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Funny Ladies on Tiny Stages
LAist was at The Comedy Central Stage at The Hudson last night and Illeana Douglas read aloud:
Los Angeles is Magic. It's yellow-orange-red and the smog makes everything blurry in a good way. I hate when people come to Los Angeles and just bitch, bitch bitch. I know it's not New York. I know it's not Chicago. Yes, some of the people here are fake. Shut up and go home.
Those are Jill Soloway's words -- from her debut literary collection Tiny Ladies in Shiny Pants -- and we couldn't agree more. It reminds us of that lame Cornell article from late summer. "Los Angeles is the color of dreams," Jill writes. If you can't get that when you land in our town, shut up and go home.Jill's reading from her book (ed. note - I reviewed it here.) was how all book readings should be: music, dramatic performances, free booze and food. Comedian Jesse Klein and Actresses Lisa Edelstein (of LAist fave, House), Illeana Douglas and Justina Machado (both of Six Feet Under) joined Soloway on-stage to read essays from her personal memoir. Local band, Candypants, performed during each interlude singing about boys they want to eat and cherry pickers. The crowd was filled with what seemed like a sea of smart entertainment people. Lots of intelligent and interesting women in jeans, glasses, pointy shoes and ironic tees. If we had all hung around just a little longer, LAist is sure scripts for the next 5 years of indie films and HBO projects would have emerged from the soup of wit, talent and estrogen we were swimming in.
Lisa Edelstein's reading of Monica, Chandra and Me was the funniest (although we probably laughed most at Jesse Klein's vocal imitation of Randall in her reading of Lotion Bag) and Justina Machado's reading of Diamonds was the most animated and exciting but we found Jill's own reading of Everything Happens for a Reason the most compelling. She alone knows the wryness of her words and their poignancy and it shined through as she read the story detailing her move into her new house and saying goodbye to her old one.
You can get a little bit of Jill tonight at The Barnes & Noble in the Grove. She'll be reading and signing starting at 7:30 PM and Jennifer Elyse Cox and Becky Thyre will be joining her.
If you can't make it tonight, she'll be back out reading and signing in October. Dates and Details below.
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Saturday, October 8, 2005, 7:30 PM
Reading & Signing With guests Sarah Silverman and Jordana Spiro.
SKYLIGHT BOOKS
1818 N. Vermont
Los Angeles, CA 90027
Friday, October 14th, 2005, 7:00 PM
Reading & Signing With guests: Six Feet actresses Frances Conroy and Sprague Grayden
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3814 W. Sunset Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90026
Oh, and Gothamist's Rachel Kramer Bussell interviewed Jill for Black Tablerecently.
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