Whirlwind - The Tour Continues

I've been remiss on my blogging duties the last few days. A lack of wifi connectivity has been partially at fault but, moreover, it's been a lack of time (and sleep) that's kept me away from the keyboard.

Saturday
The old MicroCineFest gang did a lot of eating and hanging out, hitting up the Golden West Cafe, book shopping at Normals and grabbing a pizza at Joe Squared before heading over to The Windup Space for a MicroCineFest screening of shorts and John Paizs's Crime Wave.

Between the movie and the music (Mr. Moccasin, Michael Holt, and The Jennifers), Andrea and I cracked open the cake -- a very sad thing but there was no way we could transport this around with us everywhere and it wouldn't likely make the trip back to Detroit very well. Instead, we shared the delicious pumpkin cinnamon treat with everyone at The Windup Space.

I nearly fainted from fanboy fervor when I sold Mink Stole a copy of my book. Seeing Desperate Living in college opened up a whole world of new thoughts about movies. I need to get over myself as I'm supposed to have breakfast with her and her band (in which pals Scott Brown and Skizz Cyzyk are members) on Wednesday morning before we head back to Detroit.

For a different take on these Baltimore events, I implore you to read Tom Warner's post on BaltimoreOrLess, Psyched to Get Miked.

Sunday
I hated saying goodbye to Mike Faloon before heading down to Richmond, VA for an event at Gallery 5, a firehouse turned art space just off the main drag. Chop Suey Books and the James River Film Society co-sponsored the event. It really couldn't have been better.

The night opened with the music of BearKat -- a quartet of eclectic musicians that played a strong set of songs. I've yet to pop in their CD but if it's half as good as their live show, I'm in for a treat. Having seen on BearKat's website that the lead singer is a ukulele aficionado, it was only natural that Skizz do a set of songs as well. One man, one uke, no mic, but plenty of moxy, Skizz tore through a quick set of great songs.

I got up an proceeded to make a fool of myself, as usual. I foolishly decided to read a shorter piece so as to not subject the poor people of Richmond to too much prattling. Unfortunately, I stumbled over my words quite a few times. Some pieces are meant for reading to oneself rather than aloud to a crowd.

Who Do You Think You're Fooling? and Cockfighter played to an audience that wasn't prepared for what they endured. I still think folks had a good time (as evidenced by this write up of the event: All Kinds of Hot at Gallery 5).

As with most events this tour, I met up with old friends and new. My college roommate and longtime friend Matt Clark came out to the event from up the road a piece while the guys from Bad Movie Podcast hauled ass all the way from Raleigh, NC. Big thanks to them and to everyone else for showing up!

Monday
We didn't get in from Richmond until late. Waaaaay late. Despite this, we got up early and took Jay Edwards to the airport after grabbing some breakfast. Stomach full and head foggy, I crashed for a few hours before rallying everyone for a trip up to Harrisburg for the Moviate screening of Black Shampoo.

Skizz, Jen, Andrea and I met up with Dan Krovich, my pal Melanie, and two of the Moviate fellas -- Caleb Smith and Michael Robinson -- for some Indian cuisine. We adjourned back to the Mantis Gallery (right next door to Midtown Scholar for the movie.

We got a nice turnout of folks and just about everyone stuck around after the lights came back up for a phone-in Q&A with Greydon Clark. I had brought along some Black Shampoo DVDs and those sold like hotcakes both before and after the show. The books? Not so much. But Caleb, Michael, and their Moviate co-conspirator Jim Hollenbaugh picked up copies. Hopefully more Harrisburg people won't be able to get Black Shampoo out of their mind and pick up copies of the book as well. One can hope.

Today
This evening we're off to Washington D.C. for the Washington Psychotronic Film Society screening of Phantom of the Paradise. It'll be great seeing WPFS honcho Carl Cephas again! I can't even remember the last time I did one of these WPFS events but I recall it being a blast.