Odd Words

Thursday night at Octavia Books at 6 p.m. I will join the winners and other runners up in the NolaVie Creative Writing Contest reading. My creative non-fiction submission, “The Slow Noon Burn of June 16″ (which previously ran on this blog in 2009 but was taken down when I entered it for publication and in this contest). I’ll schedule it to re-post Thursday night sometime after the reading.

The winners are Erik Vande Stouwe, for his poetry piece “Hapax Legomena”, and “Son of a Nun,” a work of non-fiction by Christopher Thomas. The poetry runner up is Hurricane Alter / Altar” by Megan Burns. Stop by and buy a book why don’t you. I’ll be the guy waving copies of A Howling in the Wires around before and after my reading.

& For those of you who voted in this poll over the last week (it’s not too late to vote), most voters favored interviews with local authors, followed by book reviews. Remember to select as many answers as are relevant before you click See Results.

& I’m publishing early (on Wednesday) because I forgot to this this one last week: Neighborhood Story Project and Cripple Creek Theater Company present Home is Where the (_____) Is: New Orleans through Seven Stories of Migration. The product of nine months of workshops by seven women writers, Home is Where the Blank Is tells the stories of the city as it currently sits—home to long-time residents and arrivistes. Wednesday, April 13 at 7:00pm at the Allways Lounge theater. More details here.

& The Octavia events means I’ll be late for 17 Poets! tonight, but then so will a few other people who entered the contest. I’ll get up there at some point to hear Kelly Clayton. Ms. Clayton is a Louisiana Creole with roots on both sides of the family dating back to 1778. She recently moved home after twenty glorious years in New York City. Writing poetry full time, she has earned a living as an editor, waitress, line cook, publisher’s assistant, event producer and stripper; all this after dropping out of beauty school.

& I’ve decided I like ampersands better than the section mark hurricane symbol thing I’ve been using for bullets since the WordPress unordered list function works so poorly. As if you care or even noticed, but I spent long enough in and around printing to actually think about such things and who doesn’t love ampersands?

& Also on Wednesdays at 9.m. starting this week, be sure to check out the open poetry forum hosted by Kate Smash in the amphitheater on Decatur across from Jackson Square. No list, no mic, just anyone who shows up free to read what they like. Musicians encouraged to join.

& Also on Thursday, April 14 Cyril E. Vetter, long-time friend of singer/songwriter Charles “Butch” Hornsby, presents a fictionalized account of his friend’s life in Dirtdobber Blues from LSU Press at Maple Street Bookshop at 6 p.m. This book, just under 200 pages, includes sheet music and a CD with fourteen of Hornsby’s songs. “Much like Hornsby’s life, Dirtdobber Blues consists of short, fast-paced segments.”

& And another Thursday (and Friday) show I forgot (sorry Chris): One of New Orleans’ Best Satirists Chris Champagne performs “JINDALIWOOD SQUARES” April 15 and 16 @ 8PM at the Fair Grinds Coffee House. $10 Cheap.

& The Ebony Center at 4215 Magazine Street hosts a weekly spoken-word, music and open-mic event. Tickets $7 general admission, $5 students. 11 p.m. Friday.

& While I don’t normally do cookbooks, Troy Gilbert is a great writer (and a swell guy) and Cafe Degas is a family favorite restaurant. Troy will be at the Southern Food Museum gift shop on Saturday, April 16 from 2-4 p.m. signing copies of his cookbook, Café Degas. Samples from Chefs Jacques Soulas and Jerry Edgar of the restaurant will be available. Free admission to the museum will be offered with the purchase of any of Gilbert’s books.

&</ Also on Saturday, Poet Gian “G-Persepect” Smith and Alphonse “Bobby” Smith host Pass It On, a weekly spoken-word and music event at the George & Leah McKenna Museum of African American Art, 2003 Carondelet St. Admission $6. 9 p.m

&</ This Saturday’s reading by contributors to Where We Know: New Orleans as Home has been canceled. No reschedule date yet.

& On Wednesdays, be sure to check out the open poetry forum hosted by Kate Smash in the amphitheater on Decatur across from Jackson Square. No list, no mic, just anyone who shows up free to read what they like. Musicians encouraged to join.

& Next week on Thursday, April 21, University of Kentucky geographer Michael E. Crutcher Jr. will discuss and sign his new book Treme, which explores the historical links between where the Faubourg Tremé neighborhood is located and its vibrant culture. At Octavia Books, 6 p.m.

& Richard Webster’s serious twisted and wonderful Bubbles from Atlantis is now out in paperback. This idiosyncratic chronicle of a local journalist’s postdiluvian Coleridge-on-opium experioence of New Orleans is a refreshing change from the typical Katrina book and not all what you would expect from a business news writer. Trust me.

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