As a kid, I was a huge MAD Magazine fan, so having Al Jaffee show up in my backyard is something of a dream come true for my 10 year old self. Aside from the famed creator of the “fold-in”, the KingCon Comic & Animation Convention at the Brooklyn Lyceum will play host to a number of well known artists this weekend (Nov 7-8) including: Harvey Pekar, Jonathan Ames, Denny O’Neil (Batman and Green Lantern), Brian Wood (Local and DMZ, Peter Kuper (Spy vs. Spy) and many other talented folks (I’ve never really heard of). Even if your not deep into comics, for $7 (or $10 for a weekend pass), this convention seems like it’s worth checking out just for the “headliners” (I just wish I didn’t have all my old MAD magazines in storage!).

View the weekend panel schedule here and the full list of guests over here.

Eugene Mirman – God Is a Twelve-Year-Old Boy with Asperger’s

DOWNLOAD: Non-Album Bonus Track w/ John Wesley Harding

Eugene Mirman’s new comedy album, the provocatively titled, God Is a Twelve-Year-Old Boy with Asperger’s, came out this Tuesday (Oct 6) on Sub Pop records. To celebrate his new record’s release, he had a CD launch party in Somervile, MA on Tuesday where he rented a limo for his fans “so they [could] get home easily and, of course, because it’s stupid.” (Umm, no CD release party in NYC. Hey Eugene, how about showing us New Yorkers a little love for once?)

If you live in New York, and you still feel slighted by the whole Boston thing, you can catch Eugene this Sunday and on most Sundays after that at Union Hall for the weekly Tearing The Veil of Maya comedy show which he usually hosts (sometimes with Michael Showalter). This week’s show features Dave Hill, Eugene Mirman, John Mulaney and probably one or two other surprises. (Tickets are $7 at the door.)

In other Brooklyn comedy news, after their first successful show last may, comedy is returning to BAM on Saturday with the second free Comedy Night at BAMcafé.

On Saturday, October 10, Comedy Night, will feature some of New York’s most hilarious comedians including: Tom Shillue (Comedy Central Presents: Tom Shillue, Late Night with Conan O’Brien, The Daily Show), Pete Holmes (Comedy Central, VH1, The Daily Show), our very first returning comic, Kumail Nanjiani (Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Comedy Central’s Michael & Michael, UCB), Gabe Liedman (Gabe & Jenny, UCB), and hosted by the hysterical Chris Griggs (TVLand, NY Underground Comedy Festival).

(Word to the wise, get there early, I didn’t get in last time. Apparently, comedy in Fort Greene is something of a novelty.)

Other upcoming comedy/variety shows (Oct 10-18):
Sat, 10/10 Radio Happy Hour at LPR w/ Tunde Adebimpe and Kumail Nanjiani
Sun, 10/11 The Greg Johnson Show at Pianos
Sun 10/11 Tearing The Veil of Maya at Union Hall
Mon, 10/12 Tell All Your Friends at Lolita Bar w/ The Daily Show’s David Javerbaum, Dan Allen, Liam McEneaney, Jena Friendman, Alan Lebetkin & More!
Mon, 10/12 Whiplash! at UCB w/ Leo Allen
Tue, 10/13 Punch Up Your Life w/ Jessi Klein, Pete Holmes, Matt Goldich, Matt McCarthy, Ali Waller & Special Guest (Listen to Jessi’s recent story on the Moth podcast.)
Tue, 10/13 Punchline Mag Show at Comix w/ Janeane Garofalo, Lewis Black, Ted Alexandro, Todd Barry, Christian Finnegan
Tue, 10/13 IndigNATION at Comix with Joe DeRosa
Tue, 10/13 NY Moth StorySLAM “Enemies” at The Nuyorican Poets Café ($7 Tickets)
Wed, 10/14 Big Terrific at Cameo Gallery w/ Max Silvestri, Gabe & Jenny
Wed, 10/14 Risk! at Joe’s Pub w/ Kevin Allison of The State, Zak Orth, Melanie Hamlett, Christian Finnegan & Michelle Walson (This deserves its own writeup.)
Thu, Oct 15 Comedy Below Canal at 92Y Tribeca w/ Wyatt Cenac, John Oliver, Hannibal Buress, Che Grand, DJ Car Stereo (Wars)
Thu 10/15 Comedy As A Second Language at Kabin
Fri, 10/16 Moth Mainstage “Tales Out Of School: New Yorker Writers on Life at the Magazine” at City Winery Hosted by: Andy Borowitz. Stories by: Roger Angell, Adam Gopnik, Ariel Levy, Mark Singer, Judith Thurman
Sun, 10/18 Humor Revue at The Director’s Guild w/ Jenny Allen, Woody Allen, Noah Baumbach, Yoni Brenner, Ian Frazier, Patricia Marx, David Owen, Amy Ozols, Simon Rich, Paul Rudnick, George Saunders, Paul Simms, and Calvin Trillin. Hosted by David Remnick

No doubt I’m leaving some things out, but it’s pretty late and that’s all I can come up with right now.

Just a reminder that tickets for the 2009 New Yorker Festival go on sale today (Sep 18) via phone at 800-440-6974 and at www.newyorker.com/festival starting 12 noon ET.

PS Did you see that I recently got a shout out on NewYorker.com? My mother is so proud.

New Yorker Festival

The “early” yet official 2009 New Yorker Festival schedule was released today and while there a lot of familiar faces (as always), I think this year’s lineup is a lot stronger than last year’s. Highlights of this year’s festival include: Mad Men panel with Matthew Weiner, Lee Clow, Steve Stoute, Brooklyn Playlist concert at The Bell House with Dirty Projectors, A Conversation with Music with and Neko Case and Justin Vernon (Bon Iver), Inside the Artist’s Studio with Chuck Close and Adam Gopnik, and the Humor Revue with Woody Allen, Noah Baumbach and a host of others. Tickets for The New Yorker Festival will go on sale at 12 noon ET on Friday, September 18, (the shows I just mentioned should sell out almost instantaneously).

View the entire 2009 New Yorker Festival schedule after the jump.

“2009 New Yorker Festival Schedule Released Today” continued after the jump

Here’s what we already “know” is on the schedule for this year’s New Yorker Festival:
James Franco
Wallace Shawn
Rachel Maddow
Rufus Wainwright
E. Annie Proulx
Matthew Weiner

…and here are the answers to the latest set of 2009 New Yorker Festival “blind items”.

Just Asking (Round Three)

Which indie-film actor once played a monarch in a movie directed by his cousin?
Jason Schwartzman

The New York Times called which political guru “perhaps the most unlikely media star to emerge” in the 2008 election season?
Nate Silver

Which single-named poet studied under Allen Ginsberg at Brooklyn College?
Sapphire (-via Drake)

UPDATE: Dave Itzkoff of the New York Times just reported that this year’s New Yorker Festival will also feature appearances by:

Woody Allen
Noah Baumbach
Paul Rudnick
Tyler Perry
Tilda Swinton
Ricky Jay, and
performances by Neko Case and Steve Earle [NYTimes.com]

 

Hey, it’s almost fall and the good news is that the bookshelves are about to become flush with new releases and the NYC bookstores are about to burst with authors again. Here’s a list of some September NYC Barnes & Noble and Borders Books events that I found interesting for one reason or another:

September 2009 at Barnes & Noble (NYC)
09/01 Wallace Shawn (Lincoln Triangle)
09/02 Po Bronson (USQ)
09/02 Tom Ridge (86th & Lex)
09/03 Jane Goodall in Conversation with Thane Maynard (USQ)
09/08 Sue Monk Kidd & Ann Kidd Taylor (USQ)
09/08 Kathy Griffin (Tribeca)
09/09 Amy Sohn (Tribeca!)
09/10 50 Cent, Robert Greene (Fifth Ave 12:30 PM)
09/11 Mo Willems (86th & Lex)
09/11 Juliette Binoche (Lincoln Triangle)
09/12 Randy Grim, Loretta Swit (86th & Lex 2:00 PM)
09/14 Nick Cave: Upstairs at the Square (USQ)
09/15 Lisa Lampanelli (Tribeca)
09/15 E. L. Doctorow (USQ)
09/15 LeBron James (Fifth Ave 12:30 PM)
09/15 Tiki and Ronde Barber (86th & Lex 1:00 PM)
09/16 Philippa Gregory (86th & Lex)
09/16 Paul Rudnick (Lincoln Triangle)
09/16 Serena Williams (Fifth Ave 12:30 PM)
09/21 Louis Masur (Tribeca)
09/21 Lorrie Moore (USQ)
09/22 Frank Bruni (Lincoln Triangle)
09/22 Robert Sabuda (Tribeca 4:00 PM)
09/22 Isabella Rossellini (Tribeca)
09/22 David Byrne (USQ)
09/23 Ralph Nader (USQ)
09/24 Craig Ferguson (USQ)
09/24 Anita Shreve (86th & Lex)
09/29 Nick Hornby (USQ)
09/29 Joyce Carol Oates (Lincoln Triangle)
09/29 Bob Gibson, Reggie Jackson (Fifth Ave 12:30 PM)
09/29 Jane Smiley (Lincoln Triangle)
09/29 Tad Friend (82nd & Bway)
09/30 Cornel West (USQ)
09/30 Garrison Keillor (Lincoln Triangle)

September 2009 at Borders Books (NYC)
09/08 Carl Capotorto with guest reader Edie Falco (TWC)
09/09 David Cross (TWC)
09/10 Coach John Calipari (Wall St)
09/16 Toni Morrison (TWC)
09/22 David Gray Performance (TWC)
09/23 Reggie Jackson & Bob Gibson (Wall St 12:00 PM)
09/24 Frank Bruni (Park Ave)
09/24 James Brown (Wall St 1:00 PM)
09/26 Tom Paxton & Peter Yarrow (TWC 2:00 PM)
09/29 Ron Paul (Wall St 12:00 PM)

The fourth annual Brooklyn Book Festival will take place on September 13, 2009 at Borough Hall Plaza, Borough Hall Courtroom, St. Francis Auditorium and The Brooklyn Historical Society. This free event includes readings, discussions, and panels with such literary, comedic and musical luminaries as: Jonathan Ames, Paul Auster, Russell Banks, Dominic Carter, David Cross, Jonathan Coulton, Edwidge Danticat, Lupe Fiasco, Mary Gaitskill, Ben Greenman, A.M. Homes, Siri Hustvedt, Naomi Klein, Chuck Klosterman, Jonathan Lethem, Leonard Lopate, Phillip Lopate, Norman Mailer, Thurston Moore (Sonic Youth), Oliver Sacks, DJ Spooky, Melvin Van Peebles, Colson Whitehead and Mo Willems just to name a few. Check out the massive free schedule of events after the jump.

“2009 Brooklyn Book Festival Schedule Announced” continued after the jump

The New Yorker Festival has put out a series of “Just Asking” posts which go a little ways towards revealing this year’s festival lineup. Here are my guesses at the “not-so” blind items that have been posted thus far:

Just Asking: Round One

Which author said that her most famous short story took twice as long to write as a novel “because I had to imagine my way into the minds of two uneducated, rough-spoken, uninformed young men”?
E. Annie Proulx

This creator of an Emmy Award-winning drama was once a contestant on “Jeopardy!” (Answer in the form of a question, please.)
Matthew Weiner

Which young movie actor pretended to have different accents—“Italian, Russian, Irish”—when he worked at a McDonald’s drive-thru?
James Franco

Just Asking: Round Two

Which television personality got her big break when she won a contest to be a radio host on WRNX, in Holyoke, Massachusetts?
Rachel Maddow

What actor and playwright once played a New Yorker theatre critic in a movie?
Anna Deavere Smith Wallace Shawn – Thanks MM!

Which singer-songwriter once said, “I’m one of those people that will probably look better and better as I get older—until I drop dead of beauty”?
Rufus Wainwright

For such a massively popular author, it’s a little surprising that David Sedaris basically has no web presence whatsoever. More than that, I think it’s pretty surprising that Mr. Sedaris has not scheduled an NYC appearance on his upcoming 40+ night tour (the New Yorker Festival in October seemed like a no-brainer but he’s booked elsewhere at the time). However, if you’re a really big fan, there are still opportunities to see him in some not too far off locales: Princeton, NJ, New Haven, CT, Easton, PA and Philadelphia, PA are all within 2 hours of the Big Apple. If it were me though, rather than making that kind of a commitment, I’d probably just bide my time here in the city, in all likelihood, a New York date will be announced at some point down the line (though I’ve got no knowledge of that one way or the other).

All David Sedaris tour dates after the jump.

PS On a side note, I haven’t heard anything about a new book. When You Are Engulfed In Flames was released in paperback on June 2, 2009.

“David Sedaris Tour Dates (No NYC?)” continued after the jump

I’ve been keeping track of these kind of events for a few years now and this is the first time I can recall Robert Redford doing a Q & A after a film (though he probably has done a few). In any event, ticketholders to the September 13, 2009 Redford: Film & Conversation screenings are invited to a panel discussion afterwards in the BAM Harvey Theater with Robert Redford and special guests.

On Sun, Sep 13, BAMcinematek presents Redford: Film & Conversation, four simultaneous screenings of Robert Redford classics followed by a panel discussion with Mr. Redford and special guests in the BAM Harvey Theater at 6pm.

Films to be screened:

Out of Africa
A sweeping romance that recounts the experiences of European colonists in Kenya during the early 1900s.

The Natural
A middle-aged baseball rookie leads a losing 1930s baseball team to victory with a magical talent and a bat forged from a lightning struck tree.

The Electric Horseman
A washed up rodeo star and corporate shill who, disillusioned with his life, steals a horse during a publicity stunt and heads into the desert to release it into the wild.

The Way We Were
Redford and Streisand are a pair of star-crossed lovers who meet in college: she’s a Marxist Jew and he’s a WASP-y jock with a knack for writing. More

UPDATE: The Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein will join Redford on the Q&A panel after the screening of All The President’s Men on September 12.

The Housing Works Bookstore Cafe just announced a bunch of new events for August and September, check out the schedule below:

Thursday, August 20, 2009 at 7:00pm
The Moth StorySLAM
Theme: Traps. Tickets $7 at the door. 7PM sign up, 7:30 show

Wednesday, August 26, 2009 at 7:00pm
Speed Shrinking Book Party and Free Headshrinking

Wednesday, September 02, 2009 at 7:00pm
Elvis Perkins (Performance) and Ra Ra Riot (DJ Set)
The Indie Rock Coloring Book Launch Party (Buy Tickets)

Sunday, September 20, 2009 at 11:00am
Laurie Berkner with special guest Susie Lampert
Tickets are $20 for adults and kids over 1. Babies on laps are free. (Buy Tickets)

Thursday, October 01, 2009 at 7:00pm
SPIN Presents Liner Notes with Salman Rushdie and Dredg
$25 and donation of a new or gently used book. Tickets go on sale here on August 24th.

 

Here’s a list of some August NYC Barnes & Noble events that I found interesting for one reason or another:

Barnes & Noble August 2009 Events
08/11/09 – James Schamus & Ang Lee (Lincoln Triangle)
08/11/09 – Richard Russo and Pat Conroy (Union Square)
08/11/09 – Marvel 70th Anniversary w/ Chris Claremont, Klaus Janson, Greg Pak, Joe Quesada & Fred Van Late (UES)
08/13/09 – David Browne in conversation w/ Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth
08/18/09 – Regina Spektor w/ Kurt Andersen (Upstairs at the Square)
08/19/09 – Toni Morrison in conversation w/ Michelle Norris (Union Square)
08/20/09 – Cast and Creators of HAIR (Lincoln Triangle)
08/24/09 – Daryl Hannah & Hilary Shephard (Lincoln Triangle)
08/24/09 – Rev Run & Justine Simmons (UES)
08/26/09 – Nina Garcia (Tribeca)

PS I know it’s already the 10th, but I actually don’t think I’ve missed anything significant yet.

I’ve been meaning to post about these events for a while, and unfortunately a lot of them are sold out already, including tonight’s “Planet Hip Hop” panel with ?uestlove, Bajah, Steve Stoute and Chuck D. For those of who can’t bear to miss out on an insightful interview with your favorite bookish celebrity, you can always check Craigslist for some floating extras and B&N often has free events with some of the same names.

WSJ Summer Scoops Live

Monday, August 10, 7:30 p.m. | Stanley H. Kaplan Penthouse (Learn More)
Planet Hip Hop w/ Ahmir “?uestlove” Thompson, rapper Bajah from Sierra Leone, entrepeneur Steve Stoute, and Chuck D

Monday, August 10, 7:30 p.m. | Stanley H. Kaplan Penthouse (Learn More)
Mossberg, Moby, Music and More

Tuesday, August 18, 7:00 p.m. | Walter Reade Theater (Learn More)
pARTners: Stew and Heidi Rodewald, choreographer Bill T. Jones w/ Wendy Bounds

Times Talks Events

Aug 14, 2009 at 6:30 PM
A Conversation with Quentin Tarantino

Sep 9, 2009 at 6:30 PM
New York Novelist E.L. Doctorow

Sep 15, 2009 at 6:30 PM
“Half The Sky”: A Conversation with Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn

Oct 7, 2009 at 6:30 PM
A Conversation with Pedro Almodóvar and Penélope Cruz

Oct 9, 2009 at 6:30 PM
Bob Costas: Ultimate Sportscaster
at TimesCenter Hall – New York, NY

Oct 10, 2009 at 12:00 PM
The Barefoot Contessa featuring Ina Garten with Alex Witchel

Oct 10, 2009 at 2:00 PM
Some Like It Hot featuring Bobby Flay with Kim Severson

Oct 10, 2009 at 4:00 PM
Italian Modern featuring Giada De Laurentiis with Pete Wells

Oct 10, 2009 at 6:00 PM
On the Road featuring Anthony Bourdain with Frank Bruni

Oct 12, 2009 at 6:30 PM
An Evening with “Ugly Betty”

Oct 28, 2009 at 7:00 PM
A Conversation with Novelist John Irving

Nov 10, 2009 at 7:00 PM
A Conversation with Novelist Stephen King

New Yorker Festival
Ocotber 16-18, 2009
Various Venues Around NYC

The complete New Yorker Festival schedule will be announced in the September 21st issue of The New Yorker, on newsstands the week of September 14th. Tickets will go on sale Friday, September 18th.

Dean & Britta at Celebrate Brooklyn!

On August 1, Dean & Britta are playing a free show at Celebrate Brooklyn! with Crystal Stilts opening. Dean and Britta’s set will consist of their newly created scores to Andy Warhol’s screen tests. The screen tests feature rarely seen black and white silent film portraits of Factory superstars, celebrities and anonymous teenagers.

Subjects include Nico, Lou Reed, Edie Sedgwick, Dennis Hopper, and more. Shot between 1964 and 1966 at Warhol’s Factory in NYC, these screen tests will be presented on NYC’s largest outdoor film screen with newly commissioned soundtracks performed by Dean Wareham and Britta Phillips (formerly of Luna and currently recording as Dean & Britta).

After the show, The Bell House will be hosting the official “Screen Tests” after party with special DJ sets, drink specials, and (I’m guessing) Dean & Britta.

A few days after the Celebrate Brooklyn! gig (Aug 4), Dean Wareham will be appearing at Union Hall as part of the Stories In High Fidelity reading series along with Rob Harvilla of the Village Voice, the author Dan Kennedy, and Mr. SIHF himself, Jason Gordon (Buy Tickets).

Finally, (and perhaps most significantly for some), the first three Galaxie 500 albums, Today, On Fire, and This Is Our Music are now available on vinyl and as high quality digital downloads at fierybreeze.com or Damon and Naomi’s website.

Vinyl editions are remastered by Alan Douches and Kramer at West West Side Music, cut by Kevin Gray at AcousTech, pressed to virgin vinyl at RTI, and packaged in old-fashioned tip-on style jackets at Stoughton. T-shirts are Fruit of the Loom. In the 80s, that’s all there was.

Downloads are either 320Kbps mp3 or Apple lossless
Videos are 480×320 mp4 files, and are compatible with iPods and iPhones.

The albums are avaialble in the following ways…
Individual LPs are available from Damon & Naomi’s website for $15 per album + shipping.
You can also buy packages containing the vinyl and including downloads either as mp3 or Apple lossless.

These packages can be bought from the Galaxie 500 online store…
$9.99 for digital download only
$24.99 per album for LP + digital download (+ shipping)
$69.99 for all three albums on LP + digital download (+ shipping)
$79.99 for all three albums on LP + digital download + T-shirt (+ shipping)

You can also add a T-shirt to any of the packages for an extra $10

The physical items will be shipped starting Monday July 6th

You can download Fourth of July for free in return for your email address. [Galaxie 500 MySpace]

A Galaxie 500 video, Damon & Naomi mp3, and a flyer for the Stories in High Fidelity reading series after the jump.

“Dean & Britta Performing at Prospect Park, Dean Reading at Union Hall + Galaxie 500 Reissues” continued after the jump

 

July is a pretty slow month at New York area Barnes & Nobles, but there are a lot of other interesting readings and in-store performances going on around town, especially at the Housing Works Bookstore Cafe. B&N has landed some big fish for August and September though, including musicians/authors Regina Spektor, David Byrne and Nick Cave. (September at NYC area Barnes & Nobles actually looks so good, I’m going to post about it separately at a later date.)

Barnes & Noble July, Aug, Sep 2009 Events
07/28/09 – Gay Talese in conversation w/ Katie Rolphe (UES)
07/28/09 – Andrea Batista Schlesinger with Christine Quinn (UWS)
07/28/09 – Mary Jo Buttafuoco in conversation w/ Dr. Robi Ludwig (UWS)
07/30/09 – Michael Taeckens, Jennifer Finney Boylan, Dan Kennedy & Josh Kilmer-Purcell (UWS)
08/18/09 – Regina Spektor w/ Kurt Andersen “Upstairs at the Square” (USQ)
08/19/09 – Toni Morrison (USQ)
08/26/09 – Nina Garcia (Tribeca)
09/14/09 – Nick Cave “Upstairs at the Square” (USQ)
09/22/09 – David Byrne and Guests (USQ)
09/29/09 – Nick Hornby (USQ)

Housing Works Bookstore Cafe July Events
07/21/09 Punch Up Your Life w/ Jessi Klein, Pete Holmes & Patrick Borelli
07/22/09 The Lowbrow Reader Variety Hour featuring The Fiery Furnaces, Larkin Grimm, John Mulaney and More – Tickets $10/$5 (Sliding Scale)
07/23/09 The Moth StorySLAM (Theme: Achilles Heel)
07/28/09 Punch Up Your Life w/ Jessi Klein, Pete Holmes & Special Guests
07/29/09 Love is a Four-Letter Word Reading w/ Dan Kennedy, Wendy McClure, Maud Newton, Said Sayrafiezadeh, and Amanda Stern.
07/30/09 Live From Home with Erika Wennerstrom of Heartless Bastards and Butterfly Boucher – Tickets $15

Borders August Events
08/06/09 Rick Springfield performance My Precious Little One (Park Ave)
08/13/09 Pete Fortunale Back to the Garden: The Story of Woodstock (CC)

Union Hall
07/22/09 Dean Olsher From Square One: A Meditation, with Digressions, on Crosswords
08/04/09 Stories in High Fidelity w/ Dean Wareham, Rob Harvilla & Dan Kennedy

Highline Ballroom
07/20/2009 The Moth GrandSLAM hosted by Dan Kennedy