Ties add a classy accent to a reading.
Hey guys, check out this radio interview/reading I gave when I was out in Berkeley.
If you want to be crass, skip to 15:55 to go directly to me.
1 CommentPosted by Ed Lin at 9:28 pm
photo credit: Cindy Cheung
Whew, four readings in four different cities in four days. How’d it go? Only one word can describe it: superawesome! My deepest thanks to Mayumi Takada for setting up the general tour and to Neela Banerjee for finessing things in the Bay Area.
L.A.
The L.A. reading was at Book Soup. It’s an offbeat setup because I was in the corner with two aisles of chairs off to my left and right while shelves of books were directly in front of me. At times it was like being a pitcher with runners on first and third. Very cool staff and very cool store!
San Francisco
The Modern Times bookstore is along a strip of other bookstores, but it’s special because it is collectively owned and operated. I totally support that 100%. One other special thing was that my old pal Bushra Rehman came! I have some movie clips from that reading that I may or may not load up. This was also a great store, and boy it sure was a boost to my ego that they ran out of copies of This Is a Bust! Lisa Chen read with me and totally rocked out!
Berkeley
Show you what a New Yorker I am, I had thought Berkeley and San Francisco were basically the same town. Uh ah. Berkeley is a town where one has to suspend judgments while being confronted with the boundaries of one’s own prejudices. Okay — I saw an apparently upper-middle-class person in the street reach into a garbage can, find a half-eaten muffin, smile (!) and then proceed to eat it. Oh, the reading? It was great, man! Eastwind rules! Lisa again read with me and did the Taiwanese people proud! I also did this radio interview that I will link once I got it. . .
Seattle
I like this picture. It was taken by my wife Cindy Cheung. I like how I look like the angel of light up there. Elliott Bay Book Co. is awesome! My first time there. This place is ginormous and has a separate cafe/reading space in the basement. Anna Maria Hong was supposed to read also, but she injured her Achilles tendon and couldn’t make it down the stairs (no handicapped entrance). Rock star Hannah Moon read a short story that adds new meaning to “stinky tofu.” Thank you Karen and Patrick! Hey, check out this review of the reading in The Stranger!
It is awesome to be back home here in New York City. Strangely, my heels hurt, I think, from all the flying around with my long legs bunched up. But hell, I did it for you people, and it was an honor and a pleasure!
3 CommentsPosted by Ed Lin at 8:59 am
You have no choice. You have to come. Ed Lin reading from “This Is a Bust”:
Book Soup
8818 Sunset Blvd.
Los Angeles
800.764.BOOK
Modern Times Bookstore
888 Valencia Street
San Francisco
415.282.9246
Fellow reader: Lisa Chen
Co-sponsored by Hyphen Magazine.
Eastwind Books of Berkeley
2066 University Avenue
Berkeley
415.282.9246
Fellow reader: Lisa Chen
Co-sponsored by Hyphen Magazine and Eastwind Books of Berkeley.
Elliott Bay Book Co.
101 South Main Street
Seattle
800.962.5311
Special guests: Anna Maria Hong and Hannah Moon.
2 CommentsPosted by Ed Lin at 6:10 pm
Gathering of some tribes at the Sulu Series at the Bowery Poetry Club, from left to right: Lisa Chen (author of Mouth), Thaddeus Rutkowski (author of Roughhouse and Techted), Nhan (founding member, Peeling the Banana), Vincent Young (founding member, Asian American Writers’ Workshop), Mr. Excitement himself and Bino Realuyo (co-founder of the Asian American Writers’ Workshop, author of The Umbrella Country and The Gods We Worship Live Next Door, and editor of The NuyorAsian Anthology).
The readings at Museum of Chinese in the Americas, Sulu Series at Bowery Poetry Club and The Asian/Pacific/American Studies Program at NYU were great and ever so much fun! Thanks to all who came out!
The MOCA reading was on a rather inauspicious night, what with rain mixed with ice. This was the scene outside:
But what a great audience! What troopers! Thanks for having me, Nancy!
By the way, if you’ve never been to a reading before, you don’t have to worry about buying the book from the writer after — they would be grateful for you just showin’ up! Seriously. This one dude told me he had a reading for his book and two people showed up. His sister and a homeless guy. And his sister had to leave!
The pic at the top of the post is from the Sulu Series at Bowery Poetry Club. What a special night that was! For one thing I was reunited with Vincent Young and Bino Realuyo — we probably haven’t been in the same room in about 13 years! It was so great to hear them read again, their voices brought me back to the early days of the Asian American Writers’ Workshop, before it had its own space or was even officially incorporated; back to when it was just people writing and reading to each other around a busted table. My new friend Lisa Chen read from her book, Mouth, a collection of poems just published by Kaya. Thaddeus Rutkowski, whose Roughhouse was also published by Kaya, surprised me by reading a section from Waylaid, the part about Thanksgiving with the mummy meat! Thank you, Taiyo, for having us!
Lastly was the The Asian/Pacific/American Studies Program at NYU! The wireless mike was a bust, but I prefer to use a mike stand, anyway. Especially when I don a tie.
What a fun lively crowd! And wow, the people I didn’t know outnumbered the ones I did! Thank you for having me Jack, Laura and Alexandra.
Wow, I can’t wait for the next series of readings comin’ up! See you there!
Left to right: Laura Chen-Schultz (Deputy Director), Henry Chang (author of Chinatown Beat), John (Jack) Kuo Wei Tchen (Director), Mr. Excitement himself, Cindy Cheung, Marilyn Torres, Alexandra Chang (Events Coordinator) and Kola Ogundiran.
2 CommentsPosted by Ed Lin at 10:46 am