Sunday night the newly opened restaurant CoCo J’Adore on little West 12th Street in New York’s Greenwich Village hosted an evening of “Verbal Burlesque” featuring Michael Imperioli, best known for his work as Christopher Moltisanti on The Sopranos, and punk musician Lydia Lunch.
The standing room only crowd heard Imperioli read from his recently published novel The Perfume Burned His Eyes, which is a coming of age story about growing up in New York City in the 1970’s that received rave reviews from Publisher’s Weekly and Kirkus, as well as praise from Joyce Carol Oates. A slightly grayer and bespectacled Imperioli read two excerpts from the book with fellow actors EJ Carroll and Nomi Ruiz about the 17 year-old dinner delivery boy who befriends Lou Reed, while guitarist Elijah Amitin played in the background.
Editor Lori Perkins With Michael Imperioli
Lydia Lunch followed with an excerpt from her just-published collection of essays So Real It Hurts in which she shared a darker tale about a night in Istanbul with two American frat dudes who will never forget her. Her reading was accompanied by musicians Tim Dahl and Matt Nelson.
Lydia Lunch
After the reading both Imperioli and Lunch were available for signing of their books.
This was the kind of New York event that you imagine happens in the city all the time, but is surprisingly rare in Manhattan nowadays with rising commercial rents. We hope CoCo J’Adore continues to host these literary evenings, perhaps even with some romantic elements!
