Toxic Pop Newsletter

Since 2003 Toxic Pop has been bringing NYC the most comprehensive listings of underground performance, art, comedy, burlesque, music, parties, and film. Each and every Tuesday morning, we'll infiltrate your inbox with these listings plus editorial from the NYC underground's best and brightest art stars.

Here you can:

Meet the Toxic Pop Twins (your editors)

Michele Carlo has lived in four of the five boroughs of NYC and can remember when a slice of pizza cost fifty cents. She has been published in the short story anthology Chicken Soup For The Latino Soul, is the curator/producer of It Came From New York, a storytelling show featuring and celebrating native New Yorkers. She is a frequent contributor to NYC's storytelling community, appearing with The Moth, (two-time Grandslammer and MainStage), Speakeasy, TalkingStick and The L.I.A.R. Show. Michele has also been part of NYC's alternative performance scene since 1996. Her alter-ego character, Carmen Mofongo, who channeled the spirit of Carmen Miranda for our generation, was a well-known and well-loved cult figure, appearing in venues too numerous (and sometimes too torturous) to mention. She has created three one-woman shows, hosted and performed in countless burlesque and variety shows, and appeared in off and off-off Broadway theater and independent films (most of which no one has ever seen). She is currently at work on a memoir of growing up in the NYC of the 70s-80s, entitled Red Sheep: The Search For My Inner Latina.

Courtney Weber is a writer, performer, astrologer and Tarot reader. Her fiction has been published on Failbetter.com and in Bank Street Magazine. Her short story, This Is What Gets Me was nominated for a Pushcart Prize and mentioned in "Notable Short Stories of 2004." Under the pen name of Sister Mary Manhattan, Courtney is the author of the cult-favorite astrologyexplained.blogspot.com, and the host of the monthly stage show, The Ass-tro Hour with Sister Mary Manhattan at Stain Bar in Bushwick, a paranormal-themed showcase utilizing storytelling, dance, music, puppetry and character performance. Courtney has performed as a featured storyteller in It Came From New York, as well as a stock character in The Lower East Side Price is Wrong and the annual Mr. Lower East Side Pageant. In February, 2008, she was be a featured astrologer and Tarot reader at Evolver: Wake Up and Dream in collaboration with Reality Sandwich and Jivamuki Yoga School. She has a habit of losing shoes in public places.