Daily Negations
If he can help it, spoken word artist John S. Hall would probably like to be remembered for something other than making castration anxiety funny to the so-called Gen-X set via his former band King Missiles early 90s college radio hit, Detachable Penis. One might even speculate that being unceremoniously dropped from Atlantic Records might just be the inspiration for Halls latest book, Daily Negations (Soft Skull Press), an acerbic send-up of those touchy feely self-help books urging readers to do creepy things like meditate on (shudder) their allegedly untapped potential and (even bigger shudder) to harness the supposed power within. Sure, there may be an entire industry devoted to encouraging us to strive for personal fulfillment, wealth and sex with lifelong soul mates while riding on the backs of unicorns. However, for one night, Hall, along with musicians Dogbowl and Sasha Forte, gladly remind us that sometimes all we have to look forward to are multiple divorces, credit card debt, hysterectomies and recovered repressed memories of overly affectionate uncles. And if the audience is smart, theyll thank him for it.
Nov. 9. Bowery Poetry Club, 308 Bowery (betw. Bleecker & Houston), 212-614-0505; 7, free.