Thursday, June 26, 2008 at 3:19PM A pair of NYC debuts lit the literary world on fire on Sept. 27: the first-ever Lit Crawl NYC (that traveled from the Lower East Side, to the East Village and finally on to Williamsburg) featured the first-ever Lightning Round LDM, Ep. 9, at Supreme Trading in Brooklyn.
Thursday, May 29, 2008 at 3:37PM
The first-ever Literary Death Match in the Round (NYC Ep. 7) was a success of monumental proportions, as Aaron Garretson (representing Opium) out-hooped Bob Powers (Lost Magazine) by draining 3-of-4 shots in “Recycling Basketball” to bring home the LDM crown in front of a massive Housing Works Bookstore Cafe crowd.
Saturday, May 10, 2008 at 3:38PM In the most ambitious Literary Death Match ever--an “All-Star” event featuring past SF winners, judges and hosts--Andrew Lam (the winner of SF’s Episode 7), trumped all with his blindly skilled placement of Leatherface’s body (yes, the chainsaw murderer in cardboard cut-out form) onto the oversized, two-dimensional heads of great literary figures/past LDM champs: Daniel Handler, Bucky Sinister and Rupert Estanislao. The feat was witnessed by 190 laughing fans at the Rickshaw Stop, who cheered wildly (and confusingly) at the finale.
Wednesday, April 9, 2008 at 3:46PM To commemorate National Poetry Month, the Literary Death Match’s Episode 8 brought poetic pyrotechnics to the forefront at the Rickshaw Stop. The first-ever poetry-based LDM--hosted by Canteen’s own (and a poet himself) Sean Finney--finished with a flourish as Rupert Estanislao walked away unscathed and victorious.
Wednesday, March 12, 2008 at 3:42PM
The Literary Death Match’s 7th Episode at San Francisco’s Rickshaw Stop was thrilling and memorable, bringing together--for the first-time ever--local publishing houses MacAdam/Cage, Soft Skull Press, Manic D Press, and Heyday Books in what turned into a wowing battle. In the end, Andrew Lam walked away with the championship head-and-hardware.
Wednesday, February 20, 2008 at 3:42PM The Literary Death Match’s Episode 6 at San Francisco’s Rickshaw Stop proved to be a fantastic and well-fought battle, indeed. With usual host Todd Zuniga bounding around Poland, genius fill-in Kurt Bodden (past LDM judge and host of Talk Show Live) proved fearless as host. The night ended with Tony Dushane of Cherry Bleeds six-word-memoiring his way to victory.
Tuesday, November 6, 2007 at 3:48PM For Opium’s fifth-ever west coast LDM (SF, Episode 5) at Harlot, stars aligned as four wickedly talented (and outstandingly hilarious) actors from the legendary Killing My Lobster comedy troupe stormed the stage and read from past print issues of Opium Magazine.
Tuesday, October 23, 2007 at 3:49PM The Literary Death Match’s triumphant return to New York City, Ep. 6 included the LDM’s biggest crowd east of the Mississippi as a wowing 155 filled The Kitchen’s sold-out theater space, as each audience member was rewarded with a fresh new copy of Opium5: Bad Company.
Friday, October 12, 2007 at 3:49PM October 12, 2007 — Opium’s most outstanding Literary Death Match ever (SF, Episode 4) at Swedish American Hall featured the release of Opium5: Bad Company, riotous readings from literary superstars, a heckler and a whopping (and sightly) crowd of 370.
Wednesday, September 19, 2007 at 3:53PM Opium’s Literary Death Match SF, Episode 3 at The Rickshaw Stop shined bright, and left the cheering audience in stitches. For the first time ever, the LDM strayed from their writers-representing-literary journals model, and invited four of SF’s outstanding reading series’ to elect a past reader to participate.