Last night's Happy Ending Reading series was a rare treat, not only for the excellent pieces read and fine music played, but for the people who showed up. It was, all in all, an excellent night-time Shpotzir.

G. Cornelius Ehrlich surprised all by arriving at 8:00, having taken an earlier flight from San Francisco than originally planned. Chairman Potsdam Wilcha showed up with his lovely paramour Lainey Higgenbotham, and quickly fell into conversation with fellow film maker R.Wanamaker Talbot. Harris Tweed Grebin showed up sporting a berserk mutton-chops-and-mustache look, and noted earth-elf T. Snodgrass Newman drove in, fresh from a consulting job in Pittsburgh, looking tired but hale. Newly baptized suburbanite A. Winkle Kisch made the scene after an unusually appetizing meal of Chinese food which he scored for a mere $4 (approximately half the cost of a scotch and soda from the Happy Ending’s lovely bartender). He even stayed for a drink after the reading, brazenly ignoring the fact that he still had to take a commuter train out to Jersey that night. E. Stubbins Graf next arrived, accompanied by his beautiful and pregnant wife A. Dowland Hewitt. Rounding out the Shpotzirist in attendance were D. Jingle Ehrlich and J. Buzzfuzz Moskowitz, both of whom were official participants in the evenings event.

After a medley of ‘80s hits performed by New York scenester Brandon Wilde—including a show stopping rendition of Grandmaster Flash’s “White Lines (Don’t Do It)”—Happy Ending host Amanda Stern introduced Large Charles, who read an untitled piece about his recent ankle injury. Charles’ reading (you can download a sample of it here) was met with great hilarity by the assembled masses. Bones Moskowitz faired less well: in fact he was met with much silence (download here to experience). That may have been as much the fault of his quick reading (positively headlong compared to Ehrlich’s lazy ramble) as to the quality of his prose, for several people praised him afterwards. During the performance of the third reader, Mr. Daniel Nester,  Messers. G. Ehrlich and P.H. Grebin retired to the bar and drew on napkins, the results of which have been sprinkled throughout this entry.

There were several other people there whose company caused us much pleasure, but such was the conviviality of the evening that we can’t remember their names. Our apologies. We do remember their faces, though, especially the tall woman from Wesleyan who now works at Baby magazine and the Australian cutie who was just finishing her first visit to New York, and who made the Shpotz the final stop on her two month “walkabout” before returning Down Under. Our thanks to everyone for attending, and to Amanda Stern and the Happy Ending bar for hosting.