Giant Rats to the Rescue

May 8, 2013

It’s no secret that here at VOTM headquarters we hold vermin in high regard. But this news story on the BBC Future blog made us sit up and take notice. In Mozambique, giants rats are being used to detect land mines. The rats undergo nine months of intensive training by the Belgian NGO Apopo.

Since Apopo’s rats launched into action in 2006, they’ve successfully cleared more than 6 million square meters of Mozambique’s countryside, uncovering 2,406 landmines, 992 bombs, and 13,025 small arms and ammunitions.

Today’s vermin, tomorrow’s heroes.

 

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Do one good thing today

April 17, 2013

Did you know 826LA Echo Park is in the running for $100,000?

That’s a good thing because since spring of 2012 826LA Echo Park has hosted Vermin on the Mount at no cost.

You can show your gratitude and support the great work that they do in LA by voting for them.

It only takes a minute and you can register through Facebook. And if you de-select the “send me email” box you won’t hear from them ever again.

But hurry — the voting ends Wednesday, April 17 at 12pm (Echo Park time).

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  • 13 VOTM Stahl 1"Hail Satin" Jerry Stahl
  • 13 Apr VOTM Des Barres 1"Be Cute Every Day" Pamela Des Barres
  • 13 Apr VOTM Maurer 1"Don't kill the white boy" Justin Maurer
  • 13 Apr VOTM Durbin 1Kate Durbin re-imagines Kim Kardashian's wedding so we don't have to
  • 13 Apr VOTM Bustillos 2Maria Bustillos looks back and laughs
  • 13 Apr VOTM Bustillos 1Portrait of the Artist as a Young Woman
  • 13 Apr VOTM Gachman 1Dina Gachman escapes the clutches of a cult leader
  • 13 Apr VOTM PatrickPatrick O'Neil & Jennifer Courtney
  • 13 Apr VOTM J Ryan 1J Ryan is amused
  • 13 Apr VOTM Todd & JustinRazorcake publisher Todd Taylor and Clorox Girl Justin Maurer
  • 13 Apr VOTM Stahl & PameJerry Stahl & Pamela Des Barres
  • 13 Apr VOTM NuviaMerchanatrix Nuvia Ruland
  • 13 Apr VOTM CrowdWord

Gallery of Vermin

April 7, 2013

If you missed it, you missed it but here’s a brief recap of what went down at VOTM last night with links to the work that was performed (if available):

Justin Maurer read about playing punk rock in Mexico City from his new collection Seventeen Television from Vol.1 Brooklyn.

Dina Gachman told the story of how she escaped the clutches of a cult leader.

Pamela Des Barres read from her first memoir I’m with the Band.

Maria Bustillos presented a multi-media homage to friendship that will appear in The Hairpin.

Kate Durbin re-imagined Kim Kardashian’s wedding so we don’t have to.

Jerry Stahl read from his latest book about Bad Sex on Speed.

Special thanks to Todd Taylor, publisher of Razorcake who donated tons of gifts for the Vermin raffle and distributed copies of the latest issue Razorcake #73.

Lastly, go vote for 826LA so they can win $100K and keep doing the good work they do in the community!

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Look Who’s Coming to Vermin: Pamela Des Barres

April 2, 2013

VOTM: Can you officiate a rock and roll wedding?

DES BARRES: Absolutely!

Known mostly for her heady dalliances and friendships with classic rock’s elite dandies in the 60s and 70s, Pamela Des Barres has written four books: I’m With the Band, Take Another Little Piece of My Heart, Rock Bottom: Dark Moments in Music Babylon, and most recently, Let’s Spend the Night Together: Backstage Secrets of Rock Muses and Supergroupies. She has been teaching ongoing women’s writing workshops in Los Angeles and all over the country for twelve years.

Come see Pamela perform at 826LA Echo Park on Friday, April 5.

 

 

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Look Who’s Coming to Vermin: Maria Bustillos

April 1, 2013

VOTM: What’s the most unusual experience you’ve ever had at a reading?

BUSTILLOS: I went to hear David Foster Wallace and some others read at the Grove the day after the Iraq War started, and the crowd was overflowing, with people sitting on the floor and everything. The whole world had gone crazy, and here we were, at the Grove. And then Michael Silverblatt started to speak, and very soon he began to weep, and so did everyone else.

Maria Bustillos is a journalist and critic whose work has appeared in The New Yorker, The Awl, The New York Times, Slate, Bookforum and here and there around the Internet. She lives in Los Angeles. 

Come see Maria’s presentation at 826LA Echo Park on Friday, April 5.

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Look Who’s Coming to Vermin: Dina Gachman

March 30, 2013

VOTM: What’s the most unusual experience you’ve ever had at a reading?

GACHMAN: My first reading was at a comedy theater in Hollywood. I was nervous. I asked a friend to bring me some Beta Blockers, and I took half a pill, just to keep myself from shaking. I figured the other readers would be on Beta Blockers too, or at least drunk. You know, writers. Not so. They were all actors – thespians – people who love rolling around on a stage and emoting. Fine, I can make friends with most everyone, I thought. Why should thespians be any different?

They told us to hang out in the green room, and to my horror all the other readers were doing stretches, voice exercises – one woman was miming. I felt totally alone. I focused on my essay and read and re-read the thing over and over, pretending not to be distracted every time someone yelled out, “ooo-eeee-oooo-aaaa!” or “blah-blah-blah-BLAH!” These people were not easing my nerves.

Nothing too crazy happened after the green room insanity – I got out there and read my essay about crazy people in coffee shops – one man in particular who told me about a play he wrote several years ago where he played a Tampon. If I see someone miming in a green room at a reading again, you can find me by the bar.

Dina Gachman is a Texan adrift in Los Angeles. Her comedic blog Bureaucracy for Breakfast has been featured on NPR and Chelsea Handler’s Borderline Amazing Comedy. She writes comic books for Bluewater Comics, and has written for Forbes, Ask Men, The Nervous Breakdown, Red Bull, Glamour, and Los Angeles Review of Books. She’s on Twitter.

 

Come see Dina Gachman read at 826LA Echo Park on Friday, April 5.
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Look Who’s Coming to Vermin: Justin Maurer

March 29, 2013

VOTM: What’s the most unusual experience you’ve ever had at a reading?

MAURER: At one of my first readings I was presenting my debut chapbook. I made the near-fatal mistake of eating spicy food and drinking coffee followed by some shots of tequila to soothe my nerves.  When I began reading, World War III was setting off in my stomach. There was some serious heavy artillery going on. I came very close to soiling myself.

Justin Maurer is a writer and musician from Los Angeles. He was born in L.A. but came of age in the Great Pacific Northwest where he recorded 3 albums and embarked on world tours with his storied punk band Clorox Girls. After a decade of nonstop touring, the band fell apart and he worked and lived in Madrid and London. In Europe he formed the band Suspect Parts before a full-circle return to L.A. Maurer’s first book Don’t Take Your Life”(Future Tense Books) was published in 2006. His new book Seventeen Television is now available from Vol. 1 Brooklyn. He currently sings for the punk/’60s pop band L.A. Drugz and plays guitar in punk/glam band Maniac. 

Come see Justin Maurer perform at 826LA Echo Park on Friday, April 5.

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Look Who’s Coming to Vermin: Kate Durbin

March 28, 2013

VOTM: What’s the most unusual experience you’ve ever had at a reading?

DURBIN: Several years back I was asked to read/perform for the Les Figues Press garden party. I was feeling inspired by Hannah Weiner at the time. Instead of reading from my own work, I decided to create elaborate, conceptual hats based off of books by Les Figues Press series. The writers wore the hats and walked down the garden path while I read from their works.

Kate Durbin is a Los Angeles-based writer, cultural worker, and transmedia artist. She is author of The Ravenous Audience (Akashic Books, 2009), and co-author of Abra, forthcoming in iOS and artist book editions, with the help of a grant from Center for Book and Paper Arts at Columbia College Chicago. She has also written five chapbooks. She is founding editor of Gaga Stigmata, and her tumblr project, Women as Objects, archives the teen girl tumblr aesthetic. Her projects have been anthologized and featured by Poets and Writers, Salon.com, Huffington Post, The New Yorker, Spex, NPR, Hyperallergic, poets.org, and many others. She is the winner of an &Now Innovative Writing Award.

Come see Kate Durbin at 826LA Echo Park on Friday, April 5.

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Everything is spurred by duty. There's private school to fund from kindergarten through senior year. There's a mortgage. There's the tyrannical arm of the HOA, which loves to spend the money of those entrenched in the subdivision. Car insurance alone is over $1,800 a month for the Coffens. There are college tuitions to grow. There's retirement. There's an urn.

Joshua Mohr’s Fight Song

Look Who’s Coming to Vermin: Jerry Stahl

March 27, 2013

VOTM: What’s the most unusual experience you’ve ever had at a reading?

STAHL: Someone showed up.

Pushcart Prize-winning author Jerry Stahl has written seven books, including the memoir Permanent Midnight (made into a film with Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson), and the novels Pain Killers and I, Fatty (optioned by Johnny Depp). His online column “OG Dad,” appears regularly on The Rumpus. He has written extensively for film and television, including most recently, the HBO film Hemingway & Gellhorn. Latest books are the anthology, The Heroin Chronicles, which he edited, and the novella Bad Sex On Speed. His new novel Happy Mutant Baby Pills will be published by Harper-Collins in Sept. 2013.

Come see who shows up with Jerry Stahl on Friday April 5 at 836LA Echo.

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VOTM at LA826 Echo Park

March 26, 2013

Vermin on the Mount returns with a ferocious night of irreverent readings Friday, April 5 at 7:30pm.

Maria Bustillos
Pamela Des Barres
Kate Durbin
Dina Gachman
Justin Maurer
Jerry Stahl
& your host, Jim Ruland!

Come to 826LA Echo Park on and be sure to enter through the Time Travel Mart on Sunset Boulevard.

Vermin on the Mount is FREE but donations to support 826LA are encouraged. Books and booze will be available for responsible consumption.

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Welcome Verminators!

March 26, 2013

Welcome to the new VOTM website. Technically, it’s the first website since the old one was a blog. VOTM 2.0 is cleaner, easier to navigate, and looks a hell of a lot better on your smartphone.

Wait a minute… Where’s all the stuff that was on the old site? Right now we’re in the process of migrating the material from the blog onto the new site. In the meantime, we’re uncovering a ton of ephemera from the archives that never made it online. So be sure to bookmark us and come back often.

We’re always looking for people to share their stories. If you’re interested in participating in Vermin on the Mount, please don’t hesitate to drop me line at jim dot vermin at gmail dot com.

Also, please like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

Don’t be bitten,
Jim

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