Bang Out and get it on

Bang Out dynamic duo Kevin Hobson and Amick Boone

I don't know about you, but I'm staying inside today. Biblical rain = internet reading, I hope. So let's talk about Bang Out, San Francisco's quick and dirty reading series.

This past Saturday evening, January 16, I experienced my first installment @ Amnesia. Bang Out is just simply a really good idea. Curators Kevin Hobson and Amick Boone (to your right) started the series last October, posting a theme and taking submissions. The result is a mix between the Literary Death Match - for its boisterous and mostly standing crowd - and Porchlight Storytelling - with its eclectic mix of presentations - and since its inception the series has become quite popular and has already featured some really talented readers (including, to name a few, Sona Avakian, Sarah Fran Wisby, Jamey Genna, and Meg Day).

For the sixth installment of this quarterly series six writers took the stage to speak about Resolution. Kevin and Amick have a really nice dynamic - oops, that kinda rhymed - but I think that's the kind of joke they might tell. It's not really in-your-face like the LDM (which I like), but they do engage with the audience and banter back and forth. Another plus is that while Amick has an MFA in poetry, Kevin has one in fiction (both from SFSU), so they're able to do justice to each genre. I heart any reading series that features words of every type.

I must confess that I was a little out of it that evening because I went to Bang Out directly from Lenore Kandel's memorial, which was rather overpowering. Despite that, I was still impressed by the readings and truly do hope to see more of these writers in the future. What else can you ask? Let's get to it, then.

I hate to start with an apology but there was some glitch in my tape or something and I had to splice together Deborah Wood's reading, so there is a little bit that got cut out - not much, but it's obvious where it happens (I used a fade-out). Sorry, Deborah!

Next up, Candra Kolodziej read an incredible piece of fiction called "Like an Egg:"

As much as I liked those first two readers I really liked the poems of Michael Francis Rutherglen, who, as you can see, is something of a delicat. This subdued tone, as you may have deduced, is to my preference; it is the basis for my reading series quiet lightning, which is in a very real way my response to the LDM. I was surprised to find this kind of reader at Bang Out; it immediately opened my eyes to the potential scope of a theme-based series with only a 1000 word-count as stipulation.

There was a nice intermission for drinks and socializing - both encouraged - and I liked the fact that Kevin returned to the stage (after not too long a break) with a pint in his hand. Smooth and EZ, yawl. Crowd favorite Ami Sheth told a delightful tale about being a 'brownie' on the first day of an otherwise all-white school ... with a special new outfit and plans to fit in.

Next up was Jason Morris, editor of the Mission-based Big Bell Magazine, who braved a cold to read some of his powerful poetry and also - bonus - Ted Berrigan's poem "Resolution." Jason's also author of the just-off-the-press chapbook Spirits and Anchors.

Amanda Davidson read a humorous (and quite clever) pact with herself, perhaps the most honest way to start the new year, and then followed with an exceprt from her novel-in-progress.

If you like what you've seen, stay tuned to the Bang Out site. One of my favorite features of the series is they post the texts from each installment so you can read them. Bravo! Soon, perhaps, they'll have videos! Ah, it looks like the texts from Resolution have been posted while I was writing this: look here.

Bang Out will next occur on Saturday, May 15th @ Amnesia. The theme is "BFF: Best Friends Forever." They are accepting submissions now!

Coming Up in the Next 2 Weeks

• Read an excerpt from Jesus Angel Garcia's multimedia novel badbadbad here. Get it while it's hot, kiddies (it's gonna stay hot for a minute, it's still in the oven, it's roasting, but damnit! get a taste now).
• Get hip to publicity and events of all kinds here.
• Litquake is co-sponsoring tomorrow night's sketchfest program @ The Castro, an interview with Monty Python's Flying Circus co-founder Terry Jones. Get tickets.  Also, Saturday night Eddie Izzard plays @ The Oracle Arena in Oakland. Lit fans get a special $10 off here.
• Open call for submissions: Anger Management.
• Open call for submissions: MUST microzine. Email Lynn Alexander.
• Open call for submissions: Fashion for Collapse
• Open call for submissions: Full of Crow
• Send your best flash fiction here if you want it on the radio and on cable TV (!).
• Want to give a new literary mag some support? Here's another chance to publish your best.
• Want to read in public? Quiet Lightning loves everyone.
• Check out Tony DuShane's new novel Confessions of a Teenage Jesus Jerk @ City Lights now!
• Have you your own copy of Ransom Stephens' The God Patent yet? For what doth thou wait?!
• You're probably already subscribed to The Daily Rumpus, but if not, don't you want an email from Stephen Elliott every (avg) three days with revelations, musings, and smart links? At least check out The Rumpus, for the love of culture!
• I can't stop listening to local KFlay's mix MASHed Potatoes.