Asthma Chronicles

NEW WEBSITE!!!

2010-09-07T11:33:00.002-05:00

Friends!

I have a new website that is a little bit worse than this one. But I'm working on it.

Here it is:

www.asthmachronicles.com

2010-07-20T14:49:00.006-05:00

Here's a new poem

2010-06-22T16:36:00.003-05:00

I wrote it for the wonderful Melissa Broder's Polestar Poetry Series Nirvana Night. I'm sad because I'm scramming just after getting to know Melissa; she's the tits. Please excuse the brief opening butt shot in this video.

I just said "opening butt."

Caterwauling Nine Tails

2010-06-15T14:03:00.000-05:00

Hi friends,
I have some new one-liners if you're interested. Click my face.

I'm reading with Paige Taggart & Sampson Starkweather in Philadelphia on Saturday!

2010-06-07T13:46:00.004-05:00

Hello Friends!

This is my first reading in Philadelphia and my final reading on the East Coast until soon!

PLEASE COME!

Not only because we are going to do weird and awesome things to all your vital organs.

Saturday, June 12, 2010 7:00pm

Brickbat Books (Queen Village)
709 South Fourth Street (between Bainbridge & Monroe Sts)

Bring your own beer or wine or Sterno, for all I care.

Sommer Browning writes poems in Brooklyn. She has a few chapbooks out, most recently, THE BOWLING with Brandon Shimoda (Greying Ghost, 2010). She is co-founder of Flying Guillotine Press & draws cartoons from time to time. Here is her stand-up comedy debut.

Sampson Starkweather is the author of four chapbooks, most recently The Heart is Green from So Much Waiting from Immaculate Disciples Press, and Self Help Poems forthcoming from Greying Ghost Press. He is an editor of physics and chemistry books, and co-founder of Birds, LLC, an independent poetry press. Check him out here.

Paige Taggart’s chapbook Polaroid Parade is forthcoming with Greying Ghost Press. Her e-chapbook, Won't Be A Girl is available worldwide with Scantily Clad Press. She was a 2009 recipient of the New York Foundation of the Art’s grant. To find a listing of her publications and jewelry peruse here.

Some Notable Concerts in My 34 Years

2010-05-11T14:51:00.020-05:00

These clips aren't from the shows.

Pelt at Hole in the Wall, Richmond, Virginia c. 2000

The Ex at Knitting Factory, NYC 2004

Mose Allison at Blues Alley, Washington, DC, c. 1998

Joanna Newsom at Solar Culture, Tucson, Arizona c. 2003

My Bloody Valentine at Roseland Ballroom, NYC 2008

Pharoah Sanders, New Orleans, c. 1999

Shannon Wright at the Black Cat (I think), Washington, DC., c. 2002

Dodging Jerry Williams' questions on Druken Boat!

2010-05-11T09:51:00.002-05:00

Hey Friends!

Jerry Williams interviewed me!

Here.

I'm telling jokes at Caroline's tonight!

2010-05-10T10:42:00.003-05:00

Yes, her hands say "RoboTrip"

Caroline's tonight at 9:30

$5 if you mention my name [plus a two drink minimum].

1626 Broadway
between 49th & 50th

This is my second stand-up show.
Which time is the charm, again?

Make a reservation: (212) 757-4100

It would be very fine to see you.

A Couple of ICP Covers

2010-05-03T12:24:00.001-05:00

Big BoobPhone

2010-04-30T13:21:00.002-05:00

I projected comics at Yardmeter the other night.

Mother's Day is Coming

2010-04-27T21:34:00.000-05:00

Buy your mother a bag of sleeves.

THE BOWLING by Brandon Shimoda & Sommer Browning

2010-04-27T11:11:00.004-05:00

Friends!

I wrote a chapbook with Brandon Shimoda & Greying Ghost made art out of it. You can order one at their website.

It is a beautiful piece of motherloving tree. Thank you, Carl. You are amazing.

2010-04-19T20:04:00.001-05:00

Taxi1010

2010-04-19T18:17:00.000-05:00

Does anyone know anything about this? It's pretty amazing.

I Thought You'd Laugh Harder. That's What My New Comic Book Said!

2010-04-16T09:24:00.009-05:00

Seriously though. Monkey panel thong alliance puffin franks.

Seriously though. I was born with sonar.

Seriously though. Lars von Trier has a combover on his dick.

Seriously though. You can buy my new comic book here! It has laffs. Thank you!

More Serial Killers are Born in April Than in Any Other Month

2010-04-15T13:43:00.006-05:00

I MADE THAT UP!! OUT OF MY BRAIN!!

There is a lovely event in which I'm participating this Sunday.

New York Quarterly's 40th Anniversary Party!

Sunday, April 18, 2010 -- 7:30 pm
at Westbeth Community Room in NYC

A full night of readings by Grace Zabriskie, FD Reeve, Fred Yannantuono, Jackie Sheeler, David Lehman, Jayne Lyn Stahl, Ray Collins, Matthew Yeager, Ted Jonathan, Joanna Crispi, and Sommer Browning. There will also be a wine tasting, sponsored by Palaia Vineyards & Winery, King Ferry Winery, and Red Tail Ridge Winery; a cheese tasting, sponsored by Sprout Creek Farm and Finger Lakes Farmstead Cheese Co.; plus a raffle and more. Come early as the space is limited.

It costs $20, I'm sorry to say. But that money is going to the New York Quarterly, which is a very cool magazine.

Here's the address:

55 Bethune Street (between Washington & West)
New York, NY 10014

Enter through 57 Bethune Street
Or
Enter through 155 Bank Street

AWP is Up Your Nose with a Rubber Hose of Drugs

2010-04-06T13:28:00.009-05:00

Friends!

This is my Second Life Avatar:

I am the Pineapple.

Also:

I'll be reading on Thursday, April 8th at 7pm, at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Denver for the Horse Less Press & Lost Roads Press Reading

MCA
1485 Delgany Street
Denver, Coloryourownrado

I'm reading with a bumper crop -- that makes no sense, but is true -- C.D. Wright, Forrest Gander, Adam Clay, Matt Henriksen, Cynthia Arrieu-King, Julia Cohen, Bruce Covey, Nate Slawson, Jennifer Denrow, Eric Baus, Andrea Rexilius, Shawn Huelle, Emily Kendal Frey, Sarah Bartlett, Joseph Wood, Jen Tynes, and Susan Scarlata.

DAMN!

ALSO and this is moderately important!

Please visit the Flying Guillotine Press Table! P12! Down this row, now take a right, you're almost there, on the left, turn around, Yes!

We will have chapbooks from Steven Karl, Michael Rerick, Angela Veronica Wong, Kate Schapira & Michael Robins. Plus a comic book by me called I Wonder if Balzac Had a Good Pianist. And a yak sized pile of Flying G T-Shirts. There is one specifically that fits Keith Newton.

Also joining our table is Small Anchor Press, Lightful Press & a hefty stack of the new issue of No, Dear.

I did a scary thing last night.

2010-04-03T17:04:00.006-05:00

Alex Chilton Memorialized Before Congress

2010-03-25T08:20:00.002-05:00

This makes me feel good.

Google Alert!

2010-03-09T09:16:00.003-05:00

Somehow Google discovered my name was affiliated with this video.

Do You Remember Being a Shaker?

2010-03-05T13:09:00.006-05:00

Remember when I creeped up to you in this creepy way? That was called a dance.

Remember building this? You nearly cut your finger off.

FRIENDS!

I am reading this Saturday, March something, at 6pm in Providence, Rhode Island with Ryan Murphy and hosted by Kate Schapira. These people are amazing & toothsome.

Ada Books
717 Westminster

PLEASE COME!

Restroom for those who Permanently Hover in a Sitting Position

2010-02-26T11:47:00.000-05:00

Gino Vanneli -- for many reasons

2010-02-07T23:55:00.004-05:00

"People Gotta Move"
"Powerful People"
"Love Me Now"
"Love of My Life"
"I Just Wanna Stop"
"Wheels of Life"
"The River Must Flow"
"Nightwalker"
"The Longer You Wait"
"Appaloosa"
"Black Cars"
"Just A Motion Away"
"Wild Horses"
"In the Name of Money"
"Persona Non Grata"
"The Time of Day"
"Cry of Love"
"If I Should Lose This Love"
"Wheels of Life"
"I Die A Little More Each Day"
"It's Only Love"

Famous People Series: Scientists

2010-02-02T00:37:00.001-05:00

Guitarmy (AKA Global Thermo-Nuclear War)

2010-01-06T15:10:00.004-05:00

Friends, Happy New Year!

I would like to invite you

to the mind-bendingly sustaining manna that is The Guitarmy!
(formerly Sportsman's Paradise).

Five guitars. One drumming maniac. Zero concern for personal well-being.

Thursday, January 7th, 11pm at Otto's Shrunken Head

Address: 538 East 14th Street between Avenues A & B

Please come and help me stay awake.

Oh yes.

2009-12-31T11:49:00.001-05:00

I am famous.

Grandma Heavy Metal Videos

2009-12-23T10:43:00.004-05:00

I have hand selected a few Heavy Metal Grandma YouTube Videos for you for the Holidays.

It hurt me to post these.

Somewhat disturbing:

A bit more disturbing:

Completely insane:

Can't Can't Can't Can't Can't Stop Listening to

2009-12-17T12:31:00.004-05:00

PAST SIMPLE

2009-11-23T09:39:00.003-05:00

Friends.

Please check out the most recent issue of PAST SIMPLE, especially if you like bears and pigs, bears and pigs with love in their eyes.

Also. I twitter, apparently.

How's this for last minute?

2009-11-16T09:08:00.002-05:00

I'm reading in 9 hours at Cornelia Street Cafe.

That's 6pm with Ted Jonathan & Andrew Kaufman for the New York Quarterly.

So if you are restless on a Monday night, please feel free to come on out.

I think it's 6 bucks and that includes a drink.

29 Cornelia St. Brooklyn, NY 11221

2009-10-29T18:45:00.000-05:00

HALO 3: ODST

2009-10-27T21:33:00.004-05:00

UPDATE: Matt says I played this and it wasn't that good. I sort of remember. I take back my self-invite. I'm just jonesing for video games.

*****

Can someone please let me come over and play it?

The ads on Hulu are really compelling. But I hear it sucksish.

What is a SUPERMACHINE?

2009-10-26T18:31:00.006-05:00

yes! you are correct!

Please come to the SUPERMACHINE reading this Friday at Outpost at 7pm

It is Halloween Eve with Matvei Yankelevich, Jeremy James Thompson & me.

1014 Fulton

(grand & classon)

G to Clinton/Washington, C to Franklin

I know some of you live around there,
don't make me put you in a weird font.

2009-10-16T17:24:00.002-05:00

2009-09-30T22:04:00.002-05:00

Doomsday

2009-09-19T15:08:00.003-05:00

Calling Possible Poets of the Probable Apocalypse

Flying Guillotine Press
& the First Annual Doomsday Festival & Symposium

are Asking You to Imagine Demise.

The First Annual Doomsday Festival & Symposium, a festival of revelatory film, destruction literature, Butoh, and intellectual disaster, will take place October 23-25 in New York City. In addition to a host of film screenings, expert discussions, panels, and Butoh performances, Flying Guillotine Press will curate a poetry reading and publish a limited edition anthology of Apocalypse poems.

We invite you to submit apocalypse poems for the anthology!

Please email them to flyingguillotinepress at gmail dot com by October 5th. We want to publish as many as possible, but depending on how many submissions we get we may not. Let us know if they are previously published.

Please feel free to tell everyone you know. The more voices, the more cacophonous our doom.

See you in hell,

Flying Guillotine Press

R.I.P. Haven Hamilton

2009-09-17T08:17:00.000-05:00

Pictures of Paradise Sporting

2009-08-26T08:10:00.006-05:00

Thank you everyone for coming and almost coming to the show!

Both photos taken by Michele Lamorte.

SPORTSMAN'S PARADISE

2009-08-18T09:23:00.002-05:00

Another installment of the bliss-out post avant-miasma that is Sportsman's Paradise!

This Thursday, August 20th, 8pm at the ISSUE PROJECT ROOM in Brooklyn.

We're playing with Cotton Museum + Sick Llama.

DO IT FOR YOUR HOLLOW HEART.

New Poem

2009-08-13T08:17:00.001-05:00

Two Reviews in the New Octopus

2009-07-24T08:02:00.004-05:00

Check out my reviews of Thomas Hummel's Point and Line To Plane (Projective Industries) and Carrie Hunter's The Unicorns (Dusie Kollectiv).

Octopus #12

This still is from the film Megashark vs. Giant Octopus. It is promptly going in my queue.

This Octopus issue kicks buttocks with work by all of these people:

Poems:

Lynn Xu
Heather Christle
Jennifer Knox
Tony Tost
Cathy Park Hong
Christopher Stackhouse
Amanda Nadelberg
Kristi Maxwell

Introduced by:

Katie Peterson
Lisa Olstein
K. Silem Mohammad
The Lucipo Poetics List
Arda Collins
Rebecca Wolff
Chris Fischbach
Ann M. Fine

Reviews of:

Farrah Field, Dobby Gibson, Thomas Hummel,
Carrie Hunter, Ellen Kennedy, Melissa Kwasny,
Helena Mesa, Vanessa Place & Robert Fitterman,
Robyn Schiff, Jeremy Schmall & Justin Taylor

Reviewed by:

Dan Magers , Ben Kopel, Sommer Browning,
Kathleen Rooney, Dave Madden, Steven Karl,
Karla Kelsey, David Carillo, & David Sewell

On Friday I Will Invent the Comic Strip Strap-On

2009-07-06T08:45:00.005-05:00

Or at least, I will read some poems and hand out some vulgar drawings.

They are calling it visual poetics!

Celebrate the Issue Release of Drunken Boat 10!

Here's a link to my contribution.

This is who will also be there:

derek beaulieu, Rand Richards Cooper, Sharon Dolin, Ram Devineni, Elizabeth Kadetsky, Harriet Levin & Elisabeth Subrin!

A famous bunch! Will they like drawings of pizza slices in paper bags? Do they enjoy BBQ Guns?

from 6-8pm THIS Friday July 10th
at SoHo20 Gallery

511 West 25th St.
Suite 605
between 10th & 11th Avenues

LIVE NUDE DILDOS!

2009-07-02T09:42:00.003-05:00

Check out the new Li'l Dil video!

He Thinks! He Vibrates!

Matt Koroghlian and I made it.

Jackson Heights Poetry Festival in Jackson Heights!

2009-06-18T20:38:00.011-05:00

Hello friends. I'm in a hotel room in Syracuse. It is misty outside and this has pushed all the humans in. I don't know where they went. They are not in my hotel room. It feels very weird that I am alone in a hotel room. Illicit in the way suppositories are illicit.

I wanted to invite you to the Jackson Heights Poetry Festival on Saturday.

My press will be there. We'll have fresh copies of Kate Schapira's new chapbook, The Saint's Notebook. I will also take the stage around 10:30am and sing the praises of the Golgi Apparatus.

Here are the details:

Saturday June 20th, 2009 -- 10am - 6:30pm

The playground of
The Garden School
33-16 79th Street
Jackson Heights, NY 11372

You can get there by the E, F, R & V and the 7 Train.
7 Train is closest.

Festival's Website

Here are some of the Featured Festival Readers AND the most amazing things I've seen in Syracuse in the past 32 hours:

Tony Mancus
Justin Taylor

Regan Good
Katie Fowley
Georgia Luna
Steve Dalachinsky

Ocean Vuong
Nicole Cooley
Esther Smith

Ivy Johnson
Julio Marzan
Roger Sedarat

Matvei Yankelevich
Laren McClung
Alex Cuff

Emily Brandt
Richard Newman

Participating Presses & Magazines

Ugly Duckling Presse
Lightful Press
Portable Press at Yo-Yo Labs
Agriculture Reader/X-ing Press
Tarpaulin Sky
Flying Guillotine Press
Cannibal Books
No, Dear
Purgatory Pie Press
Factory School
Washington Square Review

2009-06-05T16:25:00.000-05:00

The Flying Guillotine Made Up Its Mind!

2009-06-05T16:12:00.002-05:00

We're publishing four more amazing chapbooks this year!

The Saint's Notebook
by Kate Schapira

Circus
by Michael Robins

All the Little Red Girls
by Angela Veronica Wong

(Ir)Rational Animals
by Steven Karl

2009-04-24T17:18:00.000-05:00

2009-04-23T19:59:00.002-05:00

CUNY Celebration of the Chapbook!

2009-04-23T15:25:00.004-05:00

Come out and see Flying Guillotine today and tomorrow. We'll be peddling our wares and talking about the new delicate flavor of American Salad Dressing in a bag.

Here's the information.

I am Reading and Selling my Business in Richmond this Sunday

2009-04-17T15:30:00.002-05:00

Mathias and Julia and I are headed down to Richmond this weekend to read poems and sell books and eat at Mamma 'Zu (I hope) and possibly catch UFC 97: Redemption tomorrow night at Buffalo Wild Wings. They don't know about the latter.

I haven't seen Anderson Silva fight in a while and even if I miss it, Matt's recording it for me, so win win win win, I love winning.

Oh--the reading is at the Visual Arts Center and we're all reading early, around 1.

Four Gems

2009-03-31T15:12:00.002-05:00

POP QUIZ: What Is The Answer To

2009-03-19T10:33:00.006-05:00

THIS

VERSUS

THIS?

Find out on my lovely friend Sarah's new blog:

NAPTIGER!

Sarah is a genius with any tool you give her, paints, pastels, tofu, pencils, crochet needles, and now a computer machine! Singlehandedly, she expands the field of Tiger Napping, Alex P. Keaton and Twitter. Czech it out.

I like this. Check out her other videos too.

2009-03-16T12:18:00.000-05:00

NARWHAL!!!!

2009-03-10T08:35:00.004-05:00

Hello all!

My chapbook from Cannibal Books is ready to terrorize you, in a nice way!

Along with my chapbook, The House, you will find six others.

Four Cities by Kazim Ali
Luminal Equation by Maureen Alsop
Into the Eyes of Lost Storms by Karla Kelsey
Sycorax's Retinue by Laura Goode
You do damage by Kate Schapira
Yellowcake by Jared White

It is 180 pages, has hand-sewn in signatures, and is published in a limited edition of 100.

Order it here.

2009-02-22T12:40:00.000-05:00

Thank you mk.

YES! I fucking care about children.

2009-02-18T14:57:00.003-05:00

I now sponsor a child.

Chalk one up for the annoying, pestering ever-present blue vested Children International spokespeople.

That fellow isn't the person I spoke too, but he was the only picture of one of these people I could find. Which is strange since I see them every fucking day of my life.

The girl that signed me up said she typically signs up 3-5 people per 8 hour shift.

I'll let you know how it's going.

Out Now With Flying Guillotine!

2009-02-10T15:39:00.002-05:00

Ana Božičević's new chapbook God, Sebastian, Amy!

Order it here.

Get It Before Rupert Does!

It's AWP, Do You Know Where Your Children Are?

2009-02-09T10:32:00.004-05:00

They should be in two places.

1. At the Narwhal & Projective Industries split Reading

THIS Wednesday, February 11, 6-9 pm @ Sonotheque

I will be reading first, followed by the astounding

Kazim Ali
Maureen Alsop
Thomas Hummel
Thibault Raoult
Jared White

& there is music!

DA SO DO DA
&
The Goddamn Shame will play!

Here's the address:
1444 W. Chicago Ave.
$5 suggested donation

2. At the Flying Guillotine Press table at the AWP Bookfair.

We will have Ana Božičević's new chapbook with us.

It is shiny and comforting, like the moon to the bat.

And we will have copies of Melissa Koosmann's Endings, Michael Rerick's X-Ray and Brett Price's Trouble With Mapping.

When's the Last Time You Listened to Band of Gypsys?

2009-02-02T11:01:00.001-05:00

It's been too long for me.

Everybody! Send me your best drawings of genitalia!

2009-01-31T11:38:00.003-05:00

I’m serious.

Here: sommerbrowning@hotmail.com

I read last week's New York Times Magazine article called "What Do Women Want?" today. These are the most interesting points made in the article:

1. Women will get aroused by watching apes fornicate.
2. No one gets aroused by watching a naked, flaccid man stroll down the beach.

I’m wondering how I feel about being mysterious.

I’m wriggling over that wording, “What do women want?” First of all, the fucking w’s. Secondly, it sounds like asking a crying kid what they want so you can shut them up. “What do men want?” “What do Asian-Americans want?” “What do people under 5 feet tall want?” Those questions are weird, aren’t they? Women are wanting. We are dissatisfied. Unfulfilled. The same old lines, same old tired sentiment, same tired poopoo, if you ask me.

Lindstrom Tonight

2009-01-29T15:21:00.003-05:00

At Studio B

The prospect of tonight makes me feel like this young boy:

Sportsman's Paradise Friday!

2009-01-22T17:11:00.004-05:00

A six-guitar-one-drummer army of freak-out visionary mayhem

and revelatory explorations in dream enchantment!

We'll play one 40 minute piece and an all new short piece
(that I will be "learning" in a few hours.)

I'm going to wear my shirt that I squirted hamburger juice on at the last show.

I am overjoyed to say we'll be sharing the evening with the remarkable

**Honne Wells**

whose music will baffle and astound you.

This Friday, January 23, at the Issue Project Room, in Brooklyn.

The evening starts at 8pm and costs $10.

ISSUE PROJECT ROOM
The (OA) Can Factory
232 3rd Street,
3rd Floor
Brooklyn, NY 11215

Click here for more info.

Why Does it Seem that All Rich People With Political Aspirations Cheat On Their Taxes?

2009-01-22T17:06:00.003-05:00

Noroviruses

2009-01-17T15:25:00.006-05:00

These are some pictures I took at the Campus Eatery near my job. It is a gross place, but somehow, at times, I find it necessary to go there, usually, out of laziness or convenience.

They must want you to protect your hand, while you pull a bagel out of these:

Like a game of Operation.

I've lived in New York for nearly five years now and I've only been seriously poisoned by food once--and I'll eat most anywhere. I'm thinking that's a pretty good record.

Thanks and Thanks and Thanks

2009-01-16T10:11:00.004-05:00

A couple of months ago Alan Bigelow contacted me about a piece of collaborative work I did with Fluorescent Hill, years ago, for Born Magazine.

He wanted to include it in an exhibition he was curating for Austin Peay State University called Searching for a New(er) Digital Literature. Here's a description of the exhibition I lifted from the website:

"Searching for a New(er) Digital Literature is an exhibition of twelve multimedia works that offer readers representative examples of the newest digital poetry and fiction on the web."

The exhibition can be seen at Austin Peay State University’s Gallery 108 and here it is online!

*************************************************************************************

Thank you everyone who came to my party last night. I feel like frozen dog shit today and that is a testament to how wonderful and loved I was feeling last night! You are all very sweet and I have incriminating pictures that I will show you soon.

Your Eyes Are Two Blind Eagles That Kill What They Can't See.

2009-01-12T16:49:00.007-05:00

I just want to post about Art Ensemble of Chicago.

I wish this video wasn't so skinny. I wish it didn't cut the song off at 5:37. But that didn't prevent me from listening to it six times today.

I'm interested in seeing the film that used the AEOC's album, Les Stances A Sophie, for a soundtrack, if only because they make an appearance in the movie. Here's an overly covered song from that album (it is also the source of the title of this post):

The film's another story about an uptight man set free from squaredom by a spirited, life affirming woman.

Remember these other ones?

Something Wild--Demme is coming up a lot lately.

Bringing Up Baby

Annie Hall

Crazy/Beautiful (Jules, this one's like something we'd see in the theater--which I did.)

My Fair Lady

Along Came Polly

Thanks for the tips, Lisa!

What is Jamie Hardy Reading?

2009-01-03T18:27:00.005-05:00

Why, Jamie's reading the new Portable Boog Reader 3!

It's juicy! It's an anthology of New York City poetry!

Tuck it under your arm! It's free!

I drew that frog on the cover and I have a poem in there.

Pick it up now at Bowery Poetry Club & St. Mark's Bookshop. And all over Greenpoint, Williamsburg & Lower Manhattan Sunday evening.

Or download the whole pdf here.

I'm excited to be published near these poets:

Ammiel Alcalay * Betsy Andrews * Ari Banias * Jennifer Bartlett * Martine Bellen * Edmund Berrigan * Kate Broad * Julian Brolaski * Donna Brook * Matthew Burgess * David Cameron * Mike Coffey * Jen Coleman * John Coletti * Matt Cozart * Elaine Equi * Jessica Fiorini * Jennifer Firestone * Ed Friedman * Ethan Fugate * Rigoberto González * Nada Gordon * Stephanie Gray * Shafer Hall * Diana Hamilton * Hayley Heaton * Cathy Park Hong * Vanessa Hope * Dan Hoy * Lauren Ireland * Adeena Karasick * Basil King * Martha King * Noelle Kocot-Tomblin * Dorothea Lasky * Jeff Laughlin * Amy Lawless * Walter K. Lew * Tan Lin * Tao Lin * Filip Marinovich * Justin Marks * Chris Martin * Tracey McTague * Stephen Paul Miller * Feliz L. Molina * Ryan Murphy * Elinor Nauen * Uche Nduka * Urayoán Noel * Akilah Oliver * Geoffrey Olsen * Jean-Paul Pecqueur * Greg Purcell * Elizabeth Reddin * Jerome Sala * Tom Savage * David Sewell * David Shapiro * Kimberly Ann Southwick * Eleni Stecopoulos * Christina Strong * Mathias Svalina * Jeremy James Thompson * Susie Timmons * Rodrigo Toscano * Nicole Wallace * Damian Weber * Max Winter * Sara Wintz * Erica Wright

DANG!

Shelved @ NYC

2008-12-15T17:54:00.002-05:00

Alex Crosier has started a library blog that is wonderful, timely and blooming.

Shelved @ NYC gathers news about New York City libraries, librarians, and library-related stuff. It is not a blog aimed specifically at metadata specialists or children’s librarians or LIS students; it’s a blog for ALL librarians working in this culturally rich—but frequently disjointed and overwhelming—city.

I stole that from the site. It is a very good place to visit.

Top Albums of My 2008 subject to change

2008-12-15T17:23:00.009-05:00

Harvey Milk -- Life...the Best Game in Town

Electric Wizard -- Dopethrone

Steeley Dan -- Aja

Art Ensemble of Chicago -- Les Stances a Sophie

Manuel Göttsching -- E2-E4

Emerson, Lake & Palmer -- Tarkus

Gui Boratto -- Chromophobia

Super Synesthetic Freakout.

2008-12-10T00:25:00.002-05:00

Hello Friends!

I am playing music this Sunday with Sportsman's Paradise!

A seven-man-and-woman-strong army of guitarists will generate a
forty-minute-long blast of psychedelic blissout mash-up with Tibetan
bell interludes.

There will also be four screens of hypnotic and luminescent video
accompaniment.

How does that sound?

It's free (except it's not. You have to buy $10 in food/drink. They
have good burgers.)

It will be loud.

Monkeytown
58 N 3rd St
(btw. Kent & Wythe)
Williamsburg, Brooklyn

Sunday, December 14, 8pm

http://monkeytownhq.com/monkeytownhome.html

Please come!

The Voice of Experience

2008-11-20T12:03:00.002-05:00

My mother is a Senior Case Manager for the Rappahannock Rapidan Community Services Board/Area Agency on Aging in Culpeper, Virginia. She works with seniors to get them services they need, like hot meals, transportation to their appointments or fixing their leaky roof. Her article was recently published in The Voice of Experience, the Board's newspaper. I'm posting it below.

Christmas All Year?
By Toni Browning

As the holidays approach we begin to get the spirit of giving and sharing. We find ways to help the less fortunate; we seek causes to donate to, we give food to the food bank, we may belong to an organization that adopts a family for the holidays. Our children dress up as angels and the school choir they belong to sing carols in the halls of nursing homes or serenade their elderly neighbors. And of course if our elderly Mom or Dad, Aunt Susie or Uncle Bob live far away, we make plans for the yearly holiday trip.

The holiday season for many of us is a happy time, a time of excitement and joy and a time we want to do some selfless act of caring. But what happens after we’ve visited our relatives, helped the elderly neighbor trim the tree, donated all the canned good that have been unused in our pantry all year, provided Thanksgiving dinner or gave gloves to the less fortunate? Is that it? Do we wait until next year so we can get that feeling of joy and giving again?

Let me tell you a story. I used to work in a nursing home in Warrenton. Around Christmas many of the schools wanted to have their classes come to visit the residents, sing carols and give small drawings or presents to the seniors. Other organizations also wanted time to visit with the seniors during the holidays. The activities director who coordinated these events could not accommodate all the groups, clubs and schools that wanted to participate. She explained politely to several of the schools/organizations that the nursing home schedule was full and would it be possible for them to make a visit in January or February? Every one of them refused. A few were indignant that they couldn’t be accommodated. Another caller actually said, “What good would that do us?”

Although we laughed about this comment it was a sad commentary on our times. It is regretful that the spirit of giving does not last throughout the year, that when a person volunteers to help an elderly person put up Christmas lights outside his house, or decorate a tree for their aunt or uncle he or she doesn’t remember to come back a month later to take them down. It is heartbreaking when family members visit their mother or father and do not notice that he/she is depressed or mourning the loss of a good friend who died recently. Often the visiting family act as if nothing is amiss and wave “see you next year,” as they drive happily away, relieved that the visit is over and that they won’t have to do that again until next year.

For some the holiday season does not bring sentiments of joy and celebration. Many of the elderly are going through major life changes, or have health issues. They could be struggling to make ends meet but feel obligated to buy presents. These are situations that need more time to be resolved that a brief holiday visit.

Christmas is a time of giving but why does it have to stop January first? Spread out your good works during the other eleven months. Stop in on a regular basis to see a senior who is living alone. Volunteer at a food bank or nursing home a few months out of the year. Adopt a family in April or July. Sing or dance at the nursing homes in January or May. When you go shopping pick up an extra item for the food bank. Drive an elderly woman to get her hair done. Keep in touch with your relatives and notice any changes in their behavior, their mood or their lack of interest in things that use to make them happy. These are the little acts of caring that make a difference.

I am in no way criticizing all of the good and charitable works done during the holidays. They are generous and most times heart felt. But the let-down many seniors feel after their family drives away, or when they look out the window in June with their Christmas tree lights still winking off and on hoping the neighbor will return, can be devastating.

Small acts of kindness can make a tremendous difference in the lives of some of our seniors; please find the time to accomplish a few of them all through the year.

Trouble With Mapping by Brett Price

2008-11-18T23:53:00.007-05:00

Trouble With Mapping is ready for you.

Tony and I worked all night (10 pm) to nearly, just about, pretty much finish em.

Brett's poems are great.

Every copy has a unique cover.

Get one at Flying Guillotine.

Just Go Eat a Doughnut

2008-11-13T10:02:00.007-05:00

AND listen to me read poems this Wednesday, November 19th, with the amazing Timothy Donnelly, Thomas Hummel, and Nancy Kuhl.

The 2nd Draft Reading Series
7:30 pm at The Roots & Vines Cafe in the Lower East Side

409 Grand Street (at Clinton)

This cafe is very very near the Doughnut Plant, which has the best doughnuts you've ever put into your face. They close at 6:30, so get your doughnuts early and bring me one. I'd like a vanilla bean.

Recentings

2008-11-06T23:23:00.010-05:00

Tony and I are working on Trouble With Mapping.

There's a Multifarious Array tomorrow night. I will see people from most of the parts of my life.

I missed the WEC on Wednesday, but mk kindly DVR'd it for me.

Before, it was Halloween. Alison and I turned these guys

into these guys.

They Are Letting Me Read Poems

2008-10-23T16:46:00.003-05:00

They are quite nice.

So are these.

This Friday!

Why didn't I tell you sooner?

October 24th @ 7 p.m. - Stain Bar - Williamsburg, Brooklyn

with Julia Cohen, Mathias Svalina, Patrick Herron, Brian Howe & Ken Rumble

Click on this for details on the poets.

stain

766 grand street
brooklyn, ny 11211

(L train to Grand Street, 1 block west)
718.387.7840

Hosted by two lovelies: Amy King and Ana Bozicevic!!

That's So Ancient Greece #3 -- ALL NEW

2008-10-23T08:52:00.001-05:00

Check it out.

Mildred Pierce Interview!

2008-10-19T11:31:00.004-05:00

Valuable blackmail details revealed! Tidbits that, brought up in the wrong company, will make me feel ashamed!

My friend Leeyanne Moore interviewed me for the zine Mildred Pierce. Check it out.

Tonight at Keyfood

2008-10-14T20:12:00.004-05:00

I was happy to see tonight that the Keyfood near my house has started stocking experimental fiction. William Gass’s Omensetter’s Luck, David Markson’s Wittgenstein’s Mistress. There was some Ducornet. I even saw a couple of copies of How It Is. The selection isn’t picked through at all. I talked to the manager and he said they would try to keep most of the seminal titles in stock, but you should probably get there soon. I bought their only copy of Nadja, I nearly bought Ubu Roi but I think I have it somewhere.

2008-10-14T20:12:00.001-05:00

2008-10-13T23:50:00.000-05:00

Jahns, Jackson Heights, Queens

2008-10-11T14:34:00.003-05:00

You must go to Jahns.
Photo by Matt Koroghlian. Watch his movies. Do Aerobics.

Another Comic Up at The Foghorn!

2008-10-09T09:59:00.002-05:00

You may have seen it before, but not in this particular swath of cyberspace.

Rope-a-Dope!

2008-09-27T20:55:00.004-05:00

Rope-a-Dope Collective did a lovely yellowy wistful silkscreen print in honor of our August So & So Reading in Boston! And by our I mean Hazel McClure, Aaron Tieger, and me. Listen close to it. There is an ocean breathing in it.

New Comix Up at The Foghorn

2008-09-25T11:08:00.001-05:00

Check out this magazine called The Foghorn.

They just took my That's So Ancient Greece Series!

My Bloody Valentine Last Night at Roseland Ballroom

2008-09-24T11:20:00.002-05:00

It was the best thing I've ever seen.

New Poems In Past Simple (Includes Progenitor)

2008-09-19T08:59:00.003-05:00

Hello Friends! Please enjoy the new issue of Past Simple. Inside are two poems Brandon Shimoda and I wrote, read by my mother, Toni Browning!

Mini-Comic

2008-09-06T11:29:00.008-05:00

This is a cute little number. Upsetting comix you may have seen before collected in a small book made from paper bags and boiled sinew. About 20 pages. Yours for $3 (includes shipping). Let me know if you want one! It seems silly to Paypal it, but there's the option below. Otherwise, just email me your address and I'll mail you one in your mailbox!

sommerbrowning [at] hotmail [dot] com

2008-09-05T14:54:00.003-05:00

2008-09-04T14:58:00.002-05:00

2008-09-03T14:59:00.001-05:00

2008-09-02T14:59:00.001-05:00

So and So Reading Up In Your Boston.

2008-08-20T10:50:00.003-05:00

Do you live in Boston?

Do you find wide waters of viscera worth crossing?

Have you mastered the coma of disintegration and musk, but still yearn?

I am reading poetry this Saturday!!

Saturday, August 23, 8pm

at The Distillery
516 East Second Street
South Boston, MA 02127

I read with Hazel McClure and Aaron Tieger.

Please come!

Hazel McClure wrote Nothing Moving, a chapbook from Lame House press. Her work has been published in Mirage #4/ Period(ical), the tiny, Coconut and Can We Have Our Ball Back. She lives and writes in Buffalo.

Aaron Tieger's most recent books are Anxiety Chant (Skysill Press) and The Collected Typos of Aaron Tieger (Editions Louis Wain). Formerly the editor of CARVE Poems, he now publishes Petrichord Books in Cambridge, MA.

Pleasure Your Ear Holes

2008-08-04T21:08:00.003-05:00

This Sunday expect one of three things:

1.

2.

3. A poetry reading with Mathias Svalina, Julia Cohen, Julie Doxsee and me!

From 2-4pm at Chop Suey Books in Richmond, Virginia.

2008-07-31T09:39:00.002-05:00

2008-07-30T13:58:00.002-05:00

Bicychlamydia Screams this Weekend!!

2008-07-23T16:54:00.005-05:00

You Get On -- It Gets Off!

This short film I helped write is playing Saturday!
(And I won't be there.)

It won first prize at the Bike Shorts screening a few weeks ago.

Come if you dare!!!

What for: The Brooklyn Waterfront Screening Series

When: 3pm - Saturday, July 26th

Where: The BWAC screening room 499 Van Brunt Street, Red Hook Brooklyn

It's the opening day of the Brooklyn Waterfront Artist Coalition's Summer Show. Free movies! Free popcorn! Beer, wine and food by donation!

The screening will also include Jack-of-all-trades by Lisa Kletjian (editor of Bicychlamydia and front woman of Riff Raff).

Most of the filmmakers will be on hand to discuss their work (Andrew!), and there will be hundreds of artists and pieces of art to see in the rest of the show.

BICYCHLAMYDIA is A Back and to the Left Production

Starring: Alison Walsh, Missi Bullock, Christopher Boosahda, Mike Daronco, Elle Kay, Wade Bowen & Kira Rutherford-Boese

Special Effects Makeup: Yukki Nakamura, Niamh Moloney & Jane Rose

Title design: Ron Miller

Director of Photography: Francis Buxton

Edited by: Lisa Kletjian

Written by: Sommer Browning and Andrew Miller

Produced by: Jon Bentley Wiggins

Directed by: Andrew Miller

Now Out With Flying Freaking Guillotine

2008-06-30T12:14:00.003-05:00

X-Ray by Michael Rerick.

Order Here or Email Me

New Study Reveals 2 in 5 People Love Dancing Cat Videos or Love Someone Who Loves Dancing Cat Videos

2008-06-12T15:55:00.011-05:00

BOWLING GREEN, Ohio -- A new study reveals two in five people love dancing cat videos or love someone who loves dancing cat videos. A group of research sociologists at The University of Bowling Green State Ohio College University (go RedCups!) have just completed the two-and-a-half-day long survey of most every human on the planet. "We missed a few people in Bangladesh and St. Augustine, Florida because our dial-up connection was screwballs, but we answered for them as accurately as possible," says Dr. Robert Bob. Survey takers were asked questions such as: Do you love dancing cat videos? Do you know someone that loves dancing cat videos? Am I doing it too hard? The results will be published in an article coming out this July in the Yale Journal of Sociology.

I See Steely Dan in Nineteen Days

2008-06-09T09:13:00.003-05:00

I Haven't Posted in Twelve Years Yet I Decide to Share Some Very Personal Things, or, Julia Cohen Tagged Me

2008-06-04T16:04:00.008-05:00

What were you doing five years ago?

1.) Slinging tater tots at Grill
2.) Hanging clothes out on the line in the backyard of the cutest house I will ever live in
3.) Writing this poem
4.) Sweating
5.)

What are five things (in no particular order) on your to-do list for today?

1.) Get Tito Ortiz to sign my book
2.) Call Ron Miller
3.) Eat dinner (hopefully hamburgers) with mk
4.) Try not to cut my own hair
5.)

What are five snacks you enjoy?

1.) Pork
2.) Beef Jerky
3.) Hamburgers
4.) Bacon
5.)

What are five things you would do if you were a billionaire?

1.) Give money to mk to invent a gun that shoots money
2.) Give money to Cheryl to start some crazy ass school that teaches critical thinking
3.) Buy my mother everything she wants
4.) Learn to surf standing up
5.) Renounce my wealth

What are five of your bad habits?

1.) Thinking I'm still playing GTA4 when I walk down the street
2.) Watching shit ass TV instead of writing shit ass poems about TV
3.) Worrying I'm not worrying enough
4.) Thinking I only have four bad habits
5.)

What are five places you have lived?

1.) In a shack in Church Hill, Richmond, VA
2.) In a shack in Brooklyn
3.) In a shack in Fredericksburg, VA
4.) In a shack in Tucson, AZ
5.) In a shack in Alexandria, VA

What are five jobs you have had?

1.) Waitress at Denny's, graveyard shift
2.) Under quota bookseller at Waldenbooks
3.) Uncomfortable cashier at community pool

4.) Incompetent Richmond dishwasher
5.) Cataloger

Which five people do you want to tag?

1.) Ron Silliman
2.) Mark Horosky
3.) Marjorie Wine
4.) Jennifer Bartlett
5.) Ann Fine