I made no resolutions for the New Year. The habit of making plans, of criticizing, sanctioning and molding my life, is too much of a daily event for me. —Anaïs Nin
If you are resolving to read more this year, then we've got the prefect way to jump start that resolution: The Emerging Writers Network. Our man Dan of the EWN is offering a great deal on top notch literary Journals. Subscribe to three, pay for two. Subscribe to four, pay for three— pay for one less journal than you've subscribed to, with all the messy paperwork and confusing addition left to Dan. It really is that simple. Buy now, thank us later.
If your renewed reading resolve takes the form of online journals, then we're happy to announce that the latest issue of Failbetter has hit the net—check out the Gaitskill interview.
Also to arrive in our inbox is the winter edition of Beltway Poetry Quarterly— we so dig the presidential quotes! (Attention all poets: Beltway is currently seeking poems that celebrate DC for an upcoming issue. Poems must mention a specific location in the city by name— a street, neighborhood, park, building, or monument… send your DC-themed best to: [email protected]).
Not on the net, but so worth ordering is Barrelhouse, Issue Two. Hot off the presses, this DC-based lit journal has it all: poetry, fiction, interviews, essays , and a very special Patrick Swayze section. What more could you ask for? The editors also know a thing or two about throwing a good launch party. Dave Housely from Barrelhouse stops by today with a short FotHB report on the Barrelhouse launch party this weekend.
Friend of the Happy Booker Report: BARRELHOUSING WITH BARRELHOUSE, by Dave Housely
Q: How do you clear a DC bar full of rabid Redskins fans who have been drinking for hours, celebrating the team's first playoff victory in years?
A: Tell them you're going to start reading poetry.
The release party for the second issue of Barrelhouse was just that: a party. When we planned the event a few months ago, a Skins playoff victory was the last thing on anybody's mind. That changed quickly when we walked into Asylum, an admittedly (and, we think, charmingly) divey bar in DC's Adams Morgan. The place was packed, way too packed for seven-thirty, way too packed for poetry and fiction and literary chit chat.
"Excuse me," co-editor and emcee Joe Killiany said into the microphone, "some of you may not know this, but you're at a release party for a literary magazine. In a few minutes we're going to start reading poetry. If that sounds good to you, please stay. If that doesn't, you should probably head on out."
You'd be surprised how effective the threat of poetry is to the drunken football fan.
Although the reading portion of the evening started a little late, eventually order was restored, our people came in, the Skins fans wandered out, and a good time was had by all. Gwydion Suilebhan started the evening off with a sampling of poetry from the new issue, including Theresa Sotto's "Igorot Burial" and "Dirty Bird," a poem by Derrick Pyle about that icon of bad film, Patrick Swayze. Gwydion maintained his focus even as a particularly celebratory (or maybe just plain crazy) holdover from the football game stood a few feet away and insisted, repeatedly, that he be allowed to "share his words."
And that's when we reached a literary first: the physical removal of somebody from a poetry reading. Yep, this dude was crazy, he was not offered a chance to share his words, and eventually he was removed by Asylum's capable bar team. What can we say? We're still working out the kinks of the "having a reading in a bar" concept, and the football thing didn't help.
After this brief and strange and maybe fitting interlude, Mike Ingram followed with a reading from Lee Klein's "All Aboard the Bloated Boat: Arguments in Favor of Barry Bonds." After a few shorter, comic poems, Dave Longaker wrapped up the night with his essay "I Am the Cooler and You Are the Bouncers," winner of the Barrelhouse Invitational: Patrick Swayze Edition. In between each reading, the pop culture quiz (sample question: name two members of Poison) had the audience competing for prizes like a print of the issue two cover photo, copies of Barrelhouse one and two, and, yes, an airbrushed caricature of The Swayze.
I should note here that despite the evening's heavy emphasis on Swayze, the new issue of Barrelhouse does include a high percentage of non-Swayze fiction, poetry, and essays from the likes of Matt Bell, Brian Ames, Paula Morris, Lee Klein, John Repp, and Karen Schoenhals, as well as an interview with Ian MacKaye of Fugazi and Dischord Records, and a really cool illustrated story, "Sex and Pills," written by Carrie Hill Wilner and adapted by local artist and photographer Kylos Brannon. Where could you buy one of these fabulous magazines, you may be asking. Right here.
It was a great night and we thank everybody who came out! It was crowded and hot and loud, but we think (hope) that everybody could hear the readings. Roughly 100 people came on out to listen and/or help us celebrate the release of issue two (and, of course, the Redskins victory). We had a great time and we hope you did, too. If you missed it, come on out next time — you may not be able to share your words, but we think you'd have a good time listening to ours.
"A story has no beginning or end; arbitrarily one chooses that moment of experience from which to look back or from which to look ahead. "
