11/19 Right Direction by Bart Solarczyk launch @ Irma Freeman Center

THIS SATURDAY…

11/5 Reading Roulette feat. Baldinger, Collins, Ellis, & Silsbe @ Coffee Buddha

8PM THIS SATURDAY…

Are you feeling lucky? For our second Coffee Buddha After-Hours event of the year, we are doing something a little different: READING ROULETTE & other assorted literary parlor games of chance. Think of this event as one part Victorian-era parlor games, one part Las Vegas coke-fuled bender, one part literary reading.

Our specially designed (i.e., homemade) roulette wheel determines who reads and for how long. Our pool of participants includes the following fine folks, but they will only read if their name comes up (and only one poem or short fiction/essay excerpt at a time! If someone ends up reading three times in a row, the wheel is rigged):

Bart Solarczyk got his knuckles slapped with a ruler many times after being caught cheating at bingo by the Catholic nuns who ran the church’s weekly games. Since then, he has completely abstained from any type of gambling, even innocuous scratch off tickets.

Bob Walicki: It’s difficult for some folks to leave casinos. Bob doesn’t have this problem, except for the Rivers Casino’s free beverage station.

Angele Ellis was once part of a gambling ring that ran numbers and took backroom bets out of a barbershop in Oakland. If you owed her enough money, she was known to cut off your pinkie finger and use it to stir her coffee.

Richard L. Gegick has had his thumbs broken by bookies on at least three occasions.

Meghan Tutolo spent most of her childhood playing Crazy 8’s with New Kensington mob veterans in the Donut Shop on 5th Avenue, while her parents played the “cherry machines” in the back.

Scott Silsbe is well versed in the Mega Touch machine found at the end of many a dive bar. His powers of observation are keen, and as such, he will beat you at the naked lady game.

Megan Bell plays Russian Roulette every day, “a man’s sport,” with a bullet called life (–yeah mama, called life).

Kris Collins’ grandfather was Amarillo Slim, one of a group of Texan gamblers known for inventing Texas Hold ‘Em style poker. As such, his poker face is all genetics and will make grown men weep.

Nikki Allen

If we are lucky, guest appearances by John Korn + more.

Plus, your hosts for the evening:

Jason Baldinger doesn’t know when to hold them or when to fold them. He has a really hard time distinguishing when he should walk away and when he should run.

Stephanie Brea once gambled with senior citizens on a boat in international waters (she lost $40 and got mild food poisoning) and her father helped build the pirate ship that sets itself on fire and sinks every hour at Treasure Island in Los Vegas. She would want to be married by black leather-era Elvis.

In addition to roulette, we will be competing in other literary parlor games including “fiction-ary” and other TBA. ALL ATTENDEES WILL BE ENCOURAGED TO PARTICIPATE.

Maybe we will even have prizes.

If the weather is nice, we will have a fire and some (spiked) cider and some s’mores.

7/26 Hemingway’s Poetry Series Grand Finale @ Hemingway’s

TODAY, via Joan Bauer…

The 2016 Hemingway’s Summer Poetry Series

Tuesday nights at 8 p.m. May-July  

Hosted by Jimmy Cvetic.  3911 Forbes Avenue (in the back room)  Oakland 

Audio archive: www.hemingwayspoetryseries.blogspot.com

Tuesday July 26 – The Grand Finale curated by Kristofer Collins. 

Featuring Kristofer Collins,   Angele Ellis, Celeste Gainey, 

Richard Gegick, John Grochalski, John Korn, 

Jason Mendez & Don Wentworth

Kristofer Collins is the Books Editor at Pittsburgh Magazine, as well as being a frequent contributor to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. He is the publisher of Low Ghost Press and Coleridge Street Books. He also manages Caliban Book Shop in Oakland (and owns Desolation Row Records located inside). His latest poetry collection Local Conditions was published in 2015. He lives in Stanton Heights, a hidden gem in Pittsburgh’s east end with his wife Dr. Anna Johnson and their three cats.

Angele Ellis is an editor, poet, fiction writer, and reviewer who has authored three books, and appeared in over fifty publications and ten anthologies. She is coauthor of Dealing With Differences (Corwin Press), named as a top multicultural classroom resource by The Christian Science Monitor, and author of Arab on Radar (Six Gallery Press), whose poems won her an Individual Artist Fellowship from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, and Spared (A Main Street Rag Editors’ Choice Chapbook). Angele feels that writing and performing her work combines two of her childhood dreams–to be an archaeologist and a lounge singer. She lives in Friendship, whose Quakerly spirit soothes her hot-blooded nature.

Celeste Gainey is the author of the full-length poetry collection, the GAFFER (Arktoi Books/Red Hen Press, 2015), and the chapbook In the land of speculation & seismography (Seven Kitchens Press, 2011), runner-up for the 2010 Robin Becker Prize. The first woman to be admitted to the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) as a gaffer, she has spent many years working with light in film and architecture. www.celestegainey.com

Richard Gegick is from Trafford, PA. He lives in Pittsburgh where he writes and waits tables for a living.

John Grochalski is the author of The Noose Doesn’t Get Any Looser After You Punch Out, GlassCity, In The Year of Everything Dying, Starting with the Last Name Grochalski, and the novel, The Librarian [as well as, as of Saturday, the sequel Wine Clerk]. Grochalski lives in Brooklyn, where he constantly worries about the high cost of everything.

John Korn lives in Pittsburgh. He is the author of a book of poetry titled Television Farm which can be purchased on amazon.com. He has worked as a mental health social worker for many years now. He was nominated for two Pushcart Prizes, one for his poem “14 young women” and another for his poem “Yellow lamp shade head.”  He didn’t win either of these prizes and he is not even sure what those prizes are.

Jason Mendez is an educator, author, interdisciplinary theater artist, and father of 3. He received his Ph.D. in Education with an emphasis in Curriculum, Culture, and Change and a Graduate Certificate in Cultural Studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His interests include urban education, critical race studies, cultural studies, arts as social justice, Boricua identities, and South Bronx culture and history. As a South Bronx Puerto Rican writer focusing on lived experience, notions of home, and the power of voice, his work critically reflects a common struggle with identity construction and the process of becoming. Currently, He is working on a memoir titled, The Search for the Golden Glow, which vividly details his coming of age as a Puerto Rican kid from the South Bronx. He is also working on adapting his manuscript into a one-man performance, called Manida.

Don Wentworth is a Pittsburgh-based poet whose work reflects his interest in the revelatory nature of brief, haiku-like moments in everyday life. His poetry has appeared in Modern Haiku, bottle rockets, Frogpond, Pittsburgh Poetry Review and Rolling Stone, as well as a number of anthologies. He is the author of Past All Traps and Yield to the Willow, with forthcoming volumes from Six Gallery and Low Ghost Press. [His latest collection, With a Deepening Presence, forthcame earlier this month!]

That’s all, folks!

5/21 Versify Presents: Baldinger, Korn, Joy, Williams @ EEBX

THIS SATURDAY…

Come join us for what promises to be another fantastic Versify reading, featuring, Jason Baldinger, John Korn, Chuck Joy and Cee Williams!! Hosted by Bob Walicki.

5/7 Coffee Buddha After Hours: Spring Reading

8PM NEXT SATURDAY…

Nothing quite like a campfire and an outside reading in early May to celebrate spring. Join us May 7 for 6 readers including Jason Baldinger, Margaret Bashaar, Angele Ellis, Ben Gwin, John Korn, Bart Solarczyk and Bob Walicki.

This even will be outside weather permitting. This event will be free! This event is BYOB, but there will be mixers provided as well as some food and snacks (it never hurts to bring more though, i mean writers are broke and like to eat). Bringing your own chairs in highly encouraged. there will be no horse racing. writer bios to follow:

Jason Baldinger has spent a life in odd jobs, if only poetry was the strangest of them he’d have far less to talk about. Somewhere in time, he has traveled the country, and written a few books, the latest of which are The Lower 48 (Six Gallery Press) and the chapbook The Studs Terkel Blues (Night Ballet Press). A short litany of publishing credits include Blast Furnace, B.E. Quarterly, Lilliput Review, Green Panda Press, Pittsburgh Poetry Review and Fuck Art, Let’s Dance. You can also hear audio of some poems on the bandcamp website by just typing in his name.

Margaret Bashaar’s first book, Stationed Near the Gateway, was released by Sundress Publications in 2015, and she recently published her third chapbook, Rungs (Grey Book Press, 2015), written with Lauren Eggert-Crowe. Her fourth chapbook is forthcoming from Agape Editions later this year. Her work has appeared in or is forthcoming from journals such as New South, Rhino, The Southeast Review, Copper Nickel, and Menacing Hedge, among others. She edits Hyacinth Girl Press and co-runs the award-winning arts anarchy event, FREE POEMS, with Rachael Deacon.

Angele Ellis fled the North Hills long ago to pursue a chequered career in the city. Her poetry, fiction, and reviews have appeared in over fifty publicatons and ten anthologies. She is author of Arab on Radar (Six Gallery Press), whose poems won her a fellowship from the PA Council on the Arts, Spared (A Main Street Rag Editors’ Choice Chapbook), and a hybrid collection of Pittsburgh-flavored flash fiction and poems forthcoming from Six Gallery.

Ben Gwin’s work has appeared or is forthcoming in The Normal School, Belt Magazine, Mary: A Journal of New Writing, and others. His novel, Clean Time (Burrow Press, 2018) was shortlisted for the 2014 Pressgang Prize. He lives in Pittsburgh with his daughter.

John Korn is a 36-year-old male who will get up and stand in front of you and read some shit off a few pieces of paper.

Bart Solarczyk grew up on Pittsburgh’s South Side & now lives in the North Hills. He is the author of eight chapbooks. His poems have recently appeared in Busted Dharma, Dead Snakes & Lilliput Review.

Robert Walicki is the curator of VERSIFY, a monthly reading series in Pittsburgh, PA. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in a number of journals including,HEArt,I-70 Review, Uppagus, The Kentucky Review,Right Hand Pointing, and on the radio show Prosody. He currently has two chapbooks published: A Room Full of Trees (Red Bird Chapbooks, 2014) and The Almost Sound of Snow Falling (Night Ballet Press, 2015). He lives in Verona, PA with his wife, Lynne, and two cats.

11/7 How to Be an American & Love Songs from Flood City launch party @ ModernFormations

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 7TH, 8PM…

Here are some nice things people said about How to Be an American:

The poems in How to Be an American strike the chords of conversations we should be having, should have already had and resolved, or conversations that should be irrelevant. In this generation’s remake of democracy, Malinenko’s book is an incendiary device.
—Jason Baldinger, author of The Lower Forty-Eight

Ally Malinenko is the embodiment of what E.L. Doctorow meant when he said we need writers because we need witnesses to this terrifying century. In How to Be an American, she dissects the American dream and breaks it down to its petri-dish truths. Malinenko’s America is a country that exports ignorance and consumerism, where the greatest embarrassment is to be poor, vulnerable, and in need. In a voice as direct and unstoppable as an ambulance, Malinenko paints a raw, visceral, and essential portrait of a country without pity, without compassion, and makes the need for change feel like the emergency it is.
—Lori Jakiela, author of Belief Is Its Own Kind of Truth, Maybe

Ally Malinenko has an exceptional ability to observe life and write honestly. She is an absolute treasure.
—Moriah LaChapell, editor of The Blue Hour

This is a devastating book that reads as the polar opposite of Walt Whitman—here, the speaker does not see herself of them, these demented Americans. Here, the speaker rises up and says to the Bible and all its believers, to the box stores and all their consumers, to the patriots and all their patriotism, “Absolutely not.” The country inside these pages is lit up like a Walmart commercial and packed with the same ugliness that makes minimum wage unlivable and bargain shoppers unbearable. The loudest voices are all dressed up in stars-and-stripes bikinis, shouting about how great it is to be red-white-and-blue, while the rest of us rape and kill and need a drink to stand the sights. Here are poems that say, “Enough,” that say, “Quit insulting the world.” Watch out, America. Ally Malinenko’s poems are dodgeballs and she’s throwing them at your head.
—Dave Newman, author of The Poem Factory

How to Be an American is a how-to guide without instructions. This book is brave, bold, and honest—a fucking atom bomb to the political and personal poetry scenes.
—Ben John Smith, editor of Horror Sleaze and Trash

It ain’t pretty and it ain’t poesy, at least the way most Americans think of poesy, thank you, Jesus. And it ain’t political, except in the larger sense of human-ness, of flaming outrage, and of deeply longed for compassion. Simply put, this is Ally Malinenko’s incisive deconstruction of many a fetid cranny and nook of the collective American psyche. Pilgrim, save yourself: read it now.
—Don Wentworth, editor of Lilliput Review

Matcho’s Love Songs from Flood City (Low Ghost) is pretty good too, BTW.

Eat, drink, listen to poems, yak w/ the authors, buy the books—one of the last chances you’ll have to do any of this at ModernFormations!

 

10/17 A Fall Thing @ Coffee Buddha

THIS SATURDAY…

10 Pittsburgh Poets, 10 Minutes each and one pretty big campfire! Coffee Buddha After Hours has a gaggle of writers including Kris Collins, Scott Silsbe, Dan Shapiro, John Korn, Bart Solarcyzk, Jason Baldinger, Stephanie Brea, Christine Stroud, Meghan Tutolo and Kelly Scarff to help ease you into the swing of the new season (forget the fact the season will almost be a month old already)

$5 gets you in, there will be Hot Cider and the making for smores, plus some hot dogs (regular and veggie). Readers start at 8:30 the event is 21+ and BYOB (an important detail if you’d like to spike your cider).

7/28 Hemingway’s Summer Poetry Series Grand Finale

TOMORROW at 8…

The Grand Finale – Hosted by Kristofer Collins

Jason Baldinger, Stephanie Brea, Kristofer Collins, Angele Ellis, 

John Korn, Adam Matcho, Bob Pajich & Scott Silsbe.

Jason Baldinger has spent a life in odd jobs, if only poetry was the strangest of them he’d have far less to talk about. Somewhere in time, he has traveled the country, and wrote a few books, the latest of which “The Lower 48” (Six Gallery Press) and the chapbook “The Studs Terkel Blues” (Night Ballet Press) as well as the anthologies Lipsmack! (Night Ballet Press) and Good Noise (Thrasher Press).  A short litany of publishing credits include: The New Yinzer, Shatter Wig Press, Blast Furnace, B.E. Quarterly and Fuck Art, Let’sDance. You can also hear audio of some poems on the bandcamp website by just typing in his name.

Stephanie Brea has slung coffee, wrote about inventions and worked for a company that built museum exhibits. This means she likes her espresso doubled, is most likely responsible for some of the products pitched on late night infomercials and can spell archaeopteryx without the need for spell check. She is a part-time copy editor and facilitates creative writing workshops for local schools and organizations. Her work has been published in Pear Noir!, The Legendary, Nerve Cowboy and the PittsburghCity Paper.

Kristofer Collins is the Books Editor at Pittsburgh Magazine. He runs Low Ghost Press. He also owns Desolation Row Records and manages Caliban Bookshop in Oakland. His most recent chapbook is “Last Call” published by Speed & Briscoe in 2010.

Angele Ellis‘s poetry, fiction, and reviews have appeared in over forty publications and eight anthologies. She is author of Arab on Radar (Six Gallery), whose poems earned her a fellowship from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, and Spared (a Main Street Rag Editors’ Choice Chapbook). She lives in Friendship, both a neighborhood and a state of mind.

John Korn lives in Pittsburgh. He is the author of a book of poetry titled Television Farm which can be purchased on amazon.com. He has worked as a mental health social worker for many years now. He was nominated for two Pushcart Prizes, one for his poem “14 young women” and another for his poem “Yellow lamp shade head.”  He didn’t win either of these prizes and he is not even sure what those prizes are.

Adam Matcho is an obituary writer and contributor to The New Yinzer. He is a former technical writer, novelty shop clerk, basketball coach and gas station attendant. His chapbook, Six Dollars an Hour: Confessions of a Gemini Writer, was published by Liquid Paper Press and his essay collection, The Novelty Essays, was published by WPA Press. When not writing death notices, Adam tries to write about life. He lives in a former craft shop with his wife, two sons and too many animals. As Dave Newman has said, “Adam Matcho has more talent than most corporations have profits, and his vision of America is tragic and brilliant and hilarious.”

Bob Pajich is a writer and musician from the Burgh. His latest book, The Trolleyman, was published by Stanton Heights’ Low Ghost Press. He is a Taurus.

Scott Silsbe was born in Detroit. He now lives in Pittsburgh where he writes, sells books, and makes music with friends. His poems and prose have appeared in numerous print and web periodicals including Nerve Cowboy, The Chariton Review, Third Coast, The Volta, and the Cultural Weekly. He is the author of two poetry collections: Unattended Fire (Six Gallery Press, 2012) and The River Underneath the City (Low Ghost Press, 2013).

Over at the Trib, Rege Behe has more about Collins & his new book Local Conditions (h/t Joan Bauer).

10/15 Coffee Buddha Presents Braddock Avenue Books & More!

You got a date Wednesday, baby! Jason Baldinger, Barbara Edelman, John Korn, Jeff Oaks, Bart Solarczyk, & Robert Yune will perform poems in a big sandbox behind Coffee Buddha, Jeffrey Condran will host, & Parappa the Rapper’s face will appear in your cappuccino…

8/29 Friday Night Writes feat. Jason Baldinger @ Poets’ Hall

THIS FRIDAY at 8PM, join John Korn, Jason Baldinger, Bart Solarczyk, & Ron Androla at Poets’ Hall. Open mic to follow!

7/16 Return of/to the Buddha feat. Baldinger & Collins @ Coffee Buddha

TONIGHT at 8PM, join Jason Baldinger, Holly Coleman, Kris Collins & John Korn outside by the fire at Coffee Buddha. Burgers by The Steer & Wheel!