Failure Loves Company

I came home to Matt DeBenedictis’s CONGRATULATIONS! THERE’S NO LAST PLACE IF EVERYONE IS DEAD and the only bad thing I can say about it is I wanted more of DeBenedictis’s brand of mayhem in my pocket.  However, it is a fist of brilliance and the extras you get with the book are equally superb.  The price based on the production quality, content, and the bonus material is a steal.  The awesomely sad thing is only 50 copies exist.  Go here to buy it before it becomes extinct.  It’ll be the best $5 bucks you’ve spent this decade.

Had a show last Thursday in Indianapolis at Lazy Daze Coffee House and it went o.k.  I was a little awkward because I didn’t rehearse enough but I think the people liked me, not enough to buy books though.  If I could convert applause or awkward silence into currency, I would.

Interesting symmetry: the host of the open mic at Lazy Daze kept coming up to do poems because no one else was really coming up to perform and that kind of thing looks desperate to an audience.  Later, a poet at my slam decided to do an impromptu feature because no one came to the slam that night, much to my surprise; that also looks desperate to an audience.  There’s a certain dignity of going away quietly, something I’ve learned the hard way in a couple of my shows during the mini-tour.

Speaking of tour: this muppet invades Manhattan in a week at the following places

SUNDAY FEBRUARY 7 2010 4 PM CAKESHOP 152 LUDLOW STREET NYC – LAUNCH PARTY for WHEN YOU SAY ONE THING BUT MEAN YOUR MOTHER by melissa broder

with j. bradley and joseph riippi

(sidebar: yes it is the SuperBowl – however the three of us together does not happen once a year – it happens as much as a unicorn ejaculates in your food: almost never)

Monday, February 8 @ 7pm: Saturn Series Poetry Reading Nightingale Lounge 213 East 13th Street, at 2nd Ave. – $3.00 Donation $10 Minimum at the Bar.

The former set gives me only 15 minutes to work with and I go first.  The latter set gives me more time.  No two sets will be alike to come check out both if you can.

Tuesday, I am not doing a show.  I am doing something semi-touristy and awesome: the missus and I are going to see A View From the Bridge, the Arthur Miller revival at The Cort Theatre.  I’ve seen musicals on Broadway before but never a play and my wife’s a huge fan of Miller so it’s a win-win for the both of us.  I would have gone to the Bowery for the slam but this is way cooler (no offense, BPC).

Finally, check out PANK’s blog.  I’m writing the interviews this month.  You’ll be pleasantly surprised.