More on the last ITFOW Show

Some videos and pictures have been popping up around the web from the final ITFOW show:



The most ridiculous picture of me I've ever seen. HA.


The last ITFOW song ever: ALASKA


A picture of Kyle and Zack from the Away With Vega set


FOR A BETTER TOMORROW


THANKS FOR ALL THE WONDERFUL YEARS

OH MY GRACIOUS DON'T TELL ME IT'S ALMOST OVER

How many days are in April? Thirty, I think. That's suck because today is the 29th. What am I gonna blog about? Worry later, knucklehead. I've got two more days of National Poetry Month. A Song on the End of the World by Czeslaw Milosz is a biting, tight little poem that does it's thing and I like that thing.

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Last night was the Poets Picking Poets reading at Be Here Now, and MAN oh MAN it was fantatic. Christopher Newgent was there with his Vouched Books table. People bought some books (like me finally picking up Easter Rabbit by Joseph Young). The crowd was a bunch of palz and professors and wo(a?)nderers. I was so pleased.

Ryan Rader was a sweet MC, his good mix of humor, sentimentality, and business.

Layne Ransom opened up the readings with her loudproud goodness and poem where God has a Facebook. That's nice.

Mark Neely brought his calm goodness, not to mention this amazing poem about kicking rats and SO MUCH MORE. He also read Elysia's poem titled "Dominatrix," which begins "I want to force feed you a pigeon." LOLZ.

Elysia Smith has a reading style, this shouting girl kinda thing that I'm digging a lot. She also read a Hoagland poem which made me smile lotz.

Zach Arnett showed the community what he's been hiding. This nice dude has more good words in there, I KNOW IT.

I got to read to my parents and that makes me SO happy.

Christopher Newgent rules mucho, I mean much, I mean so much. Him and his stage presence. Him and his lit presence.

Todd McKinney has one of my favorite reading voices EVER. Get to see him read again Saturday and that'll be nice.

Patrick Collier read his martini haikus and some other haikus and some more martini haikus and a couple of my "On" poems and that was funny and brilliant and humbling. WHAT A GREAT WAY TO END THE NIGHT.

Really, I can't thank everyone, the readers, the listeners, the bar folks, enough for being so welcoming and friendly and patient. A great boom to end this undergraduate career.

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I have a new Smalldoggies post up for the Vouched Satellite, an interview with Micah Ling of Book Punch Reviews.

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Order my tickets for this goodness earlier this week:



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GET STOKED FOR THIS:

What Matters for 500 Pt. II

Stoked Things

Spent all yesterday in Ft. Wayne with major pals like Sara, Tyler F., and Cody D. Big fun watching cool bands like the return of In The Face of War, a comforting set by Frank Schweikhardt, and another killer performance by Husband&Wife. It was a big all day fest (WE DIDNT MAKE IT ALL DAY=MISSED JOOKABOX, though we were there 11:30 am to 10:30 pm.). The sound quality was great, the crowd was cool, the venue was a sweet pizza place called Pint and Slice (AWESOME NAME HUH?).

In The Face Of War is calling it quits on May 7th, a show featuring a Recovery reunion by Away With Vega. I'm not sure I can handle that much stuff in one show. Last ITFOW show + Vega reunion might be the crumpling of me that would last all summer. I'm not kidding.

Husband&Wife has a new album out called Proud Flesh. This was the first time I've seen them since I saw them play at VGR right after the release. Oh gracious, it's rock n' roll beauty. I can't get these jams out of my head like "I'm completely unaware of the market for grumpy old men trapped inside the bodies of 25 year old kids" and stuff like that. One gripe: the liner notes are in webdigs or winddings or dingdongs or whatever you call them, which is like ha funny then annoying because I might be wrong on lyrics and look silly (see above). Anyways, they just released it on LP too. I passed on it last night, but I have a feeling I'll own it soon.

Last night, I realized there is the Mother of All Shows 5 in January with a lot of the same bands. It's in Muncie and cheaper ($6<$10), but still I'm glad I saw this show. I needed that ITFOW set to rejuvenate me for Finals and the possibly lonely winter break.

Next thing to be super excited about: Vouched Presents Matt Bell, Aaron Burch, Sean Lovelace, Andy Devine. I've never seen Matt or Aaron read and both dudes wail on the page, so I'm stoked for that. Also, be nice to see my buddy Matt again and catch up. Also, Lovelace is a cool writer/reader. Also also, I hear Andy Devine is the coolest person anyone has ever met. Also also also, Vouched is a killer thing that my pal Christopher Newgent has started, and I'm lucky enough to be an Online Contributor. YES THANKS.

I've decided no AWP this year. One, the initial (re)interest came from a cancellation of my trip to Alabama at the beginning of April for Slash Pine Poetry Festival as part of an Alabama/BSU exchange, but that's back on. With the location and the money going to that fest, I'm gonna wait until Chicago next year for AWP. I'm sad to be missing Bob Hicok, Kevin Young, etc. and the sweet readings/bookfair, but DECISIONS MUST BE MADE. Thanks to everyone who gave me advice and info on that decision.

Another thing I'm stoked about is Chicklitz. This is a group of female BSU writers who write some fun and cool words. They're putting out a chapbook, doing a reading, and now having this blog. It's nice to see people GO FOR IT.

I'm not sure what this post says. I'm thinking it says that I have a nice life.

GREATEST HITS: AWAY WITH VEGA

I've decided to start a blog series called GREATEST HITS, where I created a best-of playlist of my favorite bands. Woah.

Tattoo Ideas

1) "We are clouds, and terrible things happen in clouds" from Dean Young's Frottage; probably on my side; am I a big enough Dean Young fan for this?; epigraph for one of my favorite collections: Donkey Gospel by Hoagland; Clouds around the letters/behind maybe.

2) The Away With Vega man from the cover of recovery (see below); probably on calf or low maybe my chest; no band name with it though; probably wouldn't hurt much since it wouldn't be filled in, I'm told; maybe cheapest too?; favorite band tribute



3) Disc golf basket (see below); just logo like on Aviar putter; probably calf; have I been a disc golfer long enough? More importantly, am I good enough?