So a lot of people ask me, “Hey, Sam. Why is Laundry Party so awesome?”

And I usually respond, “Well, it’s complicated, and hard to explain. Sort of like trying to explain God. Or water.”

But I get asked this question so often, along with so many other LP-related questions, that I thought now might be a good time to issue an LP-FAQ. Especially with an LP Public coming up next week (and next month! it is so exciting, isn’t it, when a date is both next week AND next month? it’s a circumstance so exquisite & lovely, it’s almost miraculous. Like God. Or water.).

(Ahem: Tuesday, July 6th, at our very own KSW! 1246 Folsom! 6.30pm! Yay!)

So, here it is. Your Frequently Asked Questions about Laundry Party, finally answered.

LP FAQ (#1 in a series of unknown quantity)

In this FAQ:
What’s a Laundry Party?
I heard that LPs usually feature multidisciplinary art presentations at various stages of development, scintillating discussion & vigorous debate, free booze, random hookups, meaningless and/or meaningful sex, food, socially awkward moments, pathos, and celebrity sightings. Is that true?
Who is featured at this upcoming LP?
When are you going to stop using that “like God. or water.” joke? it’s getting old.
Why are you getting defensive?
Why is Laundry Party so awesome?
Can I be part of Laundry Party?
What’s a Laundry Party?
I know, but you said you’d provide a longer version at the end of this FAQ.

What’s a Laundry Party?
Good question! Laundry Party is a laidback, multidisciplinary salon-style series that takes place in LP-people’s living rooms, and occasionally at your neighborhood bar, cafe, and/or arts nonprofit organization. See below for a longer description!

^ top

I heard that LPs usually feature multidisciplinary art presentations at various stages of development, scintillating discussion & vigorous debate, free booze, random hookups, meaningless and/or meaningful sex, food, socially awkward moments, pathos, and celebrity sightings. Is that true?
Uh. Some of it. I don’t know. Like, half of that’s true. I mean, maybe it’s all true? I haven’t been to all of them. Have I been missing out? In any case, this LP Public on 7/1 will feature everything above except for the random hookups & sex parts; this is a family friendly event, kids.

^ top

Who is featured at this upcoming LP?
So many amazing people are featured at this upcoming LP Public, it defies the imagination. Like God. Or water.
The line-up includes: Allan Manalo, Cathlin Goulding, Derek Chung, Isaac Hill, Jim Espinas/Bantercut, Mahru Elahi, Melissa Hung (showing work featuring The Invisible Cities), Samantha Chanse, Yasmine Gomez

^ top

When are you going to stop using that “like God. or water.” joke? it’s getting old.
Uh, I already did. I stopped. That last time was the last time. Okay?

^ top

Why are you getting defensive?
I’m not. I’m not getting defensive. Why do you think I’m getting defensive?

^ top

Why is Laundry Party so awesome?
I think I speak for Everyone In The World when I say: the question is, “Why isn’t it awesome?”

^ top

Can I be part of Laundry Party?
Yes! Just email laundryparty (at) gmail (dot) com. Uh, and if that doesn’t work, email me at laundryparty (at) whiskeyandacigarette (dot) org.

^ top

What’s a Laundry Party?
You already asked me that.

^ top

I know, but you said you’d provide a longer version at the end of this FAQ.
Oh. Right. Sorry. My bad.
Laundry Party is a laidback, multidisciplinary salon-style series that takes place in LP-people’s living rooms, and occasionally at your neighborhood bar, cafe, and/or arts nonprofit organization. Founded in January 2009 by a couple of San Francisco artists looking for mini-deadlines and more opportunities to bask in community glow, LP has since expanded its sphere of activity to encompass New York City. Now a bicoastal laidback, multidisciplinary salon-style series for people with projects at various stages of development (and/or for people who support people with projects [PWP]), LP takes place on either coast a couple times a month, give or take a time, and every so often goes public.

^ top

okay. here concludes LP FAQ #1.

so two brief things that i hope to have time to elaborate on later – but right now i just need to get this up before i forget, as i promised a friend i would add a new post to The Rambles AKA My Crappy Blog section of my website by last night, which didn’t happen. so i made an executive decision to retroactively modify my use of the word  ”tonight” and give it a more figurative, less literal, meaning; so that when i said “i’ll make a new post tonight” what i really meant was “i’ll make a new post whenever, but probably sometime this weekend, or before monday, or something.”

i can do shit like that; it was my pledge/promise. i feel totally Justified.

but two things!

so there are some bars to which i am deeply indebted, for a number of reasons. for instance, some bars have five-dollar maker’s mark; some bars let you smoke (hardly any now, though, and i suppose that’s why they’re precious, since i wouldn’t want all bars to allow people to smoke, anyway); some bars are reliably not packed & annoying even on fridays & saturdays, but still somehow manage to stay in business; some bars have outdoor patios which are lovely.

and some bars let humans do cool events there for free.

so i had two experiences this weekend with Bars To Which I Am Indebted & Of Which I Am Enamored for that particular reason:

1. Ding Dong Lounge hosted a brilliant event yesterday/saturday called May Day, an all-day-into-night small press/zine expo that also had a line up of readers/performers. i was fortunate enough to be included in that line up. but the day overall was wonderful, and i thoroughly enjoyed hearing people’s work, handling people’s very exciting publications (that sounded dirty &/or creepy, although i didn’t mean it that way), and meeting good peoples. the organizers run their own presses, including Fractious Press and Kaboom! Press.

and here’s a link about the event: http://maydaydingdong.blogspot.com/

the folks who work at Ding Dong are also some of my favorite peoples. i’m just saying.

2. Botanica Bar hosted an event of my friends’ & my devising, laboriously entitled “3people + Laundry Party Public = People Doing Stuff at Botanica Bar.”

okay, so the formula/equation part of it was added pretty much at the event itself, but i think it still counts. i think we were billing it as “people doing stuff at botanica bar” and then explaining that it was 3people & LP public. but these are just details…i don’t think anyone cares but me, about the actual math. but i care. and my caring will somehow, somewhere, have an impact. or something.

3people consisted of theater artist Julia May Jonas, poet & editor Jocelyn Burrell, and me. we all did new stuffs, so it was totally Fresh and Raw and Dynamic and Innovative and Groundbreaking and all those adjectives that make art sound fundable. the bar was blissfully empty except for people there for the event and the bartender (not because the bar’s unpopular, but because people generally don’t start arriving until 9pm, when karaoke starts at botanica. the karaoke DJ at botanica, by the way, is in my opinion top notch). Botanica let us use their elegant & sumptuous backroom (uh, sumptuous by cool dive bar standards, natch), so we all felt very cozy & cared for & authentically nyc-dive-barry. okay, no one said that, or expressed anything like that at all, but i feel like putting words & thoughts in other people’s mouths, without any justification or basis at all. because i’m in a rush, which causes me to make sloppy summations of events (like, you know, capturing a mood for the evening,which should never be done in a sloppy fashion, but i’m doing it anyway. i Fail.).

and then we moved into Laundry Party Public portion of night, after an invigorating intermission, and poet & fiction writer Bushra Rehman read, and Derek Chung presented his Volunteer Crew presentation, and writer Nina Sharma read, followed by Warren Tong, and Torrey Townsend, and Quincy Scott Jones.

and it was a lovely night, although i sadly couldn’t stay for the karaoke starting up, but i think i can (this time) quite safely & accurately say that people overall were Inspired & shit.

cheers to all the cool bars.

my friend Tom Connors & i made a music video to submit to the CAAM/KSW/Locus DIY music video contest. the music video is for the bantercut song “everything is going right”; bantercut being a now bicoastal band that includes bassist Jim Espinas, guitarist Ian Johnson, and me.

Jim & Ian made a video for another bantercut tune, “when it’s cold.”

the video with the most views by March 3rd wins a spot in the 28th San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival, produced by the Center for Asian American Media.

Oh the Potential Honor; the Potential Glory.

Please to visit www.asianamericanmedia.org/videos to view “everything is going right”, “when it’s cold”, and the other videos in the contest.

& if you feel so inclined, please rate the video after watching.

If you’re innerested, please to visit http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bantercut for more information about the bantercut album.

(email announcement sent out to list, and posted here for your perusing pleasure.)

hey all,

my workshop production of Lydia’s Funeral Video at The Marsh is just two weeks away, on Wed, August 26th ! advance tickets make everyone happy, and getting advance tickets will earn you Magical Gold Money*! you can purchase tickets by clicking here: http://bit.ly/12UPJ4

(you can tell i care about this email because i’m making exciting and somewhat unnecessary formatting choices!)

i have been rehearsing the show in the 90+ degree heat & humidity of NYC, so by the time it makes it to the bay it’ll be hella tough & shit. but it’ll still have that SF integrity to cut the edge.

(i think i already mentioned that advance tickets make everyone happy & will earn you Magical Gold Money*! but i care so much about that point i’m repeating it, and possibly alienating you! [hey, sometimes risks must be taken.] you can purchase them by clicking here: http://bit.ly/12UPJ4 )

there are also other things upcoming. see below. and thanks for reading.

1. WED, AUG 26th; 7.30pm (please note untraditional start time!)
Lydia’s Funeral Video, written & performed by samantha chanse, at The Marsh
1062 valencia street, between 21st & 22nd sts, san francisco. $10-15.
tickets: http://bit.ly/12UPJ4
or, more info: http://www.LydiasFuneralVideo.com
one night only! if you go to one of my shows for the rest of the year, please go to this one; if it does well, it will be given further consideration for a full production at the marsh. which would be quite lovely. unless you’re a hater.

(special note! after performance at the marsh, i will be heading over to Du Nord to see Goh Nakamura & Odessa Chen – a splendid evening, indeed.)

2. THURS, AUG 20th; 7 – 10pm (please note this event takes place before the event above…)
Laundry Party Public at KSW/PariSoma
1436 Howard St, bet 10th & 11th sts, san francisco. free.
so far, Very Exciting Multidisciplinary Line-Up includes Shailja Patel, Sadie Contini, Matthew Clark Davison, Claire Light, Derek Chung, Cathlin Goulding, The Matinees, Samantha Chanse; & there will be others.
info: http://samanthachanse.com/calendar/index.php?op=view&id=307

(special note about LP! Laundry Party is now bicoastal! we have had three nyc LPs in the last month, so we expect there to be an LP Public in nyc soon, too; stay tuned. or not, your choice.)

3. i’ll be participating in a KSW Litcrawl event in October, and performing my solo show Back to the Graveyard in November. also, another !secret project! is in the works, but more on that later. (the brief & unsatisfying mention of the !secret project! is to build suspense and shit. i don’t know if it’s working or not, but it amuses me to try my hand at email-based suspense-building.) all the info of stuffs is at http://www.samanthachanse.com.

thanks for reading,

sam

(*not really, sorry. i was just experimenting with False But Exciting-Sounding Incentives. pissed off by the lies? send me hate mail.)

what i just sent out to list:

at times, i like to post the stuffs emails i send out as part of my ongoing, inconsistent, and underwhelming  ”promotional efforts”. so, below is what i sent out on May 29th. a fairly good summary…

in the meantime, T minus ten. crap…

From: Samantha Chanse <schanse@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, May 29, 2009 at 9:49 AM
Subject: this weekend & more stuffs.
To: sam@whiskeyandacigarette.org

hey all,

yet another email this month, but it’s May & API heritage month, or something like that, and you know how we Asians get when heritage is involved (i don’t even know what that means; the day still feels early yet, just bear with me, or nod and smile, & let’s move on).

i have a few announcements of stuffs upcoming. then i won’t send another email out for a few weeks, huzzah! so, i feel quite justified in tapping this one out:

1. Friday & Saturday, May 29 & 30th; 8pm (tonight & tomorrow, yes)
Story Jam @ SomArts (934 Brannan Street, bet 8th & 9th sts, SF)
featuring Eth-Noh-Tec, Noemi Sohn, Samantha Chanse, Brenda Wong Aoki & Mark Izu of First Voice, Coke Tani Nakamoto
some tales told, in various formats, including but not limited to: kinetic storytelling, dance, performance, music, &reading shit off a few pieces of paper on a music stand.
we like music stands, though; they have that whole stillness quality about them, and they suggest order & discipline, even in the absence of both.
$14 at door, $10 in advance
Tickets: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/66338

2. Friday & Saturday, June 19 & 20th; 8pm
Back to the Graveyard @ Shotwell Studios (3252-A 19th Street, @ Shotwell, SF)
part of an Artist In Motion residency with Footloose at Shotwell Studios
a solo show – comedy with embedded tragedy, tragedy with embedded comedy, etc.
my last Graveyard performance before i move my shit cross-country! and the bay area breathes a collective sigh of relief…
$10-15
Tickets: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/68708

3. Saturday, June 20th; 9pm-1am (following 6/20 performance of Graveyard)
Laundry Party Public & Celebration of Impending Transition to My Bicoastal Lifestyle
Featuring performances/readings/presentations by Mahru Elahi, Isaac Hill, The Matinees, Cathlin Goulding, Daniel Heath, The Invisible Cities, Dan Weil, and others
Also featuring drinking & eating & celebratory goodness.
Free, although donations of drink and/or cold hard cash and/or cold hard checks to underwrite the celebratory goodness and/or my move/graduate education much appreciated.
stop by and say “happy cross-country driving” or “don’t fuck this up” or “good riddance” or your send-off greeting of choice to me.
Info: http://www.whiskeyandacigarette.org/calendar/index.php?op=view&id=288

4. Tuesday, June 23rd; 8pm
Love, Death & Comedy @ KSW (PariSoma, 1436 Howard St., bet 10th & 11th sts)
Featuring Allan Manalo, Linda Park, Yasmine Gomez, Jon Yang, Chuck Lacson, and Cathlin Goulding
An evening of readings, performances, & presentations developed in KSW’s comedy workshop with Samantha Chanse.
Aiya, my students reading! so proud, so proud (i am NOT reading/performing at this event, although i’ll be introducing peoples, so i’m sure i can fuck something up, at some point in the evening).
Cost: unsure; i suspect it’s a suggested donation of $5, though.
Info eventually here: http://www.kearnystreet.org

5. Friday, June 26th; 8pm
Comedy Marathon @ the Purple Onion (140 Columbus Ave, SF)
Night of standup comedy featuring Susan Alexander (Host), Nancy Lee, Caitlin Gill, Sandy Stec, Samantha Chanse, Chris Burns.
$20
Email: reservations@5funnyfemales.com; info: http://www.5funnyfemales.com

6. Wednesday, August 26th; 7.30pm
Lydia’s Funeral Video @ The Marsh (1062 Valencia St, SF)
A solo play. oh, and look, i’m in SF again; guess that collective sigh of relief in (2) was premature.
even if you already saw this, please to come & help me sell out this show; i have gained incalculable Wisdom and Experience in the year since the 2008 production, so it will be As If You Never Saw It Before. or something like that.
$10 – 15
Tickets: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/57749

thanks for reading. hope you’re all well -

and if you’d like to be removed from this list, feel free to send me a passive aggressive email suggesting i reconsider the content/tone/frequency of my stuffs emails without actually mentioning that you’d like to be removed. or you can be direct about it, your choice. in any case, i’ll be offended and hurt, but after promptly removing you, will eventually get over it and move on; know that your rejection will have contributed immensely to my ongoing Character Building Project (CBP).

happy weekend,

sam

so a few things that i want to talk about, in typically erratic fashion:

1. back to the graveyard -

this is a new solo show i’ve been working on, the first live-performance draft of which took place in September 2008, but which i’ve performed in various incarnations since at Footloose’s Shotwell Studios (January 2009), Bindlestiff Studio’s Single Shots at Thick House (April 2009), and APICC’s festival at SomArts (May 2009). i’ll be doing graveyard again June 19 – 20th 2009 as part of an Artist In Motion residency at Footloose’s Shotwell Studios. Look here’s a link for info: http://whiskeyandacigarette.org/calendar/index.php?op=view&id=288

i’ve been gratified by the positive and enthusiastic response i’ve received for this show – it’s a completely different solo show than my solo play Lydia’s Funeral Video, and it’s been fun and exciting to work on the new project at various venues & with different audiences. i also had the chance to work with directors Ellen Sebastian Chang & Pamela Wu Kochiyama on the most recent incarnation of the show, and before that i had input from Allan Manalo, the artistic director at Bindlestiff, and others – anyway, it’s an ongoing process, and i’m looking forward to doing the show again in June. which leads me to:

2. Laundry Party -

this is an artist salon series that my friend & musician Sadie Contini and i started in January 2009 – the idea was to gather artists/people-who-do-stuffs in various disciplines (including music, theater, writing, film, photography, website development, microphone-cable-making, cooking…), give us all a mini-deadline to generate material to present, and hang out. (the “laundry” part really has nothing to do with it – it was a good name in search of an event, but its meaning is open to interpretation; basically like the name version of a rorschach test.) so far we’ve had 10 Laundry Parties, and 2 LP publics, and we will be having another LP Public on Saturday, June 20th, at Shotwell Studios. (i already provided the link, but here it is again: http://whiskeyandacigarette.org/calendar/index.php?op=view&id=288)

LP will run from 9pm – 1am, since it will still involve the party part, this one somewhat self-centeredly serving as an LP Public & Celebration for my new bicoastal, grad student lifestyle (that’s number 3, but before we go to that) -

LP has been enormously helpful in terms of generating work – i will be reading three pieces written/developed for/by LP this Friday & Saturday (5/28 & 5/29) as part of Eth-Noh-Tec’s story jam event at SomArts. look, here is a link: http://whiskeyandacigarette.org/calendar/index.php?op=view&id=271

LP will also be expanded to include NY peoples/events/parties. yay.

3. re-positioning myself

i am re-positioning myself, and my way of communicating the way in which i am re-positioning myself. i’ve mentioned in earlier rambles that i am moving my corporeal self to NYC to pursue an MFA in playwriting at columbia. while this remains the case, it is ALSO true that i will remain SF-based in spirit and, sometimes, in action. so i am re-positioning my message of re-positioning to emphasize that i am embarking on a bicoastal lifestyle – i will be in sf & nyc, and will continue to think of myself as an sf-based writer & performer, as well as, now, a nyc-based writer & performer. this understanding is very important to me! i’m madly enamored with the communities and peoples with whom i work & play (sometimes, often, there is little distinction) here in the bay area, and i simply can’t bring myself to truly leave, period. so, i’m merely expanding my sphere of activity.

okay, glad i got that all of my chest. and now onto experiencing the rest of memorial day

[note: the following is the content of an email i sent out earlier]

hey all,

a few announcements, some of which you may find of interest.(*if you have no interest, please scroll down to asterisk at end of email to view !Helpful Fun Hint!)

Performance stuffs:
1. April 23 – May 2: Single Shots @ the Thick House, 1695 18th Street @ Arkansas, San Francisco
a program of 4 solo performances.
http://www.whiskeyandacigarette.org/calendar/index.php?op=view&id=272

2. May 9: Laundry Party @ Socha,  3235 Mission street, at Valencia, San Francisco
a multidisciplinary artist salon series, sorta, goes public for a night.
http://www.whiskeyandacigarette.org/calendar/index.php

3. May 22 – 30: United States of Asian America festival @ SomArts, 934 Brannan Street, @ 9th Street, San Francisco
all asian american performers, all the time (for a few weeks, anyway)
http://www.apiculturalcenter.org/

Other news:
1. my corporeal self is moving to new york and getting degree-ified (”degree-ified” is a word, google spellcheck…).
no, really, this time i really am moving; i’ve been accepted into a graduate program at Columbia University, and will be pursuing an MFA degree in playwriting come fall 2009. i expect to be moving in the summer, although i expect, as well, to be back regularly in the bay area, as much of my heart is here. (awww. no really; it’s true).

2. i’ve updated my website.
uh, okay, i always update my website, at least the calendar part, and there’s no major design change – it remains the impressive design work of Derek Chung, and my rarely-updated blog was recently rescued from mysterious 500 configuration server error by music & programming geek sadie contini of the Invisible Cities – but i’ve added in the last few months some video/audio if you’re interested in seeing lowfi recordings of a few relatively recent performances. also, i’ve slightly updated the Frequently Asked Questions section of the site.

3. i’m teaching a class.
for writing & performing artists, primarily – about identifying & applying principles of comedy in creative work. or noncreative work, as you will. i’ll be doing this only if enough people sign up, so if you know of anyone who’d be interested in a fairly experimental but engaging class, please to forward info on; begins april 21 for 8 weeks, and the description is here:
http://www.kearnystreet.org/programs/calendar/calendarindex2.php#sam

Other cool events i’m affiliated with (but not as a presenting artist)
1. Kearny Street Workshop’s Poker Fundraiser, May 9th
PariSoma, 1436 Howard, @ 10th street, SF
support a beloved arts organization, of which i am a board member, artist/teacher, and former staff
organization’s website: http://www.kearnystreet.org

2. Best of PlayGround Festival, May 7 – 31st
Thick House, 1695 18th Street, @ Carolina, SF
a festival of new plays from PlayGround, where i’m a member playwright and communications director
organization’s website: http://www.playground-sf.org

* !Helpful Fun Hint!
if you’ve no interest in sam’s announcements, feel free to reply to this email and change the subject line to: “for the love of god, please remove me from this list.”** if you’d like to use your own words to convey the same meaning, go ahead; just avoid being so abstract and poetic about it that i miss the request entirely. [Note: !Helpful Fun Hint! has absolutely no relevance to those of you reading this online]

** !Totally Uninteresting Technical Note!
it’s not actually a list, it’s a group in my gmail contacts.

thanks for reading,

sam