Five Things!

For this episode, we’re casting new light on the stops to seek out on your next touring trip.

Come see fantastic writers read their five-minute tourist trap inspired stories: Bill Cotter (Fever Chart), Annie La Ganga (Stoners and Self-Appointed Saints), Les McGehee (Les McGehee Plays Well With Others: A “Grown-Up” Handbook of Improvisation and Play), Erin Pringle (The Floating Order), and Philly visitor Christian TeBordo (The Awful Possibilities, We Go Liquid, The Conviction & Subsequent Life of Savior Neck and Better Ways of Being Dead). Don’t bring any bananas, they make the car smell like bananas.

Doors open at 7pm. Come early for the sweet lefty sounds of Southpaw Jones, stay late for bass groves by Brady Muckelroy and toe-tapping tunes by Jennifer Ellen Cook. $2 for a night of road trip fun, and you don’t even have to chip in for gas.

Hosted by Amelia Gray, Stacy Muszynski, and special guest Rudy Ramirez.

*
The Writers and their weirdest stops:

BILL COTTER was born in Dallas in 1964. He lives with the poet Annie La Ganga here in Austin. His first novel, _Fever Chart_, was published last summer. It is available for $15 in the trunk of his car.
**Weirdest roadside attraction visited: the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts. (Find out why on May 14.)

ANNIE LA GANGA lives in Austin with her boyfriend Billy and their awful little cat Vinny. Annie loves candy and hates housework. She is the author of _Stoners and Self-Appointed Saints_, the first book she’s written that she didn’t have to print and staple together herself.
**Favorite strange roadside attraction: the Prada store on Highway 95 just outside of Marfa. (Find out why on May 14.)

CHRISTIAN TeBORDO has published three novels. His first collection of short fiction, _The Awful Possibilities_, is just out from featherproof books. He lives in Philadelphia.
**Roadside attraction? He wants to say the Sedlec Ossuary (“the bone church”) in Kutna Hora, Czech Republic, but. . . (Find out ‘but what’ on, you guessed it, May 14.)

Rudy Ramirez is a director, performer and writer working in, on or about Austin, TX. He is the performance director for The Austin Bike Zoo and has directed Wheels of Wonderland, “Cardigan” and “Spit” for Frontera Fest 2010, and Luna Tart Died (co-written with Laura Freeman). He was a performer for Spike Gillespie’s The Dick Monologues and has performed at Camp Camp, 5 Things, and The Museum of Ephemerata. He has hosted Burlesque for Peace, Texas Burlesque Fest and Carousel Cabaret. His first full-length one-man show, Promised Land: A Radical Queer Revival will travel to New York and Philadelphia this fall.

Near-native Austinite Jennifer ellen Cook has been called a “sensational vocalist” with “shining” stage presence and excellent songs. The Austin Chronicle recently described her new CD, A Storytelling of Crows, as stories with “elusive charm”: “’60s-influenced indie pop” with “wisdom and lyrical accuity.” I suppose it’s to be expected–she has a degree in literature. Fortunately, she also has a groovy rhythm section in Nathan Lynch and Julio Figueroa.

Writers in a Room

Check out this free event tonight!

Teleportal 4 on Tuesday

Episode 4 of the Teleportal series happens this Tuesday! Here’s the writeup from Monofonus Press:

As part of this month’s Fusebox Festival, Monofonus presents the fourth installment of Austin’s most multimedia reading series. If you love reading but hate readings, fear not: this is literature at its most laid-back. This month’s Teleportal features a live reading by local fiction writer Amelia Gray, an interactive performance by blackout poet Austin Kleon, and a teleportal reading by Jon Cotner and Alex Karpovsky from Cotner and Andy Fitch’s Ten Walks/Two Talks. As always, there will be a special musical guest and a pop-up shop with selections from Domy Books.

Amelia Gray’s writing has appeared in American Short Fiction, McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, DIAGRAM, and Caketrain, among others. She is the author of AM/PM, published by Featherproof Books, and Museum of the Weird, due August 2010 through Fiction Collective 2.

Austin Kleon is a writer, cartoonist, and web designer. He’s best known for his Newspaper Blackout Poems — poetry made by redacting words from newspaper articles with a permanent marker. His first book, Newspaper Blackout, was published by Harper Perennial this month.

Jon Cotner and Andy Fitch are the authors of Ten Walks/Two Talks (Ugly Duckling Presse, 2010). Cotner lives in New York City. Fitch is an assistant professor in the University of Wyoming’s MFA Program.

Teleportal 4

8pm, April 27,

Hotel San Jose

1316 S. Congress Ave

Austin, TX

Thursday Night DEATHMATCH.

PRE-ORDER! SAVE $$$! SUPPORT OPIUM!

An Austin stop was an obvious must for the 11th stop on Opium100′s Monster Fundraising Tour, and to celebrate, co-sponsor the Writers’ League of Texas is helping pack the night with enough talent to intoxicate the Live Music Capital of the World’s collective consciousness. A trio of all-star judges is led by screenwriter/hilaritist/author of The Book of HaroldOwen Egerton, Sara Hickman (the Texas state musician for 2010-11), and the all-too-bashful, award-winning author of Woodsburner, John Pipkin.

Plus, a quartet of readers led by journalist/author/radio commentator/ordained minister Spike Gillespie (Dick Monologues), author and former ad agency slave Anna Mitchael (Just Don’t Call Me Ma’am), scribe Tyler Stoddard Smith and Les McGehee (author of Plays Well with Others).

Hosted by Opium’s Todd Zuniga and Writers’ League of Texas’ Sara Ortiz.

Where: Speakeasy, 412-D Congress Ave., Austin (map)
When: Doors at 7 p.m., show at 8:05 (sharp)
Cost: Free if you subscribe to Opium now! Or: $5 preorder; $8 at the door; $5 with a valid student ID.
This event is free for Literary Death Match subscribers!

This Week in Lit

We’ve updated our event calendar with some fun new shows. Check it out:

The Encyclopedia Show, Austin!

Thursday, April 15 at The Independent @ 501 Studios * 7:30pm – 10:00pm

Each month a topic is picked from a real live encyclopedia and a clutch of volunteering writers are given assignments on that entry. There are Def Poetry Jam vets, writing professors, slam poets, stand-up comics, fiction writers, and LOTS of feelings!

This month’s topic: The Visible Spectrum of Color!

Featuring Contributors:
Eirik Ott (HBO Def Poet, National Slam Champion): The Human Eye
Boone Graham (musician myspace.com/boonesong, theater teacher): Crayola
Natalie Groves (local loon): Indigo
Andrea Grimes (standup comedienne, contributor to heartlessdoll.com): Rainbow Brite
Dr. Nance Riffe (professor-at-large): Color Theory
Jesus Valles (actor, performance scholar): Prisms

Featuring:
Katelyn Wood as Wiki Lake
Kyle Schultz as Stepdad Ron
Mike Slefinger as Lord Professor Slefinger
Chris Hatcher as The Intern
Betsy McCann as Gypsy Magnolia

And your hosts, the Mikes and Ralph!

You HAVE to come! Only $6! Nothing in this world is $6. Except this.

Pre-show and drinks start at 7pm. Show starts promptly at 8:13pm.

Teleportal transformations

Man, that Teleportal was a hoot. We felt inspired and heartened, not only by the fine words by Bill Cotter and Annie La Ganga (we nabbed them both to read at Five Things on May 14) but by the fine hosting and an excellent pop-up bookstore from Domy Books. Today we’re reading Bill Cotter’s excellent Dispatches From a Hangdog Bankrupt at McSweeney’s and talking in some serious third person.

Check out this Wholpin short screened last night:

Onward, Austin lit! Get hilarious on April Fools Day with this must-see show:

Hilarious Happy Hour With Owen Egerton

Celebrate April Fools Day and Support the Texas Book Festival at a Hilarious Happy Hour with Side Splitting Author and Performer Owen Egerton!
Join the Texas Book Festival for Happy Hour at one of Austin’s newest restaurants, El Arbol. Co-sponsored by El Arbol and Republic Tequila, enjoy complimentary tantalizing Argentinean appetizers and complimentary Republic Tequila from 5:30-6:30. Owen will share tidbits from his upcoming novel The Book of Harold, the Illegitimate Son of God.

Please be sure to RSVP here as space is limited!

When: Thursday, April 1
Time: 5:30 – 7:30 p.m.
Complimentary Republic Tequila from 5:30 – 6:30 p.m.
Where: El Arbol, 3411 Glenview, Map
Parking: Complimentary Valet parking encouraged

Awesome! and Great! and McSweeney’s!

Two excitement pile lit events for your face:

Teleportal 3: McSweeney’s

Tuesday, March 30, at 8pm, Teleportal teams up with McSweeney’s at Hotel San Jose for a multimedia reading designed for people who hate readings. Bill Cotter and Annie La Ganga read live, Dean Young and James Hannaham via teleportal, video from Wholphin, and a special musical guest! As always, Domy Books will have a pop-up store with titles by the readers and other timely selections. More info.

The Awesome and Great Reading Show!

Wednesday April 7th at 7pm at Momo’s, see S. Kirk Walsh and Betsy Crane read stories based on songs, and Rockin Lloyd Trip! play songs based on stories. More info.

WordParty Already Happened @ Longbranch

Five Things Presents a bar night. Come one, come all! Come writers or not writers, come talk about writing or not-writing. Artists come, poets come, musicians come. People who like these things, come. Come alone or bring friends. No readings or presentations are planned, no open mics, no cover. Come say hello, leave early or stay late. We miss you. Let’s get together.

Longbranch Inn
Thursday, March 25, 2010 at 9:00pm
1133 East 11th Street

Percival Everett & The Gary

Two free events that look like they were made for ya:

Percival Everett Reading

Apr 1, 7 p.m.
Rio Grande Campus Gallery Theater

Percival Everett is the award winning author of more than a dozen books,
including Suder, Glyph, and I am Not Sidney Poitier. This event is free and open to the public.  Please call 223.3226 for more information.

Rio Grande Campus
1212 Rio Grande
Austin, TX 78701

The Gary

FREE SXSW RECUPERATION SHOW w/ Red X Red M (Record Release Show!), The Gary, Scan Hopper Thursday, March 25 / Door: Free / Doors at 9p. The Gary plays a free show tomorrow night at Emo’s with Red X Red M and Scan Hopper. Free, bitches! Red X Red M kicks ass! So does Scan Hopper!

ChannelAustin EXSE Spoken Word

Do you write poetry? Do you want to be on television? That desire plus $30 will get you on channelAustin’s EXSE Spoken Word 2010.

EXSE Spoken Word is a poetry showcase honoring National Poetry Month, hosted by channelAustin on Cable Channel 10 – April 30, 2010 – from 12pm-12am. For EXSE Spoken Word, poets and spoken word artists are invited to perform up to 10 minutes of original work. One acoustic musician may accompany you in your performance. To be considered for pre-recorded broadcast, please submit this form with a written copy of the text of the intended performance, plus a $10 submission fee to channelAustin by Friday, April 9, 2010 at 7:00 pm.

Find more information here and the application here.