September 25, 2009
Language is Hell, Says Nico
A few years ago I approached Nico Vassilakis about a book publishing project. This, when Subtext was at the Hugo House and Pilot was nary a twinkle. The details are obscured with age. Nothing ever came of it.
But now, I finally found a way to collaborate with Mr. V.
Pilot Books is proud to host an installation of Nico’s visual and concrete poetry now through November, or thereabouts.
“Language is Hell and Other Concrete Poetry from Nico Vassilakis”
The piece featured above, and the rest of the installation, explores concrete potential in the world of letters and punctuation. In the tradition of Henri Chopin and Sylvester Houedard, Nico’s collection includes both typewriter and rubber stamp compositions. But he’s not shy about innovative new media – composing on the iPod Touch or animating his work to produce silent yet haunting kinetic poems.
I know art shows usually start with an opening, but I’m always a day late, so we’re altering the format here. Our “opening” will be a “closing” so you know about it ahead of time. Brilliant, I know.
Thursday, October 22, 7pm – Come hear Nico read, watch him eat and drink, and perform other essentially meaningless tasks.
September 8, 2009
It’s OK to Lose your Mind
Seattle’s illustrious Intiman Theatre is running Joan Didion’s “The Year of Magical Thinking” now til September 20.
You should go, and you should get $10 off the ticket price, too. I have coupons at the shop if you want to come down and pick them up. Connections, people, it’s all about connections.
“When Joan Didion lost her husband of nearly 40 years, she turned to poetry as she wrote the memoir of her first year without him. Bringing her own acclaimed memoir to the stage, she shares the universality of her experience and the singularity of her voice with all of us in an extraordinary journey into what it feels like to lose your mind—and what it is like to come through to the other side of grief. Judith Roberts stars as one of America’s greatest writers in a shimmering story about loss, and a play about love.”