Singer-songwriter Alina Simone has accomplished a creative feat that would irk even industrious folk. She’s just released a great new album of original songs, Make Your Own Danger, which she’ll perform tomorrow night at Joe’s Pub, AND she’s published a collection of wry, fascinating essays of her life as a Ukrainian-born musician titled, You Must Go and Win. The combination of her Russian heritage and her escapades as a struggling artist provide fodder for poignant and hilarious tales like arriving in her native Kharkov to meet The Cousin Who Drinks Water. No matter how foreign the territory, be it a studio or the Ukraine, Simone’s writing is imminently relatable. (Prior to meeting a shady producer, she describes the sensation as “hope slippage–the quick drop of pressure when oversized expectations are ratcheted down, violently and without warning.”) Tonight at 7pm, she reads from the book and sings with another author/singer, Wesley Stace, at WORD, where strange Doukhobors delicacies will be served (a reference to one of Simone’s stories). We’re giving away 5 copies of her CD and book to random readers who can tell us the name of the pop star Simone was briefly obsessed with last year. (Hint: Simone covered one of her songs for us.) Email us your answers by this afternoon!
