"Cosmic Grunt / Betsy DeVos": I like to give readings. Unfortunately, there isn't a reading series in Pittsburgh where I'd be likely to be invited as a featured reader. I find Pittsburgh to be an extremely un-literate town. Almost every reading I've been to has featured very similar work of an un-exploratory nature. All the work is expository, a little vagueness is ok, a little drama is ok, a little politics is ok, but nothing tooooooooo outside the box ever happens. That said, the people who populate this particular open mic are friendly & unpretentious & I rather like it. Furthermore, the food at Té Café, where the reading happens, is quite good & if I lived in the neighborhood & could afford to eat out as much as I'd like to I'd probably be there fairly often. At this particular open mic the theme of the night was basically a Trump-is-Actually-President-O-M'God-What-the-Fuck?!-I'm-Horrified sort of thing - which is the general mood everywhere I go these days. I'd written the 2 pieces I wanted to read before I knew what the theme was but I figured they would fit in well enough. I read 1st, challenging myself with the "Cosmic Grunt" piece & feeling like I pulled it off OK. I shortened the "Betsy DeVos" piece in the interest of keeping my part of the open reading under the 10 minute time limit. I've edited in the part here that was left out there in case anyone witnessing this movie doesn't know who DeVos is. Frankly, I think I look like shit in this movie, especially in the part I shot at home. I could've done a retake & made myself look sexier but, what the fuck, it's realistic for people to look like shit from time-to-time so I might as well join the crowd. Of course, I'm usually irresistably handsome. - February 9, 2017E.V. notes from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
