Paragraph Works
Last night's reading at KGB, a line-up of five Paragraph members reading from work written at the space, was not only received with great enthusiasm by a standing-room-only crowd, Dan the bartender, and two German men who unwittingly showed up expecting to share a quiet drink, but also proved there's some serious writing going on behind those cubicles. This woman's expression says it all.
Before the reading began, there was mingling. Can you spot the Paragraph members and readers in these pictures?
Find: Janice, Angela, David, Waldo
David Goodwillie mingling with the crowd
The reading was also attended by a photographer from The Village Sun for a piece that pits the LA writing scene against the NY writing scene. Who knew there was an LA writing scene?
Meta-photo
To start off the reading, Darcy Frey, a creative nonfiction writer, read from a new essay that describes his pre-Paragraph struggle to find a suitable place to write away from his apartment. His search lands him in an office within the apartment of a newly divorced psychiatrist on the Upper West Side, which is a fine setup until the doctor's sexscapades with a married woman gradually erode the sanctity of Darcy's rented office.
Darcy Frey reading about a writing space gone wrong (not Paragraph)
Continuing with the sexual theme, Grant Stoddard jumped i nto a scene f rom his newly published and hilarious book, Working Stiff, where he is directed to (and does) pee on a naked man whose apartment he had been paid to break into, and that was only two sentences into the scene. (Prior to peeing on this man, he had thrown food at him.) Grant's second time reading for Paragraph at KGB, this time he managed to read into the microphone rather than the light (which does look very much like a microphone, except that it' s bright), a fact we promise not to bring up should Grant ever agree to read for us again. And a note to Grant's mother: he really is alright.
Grant Stoddard and beer (not to scale)
Next batter, Brian Sack. Brian is working on a collection of essays of advice to his son entitled, In the Event of My Untimely Demise. The piece he read advised his son to travel for various reasons, many of them having to do with French men trying to steal Brian's wife, and we won't say it was funny, but it's definitely hard to breathe when you're laughing that hard. When Brian left the podium, the applause included hoots and screams, the kind of cheering that usually erupts into a chant of "Encore!" In the back someone help up a lighter and yelled, "Genius!"
Brian Sack, ombudsman, straight man.
A short break for everyone to catch their breath. Two more readers to go and this cool picture.
Check out the reflection in the glass, and the hat and tie guy
The lovely and talented memoirist, and one of our longest Paragraph members, Janice Erlbaum took the podium. Janice read a sobering excerpt from her second and forthcoming memoir, Volunteer: A Love Story (Villard, 2008) about her attempt to help a homeless girl suffering her life away on a street corner. Janice's capacity to reach out to the people that New Yorkers rush by every day is remarkable, and her ability to write about it in a way that makes us feel the people she reaches out to in our hearts and guts is astonishing.
Janice Erlbaum reading from Volunteer: A Love Story
The last reader, but certainly not the least reader, was David Goodwillie, whose recent memoir, Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time was published last year to rave reviews for its rollicking, rhythmic and honest portrayal of a twenty-something making his way through jobs, women and clubs in New York City in the nineties. In the scene he read, he meets a girlfriend at PJ Clarke's and while she exhales the invents of her previous evening in a page-long, rapid fire run-on sentence (perfectly depicted), her purse is stolen from the back of her chair. David, private investigator at the time, is the only one in the bar who fails to get a look at the perpetrator, and he's not the least bit surprised.
David Goodwillie reading from Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time
The night ended on a celebratory note, as any night with such literary prowess should, and the crowd got up for another drink satisfied, smiling. We would also hope the evening ratcheted New York far above Los Angeles in the Sun's literary scene competition. Whatever the case, we look forward to another Written at Paragraph event, a bi-annual thing? And this woman would like me to stop taking her picture.
Stop that.
Posted at 11:40 AM | Comments (2)
Posted by William K. Scurry Jr.
Jan 13, 2007
Jan 13, 2007
That was a wonderful reading... the guests were in fabulous voice. Next time, keep it to four people, and it'd be perfect.
Posted by Lisa
Jan 28, 2007
This was the best reading night I've been to. And the hot brunette in the first picture is my friend Karina.