Deadbeat Club

Last monday I went with some friends to the Way Out Club for Brett Underwood's Day of the Deadbeats annual event where St. Louis writers read poetry, prose and lyrics by many of the well known beat luminaries and associated writers. I happened to have a camera there, so I took some pictures of some of the readers.

For those of you not on myspace, here's Mr. Underwood's post publicizing this year's event...

Friday, October 16, 2009

Day of the Dead Beats 2009 Category: Writing and Poetry 7 p.m., Monday, November 2nd at The Way Out Club 2525 S Jefferson Ave Saint Louis, Missouri We have an enormous line-up this year. There are 17 of us presenting the message of the Beats. It will be a challenge to get everybody up to fit into three hours, but we will do it. We'll need to keep each reading under ten minutes. I am excited about this year, because we have a solid core of powerful performers that have graced the stage in the past: K. Curtis Lyle, Michael Castro, Ann Haubrich, Bob Putnam, Phil Gounis, Chris King, Ken Brown. Stefene Russell returns to us this year and is part of a sizable group of women that will present their selections, including Haubrich, Russell, Erin Wiles, Lauren Keefer and Mary Fisher (coming all the way from Salt Lake City!). Also returning are a powerful contingent from the Get Born Readings scene: Joseph Sulier, Brock Walker, Mathieu Paul, Ken "the jokes are in there, Kids" Brown and Wiles. Joining us for the first time are Sean Arnold, Lauren Keefer, Fisher and Typewriter Tim Jordan. We'll be missing a couple folks this year due to life and death and time constraints, etc... I know that there are many who have performed in the past that I am not including here, but have to mention that I will always miss those that joined us since I've been at the helm of the event and brought it to the stage: Hunter Brumfield (R.I.P), Ben Hanna, Bob Wilcox, Agnes Wilcox, Joe Wetteroth, Mariah Richardson, Greg Hazleton, Kevin McCameron and Cynthia Sutton. There will be many highlights this year, but perhaps the most theatrical of the event will be that of Tim Jordan in his persona BodyBag Man while channeling William S. Burroughs. Yep. AND, this just in: Bob Putnam is going to read from the works of the recently departed Jim Carroll. Bob brought Carroll to St. Louis twice back in the day. It seems fitting. I will pick up Herbert Huncke and leave Brion Gysin to the spirit of the dreamachine. What's that? Yes, James Ottolini has built a dreamachine and it will be strobing on stage or in a corner, adding to the experience. You can read more about this stroboscopic gizmo here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dreamachine After all of that, we'll have the musical stylings of the St. Louisans of Humdrum http://www.myspace.com/humdrumsound and Jason and the Beast http://www.myspace.com/jasonandthebeast You might want to cancel any Tuesday morning activities! Here is the lineup in no particular order: Phil Gounis---Lawrence Ferlinghetti Brock Walker---Gary Snyder??/Peter Orlovsky??? Bob Putnam---Jim Carroll Ken Brown---Charles Bukowski Sean Arnold---D.A. Levy Mathieu Paul---Hubert Selby, Jr. Chris King---Kenneth Rexroth Ann Haubrich---Jack Kerouac Tim Jordan---William S. Burroughs K. Curtis Lyle---Bob Kaufman Stefene Russell---Allen Ginsberg Erin Wiles---Ruth Weiss Mary Fisher--Richard Brautigan Lauren Keefer---Leroi Jones Michael Castro---Gregory Corso Joseph Sulier---Kennetch Patchen and Brett Underwood (that's me!)---reading Herbert Huncke