Friday, April 10, 2009

Sex, Sax, and Shaggy Tails: Kris Saknussemm LIVE in New York

Here's a review of Kris Saknussemm's performance earlier this week in New York: "After a break, Amy returned to the podium to introduce new friend, painter, sculptor, and acclaimed cult novelist Kris Saknussemm. His latest novel, Private Midnight, she said, has been described as an "erotic supernatural thriller set in a noir crime world of jazz, junkies, and shadows from out of time." The promotional copy, she noted in an aside, came with a pair of plastic handcuffs, which said it all, and Saknussemm owned to it being pornography more than erotica—based on his selection, I'd say it's definitely kinky (as the joke has it, they use a feather, not a whole chicken)—but also called it a love story between a police detective and a beguilingly mysterious woman. It was one of the most unusual presentations in the Series' long history, as Kris’s darkly atmospheric passages were interspersed with jazz solos on tenor sax by Eric Watts while Saknussemm treated the audience to a bizarre display of performance art, tossing along the floor sex paraphernalia, lingerie, and face masks, and at one point, whipped the floor with a cat-o'-nine-tails. (Freund's radio listeners, said Goldschlager, were missing out on the performance.)" - Mark Blackman, SF Scope.

Next stop on the Private Midnight book tour is Booksmith in San Francisco on April 10, Changing Hands in Tempe, AZ on April 15, and Rio Rita in Austin, TX on April 17.

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