Wednesday, 10/23: NYC Launch Party for DISASTERAMA! at Le Poisson Rouge
Three Rooms Press is thrilled to present a star-studded NYC launch of DISASTERAMA! Adventures in the Queer Underground 1977-1997, a stunning new memoir detailing high camp in the plague years by critically acclaimed author Alvin Orloff.
The event will feature a reading and discussion by Alvin Orloff (Gutterboys), along with special readings and performances by
- Renowned author/pundit Michael Musto
- Brilliant performer & artist Gio Black Peter
- Writer and performance artist Beth Lisick (Everyone Into the Pool)
- Groundbreaking punk musician Jennifer Blowdryer
- Vaudeville-steampunk pop power trio The Babes NYC
- Additional special guests to be announced.
The event will be held in The Gallery at Le Poisson Rouge, 158 Bleecker Street at Thompson. Admission is free. Doors open 6:30. Show starts at 7. Info at www.lpr.com.
HIGH PRAISE FOR DISASTERAMA!
“An important memoir to add to any library’s collection about the turbulent beginning of the AIDS epidemic.”—Library Journal
“This book in your hands is one you could say I’ve waited for, and I’m not alone.” —from the introduction by Alexander Chee, author, How to Write an Autobiographical Novel
“Alvin Orloff’s memoir of San Francisco queers facing the mounting AIDS crisis and freaking, caring, denying, performing, and carrying on is a witty remembrance that avoids cheap sentiment or easy responses.” —Michael Musto, columnist, author, Fork on the Left, Knife in the Back
“No one is cooler than Alvin Orloff, and Disasterama! proves it.” —Andrea Lawlor, author, Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl
“Heartbreaking and hilarious, sexed-up and political, Disasterama is a deeply personal coming-of-age story. – Michelle Tea, author Against Memoir and Modern Tarot
ABOUT ALVIN ORLOFF
ALVIN ORLOFF began writing in 1977 as a teenager, penning lyrics for early San Francisco punk band, The Blowdryers. He spent the 1980s working as an exotic dancer while concurrently attending U.C. Berkeley and performing with The Popstitutes, an absurd performance art/homocore band. In 1990, he and his bandmates founded Klubstitute, a fl oating queer cabaret devoted to the ideal of cultural democracy that featured spoken word, theater, drag, and musical acts. In 1995, the club, whose staff and patrons had been ravaged by the AIDS epidemic, closed its doors and Orloff suddenly remembered that all he’d ever wanted to be was a writer. He subsequently published three rather whimsical novels, I Married an Earthling, Gutter Boys, and Why Aren’t You Smiling? before producing Disasterama!. Orloff currently works as the manager of Dog Eared Books, a literary hot-spot in the heart of San Francisco’s Castro District. He lives in San Francisco.
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