We are extremely happy to be an integral part of the official book release party for Moth Wing Tea, the second collection from legendary LA poet Dennis Cruz. One of the (many) goals in creating DT•LAB was to support artists like Dennis and events like this one. I know from my own personal experience with my book releases and from all the people that ask me about venues for their publication celebrations that it’s not an easy task to find the right place, especially at no budget and no clout.
Moth Wing Tea actually came out a few months back, but due to a schedule crunch, his publisher didn’t have a chance to give Dennis the proper party he and his book deserve. He told me about this while we were hanging out at one of Jessica Ceballos’s event in Highland Park. We’d never met before, but I’d been a fan of his work, being a proud of owner of a rare copy of his first book of poems, No One: Poems 2009. He was all bummed out when he said he hadn’t had a book release party yet and because his sad face is so irresistable, I immediately said, “We’ll help you. We’ll throw you a party.”

We hit a bump along the way. Our original date, October 22nd, got postponed because The Last Bookstore double booked for that night. And Dennis had to eat the cost of promotional material he’d printed out for it. But this new date, Wednesday, November 6th, is solid. We made sure to triple check the date before Dennis printed out new promo cards.
Because of the way his deal with his publisher works, Dennis had to buy the copies of Moth Wing Tea (at a discounted price) we will have at the party. Which means we have to help him recoup costs.
So come out and buy his books!
Also because he is really a great poet and one of a kind performer.
If you don’t believe me, ask Mike the Poet over at KCET.
LAUNCH PARTY for MOTH WING TEA by Dennis Cruz. Wed – 11/6/13. 7:30pm @ The Last Bookstore