The Rumpus.net » Melissa Tan

The NYT Offends with its Sunday Book Review of Zone One

Melissa Tan — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 19:18:16 +0000

A literary novelist writing a genre novel is like an intellectual dating a porn star, right? Well that’s what New York Times book reviewer Glen Duncan thinks.

In his Sunday Book Review of Colson Whitehead’s complex new zombie novel, Zone One, Duncan sets the parallel between dating porn stars and what he initially perceives as slumming in genre fiction, and lets the rest of the review ride on the back of this comparison. While he’s busy offending sex workers, he also speculates that readers attracted to the story for its post-apocalyptic zombie tale will encounter so many big words as to be morally affronted. Duncan praises the book and comes around to the idea of intellectually stimulating genre fiction, but never quite comes around to the idea of sex workers as intellectually stimulating people, concluding of his imaginary couple only that, “they look pretty good together.”

The piece came to our attention via a witty retort by Savvy stripper and staff writer over at Tits and Sass, Bubbles (whose thoughts on this issue you can read here):

SPOTLIGHT SERIES: Tom Gauld

Melissa Tan — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 08:30:03 +0000

Tom Gauld is an illustrator, cartoonist, and publisher. His finished pieces range from animated advertisements to book illustrations, as well as the weekly comic strips he produces for the Guardian. Whether he’s drawing a campaign for one of the UK’s largest drug stores or illustrating a book of monsters, Tom’s drawing style is intimate and concise, reflective of an artistic process that uses technology without relying on it. As a publisher, he and Simone Lia run Cabanon Press. Tom has released his work through Cabanon with aptly titled collections like First, Second, and Three. The Rumpus harnessed the power of the internet to talk to Tom across the ocean about art, publishing, the balance between commissions and passion projects, and his upcoming book, Goliath, which will be out next year from Drawn and Quarterly.

Rumpus: Your work has a very hand drawn look to it, with a lot of hand lettering and depth defined by hatching. What kind of artistic processes leads to your finished work? How much are digital tools a part of your finished pieces?

Tom: I definitely like giving a hand-made feel to my work. Quite often the images are very simple and graphic, but hopefully the human feeling of the drawing keeps it from being cold or clinical: I want some warmth in there. I do use the computer quite a lot. I use it to lay out and tweak my pencil drawings but then I print them out and trace off an ink version which I draw and crosshatch completely by hand before scanning back into the computer and, if necessary, adding colour in photoshop.

Rumpus: How would you say that exposure to your father’s work as an architect at a young age informs your career as an artist?

Tom: I’m sure it had an effect. At the simplest level I think having paper and pens and someone who liked drawing around helped (he worked from home when I was a boy). Perhaps some of the clarity and precision of plans has influenced me too.

Rumpus: In some of your work, like your strips for the Guardian, the art is much simpler and language plays a greater role in storytelling. What other tools do you use as an artist to tell a story, whether it’s format or content?

Tom: Format, words and pictures all work together to make a good comic. I started at college doing pure illustration and only gradually got into making stories and using words. I’m still more comfortable with pictures than words: I’m happy doodling away on drawings for hours, but putting words together is always more of a struggle. I usually like to keep things as simple as I can so it’s interesting seeing what I can remove and still keep the story: you don’t want to say something in words which is better said in the pictures (and vice versa).

Rumpus: How do you feel about the variety of formats available to artists these days for storytelling? Do you have any favorites between comic books, graphic novels, magazine illustrations, picture books, or illustrations as wall art?

Tom: I really enjoy the simplicity and restrictions of the small cartoons I do every week for the Guardian. I like that there is this space which every week I have to figure out how to use to entertain people. Actually I like making all the types of things you mention above, I like the variety.

Rumpus: Which illustrators or cartoonists do you think have had a great influence on your work?

Tom: I think maybe the biggest influences were the cartoonists I discovered while I was at college: Edward Gorey, Chris Ware, Dan Clowes and Mat Brinkman. It was definitely seeing their publications that made me want to make comics.

Rumpus: How does publishing your own work with Simone Lia as Cabanon Press change what you’re able to work on compared to more traditional artist/publisher relationships?

Tom: Simone and I made our first comic (called ‘First’) about 10 years ago we self-published for two reasons: we didn’t know of any UK publishers who did that sort of thing and we were at college where they had all the facilities, help and encouragement to do it ourselves. Now it seems there are lots of interesting small publishers in the UK.

I’ve always wanted to make publications where the experience begins as soon as you pick up the thing, where the design of the object is part of the story, and self-publishing means you can design it however you want. I like the feeling that if I get the urge I can put together a self-published thing in a few weeks, but I also like working on bigger, longer projects like my graphic novel “Goliath” which will be out next year from Drawn and Quarterly.

Rumpus: How do you find balance between illustration jobs and your own storytelling? Would you rather focus full-time on your own work, or is there something to be gained by maintaining a buffer of other illustration around developing projects?

Tom: I like doing both. I think I’d be a bit lost without ANY illustration work but I wouldn’t like to be doing nothing else. Having said that I’d like to push the balance a bit more towards my own comics and stories.

Rumpus: How does technology factor into your work? Do you find it more of a valuable resource or terrible distraction? Do you see a time when your work will be presented digitally beyond keeping a portfolio online?

Tom: The internet, and wikipedia in particular, is amazing for the sort of not particularly deep research I often need to do for my work. I love looking around at all the interesting things other people are doing, but that does often lead into idle time-wasting. I like how instant and easy it is to put work out on the internet, but I still love print comics. I don’t think the intimacy of holding a paper comic in your hand has been replicated digitally, maybe kindles and ipads are taking things in that direction, but I don’t think we’re there yet.

***

This interview was conducted by Melissa Tan.

Spotlight series editor is Paul Madonna.

***

Broke-Ass Stuart’s Goddamn Television Show

Melissa Tan — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 19:02:16 +0000

It all started with a zine, then some Lonely Planet travel guides, a book deal via Craigslist, the goddamn website, and now a television show, born of an offhand comment made during a Gothamist interview two years ago. Broke-Ass Stuart’s guides to living cheaply tell readers how to get the most out of San Francisco and New York, and now his travel show, Young, Broke, and Beautiful, explores the thrifty underground culture of six US cities, beginning with New Orleans.

Broke-ass or not, Stuart Schuffman has always been a self-proclaimed wanderer. “Traveling is my passion, so I thought, ‘Why don’t I share the knowledge I’ve gained with other people?’” Armed with scotch tape and a working knowledge of photocopiers, Broke-Ass Stuart filled local bookstores with his homemade travel guides, until a fortunate scanning of Craigslist wanted ads landed him a book deal.

“The thing that I lost from zines to books was the personal relationship with the stores that carried them,” he says of his departure from the pinnacle of broke-ass publishing. “The main reason to get a book deal is to widen reach. I still don’t have any money,” he laughs.

Although his early efforts were low-fi, Stuart Schuffman is a pedigreed travel writer and thorough researcher. He simply prefers meeting a city’s people to seeing its things. “Working for Lonely Planet was great, but you have to be two different people–the explorer and the introverted post-travel writer. It’s all fun, and it’s all lots of work in different ways,” he says, but ultimately admits that meeting people is his “thing.”

Enter Broke-Ass Stuart’s Goddamn Website. The website focuses less on traditional travel writing, and more on what’s going on right now. What started as an online place for Schuffman to hawk his wares has grown into a community of writers spread across both coasts covering everything from “Great Ideas for Cheap Dates” (art openings, public library movie rentals) to “How to Be an Interesting Person” (face tattoos, dangerous travel destinations). With the majority of writers based in San Francisco and New York, he’s aiming to break into Los Angeles next (and how: “I’m hoping it spreads like an STD,” he says, semi-jokingly).

Armed with the help of production company, 44 Pictures, Schuffman and crew hit six cities in six weeks in order to film the first season of Young, Broke, and Beautiful, which has been picked up by IFC. “There’s something really lovely about every place I’ve ever been,” he claims, “but I love New Orleans. It’s the city that says yes.” Young, Broke, and Beautiful is not your ordinary travel show. Their criteria: “The weirder the better. The things that are going on underground say a lot about culture as a whole.” Where else can you expect to see a self-proclaimed broke-ass get fitted for vampire fangs and get down at a sissy bounce art house tattoo party? Which is not to say that the show is meant to tell viewers exactly where to go, “It’s less of a practical travel guide, and more about the business of exploration,” says Schuffman. Something that is largely possible because of the show’s home on IFC instead of more traditional travel channels. “It’s edgier,” he says, adding, “I can say the shit word, but not the fuck word…”

While Young, Broke, and Beautiful isn’t necessarily meant to be a practical travel guide, the Editor-in-Cheap still has solid travel advice for would-be adventurers: Read books and consult the internet, but crowd source your friends for off-the-map destinations, and remember to get lost. “Just lock your stuff up and wander. No routine, just go.” But most of all, “Say yes, but say yes responsibly.”

Young, Broke, and Beautiful airs this Friday, June 24^th at 11pm on IFC.

***

This Broke-Ass Stuart piece is occupying the Thursday space, usually reserved for Dear Sugar. Fear not, advice-seekers and Sugar-enthusiasts, your Dear Sugar will be back tomorrow morning!

Notable San Francisco, This Week: 3/28-4/3

Melissa Tan — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 00:09:30 +0000

This week in San Francisco, VIDA at the Makeout Room, Poetry at the Randall Museum, the April Fool’s Lower Haight Art Walk, and the Switchboard Music Festival.

Monday 3/28: Grab a bite and catch Bait & Switch tonight at Yoshi’s San Francisco. Bassist Lisa Mezzacappa plays original music inspired by adventurous jazz masters like Ornette Coleman, Henry Threadgill, the Art Ensemble of Chicago, and Eric Dolphy. $15, 8pm @ 1330 Fillmore Street.

Tuesday 3/29: Get yourself to the Makeout Room for A Night of Readings to Benefit VIDA: Women in Literary Arts. Check out readings by Erin Belieu, Cate Marvin, Lucy Corin, Susan Steinberg, Cheryl Strayed, Kim Addonizio, Kekla Magoon, Ann Townsend, Katie Williams, Arisa White, and Danielle Pafunda, hosted by poet (and only man on the stage), Randall Mann. $10, 21+, 7pm @ 3225 22nd Street.

Wednesday 3/30: Karen Finley’s performance work is celebrated for exploding taboos around sex, gender, and celebrity. Join her at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts as she performs excerpts from The Reality Shows. Free with RSVP, 7pm @ 701 Mission Street.

Thursday 3/31: Head to the Randall Museum for an evening of rockin’ poetry. Free, 7-10pm @ 199 Museum Way.

Friday 4/1: It’s time for another Lower Haight Art Walk and scavenger hunt! Check the flyer for a full list of participating stores and galleries, and check out shows like Lower Haters’ fifth annual April Fool’s show with new art by Pete Doolittle. Free and all ages! 6-10pm, all over the Lower Haight.

Saturday 4/2: Tonight, The LAB hosts their Annual Art Auction, featuring work by literally dozens of artists (including this pop art and typography aficionado’s favorite, Ed Ruscha). Tickets $20-50, 7-10:30pm (auction 8pm) @ 2948 16th Street.

Sunday 4/3: The Switchboard Music Festival is upon us once again! Spend the day in the heart of the Mission at the Brava Theater for eight hours of musical goodness, featuring Birds + Batteries, Causing a Tiger, Loren Chasse, The Genie, Gojogo, Erik Jekabson, and many many many more. Tickets $15-40, 2-10pm @ 2781 24th Street.

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Notable San Francisco, This Week: 3/21-3/27

Melissa Tan — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 21:49:10 +0000

This week in San Francisco, Lit&Lunch, a book club meeting with Intersection for the Arts, radio magazine, The [Un]observed, launches at OHIO Studio, and the Portuguese Artists Colony celebrates its first birthday at Fivepoints Arthouse.

Monday 3/21: Ever wondered about the work of a Broadway set and costume designer? Head to the Museum of Performance & Design for Designers on Design: A Conversation with Tony Walton. Tickets $15-30, 7pm @ 401 Van Ness Avenue.

Tuesday 3/22: Liven up your lunch hour at 111 Minna’s Lit&Lunch. This month, writer and actor, Cyrus Cassells, discusses the work of Catalan poet and translator, Francesc Parcerisas. Free, 12:30-1:30pm @ 111 Minna Street.

Wednesday 3/23: Nobody Move! Intersection for the Arts hosts a book club meeting to discuss Dennis Johnson’s novel of the same name. Then, join Intersection again next month for a pub crawl of bars featured in classic film noir movies with short selections from the upcoming stage adaptation of Johnson’s book. Tickets $20-35, 7pm @ 925 Mission Street.

Thursday 3/24: Celebrate the launch of The [Un]observed at OHIO Studio with works by Francesca Panetta, Alan Hall, and Tony Phillips, and delicious food and drinks courtesy of Anchor Brewing, Arizmendi Bakery, and Bi-Rite Market. Free! 630 pm @ 630 Treat Avenue.

Friday 3/25: Aliens! Monsters! Zombies! What better way to start your evening than by joining the good folks at Booksmith for an evening with apocalyptic comic artist, Paul McComas, and his new book Unforgettable: Harrowing Futures, Horrors, and (Dark) Humor? Free, 7:30pm @ 1644 Haight Street.

Saturday 3/26: You fancy, huh? Join ArtPoint at the De Young Museum for an evening of gorgeous gowns at the Balenciaga and Spain Gala. The VIP reception is already sold out, but put on your finest black tie matador look and join the bull-fighting social elite for cocktails and discussion of a classic fashion icon. Tickets $70+, 8pm @ 50 Hagiwara Tea Garden Drive.

Sunday 3/27: It’s that time again — Fivepoints Arthouse hosts the monthly Portuguese Artists Colony show, featuring readings by Beth Lisick and Tim Bauer, music by Brad A, and a fierce re-match amongst the champions of live writing. This PAC show, I Live Here, celebrates the show’s one year anniversary! 5-8pm @ 72 Tehama Street.

Notable San Francisco, This Week: 3/14-3/20

Melissa Tan — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 00:56:51 +0000

This week in San Francisco, The Monthly Rumpus puts on its best pasties, the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival is on, and food culture rocks SFMoMA with Sidebar: Wine! at How Wine Became Modern.

Monday 3/14: Catch some titillating literature — and, oh, Lady Monster: Queen of the Fire Tassels — at March’s Monthly Rumpus. Reading this month are Andrew Altschul, Joshua Mohr, Beverly Parayno, and Timothy Donnelly. Comedy by W. Kamau Bell, and a special cartoon slide show by Elana Pritchard. $10 cheap with chances to win the infamous porn raffle, 21+, 7pm @ 3225 22nd Street.

Tuesday 3/15: The San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival is in full swing. Catch screenings of films like Resident Alien, the documentary by Ross Tuttle that looks at the lives of deported former Cambodian refugees as they adapt to a home that isn’t really theirs. Tickets $11-12, 4:15pm @ Viz Cinema, 1746 Post Street.

Wednesday 3/16: Have you ever wanted to bang on everything around you in a fit of musical rage? Steven Schick has, and you can, too, at Z Space’s Schick Machine. Tickets $20, 7pm @ 450 Florida Street.

Thursday 3/17: Fill your museum visit quota by learning about all things beverage. Meatpaper magazine and Blue Bottle Coffee present Food & Thought and Pop-Up Magazine (which is actually a live performance “magazine”) presents Sidebar: Wine! at SF MoMA’s How Wine Became Modern exhibit. 6-9:45pm @ 151 3rd Street.

Friday 3/18: Party at the library! Friends of the San Francisco Public Library invite you to become a member and Imbibe. With author appearances, and delicious food and drinks (that you won’t get yelled at for! In a library!), FSFPL’s quarterly Imbibe events are probably the only chance you’ll ever have to get debauched with the Dewey Decimal System. 6:30-9pm @ Eureka Valley/Harvey Milk Memorial Branch Library, 1 Jose Sarria Court.

Saturday 3/19: See artist Darnel Tasker cover herself with paint and put body to canvas to create…well, we’re not exactly sure what yet. Taking inspiration from the artist Yves Klein (who, fun fact, has a whole color named after him), she will join grafiti artists and body painters at The Artist’s Alley. Tickets $10-15 (including free drinks!), 7-10pm @ 863 Mission Street.

Sunday 3/20: As the SFIAAFF wraps up, spend a cozy Sunday catching movies around the city. See Aoki, a documentary about the life and work of third-generation Japanese American and founding member of the Black Panthers, Richard Aoki, or Make Yourself At Home, which turns the Hollywood habit of remaking Asian horror movies on its head, or The People I’ve Slept With — a Sex and The City-esque tale of modern urban living that puts the traditional stereotypes of overly demure Asian women to shame. See the schedule for more films and show times.

The Rumpus Album Review: White Wilderness

Melissa Tan — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 20:09:28 +0000

John Vanderslice knows how to make music. He has been recording bands for over a decade at his San Francisco studio, Tiny Telephone.

John Congleton knows how to produce music. He has mixed and mastered the likes of The Walkmen, Modest Mouse, Okkervil River, and The Mountain Goats.

Both are established indie rock musicians in their own right, but neither have an orchestra at their fingertips. Minna Choi does, though. Minna is the conductor of Magik*Magik Orchestra, a for-hire collective of classically trained musicians based in the Bay Area.

So, when it came time for John’s latest album, it was only natural that he ask Minna and 19 members of the orchestra to accompany him for three days of live recording. Three days. Nine songs. All of them fantastic. John’s music has always been lush with both acoustic and electronic layers, but Magik*Magik’s participation and the live recording process add a rough depth to the album. A recovering perfectionist, Minna credits the three-day recording process with helping her learn to let go. “People treat working with an orchestra like it’s their wedding day,” she says. “This is not our wedding day. This is just another day.” Except that when you’re a group of talented musicians, “just another day” means creating songs that are both familiar and unexpected; classical and danceable.

White Wilderness is as short as it is sweet. With nine songs that clock in at just over half an hour, the album marries John’s mournful voice with architecturally ascending strings, foot-abducting beats, horns, pianos, and drums both large and small. The live-recording process gives every single song such a bigness that it almost feels as if you are with John, Minna, and the orchestra, lounging on one of the tattered couches that occupy the living-room-cum-recording-studio. “Sea Salt” opens the album with melodic pianos and classical string arrangements that ease the listener into Magik*Magik Orchestra’s world; “The Piano Lesson” kicks White Wilderness into gear with lively horns, orchestral drums, and John’s signature vocals, still unpredictable after so many albums; “After it Ends” follows immediately with an intimately solitary guitar; and “20K” closes the album with understated singing and operatically delicate strings, punctuated by a piano so different from the album’s opening, it’s surprising they’re only 31 minutes apart.

Magik*Magik Orchestra will take up permanent residence at the opening of Tiny Telephone’s B Room, or Mini-Tel, as John likes to call it. The B Room will feature analog-specific recording at ridiculously affordable rates on a first-come first-served basis to anyone who is, “totally passionate and not mentally ill,” says John. He and the Magik*Magik Orchestra will be playing a show mid-June, to be announced. You can get White Wilderness in digital, CD, and LP format from Dead Oceans.

Notable San Francisco, This Week: 3/7-3/13

Melissa Tan — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 21:59:53 +0000

This week in San Francisco, Quiet Lightning moves to North Beach, Janine Brito and Emily Heller get hilarious at the Punchline, Andrew Sean Greer’s The Islanders takes to the stage, and Rumpus Managing Editor, Isaac Fitzgerald, gets his literary Casanova on at Fivepoints Arthouse’s Tales of Tail.

Monday 3/7: Catch Quiet Lightning in North Beach! Eight readers, art books for sale, and limited audience space at 15 Romolo, so get there early (you can even camp out and stay for dinner). Free! 21+, 7pm @ 15 Romolo

Tuesday 3/8: Janine Brito and Emily Heller will destroy whatever stereotypes you have about female comedians at their show Girl Talk: A Night of Un-ladylike Stand-up Comedy. Janine and Emily also bring Caitlin Gill, Marcella Arguello, Chris Burns, Beth Stelling, and Aparna Nancherla to the stage at the Punchline. Tickets $15 (avoid the staggering $5 processing fee by ordering over the phone!) 18+, 8pm @ 444 Battery Street.

Wednesday 3/9: Word for Word is a theatrical organization that puts on adaptations of awesome literature… word for word. Catch a preview of their latest endeavor, Andrew Sean Greer’s The Islanders, starring Joel Mullennix, Stephanie Hunt, Nancy Shelby, Delia MacDougall and Paul Finocchiaro, and directed by Sheila Balter. Preview tickets are only $15, 8pm @ Z Space, 450 Florida Street.

Thursday 3/10: Love, heartbreak, and one night stands — hear the stories of talented musicians and authors, including The Rumpus’ own Isaac Fitzgerald, at Fivepoints Arthouse’s Tales of Tail. Catch performances by Pocket Full of Rye, D Haven, Kevin MacCarthy and Mark Joseph, Slow Motion Cowboys, Andrea Stray, Anna Pulley, Caitlin Myer, Benjamin Wachs, Lauren Eggert-Crowe, Andi Pearl, Celina Hodge, and Jacqi Ko. Free and all ages, 6pm @ 72 Tehama Street.

Friday 3/11: Load up on guns and girls at the Castro Theatre. Midnites for Maniacs presents the “GRRRLS WITH FIREPOWER” Triple Feature with The Craft (1996), Thelma & Lousie (1991), and Ms. 45 (1981). That’s 311 minutes of feminist cinematic ass-kicking (plus themed trailers) for $12. 7:30pm-2am @ 429 Castro Street.

Saturday 3/12: Start your Saturday off with a cultural mashup of Japanese tradition and American pop culture at the Shooting Gallery’s opening reception for Yumiko Kayukawa’s Rock You in a Tatami Room. Free, 7-11pm @ 839 Larkin Street.

Sunday 3/13: Get down on some Mitchell’s ice cream and support a non-profit art program simultaneously at Ruby’s Clay Studio’s Bowliscious Ice Cream Social. Buy a sundae, keep the hand made bowl, and meet some of the 100+ artists who use the non-profit resources that Ruby’s has been providing for over 30 years. $20-40, 1-4pm @ 522A Noe Street.

Notable San Francisco, This Week: 2/28-3/6

Melissa Tan — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 01:55:49 +0000

This week in San Francisco, Feast of Words, film night at the San Francisco Buddhist Center, Babylon Salon at Cantina, and raise money for public health with your mouth full at Cupcakes for Choice!

Monday 2/28: Catch Stone Fox & Bangs at Cat’s Pajamas’ last show at the Makeout Room. The 1960′s Motown-inspired band will share the stage with poet Jennifer Barone. $5-10, 21+, 8pm @ 3225 22nd Street.

Tuesday 3/1: Indulge in a dinner of literary merit at this month’s Feast of Words potluck and reading series. The theme this month is Unsaid: Stories Between Bites with readings by Bill Berkson and Micah Ballard. Tickets $5-10, 7-9pm @ SOMArts Cultural Center, 934 Brannan Street.

Wednesday 3/2: Mario Casentini’s Talking sheds light on the artistic process by following his conversations with art critic, Leonardo Conti. See Casentini’s work at Brian Gross Fine Art during his book signing in conjunction with the Istituto Italiano di Cultura. 5:30-7:30pm @ 49 Geary Street.

Thursday 3/3: Get your craft on with Etsy Labs at the Museum of Craft and Folk Art. This month: wearable felt art and comic book creation. $5, 6-8pm @ 51 Yerba Buena Lane.

Friday 3/4: In the heart of the Mission, the San Francisco Buddhist Center provides respite from the busy city as well as a meeting place for peaceful community activism. Support their work by attending a by-donation screening of With One Voice, the documentary by Buddhist teacher Matthew Flickstein. 8pm @ 37 Bartlett Street.

Saturday 3/5: See readings by Lewis Buzbee, Skip Horack, and Lisa Catherine Harper at Babylon Salon’s Spring Reading. Free, 21+, 7pm @ Cantina, 580 Sutter Street.

Sunday 3/6: Raise your blood sugar in the name of public health at Cupcakes for Choice! Stop by Mission Bicycle for [mostly] vegan treats to raise money for Planned Parenthood’s recently un-funded health services. If you have the time, donate your own home made baked goods to the cause and be showered with love (the safe sort, of course) in return. noon-4pm @ 776 Valencia Street.

Notable San Francisco, This Week: 2/21-2/27

Melissa Tan — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 01:46:23 +0000

This week in San Francisco, RADAR at The Luggage Store, Noise Pop loves Litquake, and John Wesley Harding performs at the launch of Wesley Stace’s new novel.

Monday 2/21: Support San Francisco State University’s College of Creative Arts at One Act Fringe. See plays by Daniel Roche and Jeremy Forbing Childbirth, Marilyn Kriegel and Bryce Duzan, Randall Jong and Holly McKay, and Joseff Stevenson and Jessica Hurtado. Tickets $5-10, 7pm @ Studio Theatre, 1600 Holloway Avenue.

Tuesday 2/22: Head to the Luggage Store Gallery for the RADAR Series. Hosted by Michelle Tea, this RADAR series feature filmmaker Sharon Barnes, illustrator and author Lisa Brown, author Erin O’Briant, and musician Matt Roher. Live life advice from Stephen Elliott, and Yoko Ono-inspired performance art by Kirk Read. Free, 7pm @ 1007 Market Street.

Wednesday 2/23: Has China surpassed the U.S. in supercomputing? Find out at the Commonwealth Club. Tickets $7-20, 6pm @ 595 Market Street.

Thursday 2/24: Check out Way Behind the Music, the sweet cultural love child of Noise Pop and Litquake. Mark Eitzel, Thao Nguyen, Beth Lisick, Linda Robertson, Michelle Tea, Bucky Sinister, Jesse Michaels, Paul Myers, Tom Heyman, and Anthony Bedard mine the depths of musical autobiography to bring you performance gold with excerpts from the works of Justin Bieber, Jewel, Gene Simmons, and then some. Tickets $10-15, 21+, 7pm @ 3225 22nd Street.

Friday 2/25: Rusty Truck Online takes over Bitchez Brew at Kaleidoscope. See Cassandra Dallett, HK Rainey, Michael Layne Heath, MK Chavez, publisher Scot Young, William Taylor Jr., and music by JamHands. 7:30pm @ 3109 24th Street.

Saturday 2/26: Get your Noise Pop fix at any one of the fantastic shows going on tonight through March 3rd. See No Age, The Appleseed Cast, Peanut Butter Wolf, or Best Coast, and plan the rest of your Noise Pop schedule here.

Sunday 2/27: Help The Rumpus celebrate the release of Wesley Stace’s new novel, Charles Jessold, Considered as a Murderer, at Amnesia. Hosted by Stephen Elliott, the book launch will feature music by John Wesley Harding (Stace’s musical alter ego) and Tiny Television, comedy by Nato Green, and Readings by literary couple Daniel Handler and Lisa Brown. The $15 ticket gets you a copy of the book, 21+, 7pm @ 853 Valencia Street.

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