Burnside Review...The L.A. Story

Burnside Review L.A...

2008-07-22T17:46:00.000-07:00

...has finally arrived!!! Just picked up the issue from the printer and they look great. They'll go out to contributors and subscribers in the morning. It was a challenging issue, but the end product is as amazing as the process was. This is our 7th issue and certainly the one I'm most proud of.

Hopefully this isn't quite the end of the Burnside Review L.A. experience. I'm working with friend and contributor, Julie Gamberg, on doing a reading to help celebrate the issue this fall (October). We're looking at a couple different venues, but if any of you have any recommendations please send them my way. Also...we can't quite afford distribution, so if you know any L.A. bookstores who might be interested in carrying a few copies, please let me know. We hope to have the issue in as many hands as possible.

I'll pop on here from time to time, as the issue gets reviewed, as the reading approaches, etc., until the L.A. issue's 9 months are up.

Thanks to everyone who read and contributed to the the Burnside Review L.A. Story.

The Issue That Doesn't Want to Be

2008-07-17T18:47:00.000-07:00

It's been absolutely one thing after another with this issue. We still don't have them in our trembling little hands. Hopefully by the beginning of next week and hopefully to the contributors by the end of the week. Many apologies. This is our first time being late, but we're certainly making up for lost time.

The Finish Line is Near

2008-07-02T14:05:00.000-07:00

We just got the proofs back from the printer today. We'll copy edit over the weekend and be back to the printer on Monday. Should have the issue about a week from them and out to all the contributors by the 15th.

Back in Portland

2008-06-10T17:20:00.000-07:00

So Claire and I returned to beautiful and rainy Portland last Thursday. We moved into one of our rental properties and have been going a mile a minute since our return. The place (near Alberta and NE 27th) is bordering on "dump". We already repainted most of the house, torn out the trim, replaced some of the trim and bought some new furniture. Still a long, long way to go.

Because of all this we're running a little behind in putting the issue together. Bill and I are meeting this Saturday to lay everything out. It will then go to our graphic designer. We hope to have proofs for both the contributors and printers in about 10-12 days. Doubtful that the issue will be out before July 4th, but miracles do happen. I beg for your patience.

Waylaid

2008-05-30T15:54:00.000-07:00

Our return to Portland has been delayed by a middle aged bleach blond Laguna Beach woman with a five carat diamond ring who ran her $100,000 Mercedes over Claire's foot on PCH the other day and fractured two of her toes in the three places.

We were supposed to drive two separate vehicles back, but now I'll be driving with the animals, while Claire flies, and some of our stuff is shipped. If all goes well we should be back next Thursday.

Dios Mio

2008-05-21T17:14:00.000-07:00

Claire and I returned yesterday from a wonderful 8 days down in Mexico--a lot of sun, shrimp and tequila.

I've been on the computer almost non-stop since our return. The issue is getting there. I sent out the final round of acceptances and rejections. The issue is going to come out to be over 90 pages, almost 20 pages more than ever before (good news for the our readers, bad news for our bank account). But I think the issue will really be great. I've worked harder on this issue than any issue previous. Regina Godfrey has supplied us with another stunning cover. Bill and I will lay the issue out after my return to Portland (on June 3rd). From there it's off to the graphic designer, then to the printer, then proofs to the contributor's, back to the graphic designer, then finally to the printer. All by June 30th? That's the goal. We'll see.

The poetry chapbook contest is also in full swing. Paul Guest is judging this year and the entries are starting to pour in.

We're also in the process of bringing some new readers on to screen submissions.

Claire and I will be up in L.A. on Friday for our final farewell to the city.

See You Later L.A.

2008-05-03T13:22:00.000-07:00

We're out of here tomorrow. We've sold just about everything there is to sell, just a little packing and cleaning and left. My parents are coming up tomorrow to help us move down to O.C. for May. Unfortunately this week has been a waste. I came back from Big Bear with a stomach virus and was wiped out. It now seems as if Claire might finally be succumbing to it as well.

Here are just a few things I'm going to truly miss about L.A.

1. The Food-Even though Portland thinks it's a food town, it doesn't come close to L.A. I'll admit that as far as fine dining goes it might be a wash, but how often do you spend $100+ on a meal. The $10- or less options here are amazing--every nationality, every American classic, new discoveries on every block, at all hours, everyday. From In N' Out, to Lamonica's Pizza in Westwood, to taco stands everywhere, to Koreatown for bibimbap, to Philipe's for French dips, to Canter's pastrami , chopped liver and coleslaw on Rye, to Pink's chili-cheese dogs, to this little whole in the wall Japanese place in Los Feliz selling pork katsu for $3.60, to empanadas in Venice, the food here is amazing.

2. Hancock Park-Athene and I have spent on average 2 hours a day there, everyday, for the last 6 1/2 months. A wonderful, big, green park, surrounded by the La Brea tar pits. I've never once been hassled for having the dog off her leash. It's full of quiets spots where we can eat sticks and write.

3. LACMA-Claire and I got a membership when we first arrived (we live 6 blocks away). I've been there about 50 times and never get tired of it. They finished construction to the new building in February and doubled the size of the museum. The curators are constantly revolving exhibits (including an incredible one of James Ensor's work currently being shown). I've been working on series of poems based on a number of the pieces there.

4. Amount of things to do or not do on any given day.

5. Only working about 150 hours in the time I was here.

6. My good friend Toby Forrest

7. The number of beautiful women.

8. The sun.

What I won't miss-the traffic (the #1 worst thing out L.A.), parking, our asshole next door neighbor who bumps her fucking music all fucking day, the $$$ of just about everything.

Thank you to everybody who helped make this experience a great one for both Claire and myself. I'll keep updating the blog until the L.A. issue comes out late June/early July (we just got a poem from Ralph Angel!!) We're definitely sad to leave L.A., but who knows, maybe well shall return to stay.

Wrapping Up

2008-04-21T16:49:00.000-07:00

We've been busy around here, trying to get all over L.A. before we head down to O.C. on the 4th, then back to Portland June 1st. We've been exploring downtown (little Tokyo, the Toy and Fashion District, the great French dip sandwiches as Phillipe's), the Los Feliz-Silverlake-Echo Park area (likely where we'd want to live if we're ever to come back, the most Portlandy of all L.A.), a little bit of the beaches, and many areas in between. This last Saturday I was down at my parent's house, taking part in my first Passover seder since my teenage years. Then Claire, the dog (Athene) , cat (Odysseus) and I will be joining my parents, their dog, my sister, brother-in-law, my nephew Jack and their dog, at a rented Cabin in Big Bear this Thursday-Sunday. When we get back we only have a week in the apartment. This makes us both very sad.

We're getting through the last 100 or so submissions for the issue. We took a great poem from Carol Muske-Dukes and are trying to figure out a way to include a wonderful, but very long poem (likely 18 pages in our format) from Amy Gerstler. David St. John got his promised poems to us this week. This will truly be an all-star issue.

Santa Fe

2008-04-11T14:51:00.000-07:00

For my birthday last week, Claire and my parents surprised me with a trip to Santa Fe. Claire and I got to spend three lovely days in the city. Even though I lived in Flagstaff for 6 years, it was my first time traveling there. It's an amazing and unique place; nothing but adobe houses, really great food (green chile every day!!), more galleries then anyplace I've ever been, beautiful landscape and amazing hiking.

We're down to about 3 weeks here in L.A. Something has happened to Claire and myself that we would have never imagined...we're sorry to be leaving. L.A. has far exceeded our expectations. Our lives are sitting in a 10 x 10 storage unit in Portland, so we need to go back. We're going to give it a year or so back home and then reaccess, hoping to be able to clearly see where our hearts truly lie. We're spending our free time exploring the city, finding all the great little pockets. Tonight we head to Koreatown with my sister, her husband and a couple of his Korean friends. I predict lots of Soju and barbecued meats.

My Reading This Saturday

2008-04-04T09:56:00.000-07:00

For any of you in the L.A. I hope you'll come to my reading this Saturday. I'll be sharing the stage with fellow L.A. poets Marlys West, Julie Gamberg and Vandana Khanna. Here's your chance to switch positions and judge my work (I only ask that you keep the booing and hissing to a minimum as it's the first time my whole family will ever see me read). The reading takes place at Metropolis Books (downtown 4th and Main), 4:00 p.m. Admission is free. I'll have some issue of the Burnside Review to hand out for free (a blatant bribe).

Oh yeah, poetry

2008-03-31T10:52:00.001-07:00

Seems as if the world of poetry has gone less noticed here lately.

I went to a good reading on Friday night at Beyond Baroque. The readers were Sarah Maclay (who read from her new book The White Bride), Stephen Kessler and Ralph Angel. Ralph Angel has a very strong following down here, though I admit that I didn't know all that much about him. He was wonderful. His poems are sparse, smart and heart breaking. He also translates Lorca, and read a few of those pieces (he's also promised a few for the issue!). I had a nice talk with him after the reading. He suggested that we meet for coffee in Pasadena.

Today is the final day to submit for the L.A. issue. We still have a ton of work to go through. Last week we took poems from Suzanne Lummis, Mary Armstrong, Larry Colker, the above mentioned Sarah Maclay and Deborah Meadows. A few more acceptance notes will go out this week.

Somthing About This Place

2008-03-28T17:16:00.000-07:00

So they finished up shooting over at the park yesterday (I walked past Will Ferrell!). There's this older musician that sets up everyday of the week by the entrance to the La Brea tar pits with his guitar and banjo. He plays old folk songs targeted at the kids (and thus their parents) who frequent the museum. As I was leaving yesterday, I walked by him as usual, except this time he had hit the big time. Apparently the director had become smitten with him over the course of the week and decided that they needed him in the movie. There was a girl micing him up and getting him pretty, as others lit him.

L.A. effects you in that weird way. I've walked past dozens of movie/t.v. shoots since I've been here, lots of photographers. There's almost always that little wiggle in the back of the brain that says "well maybe they'll notice me". They haven't (except for my tremendous extra work earlier on this year). Not even the dog (who's cuter then me). But the thought (is it vanity?) is kind of exciting.

I went to see Bob Mould (of Husker Du fame) across the street at the El Rey a couple nights ago. I pray that I rock as hard when I'm his age.

A Different World

2008-03-25T18:42:00.000-07:00

They're filming some the Land of the Lost movie down the road from our apartment, at the Park that connects the La Brea tarpits (fitting) and LACMA. Also the park where the dog and I go twice a day. I was a fan of the Sid and Marty Kroft t.v. show, especially the Sleestacks and Chaka. Will Ferrell is staring in the movie. I was just a few sips into my coffee this morning when I passed Bob Balaban (he's been in most of Christopher Guest's movies, the old drama teacher in Waiting for Guffman and the guy in charge of getting the space ready for the Mayflower Dog Show in Best in Show) on his way to film a scene.

Congratulations Pedro Ponce

2008-03-24T11:02:00.001-07:00

Aimee Bender has named Mr. Ponce and his fiction collection, Superstitions of Apartment Life, as the winner of the 2nd Annual Burnside Review Fiction Chapbook Contest. Pedro won $200- and we will be publishing his chapbook this summer.

Our 4th Annual Poetry Chapbook Contest started last week. Paul Guest is this year's judge. The contest runs through June 30th. All the details are on our website.

Bad Words and Juicy Beef

2008-03-17T16:29:00.001-07:00

We went to a reading late yesterday afternoon at cool bar down on La Cienega, The Mandrake. Unfortunately, the reading hosted by Black Clock was a bit of a snoozer. The theme of the new issue is travel. But the pieces hardly seemed to fit within the theme, certainly not on a literal level and barely on a figurative one.

The good news is that we had some fabulously delicious cheeseburgers afterwards at the Apple Pan on Pico. Old school place, tiny menu, top notch food, just how we like it.

Salon

2008-03-16T10:00:00.001-07:00

Not the beauty kind, although I could use a visit there, haven't had a hair cut in a while. One of these kinds: salon. Chris Davidson hosted it at his house down in Seal Beach. There was beer and wine, a house full of creative types and four presenters. There was a really great painter (whose name I can't even come close to remembering, maybe somebody will remind me), a musician (kind of had a Sondre Lerche thing going on) and two poets. Jeff Lytle just moved to Portland. This is his website, The Peter Principle, kind of an interactive poetry project. He presented the site through a projector and let the crowd navigate through the poems. Cody Gates, down from San Fransisco, read from his really beautifully designed new chapbook, At Bernanke's (I think that's right, if not please correct me).

Thanks to Chris for inviting me, it was a good time.

Options

2008-03-13T16:12:00.001-07:00

Three good events going on tomorrow night: Matthew Zapruder is ready out in Palm Desert, Chris Davidson is hosting a salon down in Long Beach, and the MFA students from Cal Arts are reading at Skylight books. Gas being $3.63 a gallon down here is a major deterrent when deciding to get out of the city. But it's nice to have options.

Glorious, Glorious Sun

2008-03-07T09:45:00.000-08:00

Today is one of those days that makes me think, "screw Portland."

My new state of unemployment might also have something to do with my good mood. A lot of people say that they can't not work, that they'd go crazy from the idle time. I am not one of those people. I think royalty would have been a good gig for me. Not to be king or anything with major decision making involved. Maybe a prince, like 10th in line to the crown. Live in a smallish castle on a little tucked away parcel of land with a couple servants.

Anyway...today is beautiful, about 75 and clear. Claire, the dog and I spent yesterday in Malibu. We went to the beach and then ate copious amount of fried seafood at Neptune's Net.

2008-02-28T19:40:00.000-08:00

I only have another few days of work to go (big smile). I'm going to be spend the rest of my time down here enjoying the sun, finishing up my manuscript and attempting to get the issue wrapped up. After 4 months down here I feel like I'm finally talking to the right people and getting a lot of good work. We just took poems from Stephen Yenser, Ronald Koertge and Colette LaBouff Atkinson.

I'm going be reading with Julie Gamberg, Maryls West and Vandana Khanna on April 5th at Metropolis Books in downtown L.A. I'll report the specifics as the reading gets closer.

So Ill.

2008-02-25T17:51:00.000-08:00

I was out for the count last week. A ear infection which plagued the whole family had me on the ropes, them some sort or flu sent me to the floor. I literally got nothing accomplished, missed to 2 good readings, and still can't taste food. Things seem to be turning around today, but I don't want to get too cocky.

Beyond Baroque

2008-02-17T09:10:00.001-08:00

Last night marked my first trip to Beyond Baroque, the 40 year old literary arts center in Venice Beach. Just about everybody has read there at some point, from Ashbery to Levine to Carver. Last nights reading was in honor of Suzanne Lummis, a long time teacher and organizer in Los Angeles. There were about eight readers who all read one of her poems and then one of their own. The place was packed, standing room only. For the first time in a L.A. I saw a real literary community, and a strong one, way stronger than anything we have in Portland. Most of the readings and workshops that take place there are free. Free. The instructors are successful teachers and poets and they seem to be turning out some good poets. (Most of the readings last night were actually good.)

In Portland you can go take a workshop at The Attic if you want to dish out over $300. And while they do pack them in, I think it's because there are no other options. They never host readings, I never hear of them doing any free events within the community. I think that there's room for something like this in Portland. I think the $$ could be raised either privately or publicly. Give me another head and another set of arms and I might give it go.

Mr. Romance

2008-02-15T17:58:00.000-08:00

Claire and I had a romantic dinner last night at the In-N-Out on Sunset. Not many better ways to spend an evening. Earlier we went to the Ace Gallery (literary 1/2 block away from our front door). There currently and amazing installation, "Bees and Meat" by a woman named Lauren Bon. Unlike anything ever. My favorite piece is kind of hard to describe, but here goes: so there's this lamb carcass (the wool and head are used in other pieces) that's kind of speared by a eight foot long metal pole, the pole is vertical, hollow and fits into a box, the top of the pole has something like akin to a giant shower head attached to it...then the honey. There's a pump somewhere that pumps the honey up the tube, where it kind of slowly streams out of the "shower head" and onto the lamb carcases, then after doing all kind of crazy things on the carcass, drips down into the box to start all over. The exhibit has been running for a while now, so the honey is really light in color from all the air that been incorporated. The room smells extremely sweet. There are a number of other really cool things as well, including a giant room full of millions of corn kernels that we're grown in a 32 acre plot of land in downtown L.A.

We just found out today that we won a small grant from the Oregon Arts Commission. We're very appreciative. Martha Ronk sent us 3 terrific poems that were excited to include in the L.A. issue.

Oh Portland.

2008-02-08T19:26:00.000-08:00

Looks like we've settled on June 1st as the return date to Portland. I think we'll be ready by that point. There's certainly a lot to like about living here-mainly the proximity to my family, but also the weather, a lot of good people, and all the other exciting things that a big city allows. But neither Claire nor I have found much happiness with either of our jobs (I've come to hate downtown L.A. businessmen. They redefine egocentricity and cheapness!). And the economic realities down here are a little too much for us, the never a 9-to-5'ers. The both of us will take at least April off of work to just run around the city. Then in May we'll be spending two weeks traveling up the east coast from D.C. to Montreal.

In other news...we had pig brains for breakfast. Claire came home from work the other day with the head and trotters of a suckling pig. While I am a lover of kinds of crazy food, offal, all kinds of stinky fish and cheese, etc., I have to admit that the brains were fairly gross in just about every way imaginable.

I just finished transcribing the Wanda Coleman interview. While I have to pair it down some, my impression is that the end product will be very interesting. It will be unlike any interview that we've ever published.

Back to L.A.

2008-02-04T21:14:00.000-08:00

Back from AWP. It was a great experience and if all goes well throughout the upcoming year we'll be in Chicago in '09.

The venue was huge, we kind of got a crappy spot for the table (on the 3rd floor, toward the back corner), the days we're long (9 hour a day), yet it was a lot fun. Around 20 past contributor's came by the table to introduce themselves and it was great to put a face with a name. I met a lot of other independent journal editors and got share stories of struggle. Leslie Jamison (winner of last year's fiction prize) sat and signed with us. Unfortunately, Laurel Snyder (who was scheduled to sign with us) couldn't make it. Lots of disappointed fans dropped by the table. Fellow Portland B.T. Shaw was there signing her hot off the press Blue Lynx winning book, This Dirty Little Heart (I got a signed copy). We sold quite a few current and past issue. There were lots and lots of nice words in appreciation for what we do, which is always wonderful to hear. A lot of focused on our always appealing size and aesthetic (which our amazing graphic artist, Regina Godfrey, is largely responsible for).

NYC was cold. My room was incredibly small (about 7'x8). The food was as mouth watering as always (with the exception of the stuff at convention center) and deserves it own entry. Virginia's company was fantastic. The give aways were ample (my suitcases almost weighing as much returning as going). Next year Bill Bogart is going to be there with me, even if I have to shoot him with a tranquilizer dart, stuff him in an extra long duffel bag and put him on the plane.

Off To AWP

2008-01-29T11:05:00.000-08:00

I leave around 6:00 am tomorrow morning, lugging with me about 120 copies of the last 3 issues, about 75 chapbooks and T-shirts (avoiding the ridiculous AWP shipping costs). Naturally, I pinched a nerve in my neck yesterday and can barely turn my head.

We're at table 477 in the Americas Hall II. Issues and chapbooks will be one sale for only $5-. Make sure to come by say hello if you're there.

Showtime

2008-01-22T21:53:00.001-08:00

One of my oldest friends called me up at 6:30 last night saying that someone had give him four tickets to the Laker game. I hopped on the bus and we walked in at tip-off. 4th row! Great seats across from the Laker's bench. They won fairly easy. Beers were only $10.50 a pop. Noticeable star sightings included, Flea, Joel Silver and B-Real. I ended up in Santa Monica, with people annoyingly drunk who got kicked out of the bar we were in. Claire had to come rescue me.

These Days

2008-01-18T20:34:00.000-08:00

We only have 1 vehicle and most nights Claire takes it with her to work. And while most Los Angeleans would say that man without a car in this city is like parrot inside a cage within the Amazon forest, I've come to enjoy it, it's a different kind of freedom. My new favorite pastime is having 2-3 drinks, then talking long walks while listening to melancholy music on the ipod. I usually walk through The Grove, Farmer's Market, up Fairfax, on Beverly, sometimes up and down Melrose or La Cienega. The people always beautiful. I've been listening the usual kind of stuff, Leonard Cohen, Kinks, basically anything Wes Anderson has ever put on a sound track (Simon & Garfinkel's "The Only Living Boy in NY, Nico's "These Days"). But also Pedro the Lion, The National's new excellent album, Okkervil River, and my super duper favorite, Songs: Ohia's Magnolia Electric Co. The movement combined with the contradiction of sight and sound is very enjoyable, invigorating even.

Getting Ready

2008-01-17T17:09:00.000-08:00

I leave for AWP in less then 2 weeks. We're (Virginia Mix will be assisting me) at table 477 in the Americas Hall II. Make sure to drop by and say hello if you're going to be there. The current and past issues will be on sale at a reduced price. Shipping prices are freaking ridiculous, so I'm cramming my suitcases full of issues and trudging them through the New York winter. Our table will be about as bare boned as possible. I'll have to wear extra eye make-up to pretty things up.

We just took poems from Christopher Buckley and Tony Barnstone for the L.A issue. I just heard from Martha Ronk and she promised some work.

Alice Fulton...

2008-01-10T20:57:00.000-08:00

...just read tonight at the Hammer Museum. The space the reading was in was a lot better than when I saw Terrance Hayes read there. Instead of a movie theater type setting, the it was held in this large, somewhat industrial room (exposed beams and concrete).

The reading seemed rehearsed to me. She had very long introductions to every poem and each one seemed rehearsed, formal, anything but conversational. Three of the poems had musical accompaniment. She's been working with the electronic musician Joseph Klein on a number of collaborations (he wasn't there, the recording played as she read). I was very skeptical as she was describing them, but they actually ended up being my favorite pieces. While most of the poems she read were about personal experience and were written in the first person, I found the poems to be impersonal (I need at least a smidgen of sentiment in my poems). I don't know her poetry well and am not commenting on her work in total, just what I heard tonight. She does however have a wonderful reading voice. I asked to come over later and read to me before bed, but she politely declined.

California Eating

2008-01-07T16:38:00.000-08:00

Claire treated me to dinner last night at Lucques. On Sunday they do a 3 course dinner. The restaurant is beautiful (it was the Harold Lloyd's carriage house) and the food and wine were great.

Claire flew out to Oakland with two other lady cooks from Lucques today, to go to dinner tonight at Alice Water's Chez Panisse. It's been a long time dream of Claire's to eat there and Alice will be there tonight and Claire will very likely have the opportunity to meet with her.

The Wanda Coleman Interview

2008-01-05T20:54:00.000-08:00

I met Wanda Coleman and her husband, poet Austin Strauss, today at Jerry's Deli in Marina Del Rey. We sat down and did the interview over a rueben and a cup of coffee. She was terrific, open and honest, full of insight in regards to L.A., it's history, the world of poetry here over the last 40 years, etc. I haven't sat down and listened to the recording, but I my sense is that it will translate well to paper. I stayed away from the obvious questions (the Maya Angelou interview) and focused on L.A. She's sending some new poems and a short piece of fiction this week.

Irresponsible Blogger

2008-01-02T19:30:00.001-08:00

It's been a busy couple of weeks, between Christmas and New Years, lots of family and friends in town. Regular posting should return within the next couple of days.

Daphne and Jim

2007-12-27T20:35:00.000-08:00

Slow in the world L.A. poetry.

In other news...we'll be doing a third printing of Laurel Snyder's Daphne and Jim next week. We just sold out...again. She's going to be signing copies for us at AWP on Saturday from 1-2. This will likely be the last run. There's been talk about possibly doing a limited edition version, something super high quality. Purely speculative at this point. She's been amazing to work with over the last couple of years. Her full length collection The Myth of Simple Machines came out a couple of months ago from No Tell Books. You should by it.

Misc.

2007-12-21T10:15:00.000-08:00

I went to Skylight Books for the first time yesterday. Nice bookstore, with a good amount of journals and magazines. I picked up the new Conjunctions. The thing is beast, coming in at over 450 pages. About half of is dedicated to an aviary theme (birds are very in right now), the other half being a John Ashbery tribute. I've got through about 50 pages so far, mostly fiction, and am impressed with the work (although the long Anne Waldman poem is a struggle). I can't come close to imagining putting together an issue that large. We struggle with 70 pages.

Yesterday was also cause for minor celebration, I wrote the first draft of the last of the Dot-to-Dot, Oregon poems (John Day Fossil Beds). That makes 50 poems. Currently 31 are complete, 4 or so are really close, and the others are the others. 7 have been either been published or are pending (here are 2). I'm hoping to everything done by June. The most exciting part is knowing that I finally get to write about something other than Oregon.

You Know When Portland is Officially the Place You Belong...

2007-12-19T12:23:00.000-08:00

...when it rains in Los Angeles and you get homesick.

My Ears Are Still Ringing

2007-12-16T00:00:00.000-08:00

Beside the weather, the best thing about L.A. has to be the amount of stuff to do on a daily basis. I just returned from the Les Savy Fav show tonight, literally 100 steps from our front door at the El Rey Theater (amazing show, if you ever get the chance to see them...). This afternoon we went to the farmer's market in Silver Lake (there are multiple farmer's markets every day of the week. And we're talking good stuff, i.e., local, organic, beautiful quality. Not to mention the one today had an amazing pupusa stand). A couple nights ago we went to see some improve at the Upright Citizen's Brigade Theater (only $5-). Last night I went to some photo exhibit at Von Dutch (my buddy Toby who I went to college with, is a artist in residency with them. I've been a there a few times now...it deserves a post of it's own).

While a lot of it requires $$$ and a traffic riddled car ride, the options are wonderfully novel.

Public Transportation

2007-12-12T20:54:00.000-08:00

Because gas costs what it does and because I can't park downtown for less than $6- a day, I take the bus to and from work everyday. The 20 or 720 takes you on a straight shot down Wilshire into downtown. I pass through some interesting areas like Alvarado Street and Koreatown. The bus is kind of the opposite of a popularity contest, meaning that it's not so much who you want to sit next to, rather who you really don't want to sit next to. And trust me when I say that there are some crazy motherfuckers riding L.A. Public Transit. Everybody says "Well you must get some interesting material." Using that line of reasoning, it's easier to understand Bukowski.

The interesting thing for me is personal. I'm usually the only white dude on the bus. The experience is so far removed from anything one can experience in Portland, and one of the main reasons that we came here. I'm sure this all comes off as very naive, but for the majority of my life I've lived in places like Portland, Flagstaff, the suburbs of San Fransisco, the O.C. and Honolulu. And even though I've traveled fairly extensively, the concept of being the minority has never been part of my day to day life (except for being Jewish, which is fairly easily hidden. And in L.A. it's anything but a minority, more yamulchas around here than churches!). I think it's important. I enjoy it.

I also need to apologize to the L.A. Public Library. After spending an ample amount of time there over the course of the last week, I have found a rather extensive poetry selection. I will not apologize in regards to my comment about the abundance of rancid, stinky, snoring folks there. My original assertion was correct.

Life

2007-12-11T09:23:00.000-08:00

It seems as if normal life is upon us. Routine is here. For the first 6 weeks or so, we were so bright eyed, everything was so exotic. But now we're working, grocery shopping, paying bills. etc. All in all, I think we like L.A. more than we thought we would (don't worry Portland, we still love you).

The amount of poetry events has dwindled lately. When I first got here, it seemed as if there was an interesting reading almost every night. Now it's hard to find one a week. It's likely due to this time of year, Christmas, etc. Hopefully things will pick back up after New Year's.

L.A. Public Library

2007-12-06T20:27:00.001-08:00

Been hanging out at the L.A. Public Library between shifts. If appears as if the person in charge of the poetry section died in 1952 and was never replaced. A decent array of anthologies and essays, but not much else. Zzyzyva and The Threepenny Review make up the contemporary small press literary journal section. But the library makes up for any shortage of poetry with an ample amount of dirty men obscenely snoring away on the comfy chairs.

Employment

2007-12-05T09:40:00.001-08:00

After 3 wonderful months of unemployment, I am back in the saddle again, waiting tables at a fancy restaurant in downtown L.A. I'm only working lunches and have the weekends off, so it doesn't get much better.

Downtown is kind of interesting, and a place no one ever talks about when L.A. comes up. There seems to be a big revival going on down there, tons of new construction-lofts, restaurants, shops, theaters, etc. Up until recently it's been fairly sketchy, a huge homeless population. It's a straight bus ride down Wilshire for me, so it's easy and I get a new part of town to explore.

Coming Along

2007-12-02T13:30:00.000-08:00

Momentum has been gaining as far as the L.A. issue goes. More and more submissions coming in.

This week we took poems from William Archila, Caley O'Dwyer and Leslie Harrison. I was in touch with Wanda Coleman, and will likely be sitting down to do the interview in a month's time.

In other news...it rained two ago...it made us homesick. But don't worry about us the sun has reappeared and the temperature is back in the 70s.

Going Hollywood, Con't

2007-11-29T10:14:00.000-08:00

While I can't really say that I'm a star yet, the wheels definitely seem to be in motion.

The name of the movie is "3 Days Gone." I'm not sure if it's going to be released in theaters or not, but my guess would be that it might be a straight to DVD kind of thing. The shoot was at the The Mint, a rock club on Pico. The first three hours involved me sitting around, grazing off of the craft service table (a little disappointing, mostly just heaps of candy and chips, Red Bulls and Cokes), talking with the four other extras, and eavesdropping on the producer's conversations. The ad that I responded to said that we were going to be in a scene acting as patrons of strip club. But to the disappointment of both myself and my fellow male extras, the scenes with the strippers were shot without our involvement (although the trailer they were hanging out in was right next to where we were waiting). After a couple of hours the director and his underlings lined us up, huddled, pointed, conversed and decided. 3 extras were taken for one scene, another (Jonathon) and myself for a later scene. I sat around some more. Our scene ended up being the last one shot last night. Jonathon and I stood on the corner outside of the club. I was smoking a cigarette (literally the first one I had even inhaled in over 10 years). The star of the movie runs over to us, shows us a picture of girl that he's looking for, we say we haven't seen her, then he runs off. 5 takes in 2 minutes. I was done. The director said that the scene was definitely going to make it in.

All in all I have to say it was a good experience. Everybody was really nice, there were no big egos, and in a year or so when the movie comes out I'll have something to bore every person that ever walk in to our house with.

I took my big earnings for the day and went out to dinner with Claire at Pizzeria Mozza, Mario Batali's place on Melrose. The food was good, maybe not great. But Danny Devito, Rhea Perlman, and Jamie Kennedy were all there. So that was pretty cool and really rounded out my Hollywood day.

Going Hollywood

2007-11-27T18:46:00.001-08:00

To insure that my L.A. experience will be complete by the end of spring and it's time to go home...I got myself a extra role in some low budget movie. The shoot is tomorrow afternoon at some bar on Pico. I'll report back tomorrow night.

Workshop Redux

2007-11-24T17:53:00.000-08:00

I'm in a workshop for the first time in since grad school. Months ago (after deciding that we would move down here in the fall) I responded to a listing on Craigslist, something like, "post MFA poet looking to begin weekly workshop", etc. I responded by saying that I wasn't around, but would be in a few months, can I look contact you then. I met with them for the first time a couple of weeks ago, I liked them, I guess they liked me, and today I went for the first time. It's a group of 5 (six with me), all women, all well accomplished, meeting every Saturday.

Dot-to-Dot, Oregon, is about 18 months old now. I've become so close to some of the poems, that I feel I can no longer see them for what they are. I got some really terrific feedback today on my Astoria poem. It's nice to actually talk about poetry, beyond "yes" and "no" for a change.

Writers and Turkeys

2007-11-21T11:12:00.001-08:00

Tomorrow will be my first Thanksgiving spent with my entire family since I was 20 years old. There will be 13 people at my parents house. Claire and I are doing the turkey (a 18 pounder). We butterfly it, than roast it super hot, the fat drips down into the dressing (challah and sausage) below. Mmmm. And it takes less than two hours to cook.

Things are starting to happen with the L.A. issue. We got a story from Aram Saroyan and poems from Charles Harper Webb, Caley O'Dwyer and Christopher Davidson. I just got word from Tony Barnstone who promised sonnets. He also is helping to spread the word. Unsolicited poems and stories are coming in. Still hoping to get work from Martha Ronk, David St. John and Kevin Moffitt.

Nicholas Reading's chapbook is at the printers and should be back by tonight. They're on sale now for only $5- on our website.

Bad Times

2007-11-19T09:58:00.000-08:00

A majority of editors these day (myself included) seem to have listened to their mothers too closely when they said "if you don't have anything nice to say..." It's rare that I print anything negative. But the Red Hen reading I went to last night was brutal. It was listed as "Red Hen Press presents a release party and reading for Soft Skull Press's new anthology, Saints of Hysteria: A Half-Century of Collaborative American Poetry."

I like Soft Skull Press and a lot of their authors (I didn't know how they were connected with Red Hen), so I thought it might be worth checking out. Apparently the editors of the anthology asked Kate Gale (editor of Red Hen) to work on a collaboration. Gale asked Terry Wolverton to work with her on the project. So the reading was loosely based on the poem that the two had in the anthology. As far as I know there wasn't anyone there from Soft Skull.

1st off, the venue was horrible, a coffee shop, with tons of background noise, an inoperable mike, and street noise off Sepulveda coming through the open doors. Gale introduced Wolverton who read a few pieces out of the anthology--her own piece, a Kerouac/Ginsberg collaboration, a couple of others. The audience was made up of a large group of her students from Writer's at Work (a workshop series she created). The reading was patronizing in a way I had never experienced. Her over animated reading of the poems, her introduction of Kerouac, her stopping mid poem to tell a worker that his actions were distracting, were all very off putting. The next reader was a former student of Gale's, Jamey Hecht. Red Hen is publishing his first book of poetry (does something seem wrong about that?). The book is 5o sonnets based on the Zaprunder films. In and of itself, the concept could be interesting, but he combined the film with his fervent theories of the JFK assassination. The poems were over the top, theatrical, smug, ridiculous. Many poems written with Kennedy as the speaker. By the time that the next reader came on we were spent. We listened to his first poem as he walked through the audience screaming and then walked out (something I can't ever remember doing before).

Hammer Series

2007-11-16T10:34:00.001-08:00

I heard Terrance Hayes read last night as part of the Hammer Series. I first learned of Hayes after reading his poem "The Same City," which is about as good as anything I've read in a while. The venue seemed kind of off to me. He read in the movie theater of the Hammer Museum. The room is pink all over, with the these long, thin fluorescent lights all around. Around 300 seats, which around 50 were full (likely the most beautiful poetry listening crowd I have ever seen, mostly UCLA students). It seemed a little too dark (even with the lights) and stuffy in mood.

Stephen Yenser did the long introduction. It began kind of slapstick, as he hunted for his notes for minutes (at one point leaving the stage and theater to go try to find them). But as soon as he started speaking the tone went directly to academic, comparing Hayes to Marianne Moore (it was her birthday yesterday). It went on endlessly. Even though Hayes teaches at Carnegie Mellon I would not consider him an academic poet and as soon as he got on stage the mood shifted. Hayes is engaging, with the kind of voice that I wish came out of my mouth when I read my work. But he wasn't prepared either, thumbing through his books and papers for the whole reading, having no real idea of what he was going to read next. I like him and his poems for the most part, but something about the night was off for me and I never quite engaged myself fully.

The best part of the night came when I went to Tom Bergins for the first time. $6- dollar Irish Coffees is a deal in this town. The bar is the kind of place I can see myself returning to all too often. I sat and watched the Ducks blow their season.

Luna Park Review

2007-11-13T14:45:00.000-08:00

It doesn't get much better than this.

In other news:

Today in L.A.: 82 degrees and cloudless.
Today in PDX: 53 degrees and raining.

Burnside at Wordstock

2007-11-12T17:02:00.000-08:00

I flew in late last night from PDX after a non-stop weekend. Things were hectic, but everything went extraordinarily well. Mountain Writer's donated part of there stage to us (thank you Sandra Williams) , allowing us to bring a large number of our writers, including: Alberto Rios, Linda Bierds, Robyn Art, Carlos Reyes (reading Emma Howell's poetry), Pauls Toutonghi, Michele Glazer, Rebecca Loudon, BT Shaw, and many more. The readings were great and well attended (over 50 people at a 10:30 am on Sunday!!). Bill held things down at the booth with help from Regina, Virginia and Alisha. After the cost of the table we even netted enough profit to afford two burritos, a tank of gas and a few cups of coffee.

Just got word from Paul Guest that he's accepted our offer to judge next year's poetry chapbook contest. Last year's winner (Nicolas Reading, The Party in Question) is just about ready. I'll go to the printer tomorrow and do a proof, with hopes of having a final product some time next week.

Try As I Might...

2007-11-07T23:40:00.001-08:00

...I just can't seem to dislike, discredit, etc., Davy Rothbart and Found Magazine. I went to their show tonight at Largo on Fairfax and tried once again, but I give up, it's never going to happen. He's too sincere, too honest. I believe he was crying on stage tonight toward the end of the show while reading one of his favorite finds. It was also a good show, kept me laughing throughout (he must be doing a lot of things right, it was standing room only with a $10- cover and a $15- minimum on drinks), as he read new and old piece from the issues and books and a new short story about his deaf mother (who has often been featured in his This American Life pieces). His brother Peter also played a few songs that he had written inspired by various found pieces.

I suppose on the basest of levels it's just envy. Such a simple idea, such a good aesthetic, so well executed. So successful. They're about half way through their tour and it's certainly worth checking out (as are his This American Life contributions) if they come close to you.

Wordstock

2007-11-05T10:33:00.001-08:00

On Friday I fly back to Portland for this year's Wordstock book festival. This year will be a little different from the previous two. In addition to our table at the bookfair we're running a number of readings. Linda Bierds, Alberto Rios, Robyn Art, Pauls Toutonghi, Carlos Reyes reading Emma Howell's work, and many more. In additional, I'll be reading with poet Tung-Hui Hu. The complete schedule is here. All the readings are free once you pay the $5- to get into the bookfair. The money goes to the Community of Writers. If you're in Portland I hope to see you there.

Halloween on Santa Monica Blvd

2007-11-02T09:14:00.000-07:00

I heard it said that there were 300,000 people there on Wednesday night and I don't doubt it. I met some friends there at about 5:00. At that point the roads were blocked off, there were hundreds of cops, but hardly anyone out and about. By the time we left (or tried to leave) at 11:00 it was complete mayhem. There was so many people on the street that it took us about an hour just to get off Santa Monica Blvd. But the mood was supremely festive, nearly everyone was drunk, and the costumes were amazing. My favorite was buddy Toby's quadriplegic friend who had made a pirate ship to fit over his wheelchair. He of course was the pirate.

2007-10-31T11:22:00.000-07:00

We had a our first confirmed star sighting last night, Mindy Kaling, who plays Kelly on the "The Office." I was devouring "The Bronx" sandwich (pastrami, chopped liver and coleslaw on rye) and Claire was attempting to get through the "Canter's Fairfax" (pastrami, corned beef and coleslaw on rye) when her and her boyfriend (?) sat down across from us. We kind of giggled.

Claire has her second stage at Lucques tonight. Suzanne Goin is amazing chef (she won the James Beard Award in 2006) whose work Claire respects and admires. It would be a dream job for her. My fingers remained crossed.

Rhapsodomancy

2007-10-30T10:10:00.000-07:00

On Sunday morning I received an E-mail inviting me to a reading that same night. (Maybe this is working). It was in this cool little dark bar, Good Luck, on the Corner of Hollywood and Sunset (the Jim Beams were $7- a pop, ouch). It was the 3rd anniversary of the readings (they're every 2 months). Martha Ronk, David Marriott, Wendy C. Ortiz and Andrea Quaid were the readers. Martha Ronk was my favorite of the bunch. She read from her last two books Vertigo and In a Landscape of Having to Repeat. I had only read her in journals, so hearing 10-15 poems was a nice treat. She had a idea in one of the poems from Vertigo that hasn't been able to escape me, something to the effect of how we go about our day creating these little rituals, therefore mourning our own lives. One of the reasons I'm down here in L.A. is to escape those rituals. Everything in Portland had become so predictable, what time I woke up, where I ate my lunch, where I walked the dog, etc. Even though I've only been here 9 days now, I see myself trying to create new ones. I must fight. Anyway...I had a really nice conversation with Martha and hope to be able to get a poem or two from her for the issue.

Commitment

2007-10-28T08:56:00.001-07:00

We went to see A.J. Jacobs read from and discuss his new book The Year of Living Biblically yesterday at Vroman's Bookstore in Pasadena. I've yet to read the book, but it's certainly an interesting premise. I really enjoyed The Know-It-All, his previous book, which chronicles the year in which he sets out read the Encyclopedia Britannica from A-Z. After I read it, I e-mailed him hoping (illogically) that he might have something for us. We went back and forth a few times, I sent him the lasted copy, he said some nice things, then said he just didn't have anything and was busy finishing up his novel and maybe ask again in the future.

What impresses me most about Jacobs is his willingness to commit to these projects. For the last year and half I've been working on my next collection of poems, tenatively titled, Dot-to-Dot, Oregon. I've traveled the whole state of Oregon (just about, sorry southeast corner), going to every city and town with a population over 3,000 or so. The goal is to have 50 or so poems that are centered in these places. So far about 20 are done, 25 are various stages of revision and 5 have yet to be written. And while I amassed a few thousand miles of my truck and spent about 3 weeks worth of time on numerous trips, day to day I usually spend about an hour working on the poems. This compared to Jacobs who not only spends the time to write the novel, but spends a year (at least for the last 2 novels) being the novel.

Dorianne Laux...

2007-10-26T13:32:00.000-07:00

...read last night at USC. Of course it was wonderful. She read from Facts About the Moon and Awake, which was just re-released from Eastern Washington Press. There were also a couple of new poems and a couple I had never heard. The highlight for me being "Bakersfield," a poem (with her typical beauty and sadness) about a teenage affair. Dorianne was raised in San Diego and spent a few years living in L.A. Unfortunately her reading the night before, at Casa Romantica in San Clemente, was canceled because of the fire. She introduced me to a couple of her former students from U of O who have made L.A. their home.

USC is the biggest and busiest campus I've ever seen. Trying to park and find the library where the reading was held was crazy in itself. But the buildings are beautiful (not to mention the students) and the juxtaposition of the school with the surrounding neighborhood is interesting.

Fire

2007-10-24T19:19:00.000-07:00

This was the view today looking south from Venice Beach. Today was cloudless, what you see in this picture is the eerie smoke from the Santiago Canyon fires blowing out towards the ocean.

On Monday, my sister who lives in Valencia, was evacuated. She had time to pack Jack (my nine month old nephew) in the car, grab some baby stuff and a few pictures. Luckily the fire just missed and she's back at home.

My parents live in Lake Forest, still in the house I grew up in. On their way home from work last night they could see a line of fire above Foothill Ranch, seven or so miles away. Although they and the house were in no immediate danger, they are certainly rattled. Everything outside of the house everything is covered in soot and ash. While talking with my Mom this morning she was continually coughing. Modjeska Canyon is just to the east. I took my wife hiking there a couple weeks ago, reveling in the nostaglia of my youth. As a teenager, the forest there was a well needed escape from suburbia. Plenty of joints and cans of beer consumed on those trails. It's still on fire. Very sad.

Getting Settled In

2007-10-23T10:52:00.000-07:00

We finally moved into our apartment over the weekend. The DSL will be hooked up later this week, so the frequency of posting should increase dramatically.

Living in the middle of L.A. is staggeringly surreal, we talk about how long it will take for the surroundings to become "normal." Everything is absurd in the most entertaining way imaginable. There is valet parking at the IHOP two block away. The eavesdropping here is without equal--movie deals, t.v. plots, record labels, on and on. While eating lunch yesterday I listened to some guy describing his script of a Steve Perry bio-pic. It seems as if L.A. is not for loners, collaboration is everywhere.

Dorianne Laux reads this Thursday at USC, 4:30. I'll be there, if you're down here, you should be there too.

Call for Submissions

2007-10-15T09:58:00.000-07:00

We are now accepting submissions for issue 4.1., our L.A. issue. We need poetry, short fiction, essays and artwork. Work should either be from writers/artists who live in Los Angeles or use imagery from the city. The issue will feature a new interview with the unofficial Poet Laureate of Los Angeles, Wanda Coleman. The deadline for submitting is April 30th, with publication set for July 1. Poets should submit 3-5 poems as a single Word file, fiction and non-fiction writers should submit one piece up 2500 words, artists can send either jpegs or pdfs (B&W only). Please include a short bio with the submission. Submissions should be send to submissions at burnsidereview dot org. Please contact me with any questions or go to our website (link below).

Burnside on Burnside

2007-10-09T09:06:00.001-07:00

Well not quite, but one block off (our apartment). Cool little one bedroom on Wilshire and Dunsmuir. We move in next week. Can walk to LACMA, Farmer's Marker and tons of killer restaurants (including Pinks!). Missed the David St. John reading last night. Should have another chance to see him.

The Amazing Aimee Bender...

2007-10-03T08:18:00.000-07:00

...judges this year's fiction chapbook prize. A UCI grad, she's now teaching at USC. Her newest collection, Willful Creatures, helps to create a new set of myths, using simple and poignant storytelling.

This year's winner receives $200- and 25 copies of their chapbook. The contest is in full swing and runs through December 31st.

Last year's winner, Leslie Jamison, will be sitting with us at this year's AWP. She'll be signing copies of The Wintering Barn, on Saturday, February 2nd, from 12-1.

The Beginning

2007-09-28T08:35:00.000-07:00

The view from Highway 101 going north. The nice thing about traffic being there's time for pictures. Spent the day driving around West Hollywood and the area around the Farmer's Market looking for an apartment. Nothing yet. The day wasn't a total loss, had some great Pastrami at Langer's and my wife thinks she saw Tina Yothers at the Coffee Bean on Sunset.

On Wednesday night I saw Joel Brouwer and Christian Wiman read at Casa Romantica in San Clemente. This venue is by far the most "romantic" ever. An old open Spanish building, sitting on the cliffs over looking the ocean. You can actually hear waves breaking behind you as the poets read. White walls, old wooden ceilings. Incredible. First time seeing either read. Really enjoyed Brouwer. The poems from his second book, Centuries (prose poems all 100 words long), are my favorite. I had read some of Wiman's work, but had never heard him. His voice and cadence certainly match his poetry. Collier Nogues (contributor to issue 3.1) was there. Dorianne Laux (fellow Oregonian and Burnside Review favorite) reads there next month.