DATEBOOK: February 11–17 (+SCENE REPORT!)

St. Valentine is calling his disciples to a cornucopia of Lover's Day readings PLUS a Club Smut scene report from London

Feb 11, 2025

Happy Valentine’s Week lovers! The week ahead is absolutely chock full of lovey-dovey, smutty-slutty Valentine’s readings and events. If you go to any of these, DM me pictures and videos! And stay below the fold for a very smutty London scene report from Rory.

xoxo Scremes

🌹 Tuesday, February 11

Pioneer Works presents: Ariana Reines and Eileen Myles in Conversation | 7 pm at Pioneer Works (159 Pioneer St.) BK. $15–20 tickets available here.

🌹 Thursday, February 13

Montez Press presents: Independent Publishers Showcase feat. Sam Cottington and Rosanna McLaughlin | 6:30 pm at The Library at Deptford Lounge (SE8 4RH) LDN. Free
Meeting of the Lovers feat. Whitney Mallett, Matt Starr, Chris Murphy, Sahir Ahmed, Camille Sojit Pejcha, Brianna Lance, and Devan Diaz. Hosted by Sam Falb | 6 pm at Susan Inglett Gallery (522 W 24th St.) NY. Free– RSVP here.
Limousine and Angel Food Magazine present: “Readings on Love” feat. Ashley Escobar, Rob Franklin, Alicia Mountain, and Karen Yuan | 7 pm at Anaïs Wine Bar (196 Bergen St.) BK. SOLD OUT! Join the waitlist.
Mind Palace Poetry presents: Marathon, a Valentine’s Eve Reading feat. Laura Anne Whitley, Maxelle Talena, Sophie Christenberry, Kate Cavanaughm Nomi Burjorjee-Van Pelt, Oliver Scialdone, Serena Devi, Ed Halliday, Betsy Studholme, Rob Kempton, Ryn Braxton, Rachel Menge, and Michael Baruch | 7 pm at Mood Ring. BK. Free.
Roasting House Reading Series hosted by Noa Azulai and Madeleine Gregory | 7 pm at Kos Kaffe Roasting House (251 5th Ave.) BK. Free– RSVP here.

🌹 Friday, February 14

Club Wonder presents Only Lovers Left Alive feat. Courtney Bush, Bimbi Mafia Mangione, Benin Gardner, Juliet Gelfman-Randazzo, Emily Brandt, and Riley Mac. Hosted by Annie Lou Martin & Nico Bryan | 7 pm at Mood Ring. BK. Free.
Tense presents: Rapture, A Valentine’s Day Soirée feat. Rachel Rabbit White, Nico Walker, Beckett Rosset, Maya Martinez, Dorothea Laskey, Valley Latini, and Kyla Ernst Alper | 8 pm at KGB / Private Curtain. $20 tickets available here.

🌹 Saturday, February 15

Designers for Altadena, hosted by Bestor Architecture. Readings, art, and silent auction. All proceeds benefit St. Elizabeth School students and families | 1 pm at Bestor Architecture (2030 Hyperion Ave.) LA. Free– RSVP here.
Stella Barey presents: An X-Rated Reading of Erotic Philosophy | 4 pm at Des Pair Books (1543 Echo Park Ave.) LA. Free

🌹 Sunday, February 16

Risograph mini-zine workshop by Heavy Manners Library | 1 pm at Heavy Manners Library (1200 N Alvarado St.) LA. $82 tickets available here.
A Lampblack Lit Reading feat. Tracey Rose Peyton, Emily Raboteau, and Nicole Sealy | 4 pm at Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts (10 Lafayette Ave.) BK. Free– RSVP here.
Another Discount Guillotine Reading feat. Jessie McCarty, Em Brill, Heather Glynis, Ben Fama, and A Being | 7 pm at TALON (220 Wyckoff Ave.) BK. $5 at the door.

🌹 Monday, February 17

The Thing Is… feat. Caroline Calloway, Rachel Coster, Jay Jurden, Luke Rathborne, and Ivy Wolk. Hosted by Alex Arthur | 7 pm at Jean’s (415 Lafayette). NY. Free– Get on the list here.

Club Smut Feb. 8 — Scene report by Rory Horne

Tucked away within a vast industrial estate in the far reaches of North London, there is smut. At least for one cold February night.

This is a Club Smut, the 3rd birthday party for Smut Press. Launched in London in 2022 by Irish photographers Jordan Hearns and Jack Scollard, Smut Press's growing output of fragmental snapshots of queer life via photo books, zines and other collections have consistently incorporated the club scene. Gay hedonism and debauchery is maybe the imprint's strongest through-line.

Gathering their audience in this warehouse — glowing red, temporary dividing walls pulsing with the beat, a 10-foot long set of anal beads strung above the dancers — marks a natural move from documenting that nightlife to creating it.

“She was a fixture of the London club scene.”

Winter in a warehouse, and they want it to be hot and steamy? Shirts off? Reckless abandon? Easy fix: radiators. As the DJs warmed up the decks, the sharp blaze of what felt like patio heaters hitting our faces from above warmed the crowd. I mean, it worked, shirts came off, skin got sticky. The energy and throb radiating out to the crowd surrounding the decks — a total 360 — drew us all into the irresistible flame of the pulsating beat.

Smut suggests something dirty or unseemly, hiding poorly, barely veiled. Beyond the aforementioned anal beads and the cloakroom area, which was labeled the “ANAL PLEASURE RESEARCH CENTRE”, any sexuality here was the responsibility of the attendees. It surely was tucked away in corners, in cubicles, or at the eventual afters (though the end time was billed as 4am, DJs were still playing until nearly 5:30).

Scratch a little at the surface and what you want will reveal itself. Know what you're looking for and you'll find it — even if it means a ten minute walk through an industrial estate in the dead of London winter to get there.