So speaking of cool live literary events, there's yet another one taking place tonight - the insanely great Bookslut.com is throwing their first of what they hope to be a monthly reading series, featuring authors they just happen to think are pretty cool. This first one is taking place at the Hopleaf, up in Andersonville (5148 N Clark, second floor - and in case you didn't know, this is also where the members of the Neo-Futurists theatre company hang out after their shows on the weekend), and will feature three authors reading from their work: Shalom Auslander, author of the story collection Beware of God; Daphne Kalotay, author of the story collection Calamity; and Andrew Winston, author of the novel Looped (which I've actually read some of already, and is incredibly, incredibly good).

I'm a little nervous about tonight's event, to tell you the truth, because the sad fact of the matter is that I have a little crush on Jessa Crispin, editor-in-chief of Bookslut. (And really, how can you be a geeky little lit lover and not have a crush on Jessa Crispin?) And see, I have this long and proud history of making a complete fucking ass out of myself when first meeting people I have crushes on, and I'm afraid that I'm just going to do the same tonight when I finally meet Jessa for the first time. And I really don't want to do this, because I'm really hoping to eventually get Bookslut involved in some way with this arts center I'm trying to open right now, once the center actually is open (like, you know, convincing them to move this monthly reading series to the center itself, instead of a dive bar in Andersonville); and needless to say, this will become a much more difficult prospect if I make a complete ass out of myself the first time I actually meet her.

Wish me luck, dear reader! Full details tomorrow!

And two short notes as well, as long as I'm here:

--You remember my friend Dirk Huelstrunk, right? He's one of the people I originally met because of my 2003 tour of Germany - a poet himself, as well as the co-founder and co-host of the Frankfurt poetry slam. We ended up really hitting it off that year, which then inspired Dirk to come to Chicago last year, for his own tour, where he ended up staying at my place for almost two weeks altogether (just a couple of days at a time, between all his side trips to Madison and Milwaukee and other cities close to Chicago). Which then inspired me to go back to Frankfurt last year, when the plans for my UK/Ireland tour fell through over lack of money, which is how I ended up with the book Ach Du Heilige Scheisse! (which is tantalizingly close to finally being fucking finished).

Anyway, Dirk put together a whole online mini-site about his 2004 America tour, including lots of photos of yours truly, embarrassing photos of my shitty apartment, as well as the roadtrip he and I and my friend Garth made to Madison while he was here. You can find the whole thing by clicking here.

--I heard this great joke on the blogosphere the other day, so thought I'd reprint it here:

Q: What does "VISTA" stand for in Microsoft Vista (their new name for their upcoming operating system, which before now had been called Longhorn)?

A: Viruses, Infections, Spyware, Trojans and Adware, of course.