Leilani Labong, conducting an interview for the most recent 7x7, tried her damndest to get Garrison Keillor (who was just at City Arts & Lectures on Saturday) to admit that his new collection of love sonnets is just pornography in disguise. She asked asinine things like "Is there any part of you that considers the racy element a rebellion against your public persona?" and "Your more erotic sonnets steer clear of raunch. Was this important to you?" and "Do you have a quality that has a remarkable effect on women?" It sounds as if Leilani thought she was interviewing someone else -- Ron Jeremy perhaps? -- and not the godfather of homespun, old-timey, Minnesota storytime. Who would imagine Garrison effing Keillor would ever be capable of writing anything that resembled "raunch," let alone ask him if this was important to him? But sure, maybe we need to read one of the "racier" poems to know why Leilani went there. more ›

Thursday night was night number two of the San Francisco Fringe Festival. The Exit Café, Fringe headquarters, wasn't very busy, but they had the beer and free pretzels ready (you can eat and drink in the Exit's theatres). Lily, the Exit's nonchalant dog, was on dropped-taquitos patrol. First up on our Fringe itinerary was Show Me Where it Hurts by Karen Ripley and Annie Larson with the Gallimaufrey Orchestra (Dan Wortman, JX Jones and Elizabeth Lee). In this 45-minute comedy with music, Ripley and Larson are a vaudevillian-like duo that endures two major Depressions: the one in the 1930s, and the one in, apparently, 2030. more ›