Writers with Drinks / Writers in Drag

Writers With Drinks (sometimes aka Writers in Drag) is this crazy-ass, fun-as-all-get-out literary event that happens once a month in downtown San Francisco, usually in the Mission, but recently in Hayes Valley.

This past week we heard from this cat Justin Chin, author of Gutted, who told this story of a drug addict who would do favors for his good-looking dealer. I'm not necessarily into the whole druggie/whatever genre, but this stuff was so outrageous and so hilarious, it was well worth my time. Just when you think you've heard it all.

Charlie Anders is the transgender dude/chick who emcee's the event and he/she is frickin hilarious. The writers and what they're reading can often be great, too - based on the couple of times I've attended this little shindig - but Anders is pretty much always on point. Just damn outrageous and hilarious. Charlie is one of the folks behind Other Magazine - and this event is actually advertised as 'Other Magazine presents...Writers With Drinks'.

This last event was held at the The Rickshaw Stop. Yes - it comes complete with old-school rickshaws which are very very cool. Events are usually held on a early Saturday evening, so you can come in, have a couple of drinks, shmooze around, and if you feel like partying later, you'll still have time - the event runs from 7:30 pm to 9:30 pm.

I like this Hayes Valley location because it allows you quick walking access to one of my favorite restaurants in the world ever ever - frjtz. Yes, we're talking about french fries, but served in a cone like they do at the boardwalk at the Jersey Shore, or at frites shops in Belgium. And these 'frites' are served with cool-ass condiments like 'roasted pepper mayo' - yum! - as opposed to the ketchup and vinegar you might choose at the Jersey Shore - also a fine combination! frjtz also serves good Belgian beers - don't even get me started on how good the Belgian beer/frites combination is. Whew.

Another reason I like this event is that the authors largely seem like real people - mostly on the younger side, fifty or younger (fifty-year olds in san francisco can look younger than my thirty-three year old ass), and they make you feel like you could write if you wanted to. Maybe it's kind of like going to amateur or lower-level professional sporting events - say baseball, but in the literary world.