Laughtears.com Events & Info 2025

Visit THE SUZY WILLIAMS YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cH4UmJ2G9vU

AND https://suzywilliams.bandcamp.com/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suzy_Williams


Visit THE 15 Gerry Fialka youtube channels- see the “about” at Gerry Fialka Archives GFA channel

https://www.youtube.com/@gfa1930/videos

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerry_Fialka


Join in upcoming Live events & Zoom events  rsvp Gerry Fialka pfsuzy@aol.com for info (check Facebook, too - programs subject to change)


*** Sun, Jan 26, 2025 — Suzy Williams & Marky Lennon at Venice West 1717 Lincoln Blvd


***Sun, Feb 16, 2025–22nd Annual VENICE FILM FEST at Beyond Baroque 681 Venice Blvd, 6pm: Award-winning feature documentary THE SOUND OF PAINT by Joshua Enoch Williams - colorful and engaging portrait of Vincent Digaetano, painter and musician on Ocean Front Walk for over 20 years - the struggles and triumphs of this Venice houseless artist. https://venicebeachhead.org/2024/09/20/the-sound-of-paint-joshua-films-vinny/ MORE short films & live music.

 
*** Sun, March 16, 2025 at Beyond Baroque 681 Venice Blvd, 6pm - FREAK OUT HOT SPOTS! Celebrate Frank Zappa with Domenic Priore & Dan Konoske who delve deep into the cultural significance of Frank Zappa’s 1966 “Freak Out! Hot Spots!” map. Plus LIVE MUSIC at 6pm - Sabbagh Rockin' Teenage Combo  - 15-year-old guitar hero Kylan Sabbagh leads his parents Kahlil Sabbagh & Ginger Smith in 5 killer Zappa songs. The FREAK OUT HOT SPOTS map, produced as bonus material companion to the Mothers of Invention’s debut album “Freak Out!”, offered a satirical depiction of Los Angeles’ cultural landscape, highlighting nightclubs, record stores, and other countercultural venues. This map mocked LA’s mainstream glitz and celebrated the underground scene that Zappa was a part of. His criticism of authority, shaped by the Watts riots and his own personal encounters with the police—including a notable arrest in 1965 where he was set up by undercover officers—left Zappa distrustful of law enforcement and fueled the anti-authoritarian views often expressed in his music. The map aligns with themes in Domenic Priore’s Riot on the Sunset Strip: Rock ‘n’ Roll’s Last Stand in Hollywood, which explores the conflict between 1960s youth counterculture and the establishment on LA’s Sunset Strip. Both works emphasize the importance of these cultural hubs as spaces for artistic freedom and the tension between these communities and authorities.
 
***Thurs, April 17, 2025 – 15th annual POETRY OF VENICE PHOTOGRAPHY discussion at VCS#12 at Venice Heritage Museum, free


*** Sat, May 24, 2025 (location TBA) It’s All Write Ma — Zimmy Zoomin’ Could it be RobbMe Zimmer as Noel Coward? and/or: “I don’t like propaganda in the theater unless it is disguised so brilliantly that the audience mistakes it for entertainment.” When asked “Are you a poet?” Bob responded “I’m a trapeze artist.” Bob says: “Don’t ever tell anyone everything you know.” and ““I didn’t create Bob Dylan. Bob Dylan has always been here.” “Are you going to play yourself?” Bob: “No, I am gonna play my mother.” TANGLED Up in EVERYawareNESS.


*** Sun, June 15, 2025 Bloomsday Psychedelia at Beyond Baroque, 6pm live readings & music, free


*** Sat, July 19, 2025 The 18th ANNUAL LIT SHOW with SUZY WILLIAMS & BRAD KAY is a LIVE EVENT at Beyond Baroque, 7pm


*** Sun, Oct 12, 2025, 6pm-live music, 7pm-films at Beyond Baroque - An Evening of Music Films with Mark Cantor: “I’ve Just Gotta See It But It Ain’t On YouTube Blues”


*** Sun, Nov 17, 2025 PXL THIS 35 Toy Camera Film Festival ONLINE Special thanks: Co-director Joey Huertas http://www.janepublic.com

And Technical advisor & archivist Sam R. Wilson http://www.pxl2k.com

PXL THIS 34 Toy Camera Film Festival https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jh15bRLVzc&t=242s

PXL THIS 33 Toy Camera Film Festival https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZKZzPtH5wk&t=1301s

PXL THIS 30 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n37t6IFU5jQ&t=3811s and

PXL THIS 31 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOnxqgFnMrU&t=5230s

PXL THIS 32 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFcMoSC7idY&t=1325s

The annual toy camera film festival features Pixelvision — Fisher Price PXL200. PXL THIS, one of the oldest film festivals in LA, celebrates visionary moving image artists from seminal experimental filmmakers to 10-years-olds to homeless to professionals. Lo-Fi Hi-Jinx


*** Every third Thursday at 3pm Venice Culture Salons (VCS) at Venice Heritage Museum 228 Main Street - Fun, fiery, interactive discussions about our Beachtown. Free admission. Bring your stories and tales. Delve deep into Venice music, film, art, literature & current events. Live oral history. Special guest: jan16:Linda Lucks of Venice Community Housing, feb20:Mary Jane, march20:Lydia Ponce (Note new regular time & day: 3rd Thursdays from 3 to 4:30pm) 


***EVERY FIRST TUESDAY of EVERY MONTH is Marshall McLuhan-FINNEGANS WAKE Reading Club online (aka VeniceWake Reading Club — James Joyce https://laughtears.com/McLuhanWake.html — Tuesday, Jan 7, 2025 is page17 https://pfsuzy.medium.com/marshall-mcluhan-finnegans-wake-reading-club-by-gerry-fialka-e90829d2c2c6


*** In Dec, 2025, tune in Gerry’s FRANK ZAPPA RANT on the annual Zappa Dan Radio on Reverend Dan’s Music for Nimrods https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FN4PNCNL1VQ

https://pfsuzy.medium.com/frank-zappa-art-laboe-rant-by-gerry-fialka-10-30-22-f733f7ac3db1


*** Read Gerry Fialka’s essay CAN ART STOP WAR? More: https://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/nexj/article/view/43254/32705

 and https://pfsuzy.medium.com/thanks-for-your-dedication-to-art-film-and-activism-2050966f9546


***Check out Gerry Fialka in book Frank Uhle book https://www.cinemaannarbor.com/


***Venice Beats news:

Pull My Daisy -Suzy sings Jack Keroauc& Allen Ginsburg = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwZHNx5qWIY

GF’s Venice BeachHead Beats article: https://thevenicebeachhead.com/2022/09/02/our-story-by-gerry-fialka/

Venice West Tour VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9vsPk1iSts


*** Every SUNDAY (except 2nd sundays) BRAD KAY, SUZY WILLIAMS and MEWS SMALL & HER FABULOUS FEMALES play music, for free, at THE UNURBAN CAFE 3301 Pico lvd, Santa Monica, CA from noon to 5pm.


We welcome your reactions to Fialka & Bartram’s funk song MMF by BSP

(same song on two youtube videos, one with still photo and one with an experimental film)

1= MMF by BSP still photo version

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqLG0k84bwA&t=0s

2= MMF by BSP https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0StWuiBqnQ

film version with strobe effect, viewer discretion


Check out NEW MIKE SAKAMOTO FILM https://gerryswake.com/

and two new channels:

The Secret Waters https://www.youtube.com/@thesecretwaters8558/videos

GFA Gerry Fialka Archives https://www.youtube.com/@gfa1930/videos


Fialka’s essay and performance for CRAIG BALDWIN: AVANT TO LIVE book https://pfsuzy.medium.com/craig-baldwin-reel-mutha-foya-by-gerry-fialka-21a28c1292aa


“…I say let the poets run the country, we’ll be better off with books and pens, instead of the misery of weapons…let the poets run the country who speak from the heart…we will have a country filled with rhymes and justice if for once, we let the poets run the country.” — Quique Aviles https://pfsuzy.medium.com/thanks-for-your-dedication-to-art-film-and-activism-2050966f9546


Norman Klein in this film https://danielrsmall.com/Future-Continuous

talks about Bauderlaire, and (at the 2:50 point ) says “If you try to make a statement long, deep, and rich, it will age very fast. if you try and only own the day you’re talking, it will last forever.”


“I have been forced to observe that most of the effects of any innovation occur before the actual innovation itself. In a word, a vortex of effects tends, in time, to become the innovation.” Marshall McLuhan 1971 letter to Muriel Bradbrook


*** GERRY’s ZOOM SALONS: Online discussions LZS — Laughtears Zoomin’ Salons every Monday, Tuesday & Wed, at 1:30pm Pacific time. And occasional Saturdays we go from 1 to 2:30pm. Probe the hidden psychic effects of human inventions and how they shape behaviour. Arts, literature, film, activism, new media, poetry, funk, jazz, avant-garde, new media, performance art, politics, cosmic wisdom, jokes. Ask about: Carl Jung Reading Group, Ulysses Reading Group, and more


***** DEDICATED to MARY JANE SHOULTZ https://obits.mlive.com/us/obituaries/annarbor/name/mary-shoultz-obituary?pid=205940082


2025 marks 45 year of Gerry Fialka in Venice, California. As well we celebrate the following:

PXL THIS Film Festival, established 1990–35th 


Marshall McLuhan — Finnegans Wake Reading Club since 1995–30th year


Venice Film Fest since 2003–22nd


The Lit Show (Suzy Williams & Brad Kay celebration of song and literature) since 2005–18th annual


The Poetry of Venice Photography since 2010–15th


MESS (Media Ecology Soul Salon — interview series) since 1992


Documental (film series) since 1995


7 Dudley Cinema (film series) since 1998


RIA (live cinema performances) since 2005


M.O.M. (Meditations On Media) since 1990


Laughtears Salon (discussion group) since 2015


BSP — Black Shoe Polish — avant funk blues jazz music collective — since 1982


LZS — Laughtears Zoomin’ Salons since 2020


Gerry’s ZappaDan Rant Music for Nimrods since 2008


Bob Dylan Celebration — It’s All Write Ma since 2000 — 25th


Marshall McLuhan/Finnegans Wake Reading Club (aka Venice Wake) celebrates our longevity and the 2023–2024 press coverage:

“Fialka brings his own distinctive approach. My phone interview with him lasted one hour and eight minutes, and its zigs, zags and sheer velocity were unmatched in my nearly 20-year journalism career. Was I writing about Finnegans Wake, or was I suddenly inside it?” — Lois Beckett, The Guardian 11–12–23 https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/nov/12/california-venice-book-club-finngeans-wake-28-years

and The Washington Post https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2023/11/16/finnegans-wake-book-club-california/

and

https://finwakeatx.blogspot.com/2023/11/guardian-observer-celebrates-galaxy-of.html

and

https://www.mentalfloss.com/posts/book-club-reading-james-joyce-finnegans-wake-30-years

and NEW YORK TIMES

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/07/books/finnegans-wake-james-joyce-venice-book-club.html

and RADIO:

https://www.kcrw.com/news/shows/greater-la/venice-book-club-humperdinck-indigenous/finnegans-wake

and

https://www.wbur.org/npr/1213890392/this-book-club-finally-finished-finnegans-wake-it-only-took-them-28-years

and

https://www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/finnegans-wake-book-club-1.7028252

and TV:

CBS Evening News and more https://www.youtube.com/@gfa1930/videos

https://pfsuzy.medium.com/laughtears-com-2023-info-events-44168e475550

Read articles by/about Gerry Fialka:

Venice BeachHead

https://thevenicebeachhead.com/2023/03/23/suzy-williams-venice-beats-ll-at-the-venice-west-sunday-april-2-2023-7pm/

https://thevenicebeachhead.com/2023/10/04/venice-jazz-is-jumpin-by-gerry-fialka/

https://thevenicebeachhead.com/2023/08/21/tribal-jive-here-wow-by-gerry-fialka/

https://thevenicebeachhead.com/2023/06/07/the-story-is-not-over-by-gerry-fialka/

https://thevenicebeachhead.com/2022/09/02/our-story-by-gerry-fialka/

https://thevenicebeachhead.com/2023/02/07/george-winston-interview-by-gerry-fialka/

https://freevenicebeachhead.com/

http://www.freevenice.org/

https://twitter.com/venicebeachhead?lang=en

https://thevenicebeachhead.com/2023/01/17/but-did-you-die-by-gerry-fialka/

Gerry article on George Carlin =

https://thevenicebeachhead.com/2022/06/05/george-carlin-is-home-by-gerry-fialka/

https://thevenicebeachhead.com/2022/08/01/theres-no-place-like-home-by-george-by-gerry-fialka/

Death in Venice as Be Nice Beachtown

https://pfsuzy.medium.com/death-in-venice-as-be-nice-beachtown-by-gerry-fialka-ed6c1d19ca5 8

The Streets Make the Canvas — Culture jamming

https://pfsuzy.medium.com/the-streets-make-the-canvas-by-gerry-fialka-venice-beachhead-oct-2020-cf9bb9a62e98

Medium.com

McFinn Salon https://pfsuzy.medium.com/

ReTylerize As Musical MashUp https://pfsuzy.medium.com/retylerize-as-musical-mashup-by-gerry-fialka-cb39c0d23fd c

Da Boardwalk https://medium.com/@ pfsuzy/boogaloo-up-da-boardwalk-by-gerry-fialka-june-july- 2020-c7105b105cb2

Cure for the Common Codebreaker https://medium.com/@pfsuzy/cure-for-the-common-codebreaker-by-germy-folkways-73e92782b7be

V for Venice https://medium.com/@pfsuzy/v-for-venice-by-gerry-fial ka-venice-beachhead-august- 2020–487a39d2283e

MESS — Media Ecology Soul Salons — Gerry Fialka interview series

Interviews are listed and posted many places, including YouTube and

https://archive.org/search.php ?query=fialka%20gerry

https://www.youtube.com/user/c lintonthegeek (includes McLuhanMashUp series)

https://docs.google.com/spread sheets/d/1EtuhFDTB2KCI7E2INxg VCg7Cc0cYX4OsvOw8ZxeAv0Q/edit# gid=0

https://www.library.ucsb.edu/special-collections/gerry-fialka-pxl-and-fialka-interview-archive-pa-mss-245

Tune in, Watch out and Drop In to Gerry Fialka’s two Interview/Salon podcasts on two different channels:

MESS & McLuhanMashUp

on Clinton Ignatov’s channel CONCERNED NETIZEN: https://www.youtube.com/user/clintonthegeek

and

INNERVIEWS & LAUGHTEARS SALONS

on Rob Grant’s channel — I’m Probably Wrong About Everything

https://www.youtube.com/@improbablywrongabouteveryt6781/streams

Please send us your reactions to the feature film

The Brother Side of the Wake (aka BroSide)

free on youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lYixmuJyjI&t=18s

https://pfsuzy.medium.com/brosiding-by-gerry-fialka-laughtears-com-cc69e3d43fb5

https://broside.wordpress.com/

ONE MINUTE BroSide preview trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBj0UdpFEWo

and MoSide https://laughtears.com/moside.html


Check out the book https://laughtears.com/strange-questions.html

Strange Questions: Experimental Film as Conversation — Compelling interviews with notables in avant-garde cinema offer insights into moving image art — its creative processes, formative influences, and hidden psychic effects. Through interviews with George Manupelli, Larry Gottheim, Chick Strand, Tom Gunning, Jay Rosenblatt, Martha Colburn, Evan Meaney, Mike Hoolboom, Robert Nelson, and Nina Menkes, Lynne Sachs, Strange Questions links powerful personal stories with the contemporary media-scape. Available here in paperback and kindle from Amazon

Check out: Fialka Book Release by Morgan Agren

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72kx9UQdt-A

and Fialka Book Release! (Redux) by Morgan and Tyler Bartram

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EvWq5dyLETE

and Bartram&Fialka Youtube channel https://www.youtube.com/@rondopandit/featured

Franky & Zimmy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASGJUwl8dks&t=39s

Stay tuned — Gerry Fialka pfsuzy@aol.com 310–306–7330 (landline)

MANY MORE HOT LINKS = laughtears.com 2024 info & events

https://pfsuzy.medium.com/laughtears-com-events-2024-c70e3dd3a58a


Laughtears.com 2023 Info & Events https://pfsuzy.medium.com/laughtears-com-2023-info-events-44168e475550

Laughtears.com 2022 Info & Events https://pfsuzy.medium.com/laughtears-com-2022-info-events-by-gerry-fialka-7515c701e16 

Laughtears.com wayback https://www.laughtears.com/index_old.html

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