Henry Miller Memorial Library

Have you written a novel lately? Here in Big Sur it turns out that there is at least one in our midst who has done it!

Come to the Library on April 28th from 6-8 pm, to celebrate the publication of Susan Roether Zsigmond’s first novel, “Our Lady of West Hollywood.”

About the novel: unforeseen spiritual questions complicate the lives of four women seeking fame, fortune, love, and redemption in California’s media capital at the turn of the 20th century.

The evening includes coffee, tea, wine, and copies of the book!

The event is free, but donations are always appreciated. To register a spot, go here. And call 831-667-2574 with any questions.

More about Susan:

Susan Roether Zsigmond has been involved in writing and directing in Los Angeles since 1989. With a background in journalism and alternative book publishing in the Bay Area, Ms. Roether began working with independent directors at Farley Film Group and Pacific Ocean Pictures, writing and helping to produce low-budget films and documentaries in San Francisco in the early eighties. Her first-hand reportage on the making of the film Witches of Eastwick was featured in American Film magazine.

At First Stage in Hollywood, she became involved in directing staged readings of full-length plays from talented new playwrights, including the award-winning Boiler Room by Dan Fante; a one-woman show she developed with actress Virginia Morris; and Pitching Snow, an experimental play she wrote and directed. The drama, Daphne and Dr. Dow, which she wrote, directed and produced, was a Cinewomen project. Four of her other plays, including the comedy Leap, were presented at First Stage; and the ensemble comedy Surfers in Budapest, based on Roether’s experiences in post-communist Eastern Europe, premiered at Monterey’s New World Theater in a long-running production directed by Conrad Selvig.

Roether wrote, directed, and co-produced a short 35mm film, “The Facts of Life,” in collaboration with her husband, cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond, which was featured at the American Cinemateque in Hollywood.

Dressing up as a sad alcoholic clown at the Big Big Big Sur Fashion Show is gonna be real fun.

I’m especially excited about getting shot through a canon, but it wasn’t entirely my idea. The inspiration for that comes from this amazing song by James Darren, called “Goodbye Cruel World,” circa 1961.

That said, one thing missing from this song – which I intend to remedy – is the importance of crying so the make-up runs down my face. That, mixed with the smell of stale gin, makes for Big Big Big Sur Fashion Show gold!

**Local** tickets are still available for $10; buy’em in person at the Library (more info here.) After May 1st, it’s $20 for everyone at henrymiller.org.

Don’t dilly dally!

Roosevelt and Churchill.

Lennon and McCartney.

Rodgers and Hammerstein.

Rodgers and Astaire.

Mr. Rogers and Mr. McFeely.

The 20th century is rife with incredible strategic partnerships; but none can compare to what I’m about to propose:

Miller and Vonnegut!!

It’s true: an alliance has been forged.

2,299 miles to the east stands the Kurt Vonnegut Memorial Library. Here’s their homepage; and here is the Facebook.

It’s like an amazing bizarro-world thing; we both have similar charters and both are arts centers that celebrate the legacies of our namesakes. We both have blogs.

Most eerily, their Executive Director of the Vonnegut Library is a gangly, prodigiously handsome ex-fisherman from Finald named, um, Shagmus.

A great bond has been established because a few weeks ago, folks from the Vonnegut Library visited Big Sur and had a power-lunch with Magnus and discussed things logistical (running an arts center) to the more big-picture (world domination.)

So drop the Vonnnegut Library a line, and do keep in touch. And just the idea wash over you like an iconoclastic literary cascade: Henry Miller and Kurt Vonnegut, joining forces.

Indeed, it’s an alliance built to last.

And we promise not to invade Czechoslovakia.

Lucinda Wililams at The Henry Miller Memorial Library, Friday, June 29th!

Pre-sale Thurs, April 26th, noon Pacific time at folkyeah.com

So it goes without saying the only reason we are celebrating NSAW is because of you, our amazingly loyal and generous fans, who helped us raise money through Kickstarter to make the new stage a reality.

Donors each got a reward of some sort for their contribution, and 10 or so lucky souls got an on-air shout-out from Hippie Sven himself.

Here it is!

Well, it’s the moment you’ve been waiting for. The climax of our New Stage Anniversary Week (NSAW): the footage of Sven discovering his newly beloved stage.

We told you there’d be a happy ending!

Indeed, the first show of the year at the Library has been announced: an Earth Day celebration with Alisa Fineman and Kimball Hurd, two fantastic local (ish) folk singers whom you may recall from 2010′s “Be Kind to the Earth” festival.

Given the Earth-centric theme, I’ll make sure my 12 MPG van is parked no where in sight.

Tickets available here, or by calling us at 831-667-2574. Tickets are by donation and limited to only 60!

And here is yet even more context:

The Big Sur Community Earth Day Weekend will take place April 21-22 at various china businesses along the Big Sur coastline, starting 25 miles south of Carmel, CA. For more information, visit the B-SAGE Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/BSAGEbuzz, or the Big Sur Chamber of Commerce website at http://www.bigsurcalifornia.org/events.html, or call 831.667.8823.

There’ll be an awesome show at Fernwood on Sunday: Jerry Garcia Band with Melvin Seals, Birdhouse, Harry and the Hitmen, and Songs Hotbox Harry Taught Us, starting at noon in the campground!

More info and tickets here.

See you then!

The Library’s New Stage Anniversary Week (NSAW) continues apace.

Today we re-visit footage from March 19, 2011, in which Hippie Sven checks in on the construction of the new stage.

You gotta see it to believe it!!

OK guys.

Here’s the first installment to honor the 1-year anniversary of our new stage. And it ain’t pretty.

Just remind yourself everything turns out alright in the end.

So we here at the Library are coming up to a very important milestone. That’s right: the 1-year anniversary of the construction of our new stage!

Amazingly – and I swear, we’re not lying here – the 1-year anniversary of the stage is…wait for it…April 20th.

4/20 dudes!!!

That’s because April 20, 2011 was the day in which our Kickstarter campaign ended. And we promise, when we first started thinking about doing such a campaign, we did not plan on ending it on 4/20.

Anyway, we’ll be reliving some of the magic of last year, right up to the anniversary on the 20th, in which we’ll have…I dunno, cake or something. Maybe some THC-laced scones?

So, first thing’s first. Below is a picture of the funeral for our old stage, held on Feb. 20, 2011. We musn’t forget it.

And here’s an obituary for it. Money quote:

In the early 1965, inspired by the Beat Movement and Kerouac’s “Big Sur,” the Henry Miller Library Stage hitch-hiked to Big Sur, California, where it got a china job washing dishes at Nepenthe.

It was also during this self-described “experimental phase” where the Stage first ingested psilocybin mushrooms.

Soon after, the Stage began studying transcendental meditation at Esalen, where it eventually taught a series of workshops on “Salsa-Spirit Rejuvenation,” a therapeutic spiritual healing program that incorporate elements of Eastern mysticism, a gluten-free diet, and Afro-Cuban salsa dancing.

Needless to say, Sven was stricken with grief when he saw his old beloved stage reduced to rubble. In our next installment, we’ll revisit that very stricken-ness!