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Wednesday, October 15th, 2008
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7:50 am - New York
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Hi. New York. Tomorrow (thursday) morning on Court (Tru) TV doing commentary. Night. HEEB magazine release party. Call me. D.
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(2 comments | comment on this)
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| Friday, May 16th, 2008
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1:18 pm - Reinventing Figler...You Make the Call
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SO without getting into it too much, I think I'm having what used to be called a nervous breakdown, but what I like to refer to as a suspension of belief. In any event, I fear that I've lost sight of my long term goals and have fallen into a devastatingly ridiculous loop of hypersensitivity and loathing. And isn't the Vegas the best place to be for that! Let's try to work through this together, okay? I have used the same metaphor for a while now and it's getting old, but at age 40 (where I feel I'm getting old for the first time maybe ever)...it's like I have what's very close to a complete set of puzzle pieces with nary a reference picture in sight. Usually it's on the box, only there are so many boxes in my house that I can't find the right one. Okay...metaphor done. Essentially, I can't stand the day to day anymore of all the sad people with their crime issues without the drip drip drip of mind rot. Not that I want to stop defending accused citizens...just not this way, not this how. And at age 40, I've participated in over 30 jury trials, sat as a municipal court judge on and off for three years, and handled in some capacity or another almost 70 murder cases. In the past three to four years, I've managed and resolved well over 300 garden variety matters from misdemeanors to a dabble in Federal White collar and I have no desire to simply double the stats over the next three to four years. Not this way, not this how. OF course those of you who know me understand that over the past decade or so I've kept the toes just barely in the world of creative expression ranging from short stories to storytelling events to poem parody in bars, cars and with (someone elses) guitars. I've been on NPR many times and have a thing here and there in cool places on the web and in a book or too. I have no novels in progress (just in my head) and I am finally at a financial stasis (meaning, not enough to run away, but enough to maybe experiment with something). Las Vegas is draining me (on all levels obvious, familial and physical), but it has been a dutiful servant and I really can't imagine and outright abandonment of the citystate source of much of what I do and who I am (plus I have a cool (enough) house). That said...I need to reinvent STAT! I need to stop googling myself and get snapping on....??????????????
Here's some thoughts for the dialogue that I am now officially inviting.
My dream existence at this point would be to live somewhere other than Vegas for at least the summer months (you know -- May through October). It would be to continue working towards more media commentary (like I do on NPR and Court TV). It would be to take on high profile cases around the country for worthy and wealthy clients. Maybe a novel, but more likely quirky Franzen-like essays for the men's pubs and holy grail NewYorker. Lecture circuit would be nice on law and perhaps whatnot...and maybe that has a crossover effect on the other things. Basically, I want to be a cool scenester Gerry Spence with less hat (but some hat). I also want to transition after that into TV writing (comedy, natch) and performance (why not try a superstar DJ/ top chef parody?). Some time in NYC would be nice. I also like parts of Canada, the Northwest and bigger cities. Also -- open to new challenges (cuz the old ones are just getting boring).
My inventory (puzzle pieces)--
Some awards (like State arts fellowships and Best of Vegas type things)
A law degree
A well put together 5 minute "reel" of different basic cable appearances
Successful and supportive friends at the top of their games in various writing fields (Entertainment mags, TV comedy, NYT best sellers, etc.)
Tons of "stories" (true and fictional, published and not)
An impressive list of festival appearances and such
An impressive gambling habit
Strangers in audiences telling me I'm not completely bad
Okay, let's get crackin'. Who wants to be a millionaire?
current mood:  worried
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| Saturday, April 12th, 2008
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6:42 am - TONIGHT IN SF! WRITERS WITH DRINKS
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TONIGHT: Karen Joy Fowler, Peter Hamilton and more!
Acclaimed reading series Writers With Drinks celebrates its seventh anniversary in style. This time around, we feature:
- Karen Joy Fowler (Wit's End)
- Peter F. Hamilton (The Dreaming Void)
- Elliot Fintushel (Breakfast With The Ones You Love)
- Juvenal Acosta (The Tattoo Hunter)
- Fran Varian (Lodestar Quarterly)
- Dayvid Figler (Grope, NPR's All Things Considered)
Where: The Make Out Room, 3225 22nd. St., SF
When: Saturday, April 12, 7:30 to 9:30 PM, come early for seating!
How much: $3 to $5 sliding scale, all proceeds go to saving rent control and the CSC
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(comment on this)
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| Saturday, December 8th, 2007
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7:00 pm - TWO READINGS IN SAN FRANCISCO
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Tuesday, December 11 (6PM - 7:30 PM)
San Francisco Main Public Library
100 Larkin Street
San Francisco, CA
The Radar Reading series features the best emerging and underground writers - and the occasional superstar! Hosted by Michelle Tea.
This month features reading with Trebor Healey; Miss Lower East Side, Elena Azzolini; Dayvid Figler; and Matthue Roth, author of Nevermind the Goldbergs! at Michelle Tea's stupendous monthly soiree.
SHOW IS FREE. MICHELLE WILL GIVE YOU A HOME BAKED COOKIE IF YOU ASK A QUESTION
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Monday, December 17
Porchlight Storytelling Series hosted by Beth Lisick and Arline Klatte
Funny Uncle: The Family Show
Strap yourself in for the holiday season, people. It's all about family this month. You can't choose 'em.
With stories by:
Rob Baedeker from sketch comedy louts Kasper Hauser
The unofficial mayor of Las Vegas Dayvid Figler
Beth's dentist Don Nguyen
ray of light Deez Nutsian
long suffering community college teacher Sonya Wozniak
Details:
Cafe du Nord, 2170 Market St., SF
Doors at 7pm, Show at 8:00pm
$12
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(1 comment | comment on this)
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| Thursday, November 1st, 2007
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12:48 pm - If you are in Vegas tomorrow night come to this
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Tomorrow night at First Friday (November 2) and as part of the Vegas Valley Book Festival catch a humdinger (that's right, I said it) of a spoken word show. Derrick Brown, Mike ("I Love Puddin') McGee and television and movie star Amber Tamblyn. All reading their work from 6-9:30 on Casino Center a block north of the Funk House. It's free and we also anticipate surprise guests from the rest of the fest. ALSO - the live music of the Clydesdale who are kicking off a CD release night. BE THERE !
FIRST FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 2
6-9:30
CASINO CENTER AND CALIFORNIA
DERRICK BROWN, MIKE McGEE, AMBER TAMBLYN, THE CLYDESDALE and special guests.
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(3 comments | comment on this)
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| Tuesday, May 15th, 2007
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12:41 am - Help him help me.
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| Sunday, July 16th, 2006
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10:58 pm - Why am I writing fiction...let's just say PROCRASTINATION
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FRAZZLE
The turtle didn’t fit. Symbolically anyhow. Last night, Travis called people who would listen about how things weren’t right in his home. Interior lights had burnt out. The front door was locked at the knob, but he only had locked the deadbolt. Nothing was missing. The dog was squirrelly. When Travis got home after having another bad day marred by inexact digestion and the suffering of his work, he let Midge out of her cage. The first thing he noticed was that the otherwise unremarkably tan and short-haired Lab/Shepherd/Alt.Dog mix had shed large chunks. Wispy strands of straw fur floated up and out in the atypically ill-lit house as the dog bolted from her cage. Instead of the usual beeline to the water bowl, she barked. Barked into the last sunlight streaming through the window blinds. Barked past Travis and started circling. It was crazy dog eye circles and barks and a nippy indication for the backyard. “Pooties?” Travis asked Midge.
current mood:  awake
current music: Halo Benders
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(1 comment | comment on this)
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| Tuesday, May 30th, 2006
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12:17 pm - Months, it's been months !!!!
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I am stressed. I do, however, have friends who tell me things like “just chill” or “what do you have to be stressed about?” and that makes it all better…perfectly, wonderfully, fantastically, maniacally better…!
Accept the proposition for a moment that while we try to avoid “the darkness” of life and head towards the light, “stress” is the result of trying to figure out which is which. Still, what if the light you thought you were absorbing is really stinky, toxic darkness? And before you write me off as engaging in some sort of New Age Celebrity Celebrated Cult-ery – let me suggest that Las Vegas in many ways is perpetual midnight in the Garden of Light and Dark and consider this a non-religious prayer that all of us who are stressed need to reclaim the calm before the whole city starts spontaneously imploding.
I mean think about it, how many people do you see around who claim to be stressed despite the fact that ostensibly they have nothing significant to worry about? Their basics are usually covered and then some. Most have loving families…or at least families that do horrible things to each other…but in the name of love. They have acceptable levels of well-being, sturdy roofs, ample food stuffs and at least one friend to listen to their whining, complaining and general loathing of this force called stress. Some even have healthy relationships and obedient dogs. So why is Las Vegas such a stressful place?
Perhaps it’s because we have too much kinetic energy. Whenever you are sleeping, someone is not. Sometimes someone is not for days at time, but there is always movement. And in the whirl of all this constant spin is the worst force of all – unchecked dreaming. Unbridled aspiring. And what all the people dream and aspire and fantasize about is taking the lump of hot clay handed us here in the desert and making it a life of normalcy that we are not equipped to hold. Talk to the stressed among us and they all have a big plan. But unlike Hollywood, New York or really any other place on Earth where people dream…here in Vegas they can sort of get it on…at least catch an ear…make inroads until the inevitable happens and that is they sort of get what they want…or worse, exactly what they want. Enter the crash!
The stress in Las Vegas comes from not understanding why your great plans – heck, even the simple ones – are not exactly making you less stressed despite the fact that you think you’re doing everything right and filled with light. In the gardens of Las Vegas we use use too much precious water to keep things green and pretty. Here in this city… looking good, building things, making money all have a possibility of being tainted because of who we are…our history, audacity. But until we collectively take a breather… Slow it down…Stop the kinetic madness and engage in a little communal reflection -- the stress will continue. Despite the reassurances of our friends – things are kind of shakily headed towards…booom. As we gorge on the fruits of our gardens, the question remains…how healthy are the trees? How mad, the metaphor? What price, stress?
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(7 comments | comment on this)
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| Monday, March 20th, 2006
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12:17 pm - Um, here we go again...
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| Thursday, February 16th, 2006
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11:21 am - For a cute doggie pic...
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| Wednesday, February 15th, 2006
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2:01 pm - Bumped !
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Ah, looks like a bump. Perhaps tomorrow. Key: Listen for a story on Indian Gaming then it should follow...two minutes of national glory...woo-hoo.
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(comment on this)
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| Tuesday, February 14th, 2006
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4:52 pm - Public Radio Fans
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Hi. Um, maybe you should listen to All Things Considered tomorrow...and possibly hear a silly voice from Las Vegas talking out of his bung hole about this,that and Jennifer Tilly...
Don't know the exact time, but give it a whirl...let me know...
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(comment on this)
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| Friday, February 3rd, 2006
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9:06 pm - Haiku Help
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To all my Vegas people... I am in dire need of a boatload of haikus related to First Friday for tonight. So if you get this before 5:30 PM PST please please dump them on me....
Also, really funny love haikus are welcome....
thanks friends...
D.
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(1 comment | comment on this)
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| Saturday, January 28th, 2006
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10:03 am - Secret of Las Vegas
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It was small talk. We were waiting around the courthouse engaging in idle banter with an upstanding prosecutor for Clark County, Nevada who proclaimed that he’d have no problem with government listening in on his private phone conversations because as he plainly stated “I have nothing to hide” Wonder if the majority of Las Vegans share that same…confidence.
( hmmm...where is this going? )
current mood:  complacent
current music: Bob Wills
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| Sunday, January 15th, 2006
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12:34 am - A long way to get to a rant about pinball OR "The Wizard"
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I went into my first high class bondage parlor yesterday on a mission for something quite pedestrian but on the recommendation of someone we all know and out of curiousity for sure. It was, is the word...ergonomically efficient. There, that works, sort of. A small lobby with a rack of alt. weeklies and a comfy (but not too comfy) chair. A heavy set lady wearing a sleeveless pastal polyblend shirt behind the window not out of place in a dentist office. "Can I help you?"
My eyes survey her backdrop as I stand before the window. Some posters for mainstream films obvious in selection because of their notorious sex scenes. Think Secretary. (Okay, stop thinking about Secretary...I need both your hands where I can see them. Why? Well, because this is about me and whats dear to me, and while your selfish pleasures make the list, you need to show SOME CONTROL so that the message about to be delivered is in fact received).
"Can I help you?"
I am confident that my task (not really all that special) can be accomplished in moments if they'd just let me at the inventory. Right now, all I see is paperwork, doors, and wobble fleshy upperarm yams swaying with even small gesture. I will get right to business.
"I need an...item."
"So you want to go into the studio?"
"Yes. Yes, I do."
The phone. The intercom. "Nikki, you have a client."
The locked door unlocked, and opened and out walks Nikki. Stillettoed, demure, tan mohair sweatered. Hair back, glasses (silver frames), slight cough. Modest mini skirt. Smile between slight coughs.
Nikki is new. She forgets to ask me if this is my first time here. If she had, she might have also remembered to offer me the "special effects" upon entry. The fog. The lasers. The grid of latex and electronic items coming to life like the Hall of Presidents (the Clinton edition) or Island of Misfit, um, Toys. (Apology...Clinton sex reference? In 2006? What am I Jay Leno...'s fax machine)? Nikki is new (by the way, I don't know if she spells it that way, but I bet she does). She says, "what are you looking for?" I know, and I tell her and sure enough there is a section (albeit small) for that and she leaves me to my own, ug!, devices.
I basically see what I want. Actually I didn't know I wanted something that actually has a textual joke on it, but I test it out anyway in my best mime stylie and then it is a keeper. Enter Dante (real name, Dave) who enters the room, not in a cowboy hat like he sports on HBO's "Real Sex" but in a blue T-shirt with some or other business logo and a jeans. I am greeted and he back. We make small talk with and about Nikki as she stands there. I am informed she is new and the special effects I missed. I proclaim that I was recommended to this place by an old chum who proclaimed to me that I should invest my money in objects of quality of I'm serious about my tasks at hand. Dante emphatically injects a "I second that" to that. I present myself like a real potential repeat customer (it's a gift, what can I say)? I am enthusiastic and naive all at once. It all works out. He disappears into the back...Nikki gives me a mini tour of items ranging up to 4000 dollars and as I scan the lines and colors of this space I think I would like to share this (not so) secret space with lovers and friends. Heck, with anyone who appreciates a dash of tabooistic prurient in their porridge mixed with the aesthetic of order. (Ah, pretty rubber bloomers in a row).
And off I go. Contemplating more so than anything the moment the door of the tiny lobby opened into that. My mouth agape, not because I have reached the nirvana of my own bent, but in appreciation for what was amassed and how. It reminded my in part of my reaction to turning the corner in the pinball warehouse space on what seems to be the maybe gone-forever Pinball Fun Nights and seeing every my own private Wonka-dream in the diodic effect. PINBALL, my anachronistic holdout. PINBALL, my love, lost.
PINBALL...tomorrow, part II where it all ties in together and comes back home, I bet.
current mood:  cheesy
current music: Gloomy Sunday
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| Monday, December 19th, 2005
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10:35 am - SO WHAT DO YOU SAY WHEN THEY SAY IT...?
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| Monday, November 7th, 2005
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10:27 pm - Day 7 of Trial
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I don't know how to describe the anxiety in knowing that within the next day or two the fate of my young client (who was even younger when he committed the offense at issue) will be in the hands of Jack Klugman, Martin Balsam, E.G. Marshall and the like. (C'mon Juror 8). I'm a wreck. The case went better than expected. The instuctions on the law to the jurors is always a haphazard compilation of the prosectors greatest hits from past Nevada Supreme Court decisions (really lousy language that tends to confuse jurors -- we don't have set/pattern instructions in our State). So we fight, I fight, so much fighting over the past 7 days (I accidently wrote years and caught it). In the end, I anticipate that the jury will simply spend 3 hours to say, of course this isn't first degree murder but it isn't manslaughter either and come to unanimity on 2nd degree. I am told to consider this a win since the prosecutors are still trying to seek the big first degree (and the Nevada Supreme Court suggested that it might be 2nd), but it will seem hollow. This 15 year old has done 10 years of hard time for a rash impulse. An unreasoned twitch in cerebral functioning and he's earned a chance at parole (having a spotless record in the max. security facility he's been in up in Ely, Nevada -- a godforsaken institution I assure you -- home of death row and other swell rides). The system stinks. The judges are inferior. This judge (who is more of a friend to me than most) still refused to make solid decisions which would have loosened the plea bargain up. Sometimes he just plain ruled wrong on things (though sometimes to my benefit). He's actually doing a good job in keeping things even in that way and (as he reminds me)...given me outstanding appellate issues in the event that this all goes horribly wrong. Hello, anxiety.
In the end, my little man of almost 26 is looking at me with doe eyes. Will it be all better? I don't know what to say to him when we don't get manslaughter. "We'll keep fighting" leaps to mind and we will, but oh, what a drop in the stomach.
But we focus on the small victories. The fact that we were able to uncover the fact that the police lied under oath when they stated that no one told them that the kids had been drinking that night (we uncovered the hand written police notes from that night that never made it into any official report). We were able to put on a forensic psychologist who testified that from his professional standpoint there could be no malice here (the key issue between murder and manslaughter), that the 9th grader (while criminally responsible) was too drunk to form that. The psychologist was a champ -- my new hero. And the other expert who testified as to what happens when 9th graders drink Wild Irish Rose and play with guns.
In a perfect world the jury just does the right thing. I fear the world in which I am immerse is something other. Something barely fair. How will it play out? How ?
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(3 comments | comment on this)
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| Monday, October 10th, 2005
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2:47 pm - Even more cool writers coming to Las Vegas
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LAS VEGAS – In conjunction with the City of Las Vegas, Division of Cultural Affairs, the Vegas Valley Book Festival opens on Thursday, October 13, 2005 at 5:30 PM with an evening of spoken word and music outdoors along the Lewis Avenue Corridor -- also known as Oscar’s River – on Lewis Avenue and 4th Street in Downtown Las Vegas.
Starting in 2004, host Dayvid Figler and the City of Las Vegas have presented dozens of writers from both Las Vegas and across the country as well as musical guests. This event has drawn hundreds of spectators to the downtown public square. This year, the Vegas Valley Book Festival has adopted the program for its launch. The program with begin at 5:30 and last until 9 PM. The following evening, October 14, 2005, the same writers will present a different program. The musical guests both nights will be popular Las Vegas band, The Clydesdale. Food and beverages will also be for available. The line-up includes:
Sarah Balcomb
Sarah M. Balcomb’s fiction has appeared in numerous publications including 5-Trope, the American Journal of Print, Both Magazine, McSweeney's, Opium Magazine and Pindeldyboz. Balcomb is a graduate of Columbia University's MFA Program in Creative Writing and lives in Brooklyn.
Matt Cook
Matt Cook's poetry has appeared in Aloud: Voices from the Nuyorican Poet's Cafe, The United States of Poetry, and The Cream City Review. He's performed at Lollapalooza, on National Public Radio, and on the Internet television site Zerotv.com. Cook lives in Milwaukee, where he teaches at Marquette University.
Jarret Keene
Jarret Keene is author of the poetry collection Monster Fashion and editor of The Undergound Guide to Las Vegas, both from Manic D Press. Keene’s stories, essays, and verse have appeared in several literary magazines, anthologies, and textbooks and he has been a regular contributor to several alternative weekly newspapers. Keene graduated from the Florida State University with a Ph.D. in English. He lives in Las Vegas.
Whitney Pastorek
Whitney Pastorek is a writer, musician, and performer. She is the executive editor of the literary magazine Pindeldyboz, and currently on the staff of Entertainment Weekly. Her writing has appeared in Utne, Surface Magazine,The Village Voice, SF Chronicle, and McSweeney's. She lives in New York.
Jeremy Richards
Poet Jeremy Richards is a writer, actor, and improvisational performer from Seattle, Washington. His work has appeared in McSweeney's, The Cascadia Review, two National Poetry Slam anthologies, and on National Public Radio's "All Things Considered." Jeremy was a member of Seattle's 2002 and 2003 National Poetry Slam teams, and Bumbershoot Slam champion for two years running.
Kim Russell
Kim Russell is the Program Director for The International House of Blues Foundation (IHOBF) in Las Vegas. Russell was recently re-elected Chair for the Clark County Parks and Recreation Advisory Commission, and she became a member of the Nevada Public Radio Community Advisory Board this year and the Las Vegas Arts Commission. She is an award winning producer, writer and actress.
Juliette Torrez
Poet Juliette Torrez is the author of Madness and Retribution: Poems, and editor of The Sofasurfing Handbook: A Guide for Modern Nomads and Revival: Spoken Word from Lollapalooza. She is the publisher of award-winning Kapow! Press. Torrez has been active in the national spoken word community and has appeared at Lollapalooza, the National Poetry Slam, the Albuquerque Poetry Festival as well as the Bumbershoot festival. She hails from San Francisco.
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(comment on this)
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| Monday, October 3rd, 2005
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9:33 pm - hey check it out...
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| Saturday, October 1st, 2005
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11:31 pm - I'm almost at wits end on this...
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The Sunday New York Times has YET ANOTHER bunch of features about, yes, you guessed it...Las Vegas. They are obvious and blase and well, I was just in New York, um, your town is about a billion times more interesting...what gives? When will it stop?!? Why do they keep parachuting writers in to come away with nothing?
So first story was about the cool digs that Celine and Barry Manilow get in their respective hotel venues as part of their deals to perform; the second, how "Broadway" is coming to Vegas. Fave part...when the writer pulls this one off --
"No, what happens in Vegas will probably stay in Vegas. "Phantom" will open here with effects that would be impossible at the Majestic. "Hairspray" will get an explosive new ending. Even "Avenue Q" has a few new bells and whistles. But none of these changes will come back to New York."
Nice lead ! Oh, and right...the reason it doesn't come back to NY is because they are LAME aspects! They are bombast for fanny packs. They are stimulo-fly traps for the slot machines that surround the theater doors. (But hey, at least it quoted Penn Jillette with the much reported chestnut about Elvis Costello once opining that he would not come to Vegas because the other dead one was more favored -- Costello now plays in Vegas about once or twice a year -- hilarious !).
Still, how fun it would be to have off-Broadway shows start popping up in neighborhood casinos. Beckett revivals and whatnot at the Eureka casino behind the snack bar.
And when does some Vegas publication finally send a bunch of Vegas writers to New York to capture the city in a week? Aargh...and don't get me started about the New Yorker's sizzling piece about the short order cooks at the coffee shop at the Flamingo ! The Flamingo for chrissake ! You know, the hotel built by Bugsy (as the story reads -- erroneously). The writer leads you to believe the Flamingo is some sort of mecca for breakfast in Vegas -- which couldn't be LESS true. No local goes into the Flamingo unless it's to see the Second City scriptless show and then only after bathing in Purell to avoid the Norovirus that lives there.
(http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2004/Nov-05-Fri-2004/news/25183873.html)
A simple google search would have provided the above article, "NOROVIRUS OUTBREAK: Visitors leave LV with virus." Hmmm, that could have been a lead for the New Yorker article..."At the Flamingo coffee shop some things are made to not stay in Vegas..." (oh, wait that was the lead the VEGAS WRITER USED in the piece...ARGH).
(oh, and if you were looking to file this rant somewhere...I'd suggest either under "How am I not the most famous writer in Las Vegas" or "Still bitter about no one interviewing me for the New York Times or New Yorker").
In other news (for Vegas radio listeners only)... Smells Like Teen Spirit just played on KKLZ. Welcome to classic rock boys. Kurt meet Steve Miller...you two must have much to talk about. Keep on a rockin' me baby, indeed. (PS. The next song was Kashmir).
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