Bowery Poetry Club

Went up at this open mic (poets, musicians, comedians, freaks) in the Bowery (which actually still has some brick streets, making one expect to see vagrants in knickers stealing bread). Anyway, I loved it. After I left Boulder, I kind of fell out of the "art" scene and into the comedy scene, and I miss it. There's a naked honesty there, at least at the street level, you know, unfiltered as it were. It's like talking to people in broken English - simple, but so much more sincere and revealing. I know, comedy is art, but as comedians, we're not supposed to say that out loud or even discuss it amongst ourselves.

The Shapiro brothers, two separate comedians who happen to be twin brothers, both went up and have such a stream of consciousness, abstract sensibility that is hilarious and poignant at the same time. Frankly, I felt hack going up after them and doing "straight" comedy, even though I usually seem to come across and "brainy" and "cerebral" according to many a comedy host. Next time I go up at that place, I'm doing something more performance oriented than straight writing oriented. Anyway, there's a community feel to the place, and I'll feel more at home if I keep coming back. It's definitely a place where you can try out different stuff. I love any place where the mentally ill intermingle freely with people who don't think they're mentally ill.

Was invited to a New Year's Party by two people in the audience. They told me to bring as many people as I wanted, but I don't know anybody, other than my roommate Nate, and he's in Tennessee. So I'm considering showing up alone. How weird would that be?

There is a mouse problem in my apartment, and they seem to be getting braver. Not sure how to handle this situation. Maybe I should show up in their homes and start shitting and pissing all over the place, eating their food, but as they live here and eat my food, this would probably be counter-productive.