Alternative Library

Hey Friends of the Lib! As a lot of you may know, the Alternative Library has been without a physical location in space time for a while now, and we miss it! We’re searching for a storefront/house/shipwreck/barn/spaceship or other suitable space to settle into in the so-called Bellingham area, which can safely and comfortably hold lots of books, people, sound, and publishing equipment. If you have any information or questions, email us at [email protected] !

Tatsuya Nakatani (Japan) returns to Bellingham next week, joined by Lost Sock (Cascadia), and spinning out of the weekly contact improvisation jam at the Akido dojo in Bellingham. Monday, March 2nd Aikido Peace Education Center 1101 N State Street • 5:30pm - Contact Improvisation Class • 7pm - Contact Improvisation Open Movement Jam • 8:30pm - Lost Sock (@melaniesehman + @futurespeciman ) live improvised music for movement • 9:15pm - Tatsuya Nakatani (@nakatanitatsuya ) solo percussion performance $10 suggested donation supports the artists and the venue Tatsuya Nakatani is an avant-garde percussionist, composer, and sound artist. His primary focus is his solo work and his large ensemble project, the Nakatani Gong Orchestra, which we hosted in 2019. Nakatani’s distinctive music centered around his adapted bowed gong, supported by an array of drums, cymbals, and singing bowls. In consort with his personally hand-carved Kobo Bows, he has spent decades refining and developing his sound as an arrangement of formations of vibrations, incorporated in shimmering layers of silence and texture. Within this contemporary work, one can still recognize the dramatic pacing, formal elegance and space (ma) felt in traditional Japanese music. Lost Sock is the duo of percussionist Melanie Sehman and multi-instrumentalist Future. The two met while playing in the chamber pop group Hooves & Beak, and began meeting before band practices to experiment with electronics and extended technique playing. The two continue to play together, but public shows are rare. This will be their first since 2021. We will also popup with our mutual aid zine distro, featuring a selection of zines available by donation. The venue is located up a flight of stairs, and the doors will be closed and locked, except for brief moments transition times. Please ring the doorbell to be let in if you arrive outside one of these transitions. If you have mobility accessibility needs, please contact us with 24-hours advance notice and we will make arrangements for you. #tatsuyanakatani #lostsock #melaniesehman

Rally with us for a night of live music to benefit the Minneapolis Community Aid Network (@communityaidnetworkmn ), and celebrate the culmination of our January Artist Residency at the Lookout Arts Quarry! Featuring performances from: • Glurge (@glurgeband ) • Ride it Out Forever (@rideitoutforever ) • Future (@futurespeciman ) Thursday, January 29th, 7:30pm Lookout Arts Quarry Warehouse Movement Studio 246 Old Hwy 99 N When you arrive, please park in the lower driveway and enter through the doors on the west side of the large blue corrugated metal building. Performances will be held in our warehouse movement studio. This concert will also be the culminating showcase for the Minneapolis-based @glurgeband who have been our January #LAQartistinresidence . Along with their performance, they will present a work-in-progress animated film, combining elements of hand-drawn and stop-motion animation, which has been the focus of their residency! We will have a popup literature and whistle distro from the Alternative Library (@bhamaltlib ) and support from MASS (@mutual.aid.sharing.songs ) ….. Community Aid Network (CANMN) is a grassroots volunteer-led organization located in the Bancroft neighborhood of Minneapolis, MN. We work to build solidarity with our neighbors, organize volunteers and redistribute resources to ensure everyone has the means for dignified survival. More information can be found at: Glurge is an apocalyptic dirge-pop duo from Minneapolis, comprised of Stu Cline (@rinbcage ) and Jessica Dzielinski (@animalstressdreams ). Their music has been described as scary and cinematic, with bizarre chord changes laid atop droning organs and explosive, tympani-like drums. Their songs are short and manic, encapsulating the feeling of a small bug trying to crawl out of the sink. ride it out forever is transsexual rage music from smellingham washington. not a mountain goats cover band. stringband punk for the perverts of america. Future Speciman is a librarian, editor, publisher, sound artist, performer, vagabond, gardener, musician, educator, sculptor, troublemaker, etc… ….. #LAQartistinresidence #LAQAiR #PNWartistresidency #artistresidency

Blow the Whistle on ICE: Developing a community alert system in Whatcom County. Monday, December 1st, 3-5pm 2123 New Street We have heard and seen reports coming from Los Angeles and Chicago of communities using whistles to help raise the alarm when ICE agents are identified in an area. Whistles can be heard from a distance, allowing us to communicate about the presence of ICE as they move through urban areas, and giving time and space for anyone who would be at risk of being targeted to get to safety. We will be distributing whistles and information regarding nationwide ICE resistance. Let’s talk about what we can do in Whatcom County to make our community safer ❤️ #bellingham #whatcomcounty #fuckICE

JOIN US THIS SATURDAY FOR THE INTERNATIONAL DAY OF SOLIDARITY WITH THE PALESTINIAN PEOPLE 🕊️🗝️🫒🇵🇸 On 11/29, from 12-6pm, at 1530 Birchwood Ave (next to Training Grounds Gym), the Whatcom community will gather in solidarity with the Palestinian People. Saturday will also be a celebration of the first day of #ReadPalestineWeek 📖 Attendees will have an opportunity to learn more about the connections between our local community and Palestine, while exploring a variety of creative activities, art, and unique handmade items. From 4:00 to 5:30 p.m., there will be a very special presentation featuring the words of Palestinian writers in Gaza, who are partnering with us for Read Palestine Week to share their poetry, stories, and other writing in support of specific Palestinian writers and ‘Eight Families in Gaza’. This will be a space to connect, learn, listen, and feel inspired to continue cultivating community in the name of liberation. We hope to see you there 📚🎨🎤🇵🇸

BELLINGHAM: TONIGHT at 2123 New Street. Come eat food and listen to Eric King’s wisdom on prisons and state violence. You can challenge him to a game of Scrabble, but you will lose.

This Friday, we (& @bhamaltlib ) are hosting @supportericking to spread the good-bad word on all things prisons, state repression & rebellion in times of Holy-Fucking-Shit-Hell crisis. We will also have free food. Eric is a good friend and father. He’s also a former political prisoner who spent 10 years behind bars. A Clean Hell tells the story of Eric’s decade in prison: the years of surveillance and retaliation, the years locked in solitary confinement, the reality of being known as a “race traitor,” and the daily acts of resistance that kept him alive.

Our annual Fall renegade show is here, and this time we’re excited to present the Saharan desert rock band, TAKAAT! This show will be held at a public outdoor location in Bellingham, which will be announced with an e-mail to ticket holders on the day before the show! Tickets available via Brown Paper Tickets: / (🗣 link in story highlights 🗣) TAKAAT (pronounced tuh-cot), meaning “noise” in the Tuareg language Tamashek, is the trio of Ahmoudou Madassane, Mikey Coltun, and Souleymane Ibrahim, also known as the rhythm section of Mdou Moctar. TAKAAT is sonic chaos, improvisation, freedom of exploration, and the punk styles of bands such as Fugazi and Unwound, all mixed together with the guitar music from the Sahel. TAKAAT started during soundchecks while on the road with Mdou Moctar when the trio indulged their shared love for amps cranked to 11 and the sound of blown out speakers. Towards the end of 2023, the three started writing music together, inspired by their shared experiences with the sounds and energy of Hausa bar bands, gritty soukous, and 2000s post-punk. The music of TAKAAT is intense, dark, and energetic. Deeply inspired by the DIY ethos of punk, Ahmoudou, Mikey, and Souleymane capture that thrill of the new and the ecstasy of togetherness in these heavy rockers. TAKAAT follows in the spirit of the independent music culture that birthed hardcore basement shows, bedroom tape labels, and generator-powered pick-up wedding bands. TAKAAT is noise! /album/takaat-is-noise-vol-1 We’re happy to be joined by the fantastic local guitarist, John Swanke, who will perform an opening set: / Poster designed by Robert Beatty (@robertbeattyart )💥 #takaat #mdoumoctar #bellingham #johnswanke #bellinghamrenegades #autonomous

We just printed a bunch of these double-sided red cards with bilingual English and Spanish text, to help people assert their rights in interactions with law enforcement officers. If you work with communities that could find this helpful and want to help distribute them, please just DM us to arrange to get some. Cards were printed on our handy Risograph GR-3770. ❤️

Thank you to everyone who braved the wind and rain last Saturday for the Palestine benefit event under the bridge. We raised around $400, no small feat given the weather. If you’d like to get involved directly, you can sign up to support a family via @creatorsforgaza . On their website, you’ll find a long list of families that are raising money to escape the ongoing terror in Gaza. Many thanks also to the bands that performed: @melancholianw , @deeprecess , @pyroceneband and @esophogram .

Next Saturday under the bridge: @melancholianw @deeprecess @pyroceneband & @esophogram face the Final Boss. Arrive at 6:30. Music at 7. Literature available. Funds to Gaza.

Rare box of Alternative Library silkscreened cotton long sleeves just released!!! Get ‘em before they turn vintage!!! Artwork by Ron Regé Jr. ~Each order comes with a surprise sticker zine package~ Webstore link in bio. or DM for local pickup!!!