Last night former Raunch Hand, Screw writer, and High Times editor Mike Edison held another book party for his memoir I Have Fun Everywhere I Go (Faber & Faber, 2008), at Frank’s Coctail Lounge, in Fort Greene, Brooklyn. I picked up a copy of the book, but have only skimmed it so far. The reading was real hoot, however, featuring such "savage tales" as “The Warlord,” “Pornography Part I,” “Jews for Jesus,” and one of my favorites, his song “Cocaine Habit Blues,” all performed with the backing of the Space Liberation Army (Jon Spencer & Co). Above is a clip of Mike Edison performing the song in LA at a previous appearance.
All in all a very entertaining night, which my girlfriend summed-up thusly: “He’s living every boy’s dream: writing about strippers and massage parlors, then ranting about it at Frank’s, while Jon Spencer plays guitar.” Yup, pretty much. I gotta add that, as someone who's pretty soured on book publishing, unable to read most current titles, bummed by most bookstores (bitterness/resignation largely caused by my own failures in that racket), it's great to see someone getting such stuff printed these days.
Another highlight last night was a stripped-down set of Lost Crusaders songs by Mike Chandler & guitarist Johnny Vignault.
Funny...I saw his book reading a couple o' weeks ago in Metuchen NJ.
ReplyDeletePretty entertaining, huh? I especially enjoyed how whenever he'd read a line like "and then I realized we were out of cocaine!" he'd throw in a theramin lick just for atmos. Reminded me of that one Russ Meyer flick --was it "Beneath the Valley of the Ultravixens"? --where every glaring sexual innuendo earns another jew's harp riff from the soundtrack. ME sorta makes being a writer look like fun again.
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