So, uh, what do you do for a living?

On the Clock anthologyWriting about jobs is difficult to do well. I wonder if people think that since their employment is something they aren’t passionate about (“just payin’ the bills”), it’s more acceptable to ramble on about it in an unmediated voice which they might not otherwise write in? Like, when you’re writing about something that everyone automatically understands — devoting half our lives to some company we hate, say — it’s easier to take artistry for granted.

I don’t know what I’m saying but I feel like if I keep saying it, I’ll start to make sense. Writing about writing about jobs is difficult to do well.

Anyway, if you think you got the knack, old boy Josh Maday and Jeff VandeZande are putting together an anthology of the stuff for Bottom Dog Press. “In short, [they] want modern stories about people and their work.” The nice thing is that acceptance pays $50 — so work hard for the money.

And, btw, what’s the greatest work story ever told? Below the fold I’ve listed some good ones. READ MORE >

Uncategorized / 50 Comments
July 8th, 2009 / 10:44 am
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Anyone have books by Ken Sparling up for sale/loan/gimme?  If so, please comment and we’ll work out a $ transaction.

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Gagaku Meat and Influence

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(Photo of Steve Richmond by Mike Daily, 1993)

A couple of weeks ago, Portland writer Mike Daily sent me a copy of a bound essay entitled Gagaku Meat: The Steve Richmond Story. It’s a hell of a thing, actually.

Daily discovered Richmond through the work of Charles Bukowski. They were (Richmond and Bukowski) on-again, off-again friends and fellow practioners of what some call the Meat School of poetry—masculine, direct, sometimes down on its luck. And where Richmond seems to have been influenced by Bukowski, Daily seems influenced by Richmond. Legacy. READ MORE >

Author Spotlight / 16 Comments
July 7th, 2009 / 3:34 pm
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Tons of novels for only  $5, including Here They Come by Yannick Murphy, Stephen Dixon’s I & End of I,   many copies of McSweeney’s quarterly, and tons of others.

Comments Off on McSweeney’s is cleaning out their attic

Two Things I Bought in Gainesville this Weekend

1) from Goerings, the best (and nearly last) indie book store in town

2) a tee shirt for the band Andrew Jackson Jihad, about whom I knew nothing at the time; but I had made it a personal goal to drop 20 bucks at Wayward Council before leaving town. A tee shirt for AJJ’s “Only God Can Judge Me” EP, plus a Wayward tee shirt still only ran me 18 bucks, forcing me to simply leave the other 2 as a donation like some sort of big-city New York Asshole, though the girl on volunteer duty made life a lot easier by being too punk to acknowledge my presence, so instead of having to take the change and then give it back, I just left a twenty on the table in front of her and then split. Also, my mom was with me. It was weird. Anyway, back home now in BROOKLYN, and it turns out that Andrew Jackson Jihad is Arizona anti-folk. My jury’s still out on what I think of them, but you might as well decide for yourself:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBs3ived_Zw

Uncategorized / 8 Comments
July 6th, 2009 / 11:17 pm
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An INTERN blogs about publishing’s inner workings.

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Celebrity Doppelgangers

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Film still from Warhol's "Blow Job" (1963)

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Still from "I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here" (2009)

Some people have [-] feelings towards Spencer Pratt, a reality TV celebrity choad-like character who made his debut in The Hills (a reality TV show about the social and emotional meanderings of rich kids in LA) as Heidi Montag’s then boyfriend, now husband. Most recently, he and Heidi quit I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here after an illness suffered by Heidi, caused by at first what the couple claimed to be “getting tortured,” then later attributed to Christian purging, “evil coming out of [her].” The two are devout born-again Christians.

DeVeren Bookwalter, the “anonymous” man receiving fellatio in Andy Warhol’s 35 minute film Blow Job, probably had [+] feelings towards his off-screen partner. This seems to be an +18 crowd, so bear with me when I say that compared to making love to the back of someone’s knee, the mouth is a holy place. When the Warholian 15 minutes of fame turns into 35 minutes of head, it’s time to bring out the stop watch.

Why am I posting about Spencer Pratt? Why do I know so much about this choad? Maybe Warhol’s films had a point — to look for the moments between the spectacle. Yes, yes, but it’s just so boring; I’d rather see someone cry, not come.

Uncategorized / 16 Comments
July 6th, 2009 / 4:48 pm

NYC: Tony O’Neill & Rob Plath @ KGB

NYers, this Wednesday July 8 from 7-9 PM, two of the realest of the real will be reading at KGB Bar: Tony O’Neill and Rob Plath. You should be at this.

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While you are at it, check out Tony on 52 Stories, and his latest book Down and Out on Murder Mile.

In case you didn’t know:

In a previous life Tony O’Neill played keyboards for bands and artists as diverse as Kenickie, Marc Almond and The Brian Jonestown Massacre. After moving to Los Angeles his promising career was derailed by heroin addiction, quickie marriages and crack abuse. While kicking methadone he started writing about his experiences on the periphery of the Hollywood Dream and he has been writing ever since. His autobiographical novel DIGGING THE VEIN was published in Feb 2006 by Contemporary Press, in the US and Canada. Wrecking Ball Press released a UK edition April 2007. SEIZURE WET DREAMS, a collection of short stories and poems was released in the UK on Social Disease January 2006. A volume of poetry, SONGS FROM THE SHOOTING GALLERY was released on Burning Shore Press, Spring 2007. DOWN AND OUT ON MURDER MILE, his new novel, will be released in October 2008 by Harper Perennial. He also is the co-author of HERO OF THE UNDERGROUND, the memoir of Jason Peter [2008, St Martins Press]. He lives in New York.

Rob Plath is a 39 year old poet from New York. He is a former student of American poet Allen Ginsberg. Rob has published 7 books of poetry: Ashtrays and Bulls (Liquid Paper Press 2003), An IV Bag Full of Bile (Scintillating Publications 2007), Whiskey and Clay (Pudding House Publications 2008), Squeezing Blood from the Alphabet(erbacce press 2008), Tapping Ashes in the Dark (Lummox Press 2008), There’s A Little Hobo In My Heart Who Forever Gives The Finger To Humanity (d/e/a/d/b/e/a/t press 2008) and Nicotine Stained Scribblings From A Hammock In The Void (Good Japan Press 2009). He has a monster collection of new poems 300 pages in length called A Bellyful of Anarchy (Epic Rites Press 2009) coming out in April. Rob has also published hundreds of poems in nearly 200 different magazines and journals both nationally and internationally. He is co-host of infamous blogtalk radio poetry show ‘Rob & Jack America’ and is editor and creator of an online zine called The Exuberant Ashtray.

Wish I was in the house. Go and come back and tell me how it was.

Author News / 7 Comments
July 6th, 2009 / 1:59 pm
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File under: Wow. You can get the full text of Sarah Palin’s baffling, incoherent “I quit” speech here, at the official website of the state of Alaska.

I do not want to disappoint anyone with my decision; all I can ask is that you trust me with this decision – but it’s no more “politics as usual”.

Got that right, lady. It’s back to terrorizing the PTA for you–at least for now.

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snd me ur txt msgs, plz?

elephantEveryone, I thought it might be fun to get your help on this. For the Dollar Store Super Summer Tour, I’m scheduled to read for 5mins in Houston this Monday with Gene Morgan and others. The dollar store item that I received is in the above picture. It is an elephant cellular phone holster that attaches to my belt or hangs around my neck. This holster gave me the idea to ask you to email me favorite text messages you have sent or received. I would like to combine these text messages into poems/stories/texts/things to read at the Dollar Store Show Tour at Domy Books on Monday night. I promise to post the things at HTMLGIANT after the event so that everyone can read them.

I think this could be fun? Please email the exact text message, with text message language intact, to htmlgiant [at] gmail [dot] com – use subject $ STORE SHOW or DOLLAR STORE SHOW or something like that. I will take whatever I can get through like 10pm CST tonight. I will try to use every line I receive. I hope this works.

Oh, new idea: or you can also post them in the comments section. That might be fun also. Then other people can play with them too, maybe? The point is this should be really messy.

Uncategorized / 25 Comments
July 5th, 2009 / 12:45 pm