A big part of my job is to make sure that everyone and their Mom knows about our incredible book inspired events. So I hope that by now you are fully aware that this Friday night, July 12th at the Royal Room The Bushwick Book Club Seattle is presenting original music inspired by Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. ( And if you didn’t know about it but do now because you just read the previous sentence – BIG KUDOS to me!) Well, the fine folks over at WonderAndRisk.com (WAR for short) did in fact know what Bushwick was up to and were kind enough to dream up this show preview, uniquely presented in the form of a script for trailer to a fake film entitled Read and Destroy.
[Opening title: Read and Destroy]
[Second title screen: A trailer for a movie based on bands writing songs inspired by books]
[We open on a cramped café in Brooklyn, NY. It’s a shotgun-shack with pressed tin ceilings, colorfully cluttered walls. A band is set up at the far end of the café, playing a song inspired by Kurt Vonnegut’s Breakfast of Champions]
[Cut to: Geoff Larson, seated at one of the round tables along the wall. He’s drinking a Budweiser.]
Geoff: Man, Seattle would just eat this alive.
[Cut to: Geoff sitting on a plane.]
Narrator: [V/O] In a world where books are silent, and nobody reads as much as they used to, one man seeks to bridge the gap between book clubs and bands…
You can read how this film plays out it is entirety over on the WAR website. Or to get the full effect of Read and Destroy, you can come to the show on Friday at the Royal Room and experience it for yourself in person.
Bar 4 Is Shutting Down: How A Tiny Bar in Brooklyn Changed My Life
As one often does these days, I discovered the news on Facebook. After trying to decipher a series of posts in my newsfeed, I finally found the one that made them all make sense: a press release announcing that Bar 4, in the Park Slope neighborhood of Brooklyn was closing. I started crying.
And not like wimpy crying. I was sobbing so much. I felt embarrassed about it even though I was alone in my apartment. I couldn’t stop, couldn’t calm down and couldn’t rein it in. I know this sounds overly dramatic (I DID do all the plays in high school), but I would love to tell you why a tiny bar in Brooklyn impacted my life to such a significant degree. It also relates to The Bushwick Book Club Seattle; I promise. Read more
Bookshelf Report: Book Piles Are the Best Kind of Piles
The Bookshelf Report is an ongoing series where we ask 5 questions and share 5 pictures of a bookshelf belonging to a Bushwick reader. Today’s bookshelf comes from Hollie Young, Bushwick Book Club Seattle volunteer extraordinaire and all around sweetest person to ever exist EVER.
What is your favorite book on this shelf?
My favorite book on the floor is The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami. This book is mysterious and captivates me in a way I have yet to experience from any other book. It is weird and intriguing. The characters are greatly developed and complex. I also love that you need an active imagination to truly see how the story unfolds. Read more
This Week in Books and Music: “Weird and Awesome” with Lots of Awesome
Thursday, August 1
Tiny Messengers at the Tractor Tavern, 9pm
Lacey Jane Henson reading at The Furnace Reading Series at Hollow Earth Radio, 7pm
Evan J. Peterson at the Seattle Erotic Arts Festival
Jack Straw Foundation reading at Elliott Bay Books, 7pm
Bradford Loomis at the Hard Rock Cafe, 8pm
Read more
Around the Corner: Magus Books
Nothing catches my attention like a sidewalk cart full of books priced cheap. Without exception, I’ll convince myself to buy something I will probably never even read simply because it costs $1. And it’s a book!
Magus Books, courtesy of Michael P. on Yelp
Today I had 12 minutes left on my meter and there were multiple carts full of books so the obvious story was likely to play out. Add to that a significantly increased chance of getting a parking ticket the second I walked through the door of Magus Books. Read more
This Week(End) in Books and Music
We know the Capitol Hill Block Party is this weekend, but be sure to catch some of these upcoming shows from our Bushwick artists and other Seattle picks.
Friday, July 26
The Hitchcock 9 film series opens at SIFF Cinema Uptown. The nine surviving silent films by Alfred Hitchcock, accompanied by live performances of original scores by Seattle musicians including Miles and Karina, The Diminished Men, cellist Lori Goldston, DJ James Whetzel, and more. Tonight kicks off with Blackmail, the story of a woman’s flirtation that turns dark and sinister. Films play through August 1 at SIFF Cinema Uptown.
Bradford Loomis plays at the 6th Street Fair in Downtown Bellevue, 4pm and free
Saturday, July 27
Bradford Loomis plays with The Wicks in Chelan, 7pm at The Vogue
Nancy K. Dillon performs in the Singer/Songwriter Circle, 7:30pm at Couth Buzzard Books
Monday, July 29
Bucket of Honey plays with Mingo Fishtrap, 9pm at the Tractor
And next weekend, Evan J. Peterson reads poetry at the Seattle Erotic Art Festival!
Have an upcoming show? Want to share it with us? Email [email protected]
Bookshelf Report: Library Guy with a Joint Collection
The Bookshelf Report is an ongoing series where we ask 5 questions and share 5 pictures of a bookshelf belonging to a Bushwick reader. Today’s bookshelf comes from Levi Fuller, a veritable veteran of the Bushwick Book Club Seattle. Over the years he’s performed songs inspired by The Shining, 1984, Dr. Seuss, Alice in Wonderland, Lust by Ellen Forney, and many others.
What is your favorite book on these shelves?
I will give you two answers: My current favorite book on these shelves as a possession is a recent edition, my signed copy of Ellen Forney’s Lust. It will always remind me of how much fun it was to play the Bushwick show for that book, and how gracious and wonderful Ellen was. My favorite book just as a thing to read is probably David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest, although that’s tough to answer, as I pretty much only hold on to books that I really love or have some other attachment to. Read more
Books, Booze, and Friends: An Evening of Your Favorite Things
We can all agree that spending a few hours in the company of good friends, having a couple drinks while chatting about a book you’ve been reading is time well spent. Now throw in the opportunity to meet some new like-minded people all interested in sharing their own bookish adventures (and a few drinks of course!) – you may have yourself a flawless evening. A gathering such as this is what we call in the book business a “literary mixer” and there just so happens to be one coming up next week that I highly recommend you attend. Read more
Bookshelf Report: Who Needs Clothes?
The Bookshelf Report is an ongoing series where we ask the same 5 questions of Bushwick readers who share 5 pictures of their bookshelf with us. Today’s “bookshelf” comes from Noah Skocilich, a Bushwick fan currently living in China. Noah showed us his traveling books on a recent visit to Seattle.
1. What is your favorite book on this shelf?
Easy. Infinite Jest. Best novel ever. Simply in a class of it’s own. I almost had to stop reading altogether for awhile after finishing, just to let the pure essence of that novel fully settle into my mind. I brought it with me from China thinking that I would give it as a gift to my mother. That didn’t work out, and I’m actually glad, because this is one book I really just do feel a sentimental attachment to; I mean, even to this physical copy, that I physically read over the course of a couple weeks in Jan and Feb 2013. Read more
Whippo’wil: A Song Inspired By the Heart of Huck Finn
“If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember anything.” – Mark Twain
Read and Destroy: Bushwick show preview
A big part of my job is to make sure that everyone and their Mom knows about our incredible book inspired events. So I hope that by now you are fully aware that this Friday night, July 12th at the Royal Room The Bushwick Book Club Seattle is presenting original music inspired by Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. ( And if you didn’t know about it but do now because you just read the previous sentence – BIG KUDOS to me!) Well, the fine folks over at WonderAndRisk.com (WAR for short) did in fact know what Bushwick was up to and were kind enough to dream up this show preview, uniquely presented in the form of a script for trailer to a fake film entitled Read and Destroy.
[Opening title: Read and Destroy]
[Second title screen: A trailer for a movie based on bands writing songs inspired by books]
[We open on a cramped café in Brooklyn, NY. It’s a shotgun-shack with pressed tin ceilings, colorfully cluttered walls. A band is set up at the far end of the café, playing a song inspired by Kurt Vonnegut’s Breakfast of Champions]
[Cut to: Geoff Larson, seated at one of the round tables along the wall. He’s drinking a Budweiser.]
Geoff: Man, Seattle would just eat this alive.
[Cut to: Geoff sitting on a plane.]
Narrator: [V/O] In a world where books are silent, and nobody reads as much as they used to, one man seeks to bridge the gap between book clubs and bands…
You can read how this film plays out it is entirety over on the WAR website. Or to get the full effect of Read and Destroy, you can come to the show on Friday at the Royal Room and experience it for yourself in person.