Regardless of Authority #2

Regardless of Authority Issue Two is now live. It features poetry from Edward Krzeminski, Tim Peeler, Adrian Manning, April Michelle Bratten, Melanie Browne, Walter Thomas Beck III, Michele McDannold, Luis Cuauhtemoc Berriozabal, Nathan Graziano, Jason Fisk, and JJ Campbell. It also features photography and art from David Thompson, Eugenia Loli, Melanie Browne, Jennifer Tomaloff, Ben John Smith, and Abigail Beaudelle. Enjoy!! http://regardlessofauthority.wordpress.com/

DVTCRFM: LATE NIGHT (sneaky motherfucker). February 1, 2013

in my defense, i didn't know about this "co-hosting/interview" until just hours before the show. and dear universe, please let me always have the problem of too many good things to talk about than will fit in an hour. and i think i'll just go on working with the best and most talented people this side of forever. i appreciate the break on that one, universe. peace, yo. mm

DVTCRFM: LATE NIGHT (sneaky motherfucker). February 1, 2013
Frankie Metro, Michele McDannold and the TUNNEL VOICES (now on strike)
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/theliteraryunderground/2013/02/02/dvtcrfm

Black Kite Poetry #7: The Midwest Underground Poetry Summit

PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The Midwest Underground Poetry Summit to be held in Toledo, Ohio

Toledo, Ohio, USA. Wednesday, January 23, 2013--The Midwest Underground Poetry Summit will be held at Black Kite Coffee & Pies in Toledo, Ohio as part of the Black Kite Poetry Series hosted by Michael Grover and Tara Armstrong. Featured readers are Brian Fugett and Michele McDannold.

Brian Fugett (Dayton, Ohio) is a member of the slacker, fast food generation that has been branded with an ‘X’ by that Canadian-born, literary terrorist known as Douglas Coupland. Meanwhile, he sits in his pad all day consuming more oxygen than he’s worth. He’s been doing it for over 40 years now and has become quite efficient at it. Eating and voiding are the only things he really knows how to do. Between meals and trips to the shitter, he covertly milks ‘West Nile Virus’ from the tits of pregnant mosquitoes and uses it to butter the toast of local politicians. He is the editor/publisher of Zygote in my Coffee.

Michele McDannold (Jacksonville, Illinois) is corn fed and redneck bred. She has an extensive collection of flannel and rubber chicken heads. A devoted member of the Cult of the Honey Badger, she is also the co-editor/publisher of Citizens For Decent Literature, a project of The Literary Underground.

The event will begin at 7:00pm EST and includes an open mic and book release from Citizens For Decent Literature Press. Michael Grover will read from his new book “Some People Go Crazy” and copies will be available for purchase.

Black Kite Coffee & Pies is located at 2499 Collingwood Blvd., Toledo, Ohio 43620. Please visit theliteraryunderground.org/events for more information or contact Michael Grover.

In the year 2012

fun with flyers and broadsides

---

The Prose Pimp & The Happy Hamsterer


"This is the Damn Poem" by Brian Fugett (print on ivory card stock)


"Nothing to Lose" by Michele McDannold (print on 8.5 x 14)


"An Inappropriate Query" by Pantifesto (looks great on bright blue 24lb paper)


"Love" by Bud Smith


"i dream of tongues" by Richard Vargas (print on red card stock, cut to 3.5 inches wide each)


Flyer for Albuquerque, New Mexico Events 2012


Happy Fuckin' Endings Handbill


Mothpocalypse Handbill


Tinyamp VS The Literary Underground


Midwest Underground Poetry Summit

In the year 2012

in the interest of transparency...

DONATIONS AND CHAPBOOK SALES
$1632.38

these motherfuckers are funding the revolution
gold frickin star level – over $300
Victor Schwartzman, Brian Fugett

bronze statue level - $100+
James Babbs

when you stick 5 bucks in an envelope or paypal a quarter of a hundred... it helps
round of applause, goddammit level – $5 or more
J. Claudius Cloyd, RC Edrington, John Swain, Nathan Moore, Lynn Alexander, Frank Reardon, Frankie Metro, Clay Phillips, Carl Miller Daniels, Catfish McDaris

doesn't want to know how fast she's going broke
idiot level - ???
Michele McDannold

let's also not forget all those people that traveled to the events on their own dime. believe it or not, all poets will NOT do this. in all honesty, if we had that kind of money- those guys aren't the ones we'd be paying. so for the broke-ass motherfuckers who make it happen, somehow, you guys rock...

EXPENSES
here's the thing about me and receipts. From the time I started this list to the time I finished, I found a pile of receipts under some other stuff on my desk of stuff and lots of other stuff. Dig? Looks like I started keeping them around the month of may.
Here's what I had on hand anyway--

blogtalk
468

usps
186.37

ink
137.26

web hosting/registrations
136.28

paper, tape and shit
80.89

venues/tables
75 (just what LU paid)
480 (Fugett paid)

ads, music, other fees
59.95

other stuff.. bought a toner printer, sent some adopt-a-poet money out, gave away a bunch of free lit, mailed out a shit ton of mailers.
if i forgot someone or something, i'm sorry. it's a lot to keep track of.

luvluvluv
and MANY THANKS!

Book Release: The Daughters of Bastards by Iris Berry

https://www.createspace.com/3884122

The Daughters of Bastards by Iris Berry
Published by Punk Hostage Press
Afterword by Dimitri Monroe, Introduction by Pleasant Gehman, Cover design or artwork by Geoff Melville, Edited by A. Razor, Associate editor Michele McDannold
124 pages, 6" x 9"
$15.95
Purchase here

The long awaited book from Punk Hostage Press founding editor Iris Berry, entitled The Daughters Of Bastards, is a ride through the dirty streets of 1980s Hollywood that never stops delivering the real taste of a womanhood claiming a place for itself surrounded by the perverseness of a crumbling mystique that was once a golden tinseled dreamland.

About the author:
Iris Berry is one of the founding creative minds behind Punk Hostage Press. She is a native Angeleno who writes about her personal experiences from the sun baked asphalt violent streets of Pacoima, running away to the allure of late 70's Hollywood, at the age of 15, looking for a better life against the historical backdrop of the Los Angeles skyline.

Her poetry and prose, as well as her performances in such memorable groups as the Lame Flames and the Ringling Sisters, are an integral part of L.A.'s contemporary literary movement. She has recently featured articles and interviews in Slake, her most recent being an in depth interview with Art Kunkin, the founder of the Los Angeles Free Press back in the early 60s.

Her latest book, The Daughters of Bastards, features some of her most intimate work she has shared with the public to date. A working title that she has compiled these personalized stories under for the last 10 years, these poems and stories represent a grappling with the idea of origin and the drift that occurs when the umbilical has been cut and the search begins for what might have been lost at the beginning.

It reflects her experiences and gives insight to some of her adventurous times growing up on the streets of Hollywood in the golden era of the LA punk rock scene.

The Meth Lab Radio: Open Mic Gremlins. October 9, 2012

Listen to internet radio with theliteraryunderground on Blog Talk Radio

Press Release: Punk Hostage Press Announces Staff Addition

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Punk Hostage Press Announces Staff Addition

Thursday, July 26, 2012--Iris Berry and A. Razor announced today the addition of Michele McDannold to the Punk Hostage Press staff. She will be working on the editorial staff as well as heading the Public Relations Department.

Michele was the Editor-in-Chief at Red Fez Publications from 2007 to early 2012. She is currently the Director of Print and Special Projects at Red Fez. Besides her work at Red Fez, Michele founded the grassroots organization The Literary Underground. The Literary Underground's notable projects to date include: the Underground Wiki, Citizens for Decent Literature Press and the Project U Radio Network.

More information on Punk Hostage Press upcoming titles and projects will be released soon.

About Punk Hostage Press
On January, Friday the 13th, 2012, Iris Berry and A. Razor made a pact to publish prose, short stories, poetry, creative non-fiction and well formulated rants on a new press called Punk Hostage Press. Punk Hostage Press is a Los Angeles, CA based non-profit organization that publishes well-crafted books of literature. Punk Hostage Press is committed to providing relevant literature and opportunities for discussion and reflection in such institutions as prisons, jails, homeless and women’s shelters and treatment programs. Punk Hostage Press aims to publish 10-15 new titles each year. For more information about upcoming book releases and projects, please visit punkhostagepress.com

###

For more information contact Michele McDannold at punkhostage(at)theliteraryunderground[dot]org

June/July 2012 On Project U Radio

Project U Radio airs online every Thursday night, at 10:30 CST,11:30 pm EST and the show page can be found here. Project U Radio is a weekly show featuring topics, discussions, guests, and call-in open mic sessions. Hosted by Lynn Alexander and Paul Corman-Roberts, this show features a mixed bag- see full details about upcoming topics, information about the hosts, and background here. Get in touch with Lynn at lynnalx@gmail.com and check out The Literary Underground on facebook.

The Literary Underground also features Your Mother's Medicine Cabinet (Frank Reardon), The Drakonian Vampire Tunnel, and Meth Lab (Frankie Metro). Download previous episodes or listen online if you miss them! Read more for the schedule...

Project U Radio: Community, Collective, Chaos?. May 3, 2012

Listen to internet radio with theliteraryunderground on Blog Talk Radio

Coming Up On Project U Radio- April And May

     Project U Radio is a radio program hosted by Lynn Alexander and Paul Corman-Roberts that streams live over the internet, with live callers and archives you can download. Brought to you by The Literary Underground, Project U Radio generally airs on Thursday nights, at 11:30 p.m. EST, 8:30 PST. Listen, set reminders, download an archive, and more at the show page: here.  All welcome. Uncensored, unscripted, unhinged. Santorgasmic Family Values programming that will make your Aunt Helen smile. We're already deranged, but we need your illness too. Project U is about asking the tough questions (then straying off topic), hard hitting small press journalism (ok, maybe passive facebook surfing journalism) and a commitment to poetry as demonstrated by random performances and open mic nights. We're gonna make you take a shower and proclaim your poetic tendencies from the top of a box store. Kick it.

Did you know that you can donate to The Literary Underground? Look to the right and FEED THE KITTY. It helps when we can pay the bills.

Listen now to our April 26 show! Listen or download from the archives here! LIVE AT THE TELEGRAPH, OAKLAND-with special guests Missy Church, Hollie Hardy- some of the organizers of BEAST CRAWL. Find out about BEAST Crawl, planned for July. Lynn Alexander and Paul Corman-Roberts. To find out about BEAST Crawl, 2012, check the website here. 

More Literary Underground Radio Goodness: Frank Reardon now hosts Your Mother's Medicine Cabinet, on Monday evenings. Frank interviews small press writers with live call in. Draconian Vampire Tunnel airs in the ass of dawn on Tuesday nights. (Wednesday, East Coast) Frankie Metro will bring you a mixed bag of music, poetry, live callers, and more. Worth staying up for! And let's face it, you are up talking to Brian Fugett anyway.

Coming up on PROJECT U Thursdays. You KNOW you want to call in: 

(Archived) April 26: LIVE AT THE TELEGRAPH, OAKLAND WITH SPECIAL GUESTS MISSY CHURCH AND HOLLIE HARDY. Find out about BEAST Crawl, in July. Listen to Paul Corman-Roberts eat and ramble while Lynn Alexander eggs him on. Will he pass the phone around Oakland? FIND OUT!

May 3: (Go To Episode) The Literary Underground: Community, Collective, Chaos? What IS The Literary Underground? The time has come to share the vision of the Literary Underground community, with founder Michele McDannold, who will speak to her "manifesto". We would also like to hear your thoughts on this segment about this idea of community building, if it can work, or if it is doomed to collapse in a cloud of chaos and ego implosions. If you remain positive about the collective or community model, share your thoughts on what works. If you are cynical and sour, we want to hear about that, too.

And it goes without saying that in small press, some people play nicer than others. Some take a diplomatic stance on disagreements, and some feel that it is important to speak out and call things as they see it. But what happens when people try to work together toward common goals, and personalities clash or there are differences in direction, aesthetics, resources, priorities? Can conflict derail a good thing? Did you ever feel like community can both lift, and splatter? As much as a community can support, it can also create concerns about other people speaking for you. How do you avoid taking on other people's conflicts in a community? Is this particularly difficult with writers, or is this dynamic a problematic area for all cooperative groups of people?

Last, but not least, do you expect a community to have your back, right or wrong? What does loyalty look like? And how can you keep yourself from getting roasted in other people's fires?

May 10: Editorial Affirmative Action? Read the background on this topic in Lynn Alexander's column at Red Fez, "Criticism's A Bitch" on the subject of female submissions in the independent press and the solution (if any) to the problem of female under-representation. Is it a problem, and editors- can anything be done about it?  Open call in, all opinions welcome.

May 17: The Male Aesthetic. Call in, and give your opinions. Is there such a thing in small press, and are you partial to it? What kinds of presses and publications, web or print, do you associate with the term?

May 24: TOXIC ABATEMENT is coming to San Francisco's Viracocha in July. Find out more, and hear some poems from featured readers. Can we get Zarina and Sammy Dwarphobia to talk to us? Depends. Do we have the chops to ask?

May 31: Spectral Ganglia: Poetry and Sound Experiments. Open Mic. Live call in. Spontaneous Poetry, Overheard In Pittsburgh, Poetic Voyeurism. Milwaukee- Midwest Book Fair coming up on June 1, where Michele McDannold and Tim Murray will be out there representing Red Fez, Full Of Crow Press, and the Literary Underground. Hear from Michele. Unless she is sleeping. Hear from Tim Murray, unless he leaves his phone in the refrigerator again.

Spontaneous Poetry, Session 1

Spontaneous Poetry @ Project U Radio. Join us on Thursday, March 22 at 11:30 EST, 8:30 Pacific. (LINK TO EPISODE PAGE) Wanna play? All you have to do is get a notebook, any kind. Doesn't matter. You need a place to leave it where people can be free to add their spontaneous poetry without it disappearing because if it does, well, then you have spontaneous but LOST poetry. You can write in it yourself. You can pass it around. You can transcribe things that you hear, you can capture a conversation. Then call in to our show and read it or send it through email as text to be read or as an mp3 of the text being read by you. Or anyone, really. Doesn't matter. Identity isn't important. What matters is that you seek out words, preferably words rooted in the moment. Spontaneous. Then share your findings. It can be a phone message, rant, rap lyrics. Easy? Good. (805) 856-2808. You can also just call up, read, talk, that's good too. Always welcome.

Following week, we will get to the topic of Bukowski, like we were going to but then people crabbed about him which is all the more reason to do it, no? Buk Boxing. Love him, hate him, feel irritated by poets that compare themselves to him? Think his iconic role is deserved? Want to reflect on the man, his words, or why you care so much about arguing? Call us up. The myths, the man, the cult of Buk.

Zygote in my Coffee #136

Zygote in my Coffee #136 features the work of Heather Ann Schmidt, Katie Moore, Michele McDannold, James Babbs, Andrew Rihn, Kenneth P. Gurney, Paul Tristram, Kyle Jaeger, Josh Olsen and Karl Koweski.

January 20, 2012, Segment 5, Project U Radio

Segment 5: January 20, 2012.  ”Editorial Discretion”. Editors, would you publish work with content that you think is personally objectionable (i.e. racism) if you thought it was an otherwise good piece? How do you feel about a blanket policy about certain kinds of content, such as “We don’t publish anything that includes sexist elements”. Do you make distinctions as far as language, character, etc. and have you had this issue come up when selecting work for a zine, website, journal, or project? Do you find the line of subjective interpretation to be difficult? Have you rejected work that you thought was well written because it contained something that you thought to be offensive or thought might offend readers? Beyond offensive, but perhaps hurtful or harmful?

If you want to start at the beginning, check out the archives *here* for our Censorship show, December 2, 2011, where we discussed movements like The Citizens For Decent Literature whose aim was to suppress literature that organizers felt was "objectionable". Inspired by this and being a fan of free speech, Literary Underground's Michele McDannold started a printed publication by the same name and soon after, a website to showcase poetry online. Brief editor of the website content, Michael Goscinski, was invited on to talk about censorship and a lengthy conversation ensued.

My distinction on the difference between censorship and editorial discretion is simple- one involves the systemic suppression of free speech through an authority either by their own undertaking or under pressure by a group that has lobbied for suppression. The other involves the discretion of a content producer and their right to have standards with respect to content. If I have a magazine, I have the right to decide that I don't want any content that involves clowns. (to use my example from the show) We are looking at my right as an owner and producer to discretion, which I believe to be important. But censorship would involve the government telling producers that they cannot publish content that involves clowns. This distinction takes away editorial discretion with a blanket rule across the board, presumably (they say) for societal or other benefit. This is an external, imposed control meant to assert one group's moral or religious view onto another group by limiting clown content. ...... 

Citizens for Decent Literature Call for Submissions

Citizens for Decent Literature Online is a new quarterly poetry publication founded by Michele McDannold and edited by Michael D. Goscinski. Submissions are open now for the inaugural issue. This is a themed issue and the full guidelines can be read on the website. The deadline for submissions is December 24, 2011. We are looking for new and established poets not afraid to speak their mind. No matter how perverse, gritty, ballsy, political, gay, anti-establishment, women’s-lib, sweet, cynical, absurd, misogynistic, suicidal or rum soaked the poem is, if it’s well written and says something, there’s a good chance it’ll find a home here. No simul subs, reprints considered. Response in four weeks or less.

http://citizensfordecentliterature.com

3 new releases from Ebullience Press

Three new releases, edited by Misti Rainwater-Lites and published by Ebullience Press, are available now for purchase or free download at lulu.com. kick-ass photography and poems... includes work from Jay Passer, Tommy Anthony, Melanie Browne, Michele McDannold, Misti Rainwater-Lites and others.

KmaRT FaSHioN

Walleyed Country Girl

Award Winning Douche