Tayari's Blog: Living For The City
June 06, 2008
Where There's Franco, There's Fun
After I bought my favorite painting, "The Goya Gown" from Franco 
Mondini Ruiz last month, I have declared myself to be his biggest fan. I declared it really loud, actually, at the Smithsonian's George Gustav Heye Center. Franco was participating in a show called "Remix: New Modernities in a Post Indian World." It may seem odd to get really loud in a museum, especially a swanky NY museum, but Franco has a way of making anything seem appropriate.
The other artists in the show were milling around, looking serious and stormy in thier black clothing while Franco was working the crowd saying "I'll make you a deal!" I bought the sculpture pictured here. It's called IDOL Gossip. Get it? I think I am going to take it to work and display it there.
If Franco is every showing in your town, you have to go. It will be an experience, I promise.
And speaking of The Goya Gown, I think it would make a lovely book cover. Franco does, too.
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Living For The City
June 05, 2008
Thomas Glave in NYC
Last night I had the pleasure of meeting Thomas Glave at his reading at St. Marks in Manhattan. Thomas read from his open letter to the Prime Minister of Jamaica in response to his homophobia. Then he read a short story in the tradition of James Baldwin's "Going To Meet the Man" only the speaker is a woman and the topic is hair. He wrapped it up with an essay about the challenges of sharing the realities of his life with his straight friends.
After the reading, I got to chat for a while. So smart, so charming, so critical. Everything I love in a writer.
Links:
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May 23, 2008
Alice Smith @ The Highline
Last night Tara B., Aisha M., and I went to the Highline to see Alice Smith in concert. The 
first time I go to see a singer do her thing live, I am halfway going just to verify that she can actually sing. A lot of people can make a decent record, but can she blow? Alice can. Alice did. No doubt about that.
She is such a lovely singer that she deserved a better night than she had at the Highline. For one, the sound equipment was not together. Those speakers sounded like the ones in my car! (We are talking the factory speakers in a 1999 Altima. That's sad.) The second issue was the matter of her fans. Right at my left ear were two squealy girls who kept screaming "We love you Aliiiiiice!" Drove. Me. Crazy. And when they started to dance, they elbowed everyone within a three foot radius.
Miz Alice herself has a sort of girl-next-door quality. Her clothes are simple and modest, which was really endearing. She smiled a lot like she was really happy to be there. She doesn't perform with a lot of flash, but she's solid and holds things down.
I imagine that her stage presence will grow with time and experience. She's got the voice. She's really got it. That's the thing that matters.
Goofy snapshots here.
And a giveaway: At the concert promoters gave away a CD with three of Alice Smith's singles. If you are the first to email me with your mailing address, it's yours. We have a winner!
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May 11, 2008
Franco, My Love!
I am so crazy about the artwork of Franco Mondini Ruiz. I had never 
heard of him until Rigoberto-- who knows everything-- took me to a gallery in Chelsea to see Franco's work. When I walked in, I saw the painting you see on the right. It's called "The Goya Gown" and I fell for it, hard. It was love at first sight. If I may risk over-sharing.. have you ever met someone and part of your attraction to the person is that you can see yourself in him? (Or maybe that means I am just a narcissistic freak.) Anyway, this is what happened with me and the painting. And then there's more.
I didn't just see myself, I saw Dana, the main character of my new novel, THE OUTSIDE CHILD. The painting (larger picture here) is of a white, debutante style dress against a black background. I summarized it as "anger with ribbons." I think many of us know the feeling of resenting a standard while still striving to it. I was going on and on about the painting to the man standing next to me. I told him about my books. I told him about myself, about my family and why I loved the painting so much.
He told me that Sandra Cisneros is one of the artist's major collectors. I said I was glad to see that MacArthur money to good use. I loved the painting, but I could never afford it. I was sure the gallery does not allow layaway! The man laughed. Then he introduced himself as Franco Mondini Ruiz, the artist. "We can work something out," he said.
Forgive the snobby tone of the NYT article, but you can see what a good person Franco is. He thinks art should be for everyone.
Well, to make a long story short: I now own the painting! Now here is the question. Does it go in my bedroom, or the writing room!
(I just found this fascinating oral history of Franco and his family.)
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May 01, 2008
Do You Hear What I Hear?
National Poetry Month is over. To help you out with the transition back into normal life, I will recap a wonderful event that I attended last week at NYU. CC poets Alvin Aubert, Randall Horton, Kamilah Aisha Moon, Mendi Obadike and Gwen Samuels read to celebrate the anthology The Ringing Ear: Black Poets Lean South.
As we have come to expect from Cave Canem, the reading was outstanding. I was particularly knocked out by my good friend, Kamilah Aisha Moon. Isn't funny how you know some one, know she is brilliant, and then she reveals a whole 'nother layer? Her poetry collection "She Has A Name" is about her family's journey with her younger sister's autism. When Kamilah read a poem in her father's voice, the fiction writer in me had to sit up and take notice. All I can say is that she really inhabited that character. Wow. "She Has A Name" has not yet found a publisher. But it will. Mark. My. Words.
Meanwhile, here are some photos I snapped at the event. As always, I thought they were cute, until I saw Rachel's...
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April 22, 2008
Poetry Up-South!
To celebrate National Poetry Month,
Cave Canem presents:
The Ringing Ear Poets at New York University
19 University Place,
First Floor Auditorium,
New York, New York
Featuring
Alvin Aubert, Randall Horton,
Kamilah Aisha Moon, Mendi Obadike
and Gwen Samuels.
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April 18, 2008
My Publicist, My Friend
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March 31, 2008
One Reason to Love New York
Live music... on the subway.
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March 10, 2008
Tracie Morris @ The Stone
On the weekend, I went with a bunch of the cool kids to The Stone, an avant 
garde performance space in Alphabet City. The headliner: Tracie Morris and her band. It was raining like you wouldn't believe. I almost drowned getting out of the cab, but I made it, gasping for air.
Tracie gave a multi-layered show, combining spoken word poetry, cabaret-style singing, and experimental work that put me in the mind of the daring work of the Black Took Collective. Wikipedia describes what she does as "sound art" and that feels just about right.
Of all her performances, my favorites were re-arrangements of the classics. The stand-out was her performance of "Give It To Me Baby," made popular by the late Rick James. I wish I had recorded it. Tracie crooned it slow, accompanied by a mournful guitar. "Give It To Me" became a plea. This was not from the Spike Lee "please, baby, please" school of begging, but from the Luther Vandross, Superstar, "baby, baby, baby, oh, baby" (old) school of loneliness.
If she's in your town catch her act. Make sure you bring your open mind and your open heart.
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March 02, 2008
All The Cool Kids Live in Brooklyn
Colson Whitehead has an amusing piece in the NYT about the mythology of the "Brooklyn Writer." As a frustrated fiction writer marooned on the wrong side of the Holland Tunnel, I am glad to know that it is mostly hype.. though I must say that Mr. Whitehead is so over it that it makes it seem hipper than ever to live on the F train route. Here's one adorable, too-cool-for-school paragraph. To read the rest, go to the NYT.
I have a hard time understanding all the hype. I dig it here and all, but it’s just a place. It does not have magical properties. In interviews, I get asked a lot, “What’s it like to write in Brooklyn?” I get invited to do panels with other Brooklyn writers to discuss what it’s like to be a writer in Brooklyn. I expect it’s like writing in Manhattan, but there aren’t as many tourists walking very slowly in front of you when you step out for coffee. It’s like writing in Paris, but there are fewer people speaking French.
And lookie here, we have a snapshot of Colson Whitehead from AWP!
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February 27, 2008
A Tribute To Chinua Achebe
Last night, Evie invited me to A Tribute To Chinua Achebe sponsored by Pen America. I was 
thrilled because the event was sold out. The reason? Not only is it the 50th Anniversary of Things Fall Apart, but the stars were out over Manhattan to celebrate. The Great Ms. M-- that is Toni Morrison--, Edwidge Danticat, Chris Abani, Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche, Ha Jin, and other powerhouses took to the stage to tell the world how much Achebe's work means to them. (And let me tell you, it means a lot. We were seated at 8pm and didn't get out until after 10pm!)
Highlights:
No pics, sorry. There was a big sign saying "no cameras" and I was afraid of being kicked out. It was a literary event, but there were bouncers.
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February 11, 2008
Sunday's My Fun Day
Yesterday, I read at Sunday Salon in Williamsburg. Weather was bad in New York last night, 
but a few brave souls came out to hear me, Matthew Cheny (he's one in the "fur" coat!), Frances Madeson, and Tony D'Souza. Where else could you come out to hear a stories about a man who married a tree, laundering dead bodies on the gentle cyle, a doll house tricked out like a lunatic asylum, and of course my obsession with bigamy.
Blogger, Ed Champion was in the house. I want him to give a lecture at Rutgers about the free-lance boogie. He is the hardest working writer in cyberspace and in print too!
The highlight of evening for me was meeting Tiffany, a member of a this blog community. It was cold last night. I mean really really cold. So cold that it made me want to move back to Georgia. So cold, that my friend, Aisha, was bundled from head to toe-- even inside! (She just left open a little slit so she could see the reading.) So, when I looked out from the stage and saw Tiffany... Well, I was delighted and I think she could tell!
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November 19, 2007
The Lady Hamlet
This afternoon, I had another genuine New York Theatre experience. I 
saw a reading of Sarah Schulman's latest play, The Lady Hamlet at New York Theatre Workshop. For those of you not in the loop, a "reading" of a play is different from a performance. A reading consists of the actors seated in a semi-circle reading from the script. (You may recall that I participated in something similar when I was at MacDowell this summer.) This description makes it sound sort of dull, but the actors were so good that I could really imagine what the play will be like when it is actually produced.
Did you know that before most (white) actresses hoped to one day play Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire, the dream role was for a woman to play Hamlet? This is what lit a fire in Sarah Schulman's imagination. The Lady Hamlet is the story of Margo Stayden Burns as actress who is determined to make it to Broadway as Hamlet. Other characters include Helen De Montpelier, an actress of an earlier generation who shares the same goal, having been a "Lady Hamlet" for years in France. The play is very cerebral addressing complex questions about gender and representation. The other very cenrtal issue is the matter of mentorship. Never fear, the meaty ideas of the story never weigh down the characters or snare the plot. Schulman strikes just the right note in this piece with issues that will provoke deep thought and meaningful conversation along with characters that will steal your heart. (The actors were just wonderful.)
After the play, there was a roundtable discussion. All participants were given a copy of the rules for the conversation "Liz Lerman's Critical Response Process." My favorite rule was that you had to ask "neutral questions." Here is an example:
"Why is it so dark?" is NOT a nuetral question. "What ideas guided your choices about lighting?" is.I think this is a technique we should employ in our interpersonal relationships. (Instead of saying "Why can't you do the #@!&( laundry?!" you should say, "Baby, what impulse guides your decisions regarding soiled clothing?")
I didn't participate too much in the after-play group discussion. I didn't feel that I know enough about drama to make meaningful comments. I tend to come at everything the way a fiction writer would. Character, character, character! So I just sat quietly and listened, and left feeling very impressed.
(No pics, sorry. It wasn't a picture-taking kind of event.)
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November 15, 2007
Reports from National Book Awards
Okay, I am the last blogger to weigh in on last night's festivities. Please forgive me. I've just gotten out of bed. I think I am going to break the report up into several segments. I've got so many reactions, but I just don't feel up to organizing them into one cohesive essay. So, I am thinking on entry about the food, another about the winners, another about who all I met... you get the idea.
Let's start with the most thrilling moment of the evening. I was in the little girls room-- I followed Natasha so we could dish about two people at our table kinda-sorta coming to fisticuffs. (It was minor, but still sort of interesting. A certain agent put a Vulcan death-grip on the person sitting next to me and told him to shut up so other people could hear.) Well, I was relating this, word for word, when in walks TONI MORRISON. Gossip ceased. It wasn't appropriate to take a snap shot in the loo... so I just sort of waited and stalked. (The result: the pic on the right of Natasha, Toni Morrison, and Terri McMillan!)
Another gushing celebrity moment was meeting Ira Glass. I am such an NPR Nerd. I will admit, here in public, to loving "This American Life." Check out the photo album. There's good stuff in there.
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NBA: The Food!
We started with some sort of cold potato situation. Not exactly sure what it was called. Imagine potato wrapped in smoked salmon. Not exactly my favorite treat, but I ate it anyway. Then, the entre. Lamb chops. My favorite. The dessert was a mix of things, a little dab of ice cream, some sort of soft cake-like thing. What can I say? I came, I saw, I ate. And when it was over, Natasha and I went to all all-night diner and ate again!
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I Guess We Do Sort of Look Alike
While at the National Book Awards, people kept congratulating me on my nomination. Some people complimented me on my beautiful reading. When I didn't win, a couple of really nice folks said they had been pulling for me, and certainly I'll get it next time. I was gracious, of course. But here's the thing: I wasn't up for an award! They had me confused with one of the following people: Edwidge Danticat-- who was nominated for "Brother, I'm Dying." or maybe M. Sindy Felin, who was nominated for "Touching Snow" or maybe Asali Solomon who read in the 5 Under 35 event. The picture at the left is me and Asali. All black people don't look alike but we sorta do.
Ed, got me on tape talking about this. I still stand by what I told him. I mean the flip side of all black folks seeming interchangable at an event like this is that every black woman in the room got to be a celebrity for one night!
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November 04, 2007
Ohio State Murders
Last night, Sarah Schulman, my unofficial Virgil as I Dante my way through New York, took me to see Ohio State Murders, a play by Adrienne Kennedy. I was thrilled at the invitation. One of the reasons I moved from Urbana, Illinois to NYC was to, well, go to plays. But really, when you are new to town it's hard to know what to see. Sarah, an accomplished playwright, knows her way around the theatre district.
(Self pat-on-the-back: I found my way there all by myself on the subway, no help from friends or websites!)
The playbill was mysteriously worded, "Ohio State Murders portrays Suzanne Alexander, a fictional African American writer whose life both is, and is not, like her author's..." The effect of this was a uneasiness throughout the audience. Did this really happen? After all, the plot was pretty disturbing: An older well known black woman writer is giving a lecture at Ohio State University explaining why her work is so violent. On one level, it is a story of the birth of an intellectual and on another is a murder mystery and the crime is infanticide. When you factor in that Adrienne Kennedy is herself 76 years old and a graduate of Ohio State, you can't help but feel a tightening in your stomach.
The tickets were a little pricey ($80), but I am glad that I went. The theater itself was only about three-quarters full with a mixed audience. There was one celebrity spotting: Cynthia Nixon from Sex in The City was there with her partner. Beside me, Sarah Schulman said, "See, she is a real actor. She goes to see good plays, not just the red carpet stuff."
I am thinking to go to one play a month. Anyone have any suggestion as to what I should see next?
Related links:
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October 18, 2007
OMG, GWN!
It's midnight and I have a plane to catch at 7am for Chicago, but instead of sleeping, I just had to take a minute to post about the fantastic fundraiser for Girls Write Now.
But before I report the night's fabulousness, let me remind you what GWN is all about. Girls Write Now matches at youth girls with professional writing mentors. All the statistics are impressive, but my favorite is the 100% college acceptance rate. And since tonight's event was a fundraiser, let me encourage you to break off a little something for such a worthy cause.
OK, that said, on with the report.
At first I thought the event was for the girls and their mentors, but I was informed that the young folks had already had thier shin-dig at Bluestockings Bookstore earlier in the evening. The second set was for adults only. This was to be grown folks business.
Lauren asked if I wanted to go 
first and I said yes because the first reader has no act to follow. Or so I thought. Before I went on, we were treated to a warm up act from a dancer/actor by the name of Creamy Stevens. Need I say more? The Slipper Room is a burlesque club, so you expect somebody to take off some clothes. I am no prude but I would prefer that the stripping happen after my reading. After Creamy left the stage I read from The Untelling and the audience was very kind and didn't ask me to remove one item of clothing and for this, I am very grateful.
Next was Janice "Girlbomb" Erlbaum, reading 
from her forthcoming memoir Have you Found Her. (Can I say I can't believe she got her blog post up before me!)She read us an excerpt about volunteering in the shelter for homeless youth where she spent much of her own adolescence. Powerful stuff. When that book hits the shelves, it will be on my shelf.
Then came the musical act. Royal Pink. Oh baby! You all know I love live music. I guess you would call them 
an indie rock group. They are four women singing songs about sex, politics, sex, and general female empowerment. I loved it. I bought their CD and a shirt and a sticker.
The evening was wrapped up with Miss Saturn, a hoola hooping professional. And, a cosmo with the band!
Pictures? Of course there are pictures!
Posted at 11:32 PM | Comments (1)
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July 31, 2007
92 Ain't Nothing But A Number
Raquel Hill has John Hope Franklin and Tyehimba Jess has Les Paul.
Yesterday, I placed a call to Tyehimba Jess right before getting on the Path train to return to Jersey. “I’m on my way to a concert,” he said. (He knows that I love myself a concert.) “I’ll pay your cover,” he promised. “I’ll even buy you a gimlet.” (He had me at “concert”, but I gladly accepted all the other promises.)
Once we were in the taxi, he explained that was a rare opportunity. The headliner, Les Paul, is 92 years old. “He’s not going to be on the planet for long! The man is a legend! He changed the sound of the blues!”
When we got to The Iridium Jazz Club, there was a line wrapped around the building. Les Paul’s fans were many and devoted. The man sells out two shows every Monday. Word spread through the crowd that the show was sold out.
“I’m sorry, Tyehimba,” I said. “I know you must be disappointed.”
“Wait,” he said. “Maybe there will be some extra seats.”
“Well,” I said. “If there’s only one seat left, I want you to take it.”
“Really?” he said.
“Yeah, really.”
He got all choked up. “Thanks Sis.”
“It’s fine,” I said, disentangling myself and pushing him a little toward the door way. “Take the last seat.”
From behind us, people in line commented, “That’s a good woman.”
Posted at 03:54 PM | Comments (2)
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July 29, 2007
If this Town Is Just An Apple...
Last night, I went to the Bowery Poetry Club... Well, I spent the day trying to get to the Bowery Poetry Club. I intended to make the 3pm celebration of the life of Sekou Sundiata. However, I couldn't get my act together. The next event at the BPC was Roger Bonair Agard performing "To Be Young, Fast, and Black." Sadly, I 
missed that too, but everyone was raving about it. I am happy to report that I did make it to the after-party.
In the crowd were some of my favorite poets, including one Tyehimba Jess, whom I hadn't seen in way too long. I also met Willie Perdomo, whose reputation precedes him.
And speaking of things I missed, night before last, everyone went to see Latasha Diggs WOW the crowd at the Whitney.
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June 03, 2007
Let's Do It Again!
Last night, The Brand New Heavies played the Highline Ballroom and turned it out.
I was hoping, this time, to finally meet the band. My chances were 
good. I had received an email from thier manager promising a backstage pass, but alas, when I arrived, my name wasn't on the list and I felt like a gate crasher. "I'm Tayari," I pleaded. "Tayari-the-blogger!" No dice.
It was all good, though. I was there with my best girlfriends, Vickie and Aisha (you may remember them from other BNH events) and Vickie and Aisha each brought a friend and (as usual) and we made friends once we got there. One of the best things about BNH is that their fans are extremely cool. Once the music started we all did what we do best. We danced, we sang. When I say dance, I mean, we really showed out. I am talking about spins and kicks.
Afterwards, we all went over to Tillman's for the after-set. The place was pretty packed, but the host was a Morehouse Man and membership does have its privileges. We were seated with our new friends, Carmia and Gregg. (She's a designer and he's a photographer.)Just when I thought the evening was winding down, in walked N'DEA DAVENPORT, the lead singer.
She is so beautiful with a radiant spirit. She stopped at our table. "I saw all of you out there." I was hoping she would compliment us on our spins and kicks, but this was good enough. We gushed, we laughed. And I couldn't think of anything to say! Me, with nothing to say!
She was about to walk away, and I at least had to say, something. I didn't want to tell her that I spent all last summer on the Greyhound chasing the band up and down the eastern seaboard. I definitely wasn't going to try the "I'm Tayari, the blogger", thing again.
She was turning to go toward what I guess was the VIP area when I called out, "I think your music has great integrity!"
N'Dea was all glammed out in a silk kimono jacket and fancy sunglasses, but she really really heard what I said, or even better, she heard what I meant.
"Thank you," she said. "That's important to me."
Rachel just sent me a link to her pretty, artsy, professional-camera, mad skills, photos from the night!
Posted at 09:38 AM | Comments (2)
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