I went to the opening shindig for Dixon Place’s 13th annual HOT festival on Tuesday. They’re back at 258 Bowery while they finish the construction on their new building, and it was just like it always was. Well, a little better since the air conditioning seemed to be working pretty well. But there’s still a lot of cat hair floating around, and since I’m mighty allergic its always a challenge for me to see any show there that runs more than an hour or so.
Anyway – I made it through the whole evening and as usual there was a whole mixed bag of performances from artists both emerging established and beyond definition. Here’s a few of my picks from what I saw.

• Susana Cook’s 100 Years of Attitude
• Isle of Klezbos
• Scotty the Blue Bunny’s Vaudevillianaire
• CELL: An Electronic Age Vaudeville
• Robert Appleton’s Tales of the Celluloid Kid
• Vivian Babuts Divine Interventions
• Dan Fishback’s Boi with an I

And the Homotext reading with Pamela Sneed. I haven’t heard her read in years but she’s long been on my list of poetry superheroes. Her book Imagine Being More Afraid Of Freedom Than Slavery is one of my all-time faves.

For more details on the Hot Festival, including dates & times, check out the dixon place website.