Performance Picks: Colorful Comedy, Wilderness Therapy, Taboo Poets

November 3, 2016 By Cassidy Dawn Graves

THURSDAY

(flyer by Chandler Moses, via Facebook)

Comedy Cunt
Thursday, November 3 at Bluestockings Bookstore, 7 pm: FREE.

Now that this show’s title has your attention, let us give you some details. Unless you don’t want them, and wish to blindly saunter into a show called “Comedy Cunt.” That’s admirable. For the rest of you, this is a recurring show, hosted by Arti Gollapudi, where marginalized individuals harness the medium of comedy to delve into their own life experiences. This time around, they’ve got Joe Castle Baker (who recently delivered perhaps the most memorable and manic riff on infomercials I’ve seen, which is impressive, as I love work about infomercials), Ayanna Dookie, Chandler Moses, Katie Fay Behrmann, Amy Zimmer, and Mamoudou N’Diaye, who used to teach science to youngsters. Plus, a “video performance” by Amanda Justice. Might I say, justice is served? More →

Tags: abrons arts center, Arts+ Culture, Bluestockings bookstore, BoogieManja, bowery poetry club, comedy, East Village, en garde arts, Lower East Side, poetry, sketch comedy, the pit loft

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4 Talks and Readings: Well-Read Black Girl, Future of Whiteness, and More

February 23, 2016 By Kavitha Surana

TUESDAY

Bonnie McFarlane + Jim Gaffigan
Feb. 23 at 7:00 p.m at The Strand, 828 Broadway
Bonnie McFarlane has made a career out of opening her mouth when she probably should have kept it shut, making people cringe in places like Last Comic Standing and The Jim Gaffigan Show. Her new book, You’re Better Than Me, follows in the footsteps of the popular genre of female comedian tell-alls (Mindy Kaling etc). With biting and hilarious prose it lays bare “the good, the bad and the ugly” of her life, with chapters covering everything from McFarlane’s childhood as a fish out of water on a Canadian farm, to finding “her people” in comedy. She will be joined by fellow comedian Jim Gaffigan.

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Tags: Arts + Culture, Bluestockings bookstore, Bonnie McFarlane, Housing Works Bookstore Cafe, talks + readings, the future of Whiteness, the strand, Well-Read Black Girll

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4 Talks and Readings Not to Miss This Week

February 16, 2016 By Kavitha Surana

TUESDAY

The Narrow Door with Paul Lisicky, Fiona McCrae and Meghan Daum
Feb. 16 at 7 p.m. at Housing Works Bookstore Cafe, 126 Crosby Street
Paul Lisicky was 23 when he met the writer Denise Gess in the early 1980s. Even as their paths diverged, their friendship would become a center point his life rotated around until Denise’s death in 2009. This intimate and heartrending memoir of their relationship pays tribute to her life, while also exploring the powerful effects of friendship on our lives even in the face of extreme loss.

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Tags: Bluestockings bookstore, Housing works b, Knitlandia, Knitting, talks + readings, the strand

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Talks + Readings: Glitter Heels, the Art of Memoir, and Some Firebreathing

February 2, 2016 By Kavitha Surana

TUESDAY

Why We Write About Ourselves: Twenty Memoirists on Why They Expose Themselves (and Others) in the Name of Literature
Feb. 2nd at 7:00 p.m. at Powerhouse Arena, 37 Main St (DUMBO)
If you’ve ever read a memoir or a personal essay and wondered about the nuts and bolts behind all the self-exposure, this is the book for you. Twenty memoirists who’ve been through the ringer dish on the struggles of picking over your own dirty laundry to expose hard truths, turning loved ones into characters, and the pleasure and challenge of putting oneself front and center in your own narrative. Contributors Meghan Daum (The Unspeakable: And Other Subjects of Discussion), AM Homes (May We Be Forgiven) and Darin Strauss (Chang and Eng) will speak.
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Tags: Bluestockings bookstore, glitter & Grit, heels on wheels, JACK, mcnally jackson, powerhouse arena, Whey we write about ourselves

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Talks + Readings: Radical Mutants, Hanya Yanagihara and Choose Your Own Misery

January 26, 2016 By Kavitha Surana

Ramzi Fawaz + Phil Jimenez
Thursday, January 28 at 7:00 p.m. at The Strand, 828 Broadway
“Dissecting comic book history through the lens of queer theory” is probably not a sentence ever uttered before Ramzi Fawaz published The New Mutants: Superheroes and the Radical Imagination of American Comics. His new book explores comic book case studies and their relationship with radical politics, starting in the 1960s. Acclaimed comic book artist Phil Jimenez (Infinite Crisis, The Invisibles, Wonder Woman) will join for discussion.

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Tags: Bluestockings bookstore, Greenlight Bookstore, Hanya Yanagihara, Jan English Leary, Jill Gagnon, Mike Macdonald, pete's candy store, Ramzi Fawaz, the strand

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Talks + Readings: Social Movements of the 21st Century and ‘Coming Out’ for Porn

January 5, 2016 By Kavitha Surana

via Powerhouse Arena

Book Launch: When We Fight, We Win!
Tuesday, January 5 at 7:00 p.m. at The Powerhouse Arena, 37 Main St, Brooklyn. (DUMBO)
The past year was filled with updates on the Black Lives Matter movement and a long-overdue Supreme Court victory for the LGBTQ movement. To take stock of the social movements shaping our world, turn to Greg Jobin-Leeds’ new collection. When We Fight, We Win!, a collaboration with AgitArte, profiles the successful activists and artists making waves behind the headlines you’ve seen flying by of late, from the fight to end mass incarceration to steps forward on immigration rights and environmental protection. The book launch will feature a conversation between Jobin-Leeds and AgitArte’s José Jorge Díaz, as well as remarks from activist leaders from the book, including Rachel Schragis, Felipe Sousa-Rodríguez, Isabel Sousa-Rodríguez, Che Gosset, Manissa McCleave Maharawal, Lily Paulina. RSVP at RSVP@powerHouseArena.com

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Tags: agitarte, Bluestockings, Bluestockings bookstore, Greg Jobin-Leeds, Kelsey Miller, porn, pornography, powerhouse arena, stoya, word bookstore