EBOB: This Is Your Brain on Lit

East Bay on the Brain (EBOB) will stimulate neurotransmitters once again on May 25 at The Layover Lounge in downtown Oakland, 6:30-8:30pm. Fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and performance will shake your skulls – in an excellent way, of course.

Readers include:

Michael David Lukas
Jason Schenheit
Jenn Scott
Christian Simonsen
&
Parker Tettleton

There will be books for sale! And drinks! The rest is free and totally worth it. Bring that gorgeous gray matter and get your EBOB on. 21+.

Hosted by Lauren Becker.

Contact: lbecker@coriummagazine.com

Keeping it Up

At the last EBOB, I was rightly chastised for not keeping the website current. I suck. Mea culpa. I am wearing a hairshirt and engaging in self-flagellation as I write this, even though I’m Jewish. But I really am sorry and I hereby begin the healing.

So, hey, there’s a new EBOB coming up! I just confirmed with the wonderful owners of our beloved homeland, The Layover Lounge, that we will rock your noggins on:

MAY 25, 2013
6:30 – 8:30pm

Readers to be announced. I promise they will be awesome. When have they not been awesome? Seriously, if an EBOB has had any non-awesome, I want to hear about it. No, I don’t. I hear on a pretty frequent basis that attendees enjoy the series. I see people return. They say hi to me. They talk to the readers. They buy books. They applaud loudly, some faint, and it’s not unheard of to see a girl lift her shirt to display … maybe another shirt? I don’t know. This is a classy series.

I swear I will update the site on a regular basis. At least prior to new events. You know that thing that says sign up here and we’ll alert you to future events? And you know how you’ve never been alerted? I am going to apologize once more and tell you that you probably won’t ever receive an email because I pretty much run this series on my own (a labor of love) AND pretty much run my literary journal (Corium Magazine. http://www.coriummagazine.com. Also awesome.), with little assistance, and, the journal being quarterly as well, I am known to put out an issue and host an EBOB during the same week.

If anyone would like to help me by taking on the email list and possibly doing some computer work and publicity, you would be compensated handsomely. If a handsome man is in attendance, I will have him say hi. Otherwise, I will buy you at least one drink. I’m no youngster, but I’m far from looking like Bea Arthur. In other words, I will not be handsome and/or compensate you much.

I’m super excited!! I know you are, too. Especially that woman who chastised me practically to the point of tears. Not really. I just said sorry and felt kind of bad and then had a drink and the dj started and I danced a little and forgot all about it until now. But I really felt kind of bad for a few minutes.

Readers to be named in the next few weeks! I can’t wait to see you!

the beasts come out

The East Bay has been the baby brother, the runt puppy, the mute stepsister of the Bay Area literary scene. Not really. We have a ton going on, but there’s maybe 20 tons going on in San Francisco. I love it all. Living somewhere that has lit events going on every night. Sometimes more than one. Sometimes more than two. I do. I love it.

On July 7, 2012, the East Bay will be the pushy older brother, the parrot that won’t shut up, the BEAST.

The Beast Crawl will feature 20 reading events at bars, galleries, cafes and other spectacular venues in downtown Oakland.

EBOB is proud to beast it up at the usual haunt, The Layover, in the third (of three) legs of the Crawl. Readers include:

Ben Loory (Stories for Nighttime and Some for the Day – Penguin Books)
Peg Alford Pursell (Why There Are Words reading series)
Maw Shein Win (Co-publisher, Stretcher)
Ryan Sloan (The Plagiarists)
Jesus Angel Garcia (badbadbad)
and
Missy Church (Naked Bulb reading series)

The Beast is out and ready to rumble. You’re gonna need to see this.

get your brain to EBOB – April 21

EBOB – Tonight!
April 21
7-9pm
The Layover
1517 Franklin St.
Downtown Oakland

The lineup is a little different from the one on the brain car. We will miss Peg Alford Pursell tonight but she’ll be here next time! For tonight, check this out:

Kyrsten Bean
Hugh Behm-Steinberg
Hollie Hardy
Evan Karp
Ethel Rohan
and Ken Weaver

Not too shabby! Catch a ride. Your brain will smile.

EBOB 2012!

SATURDAY, JANUARY 14, 2012
7-9pm

EBOB kicks off the new year with a fantastic lineup of readers, including:

*Carolyn Cooke, author of Daughters of the Revolution (Knopf June 2011) and Bostons (Houghton Mifflin 2001)

*Laura E. Davis, Editor, Weave Magazine, and author of forthcoming chapbook with Finishing Line Press

*Paul Corman-Roberts, Fiction Editor, Full of Crow, author of 19th St. Station (FOC Chapbook Series 2011)

*Ann Ryles, fiction writer and playwright

*Kerry Donoghue, fiction writer

EBOB is also pleased to welcome Edward Mullany, author of If I Falter at the Gallows (Publishing Genius Press 2011). From Brooklyn. The one in New York. It’s not close to here. Lord knows when this wonderful writer will be back. You should plan on being there.

This one is not one to miss. EBOB should never be missed. But, if you are going to miss an EBOB, this is not the one.

Lauren Becker, writer and editor of Corium Magazine, hosts. As always, the magic will take place at The Layover Lounge in downtown Oakland.

Suggested donation: $3-5. This is a suggestion. Meaning it is not required. If you have only a few crumpled dollar bills or a fistful of nickels and dimes, buy yourself a drink to help thank The Layover for their abiding support. Start searching your jeans pockets and couch cushions: We’ll see you on the 14th!!

EBOB gets some Oakland love

Check out the article in this month’s Oakland Magazine, in which I tell the world (i.e. the wise people who read Oakland Mag) about EBOB and the fabulous East Bay literary community. Turns out a very talented writer friend from far away is coming into town in January and I happen to have a book called Things About Me and You coming out in January as part of an anthology called Shut Up/Look Pretty, so I’m thinking there’s a good chance that EBOB will rear its gorgeous head around then! Well, the stunning writers/readers will rear. I’ll just be a happy goofball, thrilled to see you all there. Stay tuned for pending announcements!

Next EBOB. April 30. It. Will. Be. Awesome.

OK. Just try. Seriously, you need to settle down. It’s still 3 weeks from yesterday. All right. You can get a little excited. Don’t overdo. It’s only going to the THE BEST EBOB EVER. Along with every other EBOB thus far.

Look at these gorgeous readers. Just LOOK. And then show up to hear them, because … you know, they’re more gorgeous in person.

Meg Day
Kristin FitzPatrick
Ben Jahn
Ericka Lutz
April Sinclair
Janey Smith

Saturday, April 30
6:30-8:30pm
The Layover
1517 Franklin Street
Downtown Oakland (so close to 19th St. BART, you have no excuse …)

Host: Lauren Becker
Indispensable EBOB Sidekick: Paul Corman-Roberts
Suggested donation: $2 or whatever

Bring your friends and blood pressure medication. Good times, people. Guaranteed. See you then!!

Next EBOB!

The date for the next EBOB is set! Set aside Saturday April 30, 6:30-8:30 for some great words provided by Meg Day, Kristin FitzPatrick, and others. Location: The Layover.

EBOB 4

Three awesome EBOBs … let’s make it four!

The number of hugely talented East Bay writers blows the mind. Join us for further mind-blowing on Saturday, November 13, 7-9pm at our favorite venue, The Layover, for readings by:

Denise Bostrom
Christy Chan
Missy Church
Jane Hammons
Charles Kruger
and
Roger Porter

With a brief, but heartfelt, ode to the East Bay from our own Paul Corman-Roberts!

Hosted by Lauren Becker

Assuage your brain’s craving for some East Bay goodness. The 13th. See you there!

EBOB 3 Review, etc.

Charles Kruger wrote a lovely review about EBOB 3, which acknowledged the readers with much-deserved praise.

See? It really was a great night. I do not lie about such things.

Please plan on joining us in November, when EBOB will feature even more great East Bay writers, including Jane Hammons and Missy Church.

And please join Corium Magazine for its Litquake Lit Crawl debut on October 9. Phase 2, 7:15-8:15, at SUB-MISSION, 2183 Mission Street in San Francisco. Two of the five readers are also EBOB alumni — Andrea Kneeland and Stefanie Freele — and EBOB will definitely get a shout-out! Other readers: John W. Evans, Ben Loory, and Jenny Bitner.