"What I Tried To Do." Luis Humberto Valadez. Curbside Splendor. Video action. Yow.

The You Can Make Him Like You readings. Week one. Photo action.

Right, so, the first You Can Make Him Like You reading was going to be on March 16th at the Rediscovered Bookshop in Boise, Idaho. The turnout was uhhhm, light, but the staff rocked, and the signage was most sweet.

We then moved on to more familiar turf hitting the Orange Alert Reading Series at The Whistler, where the drinks were flowing, the crowd was most kind and the readers were sublime.

The always easy on the eyes and wonderfully reflective Victor David Giron.

The quite awesome Natalie Edwards talking dogs and copulation. Yes, you read that right. Next.

Chicago's greatest disembodied poet Luis Humberto Valadez doing his disembodied thing. And more soon. Promise.

These (chap) Books Will Change Your Life - What I'm On by Luis Humberto Valadez and Redneck Poems by Rusty Barnes.

Travel. Read. Repeat. Done. When we were running through the handful of books we hadn't quite gotten to at the end of 2010, we were clearly in novel mode and completely neglected the chapbooks staring us right in the face. We are happy to rectify that now however, as we have had the chance to consume both What I'm On by Luis Humberto Valadez and Redneck Poems by Rusty Barnes, two collections of poems that on the one hand are so completely about place, Chicago and Appalachia respectively, and the language and people who comprise that place, and yet are still intertwined around the themes of violence and women and religion and identity, though with identity, they also find themselves going their separate ways, as Valadez is endlessly searching for how it is one finds their identity, by peeling, always peeling away the layers and muck that gets in the way as it becomes encrusted on a life and Barnes exploration of identity is one of celebration, and recognition, for an identity under appreciated and under represented across the indie and literary world, that of rural, even redneck lives.

There is Two With Water reading. Beauty Bar. November 21st. Join us won't you?

Quite excited we are to participate in the upcoming Two With Water Rx Reading at Beauty Bar on November 21. We will be joining Miranda Barnes and Luis Humberto Valadez and while we think it is likely to change your life, at a minimum there will be literature, beauty and spirits, so really what more could you ask for? Nothing, we know.