romanticized reasoning

My Virtual Mind has Moved

2010-11-06T11:12:00.000-07:00

This place has dust bunnies! I use tumblr now. It is more fun.

www.rhyrhyargo.tumblr.com/

follow me there if you want.

Love, RhyRhy

On The Road

2009-10-03T15:49:00.000-07:00

On the road once again with Sister Spit, this time it's the US and a few Canada stops. I need to blog more, there are so many tour stories! Right now we are in Prescott, Arizona. I love college shows because college students actually buy tons of merch. That's my food cash for the next day, people. We had this big discussion in the van yesterday about how people just don't believe they should have to pay for art and performance (because so many people tried to wrangle their way into our L.A. show for free), but people will totally pay for a stupid movie or whatever, like corporations deserve your money and not actual queer artists in the community. Touring is so expensive in itself and it's also one of the only ways writers can make a little cash, so thank you college kids who want to decorate their dorms with creamsickle posters and buy all our books. Loves it.

And here's a nice word about my book from an amazon review:

there's always the "conceptual problem" with queer theory; it's grand for the academic world but begs for the reality of experience. talking about sex/gender/sexual desire and the intersections of race & class needs to be done, but that discussion becomes moot when it does not move into the personal. what's more democratic-- and i use that word in terms of access-- is the reality of the queer lived experience.

argo is able to take the queer vernacular of every-day and shape a solid book that is not only a pleasure to read but is also politically important: she addresses the notions of home & family; shifting identity; class & sex work; desire & performing gender. her characters aren't cardboard representations: like cruzer, a queer of color who's got family money (and thus monetary privilege). they're also given autonomy: the ability to name themselves, speak for themselves, and create their own communities.

argo examines -- and creates a literary feast -- out of the way queer lives are Really Lived: often messy & contradictory.

and this tastes good, too, like a creamsickle when yr stoned on a hot summer day.

Love this GoodReads Review

2009-08-27T00:22:00.000-07:00

A fellow writer Faith Reidenbach wrote it. She gave the book such a caring, intelligent read. She also told me this story: "Today I was having my regular morning walk with my 69-year-old neighbor (a married straight lady who grew up in Kansas), and out of the blue she said, "I'd like you to loan me that Creamsickle book." I hemmed and hawed and said, "You know, it's pretty graphic, Mary Ann." But she said firmly, "I want to read about those bois, is that how you say it? I think I'm one too."

Wow I found that so fucking adorable. Okay now the review:

"It’s unusual to encounter literary lesbian fiction that's also a guilty pleasure, but both terms apply fairly to this book. The Creamsickle itself is full of trash--it's an unheated, lopsided flophouse in the Mission district of San Francisco that has an "ever-revolving door." Over the years, it’s been occupied by revolutionaries, "hippie fags and fairies," grunge lesbians, and now The Crew, three 20-something skateboarding bois who have made the house their "ultimate bachelor pad." Their procession of lovers are not mere lipsticks lesbians but "fierce girls," the "tough bunch of femmes with razor heels and sharp tongues" who can handle the neighborhood. The novel is more about queer family--creating it and maintaining it--than about individual relationships, and the house plays a Mansfield Park-like role in the story. The Creamsickle is available in paperback ($14.95) and as an e-book ($10.95) from www.bellabooks.com.

Poetry-loving Georgie is the most romantic and also the most sensible of the three bois. We meet her when she’s lovesick over a heroin-addicted girl, but she’s smart and strong enough to move on soon. She makes wise-beyond-her-years observations about herself and her friends, often wry or hilarious, like this one that made me LOL heartily in recognition (of myself and a previous partner): "Soda was the ultimate subletter of hearts......the first three months Soda was the best live-in lover a girl could possibly have. She usually didn’t have a job so whatever girl she was currently f*cking became her part-time employment. Girls would try to promote her to full time or permanent status, but she made sure to keep herself at entry level." Georgie’s literal transformation in the novel comes when, unemployed and broke, she adopts an outwardly femme identity and warily takes a job dancing in a strip club.

People in my demographic (50-ish, suburbanite) may need to read this novel with a cyberdictionary of urban slang and a cyberglossary of skateboarding terms at hand. (My favorite new word, which I did manage to figure out on my own, is bromance, for a butch/butch relationship.) The effort was worth it to me in order to get inside a world of young queer women who divide themselves into bois and girls, tops and bottoms—except when they don’t. Georgie sets a good example for readers in acknowledging that she doesn’t understand all the family dynamics, notably the feelings of my favorite character, a friend of hers who is considering transitioning (becoming more fully biologically male). I appreciated her discussions with that friend and from other characters who have conversations along the lines of "I don’t get dating a transboy. I mean, what’s the difference from a man?"

Most of these characters are working poor and are just getting launched in life. For example, the official end of Georgie’s relationships is simply "the divvying up of the sex toys," and in an 8-speaker argument about same-sex marriage, no one comes close to imagining why most older couples want it. But the only thing that made me feel apart from the characters was their constant alcohol and drug abuse, which after a while just seems sad and boring. Georgie is not an addict, though, and she relieves the irritation with self-aware comments like "I find a direct link to the amount of coke everyone is doing to how dramatic they all are being."

Argo avoids all the mistakes that too many lesbian writers make with regard to sex—-saving it for one or two "dramatic" scenes, only alluding to it, describing it almost clinically, or ignoring it altogether. References to sex start on page 1, and Argo often covers a lot of ground in a single sentence that contains the verb f*ck. The book’s only major flaw is disjointedness. Some of it reads like performance pieces or stories strung together, with girls appearing on the scene and leaving again with no strong narrative thread. However, this didn’t keep me from staying keenly interested in what happens to the 3 main characters and to the houe."s

Bloody Art

2009-08-27T00:16:00.000-07:00

by Katie
http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5077144
http://kiki.typepad.com/

inspired by my 90's queer activist look for the Radar fashion show thingy

Getting psyched for tour...

2009-08-13T20:11:00.000-07:00

Summer Reading

2009-07-31T12:13:00.000-07:00

Posters!

2009-07-12T16:28:00.000-07:00

Sister Spit U.S. October

Sister Spit Europe September

Free Lit!

2009-07-02T13:11:00.001-07:00

Buy The Creamsickle!

2009-06-17T09:50:00.000-07:00

Support your local independent bookstore and buy it there. They can order it for you
just ask! If you want to buy it online try to support independent
publishers like www.bellabooks.com. Our local bookstores are struggling so show your love!

I'm having a release party at Mission Hill Saloon on July 11th. Michelle Tea, Kirk Read, Len Plass and Sara Seinberg will be reading from The Creamsickle, perhaps in hilarious voices. If you miss that come to my
reading at Modern Times Books on July 22nd! That would be an excellent
time to get a signed copy from an awesome local bookstore.

Thanks for supporting! Rhiannon

Meet The Crew. Georgie—a hopeless romantic with a weakness for
punk-rock-girls even if they consistently trample her heart. Cruzer—a
Mexican-American photographer, the tough kid, who chases love all the
way to the East Coast. Soda—a gender queer heartthrob from the Midwest,
who dreams of pirate ships, moustaches and femme foxes.

Welcome to The Creamsickle, the ultimate bachelor pad, a lopsided
Victorian in the Mission District, home to this rascally crew of
charming skater bois who hop from one bed to another in pursuit of sex,
love or just the next new thrill. This is a San Francisco you have
never seen, an eclectic landscape of dyke clubs and dyke havens, along
with the exotic Minxy, a wonderland where baby butch Georgie enters the
femme-centric world of strippers for the most comical gender-bending
education of all.

Discover today's world of young queers, a world where personal
identity is in constant flux, where gender exploration can be
performance—or a life saving transition. Beneath the sex, music, drugs
and drama, you'll find something true and timeless: a search for love,
for queer family, for meaning, for connection, and affirmation.

Flyers for the Opening

2009-06-09T21:39:00.000-07:00

Sneak Peak!

2009-05-28T16:57:00.000-07:00

some outtakes from a few of the photo shoots i've done for the popsicle project. we've done 35 shoots so this is just a taste... come to the show june 23rd at the lex to see em all!

The Radar Spectacle

2009-05-02T11:36:00.000-07:00

Radar is throwing a benefit this May in order to raise funds for the first annual Radar Lab, a free queer writer's retreat in Mexico. Please come and support this amazing opportunity for broke artists! I am one of the lab participants and I am thrilled to be able to take time away to work on my next novel, and to soak up all the inspiration that will come from being amongst other artist in my community.

Saturday, May 30, 7pm
a.Muse Gallery, 614 Alabama St.
$20/ticket
https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/66883 or at the door!

Featuring Dorothy Allison, ZZ Packer, Eileen Myles, Marga Gomez, Suppositori Spelling + music by Yes Alexander!
Hosted by Ali Liebegott + Michelle Tea
Food (courtesy Dolores Park Cafe)
Drink (courtesy Lagunitas + more!)
Art Auction (artwork by Chris Duncan, Xylor Jane, Peter Pizzi, Sara Thustra, Eric Drooker + more!)
Raffle (Alla Prima, Pauline's Pizza, Last Gasp, Seal Press, Daniel Handler, Dog Eared Books, Books Inc. + more!)
*Benefiting RADAR Lab, a free queer writers retreat!

Radar Lab Fellows:

KIRK READ performance artist, memoirist, teacher, literary organizer. SF
MELIZA BANALES poet, memoirist, fashion designer, teacher. SF
NATALIE ILLUM poet, memoirist, literary organizer. DC
NICOLE J GEORGES illustrator, zinester, memoirist, teacher. PDX
LUCY CORIN novelist, short story author, teacher. BERKELEY
ELAN performance artist, playwright, filmmaker, zinester. SF
SARA SEINBERG novelist, poet, photographer, literary organizer. SF
SAMUEL TOPIARY performance artist, video artist, dancer. BROOKLYN
RHIANNON ARGO novelist, future librarian. SF
MYRIAM GURBA fiction writer, teacher. LONG BEACH
ENRIQUE URETA playwright. SF
PAGE MCBEE novelist, memoirist, teacher, arts organizer. OAKLAND

Boots for Tula Preview

2009-03-12T18:40:00.001-07:00

MAGICAL

The Creamsickle is being typeset this week!

2009-02-26T15:04:00.000-08:00

Yay!

And Cristy C. Road has started drawing the possible cover art. Can't wait to see it!

And I've been improving my website bit by bit:

www.rhiannonargo.com

Cristy C. Road gets it.

The Creamsickle Photo Project

2009-02-02T11:05:00.000-08:00

Has begun!

Kris in DP

Whiskey and Jinx on Portland porch

Angie on Mission rooftop

The Popsicle Project is a collaborative project between several queer photographers including Amos Mac, Elisa Shea and Rhiannon Argo. All photos involve queers and Creamsickles. The project will eventually be a website offering delicious eye candy that will showcase a hot and diverse community and will surely combat even the worst cases of seasonal affective disorder. Please get in contact if you would like to show the series in your gallery.

www.amosmac.com
www.elisashea.com

Reading in Portland

2008-12-02T12:47:00.000-08:00

Check out this lovely threesome!

CRISTY C. ROAD, RHIANNON ARGO, & NICOLE GEORGES
Friday, January 18th, 7PM
@ Powell's Bookstore, 1005 W. Burnside.- Portland, OR
We are reading together again! Its a SISTER SPIT Reunion!

From the Portland Mercury:

Cristy Road: Bad Habits, Rhiannon Argo: The Creamsickle and Nicole Georges: Invincible Summer Volume II
When: Sun., Jan. 18, 7:30 p.m.
Phone: 503.228.4651
Graphic artist Cristy Road discusses her uncensored and largely autobiographical tour of an underground world; Rhiannon Argo discusses and reads from her debut novel, a tale of an adrenaline junkie tomboy and her skateboard crew; and Nicole Georges reads from her collection of comics issues #9-14.
Powell's City of Books
DOWNTOWN 1005 W Burnside St.
503.228.4651

SPREAD MAGAZINE

2008-11-15T20:32:00.000-08:00

New issue out now. Excerpt from the Creamsickle inside.

Get it here:

http://www.spreadmagazine.org/

The cover for Art XX which is out now and is awesome!

2008-09-27T16:05:00.001-07:00

Order it at ArtXXmagazine.com!

I interview Nicole J. Georges inside plus there is a piece I wrote called evicted house.

The film of my story Boots for Tula needs a Sound Guru!!

2008-09-18T15:07:00.001-07:00

Sound Designer needed for short 16mm narrative film

Body: Seeking a sound designer to create a full soundscape to enhance the spatial and emotional characteristics of "Boots For Tula," a 20-minute narrative film.

"Boots For Tula" is a story of entanglement, electrocution, and raw queer desire. The film is based on the short story of the same name by Rhiannon Argo, which was published in Michelle Tea’s anthology "Baby Remember My Name" (Carroll and Graf: 2007). It was shot on a CP-16 on location throughout the city of Chicago and upon completion it will be widely circulated in film festivals and queer art communities.

Expectations:
-record and edit ambient sounds
-foley in sound effects, both diegetic and non-diegetic
-procure and edit in music
-mix sound to account for spatial, emotional, and time changes
-master the final sound mix using Pro-Tools

Qualifications:
*Must have access to Pro-Tools and digital sound recording devices.

*Must have previous experience and extensive knowledge of sound design for narrative film, with particular knowledge on foley recording and editing.

*Must be queer and trans positive, and familiar and invested in queer community.

*Must have a great imagination and excellent communication skills.

Compensation:
-negotiable: we are in the process of applying for finishing grants.

-for sure: compensation for supplies, DVD copies of the film, and your name on all the publicity.

****Please email letter of interest and CV to malicamalya@gmail.com, and have a DVD of your reel ready to mail.

Malic Amalya uses 16mm film to investigate fluctuations in perception of memory, identity, and relationships. His films and videos have screened across North America, including in the Austin Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, the Olympia Film Festival in Washington State, the Atlanta GLBT Film Festival, and TIE Cinema Exposition in Montreal. He took his MFA in Moving Image from the University of Illinois at Chicago and currently resides in Seattle.

www. malicamalya. com
www. myspace. com/diamondsatdusk

Rhiannon Argo is a San Francisco based writer who will rough you up with her words. Her stories have been published in "Baby Remember My Name: New Queer Girl Writing," "It's So You: 35 Women on Fashion, Beauty and Personal Style," "The Lowdown Highway Anthology," Transfer Magazine, and in dozens of her own hand-made chapbooks. In 2007 she took her tales on the road for an entire month with the new wave of Sister Spit and in 2008 was awarded a scholarship to the Lambda Literary Foundation's retreat for emerging LGBTQ writers. Her first novel "The Creamsicle" will be in late Spring 09.

www. rhiannonargo. com
www. sisterspitNextGen. com

bang bang

2008-09-11T18:32:00.001-07:00

BANG IT OUT!

2008-07-16T20:52:00.002-07:00

at BottleCapp

next Thursday, July 31st
7-10pm
(show at 8pm)

Solo performance by:

Yes Alexander!

Reading by:

Rhiannon Argo!

Michelle Tea!

Bottle Capp gallery is at 180 Capp Street. Third floor. Lotsa room. Full bar. Fancy piano and old cigarette machines.
You will love this space!

$3-5 bucks sliding scale.

NOTAFLOF.

All proceeds benefit me raising the last little bit I need for Lambda Foundations Literary Boot Camp for emerging LGBT writers, which I won a partial scholarship for… Also, I’m leaving the next day for a month so come say buh-bye. Also, Yvette’s goodbye party is afterwards at the Lex so you better come out anyways, because she has worked there for like 10 years or something, so you should come to BottleCapp, and then go send her off right...

BottleCapp:

I am Reading at The Radar Salon Series!

2008-06-10T11:32:00.000-07:00

This Wednesday, June 11th...

I'll be reading and revealing secrets...

the radar SALON series:
conversations + revelations

with special guests

RHIANNON ARGO, zinemaker, author of the novel Switch, veteran of the Spring 07 Sister Spit: The Next Generation spoken word roadshow. Rhiannon has pieces in the anthologies Lowdown Highway, Baby Remember My Name and It's So You.

THEA HILLMAN, author of the collection Depending on the Light and veteran of the Hell on Heels femme performance tour. Thea's most recent book is the memoir For Lack of a Better Word, and she writes the blog Easy As Pie.

Hosted by Michelle Tea

at the Three Dollar Bill Cafe
The Center
Market at Octavia
7:oopm
Free

Come see me perform at Deep Lez Potluck!!!

2008-06-10T11:29:00.000-07:00

The Deep Lez Potluck and Performance Night is a formal hand fasting of radical lesbian feminism and urban queer and gender queer politics. It's a celebration with bands, films, spoken word, fashion show, body painting, macrame and tea leaf readings. Films at 7 pm sharp, get your vegan potluck on, make some crafts, consciousness raise, let go and let goddess. Performance at 8:30 with Gretchen Phillips, Lesbians, Nomy Lamm, Jenna Riot, Pickup Pattern, Julia Serano, Ophelia Stringer, Meliza Banales, Celeste Chan, Rhiannon Argo, Elan Gerie, Machine, Trinity of Poon Joey Cupcake, Saturn Ray Turn and many more! DJ's kicking some sisterhood is powerful ass! Come widen the circle for ALL deeply lez identified lezzies of the past, present, and future and friends.

2008-05-27T13:34:00.002-07:00

so i've been super busy working on a new novel that right now i just sort of call the chasing book because it's about a girl who chases a past lover across the nation and maybe eventually world and maybe eventually to other planets. i'm also working on writing for this new magazine called artxx. i just did a really fun interview with niole j. georges last night about what she was wearing and how she typecast me as the tour slut in her latest zine which chronicled the adventures of our sister spit tour in 2007. it is now part of an anthology/book which is available via the microcosm website or amazon. i will also have a story in the issue of art xx which will be out at the end of summer.

Amos Mac Interviews Rhiannon Argo

2008-04-19T16:42:00.000-07:00

As I sit at the cramped counter of Yamo, a dingy hole-in-the-wall Thai
food restaurant in San Francisco's Mission District, I can hear
Rhiannon Argo approaching from half way down the block. The distinct
sound of skateboard wheels on pavement slows to a halt and Argo,
wearing bright teal jeans and a black hoodie, glides in and grabs the
stool next to me.

Writing since the age of seven, Rhiannon grew up in her head and on
the pages of her journals where she created stories about alternate
realities and a self-described "Lesbian Narnia." Now at age 28, her
sexually charged, unapologetically queer stories have been published
in several anthologies as well as in dozens of her own hand-made
chapbooks. In 2007 she took her tales on the road for an entire month
with "Sister Spit," the all-girl spoken-word troupe. She sat down
with me today to chat about her first novel "The Creamsickle," which is
awaiting publication.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Amos Mac: So tell me about "The Creamsickle" and why you chose to write about
skateboarding queer girls in San Francisco?

Rhiannon: I love to write about characters that skateboard because I
was part of girl skateboard culture for ten years, and now I've been
immersed in queer San Francisco culture for five years so it seems
like a logical use of material. Also the book is full of stripper
culture and I've been involved with that for a while. It's important
to mention that these are subcultures that are rarely or never
represented in fiction. Have you ever heard of a skateboarding,
queer, stripper narrator? Or even a skater girl narrator?

Amos Mac: Nope.

Rhiannon: There is only one book published about girl skaters and it's
a cheesy "How-To" guide.

Amos Mac: Who would play the main characters in a movie version of
"The Creamsickle" if you had unlimited resources and where gender didn't really
matter?

Rhiannon: The character "Soda" would be a brought-back-to-life River
Phoenix. Michelle Rodriquez could play "Cruzer" if Rodriguez gained
twenty pounds, acted butcher, got tattoos, dressed like a dirty punk
and learned to skate. Maybe Rose McGowen would play "Nicki". But the main
character, "Georgie" is a tough one.

Amos Mac: How about a young Eddie Furlong, before he was a junkie, maybe?

Rhiannon: Oh my god, yes! But isn't it sad that we have to pick males?
Because I can't really imagine busty Hollywood stars playing
androgynous skater girls but hey, Hillary Swank did it... kinda..

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rhiannon Argo will be reading next with Michelle Tea, Tara Jepsen and
Nicole J. Georges at the Poetry Project at St. Mark's Church on
Friday, April 25th, 2008 at 10:00 pm. The Poetry Project is located in St.
Mark's Church at the corner of 2nd Ave and 10th St in Manhattan.
Tickets are $8, seats are limited.

RIDE THIS SKATE DECK

2008-04-17T14:53:00.000-07:00

There are only 51 of these skate decks being made,
with the cartoon version of me that my favorite person to leave the planet with Cristy C. Road drew! Just think, you could ride me, or grind my face into a curb and scratch it all up, or you could hang it on the wall and keep it pretty.

From the Second Floor East Blog at

http://www.secondflooreast.blogspot.com/

These skateboards are a limited run of the mock up print above. There are only 51 of these being made. The boards are made from 100% Canadian Hardrock maple by a skater owned and operated manufacturer out of Wilmington, NC. The boards are 8"x31.5" and come with griptape. (Jessup, or you can ask about other brands and I can see what I can do.) I can put on the griptape or leave it off, either way (there is also a graphic on top which can be cut out).

The cost of these boards are $55ppd in the United States (please email me about foreign orders kenfreeman07@gmail.com) Also, if you are using paypal please include an extra $5 for service charges.

The boards are still being printed, however I am taking preorders which will be shipped out as soon as they come in. (since there are so few of these, preordering is a GOOD idea...)
You can send well concealed cash, checks, or money orders to the address on the right.

There is a limited number of these, so orders are limited to no more than 2 boards per person. If you are ordering two though, get in touch and we can adjust the shipping.

And finally, email me some photos of you skating these boards to put in future zines. See you in the streets
-ken/ 2fe

2008-03-10T11:19:00.000-07:00

PASSING ON THE PEN:
GLBT Organizations Build Bridges
Between Generations of GLBT Storytellers

SAN FRANCISCO — The Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual Transgender (GLBT) Historical Society and the Lambda Literary Foundation have joined forces to celebrate the contributions of three generations of GLBT Storytellers. The two organizations will host a series of conversations, entitled “Passing On The Pen,” designed to pair some of the pioneers of GLBT literature with today’s emerging GLBT storytellers.

“This is the first time anyone has ever done anything like this” says Michael Nava, author and winner of five five Lambda Literary Awards. “It's a powerhouse lineup, bringing together some astonishing talent and people who I have read and respected for many years as well as some wonderful new writers.”

Ann Bannon, often called “The Queen of Lesbian Pulp Fiction” for her landmark “Beebo Brinker Chronicles,” and Victor J. Banis, the critically acclaimed author of more than 150 published books, will kick off the Passing On The Pen literary series on March 25th. From March through December, the two organizations will present monthly events pairing authors from the early days of the GLBT movement with current day storytellers. Each event will be held in the gallery of the GLBT Historical society from 6:30 to 8:30, and will be free of charge and open to the public.

“In the early days of the GLBT community, our literature helped our community find its voice,” says Paul Boneberg, the Executive Director of the GLBTHS. “Now it’s helping us chart our future.”

Current calendar for “The GLBTHS & Lambda Literary Foundation Present PASSING ON THE PEN: Intergenerational Queer Storytellers.”

All events begin at 6:30pm with readings by the authors, followed by a Q&A session and book signing. All events end at 8:30pm.

Some Upcoming Authors

Mar 25, 2008
Ann Bannon and Victor J. Banis

Apr 15, 2008
Michelle Tea, Carol Queen and Rhiannon Argo

May 13, 2008
Robert Glück and Kevin Killian

Dates and participants are confirmed as of the date of this release, but are subject to change.

About the Lambda Literary Foundation – The Lambda Literary Foundation is the country’s leading organization for LGBT literature. Its mission is to celebrate LGBT literature and provide resources for writers, readers, booksellers, publishers, and librarians. For more information, visit www.lambdaliterary.org.

The mission of the GLBT Historical Society is to increase public understanding, appreciation, and affirmation of the history and culture of gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and other sexual minority individuals and communities. For more information, call 415.777.5455 or visit www.glbthistory.org.

Cristy C. Road ripped out my heart and left me for dead.

2008-03-02T12:42:00.000-08:00

Future graphic for the bottom of Grave skateboard decks. Sweet.

Also, here are some upcoming Events I'm reading at!

April 15, GLBT Historical Society
w/Michelle Tea, and Carol Queen

April 25, ST Marks Poetry Project, New York
w/Michelle Tea, Nicole Georges, Tara Jepsen

May 15, Russian River Women's Weekend
w/Sister Spit

June 18, Deep Lez Performance at El Rio, part of The National Queer Arts Festival, featuring Jenna Riot, The Lesbians, me, and bunch of other performers

Sex and Chocolate

2008-01-26T14:08:00.000-08:00

Cristy Road and I are going to attempt to make vegan brownies just in case our trashy mouths aren't enough stimulation for ya...

"SIZZLE"

Saturday, February 9th @ 8:00 pm
Doors/Open-Mic Sign-Up: 7:30 pm
$10-$15 ($5 open mic performers) for a night of desert, wine, and discussions
hosted by Madison Young:

FEATURING

______________________________ ____________
Vixen Noir (a.k.a Veronica C. Combs) founder and artistic director of Liquid Fire Productions (an organization dedicated to the authentic representation of lesbians of color on stage and in film) - is a San Francisco-based erotic performance artist and burlesque dancer, actress, poetess, modern/jazz dancer, singer as well as director, producer, choreographer and filmmaker who has been wowing audiences in the San Francisco Bay Area and abroad with her sexy jaw-dropping performances for more than 12 years! In addition to the Liquid Fire Project, Veronica C. Combs, Artistic Director of Luna Sea Women's Performance Project in San Francisco from 1995 to 1998, is the producer and director of several festivals, performances, and events. Her work embodies a commitment to claiming erotic power, building bridges across racial, social and economic divides and celebrating the diversity of gender expression. Vixen's work is unapologetically sexual, multicultural, and assists us all to revel in the ecstasy of our own divine power.

Rhiannon Argo's stories have been published in, Baby Remember My Name: New Queer Girl Writing, It's So You: 35 Women on Fashion, Beauty and Personal Style, The Lowdown Highway Anthology, Transfer Magazine, and in her own hand-made chapbooks, Pill, Four, and Cola. She is on the manuscript review committee for Project Queer Lit. In 2007 she took her tales on the road for an entire month with the new wave of Sister Spit. She recently finished her first novel entitled Switch and is on the hunt for a publisher.

Cristy C. Road from Miami, Florida, has been illustrating ideas, people, and places ever since she learned how to hold a crayon. She blends the inevitable existence of social principles, sexual curiousity, mental inadequacies, and dirty thoughts. Road thrives to testify the beauty of the imperfect. Her repertoire consists of ten years of independent publishing, two graphic novels, and countless illustrations for a broad range of magazines, record album art, concert posters, and political organizations. http://croadcore.org/

2007-11-28T11:56:00.001-08:00

2007-11-24T22:04:00.000-08:00

Sister Spit. City Lights. SF
Tuesday, November 27th 2007

Readings and tall tour tales from Sister Spit: The Next Generation road rioters
Rhiannon Argo
Meliza Banales
Tara Jepsen
Ali Liebegott
Chelsea Starr
Michelle Tea

City Lights Bookstore, 7pm, Free!

AND

Sunday December 2nd, Cristy Road and Rhiannon Argo do Kvetch. Don't miss it!

2007-10-12T14:54:00.000-07:00

Seeking Soner Sharpie Art!

"Boots For Tula" a queer love story/16mm Film to be shot this October and November seeks:

An artist who would enjoy their work being in a queer film!

The kind of art we're looking for is of an amateur sort of variety. (Like sketches and doodles) that would be done on the pages of a black sketchbook, with assorted colors of Sharpie pens. It is the sort of scrap/sketch book a nineteen year-old skater girl would be carrying around in her backpack.

Here is a line from the storyline that might give you more clues as to style:

“I learned to draw from the graffiti boys at the alternative high school I went to, and I mostly draw hip-hop girls or skater girls with real big pants or spray can welding girls with big cartoon hands spreading up across the paper.”

-from “Boots for Tula”

You must be able to sketch a cartoon/ish style girl looking like a super hero of sorts. It does not need to be a perfect drawing, as the character is just messin' around in her sketch book, with some sharpies. This will be needed within the next months as filming is scheduled throughout October and November. Compensation will be your awesome support for queer art, your work in a cool film, and artistic credit.

*****************

The film, "Boots For Tula" is based on a short story by Rhiannon Argo that was recently published in Michelle Tea's "Baby, Remember My Name: An Anthology of Queer Girl Writing."

Malic Amalya is a queer filmmaker in the Art and Design graduate program at UIC. His films will screen this Fall at TIE Experimental Film Festival Montreal, the Austin Gay and Lesbian International Film Festival, and Out on Film: the Atlanta Gay and Lesbian Film Festival. His films have previously screened at Chicago Filmmakers, The Three Minute Film Festival in Santa Fe, NM, and the SURGE Film Festival

Rhiannonargo@gmail.com

2007-10-11T18:36:00.001-07:00

Sunday Spitty Sunday

Sunday, October 14 — San Francisco
Edinburgh Castle, 8pm

SISTER SPIT: The Next Generation
one vanload of queer female artists + writers + maniacs
coming to your town for one awesome night of shameless literary hijinks.

October-November 2007

starring:

TARA JEPSEN, survivor of the original Sister Spit's Ramblin Roadshow 1997 + 1999;
author of the chapbook Midnight Journey to the White Light Kegger and the novel-in-progress Like a Dog; published in the anthologies It's So You and Pills, Thrills, Chills and Heartache; host of the San Francisco's longest running queer open mic, K'Vetch!

TEXTA QUEEN, who combines magic markers and magical skills to create color-crazed portriats of excellent, half-naked females across the globe, capturing their rowdy, surly subcultural bad-assedness; creator of the Some Things Never Change calendar and coloring book; Texta has shown her work in art spaces all over the planet!

CHELSEA STARR, author of the chapbooks Long Walks on the Beach with Chelsea Starr and Candlelit Dinners with Chelsea Starr; published in the anthologies It's So You and Baby, Remember My Name; DJ of the San Francisco fance parties Hot Pants and Playboy; deisnger of wicked cute fashions!

MELIZA BANALES, author of the poetry collection Say It With Your Whole Mouth and the collection-in-progress 51 Poems About Nothing at All; published in the anthologies Revolutionary Voices, Without a Net and Baby, Remember my Name; former Grand Slam poetry slam champion and the first Latina to win a slam championship on the west coast!

DEXTER FLOWERS, author of the zine Maybe It Was Something You Ate and a memoirs-in-progress about growing up on food stamps with her feminist witch single mom, and a novel-in-progress about a teenager growing up in a group home; published in the anthologies It's So You and Baby, Remember My Name!

KAY MARIE YOAS, author of the chapbook Perfect Endings: Fresh Stories and Rotten Characters; published in the anthologies It's So You and We Don't Need Another Wave; a working-class warrior who has performed her work solo and with improv groups at Homo-a-Go-Go and other fine queer events.

MICHELLE TEA, editor of the brand new anthology It's So You: 35 Women Write About Personal Expression Through Fashion and Style, and the still pretty new Baby, Remember My Name: New Queer Girl Writing; author of four memoirs including the recently reissued The Passionate Mistakes and Intricate Corruption of One Girl in America and the novel Rose of No Man's Land.

with special guests (SF show)

Beth Lisick, author of Everybody into the Pool
Ali Liebegott, author of The IHOP Papers
Jennifer Blowdryer, author of Good Advice for Young Trendy People of All Ages
Trina Robbins, author and illustrator of Tender Murderers: Women Who Kill
Rhiannon Argo, Sister Spit Spring 2007 tour survivor
Tammy Fortin, Sister Spit Ramblin' Roadshow tour troublemaker
Samara Halperin, filmmaker, writer and lover of sneakers
Cindy Emch, founder of Queer Open Mic
Sherilyn Connelly, writer and performer
Frances Varian, writer and performance artist

national tour schedule @ www.sisterspitnextgen.com

A Fashionable Book

2007-09-17T23:09:00.001-07:00

This rad new book is out that I have writing in. You can go get it in the city at like, Modern Times or Dog Eared Books. Anywhere else you live... you can ask your local bookstore to order it, because you can't wait to read:

Has stuff in it by,
Me
Chelsea Starr
Nicole Georges
Michelle Tea
Felecia
Eillen Myles
Felicia Luna Lemus
Ali Liebegott
Tara Jepsen
Dexter Flowers
And,
Six Feet Under Producer Jill Soloway, transgender icon Kate Bornstein, Sonic Youth's Kim Gordon, poet Diane di Prima, NPR regular Sandra Tsing Loh, novelist Beth Lisick, Calvin Klein model Jenny Shimizu, actress Laura Fraser, and writer/herstorian Trina Robbins.
And,
so on....

2007-06-20T11:59:00.000-07:00

SUMMER READING LIST

Like Son- Felicia Luna Lemus

Dahlia Season- Myriam Gurba

The Heart is a Lonely Hunter- Carson McCullers

The History of Love- Nicole Krauss

Happy Baby- Stephen Elliott

Jesus' Son- Denis Johnson

Like a Hole in the Head- Jen Banbury

Geek Love- Katherine Dunn

2007-06-18T14:14:00.000-07:00

Cruising for inspiration as I work on writing a new piece for the Beat reading next week, I have fallen back in love with Ferlinghetti. I have decided to read two pieces that pay homage to the two cities that were the prime literary backdrops for The Beat writers, San Francisco and New York. I'm loving working on this new stuff, the second piece about a magical Coney Island... so I've got Ferlinghetti's jazzy rythmns on the mind.

From Coney Island of the Mind by Lawrence Ferlinghetti

The poet's eye obscenely seeing
sees the surface of the round world
with its drunk rooftops
and wooden oiseaux on clotheslines
and its clay males and females
with hot legs and rosebud breasts
in rollaway beds
and its trees full of mysteries
and its Sundays parks and speechless statues
and its America
with its ghost towns and empty Ellis Islands
and its surrealist landscape of
mindless prairies
supermarket suburbs
steamheated cemeteries
and prostering cathedrals
a kissproof world of plastic and toiletseats tapax and taxis
drugged store cowboys and las vegas virgins
disowned indians and cinemad matrons
unroman sentors and conscientious non-objectors
and all the other fatal shorn-up fragments
of the immigrant's dream come too true
and mislaid
among the sunbathers

2007-06-17T20:27:00.000-07:00

Mad to Live

if you would be entertained by hearing me read from my novel in progress, or by hearing a variety of awesome writers read on three different Wednesdays in June, then come to this:

Mad to Live: Queers Under the Influence of the Beats
Presented by RADAR, The SF Public Library & Qcc
June 13, 20, 27 at 6:00pm
Readings
San Francisco Public Library/ Koret Auditorium
Free

A three-part series featuring contemporary queer poets, writers and performers whose underground voices, outlaw stance and wild talent have made them heirs to the Beats' literary legacy. Curated and hosted by Michelle Tea, each event pairs a non-fiction beat historian to contextualize these performers in history, and give a a clear picture on the beats' impact on our culture at large.

June 13th: Ali Liebegott, Justin Chin, Kirk Read. Marcus Ewert, and Miranda Mellis

June 20th: Lynn Breedlove, Keith Hennessy, Kirya Traber, Red Jordan Arobateau and Eileen Myles

June 27th: Rhiannon Argo, Meliza Banales, Sara Seinberg, Buttafly Soul and Diane di Prima

2007-05-13T15:04:00.000-07:00

Pennsylvania

I called my ex girl while in the middle of a woodsy lot at ten pm from the Bryn Mawr campus, leaning against a tree sitting in the dirt, my boot heels clotted. The wind was blowing warm. Girls walked through the night carefree and barefoot. All girls schools seem like these utopias sheltered from the outside world. Oh wow, to have the luxury of barely having to wear clothes and only having to think about reading and learning. Most of us on this tour can’t really relate to that experience. When we went to school, if we did, we juggled waitress, and shitty coffee jobs, and school was just a night class or an after thought, shoved between all these things. At least that's how I remember college. Struggling to pay bills and also squeeze in the luxury of reading.

My ex understands the lonely roaming vacantness that can come with touring, because she has done it so many times with her band, so she can talk me down from any sad feelings. She and I both share our wild dreams of suceeeding as artists, and being able to make a living off of it, her with music, and me with writing. Our dreams weave in and out of each others. Back in SF she sleeps in my old bed at night during the rare times she is not at her new girlfriends. She is broke, so broke, and its been so long that it’s been that way. Living to play music. Living to write. She says she wears my leather jacket around town. I guess it looks better on her.

[Goodbyes]

Every night before I fall asleep, since Chicago, I flip to the picture in my camera of my girl with crying eyes in the morning. Her shirt pulled up from how her hands are behind her head, her hounds tooth hat. Damn, she is such a pretty sight. She is such a stunning thing. She blinks her eyes and the tears disappear, and she gives my camera a cocky look, with her hat tipped sideways over her eyes.

Another image of her waving the van goodbye in Chicago, standing in the heat baked trashy parking lot in front of that shitty hotel. Hiss in her ear that I love her. Take that with you. I say it over and over so she really knows.

The time before that I said goodbye to her on the hot baking sidewalk in sf, moving out of my house, all these friends scattered around who were talking pieces of my life to baby sit for a bit, pieces of my old room. And The Kid who had little pieces of my flesh underneath her nails, and I didn't take it back.

Tiger and me never really say goodbye. When we do its just a coy giggle. I remember her walking down the LA Ramada hotel ramp behind the van, morning cocky with her grey hoody and reflective sunglasses. She's so hot, I laughed out the window. She texted, “Ew my heart hurts.” We were all really stoned in the van. I mean like so stoned that it was crazy. Annie O. looked like a mermaid goddess with whipping hair in the LA wind vacuum. She said, "Its so funny with you guys you are either really fucked up or totally sober. There is no in-between"

Write me a story, this girl said in a bar in the Midwest. She had brought paper for me and a pen tucked behind her ear. I was drunk so I did it, but later I felt tricked, like where was my proof of the story she gave me?

2007-05-13T14:54:00.000-07:00

BOSTON

We get to stay here three days, which is such a relief. Three days somewhere after nearly a month of somewhere new each day, is such a fucking relaxation. I think this is the first time all tour that I feel like I can write for hours.

It’s raining in Boston. I mostly just want to write in the room and look out over the wet and rainy old streets, Copley square and the old and new libraries. I like the view of a strange city below me. Remember when it was vegas and it glowed all night long? Now its east, dark and grey and swirling like smoke stacks. They put us on the thirteenth floor, which seems appropriately matched to our black and tattered jeans and ripped t-shirts. My bangle bracelets are spread out over the table. I think I leave a few in every city.

We are all five in one room again. It hasn’t been this way in a while because we sometimes get three rooms or people go other places. All five is kind of crazy when we get ready because we are all scrambling around and getting naked, borrowing clothes and stuff like sisters. We are painting our nails turquoise.

Cristy was sleeping through everything, because she took codeine since she hates Boston. “I only take drugs when I’m having a panic attack because I hate it somewhere,” she says. “That’s a very effective use of drugs,” Tamara says.

Cristy says now she thinks she can develop new memories for Boston and it won't give her a panic attack. Maybe that is the way I feel about SF right now. Thinking of living there, or not living there could give me a fucking panic attack. Thinking of surviving gives me a fucking panic attack.

The hotel clerk just brought in the hideaway bed so it's like a slumber party. "That looks like Hannibal Lectors bed," Nicole says because it has straps on it like in a psycho ward. We are all in our underwear. Cristy's are see through. We figure that is his tip.

2007-05-13T14:46:00.000-07:00

OHIO

The thing about tour is that if you fall behind a little with sleep and taking care of yourself, it takes a few days to catch up. When I am spread to thin a metal vice is clamped around my head and cranked tighter every time someone tries to even smile or talk to me. This is what happened to me in Ohio. I wanted to love it, but I was socially drained from Chicago.
My girlfriend from SF, popped up and surprised me with flowers and strawberries, chocolate and champagne, and a trashy hotel room. It was hard to fully absorb the whole experience because I was so drained from spending the last three days, six to seven hours a day, in the van. But I loved seeing her. It was a reminder that home can find you, however far you go... In Chicago nothing that familiar haunted me. We circled the lake. We circled my memory, but didn’t pierce it. I woke up in the trashiest hotel room so far on tour, with scraped knuckles, and bruises spreading thick over freckle patches. My hair was thick and dirty with the usual coating of cheap hotel shampoo. I consist of mini bottles of hotel creams, mini bars of soap and hand towels that we throw on the floor.

In the Ohio hotel room Cristy and I dyed our hair, her red and mine black. We felt like outlaws on the run who had just committed a crime, and had to disguise ourselves from the law.

2007-05-13T14:31:00.000-07:00

Lexington, Kentucky

The students made us Fried Chicken in this old style southern type house. Robin got really into talking to the kids about religious upbringings and exorcisms. There were girl’s spread out all over the dark wood floors at the bottom of the huge mirrored old staircases. I can’t get used to how much space is everywhere in middle America, especially on these sprawling college campuses. In SF I am so tightly squeezed into this seven by seven mile world of buildings and city everywhere. At the huge colleges I have the urge to run across the wide lawns.

In Kentucky I wanted to go walk on the racetrack and smoke a joint near the stables. Our hotel was overlooking a horse race track, piles of hay, and a farm house castle. Kentucky was so sexy, and I was so tired. I decided it was somewhere I would have to revisit. This tour is only America in small flashes, not even lingering long enough to be picture flashes. It is just this small window of time to see what you need, because when you are not in the van, or at a venue, you are trying to sneak in a little writing and quiet time.

Mornings are the best time. If you can wake up in time for them. You can scribble some notes in the continental breakfast hotel dining area. There is a huge TV that usually has the news on, the constant image of the boy who shot his classmates. War. War. War.

2007-05-13T14:25:00.000-07:00

Nashville, Tenn

The Roller Derby girls at our show had on these orange cut off onesies, like hot car mechanics. I knew one of them, Brit, she was in SF once five years ago and we went to an Erase Errata show. I thought she was from Colorado. "How the hell did you end up in Nashville?" I asked her. She said she works at the gay bar and loves the roller derby. It seems like a good combo. A reason to stay somewhere. It would hook me somewhere.

Brit made us a mix CD for our van. She showed us a quick night lit drive-by tour of Nashville. Robin and me got super excited because in the parking lot of the bar we went to there were cowgirl lesbian, curly hair-sprayed blonde and feathered hair, and black cowgirl hatted ladies holding hands and talking all country. Wow. “We want to see more of them,” we said. “We could go to queer Karaoke,” Brit said. I swear in every town we go to there is some sort of queer Karaoke or Queereoke. We could really do a queer karaoke tour across America someday.

Also, did this interview from the road...

Chill Mag interview

http://www.chillmag.com/april07/feature_sisterspit.html

Rhiannon Argo, Cristy C. Road, and Nicole J. Georges are spouting their genderqueer words around the country, as Sister Spit: The Next Generation heads into its second week on tour. The road show, created by our favorite queer girl author, Michelle Tea, was started in the '90s, and inspired many a queer women to start writing. A decade later, the show is back with five brand new and rapidly emerging authors. The road show makes its Chicago stop on Saturday, April 21.

Presented by A Field Guide to Gay and Lesbian Chicago at Women and Children First Bookstore, the special performance will also feature Tea, Eileen Myles and Ali Leibegott. The 8 p.m. show is open to all ages, and tickets cost $10 and are available by calling or visiting the bookstore.

We caught up with some of the women on the Sister Spit tour, as they work their way through the Midwest to get here on Saturday, to find out how the next generation of Sister Spitters feels about touring with a bunch of rad ladies and what exciting things are in store for them after the show.

CHILL: What do you think the importance is of having an all-girl road show?

Rhiannon Argo: The very important need to have visibility of both female/ish and queer/ish writers, especially in places where there aren't many of them. The importance of inspiring girls all over to write, and feel confident about being able to put their words and stories out in the world, (especially since mainstream literature is generally so dominated by, you know, the straight, male types). Also, just the fact that our crew of young, generally unpublished zinesters and such don't really have many chances to get our work noticed…
I've also realized from touring that Sister Spit really creates community, like there is this huge older-than-me generation of writing girls who are connected by the past tours, and now we (the next generation) are meeting the other girls in the Baby Remember My Name anthology at our shows, exchanging phone numbers, and building our own community which is so great.

Cristy C. Road: I think this specific show is showing an array of talent, rather than a group of women writing about like subjects and showing similar abilities. In the past women artists, of all kinds, have been lumped to a single demographic, and we all are coming from varying backgrounds, but still showing this sick, amazing, and rowdy display of our art. And the gender aspect is pretty basic—there are still not enough artistic movements that are pioneered by women.

Nicole J. Georges: Sister Spit is fantastic because it has carved its own niche. Generally road shows are large productions with mainstream bands, or bands made up predominantly of men. How glorious it is, then, that women can use their personal skills and talents for a road show and travel together, support each other, and inspire other girls around the country. It is truly feminist to me, to have this van of women. Thank you Sister Spit!

CHILL: Hey Cristy, what were the challenges in creating an illustrated novel compared to the process of creating a graphic novel?

CR: I actually felt like a full-on comic was not my style, since I felt like my writing had grown a ton in the last year. So I scrapped the graphic novel idea and am doing something that is a hybrid of a comic and an illustrated novel. Some word bubbles, some full-page illustrations, some pages of text only, many small images, but a page layout with my usual typewriter lettering and cursive titles. It's a lot more engaging this way.

CHILL: Tell me in 10 words or less what you think about zines!

NG: Zines are empowerment. Zines are punk self-expression. Become the media.

CHILL: What has been the best/favorite experience of the tour so far?

RA: Well, we are only a week in, but today we all jumped into the beautiful, chilly, ocean in San Diego and that was pretty amazing. I also love the hilarious, (pretty much caused by road delirium), van humor that keeps me constantly laughing.

CR: It's only been 10 days, and besides the lack of drama, incessant jokes and beautiful southwestern landscapes that give me sporadic moments of spiritual awakening—fucking up my ankle in San Francisco was awesome. Only because it clarified all my internal battles. It was like the last straw of pain telling me to focus full-heartedly on this tour and see all my home-life-qualms through a clearer perspective.

NG: I really enjoyed going to San Diego, if only for the beach and for Anna Joy Springer's beautiful house. I got to jog down the beach practicing a tune from "Annie" with Robin Akimbo (which we performed together in Los Vegas), and then body boarded with Tamara and Rocco in the ocean! At Anna Joy's house, I was nourished with vegan food and furry animals!

CHILL: Do you identify your work as queer? Why or why not? And what's the importance of identifying it as queer or not?

RA: I do, for now. I write about queer kids, use queer specific slang, and have genderqueer and trans characters. My writing also blurs genres sometimes and experiments with form, which is something I also see as queer.

CR: I do, because I'm bisexual, and it is a prominent source of inspiration/love/drama, but I don't like to limit myself to that community. I like my writing to attract people who fit into any of my identities. Female, Latina, rude, confused, wrecked, comic book nerds.

NG: I do identify as queer. As a femme-styled person who hangs out in many different communities, I believe it's important to represent. I appreciate all of the work done by others before me to make this a safer space and land in which to live my life honestly and openly, as I am allowed to do.

CHILL: What are your plans after Sister Spit?

RA: I am totally dedicated to finishing my novel-in-progress, Switch, this summer. I'm going to live in NY for a month and Tamara, Christy and I are planning a writing group for that time. Honestly my other dream is that I will meet this really fantastic person on the road that lives on a farm in the middle of no where and say something like, "Hey, wanna write all summer on my Kansas farm?" Wow, that would be a dream come true. (Laughs). After summer, I have to go back to the west coast for library school.

CR: Keep on rolling—more art, more books, more Brooklyn. Maybe Arizona someday.

NG: After Sister Spit, I would like to go home and draw my adventures into a new comic zine. My book Invincible Summer needs reprinting as an expanded second edition, and I'm illustrating a children's book for Suspect Thoughts/Suspect Tots Press called Judy the Bear.

CHILL: While on the road, do you have time to read or write? If so, what are you working on and what are you currently reading?

RA: It's frustrating that there isn't as much time as I usually have to read and write, but that is just the dynamic of traveling with a bunch of people. I'm used to a lot more quiet time, but whenever I can I sneak away and get a half hour here and there to scribble in my journal. There's so much inspiration traveling with these rad girls so I'm always scribbling pieces down to revisit later.

CR: I'm currently working on Bad Habits, a book I'm reading excerpts of at the show. It's a graphic novel where the main character is living through a year of hard times and bad bumps; depression and finally overcoming old abandoned traumas. It's set in New York, so the consistent metaphor is the destruction of the human heart to the development of northwest Brooklyn.

NG: On the road I am writing endless postcards and text messages. I am drawing an animal each day that either Ali or I choose and trade with each other, and I have been glancing briefly at magazines. Awful, awful magazines.

For more information on Sister Spit, go to their website, www.sisterspitnextgen.com. Tickets for the show at Women and Children First are available at the bookstore.

Denver

2007-05-13T14:21:00.000-07:00

In this huge room, the stage so big that Michelle pretends to be Oprah and yells our names so they would echo across the room. I set up camp against a wall with my notebook, free water bottles and piles of papers. I change and do my hair in the bathroom because the van drove us straight to the venue and we have no hotel.

Los Angeles

2007-05-13T14:06:00.000-07:00

The best thing about LA was seeing Tiger and that the venue was at a leather daddy bar, complete with dick sucking and ass fucking porn on the TV’s. We read under a red-lit stage and the crowd was incredibly sexy. Tiger and me sipped whiskey. I was going last according to the hat pull, as done every afternoon in the van. Reading last means the crowd is drunker, louder, paying less attention because they have been listening to spoken word for over an hour, but I think I was able to rope them in and hush them up half way through my piece with all the talk of dildos and such.

Tiger was hot and we had so much to catch up on, since the last time I had seen her was after we had lived together and were 24/7 for like a month and then poof. The last time I saw her was this shitty tired morning after the crazy party in the lost house, and we were so crazy with moving out of the house that we didn’t even get to hug each other goodbye.

We left early, before the dance party, because we performers have this sort of situation were we have been at the venue like two hours longer than everyone else and we are sick of it. Being on tour with a genius group of ladies makes you feel like you don’t even wanna hang out with anyone but them. They are your core, your family, and the only thing stable in a constant moving situation of go, go, go.

Dude, I get so bitchy when we get dropped off at a new hotel after being in the van six hours, and we have only like twenty minutes to clean up from van funk, get ready, get our pieces ready, and go wherever we need to go if we want to eat for free. I’m already so bitchy when rushed. I need calm to center myself.
Speaking of food, Mordacai was so amazing and cooked us like three chickens, kale and potatoes at her lovely home. It was so yummy and awesome. People feeding you on tour makes you feel sooo fucking good. Loved.

We hated our hotel. We all woke up sticky and suffocating in the night at the same time. Tossing and turning in the heat. At breakfast they were mean to Christy for not wearing shoes, even after she showed them her purple swollen broken foot.
The best part of morning was smoking a joint with Tiger on the balcony overlooking an ugly murky part of LA. I love Tiger. She found me at my hotel that morning looking so cute and she saw us off.
Leaving her is so weird because she was my home before this van and these girls were my home. But she doesn’t even live in my “home town” so do I even have a home right now? Tamara said my evicted house piece reminds her of the Gertrude Stein quote, “There is no there, there.”

That is how I feel about having a home right now. It doesn’t really exist ‘cept in the hearts of people I love, places I miss, this van, and the question of where I am going next…

SAN FRANCISCO

2007-05-13T14:00:00.000-07:00

SF started off bad because the drive there was so long and we only got like one hour to get ready, and get back to the venue, which was across town from my girlfriends house so it was stressful. I was also super stressed out about my shitty luggage (a ghetto rolly bag that I found in the evicted house and a ten dollar Mission street duffle bag) I wasn’t prepared for all the loading and unloading this tour consists of, so I really really needed to get new luggage and there was like noooo time. Plus the piece that I wanted to read, because it was close to my heart for SF, was not done, or let alone printed.

Anyways, I went to the show and started drinking to relive all that stress. I was then sooo happy to see all my friends and their beautiful faces. I wish I had remembered to make out with more of them, because they would have been so many quick easy points for the point contest. I did get three points from my cutie girlfriend. She is so great. She saved my ass when she took me at like eight am to get new luggage and also gave me her nice rolly bag so I could get to our ten fucking am meeting place. Man, we get like no time to hang out anywhere. So, I got my sex fix in with the dawn light streaming in the blinds at the cliff house.

Of course the next day I was sooooo tired, sex worn out and a little hung-over. Poor Santa Barbara I was so tired I read like a robot, and then went to sleep in the van while everyone mingled at the bar the kids invited us too after the show.
One funny story about Santa Barbara was the pizza place the students took us to. There was a band of freshman boys playing Radio Head covers with hippie drums included. The sorority girls asked us to move from the outside table because there was some flimsy bitch ass sign that said Phi Beta Kappa. Aslo, EVERYONE stared at us like who the hell is this crazy crew? The one cool thing about the school was that there were bikes everywhere. Gangs of bikes cruising the shiny stucco streets, I miss my bike, Sweet Pea.

2007-05-13T13:52:00.000-07:00

ARCATA

Cristy and me were hoping to get stoned in Humboldt, and just as predicted after the show a student came up and said, “nice show” to Cristy and left in her hand a small bag. I guess Cristy had been muttering in the crowd, “man I want to get stoned” so maybe someone heard her or felt her brain waves. She is powerful.
The pot was also powerful. The college kids wanted us to meet us a “dyke night” but we just wanted to get stoned so we went there to get rolling papers, me, Cristy and Tamara. Robin and Nicole stayed in the hotel rooms to relax in the claw foot tubs.
So the three of us were adventurous and soon found ourselves bumming rolling paper and rolling a joint in a doorway in downtown Arcata square. Of course, in about three seconds flat we were suddenly surrounded by all the crackie, coo coo, Humboldt street types including a speed stick skinny blonde dressed in head to toe in shades of red, which she claimed was her “Easter Sunday” outfit. We joked that it looked more like Valentines outfit. The curious street people surrounding us freaked our stoned asses out, so we went back to our hotel and ate all the Easter cookies at the front desk. Then we all couldn’t talk to each other because the pot was like LSD or something. Cristy saw windows that turned into more windows and into more windows and the old hotel seemed really freaky and haunted. It was a Historic hotel with wood stairs, creaky accordion heaters, vintage furniture and such. Annie O. is such a good tour manager she really has this way with making the hotels completely match teh mood of the city we are staying in.

2007-05-13T13:38:00.000-07:00

PORTLAND

Windy grey trees and windy roads outside the van. In Portland we stayed at the Jupiter Hotel. I wish I hadn’t gotten so drunk at the house party that I forgot to take pictures of the mod room. All we could do apparently at three am was thro the hunk of Brie cheese back in forth over Tamars’s sleeping head and conspire on some made up Nancy Drew type spiral of gossip. But point is that I didn’t get to take the amazing hotel room photo shoot I envisioned.
The hotel was like where people go to have all night coke parties and pretend they are on standing on the Brooklyn Bridge, but its only wall paper. Flying.
In Portland we performed at a CHAPEL at Reed College. It was our first college show so Robin and me were a little nervous so we asked Nicole’s girlfriend to drive us up a hill while the place was filling up so we could buy a bottle of Whiskey. It had been this whole scavenger hunt for like four hours to find a liquor store because Portland is weird like that, but they balance that out by not having sales tax and real cheap thrift stores.
So when we finally pull up to this ram-shacky liquor store off some manicured Reed college hill and it’s closed! Okay, so it closed at seven and it was seven twenty. Bummer. So then we were asking the tech students who were setting up if they had some booze, like hidden in a dorm room or something, but no luck. Finding booze had become such a challenge that it also became this fun game, but then it got boring so we gave up.
The show was awesome.
After that Robin and me went to the Swan Island show to meet Annie and JJ who were like the Ab Fab girls on the dance floor.
At that point we finally got the best shot of Whiskey we have ever had. I mean because we felt like we had been thirsty for it for a century. I didn’t have an ID so it was this extra miracle that we managed to walk in past the cover/stamp part of the show and straight to the whiskey.
I realized there are like tons of queers in Portland. I guess I never noticed how many until I saw a whole room of em at our college show and a whole huge new mess of em at the musci show and then another huge mess of em at the house party we went to after.
Kinsley drove us to the house party and I wore her construction hat. At the house party we saw Adele from SF, Portland friends, and Sara P, who I grew up with in the same town and once rode skateboards with. Small world. We drank wine and danced and I heard a rumor that Annie was too drunk which I have never seen happen before. Robin, Cristy and me took a cab back to teh hotel and we had this really awesome rocker cab driver. As we walked to our room at the Jupiter hotel at three am there where all these doors wide open with dudes spilling out, yelling at us to come in their rooms like they thought they were at a coke infused brothel. No thanks and goodnight.

2007-04-12T14:44:00.000-07:00

Olympia

The Bitches

We stayed in the Clarion Hotel which felt like a huge homo a go-go flash back, except there wasn’t a huge queer soupy slop in the pool, because it was closed. The room was really familiar, like maybe I stayed in the same room. There was a lingering déjà vu of the that hot tryst, the one in the closet type area, by the door while like ten people were sleeping in the room. Hmmm that’s all about that.
There were a few Sister Spit groupies in Olympia who were both older gents who said they have been to every Sister Spit show. One of them took our picture fifteen times and the other one was this so sweet gay man, who bought us food and drinks at The Reef. I guess I got drunk because in the next town I realized I had lost my ID, which is now being airmailed, to San Diego to insure I can gamble and drink properly in VEGAS.
In Oly we picked pretty flowers walking home drunk and scattered them around the hotel room.

2007-04-12T14:38:00.000-07:00

SEATTLE

book worthy

****Favorite Seattle quote****
(said by Ali Liebegott during her pee-yur-pants-funny reading)

"Wow, the audience is so cute here. I guess since it rains so much here you all have lotsa extra time for cool fashion. I spend time on fashion too, in fact this entire outfit is silk screened right onto my body"

***Seattle Adventures***
Hangin out at the Bavarian Mansion, jj making me tea and toast, puffy with an astronaut haircut. Awesome food like honeydew and pho... (thanks to Aryn Cromeenes my tour guide and bannana pill giver)