The Land of Antique Weather

I have been trying to attend more cultural events lately, and to support other people who contribute their talent, time, and effort to creating the vibrant scene that brought most of us to New York.

Last week, I went to a reading featuring Happy Baby author Stephen Elliott and another writer. I stayed up very late three nights in a row reading Elliott's second novel, What It Means to Love You. The story was both sad and irresistible, like pressing on a bruise. The literary weblog Beatrice covered the event, and I was pleasantly surprised, natch, to be mentioned in the story.

On Saturday, Bryan and I went to the Konundrum Engine Literary Review poetry reading at KGB, hosted by poetry editor Alex Lemon and featuring Adam Clay, Eric Elshtain, Cate Marvin, and Jon Woodward. I bought a chapbook, "for the Chicago price of three dollars," and was generally dazzled all evening.

At 12:30pm today, the latest edition of the Smart Set, my weekly short list of the most worthwhile events around town, will be up at the literary weblog MaudNewton.com. In the mix: a Bjork-themed costume party, a rare appearance guaranteed to induce riot-like behavior amongst a certain crowd, a Buddhist pop star, a multimedia hipster salon, and a literary happening of my own.