Events

Drexel University's College of Arts and Sciences, the Department of English and Philosophy, and literary magazine Painted Bride Quarterly welcome novelist Rick Moody, novelist and screenwriter Heather McGowan, and The Wingdale Community Singers for an evening of literature and music, to World Cafe Live, on Thursday, May 17 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $15 and are available at worldcafelive.com, by calling 215-222-1400, or at the venue 3025 Walnut Street Philadelphia. Discount student tickets are available at the venue.

Before the show, consider joining us on the mezzanine level to meet the authors and performers at an intimate cocktail party, with open bar and appetizers. Attendees of the cocktail party also receive VIP seats for the show and a gift bag. Limited tickets for the cocktail party are $50 and are available at worldcafelive.com, or by contacting Kathleen Volk Miller at kvm@drexel.edu. For more information, contact Kathleen Volk Miller at kvm@drexel.edu, or see pbq.drexel.edu.

Rick Moody

is the author of four novels, three collections of stories, and a memoir. His most recent work is a collection of novellas, RIGHT LIVELIHOODS, to be published in June by Little, Brown. His the recipient of the Addison Metcalf Award, from the American Academy of Arts and Letters; the Martha Albrand Prize for excellence in the memoir, from PEN; and a Guggenheim Fellowship. He has produced radio works and sound art for The Next Big Thing, Weekend America, the BBC, the Third Coast International Audio Festival, and the Australian Broadcasting Company. His short work has been published in The New York Times, The Village Voice, The New Yorker, Harper's, The Atlantic, The Believer, The Guardian, The Globe and Mail, and elsewhere.

Heather McGowan is the author of the novel Schooling, which was listed as Best Book of the Year 2001 by Newsweek, the Detroit Free Press, and the Hartford Courant and has been described by The New York Times as "Mesmerizing.... a dazzling job of conveying the hormonal impatience and doomy romanticism of adolescence." Duchess of Nothing, A Novel, has just been released in paperback. Kirkus Review says, "A truly original premise, artfully developed into a memorable and perversely entertaining comic horror story." McGowan’s original screenplay, Tadpole, won the Director's Award and was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival.

The Wingdale Community Singers:

Formed in 2002 by Rick Moody (acoustic guitar, vocals) and Hannah Marcus (acoustic guitar, piano, fiddle, vocals). David Grubbs, of the Red Krayola, Squirrel Bait, Bastro, and many other bands, joined in 2003. He plays many instruments, though mostly the electric guitar, and sings sometimes. Nina Katchadourian (acoustic guitar, accordion, recorder, tomato, vocals) joined in 2006, as did Abe Streep (fiddle, mandolin). The Wingdale Community Singers play folk music that could have been written any time in the last sixty years. It's Old Time, it's High Modernist, it's experimental, it's resistant to interpretation, it's funny sometimes, it's full of dread other times. One aspect remains throughout: there's a lot of singing. And a lot of harmony.

Nina Katchadourian is a visual artist and musician. Her visual arts practice spans a broad range of media, including photography, sculpture, video and sound. She is represented by Sara Meltzer gallery in New York and Catharine Clark gallery in San Francisco. In 2006 the Tang Museum in Saratoga Springs exhibited a 10-year survey of her work, with accompanying monograph. She began performing with The Wingdale Community Singers in 2006. Her particular musical interests at the moment include Balinese "gender wayang," an instrument she studied in Bali in 1988 and recently began playing again. More information on Katchadourian's visual art and music can be found at www.ninakatchadourian.com and http://www.myspace.com/ninakatchadourian.

Hannah Marcus, singer-songwriter, has released five albums, among them Faith Burns (1998), and Black Hole Heaven (2000). She has recorded with members of the Red House Painters and American Music Club. Her most recent album, Desert Farmers, available on Bar/None Records, was recorded in Montreal with musicians from the group Godsped You Black Emperor and A Silver Mount Zion Memorial Orkestra.

Abe Streep (fiddle, mandolin) has performed with bands in Vermont and Montana. He also performs with The Brooklyn Playboys. He is a staff writer and editor at Men's Journal.

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