The brand new Toad Suck Review, formerly the legendary Exquisite Corpse Annual, will host an historic “Launchapalooza Extravaganza” at Michelangelo’s Rooftop Lounge in downtown Conway on March 4, 2011 at 8 p.m. to celebrate the publication of its inaugural issue.
Contributing artists from around the state will be on hand to perform original works. Live music will also be in the mix, as well as a merchandise table featuring the recently released Toad Suck Review, T-shirts, subscriptions, back issues of the Exquisite Corpse Annual and books by local authors.
The event is free and open to the public “This will be the final event of UCA’s annual ArkaText Festival, Editor in Chief Mark Spitzer said. “The evening will be split into three parts, so come on down to Toad Suck Square, and may the Toad be with you.”
Part 1 will start at 8 p.m. with readings by Dr. Stephanie Vanderslice (aka, Lady Pedagaga), Arkansas Times journalist Bernard Reed and Renaissance woman Julee Jaeger, who took the photo on the back cover. UCA writing students Ariel Moore, Michael Garland, Carter Fliss and Amber Scott, who took part in an interview published in the journal, will also read original works.
Part 2 will start at 9 p.m. Featured readers include renowned novelist Kevin Brockmeier, poet/singer/cat-whisperer Marck Beggs and “revolutionary upstart” Timothy Snediker.
Part 3 will start around 10 p.m. with live music by Don’t Stop Please, an unplugged experimental/indie band that includes William Krzeszinski, Joel Ludford, Nick Caffrey, Marly Feliciano, Robert Gaiser and Will King. Don’t Stop Please will play until they are forced to stop, all the while providing background music for socializing and revelry.
“Launchapalooza provides a ticket into a postmodern coliseum where patrons face close encounters with unfiltered Toad Suck aesthetics,” Associate Editor Terry Wright said. “More literary throw-down than blood-sport theatrics, verbal gladiators spar without shields as their words pierce like arrows . . . Come feel the love and lift both thumbs up.”
The Toad Suck Review is published by the Department of Writing in the College of Fine Arts and Communication at UCA. . Michelangelo’s is located at 1117 West Oak Street in Conway. For more information contact Spitzer at (501) 450-3339, toadsuckreview@gmail.com, or visit www.toadsuckreview.org.
