Instagram story viewer> @nathan.m.langston> Posts

Nathan Langston

@nathan.m.langston

738

followers

817

following

Artist, designer, writer, musician, Papa

POSTS STORIES REELS TAGGED

Congregation, let us now celebrate and praise the one and only Amber Flame! Amber will be gracing SUNDAY SERVICE on Sunday Nov 15th at the historic Kenyon Hall!

The first time I heard Amber Flame read, all the hair on my neck and arms stood on end and I thought WHO THE F IS THAT!? After she finished, the raucous audience was also standing in ovation for the sheer, spectacular, open-hearted jubilance of one of the finest voices in the Pacific Northwest. Goddamn! I was instantly a fan-boy!

Publishers Weekly called Amber’s full length poetry collection, APOCRIFA, “expansive and formally inventive,” saying that “the strength of this collection lies in the structural ingenuity of the poems.” Flame has published 18 books including “Someplace Generous: An Inclusive Romance Anthology.”

But beyond accolades from the likes of the Pushcart Prize, Amber’s performances are just fun as hell and deeply, emotionally resonant. And when she sings (as she does with her band The Red Hot Mamas) I feel like I’m at church… a church I’d want to go to, a church with all of the good stuff and none of the bad stuff, a church where everybody is generously welcomed in.

Get your tickets now to see the extraordinary Amber Flame bring down the house at SUNDAY SERVICE, Nov 15 at Kenyon Hall!

Tickets in our bio, comments or at Kenyon Hall. All profits to the West Seattle Food Bank.

@theamberflame @psychopompprojects @historickenyonhall @art_goers @kayleecole @thefrizzler @israelnebeker @westseattlefoodbank taken in Kenyon Hall by @nathan.m.langston

20

0

12 hours ago

Friends, I am humbly asking for your support in these most urgent of times. You can show your support by tithing with a one-time donation of $15 to $250 to buy a ticket for SUNDAY SERVICE on Sunday, November 15 at Kenyon Hall. All profits will go to the West Seattle Food Bank.

Tickets in our bio or the comments or at Kenyon Hall.

Folks, I won’t sugarcoat this. We’re currently being outspent by everything that makes us less alive. Never before has it been so critical for us humans to congregate in the wild, joyful, pants-pooping-ly bananas communion of a 100% fake-ass church service. You owe it to your heart and to the generations to come to reserve your pew seat now.

If you’ve never attended SUNDAY SERVICE, here’s what you should know. There’s no religion and nobody’s going to try to convince you to believe anything except that being mortal is precious and being together feels fun as hell. We will sing together. There will be some fake preaching and hilarious prayers. There will be candles and popcorn and a 1929 Mighty Wurlitzer organ. In lieu of scripture, we will have the brilliant poetry and writing of Amber Flame and Christopher Frizzelle. And our make-believe congregation will be blessed by the singin’ and strumin’ and indefatigable tenderness of the famed Israel Nebeker and the sublime spark-plug that is Sister Kaylee Cole.

Not tomorrow. Not next week. Now. Buy your ticket for SUNDAY SERVICE right now. The future of everything everywhere depends on getting your sad ass down to church to party with us.

Benevolent blessings,
The Good Rev. N.M. Langston

@psychopompprojects @historickenyonhall @westseattlefoodbank @theamberflame @thefrizzler @israelnebeker @kayleecole @art_goers taken in Kenyon Hall by @nathan.m.langston

51

2

2 days ago

DESPITE EVERYTHING

At lunch in South Lake Union,
strolling to the good burrito cart,
I feel so thankful I don’t understand
all of these languages I hear.

Hindi, Japanese, Mandarin, Tagalog, French,
Urdu, German, Spanish, Vietnamese, Somali…
I’ve got no clue what any words mean.

All I get is the music of it, inflected
chirps of vowels and percussive
punctuation of clipped consonants.
Everybody singing at each other!
Everybody pausing as a siren passes!

For example, this lady is clearly laying
some proper sass on the dude she’s with
and he’s underplaying his reaction like
Oh yes, yes, darling, of course, darling, yes
and I know precisely what they mean
without understanding a single word.

All these swooping, swirling
languages that are thousands
of years old, from thousands
of miles away, rise and fall
like the wind, setting tree branches
to whispering, each to each.

And the dude starts laughing!
And a laugh is a laugh is a laugh.
And her eyes at him say everything
that has got to get said.

And it suddenly occurs to me
that, despite everything, I remain
a wholehearted fan of human beings.

And here I am. On Earth.
Eating a burrito
with tears in my eyes. taken in South Lake Union by @nathan.m.langston

7

0

3 days ago

SUNDAY SERVICE is back by popular demand on Sunday, November 15th at Kenyon Hall! Get your tickets and come on down to praise your face off because this fake church service is going to be EPIC!

We will be graced by the angelic songs of Israel Nebeker, the lead singer and songwriter of the beloved band Blind Pilot! NPR wrote, “Israel Nebeker has a voice that radiates authenticity: Not only is his tone utterly convincing, but he also has a way of relating to listeners’ lives in ways even more experienced singers can’t muster.”

We will blessed by the pure, sexy jubilation of Amber Flame, whose cherished verse and song will have you hollering AMEN and banging your tambourine in the aisles. Amber Flame is a queer Black dandy mama who falls hard for a jumpsuit and some fresh kicks and ALWAYS brings the house down!

We will also be anointed by everybody’s favorite literary phenomenon, Christopher Frizzelle, the longtime editor-in-chief of the Stranger, creator of the Silent Reading Party, publisher of fantastic books and writer extraordinaire!

We will be joined once again by the supernatural dynamo Sister Kaylee Cole on the Mighty Wurlitzer Organ, with the outlandish preaching of the Good Rev. N.M. Langston. Our fake congregation, The Chapel of Immaculate Bombast, is make-believe but our lack of anything resembling religion is made up for in praise, thanks giving, and singing together. Everybody’s way is good to us so long as it makes life jump up and live again!

As always, profits from the service go to the West Seattle Food Bank to help out our families and neighbors in need.

So get your tickets for SUNDAY SERVICE in our bio link or in the comments or at Kenyon Hall. Get your ass down church! It’ll do your poor heart some proper good!

@psychopompprojects @historickenyonhall @israelnebeker @westseattlefoodbank @kayleecole @art_goers @theamberflame @thefrizzler taken in Kenyon Hall by @nathan.m.langston

31

1

8 days ago

It was exactly one year ago that the third game of TELEPHONE was published. Consisting of original and interconnected works by 1,395 artists from 930 cities in 65 countries, TELEPHONE remains the largest collection of contemporary ekphrastic art in history. On this anniversary, we hope you will revisit the online exhibition of this utterly epic game, which will remain available to the public for free in perpetuity. (Available at telephonegame.art)

We must specifically praise and thank the astonishing and tireless efforts of Matt Diehl, Ben Sarsgard, Katelyn Watkins, Kelly Jones, Ramon Rodriguez, Karim Shehadeh, Shawn Yue, and Sergio Rodriguez. For the massive physical exhibition in Seattle at Base Camp Studios, we express our deepest gratitude to Emily Andrews, Jeremy Buben, Paul Nunn, and Nick Ferderer.

At least three scholarly papers about TELEPHONE are forthcoming in 2027 in books being published by Oxford University Press, Routledge, and Bloomsbury Publishing. We’ll let all you theory nerds know when those are out.

While this was the largest project to date by Psychopomp Projects, we have remained busy here in the Pacific Northwest, most recently with our beloved fake church shows entitled SUNDAY SERVICE and another large scale project (still secret) that we’re cooking up for Spring 2027, and OOF! This one is gonna be fun!

Such deep love and admiration and gratitude to all y’all,

Nathan Langston | Director

@psychopompprojects @nathan.m.langston @base.camp.studios taken in Earth by @nathan.m.langston

151

10

10 days ago

by @nathan.m.langston

13

1

12 days ago

I like it when friends really make the effort to come visit my home up on the 6th floor. Makes me feel SEEN. by @nathan.m.langston

11

0

14 days ago

by @nathan.m.langston

17

1

23 days ago

Aw HELL YEAH! Just got my copy of Johan Liedgren’s new book “How To Kiss A Cannibal: Writings on Liminality.” Highly, highly recommended! Some of you in the Seattle scene have known Johan for a long time, never knowing that he’s been cooking up this little masterpiece the whole time. Moreover, this book is hitting perfectly at this exact moment in history. Do yourself a favor and order yourself a copy of this delightfully profound work. WOWZA! Huge congratulations @liedgren by @nathan.m.langston

27

4

a month ago

A few more from SUNDAY SERVICE at the Chapel of Immaculate Bombast. If anyone else took pics, please send em our way!

Featuring @nickjaina @art_goers @foxandbones @raearmantrout @kayleecole @art_goers @psychopompprojects @historickenyonhall @westseattlefoodbank @cptcooter @foxyasfolk @andreaplaysguitar taken in Kenyon Hall by @nathan.m.langston

20

0

2 months ago

There’s no two ways about it. SUNDAY SERVICE was AGAIN a spectacular evening of fellowship. WOW WOW WOW. It just felt so very and deeply good.

Sure, it’s a fake church, a make-believe congregation, but the art and feels and responses were profoundly real. It seems a miracle that we got such talent and spirit all together for fictional worship at a pretend church in one of the best and oldest venues in Seattle- either wild, random luck or divined providence.

Either way, it’s been made plainly clear to us by those in attendance that we MUST do another. It seems this lovely prank of ours has a life of its own.

Many blessings and see you soon!

@foxyasfolk @nickjaina @art_goers @foxandbones @kayleecole @raearmantrout @historickenyonhall @psychopompprojects taken in Kenyon Hall by @nathan.m.langston

19

4

2 months ago

Nick Jaina is easily one of the finest artists I have ever had the privilege and pleasure to know. The last time we brought him to Seattle was for the sold-out series Spektrum Tea Service, an intimate color-based interdisciplinary experience, based on a book he wrote, which was itself based on a physical gallery experience he helped create. He has published four books, recorded at least eleven studio albums, founded a ballet company in New York and composed scores for it, among countless other wild and beautiful endeavors.

Now he brings us a film, with live music and literature, entitled “Abrazo,” based on his incredible new visual and poetic book of the same name. This will be the only performance of the work in Seattle and you’ll need to see it to believe it. You owe it to yourself to witness it because it’s gonna do good things for your heart!

Come see Nick Jaina live at SUNDAY SERVICE, this Sunday at 7pm at Kenyon Hall.

Tickets are available from $20-$200 with all profits going to the West Seattle Food Bank.

You can find tickets online at Kenyon Hall or via the link in our bio or in our comments. We’ll see you for fake church at SUNDAY SERVICE!

@nickjaina @art_goers @kayleecole @foxandbones @historickenyonhall @westseattlefoodbank @psychopompprojects taken in Kenyon Hall by @nathan.m.langston

54

3

2 months ago