This Wednesday, May 26, I will be reading some “humor” pieces at the weekly comedy show The Business, at The Dark Room space, 2263 Mission St. in SF. Show starts at 8 pm and cost is five bucks, which is only 1/3 the cost of an unnecessarily complex cocktail these days. Click HERE for two-for-one passes! There is also a mystery unnamed comedian guest, “based in New Yorq City, and has appeared at many prestigious comedy festivals, as well as all over television.”

A fun and hilarious night of local authors reading from new work  – Kim Addonizio, Alan Black, Tony DuShane, Beth Lisick, Bucky Sinister, Michelle Tea, and myself. Wednesday, March 31, 8pm at the Hemlock Tavern, 1131 Polk Street. Five bucks admission and warm peanuts! Due to popular demand, we’ve had to set up advance ticket sales. Buy them here at Brown Paper.

On Sunday, February 28 I will be reading as
part of Ayibobo! Amen for Haiti! — a fantastic afternoon event of readings from insanely well-known writers like Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Jack Hirschman, devorah major, Jorge Argueta, Ishmael Reed, Al Young, Alejandro Murguia, and many other talented folks. The event is free, with all donations going to Doctors Without Borders. Come on out for a good cause — it runs 1:30-4pm, at Glide Memorial Church, 330 Ellis in SF. Presented by Friends of the San Francisco Public Library, San Francisco International Poetry Festival, and Revolutionary Poets Brigade.

After 14 years of pursuing far less interesting careers, editorial staff, contributors, subscribers, and fans of the 1990s satirical Nose magazine will congregate for one night at a swank Tenderloin nightspot to share memories, rekindle friendships, and revisit old disputes, against a backdrop of a publication both reviled and revered. Admission is free, party runs from 5 to 8 pm. Treasured memorabilia, happy hour drinks, and even a smoking section. Reunion show will also feature astonishing live performance by Nose in-house rock band Rëzzin! At least come and see the stupid band, we only play every few years.

Although The Nose folded abruptly and with much drama in 1995, through the magic of Facebook and other time-wasting social networks, the magazine’s extended family will congregate once again, to observe the aging process up close, and bitch about how much money they are still owed. Hemlock Tavern is located at 1131 Polk Street in the colorful Tenderloin. No ceviche will be served.

 

 

 

I will be bouncing in and out of events all week long at Litquake, and will be reading on Thursday, October 9 at Hemlock Tavern, 1131 Polk St., in San Francisco. Show starts at 7 pm and is free. “Alan Black’s Nightclub” features readings by Bob Calhoun, Alan Black, Michael Disend, Beth Lisick, Michelle Richmond, Sylvie Simmons, David Henry Sterry, and myself.

Friday September 12 — Literary Death Match, at Amnesia, 853 Valencia St. in San Francisco. Show starts at 7pm. Authors include Tom Barbash, Damion Searls, Rhea De Ross-Wiess and Kim Addonizio. I will be judging the category of “performance.”

Monday September 15 — Talk Show Live, at 330 Ritch, 330 Ritch St. in San Francisco. Doors open at 7pm for live jazz, show starts at 8pm. Kurt Bodden is the host, guests are a magician, a Brazilian body waxer, and myself. Tickets are available here.

Friday January 18, 7pm
Booksmith, 1644 Haight Street, San Francisco
Launch of a new quarterly from The Fray storytelling empire. This premier issue is titled “Busted: True Stories of Getting Caught in the Act.” Readers include Joe Loya, Steve Silberman, Kirk Read, Kate Kotler, and myself. Emcee: Fray editor/publisher Derek Powazek. My piece details the experience of smuggling a severed swordfish beak from Chile into the United States (which a few of you might have heard on Air America Radio).

Saturday January 19, 730 pm
Edinburgh Castle, 950 Geary, San Francisco
Accompanying my pal Chuck Thompson, who’s on tour for his new book, “Smile When You’re Lying: Confessions of a Rogue Travel Writer” (Holt), which is getting rave reviews:

“(Thompson) knows the score and he tallies it accurately. … A dead-on demolition job. … The book is a savagely funny act of revenge.”—The New York Times

“Consistently irreverent, Thompson is wickedly entertaining … reminiscent of Chuck Klosterman and David Foster Wallace. … Thompson asks the right questions about why we travel, how we travel and what we expect from the experience. The unvarnished reality in these pages might just make you more eager than ever to hit the road.”—San Francisco Chronicle

Books will be for sale at both events.

The Litquake festival kicks off October 6, and runs through the 13th with events all over the Bay Area. I’ll be part of the Porch Light Storytelling night on Monday October 8th at the Swedish American Hall, along with Marta Acosta, Robert Mailer Anderson, Dave Eggers, Alvin Orloff, Milta Ortiz, Frank Portman, Eric Spitznagel, and Cameron Tuttle. Tickets are $15, available at ticketweb.com or cafedunord.com. I’ll also be producing a few of the other events, so please drop by throughout the week and say howdy. There’s over 350 authors this year, and over 50 events. For more info on Litquake check out our website at www.litquake.org.

On November 10 I’ll be part of the second annual Swearing Festival at the Edinburgh Castle Literary Pub. Events include The Mass Swearing Experiment, A Most Horrible, Vile Oaths contest, The Verbal Abuse Duel, live music, and Curse Torture, sponsored by The Dick Cheney Ideas Group. This gets really packed so plan ahead. For details go to castlenews.com.

I’m an occasional guest pundit/motormouth on this new podcast produced by filmmaker Danny Plotnick and distributed by San Francisco’s KQED public radio/TV empire.
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