Hurts So Good at Hugo House
Posted Nov. 24, 2008 at 10:21 am by Mark Fefer
If you wonder (and sometimes I do) why the hell anyone would go to an author reading, Friday night at Hugo House provided a convincing answer. Wonderfully curated and unpretentiously hosted by program director Alix Wilber, this second installment of the Hugo Literary Series featured truly riveting "performances" by three disparate authors on the theme of Personal Injury. Richard Rodriguez (above) conveyed his sad and wry recollection of illness like he was creating it on the spot, his compressed poetic language seeming to gesture at everything. Sallie Tisdale was much more of a text reader, but her memoir of a Ski Patrol brother gathered an awesome power like the avalanches she described. Local boy Ryan Boudinot went all-comedic, closing out the night with an absurd piece, flawlessly delivered—wit, timing, vocal tics, bland Bob Newhart appearance, he's got it all. Musical guest Laura Veirs, being a singer-songwriter, naturally took heartbreak to be her Personal Injury, introducing the show with two pieces that were spare, tender and hooky. (And could you be more my type Laura? Damn.)
When I chatted with Rodriguez and Tidsdale at the afterparty, they both marveled at how game and supportive the packed house had been, in contrast to the kind of skeptical, show-me audiences they often encounter. Of course, that Seattle enthusiasm is too often just a self-congratulatory haze bestowed on mediocrity. What a pleasure to be there on a night when it was earned.
Topics: Art Events, Books & Authors, and Celebrity Sightings
:
Cover Story: Pipe Schemes
Comments
good thing
Posted Nov. 25, 2008 at 12:10 am by How To Be A Good Supervisor