Friday July 25 in St. Louis!

PLAYGROUND OF THE RIDICULOUS
!Art - !Music - !Poetry - !Performance Art
Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis
Friday, July 25, 6:30 p.m.


3750 Washington Blvd.
St. Louis, MO 63108

Tel: 314-535-4660
http://www.contemporarystl.org/


Friday, July 25

6:00 - 10:00 pm, Free admission, $1.00 Budweiser Selects

Check out the ridiculousness at the Contemporary during its new summer series The Playground of the Ridiculous. Ridiculous, serious, and inconsequential acts will be performed.

Friday, July 25

This evening will welcome a film screening of The Stan Laurel Collection, poetry readings hosted by Observable Books with poets Aaron McNally, John Gallaher, Alessandra Lynch, and Stefene Russell, "The Revival!" by BenchPress Burlesque, and music by Curb Service.

The tentative program (weather-permitting) is as follows:

6:00 pm Enjoy the exhibitions (Main Galleries & The Front Room)
6:30 pm Observable Books Poetry Readings (Courtyard)
7:00 pm BenchPress Burlesque "The Revival!" (Perf. Space)
8:00 pm Music Performance by Curb Service (Perf. Space)
8:30 pm Film Screenings from portions of The Stan Lauerel Collection (Courtyard)

About the performers:

The Band:
Curb Service

Combining loops, beats, turntables, pop sensibility and rapidfire tongue twisters, Champaign, Ill.'s Larry Gates presents a unique approach to modern music with Curb Service. Less than a year after the demise of his cult band Lorenzo Goetz, Gates released his first solo effort as Curb Service, Little Red Recovery Room, and began touring the region. His one-man-band has not only been turning heads, but making them nod infectiously.

The Poets

Aaron McNally is the author of Out of the Blue (Caveworks, 2008). His collaborations with Friedrich Kerksieck have been published widely.

John Gallaher is the author of Gentlemen in Turbans, Ladies in Cauls and The Little Book of Guesses. Recent work appears in Field, New American Writing, Iowa Review and The Best American Poetry 2008. He lives in rural Missouri and co-edits The Laurel Review.

Stefene Russell is a co-editor of 52nd City magazine (52ndcity.com) and a member of the arts collective Poetry Scores (poetryscores.com) which is dedicated to translating poetry into other media, including music, art, film and dance.

BenchPress Burlesque

BenchPress Burlesque is a radical multi-gendered, sex-positive, queer-positive, feminist feast of political performance art. The event features The Tin Lizzies, BenchPress Burlesque's very own house band, along with an exciting array of skits that encourage and challenge their audiences.

BenchPress Burlesque began in the fall of 2005. The troupe seeks inspiration from the historical roots of burlesque as a variety show of political satire and class critique and aims to merge a contemporary feminist viewpoint with the sexy performance art of burlesque. As their name suggests, they push the limits of expectation and show a tougher side of fishnets and corsets.