I [heart] that Spinanes song "I [Heart] That Party With the Monkey Kitty"

Dennis Cooper gave a nice profile of Light Boxes.

Yesterday was strange. All I ate was 4 (peanut) M&Ms. I went to the bank (started a PGP biz acct finally) and post office during my lunch hour, and when I got back it was too late to eat. Then I went to the radio station after work and didn't have time to eat. From the radio station I went to band practice and got home, exhausted, at 11. I just collapsed into bed. I woke up at 4am and put a finger of peanut butter (chunky) into my mouth. Couldn't fall asleep. Watched True Blood.

I just ate some dry cereal.

I feel uncomfortable about this blog post so far.

Reading on the radio for The Signal was fun and I tried to read slow but I felt a lot of nervousness even though Aaron Henkin was a great host and made it very comfortable. I marvel at how much work goes into producing an hour long show. I think I read about 15 poems, which he may use for filler in different episodes, if he can match the content of the poems to the content of the show. That means if The Signal does a show about
Grandmas
adopted brothers
dying children
Liberian strife
Curtis Ebbesmeyer
trash vortex
transgression and poetry
doubt
remorse
my friend Bill
or Mike Schmidt
then maybe I will get on the radio.

It was awesome when the Dollar Store Show came to Baltimore. I met up with the tourists at Baltimore's formidable (and free) museum of art and we looked at the show for the Sondheim Prize, which I still don't know who won. Amelia Gray goofed around with an Ellsworth Kelly sculpture and it was a gas. Then we went to Joes2 but I didn't eat (it's not something I do) but they ate some pizza with corn and apples on it. Then we went to try and see a marching band that was supposed to be marching banding down the street. Then we went to the reading.

At the reading it was cool to see something that very much reminded me of Chicago. It was hosted in a Chicago way and Zach Dodson's piece reminded me a lot of the sort of thing I'd see at the No Exit café during what was it, I guess it might have been called the Bang Bang Improv Night or something? Anybody? This was in that later 90s. Anyway what I mean is the Dollar Store Show, the way it's hosted, kind of direct but with a sense of (not altogether messed up) performance and a sense of audience. In Baltimore most hosts that I've seen are straightforward and give the relevant info and that's it, and in Milwaukee the hosts of shows are lucky if they can get three words out of their mouths without laughing, but in the shows I've seen in Chicago, the hosts blend it all up good. That's how Zach and Mary Hamilton did it. And also they had someone at a merch table and someone stood by the door and took a $1 cover. That kind of stuff doesn't happen in Baltimore anymore. At least not at the shows I go to. Normally there's a can somewhere and a pile of books somewhere.

The readings were good. I think the funniest thing I've ever seen Blake Butler do. His new book, Scorch Atlas, holy cow, HOLY WOW, LOOKS AMAZAREEHING. I started reading it and it reads amazareehing too. I want it. It's something I have and it's something I want, this book. Aaron Burch got a li'l risque, a little dirty, and also managed some depth when he talked about some things from an ex that he kept boxed up in the closet so he could forget about them (and also not). Amelia Gray's was the best story. I wish I could hear it again. It was about finding a pregnancy test (positive) in a potted plant outside a Dunkin Donuts. It recounts a long list of reasons having the baby is a bad idea, and it was read with a masterful use of the word "and."

Oh geez.

I'm working on synthesizing the results of several interviews with authors and publishers for a paper about small presses. The paper mostly focuses on business practices.

My band (SWEATPANTS) has put together a tour for the end of August. If you can help us with a show in Philly on Wed Aug 26, or in Charlottesville on Fri Aug 28 man that'd be awesome.

I know someone who has a Tshirt that says "Maybe you will die soon" on it. And I know someone who had two Tshirts that said "I'm thinking about death" and she would lend her second one to anyone who wanted to think about death with her.

It's nice to see a guy get disabused by abuse in David Erlewine's awful story, "Mr. Fixer." The reason the story is so good is because of this bit of 'log, "You're s-s-still married I see." "Danny, I'm sorry, for all of it." "It's Daniel." "Of course. Look, I can't stay long." The woeful circumstances of the rest of the story rotate around that exchange. Without that exchange the story would be a lot more one dimensional.

Next week I'm going camping with my family. For years, ever since I was born, we've been going to the same place in the Adirondacks. I'm not going to tell you where though because it's getting harder and harder to get a site there. Well, okay, when my family goes we get three sites.

I got my copy of Dewclaw last week. David Erlewine writes about stuttering and the domain for Dewclaw is LispService.com. Huh. Anyway, Dewclaw is pretty fantastic and I'm already looking forward to seeing what Evelyn and Adam put together for the next issue. I think my favorite work in the issue is the poetry of Rachel B. Glaser, but I also really like how the Matt Salesses story therein accompanies his recent PDF Chapbook, "We Will Take What We Can Get."

Yep, Dennis Cooper spotlighted Light Boxes. If anyone wants to write something about MLKNG SCKLS send me an email (adam at publishinggenius dot com) and I'll send you a book.