Thanks to everyone who came out to Vermin on the Mount in Los Angeles and San Diego last weekend. We had a gang of magnificent readers, great turnout, and we gave away a ton of merchandise in the world-famous Vermin raffle. In Los Angeles, two amazing things happened.
Shortly before the reading was getting ready to start, a woman approached me and asked if my name was Jim Ruland. When I told her it was, she handed me a contract. It seems that Vanessa Place — a poet, performance artist and lawyer — had leased her reading spot to another poet, Kim Calder. They’d drawn up a contract, signed it, and presented it to me the day of the show. (You can read the terms and conditions of the contract above.) Although I joked about leaving a bad Yelp review of Vanessa Place’s poetry corporation, I thought this was a marvelous stunt. Kim read a short series of poems, including the gorgeous, “The Secret Index to the Past,” which you can read at Joyland Poetry and encourage you to do so.
The second amazing thing concerns longtime supporter of VOTM and Legion of Vermin member Carolyn Kellogg. Carolyn has been coming to Vermin events for ten years and although she doesn’t come around as often as she used to, when she does, she always seems to win something in the raffle. So when I was giving away the last prize of the night, I made a prediction that Carolyn would win.
And she did. Again. We need to go shopping for lottery tickets or go eat a plate of shrimp.
Thanks for reading. I’ll post some photos of the events soon. The next Vermin on the Mount will be held on Friday April 18 at 7:30pm at Book Show in Frogtown.