Goddamn

R.I.P. D.F.W.

Just got home to seven phone messages about his passing. It's an outright fucking loss to the mental landscape. He was gifted. Truly gifted. At least he was here during our lifetime. I can't say any more right now.

Smallpressapalooza Powell's Reading!

Thursday, March 20th

Powell's City of Books (1005 W Burnside, Portland, OR 97209) is the largest "new and used" bookstore on the planet (so far as I know) and has been an integral part of my life both as a childhood reader and an adult writer. That's why I'm very excited to be able to announce my first reading at the venue. Here's the basic dirt on the event from Powells.com (with compatriots and myself shown in bold):

_____

Our vibrant writing community has long been powered by various DIY reading series, zinesters, upstart printing companies, the Independent Publishing Resource Center, and cultural hubs like Reading Frenzy. Help us celebrate this unique culture during Small Press Month. This special five-hour event will feature 15-minute readings by 15 of the most exciting small press voices in Portland.

Reading Schedule (Don't be late! Times are exact.)
5:00 Tom Blood

5:15 Geronimo Tagatac

5:30 Mary Rechner

6:00 Keith Rosson

6:15 Kristopher Young

6:30 Kimberly Warner-Cohen

7:00 Kate Lopresti

7:15 Alex Wrekk

7:30 Erica Schreiner

8:00 Lidia Yuknavitch

8:15 Tiffany Edwards

8:30 Steve Katz

9:00 Jeremy Robert Johnson

9:15 Mykle Hansen

9:30 Carlton Mellick III

_____

Nine to ten is the Bizarro hour. Our shit tends to be less "family friendly" so we got the closeout slot, which I think is great. We're like the blue comedians of the lit scene. Yes, each reading is only fifteen minutes, but I know we're trying to powerpack those minutes so it should be a fun show. 9:45-10 is an open space where we can do Q & A and book signing, though I'm guessing by that point most folks will be more anxious about heading out for some drinks.

I'm really looking forward to this event and I think it'll be a great time. And I'm grateful to Powell's (and Kevin Sampsell at Burnside) for making this happen and giving so much support to the underdogs during Small Press Month.

Can't wait to see you there. It's going to be a great time.

Volta Update

The NYE show in SF was insane. I'll have more on that next weekend.

For now there are two items:

1. The Bedlam in Goliath exists and it is incredible. You should cop it.

2. The bio/album write-up thing I did for them is now ingrained at TheMarsVolta.com as their actual Bio, and it's a sharp looking .pdf for anyone who wants to check it out.

That is all.

Much more blog (covering November '07 to Now) very soon. I swear.

See you at Powell's this Thursday!

Cheers,

JRJ