Dream Jungle Cover Art Courtesy Viking Press

*note: TICKETS will be available at the door (limited availibility).
$35 - RED seats
$25 - General Admission

NO DISCOUNTS will be available for this show.
All proceeds will go directly to Bindlestiff's programming and administration.

Bindlestiff Studio proudly welcomes Jessica Hagedorn back to San Francisco in celebration of the upcoming release of her much anticipated new novel, Dream Jungle (Viking 2003). Critically acclaimed for her rich, edgy novels that explore both the chasm and the connections between Filipino and American cultures, and renowned for her seminal anthology of contemporary Asian American fiction, Charlie Chan is Dead (Penguin 1993), Ms. Hagedorn will read, discuss, and share thoughts on her first novel in nearly seven years. All proceeds from this special one-time event will benefit Bindlestiff Studio's future artistic programming and current transition out of the soon-to-be demolished Plaza Hotel.

Rex Navarette will MC the nights events. Also performing will be Bay Area spoken word artists, 8th Wonder, and SOMA-core punksters, Potato Couch.

Produced by: Christine Bacareza Balance and Olivia Malabuyo

Background

"In a panoramic tapestry, Jessica Hagedorn weaves many stories of the quest for identity, cultural and personal. A novel of marvelous invention, Dream Jungle searches beyond the comforts of illusion and entertainments of the virtual to the unanswerable riddles of the past and arrives at the reality of the present."
--Maureen Howard

Jessica Hagedorn burst onto the American literary scene in 1990 with the publication of Dogeaters, her lush, adventurous first novel, which was nominated for the National Book Award. Born and raised in the Philippines, Hagedorn is a novelist, poet, performance artist, and screenwriter who is widely acknowledged as one of our leading Asian-American voices.

With DREAM JUNGLE (Viking; September 29, 2003; 0-670-88458-8; 325 pages), Hagedorn delivers her first novel in seven years and richest novel to date. It is a story that reaches beyond the Filipino and Filipino-American experience to explore the universal themes of power, money, race and colonialism. Two real-life events that both took place in the Philippines--the discovery of an ancient "lost tribe" in a remote mountain area of the rain forest and the filming of the movie Apocalypse Now--are the inspiration for DREAM JUNGLE. The novel also tells the intertwined tales of four unforgettable characters:

Zamora de Lagazpi, a wealthy but disillusioned Filipino "mestizo" landowner who claims to have found and made contact with a "Paleolithic lost tribe" of the Philippines. Still, he cannot escape the ennui that is the fate of his privileged, yet corrupt, social class, which lives at the mercy of the Marcoses.

Rizalina, the resourceful, intelligent, young daughter of Zamora's cook. She flees the de Lagazpi estate and avoids the sexual advances of Zamora only to fall into the seedy world of strip clubs catering to sex trade tourists. Too clever to remain a victim, her fortunes change when she meets Vincent, an attractive American actor.

Vincent Moody, a troubled and disillusioned actor, escapes California and finds release in the exoticism of the Philippines. He falls deeply in love with Rizalina while filming a movie there about the Vietnam War.

Paz Marlowe, a young Filipino-American journalist, returns to the Philippines when her mother dies. She decides to stay in the country in order to research two stories---one about Zamora and one about the filming of the American movie.

Through these diverse yet equally compelling voices, Hagedorn tells a rich story of a country in crisis-the beauty, spirit, corruption, and desperation that was the tumultuous Philippines of the 1970's.

Hagedorn became interested in writing about the filming of Apocalypse Now in the Philippines when she frequently visited her family in Manila in the 70's. Sets from the movie remained standing, lurking as eerie physical reminders of the huge and lingering impact the Hollywood invasion had on the area. Every local had a story to tell about their association with the film or contact with the cast and crew. Hagedorn saw it as a clear illustration of the overwhelming impact America has had on the Philippines and the ongoing difficult relationship between the two countries.

Tres Generaciones: Book Launching Event for Jessica Hagedorn's new novel Dream Jungle
A benefit event for Bindlestiff Studio
presented by
Bindlestiff Studio

when:

Monday, October 20th @ 7pm

where:

Bindlestiff Studio (MAP) 185 Sixth Street (between Mission and Howard) San Francisco (415) 974-1167 shows:   for more information contact:   415-974-1167 www.bindlestiffstudio.org/jhagedorn.html How do I pickup my tickets? If you purchase your tickets online, your name will be on a will call list at the theatre. How do I know it's not sold out? If you see a "buy tickets" link below the show, that means that tickets are still available for purchase. Once you select the number of tickets you'd like to purchase, we place those in a hold for you. All you'll need to do is complete the purchase, and those tickets are yours. Once we've sold out of a show's allotted seats, you'll see the words "sold out" below the show listing. Is there a service fee? There's no fee for purchasing tickets online through manja.org (if there's sufficient interest, we'd like to provide this service as a community alternative to ticketmaster). All of the money goes to the artists to help cover the cost of the production. What forms of payment do you accept? We use PayPal to process payment, so we can accept major credit cards and PayPal account transfers. Questions/Comments? Need more assistance? Have feedback? Interested in selling tickets online for your event?