Saturday, March 24, 2012

Nick Pence of Last Minute Will Be Musical Guest on Monday, March 26, at Duff's in the C.W.E.


Nick Pence of Last Minute will be the musical guest at the Monday, March 26, reading at Duff's, 392 N. Euclid.

Featured readers will be Joe Schwartz, Stan Wallach, and Shane Signorino.

Doors open at 7:30 p.m.; admission is $3.

Advance sign-up for the open-mic following the featured readers is encouraged. Click here to sign-up via e-mail.

Nick says that "Last Minute is a band heavily engaged in the roots of American music. With brotherhood at the core of this group, each show they show their family like connection and express the truth in anyway they can. Having blues and folk as the foundation these musicians rarely shine too polished but always stay, and play, tight as a knot."

Friday, March 23, 2012

Joe Schwartz, author of "The Games Men Play," Will Be Featured Reader at Duff's on Monday, March 26


Joe Schwartz will be one of three featured readers at the next •chance operations• reading on Monday, March 26, at Duff's, 392 N. Euclid. Other featured readers will be Stan Wallach and Shane Signorino.

Doors open at 7:30 p.m.; admission is $3.

Musical guest will be Nick Pence of Last Minute.

Advance sign-up for the open-mic following the featured readers is encouraged. Click here to sign-up via e-mail.

Joe Schwartz is a writer following in the footsteps of Dashiell Hammett, Donald Goines, and Chuck Pahlinuk.

In The Games Men Play he has combined twenty-one short stories that will take the reader on a haunting journey through the darkest St. Louis streets to its most rural counties. A terrific, fast paced storytelling style that never wastes a word, his work constantly entertains and demands to be read.

A St. Louis native, Joe Schwartz writes exclusively about the Gateway City. His first book, Joe’s Black T-Shirt has been read thousands of times on the Internet and has sold hundreds of copies.

Thursday, March 22, 2012

Stan Wallach Featured Reader on Monday, March 26, at Duff's


Stan Wallach will be one of three featured readers at the next •chance operations• reading on Monday, March 26, at Duff's, 392 N. Euclid. Other featured readers will be Joe Schwartz and Shane Signorino.

Stan Wallach was one of 10 readers to step up to the •chance operations• open-mic at the February reading.

Doors open at 7:30 p.m.; admission is $3.

Musical guest will be Nick Pence of Last Minute.

Advance sign-up for the open-mic following the featured readers is encouraged. Click here to sign-up via e-mail.

Stan Wallach is a St Louis native and local attorney. He has presented his poetry and prose at a multitude of venues around town. His short story, "Under," recently won third place in the St Louis Writers Guild annual short story competition. Stan's screenplay, "Woolly Bugger," a story of love, betrayal, serial murders, and redemption at a Missouri trout park, is in pre-production with a local independent film company.

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Shane Signorino Featured Reader on Monday, March 26, at Duff's


Shane Signorino will be one of three featured readers at the next •chance operations• reading on Monday, March 26, at Duff's, 392 N. Euclid. Other featured readers will be Joe Schwartz and Stan Wallach.

Doors open at 7:30 p.m.; admission is $3.

Musical guest will be Nick Pence of Last Minute.

Advance sign-up for the open-mic following the featured readers is encouraged. Click here to sign-up via e-mail.

Shane Signorino is currently enrolled in SIUE's M.A. in Poetry Writing Program where he is also working on his Teaching of Writing Certificate. He has been published in Big Bridge, Mixed Fruit, Soundzine, and Red Clay Review. He won SIUE's William Carlin Slattery Memorial Award in Poetry for 2012. He holds degrees in Experimental Psychology, English Language & Literatue, & Theatre. He has won slam poetry competitions in St. Louis and Chicago and has acted in many professional productions.

morning ritual: coffee, cigarettes and song

the rooster crowing coffee is black as street gravel patch and thicker than memphis molasses pie. sweet. so very, sweet. doctored to the brimtop with pink nymph sugar dust and mother's toasted almond milk. the cup. the loving cup. the lucky loving cup. powdery beige with jagged brown tagline: damn i'm good! and good is just how i be feeling while swallowing the morning's first dark chocolate, hot tonic, right as ragtime or juarez rain. in a lithe con man's sleight-of-hand, trading the hot as alabama asphalt coffee mug for one, pure american spirit cigarette. lighting the tobacco turtle-heading from the tip with the backside of a lightning bug. or maybe the cheap, neon green gas station lighter. burn it down to sup the badland indian smoke. hold it in like the ghost who just ain't quite ready to be exorcised, then release it into the autumn fog, sending the wayward specter homeward bound. on the pawn shop record player, vinyl spins like a thin black snake moaning, soul singing my morning song by mister crowe's garden. soul singing to me, little ole me. beckoning me to singsong along. begging me to trance dance down to the seven seas bearing a ruby ring. good old timey organ key tickling, ragtag banjo picking, splintered wood guitar strumming, mad latino congo drumming, three african mamas with their rafter-cracking choir hallelujahs. and one hippy mystic, southern fried in blues, funk, soul, and rock-n-roll, harping himself silly while howling said dizzy found me last night! i saw some kinda new light! said i woke up in a whirl-wind! say baby, just you watch my head spin! said the spectacle that makes you cry! time for the feral morning. time for the itchy feet song. time for the new day dream.

-- Shane Signorino

Will Kyle at February Open-Mic


Will Kyle was one of 10 readers to step up to the •chance operations• open-mic at the February reading. (Will Kyle will be a featured reader at the •chance operations• at Duff's reading on Monday, April 23.)

Featured readers for the Monday, March 26, reading at Duff's, 392 N. Euclid, will be Joe Schwartz, Shane Signorino, and Stan Wallach.

Doors open at 7:30 p.m.; admission is $3.

Musical guest will be Nick Pence of Last Minute.

Advance sign-up for the open-mic following the featured readers is encouraged. Click here to sign-up via e-mail.

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Chris Parr at February Open-Mic


Chris Parr, co-founder of •chance operations•, was one of 10 readers to step up to the •chance operations• open-mic at the February reading.

Featured readers for the Monday, March 26, reading at Duff's, 392 N. Euclid, will be Joe Schwartz, Shane Signorino, and Stan Wallach.

Doors open at 7:30 p.m.; admission is $3.

Musical guest will be Nick Pence of Last Minute.

Advance sign-up for the open-mic following the featured readers is encouraged. Click here to sign-up via e-mail.

Dwight Bitikover at February Open-Mic


Dwight Bitikover was one of 10 readers to step up to the •chance operations• open-mic at the February reading. (Dwight will be a featured reader at the •chance operations• at Duff's reading on Monday, April 23.)

Featured readers for the Monday, March 26, reading at Duff's, 392 N. Euclid, will be Joe Schwartz, Shane Signorino, and Stan Wallach.

Doors open at 7:30 p.m.; admission is $3.

Musical guest will be Nick Pence of Last Minute.

Advance sign-up for the open-mic following the featured readers is encouraged. Click here to sign-up via e-mail.

Christy Callahan at February Open-Mic


Christy Callahan was one of 10 readers to step up to the •chance operations• open-mic at the February reading. (Christy will be a featured reader at the •chance operations• at Duff's reading on Monday, April 23.

Featured readers for the Monday, March 26, reading at Duff's, 392 N. Euclid, will be Joe Schwartz, Shane Signorino, and Stan Wallach.

Doors open at 7:30 p.m.; admission is $3.

Musical guest will be Nick Pence of Last Minute.

Advance sign-up for the open-mic following the featured readers is encouraged. Click here to sign-up via e-mail.

Karen Mondale at the February Open-Mic


Karen Mondale was one of 10 readers to step up to the •chance operations• open-mic at the February reading.

Featured readers for the Monday, March 26, reading at Duff's, 392 N. Euclid, will be Joe Schwartz, Shane Signorino, and Stan Wallach.

Doors open at 7:30 p.m.; admission is $3.

Musical guest will be Nick Pence of Last Minute.

Advance sign-up for the open-mic following the featured readers is encouraged. Click here to sign-up via e-mail.

Julia Gordon-Bramer at February Open-Mic


Julia Gordon-Bramer was one of 10 readers to step up to the •chance operations• open-mic at the February reading.

Featured readers for the Monday, March 26, reading at Duff's, 392 N. Euclid, will be Joe Schwartz, Shane Signorino, and Stan Wallach.

Doors open at 7:30 p.m.; admission is $3.

Musical guest will be Nick Pence of Last Minute.

Advance sign-up for the open-mic following the featured readers is encouraged. Click here to sign-up via e-mail.

Ben Moeller-Gaa at February Open-Mic


Ben Moeller-Gaa was one of 10 readers to step up to the •chance operations• open-mic at the February reading.

Featured readers for the Monday, March 26, reading at Duff's, 392 N. Euclid, will be Joe Schwartz, Shane Signorino, and Stan Wallach.

Doors open at 7:30 p.m.; admission is $3.

Musical guest will be Nick Pence of Last Minute.

Advance sign-up for the open-mic following the featured readers is encouraged. Click here to sign-up via e-mail.

Two Haiku

morning fog
the sober glow
of streetlights

"morning fog" appears in A Hundred Gourds 1:2 (2012)

cicadas
tornado sirens
cicadas

"cicadas" appears in Notes from the Gean: 3:2 (2011)

-- Ben Moeller-Gaa

Lynn Wynen-Chamberlain at February Open-Mic


Lynn Wynen-Chamberlain was one of 10 readers to step up to the •chance operations• open-mic at the February reading.

Featured readers for the Monday, March 26, reading at Duff's, 392 N. Euclid, will be Joe Schwartz, Shane Signorino, and Stan Wallach.

Doors open at 7:30 p.m.; admission is $3.

Musical guest will be Nick Pence of Last Minute.

Advance sign-up for the open-mic following the featured readers is encouraged. Click here to sign-up via e-mail.

Marcel Toussaint at February Open-Mic


Marcel Toussaint was one of 10 readers to step up to the •chance operations• open-mic at the February reading.

Featured readers for the Monday, March 26, reading at Duff's, 392 N. Euclid, will be Joe Schwartz, Shane Signorino, and Stan Wallach.

Doors open at 7:30 p.m.; admission is $3.

Musical guest will be Nick Pence of Last Minute.

Advance sign-up for the open-mic following the featured readers is encouraged. Click here to sign-up via e-mail.

Monday, March 19, 2012

Matt Harnish of Bunnygrunt at February Reading


Matt Harnish of Bunnygrunt was the musical guest at the February •chance operations• reading at Duff's.

Featured readers for the Monday, March 26, reading at Duff's, 392 N. Euclid, will be Joe Schwartz, Shane Signorino, and Stan Wallach.

Doors open at 7:30 p.m.; admission is $3.

Musical guest will be Nick Pence of Last Minute.

Advance sign-up for the open-mic following the featured readers is encouraged. Click here to sign-up via e-mail.

Matthew Freeman at February Reading

Matthew Freeman was one of three featured readers at the February •chance operations• reading at Duff's.

Featured readers for the Monday, March 26, reading at Duff's, 392 N. Euclid, will be Joe Schwartz, Shane Signorino, and Stan Wallach.

Doors open at 7:30 p.m.; admission is $3.

Musical guest will be Nick Pence of Last Minute.

Advance sign-up for the open-mic following the featured readers is encouraged. Click here to sign-up via e-mail.

Lisa Ebert at February Reading


Lisa Ebert was one of three featured readers at the February •chance operations• reading at Duff's.

Featured readers for the Monday, March 26, reading at Duff's, 392 N. Euclid, will be Joe Schwartz, Shane Signorino, and Stan Wallach.

Doors open at 7:30 p.m.; admission is $3.

Musical guest will be Nick Pence of Last Minute.

Advance sign-up for the open-mic following the featured readers is encouraged. Click here to sign-up via e-mail.

Treasure Shields Redmond at February Reading


Treasure Shields Redmond was one of three featured readers at the February •chance operations• reading at Duff's.

Featured readers for the Monday, March 26, reading at Duff's, 392 N. Euclid, will be Joe Schwartz, Shane Signorino, and Stan Wallach.

Doors open at 7:30 p.m.; admission is $3.

Musical guest will be Nick Pence of Last Minute.

Advance sign-up for the open-mic following the featured readers is encouraged. Click here to sign-up via e-mail.