Archive for the 'The City' Category

reading at Metropolis Books, 9/11 (Artwalk!)

Published on September 8, 2008 in Event, Out and About, Poetry and The City. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

Here’s the deal with my reading at the Artwalk next Thursday:

“Metropolis Books is a great little bookstore in Downtown, sort of an anchor of literary goodness in this crazy beautiful part of the city. It is owned and operated by a really cool lady named Julie Swayze.

Please join us and hear Kim’s unforgettable poetry, buy a book or two if you haven’t already done so,
and have a good time with us.

For those of you who haven’t done the Downtown Art Walk before, it’s a real treat.
People are all over the streets, hopping from one packed gallery to the next, and you’re like us,
sipping free cheap wine at most of the galleries!! It’s a bucketload of fun.

So once again:

Thursday, 9/11
7 PM

Kim Calder
@
Metropolis Books
The Downtown Source for Books
440 S. Main St. L.A. 90013
Phone-213-612-0174 
www.MetropolisBooksLA.com 
www.Downtownbookblog.blogspot.com

Looking forward to seeing you all there.

Chiwan & Judeth
writlargepress.com“

get noisy at beyond baroque

Published on June 17, 2008 in Event, Out and About, Recommends and The City. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

I’m heartbroken I’m going to be out of town this weekend, because of this:

21 June, Saturday – 7:30 PM
BEYOND MUSIC:NIGHT OF THE LONE WOLF A rare night of solo performances from the members Michigan's own WOLF EYES (Sub Pop). Three of the most prolific and active proponents of current underground experimental music, in LA for a day during their Wolf Eyes tour: JOHN OLSON (American Tapes, Handicapper Hornz, Waves, Casket Sinkers, Plants, The Man Who Ate Himself), NATE YOUNG (AA Records, Demons, Beast People, Mongoloid Men), and MIKE CONNELLY (Gods Of Tundra Records, Hair Police, Gate to Gate, The Haunting). Presented by DAMION ROMERO and JOHN WIESE.

It’s at Beyond Baroque, which is a really wonderful space, and they’ve been struggling to stay open as of late. They host a bookstore, free writing workshops, and numerous spoken word/art/music events throughout the year. This is a perfect opportunity to support them, and see some incredible performances. If you’re not familiar with the fellas from Wolf Eyes, check this out:

hot.

For Beyond Baroque’s info/directions go to:

www.beyondbaroque.org

Beirut, and the LA Poets and Writers Collective reading

Published on June 1, 2008 in Out and About, Poetry, Recommends, The City and Thoughts. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

It’s been a wonderful weekend. Last night I had the pleasure of seeing Beirut at the Wiltern, and it was absolutely amazing. They were charming as hell, and their performance was nothing short of epic. The best way I can describe it: imagine if a group of kids from the high school band walked out on stage, and then proceeded to blow a sold-out crowd away. Zach Condon’s voice is simply one of the best out there. It was one of those shows that reminds you why it’s good to be alive–touching, energetic, and unpretentious. Not to mention the sheer volume of instruments on stage, and damn, those kids can play. Simply beautiful. If you haven’t gotten a chance to check them out, I’d suggest getting a copy of Gulag Orkestar–I think it’s their best. Also, they’ve got mp3’s on their website, http://www.beirutband.com. In the top left corner, there’s a little player you can use to go from song to song.

Other highlights of the show included a girl who was ejected by security for attempting to get crunk/”belly dance” in the aisle, and Zach’s comment that on Friday night he’d had a real LA night, having woken up in a hotel room covered in blood that morning.

Today, Sunday, I went over to the LA Poets and Writers Collective reading at Beyond Baroque in Venice, hosted by Jack Grapes. Jack’s been doing these for a long time, and they’re always a lot of fun. Readers who go over the 2 minute time limit are subject to a fart machine, and if that doesn’t stop them, they’re squirted with water pistols. I actually got to be one of the enforcers today and squirt a few people, which was pretty great. Jack also surprised me by asking me to get up and read from the book, and we got a really positive response from the crowd. It was a fun afternoon, and I’m always touched by Jack’s generosity in mentoring and helping local writers and small presses. I began studying with him when I was 17, and I can’t say I’d be the writer or the person I am today had it not been for his encouragement and guidance.

The best part of the whole weekend, though, had to be when a woman at the reading came up to me after I’d read my piece and asked me, “Were you a crackhead?”

Compliments are always appreciated.

El-P has a blog, and it’s incredible!

Published on May 8, 2008 in Recommends, The City and Uncategorized. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

In case you’re not familiar with the man in question, El-P (El Producto) is the co-founder of Definitive Jux, an amazing underground hip-hop label featuring the likes of Aesop Rock, Mr. Lif, Cage, Cannibal Ox, Del the Funky Homosapien, and, of course, his own albums. He’s also a well-known producer, to put it mildly.

He’s started up a blog, and it’s fucking hilarious.

I’m not sure quite how to describe it, but let’s just say El-P has used his photoshop skills to create an evolving narrative in pictures chronicling his plans for a stage show featuring lions and unicorns. Then:

the good news is looks like we got that red bull dough after all. which is cool with me cause its good for you and fun to drink. the bad news is we lost the unicorn. apparently humans cant actually touch unicorns or they die. which ours did. we did however manage to get a last minute replacement and honestly i dont think anyones gonna notice the difference.

The “last minute replacement” is a donkey, which is amazing, but it just keeps getting better, as El-P loses his red bull sponsorship due to the content of his lyrics and is forced to take on “Lightning Bolt,” an energy drink created by Steven Segal, as his new sponsor.

As if this isn’t wonderful enough, there are also a number of quotes from El-P’s favorite writers, which he takes time to reflect on:

I want to stay as close to the edge as I can without going over. Out on the edge you see all kinds of things you can’t see from the center. -Kurt Vonnegut

i think about that when i realize all my most talented and creative friends are also completely out of their minds.

i also think about that when i wake up in some strange girls bed after a drug and alcohol binge. then i think to myself, ‘damn you, kurt vonnegut. look what you made me do again.’

I will be checking this shit every day, religiously. I can’t do it justice here. Just go:

http://blogs.okayplayer.com/el-p/

the novel cafe=good news

Published on April 9, 2008 in The City. 0 Comments

I work in Santa Monica and teach writing class until late on Mondays, so instead of driving home to Atwater and suffering through an hour and a half of east-west morning traffic on Tuesday mornings, I crash at my aunt’s in Santa Monica every Monday night. Yes, I’m willing to sleep on a mat on the floor instead of in my own bed to avoid traffic, which is pretty much the bane of my existence. Aside from back pain, one of the problems I encounter when camping on the Westside is that I can’t write in someone else’s home. So, last night after work, around 10 pm, I was looking for a quiet place to do some writing and I finally found somewhere that’s great. If you’re in Santa Monica/Venice area and need a place to read, write, or study, The Novel Cafe is good news.

49FF41D0-85E6-4EE8-8178-826C48923E3D.jpgimage by Tamar from Postcards from LA.

They keep it nice and quiet—low music in the center room where you order drinks only, and the other customers, fortunately, do the same. It’s right next-door to a bookstore, and the whole place is chock full of books! Everywhere! Shelves of books all around, which is pretty much my weird idea of some kind of heaven. It’s also open late—until 1 a.m. Monday through Saturday, and until midnight on Sundays.

I was actually able to get some good work done on a new long poem I’m working on called prison-house, which, if you were at the Tongue and Groove reading, you heard the first part of. The last time I evacuated my aunt’s in search of solace and went to the bar to write, it turned out to be karaoke night, which was pretty unfortunate, and needless to say, not the best environment for writing. So this is a good, safe, quiet option if you’re looking for somewhere to do your thing and don’t want to suffer through some drunk-ass wailing through his/her interpretation of one of Journey’s popular hits.

I’m hoping to set up a reading here sometime soon, and I’ll keep you posted. Here’s their website, for anyone who’s curious and might want to visit: The Novel Cafe