6.05.2013

"Triple Overtime" and more


My art show "Triple Overtime" opens at P-R-I-M-E-T-I-M-E Gallery on June 15th.  Here is the Facebook invite.  Please stop by!



I've been discovering a lot of interesting sports painting on the internet these days.  Here is one of my favorites:



Shouldn't the Basketball Hall of Fame look more like that??


Two writer friends of mine, Jack Christian and Gabe Durham are about to embark on the tour for their first books!  Are they coming to a place near you?  They are reading with phenomenal people everywhere they go!


Lastly, tonight John and I read aloud the first chapter of one of the Wayside School books and several lines were cracking us up.

5.17.2013

3 New Poems in Hobart

Thank You Elizabeth Ellen!

Mike Young suggested I read two books and I loved them!

44541
's review
Apr 16, 13  ·  edit

Read from April 03 to 16, 2013

I hadn't heard of Iris Owens until the night Mike Young gave me this book, and a few pages in I knew she was a legend. Here is the oddness of Purdy and Jane Bowles, and the dreamy inner life of Lore Segal's Lucinella, but this book stands on its own legs, led by the sassiest narrator I've ever met. A bit much at times, and offensive to many, this gem has the most exciting sentences I've read since Gaetan Soucy's The Little Girl Who Was Too Fond of Matches. The descriptions in this book occasionally left me so floored that I had to put the book down and go to sleep.




















BEN LERNER'S "LEAVING THE ATOCHA STATION"
44541
's review
Apr 20, 13  ·  edit

Read in April, 2012

Amazing. Never has a book so deftly shown the petty nature, social calculations, emotional manipulations, whims and insecurities of the human brain than in this book. Hilarious and thought provoking.

The First Two Reviews of MOODS

First at Vouched Books (along with Seth Landman's 'Sign You Were Mistaken'), and then at Cleaver Magazine.  Hurray and thanks!!

1.17.2013

Two New Titles from Factory Hollow Press!

I am pleased to announce that pre-order sales have begun for Seth Landman's collection of poems "Sign You Were Mistaken" and my own collection "MOODS."  Here to celebrate, is a poem from each recorded for Jupiter 88 : A video journal of contemporary poetry.  Seth Landman and myself.  To preorder, click here.



11.17.2012

POEMS, Art Show, Word Game, etc!

Thank you to everyone who showed up to my NBA Art Show at The Rendezvous!  It was fun to watch the Celtics play the Bulls in the midst of all the portraits.  Muggsy and Durant were huge and hanging out near the bathroom.  Jeremy Lin was teeny and flying up the wall.  A fly or two landed on Garnett.  (Pictured left is part of the show which was up in time for karaoke night at the Voo!)


My close friends Max Bean (pictured right, in a painting done years ago by the artist John Hardy) and Mojo Lorwin were in town to visit.  Max is a writer/teacher involved with many political and social movements in New York City.  Mojo is a musician/writer/teacher who recently campaigned and organized for Obama in New Hampshire and played in the nyc based band 'Thunder and Lightning.'  Max taught me a very cool associative word game that Lawrence Detlor (poet and math genius) taught them.  I've already played it with my Flying Object class and my College Writing class at ELMS.


Here are the rules in case you want to try it:

1) One person thinks of a word (typically a noun) and says "one."  They do not say the word they are thinking.

2) Another person thinks of a word (typically a noun) and says "two."

3) The two "speakers" wait a beat and then say "three" in unison.

4) Also in unison (or near unison), the two speakers say their words aloud.

5) Everyone playing (including the two initial speakers) try to think of a word "in the middle" of the two words.

6) When someone thinks of a word that might possibly be "in the middle," they say "one."

7) The game continues until two people arrive at the same word.

You can't repeat the same word in the same game.

Sometimes the same word is arrived at on the second round.  "Plant" "Beer" and then the next two people said "Weed."  "Banana" "Three" and then two people said "Bunch."  Other times, the words circle around each other and it takes 20 rounds to find common ground.


In poetry news, I am thrilled to have poems up at two of my favorite sites of all time, Two Serious Ladies, and C.A. Conrad's amazing Jupiter 88 series (of video poems) along with recent additions to the site: Guy Pettit, Emily Pettit, Seth Landman, Caryl Pagel, and many more!


The four poems at Two Serious Ladies, and the poem on Jupiter 88, are all included in my upcoming collection "MOODS" which comes out this February from Factory Hollow Press.  Here are two early cover ideas for MOODS, neither of which will be the actual cover, but were considered and took up a fair amount of my time.

11.03.2012

NBA Art Show at The Rendezvous (+ More) !


I'm pleased to have my first NBA Art Show, which will be opening at The Rendezvous in Turners Falls, MA.  I have been holed up working on finishing many half started paintings, including this D Rose in Oil.                                                                  


In local writing news, I have purchased Emily Toder's first book of poems, "SCIENCE" and I am very excited to read it!  Here is a poem of hers (taken from the online journal Sixth Finch).  You can order the book here.  


Another exciting book, Dan Chelotti's debut collection "x," is forthcoming from McSweeney's in April.  Advanced copies will be available at AWP in February (Boston).  The cover is being designed by the great artist Ian Huebert.  Chelotti is shown here (left) with Guy Pettit (the poet, dreamer, & creator of Flying Object).  Here are two little excerpts from "x" that I found on Amazon's page:
                                                    The rain says, Listen to Debussy,
go ahead, Debussy will fix you.

—From “Migraine Cure”

The secret to including everything
is to intricately divide your mind
and then, all of a sudden,
undivide it.

—From “Still Life on a Scrolling Background”
Read more of his musings here.

10.22.2012

New Publications

I'm pleased to have a story in the newest issue of the New York Tyrant, alongside great writers like Noy Holland, Mark Leidner, Gary Lutz, etc.  I just got my copy today and I'm excited to read through it!

Also, I'm thrilled to have my story "Iconographic Conventions.." in the new anthology "FAKES" edited by David Shields and Matthew Vollmer.  I have read and enjoyed many of these pieces.  It's so cool to be beside George Saunders, Arda Collins, Chris Bachelder, Stanley Crawford, and other fun writers.


8.20.2012

Summer Update

Last month I was interviewed by Yahoo Sports Blog: Ball Don't Lie about my Basketball Player Paintings.
Ball Don't Lie's Dan Devine asked me how I got interested in basketball, about the Miami Heat Sleepover, and other things.

In early November I will be having my first NBA art show at The Rendezvous, a really cool bar, restaurant, gallery and music venue in Turners Falls, MA.

I'm pleased to announce my poetry collection "MOODS" will be published by Factory Hollow Press in 2013, alongside other great FHP books like Crashdome (by Alex Phillips), and Beauty Was the Case They Gave Me (by Mark Leidner), and the newly published Experiments I Would Like Tried At My Own Death (Caryl Pagel), and forthcoming Sign You Were Mistaken, Seth Landman's masterpiece I have been reading poems from for years.

I wrote a screenplay with the poet/director Noah Gershman.  It is called "The Last Good Car."  Actors Jason Ritter and Mark Webber have attached themselves to the project, and last month they were joined by the amazing actress Kara Hayward (the female lead in Wes Anderson's "Moonrise Kingdom").  Hayward mentions her plans to act in our movie in her interview with the Wall Street Journal's Blog.

The great site Two Serious Ladies showed some of my digital quilts...

Here is the flyer for my Fall Workshop at Flying Object:

5.12.2012

MAY NEWS AND LINKS

Firstly, I'd like to announce the Writing Workshops Emily Pettit and I are teaching this summer.  For more information visit Flying Object.

I started two new blogs in the last two days, one is a site solely for my NBA Paintings.  The other is a selection of art I made at RISD and after RISD.

I am pleased to have two poems featured in the journal Sprung Formal (the Apocalypse Issue), along with Ashley Bellinger, Benjamin Boulier, Brandon Brown, Peter Davis, Marissa de la Pena, Kari Freitag, Madeline Gallucci,  Matt Hart, Jules Izkoff, Anna Kamerer, Mitchell Hugh Kirkwood, Rob MacDonald, Ryan MacDonald, Joshua Marie Wilkinson, Christopher Martin, Will Meier, John Northington, Frances Odim-Loughlin, Annie Raab, Christie Ann Reynolds, Alex Rieser, Zach Savich, Reid Sprague, Sampson Starkweather, Lauren Stookey, Matthew Suss, Scott Sweeney, Paige Taggart, Maureen Thorston, Frederick Vorder-Bruegge, Teal Wilson, Patrick Wolf, and Elisabeth Workman.  The issue can be read or downloaded here.

Here is the cover of Sprung Formal:
 and Here is my flyer for my Summer Workshop, heavily inspired by the cover!:

Tonight, Emily Pettit, local gift-giver and talented author of Goat in the Snow, will be reading at Flying Object (42 West st., Hadley, MA) along with Dan Magers, Steven Karl, and with musical performances by Jono Tosch and Elaine Kahn (Horsebladder).

In June, I am proud to be published in Everyday Genius's first ever "Paper Issue" alongside great friend Lesley Yalen, and many other interesting writers!
Here is Jimmy Chen's great cover for the issue: