Dispatches from the chronically tired ...
Went out last night with Lea, Kae and Bex to Amanda Fucking Palmer's Late Night Cabaret, featuring Palmer, chanteuse Meow Meow, keyboardist Lance Horn and the all-around amazing Jason Webley. With bonus Neil Gaiman sightings! (BTW, Gaiman and Palmer? Just as bloody cute in person as you'd imagine.) All this, and a surprise lesbian wedding. Absolutely wonderful, mad evening, and I wasn't even driving, so I got to drink Manhattans!
I'd heard good things about Webley before, but really, all I have from him is the Evelyn Evelyn album, and while good, I don't think it's indicative. Him alone with an accordion playing "Music That Tears Itself Apart" was one of the best musical moments I've encountered in the past couple years. And Meow Meow was a revelation. Funny, yes, but her voice is incredible, and her phrasing is amongst the best I've ever heard, hands down. And lastly, Amanda. Oh, Amanda. I didn't think I could love you more, and yet, here I am. Amazing show. So glad I saw it.
***
Having not got home until 3 a.m., and having had a ton of work to do, tonight belonged to the television set, and particularly, "Project Runway." Remember what I said a few weeks ago about the judges just not getting Mondo? Three wins in, I suppose I can now eat those words. And he's been earning it. That's been some truly stellar work.
And his discussing being HIV positive bloody broke me. Not just the tragedy, and the silence he's obviously had to live with, but how it informs his art ... how he transforms all of that pain into beauty. Not fucking fair, "Project Runway." Not fair at all!
***
OK. I tend to gush a bit about the poets from my old Orange County stomping grounds, and I gush about few of them as much as I do Mindy Nettifee. But you've got to understand something: I've known her since she was 13 years old, and have watched her poetry grow and grow from something amazing to something off the charts. Frankly, I not only love her and her work, I think she's a vitally important writer, who works tirelessly at her craft and who keeps coming back with writing more gorgeous than what came before.
Mindy's going to be in town Sunday night, for a Kitchen Sessions, and again Monday night, for the Dirty gerund Poetry Series at Ralph's. If you are anywhere in reasonable driving distance from Worcester, you really, really need to show up. I mean, seriously.
On a side note, I should really state for the record how happy I am that my joy at seeing OC writers shine extends to the ones who came after my time there. Eric Morago, whom I've only met briefly and only seen feature once, has a new book coming out on Moon Tide, and I'm extremely excited. Eric joins Kate Buckley and Michael Roberts in this new generation of OC (yes, Long Beach counts as OC for poetry scene purposes) writers I've not had the privilege of seeing develop, but whose work, what little I've seen of it, strikes me as both fresh and new, but also organically connected to old hands like Mindy, Derrick Brown, Rachel McKibbens and the like. That same strong sense of metaphor and evocative language, with a voice that's wholly unique. I love watching these poets emerge, and come into their own. Orange County turns out good writers, and new and old, they continue to blow me away.
I'd heard good things about Webley before, but really, all I have from him is the Evelyn Evelyn album, and while good, I don't think it's indicative. Him alone with an accordion playing "Music That Tears Itself Apart" was one of the best musical moments I've encountered in the past couple years. And Meow Meow was a revelation. Funny, yes, but her voice is incredible, and her phrasing is amongst the best I've ever heard, hands down. And lastly, Amanda. Oh, Amanda. I didn't think I could love you more, and yet, here I am. Amazing show. So glad I saw it.
***
Having not got home until 3 a.m., and having had a ton of work to do, tonight belonged to the television set, and particularly, "Project Runway." Remember what I said a few weeks ago about the judges just not getting Mondo? Three wins in, I suppose I can now eat those words. And he's been earning it. That's been some truly stellar work.
And his discussing being HIV positive bloody broke me. Not just the tragedy, and the silence he's obviously had to live with, but how it informs his art ... how he transforms all of that pain into beauty. Not fucking fair, "Project Runway." Not fair at all!
***
OK. I tend to gush a bit about the poets from my old Orange County stomping grounds, and I gush about few of them as much as I do Mindy Nettifee. But you've got to understand something: I've known her since she was 13 years old, and have watched her poetry grow and grow from something amazing to something off the charts. Frankly, I not only love her and her work, I think she's a vitally important writer, who works tirelessly at her craft and who keeps coming back with writing more gorgeous than what came before.
Mindy's going to be in town Sunday night, for a Kitchen Sessions, and again Monday night, for the Dirty gerund Poetry Series at Ralph's. If you are anywhere in reasonable driving distance from Worcester, you really, really need to show up. I mean, seriously.
On a side note, I should really state for the record how happy I am that my joy at seeing OC writers shine extends to the ones who came after my time there. Eric Morago, whom I've only met briefly and only seen feature once, has a new book coming out on Moon Tide, and I'm extremely excited. Eric joins Kate Buckley and Michael Roberts in this new generation of OC (yes, Long Beach counts as OC for poetry scene purposes) writers I've not had the privilege of seeing develop, but whose work, what little I've seen of it, strikes me as both fresh and new, but also organically connected to old hands like Mindy, Derrick Brown, Rachel McKibbens and the like. That same strong sense of metaphor and evocative language, with a voice that's wholly unique. I love watching these poets emerge, and come into their own. Orange County turns out good writers, and new and old, they continue to blow me away.
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