Culture Connect Featured Event

Franklin Street Works is proud to present an evening of music and readings with Kent Evans, author and multi-platform artist. This free public event is Thursday, September 20, from 5:30 – 7 p.m. and features Kent Evans’ forthcoming novel A Crash Course on the Anatomy of Robots, which releases on September 17, 2012 (Pangea Books). Franklin Street Works is excited to be one of the first venues to host Evans after the release of his highly praised novel in this unique event which includes the author reading and playing a live musical performance. Kent Evans will play guitar, Laura Wilson will be on violin, and Andrew Trudeau will join with multiple instruments. At the event audiences can also enjoy Franklin Street Work’s current group show, “VHS The Exhibition”! Curated by Rebecca Cleman, the exhibition explores VHS as a tool and inspiration for artistic experimentation, with a heavy dose of ephemera from the ‘80s analogue culture.

Kent Evans’ A Crash Course on the Anatomy of Robots is a gripping action-adventure novel inspired by personal events in the author’s life. Evans’ explains, “The book is sort of a love song of being an artist, traveler, disastrous relationships and the experience of the death of my parents.” The main character, Damien Wood, is a young man who lived his life as a mere robot, hurling himself with abandon from place to place and from one hollow commitment to another. It is only after a series of tragedies that Damien’s full spectrum of emotions start to emerge, which sends him to Asia on a dark odyssey of self-revelation. The book has been widely praised, including Inés Ferrero Cándenas observation, “Crash Course travels on the wings of poetry, autobiography, relationships and humor to cross-examine modern reality and cultural rebellion.” Kent Evans also collaborated with musicians for an original soundtrack accompanying the book, available now on iTunes.

About Kent Evans:

Half Cantonese and half UK, Kent Evans was born in New York City in 1975 and grew up between New York, Connecticut, and Rhode Island. After graduating from New York University, he began traveling extensively throughout North America, Europe, Asia, and the Caribbean. He is the author of Malas Ondas: Lime, Sand Sex and Salsa in the land of conquistadors, a semi-autobiographical novel about self-destruction throughout Latin America and finding love.  A fixture on the spoken word and experimental art scene in the 90’s, the artist has performed at such venues as Madison Square Garden Theatre and Académie Beaux Arts in Paris. His creative non-fiction and opinion pieces have appeared in numerous national pop-culture and literary zines and publications.

Kent is currently pursuing his artistic craft through music and fiction. His performance of choice involves gathering non-traditional musicians – DJ’s, classical players, Latin funk bands – and performing poetry in a live Jazz/Trip-Hop format.