GrottoBlog http://www.sfgrotto.org/ en Copyright 2008 Sat, 10 May 2008 07:52:03 -0800 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/ http://www.rssboard.org/rss-specification The May 17 Progressive Reading  

Saturday, May 17
A Special Literary Benefit To
SAVE RENT CONTROL
 
PROGRESSIVE READING SERIES
 
Featuring Authors: Mary Roach, Pam Houston, Adam Mansbach, David West, Mark Pritchard
 
Plus: Sticky Notes from This American Life's Starlee Kine
Josh Bearman's Multi-Media Extravaganza
Comedian Nato Green
and The Progressive Reading Series All-Star Minstrels
 
Hosted by Stephen Elliott
7pm At The Makeout Room
3225 22nd Street 415 647 2888 $10-20 sliding scale
 

]]> http://www.sfgrotto.org/archives/2008/05/the-may-17-progressive-reading.html http://www.sfgrotto.org/archives/2008/05/the-may-17-progressive-reading.html Sat, 10 May 2008 07:52:03 -0800 Chapter 2 of Gerard Jones's new novel on line The response to the first chapter of my new humor novel, Million Dollar Ideas (about a couple of screenwriters in a slightly surreal version of '40s Hollywood), was very gratifying, and now I've posted Chapter 2 on two sites: http://edandjohnny.blogspot.com and Red Room, the new online writers' community. My collaborator on this is Will Jacobs, with whom I wrote The Trouble with Girls, The Beaver Papers and many pieces for National Lampoon...and we are both hungry for comments! Thanks!

]]> http://www.sfgrotto.org/archives/2008/05/chapter-2-of-gerard-joness-new.html http://www.sfgrotto.org/archives/2008/05/chapter-2-of-gerard-joness-new.html Fri, 02 May 2008 10:34:54 -0800 Laura Fraser wins IACP essay award Laura Fraser has won the 2008 International Association of Culinary Professionals essay award for "Food for the Heart" in EatingWell Magazine. 

Congratulations, Laura!

]]> http://www.sfgrotto.org/archives/2008/04/laura-fraser-wins-iacp-essay-a.html http://www.sfgrotto.org/archives/2008/04/laura-fraser-wins-iacp-essay-a.html Fri, 18 Apr 2008 23:22:03 -0800 New essay about the Farm Bill Hey folks, here's my latest, a short op-ed essay on the disastrous Farm Bill
about to be passed through Congress. Hope you can give a quick read and pass
along to friends and colleagues. This isn't just a farming issue, this bill
defines our food and fiber and the future of our environment and public
health, among other things. 

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/04/18/8382/

]]> http://www.sfgrotto.org/archives/2008/04/new-essay-about-the-farm-bill.html http://www.sfgrotto.org/archives/2008/04/new-essay-about-the-farm-bill.html New from Grottoites Fri, 18 Apr 2008 12:12:26 -0800 Return to the Caffe Cino @ Different Light, 4/22 George Birimisa, Diane DiPrima, and Steve Susoyev will be reading from Return to the Caffe Cino, a collection of plays originally performed at the Manhattan club credited with launching the Off-Off-Broadway theater movement. Birimisa, now 83, was the first openly gay playwright to receive a Rockefeller Grant and wrote many groundbreaking works, including Daddy Violet, Georgie Porgie, and Looking For Mr. America.

From the book:

"[Caffe Cino] was a coffee-house, a theatre, a brothel, a temple, a flophouse, a dope-ring, a launching pad, an insane asylum, a safe-house, and a sleeper cell for an unnamed revolution..."

Tuesday, Apr 22, 7:30 pm @ Different Light Bookstore, Castro bet 17th & 18th.

More about Caffe Cino on Wikipedia

]]> http://www.sfgrotto.org/archives/2008/04/return-to-the-caffe-cino-diffe.html http://www.sfgrotto.org/archives/2008/04/return-to-the-caffe-cino-diffe.html Readings & Events Recommendations Wed, 16 Apr 2008 17:11:24 -0800 A choice quarterly that's well done, and rare The Washington Post ran a nice feature today on Meatpaper, the meat-centric magazine published by Grotto wife (or at least my wife) Amy Standen and Sasha Wizansky.

"They are on to something," Peter Carlson writes, "the notion that meat, and the endless variety of rituals, symbolism and taboos surrounding it, can tell us a lot about our fellow humans."

(Carlson also ponders whether my own feature in the latest issue, "Sweat Sock: The Other White Meat," was written with the assistance of much alcohol. I resemble that remark.)

More info about Meatpaper itself right here.

 

]]> http://www.sfgrotto.org/archives/2008/04/a-choice-quarterly-thats-well.html http://www.sfgrotto.org/archives/2008/04/a-choice-quarterly-thats-well.html New from Grottoites Recommendations Tue, 15 Apr 2008 10:06:08 -0800 The April 19 Progressive Reading Saturday, April 19, 7pm at The Makeout Room- 3225 22nd Street, San Francisco, (415) 647 2888

Price: $10 - $20, sliding scale at the door
All Funds Go To Saving Rent Control!
Readers:
  • Jane Smiley  Pulitzer Prize winning author of A Thousand Acres
  • Yiyun Li author of A Thousand Years Of Good Prayers
  • Charlie Anders author of Choir Boy
  • Michelle Richmond author of The Year Of Fog
  • Laura Fraser author of An Italian Affair
  • And Jeff O'Keefe
With special guests- The Progressive Reading Series All Star Minstrels!
And Extra Extra special Guest- Board Of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin!!

Hosted by Stephen Elliott author of Happy Baby 

The progressive reading series happens on the third Saturday of every month though the 2008 election at 7pm at the Makeout Room in San Francisco.  

get on the Progressive Reading email list by sending an email to:  

]]> http://www.sfgrotto.org/archives/2008/04/the-april-19-progressive-readi.html http://www.sfgrotto.org/archives/2008/04/the-april-19-progressive-readi.html Readings & Events Mon, 14 Apr 2008 08:50:38 -0800 Gerry Jones lampoons showbiz writers in new novel Gerard Jones is now serializing his new novel, Million Dollar Ideas online, one chapter a month, at this link: http//edandjohnny.blogspot.com.

It's a funny novel about a couple of Hollywood screenwriters in '40s, with a surreal twist. Gerry cowrote the book with Will Jacobs, his old collaborator from back when they were regular writers for National Lampoon. Yes, that National Lampoon - it's a wonder Gerry is able to keep his puckishness under wraps as well as he does. See those wraps come completely off in Million Dollar Ideas.

]]> http://www.sfgrotto.org/archives/2008/04/gerry-jones-lampoons-showbiz-w.html http://www.sfgrotto.org/archives/2008/04/gerry-jones-lampoons-showbiz-w.html New from Grottoites Sun, 13 Apr 2008 15:38:15 -0800 Mark Schapiro on air Mark Schapiro, author of Exposed: The Toxic Chemistry of Everyday Products and What's at Stake for American Power is launching a radio documentary he co-produced/reported with American Radio Works. It's out today: Check out CIR's website: www.centerforinvestigativereporting.org. Airs on KQED on April 25 and 29...meantime it's up on the web...Mark holed up here to write his book and is threatening to come for lunch...

]]> http://www.sfgrotto.org/archives/2008/04/mark-schapiro-on-air.html http://www.sfgrotto.org/archives/2008/04/mark-schapiro-on-air.html Readings & Events Fri, 11 Apr 2008 09:57:38 -0800 Grotto Notes The super-informative Grotto Notes didn't go out this month because there's some stuff going on with our list server. But you can still read them here.]]> http://www.sfgrotto.org/archives/2008/04/grotto-notes.html http://www.sfgrotto.org/archives/2008/04/grotto-notes.html Grotto News Wed, 09 Apr 2008 14:50:46 -0800 Inside Story Time Meghan Ward, Elizabeth Bernstein and David Gleeson will be reading at Inside Story Time on Thursday, April 17 from 6:30 to 8:30 at Edinburgh Castle, 950 Geary St. between Polk and Larkin. The theme of the night will be CELEBRITIES.  Other readers are Emily Mitchell (The Last Summer of the World) and Andrew Altschul (Lady Lararus). $3-$5, sliding scale.

]]> http://www.sfgrotto.org/archives/2008/04/inside-story-time.html http://www.sfgrotto.org/archives/2008/04/inside-story-time.html Readings & Events Sun, 06 Apr 2008 16:24:23 -0800 BONK! Mary Roach's new book/reading!  Our own Mary Roach is reading from her new book, BONK: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex, on Tuesday the 8th at the Booksmith. Word is there'll be surprises in store....The Booksmith is on Haight St. www.booksmith.com.

]]> http://www.sfgrotto.org/archives/2008/04/bonk-mary-roachs-new-bookreadi.html http://www.sfgrotto.org/archives/2008/04/bonk-mary-roachs-new-bookreadi.html New from Grottoites Readings & Events Sun, 06 Apr 2008 16:00:19 -0800 The new HarperCollins plan: a bad thing? The NY Times has a piece today by Motoko Rich about a new HarperCollins imprint that plans to drastically reduce—and possibly do away with—writer advances: 

Ms. Friedman said the new group, which will initially publish just 25 titles a year, would offer “low or no advances.” Mr. Miller, who was most recently president of Hyperion, said he hoped to offer authors a 50-50 split of profits. Typically, authors earn royalties of 15 percent of profits after they have paid off their advances. Many authors never earn royalties.

Is this a bad thing for writers? Maybe not. Writers who command high advances might jump at the chance to trade them for the upside of higher royalties. With lesser known writers, publishers have less of an incentive to push a low-advance/high-royalty deal (because advances are lower). But even if the approach catches on, there could be another benfit to writers: publishers might issue more titles. Talented new authors would have to figure out how to pay their rent ("Welcome to our world," say the independent filmmakers), but they could wind up with a larger share of the fruits of their labors.

]]> http://www.sfgrotto.org/archives/2008/04/is-the-new-harpercollins-plan.html http://www.sfgrotto.org/archives/2008/04/is-the-new-harpercollins-plan.html Writers' Resources Thu, 03 Apr 2008 22:17:52 -0800 Progressive Reading, April 19

I'm hosting the next Progressive Reading April 19, 7pm, at The Makeout Room. Readers include Jane Smiley, Yiyun Li, Michelle Richmond, and Charlie Anders. There will also be music from The Progressive Reading Series All-Star Minstrels and a special appearance by Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin.

All funds from the reading go to save rent control.

More information at www.progressivereadingseries.org

]]> http://www.sfgrotto.org/archives/2008/04/progressive-reading-april-19.html http://www.sfgrotto.org/archives/2008/04/progressive-reading-april-19.html Readings & Events Thu, 03 Apr 2008 17:38:08 -0800 Reading/Launch Party for Katie Crouch's "Girls In Trucks"

Girls in Trucks is Grotto subletter Katie Crouch's first novel about a debutante from South Carolina who leaves the South with high hopes and finds cold weather, love, heartbreak, weird sex, drugs, and a newly developed penchant for stalking men. (Not in that order, though.)

Katie's first reading and launch party will be at Books Inc in Opera Plaza on April 10th at 6:30 pm.

More at www.katiecrouch.com/girls.html
]]> http://www.sfgrotto.org/archives/2008/04/readinglaunch-party-for-katie.html http://www.sfgrotto.org/archives/2008/04/readinglaunch-party-for-katie.html New from Grottoites Thu, 03 Apr 2008 14:20:03 -0800