Tonight Maud Newton, Lizzie Skurnick, and Kate Christensen read at Housing Works. As I know Terry and OGIC would agree, it’s a dream line-up. The event’s been well publicized, and I trust if you’re in New York and free this evening you already have plans to be there. But for the rest of us, the ardent but geographically challenged supporters, here’s an afternoon coffee break of reading by the three authors to enjoy:
• This week Narrative Magazine is offering an excerpt from Maud’s novel-in-progress, “When the Flock Changed,” as its Story of the Week. Maud’s a dear friend so I know I’ll appear biased, but I am sincere in saying it’s a must-read.
• Lizzie’s book of poems, Check-In, was recently re-issued by Caketrain in an expanded second edition. I have the first edition and it’s wonderful, and I need to order the second edition for the 14 new poems and new sexy cover. You can listen to Lizzie read her poem “Grand Central, Track 23” on PBS’s Poetry Everywhere website.
• If you’re a regular reader of About Last Night, you’ll know that we’re all three great admirers of Kate Christensen’s novels. Her new novel, Trouble, comes out in June, and it sounds amazing. This past weekend she reviewed Arthur Phillips’ new novel, The Song Is You, for The New York Times Book Review; it was (I believe) the first piece of critical writing I’ve read by her, and it was funny and enjoyable to note how directly the pleasures of reading a Kate Christensen novel (intelligence, felicity of phrase) translate into the pleasures of reading a Kate Christensen review.
Archives for April 15, 2009
TT: Snapshot
Gary Burton plays an unaccompanied blues solo on vibraharp:
(This is the latest in a weekly series of arts-related videos that appear in this space each Wednesday.)
TT: Almanac
“Jazz is the big brother of the blues. If a guy’s playing blues like we play, he’s in high school. When he starts playing jazz it’s like going on to college, to a school of higher learning.”
B.B. King (quoted in the Sunday Times of London, Nov. 4, 1984)