glorious dissolution, fronted by a white girl with a voice equal parts Bessie Smith and Dusty Springfield. Their packed live shows (featuring tight harmonies from backup singers Jamie Rae and Cherie Martorana, aka The Death Threats) are raucous and passionate--punk-rock fueled revivals for hungry souls.

See them...

Wednesday, August 12. 9:30 pm. Mercury Lounge, NYC.

Hear them...

Nieces

THEN




NOW


THEN


NOW



THEN


NOW

Ah, the 80s...

This is how I did not lose my virginity.

How did you not lose yours?

Is Re-blogging the new RT'ing?

Out of sheer laziness, I am completely stealing Laurie Sandell's blog post about last night's BBQ on Kristin and Derek's stoop. I'm not even going to say my own thing. I'm just going to re-post Laurie's entire blog, changing her name from "Yours truly," to Laurie Sandell and mine to "Yours Truly." Let the re-blogging revolution begin with me...

Last night my friends Derek and Kristin had a BBQ on their Brooklyn stoop, which is right around the corner from Laurie Sandell's. In fact, she can see into their kitchen from her bedroom window (Derek swears they can’t see into hers.) Clockwise from left to right, that’s Lila Cecil, who runs Paragraph, Kristin Dispaltro, Laurie Sandell, Abby Pesta, deputy editor of Marie Claire, Yours truly, Derek Loosvelt, and Charlie I-Don’t-Know-His-Last-Name-But-He-Has-A-Very-Cute-Daughter-Who-Is-The-Owner-Of-That-Hula-Hoop. That little white blob in the middle is Violet. Not pictured: Susan Gordon, our resident chef and Italophile, and Keith Pandolfi, who lives next door to Derek and definitely can’t see into Laurie Sandell's bedroom because he’s on the ground floor. It’s all very Melrose Place.

Happy Ending Goes International!

Sam Amidon covered R. Kelly's "Relief," at Happy Ending @ Joe's Pub. Here he does it again in Ireland Scroll to 3 minutes in to hear it. It's well worth the tiny little effort of scrolling.

Is RT the new published?

I was explaining to someone last night the Twitter, RT. In my explanation I said that RT'ing was just another way of re-publishing someone else's tweets: non-plagiarism, let's say. During the explanation I realized that I love being RT'd. It makes me feel quoted, published even, I joked. And that's when the jokiness bloomed and I started to faux-brag that I'm really well published. I started to wonder whether this idea of mine: "Is RT'ing the new published?" would get RT'd in some form. Will someone read this and think, "that's a good idea for an article?" and then go ahead and write it, without RTing the original source? Probably not. If they were smart, they'd RT my title in their title.

RT: Is RT the new published?

And now, I am micro-managing your RT's from my kitchen table.