Life’s a carnival; two bits a shot. What better way to soothe the post State Fair hangover than with a double shot of Transgressive fiction and a little literary exploration of bad behavior in your favorite downtown gathering place?
Hal & Mal’s is thrilled to be the host for the upcoming Chuck Palahniuk’s DAMNED book night. Over the past 27 years, we have presented thousands of hours of live music and hosted many of the major cultural happenings in town. This DAMNED event promises to be one for the history book. We understand that Palahniuk is a global, non-conventional literary wordsmith and that having him include Lemuria and Jackson in his tour is a major coup and having him bring his bad ass downtown is an honor.
If you’re curious about the crossroad where pop cultural embraces counterculture through a genre that claims the likes of Dostoyevsky and the publicly banned classic works like James Joyce’s Ulysses, then you might like Palahniuk’s pedigree. If you were intrigued by D. H. Lawrence’s tale of Lady Chatterley’s Lover or Henry Miller’s sexual odyssey Tropic of Cancer and the ensuing landmark obscenity trials, you might like Chuck Palahniuk.
Remember the explicit work of Allen Ginsberg’s 1955 poem Howl, William S. Burroughs’ hallucinatory, satirical 1959 novel Naked Lunch or Charles Bukowski’s tales of womanizing, drinking, and gambling? Throw in a ticket to the midway, a peek at the world’s smallest horse and bag of fried Oreos and I think you get the drift. Now top it off with a half pint of Dickel, a Mr. Turkey Leg and A Clockwork Orange and you’re on your way. So, STEP RIGHT UP to your neighborhood bar and order a long drink of the dark side with a splash of Palahniuk.
Photograph by David Sandison
Charles Michael Palahniuk was born in the Pacific Northwest of suicide fog and the hauntingly, complex music of Jimi Hendrix, Kurt Cobain and the inspiration for the sad, but iconic 1960’s song White Bird by It’s A Beautiful Day. He is said to have grown up in a mobile home in and around Burbank, Washington with his family. His bio says his parents later separated and divorced, reportedly often leaving him and his siblings to live with their grandparents at their cattle ranch in Eastern Washington State. His paternal grandfather was Ukrainian and immigrated to New York from Canada in 1907.
Back in the ole USA, we understand that Lemuria is celebrating 36 years of being one of the finest independent book stores in America and that John Evans is not only dedicated, but frankly obsessed, about maintaining that status. For that we are thankful and we are delighted to be partnering with John and Lemuria on this outrageous and rumpus occasion.
I saw and experienced The New Orleans Bingo Show last week at a showcase in Baton Rouge and can attest that they are the perfect act to accompany Chuck’s shock-a-rama that will be the centerpiece of the DAMNED book event on October 20th. Praise the Lord and pass the Cat Head. (Read their own blog here.)
Hal & Mal’s has hosted a generation of iconic figures like Albert King, Ike Turner and Barry Hannah, Eudora Welty and Willie Dixon and Willie Morris too. We have rolled out the Encyclopedia of Southern Culture, hosted John Grisham’s first book signing and sold out two Snoop Dogg shows. We once hosted a literary luncheon event in conjunction with Lemuria and Jubilee JAM featuring Larry Brown. Larry selected one of his darkest, most graphic tales of the underbelly of lower Appalachian life that hastily cleared the room of the nice society ladies of north Jackson gathered to support “the arts”.
Zita White, proud employee of Lemuria and part-time “door dog” at Hal & Mal’s has taken great pride in her dual role in making the Palahniuk DAMNED event come to pass. Zita has long been a fan and devotee’ of Chuck’s work and has worked with John and the great staff at Lemuria to make this possible. Her passion and exuberance in this collaboration reminds us of the early days of Hal & Mal’s when we worked with the University Press of Mississippi’s Bookfriends, presenting Mose Allison and Barry Hannah on the same stage, or Willie Dixon’s book signing for I Am The Blues event with blues giant Jack Owens providing the music.
And who can forget Willie Morris’ 60th birthday with The Tangents on stage, a roomful of New York City literati trying to figure out how to eat a hot tamale. Or Willie and JoAnne’s wedding party where Michigan poet and novelist Jim Harrison showed up after a Lemuria book signing then wrote a rollicking piece for Esquire Magazine about the evening. Unbeknown to all, young Zita slept soundly through most of this in the office with her favorite stuffed animal, perhaps dreaming of the day she and Chuck would take center stage and turn it up LOUD.
Literary great Jim Harrison, little Zita, and her dad Malcolm
Join us on October 20th if you dare. The evening will feature a visual arts show, organized by Marcy Nessel of Fischer Galleries, hypnotic drinks by Cat Head Vodka, and bites of brilliance by Craig Noone’s Parlor Market krewe.
Live local music of Bloodbird, Harrington, and SPACEWOLF will fill the night air on the courtyard, and The New Orleans Bingo Show will delight the patrons of the damned as the evening becomes the late night.
The art created to promote the whole maladventure is from pen and mind of Justin Schultz. Signed posters will be available from Justin and signed books by Chuck as well.
And somewhere in the maelstrom, the brilliant barker of the transgressive midway, Chuck Palahniuk, will take the stage and do his racy, soothsaying, sophisticated sideshow, sell some books and pontificate on the state of the misfits, the maleficent and the glorious bad behavior of society. Feeling lucky? Ladies and Gentlemen, STEP RIGHT UP!
JX//RX
Get all the details for Chuck Palahniuk’s Damned Book Night here.
See all of our other Chuck Palahniuk blogs here.
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