The best part of the Big Other event for me was everything. But mainly it reminded me of what astute company I’m in. Everyone is working on such beautiful and diverse projects. Here is a run down. (Now with photos by John Dermot Woods, thanks John!)
John Madera – He’s working on a series of pieces about famous suicides. Virginia Woolf, Kurt Cobain, etc. I’ve heard four of these pieces and they are wonderfully lyrical, with coiled sentences ready to spring when your mind touches them. Of course we know John reviews books, but don’t miss his fiction. “How to Avoid Being a Woodpusher” is a good piece to dig into.
Nicolle Elizabeth – Pank will be publishing her chapbook and she continues to write bizarre, ephemeral pieces that question reality. I was lucky she sent “Bean Counting” and “I Do All My Own Stunts” to ArtVoice.
Adam Jameson – He’s become known as indexer of culture with gigantic posts detailing art movements, Batman and French cinematographers. His loud, long scream (above) before reading gave us all a fright and tinnitus. His re-imaginations of pop culture create new universes on top of already newly created universes. Check out “Indian Jones”
Michael Leong – Michael likes taking existing texts and making poetry out of them. He read a mind-bending piece that was a mash up of essays by T.S. Eliot and Gertrude Stein. Excerpts from his forthcoming book from Black Square Editons/Brooklyn Rail are here. Fascinating stuff.
Edward Mullany – Edward read about a dozen very short poems and I could have listened to ten dozen more. Like Joseph Young’s anti-parables these pieces represent very different ways of seeing. They are hilariously perfect and editors should be on the lookout for these pieces, as I am on the lookout for a collection of them. Two earlier ones are at Everyday Genius.
Shya Scanlon – Shya read from his poetry book, In This Alone Impulse. More miniatures, more finely hued verse. This Renaissance man has the novel Forecast coming out later in the year. Hear Bl Pawelek read “Skeleton Clock.”
John Dermot Woods – John is working on a series of short fictions, Atrocities he calls them. All are set in Baltimore. Of course our resident draftsman has made accompanying pictures for each. The few he read were like reports from a Lynchian police blotter. One of his newer macabre stories (not an Atrocity) is “The Dangers of Open Air.”
To finish the reading portion, Mary Caponegro read. Then John and Robert Lopez sang us some songs.
so wish I couldve gone
So wish you could have gone! …See you tonight, though.
Greg Gerke – This lanky, grinning, easy-going man is a true Altman fan and subtle master of literary trivia. He read some of his charming “The” pieces (one of which, “The Bee,” can be found here), then read an even more charming, longer story about his writer friend. I’ll be keeping an eye out for it; until then I’ll amuse myself by reading his book, which he gave me. Good show, good chap!
Thanks mon ami!
Yeah, Greg, these newer stories you’ve written have all knocked my socks off. Really amazing. You all should be reading everything Greg’s publishing these days, because it’s singular and remarkable.
(Thanks for linking “The Dangers of Open Air,” Greg, but it’s actually an older piece that’s not part of the new series.)
Sorry my cell phone camera is awful. I’ll clarify that up there. Thanks again for the photos.
The photos are great. Thanks, John!
wow, what a nice lineup. Wish I could roll to the East Coast more often! Thanks for the summary.
Thanks, Greg! You forgot to mention my lecture using the map of the world featured in all the photos. Oh, and Adam’s scream inspired a movement:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mowXQb3_Mcw&hl=en_US&fs=1&]
It’s starting to feel very lonely as the only Big Other contributor over here in the UK. You know it would be quite easy to get to hate you guys and your readings.
Ha! Well, we might have to figure out a way to get over there for some readings.
oh wow you even got in a pic of me looking miserable.
it’s true, i did send to artvoice, and it has been nice to know you ever since. also nice comment on the q’ing reality thing, i’m writing a straight up realism type novel, it’s so strange to be thinking in reality all the time, i hate it, actually