DIY Hard with a Vengeance

Enduring the hell of pumping out 50,000 words over 30 days for National Novel Writing Month won't guarantee you a book deal, nor will putzing around with Garage Band get you signed to a major label.

If you take that as an inspiring personal challenge rather than a reason to mope around and wait for corporate money, then the Lo-Fi Music & Readings Show should set your DIY on fire. Keeping the hot side hot during the all-local showcase are acoustic comedy-rockers Male Pattern Radness, the militantly quirky and catchy anti-folkies of The Meat Department, and Brad and The One-Man-Damned's slacker folk-punk. The cool side stays cool with interspersed readings from self-published authors Kevin Vaughn Brubaker, Mark Garrigan, and Camilla Orr.

For ’zine distro queen and Lo-Fi host Jacki O, the readings are sneak peeks at April's inaugural Underground Publishing Convention. "It's a little teaser for the UPC," says Lady O. "We're trying to bring some attention to the literary underground scene here."