FREE BEER, MUSIC, COMEDY etc

Hi Everyone,

You are cordially (and exhaustedly) invited to the Boston-area book-launch for the new insomnia anthology, "AWAKE! A Reader for the Sleepless" (published by super-cool Soft Skull Press -- http://www.softskull.com/).

While I am attaching a press release about the book itself, below are details concerning the area reading.

First off, it's got free beer. Did you hear that? FREE BEER! And it's free. The whole damn thing. Live music, award-winning writers, prizes -- free free free!

Ok, now onto the basics:

The event takes place this Thursday, April 3 in the corner room of The Middle East in Cambridge from 7 PM to closing (approx 1 AM).

Readers include Pulitzer Prize winner Franz Wright, Agni poetry editor and Grolier Poetry Prize winner Beth Woodcome, former National Lampoon editor and award-winning fiction writer Steve Brykman and Grolier Prize Winner and television producer Myles Gordon.

Members of two bands -- Tiger Saw and Kosher Ham -- will combine to perform as Ambien Sounds. Get it? Ambien (as in the drug) Sounds. Not Ambient. Pretty clever, no?

The event is sponsored by Pabst Blue Ribbon and in addition to free beer there will be other prizes like books, T-shirts, PBR temp-tatoos and badges. In fact, the first ten people to say "PBR Me ASAP" will get a free copy of "AWAKE".

Perhaps best of all, we will experiment with combining the readers and the musicians so as to create poems and stories with live, improvised "soundtracks". As Franz Wright said, (and I'm paraphrasing) it's kind of like that old Beatnik coffee house thing. As I say, it's kind of like NASCAR for the literary set -- improvisatory excitement with the potential for dramatic, against-the-wall crashes.

Oh yes, there may also be other surprise guests,

Convinced yet? If not, just let me know and I'll be sure to fill you in on other secret tidbits I can't discuss here.

HOPE TO SEE YOU THERE!

s

PS Of course, I'll be on hand too, primarily as emcee (or, as I prefer to be called, E=Mcee2), though possibly reading as well.

PPS If you'd like more info about this or other readings -- including one April 13 at the KGB bar in NYC -- stay tuned to De Blog.