I’m still trying to get my mind around the fact that Vermin on the Mount turned ten years old this month. A decade. That’s a lot of stories, essays, poems and drunken rants. During those 10 years I grew a beard, got married, moved to San Diego, got sober, shaved my beard, etc. A lot of living because ten years is a long time, but in the arts 10 years is a lifetime.

VOTM started when Razorcake publisher Todd Taylor asked if I could put together a reading for Joe Meno, who was visiting from Chicago in support of Hairstyles of the Damned. Joe was well known in punk rock circles but I thought it would be interesting if I opened up the reading to other types of writers. But I also needed a venue. I went to see Lawrence Weschler at the Mountain Bar in Chinatown and I fell in love with the place. Triangular tiles, bizarre light fixtures, walls that looked like they were weeping blood. Chinatown also plays an important role in the story of L.A. punk rock. it was the perfect place for an irreverent reading series.

We had a good run of 7.5 years at the Mountain Bar. We were downstairs and then upstairs and then downstairs again. We tried different nights of the week. We teamed up with various literary magazines, reading series and organizations. We even took our show in the road a few times, including starting a spin off series at 3rdSpace in San Diego, making Vermin on the Mount bi-city.

When The Mountain Bar shut down, 826 LA Echo Park took us in and after a short stint there we set up shop along the L.A. River at Book Show in the NOMAD Arts Compound, our new home in Los Angeles. With two amazing venues and scenes rich in talent, enthusiasm and an appetite for the irreverent, Vermin on the Mount has never been stronger.

We kicked off the celebration in San Diego with some of my favorite writers in San Diego. Some were writers who have read at Vermin before like SD stalwarts Justin Hudnall and Lizz Huerta, who has been in more Vermin events than anyone (but has never played the same venue twice) while Nathan Young, Hanna Tawater and Marivi Soliven were all new to Vermin stage.

It was an extra special night as it was the San Diego launch of my debut novel, Forest of Fortune. What made it even more memorable is that a few years ago I had been in a San Diego Writers, Ink read and critique group led by Judy Reeves with Vermin legionnaire Sandra Younger and Marivi Soliven, and all three of us published the books we were working on in that group. It wasn’t easy. It didn’t happen overnight. But we did it, and we did it together.

A few days later, we celebrated in Los Angeles. Being more than a little nostalgic, I went back to Chinatown to pick up a cake from Wonder Bakery, where I used to go to buy cakes for Vermin events when we were celebrating an anniversary or the publication of someone’s book. Plus, the cakes are really good. You should have some.

Matthew Hart, Melissa Chadburn, Sacha Howells and Karen Rizzo knocked it out of the park. If I had to pick a word to describe this group I would choose “dedicated.” Matthew is a writer, musician and student who volunteers a lot of his time to zine culture. Melissa is an activist and essayist doing exciting things with the form. Sacha is a PEN USA Emerging Voices Fellow who works extremely hard at his craft. And Karen is a writer who works in a number of genres and just released her debut novel. They speak their minds, they work their asses off, and they’re entertaining as hell. Get to know these writers. 

In closing, I’d like to thank all the people who have opened their doors to Vermin on the Mount over the years, shared their work on the Vermin stage, or came to enjoy a show. There are also a ton of people who have helped out behind the scenes: all the people who have designed posters, tended bar, took out the trash, lent me equipment, took photos, printed t-shirts, or spread the word that Vermin on the Mount, though occasionally disgusting, is a good thing. If Vermin on the Mount contributes to the vitality of the Southern California literary scene, it’s because of you.

On this day when I’m looking back, I’m also looking ahead. I’ve got some exciting things planned for the future, including our first Vermin on the Mount event in Brooklyn. If you’d like to help out and volunteer your time, talent or resources to the perpetuity of the cause, please drop me a line.