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the
current
Monday
Report
below!
This week's report by Pat King, ULA Director
Looking Back,
LOOKING FORWARD!
(Veteran ULAer Pat King was recently named Director of the ULA.
His year-end report is below. Click here to read the first in a series
of ULA Director's Manifesto, by Pat King).
Well, 2006 was a pretty good year for the ULA.
We went to Columbia University on April 17th and staged a
reading outside the Miller Theater, while, inside the theater,
literati like Philip Lopate and Rick Moody gave boring
revisionist lectures on the legacy of Allen Ginsberg’s most famous
poem, “Howl.” The literati, the bourgeoisie, the tuxedo-clad
supervillians were not amused. Jason Shinder, especially,
was not amused when, after an intermission, Eric Broomfield got
on stage and snapped a mousetrap on his tongue to illustrate
mainstream literature’s silencing of the Underground writer.
There was plenty of press in the aftermath of the Columbia
protest (and before it, actually, when Frank Walsh was
interviewed on NY’s NPR affiliate). A few days after the event,
two young reporters from the Associated Press interviewed
Frank Walsh, Eric Broomfield and King Wenclas at the 30th
Street subway station in Philadelphia, which resulted in a
nationwide podcast.
Things were going great.
Then, nothing.
Nothing at the worst time, too. A time when we could have really
capitalized.
But we stalled. And time did its thing…………………
It seemed, at least for a while, that the Underground Literary
Alliance would either fade into some obscure niche with a great
website of fiction, criticism, book reviews and Monday Reports.
Or worse, we would fold completely.
That summer, however, Dr. Wred Fright (author of the
Pornographic Flabbergasted Emus) held the first F! Independent
Literary Festival in Cleveland Ohio. For those of us who
attended, it was a much needed burst of energy, companionship
and heavy drinking that we very much needed. It inspired us,
gave us a renewed commitment to carry on.
Dear reader, please note the sinister grin on my lips when I tell
you the Underground Literary Alliance is back.
More importantly, back with renewed energy and an
unprecedented fire in our bellies. We’re moving on, in a big way.
We’ve restructured and reorganized and brought in a few new
members.
And we’ve been planning. As soon as 2007 starts, you’ll
understand what I’m talking about. We will be a new ULA,
staying faithful to the traditions of the old, but moving forward
toward a much more surreal, colorful, and wonderfully outlaw
future.
I’m happy to be the ULA’s new director and I’m happier still to
declare 2007, unquestionably, the year of the ULA. You might
hate, loathe or love us….but however you feel about us, after
2007, you’ll remember us.
Onward to 2007, and the psychic café.
===============================================
Pat King is Director of the ULA. Click here to read his first
Director's Manifesto.
===============================================
GO HERE TO ENTER THE MONDAY REPORT BOX.
