The Spandex Report: The Bushwick Book Club

by Erica Sackin

A woman is onstage, dressed as Dolly Parton, leading the audience in a group yodel. Everyone sings and stomps, seated in the haphazard arrangement of chairs and tables scattered through the jumbled room. Records line the walls; antiques, lamps, toys and antique serving dishes that invented to gather dust in your packrat grandmother’s basement clutter all available counter space. Christmas lights and dolls hang from the ceiling. Piles of books and records overwhelm the entrance.

This is the Bushwick Book Club, held at the Bushwick venue/coffee shop/bar/junk store Goodbye Blue Monday. To get there, take the J all the way to the Kosciuszko Street stop. Walk down past the plumbing supply company, car washes, vacant lots and shuttered store space. Walk until you think you’re lost, or that you must have gone in the wrong direction. If it’s late at night, you’ll be convinced you’re about to be mugged. Just when you’ve given up hope, you’ll see it: an eclectic jumble of lights, flyers and graffiti marking the entrance to Goodbye Blue Monday. Go inside.

Once there you’ll find a group of aspiring and professional songwriters and musicians who gather once a month for the Bushwick Book Club. Susan Hwang, the musician who started the Club about a year and a half ago, assigns a new book for each meeting-some classics (Cat’s Cradle, James and the Giant Peach, the Bible), some books that she’s just wanted to read (Miranda July’s No One Belongs Here More than You, A Confederacy of Dunces). Then participants read the book and write and perform an original song about it.

“You read books in a closer way than if you’re just reading them,” said Franz Nicolay, a musician, former member of the band Hold Steady and participant in the Book Club since the beginning. “You’re looking at all the characters, not just the main characters. You don’t want to just tell the main story of the book.”

“Every artist wants an assignment, and a deadline,” said Deenah Vollmer, an MFA student and another frequent performer. “The book clubs are fun because it’s fun to read books at the same time as friends. And you always want new ideas to keep writing.”

Susan came up with the idea for the Bushwick Book Club after participating in a horror-themed cabaret that required her to write songs about zombies. She says that was her first experience writing about narrative, and she liked it. Since she was doing a residency at Goodbye Blue Monday at the time, she took the idea of doing a book club to the café’s owner, Steve Trimboli. He said sure.

“I love it, because Steve will let you do that kind of thing,” says Susan. “If you have an idea, he will let you grow it, which is so rare in this city. We’re so concerned about our image as soon as we walk out the door.”

“You can’t let talent grow if it never gets a platform,” says Steve. “I’ve seen kids book here, and they could be atrocious, the first time they play. But if they have fun, they’ll come back and keep going. I’ve watched Susan grow up and I’ve seen that with so many other performers here. This has become their development.”

And the musicians are growing up-the Bushwick Book Club just put out a CD of 58 of their best songs. They also recently just held their first Hip Hop Book club, which was a resounding success.

“Something about being forced to write about something that you didn’t choose brings out the best in most artists,” said Lilly Jane, the musician who performed the acoustic yodel/stomp about Dolly Parton for her song about Dolly Parton’s biography. “You’re taken out of yourself and it usually brings out amazing things.”

Of course, the performances range from fantastic to, well, not. Performers take lots of chances-often dressing up and trying new instruments or formats. And since all songs being performed must be original, there’s always the chance that they’ll bomb with the crowd.

“When they read the Miranda July book,” said Carly Hauser, who was in the audience during the Cat’s Cradle book club, “this one guy went up there started singing about fucking Miranda July from behind. And like, and how’s that adding to anything? But that was just one guy. Normally it’s good shit.”

Yet, as Susan pointed out, even if you hate the songs, they don’t go on for more than a few minutes. And even though she never hears the songs before they’re performed, she’s been pleasantly surprised by them. “Although,” she said, “it’s been consistent, so guess I at some point I should stop being surprised.”

The Book Club plans on continuing to meet will continue to meet, and continue to offer musicians a free form venue to try out new work. Next up on their list is “GREEN PORNO” by Isabella Rossellini.

“I book everybody who contacts me,” Steve said. “There’s no judgment, there’s no agenda, I only hope that people bring some friends to a show. And sometimes it doesn’t happen, but that doesn’t matter, because if someone does something astounding, I can say that I was here for that.”

Previously: Williamsburg Fashion Weekend

Erica Sackin writes and lives in Brooklyn. She was once a contestant in the Ms. G Train competition, but lost. ‘The Spandex Report’ covers the lives of the youngs.