A Reason to Go to Claremont, CA

This summer at the Claremont Museum of Art, Vexing: Female Voices from East L.A. Punk:

Taking its name from the all-ages music club The Vex, once housed within East Los Angeles’ Self Help Graphics and Art, Vexing is an historical investigation of the women who were at the forefront of this movement of experimentation in music, art, culture and politics, while exploring their lasting legacies and contemporary practices.

I watched The Decline of Western Civilization tonight, which served only to remind me that the L.A. punk scene was 90% stupid and/or hate-mongering hacks. Fortunately, X and The Bags were in there (members from each are taking part in Vexing), ably representing the 10% that was awesome.

Gary Phillips At the Memorial Branch Library

The Memorial Branch is one of the Los Angeles Public Library system's smallest, oldest, and most beautiful branches. But lately, they've been pulling out the big guns for their "Meet the Author" series, and proving that you don't need the Mark Taper Auditorium to host a great talk.

We just got back from a Q&A with Gary Phillips, author of The Underbelly, Politics Noir (ed.), Monkology: the Ivan Monk stories, Bangers, Shooter’s Point, The Jook and too many other projects to name.

Phillips discussed his writing process, how he keeps the language and tropes of noir fresh, and Citizen Kang, the political suspense serial he's currently writing at The Nation to an audience that included a group of students from Los Angeles High School.

I'm told that in upcoming months, the Memorial branch library will be hosting talks with writers including Paula Woods, John Shannon, Denise Hamilton, a line-up that should have any fan of L.A. crime fiction doing the happy dance.

I'll post more details when I get the dates, but in the meantime, I can't say enough nice things about the Memorial branch library, and their ability to drag a girl out of her house on a Monday night and show her a nice time. I'll definitely be going back.

Nobody Reads in L.A. Book Club Kick-Off

I suspect Lucinda Williams was not talking about Arturo Bandini when she sang, "Some kind of savior singing the blues/A derelict in your duct tape shoes," but the fictional poet laureate of Bunker Hill is definitely one of L.A.'s homegrown drunken angels.

If you're into the literature of Los Angeles, particularly those downtrodden realms haunted by the likes of John Fante and Charles Bukowski, stop by the inaugural meeting of Nobody Reads in L.A. at Lost Souls next Wednesday, June 13 at 7pm.

The first book up for discussion is John Fante's Ask the Dust, and I hear tell that if you're a "friend of Bandini," Metropolis Books will hook you up with a little discount on this classic.

Also, you can check out photos of the house where Fante wrote Ask the Dust here. The Koreatown duplex at 826 Berendo is currently inhabited by squatters and slated for demolition, but there is a movement afoot to have a historic marker placed there. After all, a section of Berendo is named for another notable L.A. figure, L. Ron Hubbard. It would only be fair to honor the legacy of somebody who was actually cool.

Odds and Ends

- I just finished reading The Road by Cormac McCarthy. Geez... I mean, it's really good, but I have a hard time believing that post-apocalyptic cannibals are among Oprah's "favorite things."
- An interview with Gillian Flynn, author of the sublimely chilling Sharp Objects at Bookslut
- The release party for Elk's Run will be held at Meltdown Comics April 4 at 7pm. An idyllic small town in West Virginia turns to vigilante justice - I can't wait to get my shiny new copy.
- Did you know that the New York Public Library will send you awesome book lists for free? New stuff, stuff that's been featured in the news, and most of all, stuff that hasn't been written about to death. I lurve it.
- This is an older post, but these speculations on what Victoria Beckham's book club could possibly be reading are comedy gold.

Giving Nancy Pearl a Run for Her Money

If you or someone you hold dear will be in the vacinity of downtown Los Angeles this Thursday, January 11, stop by the Central Library, and I will give you your very own pony.

However, if I have run out of ponies by the time you arrive, stick around anyway for "Morris and McCoy On Books," a new monthly book discussion group at Central Library co-hosted by yours truly.

This month, we'll be talking about reading resolutions for 2007, aka, how to read 52 books in a year without hating all incarnations of the written word by April. Lots of fun recommendations, everything from Pinsky to pulp fiction - come on down, it'll be magical.

Central Library - Meeting Room A
January 11, 2007
12:15-1 pm