Flat Surface, Hot Beverage: Frankies 457

(Working title.) I definitely don't have time for this, but my brain really needs a break so I thought I would start doing those mini cafe reviews I mentioned. I wandered into Frankies 457 this weekend on my never-ending search for places conducive to reading and/or writing. There has to be a very delicate balance of noise, size, music, light... it's an ineffable quality but you know it when you see it, and Frankies has it. It's actually a full-blown restaurant with a very delicious-looking Italian menu, but it was late afternoon and they were totally fine with me just having a drink, so I had Hot Buttered Cider with Rum. Come to think of it, pretty sure that was what drew me in in the first place—seeing that on the menu outside. Irresistible, really. As a rule I think you can add butter to anything and it will taste exponentially better. My only complaint was that the weather wasn't cold enough for me to fully appreciate the chest-torching heat of this concoction.

Frankies is the epitome of cozy. And I was introduced to Willis Alan Ramsey (musically, obviously, not personally.) It was the 'Ballad of Spider John' that pushed me to actually ask the server what they were playing. Posted below. Love.

Hard to see, but this is a gas lamp! So nice and flickery.

 

 

Just look at that face.

And so it starts...

Ugly Duckling Presse: Publishing Performance in the 21st Century

 Last night a couple of us went to this panel: Publishing Performance in the 21st Century.  In case you can't be bothered to click through, it was a "....performance-infused forum addressing issues in performance criticism, documentation, and the relationship of writing and performance."

It was presented by Ugly Duckling Presse. (You should definitely click through because "...UDP favors emerging, international, and “forgotten” writers, and its books, chapbooks, artist’s books, broadsides, and periodicals often contain handmade elements, calling attention to the labor and history of bookmaking." )  As is always the case with panels, nothing was resolved, as such. But it reinforced how much I love that words can be part of an artwork (mono/dialog, visual script, or just sounds/shapes, even), art in and of themselves, and responses to art. I think they rarely do just one thing at a time.

The image is one of the UDP covers I like; the full chapbook is stunning.

 

Ok wait.  I just realised I'm going to have to include more cover images because they are ridiculously attractive. All linked to their pages.

 

   

Morning Music: Blue Masses - Tommy Guerrero

This morning I got:

 

As much about the video as it is the music—this is definitely what my (midweek) mornings look like. There's even a flat, stable surface with laptop...