Bushwick Book Club: Long Overdue and Worth Checking Out

Oh you've never heard of the Bushwick Book Club? That's not going to last. If the jam packed inaugural performance at the Can Can on Sunday is a sign of things to come, everybody's going to be talking about the musical literary hybrid in no time.

The idea, which drops on us from the city of all good things, Brooklyn, is a simple one: get a bunch of talented musicians to all read the same book and then write a song or two about it. Then perform the songs in front of your booziest well-read friends and you've got yourself the outline for a perfect evening.

For the Seattle chapter's first 'meeting' they chose Slaughterhouse-Five, the classic Kurt Vonnegut novel about time, war, free will and aliens. A good choice, as most people have read the book (or at least like to pretend they have) and it is ripe with universal themes that translate well to song. Like, for instance, being trapped by aliens in a human zoo with a B-list porn star.

Approximately 11 different acts took turn on the stage, performing one or two songs as soloists or duets. Some were quite funny, others were immensely sad. Of note was Bucket of Honey, a good-time duo who's performance made us feel like we were at a school assembly about the bombing of Dresden, if we went to school in an episode of Pete and Pete. We also enjoyed Tai Shan, who's solo performance on the piano was one of the saddest songs our little heart has ever heard. All, however, were shining in their own regard.

Also we enjoyed the delicious and well-made dirty martinis poured by the fine people behind the bar. The dark underground warmth of the Can Can is the perfect venue for such an evening, what with its draping curtains and unmistakable afterglow of all the sexy sexiness that is their usual fair. Because everyone knows that there is nothing hotter than literacy. Except maybe philanthropy, a base covered by their donation of the evening's cover charge to the Seattle Public Library.

It took us a while to track it down, because normally the PR folks are blasting event times and dates like Tokyo billboards, but next on the queue is The Princess Bride, scheduled for Sunday, November 21. Back at the Can Can, still at 9pm.

In the mean time, bust out that library card, go pick up (and read) the next book and save up for your bar tab. It's a page in your calendar worth dog-earing.

November 21, 9 p.m. // The Can Can // $5 general admission