Frequency North, November 6

When I arrived in the rain there seemed to be some confusion about where the reading by Marc Spitz would be. The publicity was clear: the St. Joseph Hall Auditorium, but for some reason we were led to the Standish Room (where other Frequency North readings had been held). In fact, next to the sign for the Standish Room there was a poster announcing Marc Spitz’s reading in St. Joseph Hall Auditorium. Then we were lead back to the St. Joseph Hall Auditorium where other listeners were already chatting, waiting, & the book table was set up. Go figure.

Daniel Nester (right) introduces Marc Spitz

But the experience showed the truth of the old axiom “if you are going to have a poetry reading, hold it in a small room, that way it looks crowded.” This wasn’t a poetry reading, but it holds true for prose. The audience in St. Joseph Hall Auditorium looked small, spread out, but they would have looked cosy & packed in if held in the less cavernous Standish Room.

Marc Spitz, writing about rock’n’roll & pop culture, is the author of a couple novels, rock star biographies & a memoir Poseur: A Memoir of Downtown New York City in the 90’s (Da Capo Press, 2013). His most recent book is Twee: A History (It Books, 2014). He read from the introduction as an explanation of what “twee” is, a dizzying list of movie & book titles & other recent pop culture references, then on to a description of the scene in Brooklyn, stating “everyone is young & most of the young are twee.” At the end I was beginning to draw the conclusion that “twee” was simply an extension of “twit.”

He also read a couple of brief sections from Poseur. The sections he read actually dated from the late 1980s, about getting a room at the legendary Chelsea Hotel & an encounter with Allen Ginsberg at the Poetry Project’s New Years Day Marathon reading. Those sections as memoir & story-telling were much more satisfying than the pop-culture anthropology.

Frequency North is a series of readings at the College of St. Rose by young writers. Check out their schedule here.