The Inman Park Squirrel Census is one of the wackiest, and coolest projects I've heard of in a long time. I really encourage you, FB people, to check out the project and if you have some extra monies, toss some their way (AND YOU GET COOL THINGS). This project further proves my rule of thumb: If Laura Straub is involved, it's gonna be stellar!

I Got On A Bus And I Ended Up In Atlanta

Here's a bunch of blah-blah about last week's trip to Atlanta, so that when I'm old or if I get my skull smashed at the Gasmask show, I can remember all that goodness:

- First trip on the Megabus. I say YES to Megabus. Cheap and hassle-free and kinda fun. Had big layovers in Nashville, but who cares? I was downtown by all that silly hoopla (like Robert's Western World, OMG that place was neat, like their Recession Special: Fried Bologna sandwich, chips, and a PBR for five bucks). ALSO ARNOLD'S COUNTRY KITCHEN IS DA BOMB (thxxxxx Layne!). Bus stop next to a Panera Bread (free A/C, free wi-fi, free water, free couch for my butt). Anyhow, yeah, it cost me like 94 bux to go from Indy to Atlanta and back so I'm cooooool with Megabus. (Though the return trip, in the middle of the night, had a less cool bus, overhead lights flickering, lame-o wifi...still 94 buxxxxx!)

- Kat Dixon is a fine fine host. Kat Dixon took me on some cool adventures. Kat Dixon drove me two hours to see roosters. Kat Dixon seemed disappointed I didn't buy one and let it out in a flowerbed. Kat Dixon has cool friends. Kat Dixon went to a reading with me even though she doesn't really like readings. Kat Dixon listened to both mixed CDs I made her and didn't seem that annoyed when I narrated it. Kat Dixon eats only yellow and white food. Kat Dixon has a fun little dog named Pippa. Kat Dixon took me to an old paper mill. Kat Dixon tried to make me hold a bird on my finger. Kat Dixon is cute with animals if you haven't picked up on that. Kat Dixon read poems replacing nouns with "titty(ies)." Kat Dixon made me read one of my poems doing the same. Kat Dixon has an adorable laugh. Kat Dixon told me to try the Sweetwater local beer and it was good. Kat Dixon luvvvvssss Russian Proverbs. Kat Dixon cannot teach her grandmama how suck on eggs. Kat Dixon went to this rad bar The Bookhouse for the first time and I got to be her company. Kat Dixon took me to Los Reyes and there was a mural with a foot in the sky. Kat Dixon showed me where she grew up and told me stories because I like that cheeseball stuff. Kat Dixon picked me up from the bus stop on time and dropped me off at the bus stop on time. Kat Dixon surprised me with mini-Reese's Cups. Kat Dixon isn't very good at Tyler Gobble impersonations. Kat Dixon finally officially met my dear friend Laura. Kat Dixon Kat Dixon Kat Dixon. Kat Dixon will have to forgive me if I leave something out. Kat Dixon is a babe. Kat Dixon is a good poet. Kat Dixon is someone to watch out for, if you know what I'm saying. 

- Laura Straub is absolutely one of my favorite people, every moment a HELLYEAH when I can see her. Got to see her table it up a bit at Artlantis. She rulez with Vouched ATL. She sold out of like 13 titles. SPOOKY AND COOL. I also got to go with her and her hottie hubby Michael and our mutual Muncie-in-ATL-too-for-a-visit friend Rebecca to The Brick Store. I just realized that is the only place I went to on both of my ATL trips recently. COOL. Anyhow, I'm staying with Laura and Michael bunches on my next visit and freaking stoked stoked stoked.

- I had a nice walk from The Brick Store to Kat's apartment, three miles through some district I don't know the name of, and man, some nice unique looking houses up in there. It was nice for my skull to take in a cool place. Which is like the sentence of the trip, if I do say so myself. UH-HUH.

- It's official: Atlanta is the front-runner in the WHERE IN THE WORLD IS TYLER GOBBLE GONNA MOVE TO AFTER HE FINALLY MOVES OUT OF HIS PARENTS HOUSE sweepstakes. Good palz. Go-go-go lit scene. Disc golf I hear is mighty in the surroundings. Nice weather.

- POINT IS: Awesome trip. Great decision. BIG hopes for my next visit in mid-July.

Big Silly Summer Shoulder

Everything you've heard is true, if everything you've heard is that I redislocated my right shoulder. It happened. Last Wednesday, it was the Field Day at the elementary school I work at and we'd just finished the water games and we were moving on to the obstacle course. I was running, playing, laughing, and I think everyone was having a fun time. I slipped and it just popped out, my shoulder, but also the fun time.

It's weird: the first time this happened I was being a total idiotjerksadguy; this time I was being a good human being. HMMMMMM

The last five days have been a fog of GEESH NO DISC GOLF and BOOOO this flops atop the summer road trip and GAHHH Layne moved to North Carolina! and the kids are at the pool and not learning from me, not drawing pictures of bananas and monsters for me.

I can be the most selfish person I know.

Yet, the trip must go on as I must go on. June is gonna get smooshed up a bit. July is gonna stay the same hopefully.

I've been chat-chattering lots with the poet and my dear friend Kat Dixon and we say things like NOW WOULD BE A GOOD TIME TO ADVENTURE TOGETHER. I wanna see if we are mistaken or maybe we are perfectly right. I bought two bus tickets and I'm going to see her in Atlanta on Wednesday. I've never done anything like that before.

Then, my dear WOLF Ashley and I are gonna go to Akron to see our dear Akron pals. I'm gonna make them talk to me about their city for the Vouched blog. I'm reading in Akron on June 8th and in Cleveland on June 9th. I'll probably still be wearing a sling. Still, I want hugs.

Then then, it's back on a Megabus (I hope they are like 25 feet tall!) to head to Chicago for a reading (THXXXXX Russ Woods for helping with that) and to see Japandroids and to hang out with Tadd Adcox for the Vouched Series.

THXXXXX to Joshua Kleinburg for getting me these readings!

Yesterday was like the worst emotional day I've had since January, which is both good and bad, you know?

It's an overwhelming feeling when people want to hang out and let you in their house and show you their city. It's an overwhelming feeling when someone you like wants none of this.

If you've ordered a poem postcard, you'll get it OH YES YOU'LL GET IT. Mondo thxxxxxxxxxxx to everyone who has supported that project. It's unreal coooool of you.

Wow, who even talks like this anymore?

OVER THE TOUR RECAP DUDE

So, so, so I went on that rad three-stop tour with bookmates Christopher Newgent and Brian Oliu, along with the incredible (read: HOW DID WE GET HIM TO COME WITH US) Matt Bell. A bunch of people and entities and webfaces have posted stuff about this wacky trip, so I'm gonna pull together a bunch of that goodness and add some yapping of my own. Okay, cool:

Our days went like (Wednesday big drive to Tuscaloosa and reading), (Thursday day off in Tuscaloosa; Peter Markus/Jenny Boully reading; DJ Oliu dance party!), (Friday drive to Atlanta; incredible Vouched ATL reading with Amy McDaniel, J Bradley, and Melysa Martinez), (Saturday drive to Nashville; chill coffee shop reading), and (Sunday 16 hours on the road; drop Bell off in Ann Arbor, back to Indy/Elwood). I ended up being in a car for like 2000 miles in five days. IT WAS TOTALLY WORTH IT.



Christopher Newgent continues to lift up my literary coolness, steady my shaky idiothead, and be a better friend than most I've ever had. He continues to write super affecting sad stories and short snappy poems. He continues to yell out windows with me and throw his hands in the air with me. He began disc golf with me. He continues to drive me cool places. He is a solid fucking writer, more importantly, dude.


Matt Bell is one of the reasons I do this silly writing thing. He was the first "small press" writer I ever read/knew/met. He gave me my first chance to help with a press/magazine, with The Collagist. Because of geography/busyness, this is the first time we've got to hang out for an extended period of time. He's is one of the most thoughtful men I know, and by far, one of my favorite readers. Cataclysm Baby is bound to be a classic on my fiction shelf (and should be on yours too!). What an honor to get to pal around with him for five days.



Brian Oliu is a legit human being, that versatile creature. He holds it down as a DJ, writes some moving lyric essays, can yap-yap (good yapping) on and on about video games, sports, music, books, etc. etc. etc., and as Matt Bell said, "I still don't know what the Crimson Tide mascot looks like, but it should look like Brian Oliu, because he Roll Tides harder than anyone." This is the second time Oliu has hosted me as a reader and as a friend in Tuscaloosa and absolutely those are some of my favorite readings/nights in recent memories. KEEPS IT REAL is what I'm saying.

All three readings were spectacular in their own way. Tuscaloosa being overwhelming with that amazing MFA program's people coming out and talking and buying books and being nice. Atlanta being incredible, seeing the amazing Laura Straub of Vouched Books ATL do here thing, meeting some rad people (Michael Straub! Melysa Martinez! Amy McDaniel! Jamie Iredell! Kory Calico! ETC!), falling in love with that scene/city. Nashville chilling us out before our big Sunday drive, getting to poemyell in a coffee shop, eating the most expensive personal pan pizza of my life.

Basically what I'm saying is, I'm rejuvenated. Basically what I'm saying is, I'm going to keep doing this. Basically what I'm saying is, my brain and body are still mush from all the fun and words and booze. Basically what I'm saying is, HOW LUCKY I AM TO GET TO DRIVE AROUND AND READ WITH THESE THREE AMAZING GUYS. Basically what I'm saying is, I needed this and it happened. Basically what I'm saying, every person who came to a reading is amazing. Basically what I'm saying is, thank you so much for helping put me back together.

Here's a bunch of stuff from around the web and such that I liked a lot and wanna archive here and maybe you will like it too:

Laura Straub's recap of the Atlanta Reading

Jesse Bradley's recordings of each reader at the Atlanta Reading

Here is my video from that reading


Patrick Trotti did a nice little recap on the Tiny Hardcore blog

My Favorite Pictures from the Over The Top Tour Twitter






My Favorite posts from the Over The Top Tour Twitter

• Matt spends as much time on the phone w/ his wife as his loving Facebook posts would suggest.
• "It's just my spirit animal: enormously cocked dragons."- Matt
• "Let's go to a strip club tonight! We'll put the loose back in Tuscaloosa!"- Me
• Rest area? No thanks! We don't rest; we ROLL TIDE.
• "15yr old girls love sleeping."- Brian
• I WAMT SNUGGLES - Christopher
• Sex Tips By Strunk & White: if you double space after the period during cyber sex, it makes you look old.- Matt

Christopher Newgent's FB recap

1874.3 miles, and I don't have enough space to say all I could possibly say about last week's Over the Top Tour, but a quick spattering of highlights are that Matt Bell gets Seth Rogan voice after a few bourbons, Brian Oliu can keep a dance floor going for hours without the party dropping, playing disc golf in tank tops with Tyler Gobble could easily be a new favorite hobby, Laura Straub is as fantastic a reading series host as you might expect and will climb fences she's too scared to climb if you tell her to imagine a zombie situation, her husband Michael still has one of the best laughs ever, Amy McDaniel is the consummate party host, Michael Martone's to-read shelf has to be full to collapsing and I'm so happy to have my book on that shelf, it's always great to carve out time to laugh with Blake Butler and Jamie Iredell, and the Nashville crew of Todd Dills, John Minichillo, and Chet Weise is ultimately forgiving of 4 dudes crashing into their town and slobbering tired in their coffeeshops, still willing to support our books, to buy us wine and keep a tired conversation moving. Thank you, thank you, thank you to the 3 dudes who made the trip with me, and the hundreds of people who made it what it was. I could never tag you all here.

Brian Oliu FB Post

Happy Easter from a Nashville Airport Hotel! We are singing "Hungry Eyes". 5:30am flight back to Alabama. Gonna miss these dudes. Such a great few days & some really awesome readings.

Matt Bell's FB recap

A short selection of the things I learned this past week: That being a vegetarian in the south is about three times the commitment it is in the north. That the people of Tuscaloosa are great hosts and perhaps better dancers. That Laura Straub is among the best reading series hosts I've seen. That Tyler Gobble is the best part of a tank top. That Christopher Newgent is the only person I have never seen lose at arm wrestling (three bout minimum). That I still don't know what the Crimson Tide mascot looks like, but it should look like Brian Oliu, because he Roll Tides harder than anyone. That when Amy McDaniel invites you into her home she makes a mean vegetarian chili and a meaner chocolate chip cookie. That Jesse Bradley will kindly record your reading and have it posted to the internet before you can finish breakfast the next day. That fewer people will come to a reading in Nashville, but that all of them will come drinking afterward, winning their city some kind of percentage-based prize. That being on a Greyhound and then a car and then a car and then a car and then a car is well worth it, if its with these people, or brings you to them and many more. I'm very glad to be home and awaiting Jessica's return from her own travels, but also very grateful to everyone who made this past week so much fun.

THE FULLNESS OF EVERYTHING THAT IS GONNA HAPPEN WHEN WE GO OVER THE TOP

My chapbook, Goodness is a Fine Thing to Chase, is in an anthology of sorts called The Fullness of Everything, accompanied by a rad short story chapbook by Christopher Newgent and an awesome collection of lyric essays by Brian Oliu. It is out now(ish) from Tiny Hardcore Press.

To celebrate, we are heading out together on a mini-tour next week, along with Matt Bell, whose newest book, Cataclysm Baby, is out now(ish) from MudLuscious Press. We will be hitting Tuscaloosa, Atlanta, and Nashville. GUESS WHAT IM STOKED.

Christopher and I will also be lugging the Vouched Books table along with us, equaling more books which equals more fun, duh!

Also, we want to arm wrestle. I'll also regular wrestle or maybe even fight you if that is what you want. I'm a people pleaser.



Here is more info on each of those dates:

April 4th - Tuscaloosa, AL
Green Bar, 2209 4th Street
w/ Marsha McSpadden & Ashley McWaters
7pm

April 6th - Atlanta, GA
Goat Farm, 1200 Foster Street
w/ J. Bradley & Melysa Martinez
8pm

April 7th - Nashville, TN
Portland Brew East, 1921 Eastland Avenue
w/ Todd Dills
6pm

If you're in the area for any of these readings, I really hope you can make it out. We can laugh and talk about words and probably be pals (at least for a night! Maybe longer!). We will have copies of our book for sale.

If you can't make it to a reading and would like to help out, buy a book, share the Facebook events/flyer, or just say what's up on the web. WE ARE REALLY APPRECIATIVE PEOPLE SO THANX.

In the next week, I'll be blogging here about the two other chapbooks in the collection, my own contribution, and Matt Bell's writing, as well as a mass interview where I've been letting anyone who wants to ask me a question on FB/Twitter do just that and I'll answer them (Also, leave a question in the comments, if you want; it can be about the book, my writing, my life, nothing at all!). Other possible posts include videos of me reading poems from the book in awkward places, picture updates, and other weirdo proof of living.

I LIKE YOU A LOT.