What To Do? Monday's Pick: Believer Art Issue Launch Party

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Believer Art Issue Launch Party @ Electric Works

Jeff Chang makes you cry; so does Greil Marcus. But in the new Believer Art Issue, plenty of the other contributors make you laugh and smirk and grin and have other reactions as well. Peter Blegvad as interviewed by Franklin Bruno had us fist-pumping and yelling, "Finally! Someone said it! Yes!" because of this: "Songs are hard to beat. They're spells, for one thing. Chant is the root of incantation. Even something as slickly manufactured as the Archies crooning 'Sugar sugar, honey honey' is potent voodoo." On the other hand, Michael Paul Mason scared the shit out of us with his raw descriptions of what happens to artists in hard times; he uses phrases like "adjunct in the Midwest" and "They might show again, but this time in coffee shops or farmers' markets." Eeek, dude!

Michelle Tea, Jeff Chang, Michael Paul Mason, Eames Demetrious, and others read at the Believer Art Issue Launch Party tonight at Electric Works (6:30 p.m., free)

For more of tonight's picks, including the Califone show, visit our calendar section.