Henry Miller Memorial Library

Crazy as it seems, this is the last Thurs. night of the Big Sur International Short Film Festival! Where has the time gone?

It was only yesterday, it seems, that the Festival was in a highchair, spitting out strained carrots and screaming for its mommy. Ahh, then by late July it was dressing like a goth, smoking clove cigarettes, listening to the Cure, and telling us how much it hated us.

(Of course, we neglect the big summer movie finale at the Library, to be held on Sunday, August 28th. That’s when “the best of the best” are shown. That will be amazing. Come to that.)

Anyway, life being what it is, things come to an end, so come to movie night tonight for not only the movies- click here to see the names of the films showing – but also Rise Up Singing!

Rise Up Singing is an incredible and inspirational Big Sur vocal troupe. Led by our pal Lisa, it consists of our friends from the community; they sing wildly original and fantastic tunes that will be sure to uplift even the most stubborn soul.

They perform around 7:15-ish. Then the movies come on around 8:40ish. The event is by donation. We’re located 1/4 mile south of Nepenthe.

Call 831-667-2574 with any questions! See you soon!

Burlesque has always been near and dear to my heart.

Having dabbled in the art form at a young age, I soon developed the nickname “the Velvet Hammer” on the playground. By the age of 8, I slicked back my hair and had a handlebar moustache.

And by my late teens I was stripping at speakeasys along the I-95 corridor.

So you can imagine how stoked I am about Freaks and Femmes, coming to the HMML on Sunday, August 14th!

It’s brought to you by the fine, upstanding citizen-geniuses of Circus Contraption and also includes a burlesque workshop, where you can learn all the moves that’ll get the pulses of businessmen everywhere racing.

Here are the details!

5 – 6:30PM
A free beginners Burlesque workshop for Women (& Men) who want to learn a little bit about shaking your tail feathers. In a supportive, relaxed environment, the performers will show you the basics this empowering art form. E-maill us to make a reservation.

6:30 – 7:30PM
Chill for a bit of summertime swank, with a red carpet (green grass?) cocktail hour. It’s an opportunity to meet the performers and have a playful movie star moment, right here at the library.

7.30PM:
Main Show Doors / Show @ about 8:30 (when it gets dark enough) The show features Scarlett Martini (Italy’s biggest burlesque star!), Hedo Luxe (from Germany), and of course, hosted by Armitage Shanks

Get yer tickets here! and party like it’s 1932!

Many great artists are synonymous with where they came from, or at least a city that served as their muse.

Think Henry Miller and Paris. Andy Warhol and Pittsburgh. Bruce Springsteen and Jersey.

So when you think of the fine metropolis of Baltimore, you invariably think of – no, not Jonathan Plowman, Jr; nice try! – but John Waters.

For anyone who’s been, Baltimore is..um…quaint.

The Inner Harbor is quite pleasant, as is Camden Yards. All those Maryland crab shacks are cool; although I rarely got my fill eating the crabs, as the meat is pretty flimsy. Too much work with a sparse reward. Although one of those $5 pitchers of Coors Lite would hit the sport right about now.

There used to be a nice club there, called the Ottobar, named after the house cat, Otto. It moved elsewhere in the city, and now, if I’m not mistaken, the bar was re-named The Talking Head.

Walk a block or two away from the Talking Head, as I did many times, and you end up in the strip-club district.

From what I could tell – I never, ever patronized any of those establishments – the strippers were kinda gnar-gnar.

I remember a proliferation of chili dogs and chili dog-related scents wafting through the tense, humid night air. And I vividly recall walking past a raving Christian minister preaching at a street corner, intoning hordes of prowling men to turning away from a life of sin.

Carmel it ain’t.

Anyway, this urban hell is the bizarre and sleazy crucible that Waters’ art was smelted in.

And now he’s coming to the Henry Miller Library. One of the funniest, most astute, and old-school entertaining performers and artists of his day. It is a benefit for the Library also, so now you have at least two reasons to go. More info here.

Better yet, for a lil’ extra you can meet him – even have dinner with him! So click that link!

I mean, he’s an inspiring dude.

Despite the lures of bigger and less-littered pastures – after all, even Bruce ditched Jersey for a spell and moved to Hollywood (I think?) – Waters has remained true to his Baltimore roots:

“I don’t ever want to leave here,” Waters told Sunday Morning correspondent Rita Braver. “I come home to be inspired, because I come here and there are certain neighborhoods I go to and I get ideas from.”

Ideas like the time in Pink Flamingos where the dude had sex while crushing a live chicken.

Let’s be real. As much as you wish you could attend, say, the hyper-sold-out MGMT show, you know, in your heart of hearts, it’s for the best. With those sold out shows, ummm…like, the lines to the bathroom are, like, really long. And parking’s a pain (please carpool!)

So let’s not fool ourselves. The experience is like one big F train (in which, naturally, the redwoods are skyscrapers.)

Which brings me to a recurring theme that will continue to recur because it’s true: small, intimate events at the Library are awesome too!

Remember: we have tons of awesome events all the time, like – oh wow, what a coincidence – a poetry reading, book signing, and short drama on Friday, August 12th.

It’s called “FROM SWANSEA TO BIG SUR” and it’s free*

Welsh poet Peter Thabit Jones will read from his newly published book, Poems from a Cabin on Big Sur, resulting from his time as writer-in-residence in Big Sur in April–May 2010.

The evening concludes with Thumps, or, Waking Up Dreaming in the 21st Century, a short, multi-media melodrama by John Dotson of Carmel and Lisa Maroski of Chicago.

More info here.

It’ll be mellow, sublime evening. So, to paraphrase Stephen Merrit, break out your clove cigarettes and vermouth.

See you in the (poetry) pit!!

* By now you know nothing is free in this world. “Free” means “please consider a kind tax-deductible donation.”

Movies and music tonight (Thurs.) at The Henry Miller Memorial Library!!

7 – 8:30ish: live music from New Zealand’s Jackie Bristow and Jackie Daum

8:30-10:30 four short films from Spain, Ireland, and the US!

Event is by donation. 1/4 south of Nepenthe. 831-667-2574 w/ any ?s!

In Sir Thomas More’s opus, “Utopia,” there is no money.

In this fantasy land, there is simply no need; I mean, who needs money, really?

As such, politicians are trustworthy and awesome, because, since there’s no money, there’s no bribery. (Sadly, this also means no compelling cable dramas like “The Wire.”)

And – tone turns sarcastic – I guess that in this groovy “Utopia,” when artists like the Red Hot Chili Peppers, MGMT, Philip Glass, and John Waters perform, their road crews, sound guys, bus drivers, and booking agents all simply get “paid” with organic greens from the local co-op.

After all, in this magical “Utopia,” the Fleet Foxes’ tour bus conveniently runs on bok choy.

Please.

More like Sir Thomas Bore.

I mean, Tommy, we love ya’, but some of us have to pay the bills. For those of us in the real world, no one wants PG&E killing the lights during movie night, right?

Right.

So if you got some loose change kicking around the sofa, consider tossing it our way. The Library is a 501 (c) (3) non-profit, so the donations are tax-deductible. And since we’re so nice, we’ll give you a reward for said donation. Yes, by donating, you can get a Hippie Sven mug. Go here.

In fact, at the time of this writing, a $250 donation gets you two tickets to any upcoming show in 2012 – even the ones that sell out in under 2.3 seconds (limited to the first ten pairs.)

So yeah.

Seriously, we joke and kid and stuff, but any lil’ bit you can afford would be great, because sadly, we don’t live in “Utopia” just yet.

Which brings me back to More’s masterpiece. Despite my sardonic tone, there are a few really cool elements to his idyllic fantasy-land.

As any fan of literature knows, in this glorious Utopia of no money, standing armies, or petty crime, Hippie Sven kindly rules as a benevolent dictator where children learn to harvest patchouli at a young age and cannabis is the national bird.

Whenever Kind King Hippie Sven enters the room, a brass band plays “Brain Damage.”

Many great artists are synonymous with where they came from, or at least a city that served as their muse.

Think Henry Miller and Paris. Andy Warhol and Pittsburgh. Bruce Springsteen and Jersey.

So when you think of the fine metropolis of Baltimore, you invariably think of – no, not Jonathan Plowman, Jr; nice try! – but John Waters.

For anyone who’s been, Baltimore is..um…quaint.

The Inner Harbor is quite pleasant, as is Camden Yards. All those Maryland crab shacks are cool; although I rarely got my fill eating the crabs, as the meat is pretty flimsy. Too much work with a sparse reward. Although one of those $5 pitchers of Coors Lite would hit the sport right about now.

There used to be a nice club there, called the Ottobar, named after the house cat, Otto. It moved elsewhere in the city, and now, if I’m not mistaken, the bar was re-named The Talking Head.

Walk a block or two away from the Talking Head, as I did many times, and you end up in the strip-club district.

From what I could tell – I never, ever patronized any of those establishments – the strippers were kinda gnar-gnar.

I remember a proliferation of chili dogs and chili dog-related scents wafting through the tense, humid night air. And I vividly recall walking past a raving Christian minister preaching at a street corner, intoning hordes of prowling men to turning away from a life of sin.

Carmel it ain’t.

Anyway, this urban hell is the bizarre and sleazy crucible that Waters’ art was smelted in.

And now he’s coming to the Henry Miller Library. One of the funniest, most astute, and old-school entertaining performers and artists of his day. It is a benefit for the Library also, so now you have at least two reasons to go. More info here.

Better yet, for a lil’ extra you can meet him – even have dinner with him! So click that link!

I mean, he’s an inspiring dude.

Despite the lures of bigger and less-littered pastures – after all, even Bruce ditched Jersey for a spell and moved to Hollywood (I think?) – Waters has remained true to his Baltimore roots:

“I don’t ever want to leave here,” Waters told Sunday Morning correspondent Rita Braver. “I come home to be inspired, because I come here and there are certain neighborhoods I go to and I get ideas from.”

Ideas like the time in Pink Flamingos where the dude had sex while crushing a live chicken.

Let’s be real. As much as you wish you could attend, say, the hyper-sold-out MGMT show, you know, in your heart of hearts, it’s for the best. With those sold out shows, ummm…like, the lines to the bathroom are, like, really long. And parking’s a pain (please carpool!)

So let’s not fool ourselves. The experience is like one big F train (in which, naturally, the redwoods are skyscrapers.)

Which brings me to a recurring theme that will continue to recur because it’s true: small, intimate events at the Library are awesome too!

Remember: we have tons of awesome events all the time, like – oh wow, what a coincidence – a poetry reading, book signing, and short drama on Friday, August 12th.

It’s called “FROM SWANSEA TO BIG SUR” and it’s free*

Welsh poet Peter Thabit Jones will read from his newly published book, Poems from a Cabin on Big Sur, resulting from his time as writer-in-residence in Big Sur in April–May 2010.

The evening concludes with Thumps, or, Waking Up Dreaming in the 21st Century, a short, multi-media melodrama by John Dotson of Carmel and Lisa Maroski of Chicago.

More info here.

It’ll be mellow, sublime evening. So, to paraphrase Stephen Merrit, break out your clove cigarettes and vermouth.

See you in the (poetry) pit!!

* By now you know nothing is free in this world. “Free” means “please consider a kind tax-deductible donation.”

This Wednesday’s MGMT show at the HMML has a lil’ local connection to it. Albeit a tenuous one.

One of the dude’s dad’s works for a sister paper, in Memphis, of our very own Monterey County Herald.

Just let that sink in.

That is a tidbit to be gleaned from this article in the MCW previewing the show. More importantly, the article interviews not a band member per se, but that father, Bruce VanWyngarden, I just talked about.

That’s cool, right? When do you read about a band from their parents’ point of view?

Of course, that inevitably opens up a Pandora’s box of multi-layered reverse-Oedpial conspiracies. But I won’t go there.

I’ll just let music speak for itself.

Burlesque has always been near and dear to my heart.

Having dabbled in the art form at a young age, I soon developed the nickname “the Velvet Hammer” on the playground. By the age of 8, I slicked back my hair and had a handlebar moustache.

And by my late teens I was stripping at speakeasys along the I-95 corridor.

So you can imagine how stoked I am about Freaks and Femmes, coming to the HMML on Sunday, August 14th!

It’s brought to you by the fine, upstanding citizen-geniuses of Circus Contraption and also includes a burlesque workshop, where you can learn all the moves that’ll get the pulses of businessmen everywhere racing.

Here are the details!

5 – 6:30PM
A free beginners Burlesque workshop for Women (& Men) who want to learn a little bit about shaking your tail feathers. In a supportive, relaxed environment, the performers will show you the basics this empowering art form. E-maill us to make a reservation.

6:30 – 7:30PM
Chill for a bit of summertime swank, with a red carpet (green grass?) cocktail hour. It’s an opportunity to meet the performers and have a playful movie star moment, right here at the library.

7.30PM:
Main Show Doors / Show @ about 8:30 (when it gets dark enough) The show features Scarlett Martini (Italy’s biggest burlesque star!), Hedo Luxe (from Germany), and of course, hosted by Armitage Shanks

Get yer tickets here! and party like it’s 1932!