An Evening of Poetry and Music: Suzanne Parker and Why The Reckless
2014-09-13 19:00 - 21:00 (America/New_York) | NY
Join us for an evening of poetry and music at the Bureau featuring Suzanne Parker and Why The Reckless. Parker will read from Viral, her collection of poetry that was written in response to the suicide of Tyler Clementi, the gay Rutgers student who jumped from the GW Bridge after his roommate broadcasted via webcam his encounter with another man (published by Alice James Books in 2013). Why The Reckless (stage name of independent folk musician and songwriter Carleen Kirksey) will return to the Bureau to perform her original songs.

Suzanne Parker is a winner of the Kinereth Gensler Book Award from Alice James Books. Her poetry collection, Viral, which was written in response to the suicide of Rutger’s University freshman Tyler Clementi, was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award and was included on the American Library Association’s Rainbow List of Recommended Books of 2013. Her poetry has appeared in “Barrow Street,” “Cimarron Review,” “The Boiler,” “Hunger Mountain,” “Drunken Boat,” and numerous other journals and has been nominated three times for a Pushcart Prize. She is a winner of the Alice M. Sellars Award from the Academy of American Poets and was a Poetry Fellow at the Prague Summer Seminars. Suzanne’s creative non-fiction is published in the travel anthology “Something to Declare: Good lesbian Travel Writing.” Suzanne is the managing editor at “MEAD: A Magazine of Literature and Libations.”

Why The Reckless, footed by vocalist and ukulele enthusiast Carleen Kirksey, is a one woman band powered by ukulele to sooth you, lyrics to feed you, and vocals that slap ya round a bit. Bring your own bib.

TELL 6: SCHOOL
2014-09-17 19:00 - 21:00
TELL is an evening of story telling from the mouths and minds of queers in NYC hosted by Drae Campbell at the Bureau of General Services—Queer Division.
SCHOOL is the theme of the sixth installment of TELL, featuring stories by MARCIE BIANCO, MARIA CATALDO, KARMA MAYET JOHNSON, SHOMI NOISE, & SHANE SHANE

Marcie Bianco, Lesbian-feminist PhD, is the Senior News Editor at VProud.tv, and a contributing writer at Mic, AfterEllen, Lambda Literary, and Curve Magazine. She also makes frequent appearances on Huffington Post Live, to talk about all things feminism and LGBT. She recently published an essay regarding the “satirical aesthetics” of HBO’s GIRLS in a collected volume, and she is currently at work on a memoir about lesbian academic affairs, two excerpts of which have been published. Follow her on The Twitter at @MarcieBianco.

Drae Campbell is a writer, actor, director, story teller, dancer, and nightlife emcee. Besides winning the 2011 Miss LEZ title, Drae has been featured on Late Night with Conan O’Brien and on stages all over NYC. Drae’s directing work has appeared in Iceland, NYC, Budapest and in the San Francisco Fringe Festival. The short film Drae wrote and starred in, YOU MOVE ME won the Audience Award for Outstanding Narrative Short at OUTFEST 2010 and has been shown in fesivals globally. Drae was dubbed “the next lezzie comedian on the block” by AfterEllen.com for her comedic stylings on the interwebs. Campbell throws a monthly party in Brooklyn called PRIME. Check her out online and around town. www.draecampbell.com

Maria Cataldo is a New York City based filmmaker and theater artist. Her feature film editing credits include Rain, which premiered at the 2008 Toronto Film Festival, the award winning Children of God, voted one of The Independent’s 2010 Features to Watch, Wind Jammers, official selection at the San Diego Black Film Festival, and Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life, awarded Best Family Feature at the Garden State Film Festival. Further credits include her post-production work through The Weinstein Company on films such as Bobby, Factory Girl, Dedication, The Protector, Penelope and The Dixie Chicks’ Documentary Shut Up and Sing. Additionally, Maria’s theater and experimental video have been presented in NYC through St. Ann’s Warehouse, HERE Arts Center, The Looking Glass Theater, and elsewhere including The Walker Art Center in Minneapolis. Most recently, Maria co-directed and co-produced MTV’s Rebel Music, a six part documentary series about protest music emerging from conflict areas around the world.

Karma Mayet Johnson is a multi-disciplinary performer, poet, composer, educator, and mystic. Offering vital Roots music for the 21st century, Karma Mayet’s sound is equal parts funk and glitter, Spanish Moss, cornbread and molasses.
Karma has performed at the world-famous Apollo, the Blue Note, The Juilliard School, Columbia University, Lincoln Center, and international venues including Sons d’Hiver (Paris), and the Melbourne International Arts Festival. She has worked with the Albany Symphony Orchestra, Meshell Ndegeocello, The Burnt Sugar Arkestra, Dr. Bernice Johnson Reagon, Bill T. Jones, Antibalas, and The Roots. Collaborators have included film-maker Michelle Parkerson, composer/pianist Major Scurlock, composer/guitarist Marvin Sewell, performance artist MonstaH Black, and the late guerilla theater innovator Rebecca Rice of D.C.’s Living Stage Theater Company, whose mentorship informs Karma’s ongoing practice of arts education as social activism.
Karma is composer of Indigo, a Blues opera: a music and dance-infused story of love and liberation, via Lesbians on the Underground Railroad. She is a featured vocalist on the The Mercy Suite, a collaboration between poet Yusef Komunyakaa and composer Tomas Doncker. Look for Karma Mayet’s original single September Song at cdbaby.com or itunes.com. Visit her website www.thisiskarma.net and join the mailing list to stay in touch!

Shomi Noise is a writer, musician, DJ, storyteller, dreamer, and tinkerer with an established reputation in the Brooklyn underground scene. Her work explores narratives of intersectionality, vulnerability, and resilience. She uses music to share empowering messages with the world through a creative mix of stories and sounds.
Shomi has DJed nationally and internationally with sets that include a clever mix of genres ranging from Latin dance music, hip-hop, electrohouse, reggae, pop, punk rock etc. Her ability to read crowds and create catchy and original song mashups on the spot makes her DJ work interesting and refreshing. She currently produces three parties in Brooklyn: Riot Chica,Telenovela, and Wretched. Riot Chica is a queercore/riot grrrl party that celebrates feminism and DIY culture by sharing empowering underground music made by ladies and queers,Telenovela is a new party for Spanish oldies and Wretched is a fun 90s party.
As a writer, performer, and musician, Shomi is working on original singer/songwriter material and other musical projects with friends. She is the author of “Building Up Emotional Muscles,” a coming of age story that incorporates music and storytelling to depict the struggles and triumphs she experienced growing up as a young queer immigrant woman of color in the US. It addresses her experience with the intersectionality of culture, race, class, sexuality and punk rock, and is based on a series of zines sharing the same title. She’s had the opportunity to share this original work as part of Heels on Wheels, an organization of radical queer femme performance artists that tours across the US and Canada. She is currently working on the 4th and last volume of the series and hopes to one day make a movie or play about it. Shomi’s work is best described as unique, sassy, musically eclectic, and fun. She is deeply committed to spreading messages of self-love, empowerment, social justice, and community building.
To find out more about Shomi visit:
www.shominoise.com
https://soundcloud.com/shominoise
https://www.facebook.com/djshominoise

Shane Shane is the gay dance music project of Shane O’Neill. He tours constantly and has shared the stage with such acts as Kool Keith, Har Mar Superstar, and Big Freedia.
He also plays in a band called Screamin’ Cyn Cyn & The Pons and occasionally does drag under the name Anita Lane Bryant.
He recently moved to Brooklyn where he likes to sew hideous costumes and eat mayonnaise-based salads.
He has a cat named Wanda and is so totally super gay.

Peter Cameron and Benjamin Taylor discuss Totempole
2014-09-18 19:00 - 21:00
On Thursday, September 18, at 7 p.m., join Peter Cameron and Benjamin Taylor for a discussion of Totempole by Sanford Friedman. This event is taking place on the occasion of New York Review Book‘s re-publishing of Totempole, originally published in 1965.
Totempole is a coming-of-age story that traces the life of a young Jewish boy growing up in New York City from two-year-old boy to twenty-four-year-old man. As Peter Cameron writes in the book’s afterword, “Totempole is an unusual gay novel: It isn’t about life in the closet, and it isn’t about coming out. It’s about the space in between those two stages of gay life, a complex and murky area that has not often been written about: coming out to oneself.”

Born in New York City, Sanford Friedman (1928–2010) was a novelist, playwright, and theater producer who taught writing at Juilliard and SAGE (Services and Advocacy for GLBT Elders). He served as a military police officer in Korea from 1951 to 1953, where he earned a Bronze Star. He is the author of several novels, including Conversations with Beethoven, published for the first time and now available from NYRB Classics.

Peter Cameron, photograph by Lisbeth Salas
Peter Cameron is the author of several novels, including The City of Your Final Destination, Someday This Pain Will Be Useful To You, and, most recently, Coral Glynn. He lives in New York City, and publishes limited-edition books at Shrinking Violet Press.

Benjamin Taylor is the author of two novels, Tales Out of School and The Book of Getting Even. His most recent book is a travel memoir, Naples Declared: A Walk Around the Bay. He was a Guggenheim Fellow in 2012 and next year will publish Proust: The Future’s Secret, a biography for Yale’s Jewish Lives series. He lives in New York City.

Read~Act
2014-09-19 19:00 - 21:00
New works on paper with accompanying performance piece by Jeffrey Burdian.
Burdian’s works on paper will be on view at the Bureau from 9/10-9/20.
The performance will take place on Friday, 9/19: reception at 7, performance at 7:30.
Read~Act is a cooperative performance piece by Jeffrey Burdian. Jeffrey will be laying naked and face down while visitors are urged to sit on him and read portions of books they bring or that are provided. This new and important piece will rattle your guts and most likely change your outlook on life as you know it. While the participant is reading aloud Jeffrey will react to both what is being read as well as the reader. Expectation of profound snippets of wisdom is appropriate. Each reader will have approximately 5 min to read depending on the vibe.
Please bring your books:)
Jeffrey Burdian graduated from NYU with a BFA in 2005 and has been included in shows in NYC, Brooklyn, and Jacksonville Fl. In 2010 he began to experiment with performance art as a way to activate individuals and communities as works of art. For more information about the artist and to get a peek at his work you can visit his www.jeffreyburdian.com

ASS & DICK Book Release Party
2014-09-20 19:00 - 22:00
Dropping their new book ASS & DICK, Ian Faden and Brian Stremick invite you to come and view their explicit, yet intimate paintings. Together the two have painted the fronts and backs of 36 models that have have been solicited from gay apps. Some of their favorite works from the series will be on display and the new catalog will be available for purchase.

Having met in art school, Ian and Brian began collaborating and sharing work spaces shortly after graduation. Now they live and work together out of their apartment, (frequently visited by models) in Crown Heights, Brooklyn with their cat Tompkins.

Bureau Closed--Moving to The Center!!!
2014-09-21 00:00 - 2014-10-03 23:55
Saturday, September 20th, will be the Bureau’s final day of business at 83A Hester Street. We will re-open at The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center at 208 West 13th Street in room 210 on Saturday, October 4th!

Please join us for the Grand Opening of the Bureau of General Services—Queer Division at The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center! Come celebrate this new chapter in the lives of both the Bureau and The Center! Lady Quesa’Dilla (aka Alejandro Rodríguez), one of the charming information & referral specialists at The Center’s front desk, will preside over our Grand Opening, which will feature Original Cockette Rumi Missabu, visiting from San Francisco, along with local friends of the Bureau Stephen Boyer, Cristy C. Road, West Vargina (aka Heather Acs), Dust Tea Shoulders, Drae Campbell, Max Steele, Mizz June, and DJ Jade Payne!
Suggested donation of $10 (no one turned away for lack of funds)

Grand Opening at The Center!
2014-10-04 19:00 - 23:00
Please join us for the Grand Opening of the Bureau of General Services—Queer Division at The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center! Come celebrate this new chapter in the lives of both the Bureau and The Center! Lady Quesa’Dilla (aka Alejandro Rodríguez), one of the charming information & referral specialists at The Center’s front desk, will preside over our Grand Opening, which will feature Original Cockette Rumi Missabu, visiting from San Francisco, along with local friends of the Bureau Stephen Boyer, Cristy C. Road, West Vargina (aka Heather Acs), Dust Tea Shoulders, Drae Campbell, Mizz June, Max Steele, and DJ Jade Payne!
$10 suggested donation (no one turned away for lack of funds)

Kevin Scott Hall – A Quarter Inch from My Heart A Reading, Discussion, and Q&A about the Book
2014-10-08 19:00 - 21:00
Kevin Scott Hall’s second book, the stunningly candid memoir A Quarter Inch from My Heart, has been getting some buzz since its June release. Hall has appeared on about ten blog radio shows (hear the best ones one his website, www.kevinscotthall.com).

Hall will give a reading and Q&A with award-winning writer/actor Ben Rimalower (Patti Issues, Bad With Money) at the Bureau on October 8th at 7:00 p.m. That date coincides with the 20th anniversary of his highly-publicized stabbing in October 1994—a compelling backstory in the memoir, and from which the title comes.
Hall officially goes national in September with an appearance on “Seth Speaks,” a talk show on Sirius XM Radio, Wednesday, September 17th, 4:30-6:00 p.m.

Although Hall comes out in many ways with this book, his story of what happened when he took in and cared for a mysterious stranger for two and a half years after Hurricane Katrina in 2005 defies categorization. In fact, in interviews so far, hosts have seen the complex and universal human story around issues of trust, spirituality, homelessness, crime, AIDS, caregiving, and race—and how love ultimately has the power to heal all wounds. As author Jocelyn Lieu says, “I’ve never read a memoir like this before.”

Kevin Scott Hall is a writer, performer, producer, and master teacher. He earned his MFA in Creative Writing from The City College of New York. His vocal recordings include “New Light Dawning,” and he published the novel Off the Charts! in 2010 and his memoir, A Quarter Inch from My Heart, in 2014. Hall writes a music column and entertainment features for Edge Media Network, and freelances for other publications. He is an adjunct lecturer in writing, speech, and literature at two City University of New York campuses, and teaches the art of cabaret singing on his own. Hall is a member of ASCAP, the Bistro Awards Committee, and Toastmasters International. He resides in Brooklyn, New York. www.kevinscotthall.com
To find out more about the author, go to www.kevinscotthall.com. For press inquiries, please contact Boice-Terrel Allen at 412-606-6709 or rattlecat@yahoo.com.
Early praise for A Quarter Inch from My Heart:

A Quarter Inch From My Heart is a harrowing account of love and loss. Kevin Scott Hall writes about being young in New York City and reckoning with how we all must grow up by taking care of each other and ourselves. His memoir is not only about one life or even the defining, complicated friendship at its center, but about the universal project of being decent, thoughtful citizens of the world. It is at once deeply introspective and outward reaching.
– Rachel DeWoskin, author of Foreign Babes in Beijing, Repeat After Me, and Blind!

Kevin Scott Hall’s book is more than a book; it is an intimate letter of a young artist struggling with the peradventure of chance meetings and a relationship that would lead him to grow as an individual psychologically and spiritually. Like all such letters the reader is drawn into the pathos of the naked emotion of life and love: A growth from eros to phillios and further to the undeniable agape. If you have ever cared for a friend and come to see the holy in the other then this is a work that is a must read.
— Fr Jeffrey L. Hamblin, MD, Bay Ridge Episcopal Church, Brooklyn, NY

In A Quarter Inch from My Heart Kevin Scott Hall explores his amazing love for a dazzling drifter, Maurice, the man who became his “prodigal brother”–and who leaves an indelible mark on Hall’s heart and the hearts of all who read this luminous, unforgettable memoir about agape, recovery, and faith.

–Jocelyn Lieu (author of Potential Weapons and What Isn’t There)

Kevin Scott Hall’s memoir of an offbeat life and an inexplicable love offers consistently readable ups, downs, and—especially—curves that, in the end, offer life lessons in generosity, persistence and redemption.
–Robert Windeler, noted critic, and biographer (Shirley Temple, Julie Andrews: A Life on Stage and Screen, and Sweetheart: The Story of Mary Pickford, among others)

“…gritty, sometimes horrifying, but also absolutely triumphant after all is said and done. Where Hall’s genius for narrative lies, as he equally proved in his novel Off the Charts!, is in his character depictions…”

Andrew Martin, NiteLife Exchange

“While the events of Kevin’s memoir are tragic, the real draw is in his reactions to them, presented in naked introspection. There’s a lack of pretense at internal continuity that makes this such an honest memoir. . . . He embraces his emotional fickle nature and lays it bare on the page . . . the raw emotions that guide his choices make him a deeply sympathetic narrator of his own life. . . . This is a book that made me feel as though I knew a person. . . . Worth reading to the end.”

Andrew Clunn, Applause Applause

Poetry Reading with Hafizah Geter, James Allen Hall, & Jericho Brown
2014-10-09 19:00 - 21:00
Lawrence Kaplun Hosts a Poetry Reading with Hafizah Geter, James Allen Hall, & Jericho Brown

Hafizah Geter is a South Carolina native, and a Cave Canem Fellow. The
recipient of a 2012 Amy Award from Poets & Writers and a 2014 Ruth
Lily Finalist from The Poetry Foundation, her poems have appeared or
are forthcoming in RHINO, Drunken Boat, Vinyl, Columbia: A Journal of
Literature and Art, Linebreak, Narrative Magazine, and Gulf Coast,
among others. She is currently the Events & Marketing Associate at
Scenarios USA and a poetry editor at Phantom Limb Press. She lives in
Brooklyn.

James Allen Hall is the author of NOW YOU’RE THE ENEMY (University of
Arkansas Press, 2008), which received the Lambda Literary Award for
Gay Poetry, and awards from the Texas Institute of Letters, and the
Fellowship of Southern Writers. His poems have appeared in many
journals such as Bloom, Boston Review, Four Way Review, The New
England Review, Triquarterly, and The Best American Poetry 2012. He is
an associate professor in the creative writing program at Washington
College in Maryland, where he resides.

Jericho Brown is the author of two books of poetry, PLEASE (New
Issues, 2008), and THE NEW TESTAMENT (Copper Canyon Press, 2014). He’s
the recipient of the Whiting Writers’ Award, and fellowships from the
Radcliffe Institute, and the NEA. His poems have appeared in many
journals such as American Poetry Review, The Nation, The New Republic,
The New Yorker, Ploughshares, and The Best American Poetry 2013. He is
an assistant professor in the creative writing program at Emory
University, and lives in Atlanta.

Queercopia Readings by LGBTQ New York Comic Con Writers Maria Burnham, Dylan Edwards, Jeff Krell, Amber Love, and Jennie Wood
2014-10-10 19:00 - 21:00
After Friday’s New York Comic Con, come to a reception and reading celebrating the diverse writings of LGBTQ New York Comic Con writers. Readers include Maria Burnham, Dylan Edwards, Jeff Krell, Amber Love, and Jennie Wood. A reception begins immediately following the convention at 7pm with the readings at 7:30pm.

Maria Burnham is a writer and hairstylist currently living in New York City. She is the proud creator and star of the memoir comic Jesus Loves Lesbians, Too, and she hopes you like reading it as much as she likes writing it. In addition to waxing poetic about Jesus and lesbians, she loves shooting photos, cooking dinner for friends, walking her Boston Terriers, reading novels, surfing, wakeboarding, and kicking people’s butts on game night.

The comics of Dylan Edwards (the artist occasionally known as NDR) have been published in a variety of venues, both in print and online, including his book Transposes (Northwest Press, 2012), and the anthologies No Straight Lines (Fantagraphics, 2012) and QU33R (Northwest Press, 2013). He will be featured in the upcoming all-queer sci-fi/fantasy anthology Beyond (2015). He is also the creator of the ongoing webcomic Politically InQueerect, which you can read at www.studiondr.com.

Jeff Krell created the gay-themed humor strip “Jayson,” whose 1983 debut in the Philadelphia Gay News led to a two-decade run in Gay Comix and Meatmen. In 2005 two “Jayson” retrospectives were so well received that Krell launched a series of original “Jayson” graphic novels, including “Jayson Goes to Hollywood” (2008) and “Jayson Gets a Job” (2012). Krell also translates for famed German cartoonist Ralf König (“Maybe…Maybe Not” & “The Killer Condom”).

Amber aka Elizabeth-Amber Love is a podcaster, model, and writer from New Jersey. She is one of the co-founders of a huge comic art auction hosted by Comic Fusion to benefit a domestic violence charity. She has written “Holyoak,” “Slim & Posh,” “Teen Detective,” “Athena Voltaire: Land, Sky & Sea”; she is one of the co-writers of “No. 130, For Love” in the Shakespeare Shaken Anthology and has been a guest writer for the “Subculture” webcomic. Her podcast Vodka O’Clock features many different aspects of arts and entertainment and is on iTunes and Stitcher and her 18+ site, AmberUnmasked.com.

Jennie Wood is the creator of Flutter, a comic series. The Advocate calls Flutter one of the best LGBT graphic novels of 2013. She is also a contributor to the award-winning, New York Times best-selling FUBAR comic anthologies. She is a comic and graphic novel writing instructor at Grub Street and writes non-fiction features for infoplease.com. On September 4, 2014, 215 Ink will release her novel, A Boy Like Me. For more: jenniewood.com

GIO BLACK PETER: SEE YOU IN HELL!
2014-10-11 19:00 - 22:00
The Bureau proudly announces our inaugural exhibition in our new space at The Center: GIO BLACK PETER: SEE YOU IN HELL!
Drawings, Paintings & Sculptures

Opening Reception Oct.11 / 7pm-10pm
Live performance of THE MORNING STAR
(this is the sequel to The Longest Night Of The Year)
Written by Gio Black Peter
Performed by Max Steele, Brian Kenny, Jordan Hall, Tyler Stone, Lady Simon, Gordon Beeferman & GBP.

*Gio will be at the Bureau every Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday working on new art for the duration of the exhibition. Please feel free to come say hi. Coffee is always welcomed.

The exhibition runs from October 11 through November 30, 2014.

Bureau Book Club #3: Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay
2014-10-12 19:00 - 21:00
The Bureau Book Club is a home for freewheeling discussion about the books and the issues that captivate us. Inspired by the conversations that break out after so many of the Bureau’s more formal events, we’ll have a one-hour session each month about a different work of fiction or non-fiction. Buy the book from the Bureau and get a 10% discount. We know you have busy lives: if you can’t finish the whole book, why not come and talk about the parts you’ve read? Just come prepared with a favorite quote. The Book Club discussions will be moderated by Ben Miller.

““Pink is my favorite color. I used to say my favorite color was black to be cool, but it is pink—all shades of pink. If I have an accessory, it is probably pink. I read Vogue, and I’m not doing it ironically, though it might seem that way. I once live-tweeted the September issue.”

For October, we’ll be reading a book of essays that has set both the blogs and the literary types abuzz: Roxane Gay‘s just-published New York Times best-seller Bad Feminist. Her publisher calls it “the journey of her evolution as a woman…a funny and spot-on look at the ways in which the culture we consume becomes who we are.” Gay’s shockingly powerful stories and novels, her essays that mix high and low with ease and style, and her active Twitter and Tumblr presences that explore her black and queer feminist identities make her one of today’s most celebrated emerging writers.

Purchase Bad Feminist from the Bureau before October 12th and receive a 10% discount!
———–
Ben Miller is a Brooklyn-based writer. Current projects include award-winning biographical research on early gay activist Harry Hay that has taken him to archives in California and conferences from Pennsylvania to New Mexico, an adaptation of an early Mozart libretto for performance at Carnegie Hall, serving as dramaturg for Circuit Theatre Company’s production of The Walk Across America for Mother Earth, and new short fiction influenced by his historical research. His teachers in history and writing have included Linda Gordon, K. Kevyne Baar, Marcelle Clements, and Jonathan Safran Foer. Ben is the winner of New York University’s Bessie and Louis Levy Prize for Excellence in American History, and was named Steffi Berne Research Scholar in the Humanities by the same institution. He is a co-founder of Squid Ink Magazine (launching soon), works as Web Associate at the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, and serves on the communications committee of the New York City LGBT Anti-Violence Project. He tweets @benwritesthings.

DEADLINE: WORKS-IN-PROGRESS FROM CUTTING-EDGE QUEER ARTISTS: OCTOBER EDITION!
2014-10-16 19:30 - 22:00
Post-Clown Disaster, Ariel Federow and Cabaret Idiot, Sabrina Chap bring you this new works-in-progress series featuring new work from cutting edge queer artists. Built on the notion that there’s no greater inspiration than a deadline, this series forces renegade artists to bring new and developing work to an audience for the first time. Part experimentation + part guaranteed failure = 100% awesomeness.
Check out this article on the August edition of Deadline in Next Magazine: “BGSQD’s Deadline Gives Queer Artists Room To Create And Grow” by Chris Hernandez
The October edition will feature performances by Chavisa Woods, Sequinette, Qween Amor, and Ariel “Speedwagon” Federow!

Sibling Rivalry Press at the Bureau: Calderwood, Hittinger, and Mills
2014-10-18 19:00 - 21:00
This fall Sibling Rivalry Press released three full-length poetry collections: The God of Longing by Brent Calderwood, The Erotic Postulate by Matthew Hittinger, and A History of the Unmarried by Stephen S. Mills. Come out and hear all three read from their new books.

Stephen S. Mills is the author of the Lambda Award-winning book He Do the Gay Man in Different Voices(Sibling Rivalry Press, 2012) and A History of the Unmarried (Sibling Rivalry Press, 2014). He earned his MFA from Florida State University. His work has appeared in The Antioch Review, PANK, The New York Quarterly, The Los Angeles Review, Knockout, Assaracus, The Rumpus, and others. He is also the winner of the 2008 Gival Press Oscar Wilde Poetry Award. He lives in New York City. Website: https://www.stephensmills.com/

Matthew Hittinger is the author of two poetry collections, The Erotic Postulate (2014) and Skin Shift (2012) both from Sibling Rivalry Press, and three chapbooks. He received his MFA from the University of Michigan where he won a Hopwood Award for poetry. His work has appeared in many journals and anthologies, has been adapted into art songs, and in 2012 Poets & Writers Magazine named him a Debut Poet on their 8th annual list. Matthew lives in Astoria, Queens.

Brent Calderwood is a writer and editor living in San Francisco. His poems have appeared in American Poetry Journal, Bloom, Crab Creek Review, Knockout, The Gay & Lesbian Review Worldwide, The Squaw Valley Review, and The Southern Poetry Anthology. His essays have appeared in the Chicago Sun-Times and the San Francisco Examiner. He is Literary Editor for A&U Magazine.

Radiant Travel: A Poetry Reading
2014-10-19 19:00 - 21:00
Three NYC-based queer poets read poetry informed by their hometowns and their travels. Eduardo Corral hosts Adam Fitzgerald, Jee Leong Koh, and Eduardo Martinez Leyva

Adam Fitzgerald is the author of The Late Parade, and his poetry has appeared in Boston Review, Poetry, Post Road, Rain Taxi, The Brooklyn Rail and many others. Fitzgerald is the founding editor of the poetry journal Maggy.

Jee Leong Koh is the author of four books of poems, most recently “The Pillow Book” (Math Paper Press). His work has been anthologized in “New Poetries V” (Carcanet Press) and “Villanelles” (Everyman’s Library). He lives in New York City.

Eduardo Martinez Leyva was born and raised in El Paso, TX. He is an MFA candidate in poetry and translation at Columbia University, where he is also a Teaching Fellow. His poems have been published in Apogee Journal and Nepantla A Journal Dedicated to Queer Poets of Color. He is currently translating the works of Argentinian writer Sergio Bizzio and the prose of Nuyorican writer Manuel Ramos Otero.

The 7th Annual New York Rainbow Book Fair and The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center Present Nights In Another Country
2014-10-21 18:30 - 20:00
The 7th Annual New York Rainbow Book Fair and The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center Present:
Nights In Another Country
Queer writers on the imagination, the public joys and private journeys of writing, exile, and coming home.

Reception starts at 6:30, event at 7 PM, until 8:30. Suggested donation $10, includes reception before the program.
The Bureau will be on hand to sell books by the participating authors.

What is the “Country of the Imagination”? Is it like James Baldwin’s Another Country, the place of freedom, longing, and hope? The 7th Annual NY Rainbow Book Fair, the largest lgbt book event in the US, in coordination with The Center at 208 W. 13th Street, as part of a kick off for the Friends of the Rainbow Book Fair, has asked four incredible writers to answer that question.

Regie Cabico took top prizes in the 1993, 1994 and 1997 National Poetry Slams and a former Nuyorican Poets Grand Slam Champion. He co-edited Flicker & Spark: A Contemporary Anthology of Queer Poetry and Spoken Word, nominated for a 2014 Lambda Literary Award. Television appearances include HBO’s Def Poetry Jam and NPR’s Snap Judgement; his latest solo play, Godiva Dates and One Night Stands, received critical acclaim at the 2013 Capital Fringe Festival.

Rigoberto González is the author of fifteen books of poetry and prose. He is the recipient of Guggenheim and NEA fellowships, contributing editor for Poets & Writers Magazine, and professor of English at Rutgers-Newark.

Photo by Jose Ramon
Charles Rice-Gonzalez is the author of the novel CHULITO which has been recognized by the Stonewall Book Awards of the American Library Association and the National Book Critics Circle, and he co-edited From Macho To Mariposa: New Gay Latino Fiction.He is the co-founder of BAAD! The Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance and is a Distinguished Lecturer in the English Dept. of Hostos Community College/CUNY.

Photo by Sophia Wallace
Emanuel Xavier, the author of the poetry collections Nefarious, Pier Queen, Americano: Growing up Gay and Latino in the U.S.A., If Jesus Were Gay & other poems and the novel, Christ Like, an LGBT History Month Icon, also edited the anthologies Me No Habla With Acento- Contemporary Latino Poetry and Mariposas: A Modern Anthology of Queer Latino Poetry. He’s appeared twice on HBO’s Russell Simmons presents Def Poetry and continues to perform regularly around the world as a spoken word poet.

Come join these four fabulous artists in that Brave New World of queer letters, of dreams, desires, hopes, and books without borders. There will be time to mix, mingle, ask questions, get to know more about the Rainbow Book Fair, and our featured authors.
For more information about the Rainbow Book Fair: rainbowbookfair.org.

Gio Black Peter: 100 Postcard Drawings
2014-10-22 14:00 - 18:00, 2014-10-23 14:00 - 18:00, 2014-10-25 14:00 - 18:00
On Oct 22, Oct 23, Oct 25 Gio Black Peter will be doing a live drawing session at the Bureau. He will be making 100 postcard drawings to celebrate the opening of SEE YOU IN HELL! Only available in person. First come first served.

Adult Contemporary Presents Jan Clausen, Jaime Shearn Coan and Amber Jamilla Musser
2014-10-23 20:00 - 22:00
Join us for the October installment of the ADULT CONTEMPORARY reading series, featuring Jan Clausen, Jaime Shearn Coan, and Amber Jamilla Musser.

ADULT CONTEMPORARY is an experimental non/fiction salon series featuring readings, lectures, performances and interviews with and by established and emerging writers. We seek out first person perspectives characterized by the urgent and the everyday; true stories that connect us to the big by way of the small, uneventful, and unexpected. Readings will be followed by informal conversations.
Organized by Katherine Brewer Ball and Svetlana Kitto.

Jan Clausen’s books include novels, the memoir Apples and Oranges, and six volumes of poetry. Her most recent poetry title, Veiled Spill: A Sequence, has just been published by GenPop Books. Individual poems have appeared widely in periodicals such as AGNI, Bloom, Drunken Boat, esque, Fence, Hanging Loose, The Hat, Hotel Amerika, and Ploughshares, and in the anthologies Obsession: Sestinas in the 21st Century and Poems from the Women’s Movement. In 1976, Clausen co-founded Conditions magazine, and later extended her involvement with the feminist small press movement as publisher of Long Haul Press. The recipient of writing grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and NYFA, she teaches in the Goddard College MFA in Writing Program and at NYU.

Jaime Shearn Coan is a poet and a PhD student in English at The Graduate Center, CUNY. You can find his writings on dance in the Brooklyn Rail. Jaime has received fellowships from Poets House, VCCA, Tin House, and the Saltonstall Foundation. He is the recipient of a 2014 Jerome Foundation Travel and Study Grant and his chapbook, Turn it Over, will be published by Argos Books in 2015.

Amber Jamilla Musser is Assistant Professor in Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Washington University in St Louis. Her research includes the history of science, critical race studies, and queer and feminist theory. Her book, Sensational Flesh: Race, Power, and Masochism was just published by NYU Press. It uses masochism to probe the sensations that come with marginalization and powerlessness. She has also published articles on sexuality and embodiment in Feminist Review, Social Text, Literature and Medicine, theory and event, differences, and WSQ.

Queer Voices: Poetry Reading with Michael Broder, Thomas Dooley, Christopher Schmidt, & Charif Shanahan
2014-10-24 19:00 - 21:00
Poets Michael Broder, Thomas Dooley, Christopher Schmidt, and Charif Shanahan will read from their acclaimed and award-winning books and share exciting new work.

Reception at 7:00
Reading at 7:30

Michael Broder is the author of This Life Now (A Midsummer Night’s Press, 2014). His poems have appeared or are forthcoming in American Poetry Review, BLOOM, Columbia Poetry Review, Court Green, Painted Bride Quarterly, and Poem-a-Day on Poets.org. He lives in Brooklyn with his husband, the poet Jason Schneiderman, and a large brood of feral and domestic cats.

Thomas Dooley is the author of Trespass, a 2013 National Poetry Series selection. He is the founder and artistic director of Emotive Fruition, a New York theatre collective of actors and poets. He holds a Master of Fine Arts from New York University and works in the field of narrative medicine.

Charif Shanahan studied poetry at Princeton University, Dartmouth College, and New York University, where he earned his MFA and served as a Starlight Foundation Fellow. Charif is a Cave Canem fellow, a recipient of an Academy of American Poets Prize and a semi-finalist for the “Discovery”/Boston ReviewPoetry Prize. His poems and translations have appeared or are forthcoming in The New Republic, A Public Space, Barrow Street, Circumference,The Manhattanville Review, and elsewhere. He was recently featured in Words Without Border’s “City and the Writer” column. He is the Programs Director for the Poetry Society of America and the poetry editor for Psychology Tomorrow Magazine.

Christopher Schmidt is the author of The Next in Line, winner of the Slope Editions Book Prize (2008), and a chapbook, Thermae (EAOGH, 2012). His poems, lyric essays, and reviews have appeared in Tin House, Boston Review, The Village Voice, Court Green, La Petite Zine, SubStance, EOAGH, and many other venues. Chris is an Assistant Professor of English at LaGuardia Community College of the City University of New York.

All of Them Witches - Curated by Gio Black Peter
2014-10-25 19:00 - 22:00
OCT 25
ALL OF THEM WITCHES short film program curated by Gio Black Peter
[one night only]
featuring short films by
Richard Kern
Bruce LaBruce
SUPERM [Slava Mogutin & Brian Kenny]
Franko Black
Matt Lambert
Lee Adams ft. Dahc Dermur VIII
Karol Radziszewski
Nicky Miller
Daniel Mckernan
Paul Gunn
Tyler Stone
Gio Black Peter
+++ plus more
Check out this teaser!

*Devil’s Night* B0DYH1GH, Tender Cousins, SISTER PACT
2014-10-30 20:00 - 22:00
3homoorgasmicspellboundbandsloveunderwillandshagyoutonight

Wakeuphalloweenmorninghungoverandreleasedbytragicomiccatharsis

B0DYH1GH: Since 2010, Brooklyn-based art duo B0DYH1GH have developed a cult following for their epic, psychedelic, synaesthetic music; dark and weird art interventions; intricate, tautological grooves; and entrancing, mysterious style. They’ve performed at legendary New York City club nights such as Birdsong, Spank, Pussy Faggot, Clump, Gio Black Peter’s Super Bisexuals, Everybooty Gay Pride, Jason & Jill, Apocalypse Wow, F.:.NCY, and Chris Tyler’s Total Rejects Live. They’ve served as models and muses for internationally-acclaimed artists such as Amos Mac, whose image of the band went viral after being featured in Out Magazine, and created site-specific work for galleries such as the Impossible Project Space and Strange Loop. The band has had two evening-length special gala performances, DEEP-FRIED CANDYFLOWERS at Culturefix and ALIEN AFTERLIFE at La MaMa, and released a critically-acclaimed debut mixtape, PRETTY BEAUTIFUL, and an instrumental art-rock masterpiece EP BUTTERBAWL. Their sophomore mixtape, LILDED GILY, is forthcoming in 2014.
www.b0dyh1gh.tumblr.com

Tender Cousins—Felix Bernstein, Gabriel Hoot, Sam Taffell “awkward, fragile and imposing” (deadstock) Are xxxposed at www.felixbernstein.com.

Sister Pact, formerly called Skirt, is Logan Sibrel (The Firms) and Omar Afzaal (House of Bread, Young Guts). The band started as a solo project in 2008 when Logan envisioned a soundtrack to an art show that never happened. The resulting bedroom jams would sit idle for a number of years until the two bandmates met and used them as the framework for the collaboration taking place now.
https://sisterpact.bandcamp.com/

TELL 7
2014-11-01 19:00 - 22:00
TELL is an evening of story telling from the mouths and minds of queers in NYC hosted by Drae Campbell at the Bureau of General Services—Queer Division.
TBD is the theme of the seventh installment of TELL, featuring Hadassah Damien (aka Damien Luxe), Ariel “Speedwagon” Federow, Chris Roberts, and Anita Dolce Vita.
Our host, Drae Campbell just won the grand prize at the first annual San Miguel De Allende Storytelling Festival in Mexico.
She’s going to tell the ‘winning’ story at the next TELL on 11/1.

https://creativecrossroadsofamericas.org/winners-2014-san-miguel-storytelling-festival/

Drae Campbell is a writer, actor, director, story teller, dancer, and nightlife emcee. Besides winning the 2011 Miss LEZ title, Drae has been featured on Late Night with Conan O’Brien and on stages all over NYC. Drae’s directing work has appeared in Iceland, NYC, Budapest and in the San Francisco Fringe Festival. The short film Drae wrote and starred in, YOU MOVE ME won the Audience Award for Outstanding Narrative Short at OUTFEST 2010 and has been shown in fesivals globally. Drae was dubbed “the next lezzie comedian on the block” by AfterEllen.com for her comedic stylings on the interwebs. Campbell throws a monthly party in Brooklyn called PRIME. Check her out online and around town. www.draecampbell.com

Hadassah Damien is a multimedia artist & performer, organizer, and writer who you may have encountered onstage as Damien Luxe. Damien entered graduate school to learn about how protest arts work in radical political history and came out with this research. She’s lectured on radicalism in art at Yale, Duke, UT Austin, U of Toronto, and other fancy places as well as on barroom floors, in barns, and in backyards. [She prefers the latter.] She’s co-producer of the Heels on Wheels Glitter Roadshow, the Opentoe Peepshow Salon series, contributes collaborative technology services to many queer, arts, and social justice organizations, and writes about tech, power, perversion, and art at www.femmetech.org

Photo by Stacie Joy
Ariel “Speedwagon” Federow‘s work has been seen on Broadway, Lafayette, Houston, Chrystie, Fulton, N 6th, and many of the finer streets of NYC and beyond. Venues: Dixon Place, the Hemispheric Institute for Performance and Politics, the Bowery Poetry Club, WoW Theater Cafe, Hey Queen!, Rebel Cupcake, In the Flesh, BAX, the Bureau of General Services: Queer Divison, LaMama ETC. Company member: the Ballez, Butch Burlesque, AO Movement Collective. Works With: Coral Short, Jenny Romaine, Susana Cook, Quito Ziegler, Daniel Rosza Lang/Levitsky, the Aftselokhis Spectacle Committee. Resident reporter, Sarah Jenny News Network. Reigning dapperQ of the year. Co-curator of Deadline, a queer works-in-progress series. 2012 Hemispheric Institute Affiliated Emerging Artist. Miss JewSA 5772. Bingo host. Clown.

Chris Roberts is an artist, writer, and chef working on the MIX festival and a forthcoming second zine of ingredient-based adventures in cooking.

Anita Dolce Vita is a Clinical Research Nurse by day and a fashion and culture blogger by night. In addition to serving as the Editor in Chief at dapperQ.com, her work has been featured/mentioned in The Huffington Post, Curve, DIVA, Autostraddle, MTV’s After Ellen, Newsweek’s The Daily Beast, HuffPo Live, San Francisco Weekly, Canada’s Globe and Mail, Beijing Review, and Bosnia’s Manjine.BA

Belladonna* and the Bureau Present: EC Maxe Crandall, Cheena Marie Lo, & Natalie Peart
2014-11-06 20:30 - 22:00
Join Belladonna* and the Bureau for readings by EC Maxe Crandall, Cheena Marie Lo, & Natalie Peart

Cheena Marie Lo lives in Oakland, CA, where they co-curate the Manifest Reading Series. Their work has been published in 580 Split, La Fovea, The Poetic Labor Project, and the anthology It’s Night in San Francisco but it’s Sunny in Oakland.
EC Maxe Crandall’s chapbook “Together Men Make Paradigms” was published this summer by Portable Press at Yo-Yo Labs. The play premiered at the Hot! Festival at Dixon Place and was short-listed for the Leslie Scalapino Award. A 2014 Poets House fellow, Maxe teaches in the Undergraduate Writing Program at Columbia University and is at work on a critical biography called Gertrude Stein and Men.
Natalie Peart is a creative and likes to read tarot cards with her coffee. She co-hosts the Brooklyn Ladies Text-based Salon with poet/mother/person, mother/person/poet, person/poet/mother, Montana Ray.

Newfangled 4: Robert Siek Hosts Nick Comilla, Jameson Fitzpatrick, & Christopher Soto
2014-11-08 19:00 - 21:00
Join us for the 4th installment of Newfangled, poetry readings by emerging poets hosted by Robert Siek. Newfangled 4 features Nick Comilla, Jameson Fitzpatrick, & Christopher Soto.

Born on a military base turned ghost town in Rome, NY, NICK COMILLA currently lives in NYC. He holds an MFA in poetry/fiction from The New School. His poems have appeared in Assaracus, Poetry Is Dead, Lambda Literary, and HOMO Magazine. He is currently working on his first book project, Ghosts of Montreal. You can check out more of his work here and sometimes here.

JAMESON FITZPATRICK is the author of the chapbook Morrisroe: Erasures (89plus/LUMA Publications), and his poems have appeared in The Awl, The American Reader, The Literary Review, and Poetry, among elsewhere. He holds a BA and an MFA from New York University, where he now teaches in the Expository Writing Program.

CHRISTOPHER SOTO (aka Loma) is a queer latin@ punk poet and prison abolitionist. They are currently curating Nepantla: A Journal Dedicated to Queer Poets of Color in collaboration with The Lambda Literary Foundation. They have work published in Columbia: A Journal, Acentos Review, Anti-, and more. They are an MFA candidate in Poetry at NYU.

ROBERT SIEK is the author of the poetry collection Purpose and Devil Piss (Sibling Rivalry Press, 2013) and the chapbook Clubbed Kid (New School University, 2002). His poetry has most recently appeared in The Good Men Project, Painted Bride Quarterly, The Gay and Lesbian Review Worldwide, and VACZINE, as well as the anthology Between: New Gay Poetry. He lives in Brooklyn.

Author two-fer with Ron Suresha at BGSQD!
2014-11-09 19:00 - 21:00
Join us for a night of bawdy folklore and wintering bears, as Ron Suresha presents two books coming out this November.

First is Suresha’s new collection of Turkish folk humor, Extraordinary Adventures of Mullah Nasruddin, from Lethe Press, the sequel to his 2001 award-winning book of humor, The Uncommon Sense of the Immortal Mullah Nasruddin. These authentic, hilarious “Naughty Nasruddin” stories deal with tabu topics such as bisexuality, adultery, incest, bestiality, and violence. Repressed for centuries for moralistic reasons, many are being published in an English trade book for the first time. Come prepared to be amused and astounded.

The author will also read from the new anthology, The Bears of Winter, edited by Jerry L. Wheeler (who lives in Denver and cannot attend), published by the Bear Bones Books imprint of Lethe Press, which Suresha edits. Listen to excerpts from growlingly sexy bearotica sure to make your fur thicken.
Following the reading, Suresha will answer questions and sign copies of his books.

Ron J. Suresha’s published nonfiction works include: a self-published beverage recipé book, Mugs o’ Joy: Delicious Hot Drinks (1998, reprinted 2013); an acclaimed 2002 book on the worldwide gay and bisexual men’s Bear subculture, Bears on Bears: Interviews & Discussions (revised edition, Bear Bones Books, 2008); and two anthologies, Bi Men: Coming Out (edited with Pete Chvany, Haworth/Routledge, 2006), and Bisexual Perspectives on the Life and Work of Alfred C. Kinsey (Routledge, 2010), both finalists for the Lambda Literary Award. He also authored with Scott McGillivray a 2012 pictorial book with essays, Fur: The Love of Hair (Bruno Gmünder), winner of a Rainbow Book Award. Suresha, who resides with his husband in central western Connecticut, also writes and edits fiction under the pseudonym R. Jackson, and is the Cofounder and Acquisitions Editor of the Bear Bones Books imprint of Lethe Press.

Nights at Rizzoli Launch with Felice Picano
2014-11-12 19:00 - 22:00
Glamour and books don’t often converge, but forty years ago they did so at Rizzoli, one of New York City’s greatest bookstores: and no one is better equipped to celebrate that time and place than Felice Picano, a founding member of the Violet Quill and recipient of the Lambda Literary Foundation’s Pioneer Award (and former Rizzoli manager). With his forthcoming memoir, Nights at Rizzoli, Felice Picano takes us back to New York as it was when the legendary bookstore was a meeting place for intellectuals, celebrities, artists and assorted hangers-on. Then an aspiring writer in a post-Stonewall New York, Picano recounts his days rubbing shoulders with the city’s celebrities at Rizzoli and nights bumping into them in seedier venues downtown.

Join us on November 12th to celebrate the publication of Nights at Rizzoli. Felice will read from his book, followed by a Q&A. Copies of the book will be available for purchase and refreshments will be available.

Felice Picano, poet, novelist, playwright, critic and publisher, was a founding member of the Violet Quill, a pioneering group of gay male writers in the 1980s. Recipient of many awards and citations, he received the Lambda Literary Foundation’s Pioneer Award in 2010, and the City of West Hollywood’s Rainbow Award and Citation in 2013.

Bi Book Club
2014-11-13 18:30 - 20:30
The Bi Book Club meets once a month to discuss bi-themed books and the issues they raise. People of all orientations and genders welcome!
Nov Book: The Last Nude by Ellis Avery.
The Last Nude is a novel based on the life of bisexual Art Deco artist Tamara de Lempicka and the affair she had with her most famous model. Author Ellis Avery will join us for the second half of our meeting so we can have some author Q&A!
Future Bi Book Club meetings at the Bureau of General Services-Queer Division:
Friday, December 12
Thursday, January 22
Thursday, February 26

Bureau Birthday Party!
2014-11-15 19:00 - 22:00
On November 15, 2012 the Bureau of General Services—Queer Division was born at Strange Loop Gallery on Orchard Street. The Bureau’s come a long way, baby! We will be 2 years old on Saturday, November 15th, and we hope that you’ll come celebrate with us in our new home at The LBGT Community Center! Drae Campbell will host an evening of festivities featuring Lady Quesa’Dilla, Joseph Whitt, Tommy Pico, and DJ Shomi Noise.
$10 suggested donation to pay our performers (no one turned away for lack of funds)

Drae Campbell is a writer, actor, director, story teller, dancer, and nightlife emcee. Besides winning the 2011 Miss LEZ title, Drae has been featured on Late Night with Conan O’Brien and on stages all over NYC. Drae’s directing work has appeared in Iceland, NYC, Budapest and in the San Francisco Fringe Festival. The short film Drae wrote and starred in, YOU MOVE ME won the Audience Award for Outstanding Narrative Short at OUTFEST 2010 and has been shown in fesivals globally. Drae was dubbed “the next lezzie comedian on the block” by AfterEllen.com for her comedic stylings on the interwebs. Campbell throws a monthly party in Brooklyn called PRIME and a night of queer storytelling called TELL at the Bureau of General Services—Queer Division. Campbell just won the grand prize at the first annual San Miguel De Allende Storytelling Festival in Mexico. Check her out online and around town. www.draecampbell.com

Shomi Noise is a writer, musician, DJ, storyteller, dreamer, and tinkerer with an established reputation in the Brooklyn underground scene. Her work explores narratives of intersectionality, vulnerability, and resilience. She uses music to share empowering messages with the world through a creative mix of stories and sounds.
Shomi has DJed nationally and internationally with sets that include a clever mix of genres ranging from Latin dance music, hip-hop, electrohouse, reggae, pop, punk rock etc. Her ability to read crowds and create catchy and original song mashups on the spot makes her DJ work interesting and refreshing. She currently produces three parties in Brooklyn: Riot Chica,Telenovela, and Wretched. Riot Chica is a queercore/riot grrrl party that celebrates feminism and DIY culture by sharing empowering underground music made by ladies and queers,Telenovela is a new party for Spanish oldies and Wretched is a fun 90s party.
As a writer, performer, and musician, Shomi is working on original singer/songwriter material and other musical projects with friends. She is the author of “Building Up Emotional Muscles,” a coming of age story that incorporates music and storytelling to depict the struggles and triumphs she experienced growing up as a young queer immigrant woman of color in the US. It addresses her experience with the intersectionality of culture, race, class, sexuality and punk rock, and is based on a series of zines sharing the same title. She’s had the opportunity to share this original work as part of Heels on Wheels, an organization of radical queer femme performance artists that tours across the US and Canada. She is currently working on the 4th and last volume of the series and hopes to one day make a movie or play about it. Shomi’s work is best described as unique, sassy, musically eclectic, and fun. She is deeply committed to spreading messages of self-love, empowerment, social justice, and community building.
To find out more about Shomi visit:
www.shominoise.com
https://soundcloud.com/shominoise
https://www.facebook.com/djshominoise

Tommy “Teebs” Pico is the author of absentMINDR (VERBALVISUAL, 2014)—the first chapbook APP published for iOS mobile/tablet devices—was a Queer/Art/Mentors inaugural fellow, 2013 Lambda Literary fellow in poetry, and has poems in BOMB, Guernica, and [PANK]. Originally from the Viejas Indian reservation of the Kumeyaay nation, he now lives in Brooklyn.

Alejandro Rodríguez AKA Lady Quesa’Dilla — Alejandro is a native Tejan@ from the El Paso and Ciudad Juárez border. Their work is at the intersection of cultural identity, drag, and community. “The Brown Queen,” an autobiographical solo performance about growing up queer in the southwest, premiered at HERE Arts Center in the spring of 2010. Most recent solo performances include “My Tia Lupe” and “The Faggot in the Pink House”. Alejandro has performed in New York City, El Paso, Texas, Chiapas, Mexico, and Montreal, Canada. Alejandro is a member of The House of Bushwig, as Lady Quesa’Dilla, duties include Volunteer Coordinator for the annual Bushwig Festival.
Alejandro can also be found as an Information and Referral Specialist at the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Community Center in Manhattan; and as a Teaching Artist in The Bronx and Brooklyn.
Alejandro holds a BA in Theater from Eugene Lang College The New School for Liberal Arts, and a MA in Performance Studies from Tisch School of the Arts, New York University, and is an alum of The Hemispheric Institute for Performance and Politics.
Resides in Brooklyn.
Lady Quesa’Dilla is the reigning Miss Coney Island Queen of Drag.

Joseph Whitt is an artist, writer and independent curator living and working in New York City. His work has been presented at MOMA PS1, PPOW Gallery, Eyebeam, Deitch Projects, CRG Gallery, Envoy Enterprises, BGSQD, Interstate Projects and Radio Bushwick, and has been reviewed in The New York Times, Flash Art, and Sculpture. His writings have appeared in Art Papers, ArtUS, Useless Magazine and K48. He has released three chapbooks of poetry –09.29.12, Defriendings, and Harmonica (all published by T.M.I. Ltd.), and is currently working on a fourth.
