8/9 This Useless Beauty/The Ugly Side of the Lake Dual Launch Party @ Brillobox

8PM THURSDAY, AUGUST 9…

Join Jason Baldinger and John Dorsey for the release of two recent books (Baldinger’s “This Useless Beauty” and Baldinger/John Dorsey’s “Ugly Side of the Lake”). Readers include Baldinger, Dorsey, Nikki Allen, Victor Clevenger and Vanessa Vesch. The illustrious Stephanie Brea will be our host. $5 gets you in, show starts at 8pm. After the reading there will be music from locals Pond Hockey and the Dumplings.

Here are bios for the folks that read them:

Nikki Allen is a lover & a writer—with hair an animal & heart clumsy tiger. Scribbling because she must with nearly 20 years of stages in her gut. She has read in cities across the US at music festivals, war protests, backyards and art openings. She is the author of numerous books, including Gutter of Eden, Quite Like Yes, and Ligaments of Light/Tigering the Shoulders(Night Ballet Press). Her work has appeared in Nailed, Crash, The New Yinzer, out of nothing, Profane Journal(Pushcart Prize nominee ‘14/’15) and Encyclopedia Destructica among others. Allen has also contributed vocals to tracks by recording artists Poogie Bell (Question Song) and Jack Wilson (NYC). She believes in revolution, strong coffee, the hard knocks & the sweetness.

Jason Baldinger is a poet hailing from Pittsburgh and recently finished a stint as writer in residence at the Osage Arts Community. He’s the author of several books, the most recent are This Useless Beauty (Alien Buddha Press), The Ugly Side of the Lake (Night Ballet Press) written with John Dorsey and the chaplet Fumbles Revelations (Grackle and Crow) which are available now. The collection Fragments of a Rainy Season (Six Gallery Press) and the split book with James Benger Little Fires Hiding (Spartan Press) are forthcoming. Recent publications include the Low Ghost Anthology Unconditional Surrender, The Dope Fiend Daily, Outlaw Poetry, Uppagus, Lilliput Review, Rusty Truck, Dirtbag Review, In Between Hangovers, Your One Phone Call, Winedrunk Sidewalk, Anti-Heroin Chic, Nerve Cowboy Concrete Meat Press, Zombie Logic Press, Ramingo’s Porch, Rye Whiskey Review, Red Fez, Blue Hour Review and Heartland! Poetry of Love, Solidarity and Resistance. You can hear Jason read poems on recent and forthcoming releases by Theremonster and Sub Pop Recording artist The Gotobeds as well as at jasonbaldinger.bandcamp.com

When not traveling highways across America, Victor Clevenger spends his days in a Madhouse and his nights writing poetry. Selected pieces of his work have appeared in print magazines and journals around the world, as well as at a variety of places online. In 2017, Victor was nominated for the Best of the Net Anthology, as well as a Pushcart Prize. His most recent published collections of poetry include a split book with Tom Farris titled Ginger Roots Are Best Taken Orally (EMP, 2018) and A Finger in the Hornets’ Nest (Red Flag Press, 2018).

John Dorsey has been writing poetry since the late 1980’s and has been involved in the publishing community for more than two decades. He is the author of around 50 books and chapbooks, a few of the most recent being Being the Fire (Tangerine Press, 2016) and Shoot the Messenger (Red Flag Press, 2017), the latter was funded by Indiana University of Pennsylvania’s English Department. An 11-time Pushcart Prize nominee, his work has appeared more than 2,000 magazines and anthologies from around the world. He has read or spoken at colleges and universities such as the University of Toledo, Assumption College, Cleveland State University, Seton Hill University, University of the Arts, Erie Community College, Southeast Missouri State University, Indiana University of Pennsylvania and the University of Missouri-St. Louis, as well as other assorted venues covering 49 states. For several years Dorsey served as a judge for the Arts Commission of Greater Toledo’s Art in Tarta Project, which chose poems to be presented on city transit buses. In 2006, he won the Toledo City Paper’s annual poetry and fiction competition, and would go on to serve as a judge the following year, before being named the city’s Best Literary Artist in their 2014 reader poll. In 2010, he also served as a judge for Grievous Jones Press’ Grievous Prize issued in Cardiff, Wales, and in 2013 for the Standing Rock Cultural Arts Open Chapbook Competition in Kent, Ohio. From 2003-2012, he served as an Artist-in-Residence at the Collingwood Arts Center in Toledo, Ohio and In 2015, Dorsey was awarded a Visiting Artist Residency by the Osage Arts Community in Belle, MO, where he currently resides. In 2017 he received a two appointment to serve as Belle’s first city Poet Laureate from Mayor Steve Vogt and has gone on to found the city’s first literary publication the Gasconade Review, which he edits with Jason Ryberg. He is a graduate of the University of Arts’ Writing for Film and Television program, completing his education there in 2002, and 2017 he served as the subject for a poetry documentary by NYC filmmaker Carson Parish. He may be reached at archerevans@yahoo.com

Vanessa Vesch is a writer and musician whose poetic work explores anarchist and feminist resistance, language, sound, and bereavement among other themes. To date, she has authored 17 micro-chapbooks, and her poetry and creative nonfiction have appeared in The Gourd, B.E. Quarterly, Steel City Revolt, Shades of Gray, and on the now-sadly-departed radio show, Prosody. Through her band, Sweetheart of the Barricades, Vesch (lead vocals, rhythm guitar, lyrics and song writing) presents a scorching blues, “yinsurgent-country,” and rock project in celebration of Pittsburgh’s rich labor history, working-class culture, and outlaw folklore. The quartet, comprised of Vesch with Brian Sproul (lead guitar), Hernan Brizuela (vocal harmonies, harmonicas, saxophone), and Jeremy Papay (drums), recently featured on the Saturday Light Brigade, and their debut EP, recorded at MixHaas Studio (produced by Chris “Lurch” Rudyk) will release in the fall of 2018. More love, rage, and ranch at www.sweetheartofthebarricades.com