I showed up a little late and saw all these people standing outside, crouched between cars, sitting on fenders, laughing, clapping, while a variety of funny poets, like Tommy Pico and Sarah Galvin, read/shouted their work.
The party was the launch for a new book by Anastacia-Renee, and it was thrown by Gramma Press, her publisher, the upstart literary outfit founded by Bill True. According to someone who got there earlier than me, Anastacia-Renee walked into Generations, determined it was too small to work, and got everyone to go outside, where the hillside created a kind of quasi-amphitheater.
I can't remember any specific lines, but I do remember when Galvin read/shouted something about an enema, Tommy Pico, crouching, and Anastacia-Renee, in red, reacted like this.
And then Anastacia-Renee read. My favorite part of this photo is that guy in blue who stopped on the far corner to listen.
No disrespect to the guy in blue, but my favorite people on the scene were these two across the street, on their balcony, deciding to take in the show.
Have I mentioned the drag queen Betty Wetter was there? She was, and she performed, whipping the crowd up into a frenzy with a lip sync to Whitney Houston's "So Emotional," which seems to be the drag song of the summer.
Does anyone else throw parties like Gramma throws parties? No. No one does. The last Gramma party featured a bouncy castle for everyone to jump in. True's previous art project, Western Bridge, also used to throw amazing, unforgettable parties. You might want to come to Gramma's next thing, whenever that ends up being, even if you don't think poetry's your thing. You can join Gramma's mailing list here.
Anastacia-Renee reads again July 25. And Betty Wetter's first solo show, It Gets Wetter, runs July 27-29.
