James Joyce once wrote such a weirdly wonderful book that people still feel compelled to read it out loud every year, especially in Dublin, where they celebrate Bloomsday with Joycean costumes and specials on gorgonzola sandwiches and a glass of burgundy. "Not logwood that." (Right, Hugh?)
Joyce gives us the story of one day in the life of Leopold Bloom, June 16th, 1904 to be exact, encapsulated... or perhaps I should say elongated... into one long-ass Irish tome. It begins with the line: "Stately, plump Buck Mulligan came from the stairhead, bearing a bowl of lather on which a mirror and a razor lay crossed, and, some seven hundred pages later, ends (spoiler alert) with the word "Yes."
My friend Hugh urged me to tackle Ulysses once, several years ago, and it was like hearing everything in a man's head erupt out of a tinny speaker on a street corner. A teacher friend of mine gave me the best advice on wading through the experience. She said just keep reading the words. Never mind what they mean.
Yes.
This Saturday, the Bloomsday Marathon Reading begins at noon at Loyalty Books in Petworth and continues on at Petworth Citizen where Bloomsday inspired cocktails will help numb or enhance the experience which continues through the night and all day Sunday.
Another enigmatic marathon, the third annual Seventh Stanine Festival, also kicks off on Saturday starting at 2 pm at the house of Rhizome in Takoma DC, and will include our friends in Tone hitting the stage about five hours later. From Norm Veenstra: "This festival will take place rain or shine -- the Rhizome house can be both shelter and source of sound."
And:
Little Red and the Renegades will be testing out a new to them venue at Celtic House in Arlington and Valentine Slim will be hold forth at Rockville Moose Lodge. All on Saturday.
This week's alert: call before you go to any show happening at Villain and Saint.... The kitchen has closed, and things are going South in a hand basket over there.
get your joyce
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