Dueling Karaoke New York--Oct 31 Theater for the New City

Join Peter Carlaftes and Kat Georges this Halloween as they as they rip the light fantastic and remix the auras of the icons of the pop music industry. From Bing to Sting, Abba to Avril, The Bee Gees to Beyonce--the Dynamic Duelette creates the ultimate hyperlinks in the biz, in this extraordinarily fast-paced, funny-as-all-get-out, musical extravaganza. Carlaftes and Georges portray crazy Vegas lounge stars in a rollicking excerpt from the wildly funny Dueling Karaoke show. Theater for the New City--this Friday--8 sharp--in the upstairs cabaret room.

Plus there's tons of other free acts in one of New York's funnest Halloween shindigs at the wonderful Theater for the New City (http://www.theaterforthenewcity.net/). Wear a costume, come on by and enjoy CREATIVITY CENTRAL this Halloween. Free Theater! Music! Dancing! Art! Comedy! And it's all totally Free! Wow!

Dueling Karaoke is 8 p.m. sharp in the upstairs cabaret! But plan to stick around for all the fun stuff in 6 different performance areas under one roof!

TRP Heads to SF for LitQuake Reading: Sat., Oct. 17, 6 pm, ArtZone 461 Gallery (461 Valencia, in the Mission)

Three Rooms Press will be well-represented in San Francisco as a posse of poets head to the City by the Bay to participate in LitQuake, the annual Bay Area festival of contemporary literature. We'll be reading at ArtZone 461 Gallery (461 Valencia, between 15th and 16th) at 6 pm on Saturday, October 17, as part of the festival's LitCrawal event.

Three Rooms Press poets include:

• Peter Carlaftes (Progressive Shots (2009), and The Bar Essentials, Nightclub Confidential, Sheer Bardom, Drive By Brooding and The I Can't-O Cantos, all in their fifth printing). With the new poem just for SF "Ban All Art" to be unveiled Saturday.
  
• Joie Cook (When Night Salutes the Dawn, 2009). San Franciscan founder of the legendary Cafe Babar series, with a brand new book of red-hot poetry.
  
• Kat Georges (Three Rooms Press founder and editor; author of Punk Rock Journal and Slow Dance at 120 Beats a Minute, both 2007). Never a dull moment.
  
• Karen Hildebrand (Take a Shot at Love, 2009 and One Foot Out the Door, 2005). She's got an x-ray mind and see right into the heart of poetry--and YOU!
  
• Jane Ormerod (Recreational Vehicles on Fire, 2009). TRP just released her amazing first full-length collection of poetry. "A gritty and gutsy postmodern poet" (Metro Silicon Valley)
  
• Susan Scutti (We Are Related, 2009, 2nd printing). Founding member of the New York literary collective The Unbearables, ready to shred it up in her first ever SF appearance.
  

All the poets will rock the house on Saturday night at the official reading, and will gather on Sunday, October 18, at an undisclosed parking garage in North Beach to tear it up at a no-holds-barred Unofficial reading. For details about either event, please email Kat at threeroomspress@mac.com.

New poetry books by George Wallace and Jane Ormerod Just Released by Three Rooms Press

Three Rooms Press is pleased to announce the release of new poetry collections by New York poets: Poppin' Johnny by George Wallace (2009, 104 pages, $15.00, Three Rooms Press (TRP-002)) and Recreational Vehicles on Fire by Jane Ormerod (2009, 102 pages, $15.00, Three Rooms Press (TRP-003)).

Wallace's book is a stunning collection of muscular poetry. Beat musician David Amram declares, "Jack Kerouac would have loved him." An upcoming review in Big City Lit notes, "Influenced by a number of aesthetics, the poetry of George Wallace constitutes a departure from conventional academic poetry of the late 20th century; following paths suggested by French Surrealism and American Beat Prosody. " The review, by poet Angelo Verga (author of "Praise for What Remains" (limited edition imprint, 2008, 30 pages, $12.00, Three Rooms Press), reveals, "I don’t know precisely where George wants to take himself (and us) next, not to mention his inner rottweiler, and that woman with big hair on television reporting the news, but wherever it is, I’m packed and ready to go." And poet David St John observes, "[Wallace] is writing with the same conversational dictions that arose/arise from the work of William Carlos Williams, and yet he gives his poetry an absolutely contemporary flavor."
Thematically, Wallace mixes political with personal, and the result is nothing short of incredible. For instance in "I Love You, You are Like America," his writing is a flow of consciousness that is inclusive and upbeat, yet somehow hauntingly sad and beautiful and sweet--all at the same time.

I love you, you are like america
and when you talk from one side
of your mouth you are huck finn
on a raft you are a playground
swing in dampening wind you are
a hobo on a sad shining road a
mayfly a mustard stain a hot dog
stand a sweet crazy grace note
a spring flower on a hot day
a city with a pulse a goldmine
that just won't quit and when you
talk from the other side of your
mouth you are like america too
a herd of buffalo in sleet a mallard
duck in a small muddy creek a tomboy
with a twisted braid a slide trombone
that has lost its way you are a ball
game at night bases loaded nobody
out you are goldenrod and i am sure
i love you from both sides of my heart
...

Jane Ormerod's new collection, Recreational Vehicles on Fire, offers an entirely different vibe, showing more of a concrete poet's aesthetic that is linked to Wallace in that they both share a deep love of English language. With 27 poems, this book is her first full-length collection to date. Described by Metro/Silicon Valley as "A gritty and gutsy postmodern poet," Ormerod's work fascinates with its daring no-holds barred approach, where seemingly disparate images collide in unfathomable juxtapositions, as seen in her poem "Mind Apologies."

There is language, the girl says
which may be predicted like weather
The hearty hellos, solicitous enquiries, a dockside farewell.
Other language is constructed like lasagne
or mixed into poultry stuffing
It may spill like potatoes tumbling from market speeding trucks
Think of boiling living lobsters
Miso ramen
Blowfish
Batter

Both books are available on Amazon. For interviews, booking info and questions, please contact Kat Georges at threeroomspress@mac.com

Poet John Amen on the Pedestal at Cornelia Street Cafe Friday, Oct. 16

John Amen, a well-known poet and notable editor of award-winning bimonthly literary journal, The Pedestal Magazine, will read from his new collection At the Threshold of Alchemy on October 16th, 6 p.m., at Cornelia Street Cafe in Greenwich Village.

Amen is the author of three collections of poetry: Christening the Dancer (Uccelli Press 2003), More of Me Disappears (Cross-Cultural Communications 2005), and At the Threshold of Alchemy (Presa 2009), and has released two folk/folk rock CDs, All I’ll Never Need and Ridiculous Empire (Cool Midget 2004, 2008). His poetry has appeared in various journals and anthologies, including, most recently, Rattle, The New York Quarterly, The International Poetry Review, Gargoyle, and Blood to Remember. He is also an artist, working primarily with acrylics on canvas. Amen travels widely giving readings, doing musical performances, and conducting workshops. Amen is also well known as the founder and editor of the award-winning literary bimonthly, The Pedestal Magazine (www.thepedestalmagazine.com).

His reading will follow an open reading at the cafe. Poet/racanteour Kat Georges hosts. Doors open at 5:45 p.m.; the open reading begins at 6 p.m. Admission is $7, which includes a free drink.

Cornelia Street Cafe is at 29 Cornelia Street, between W. 4th Street & Bleecker, just around the corner from the W. 4th Street subway station. Phone: 212-989-9319. www.corneliastreetcafe.com