Best Nonprofessional Reading Series

People in the dance-music community tend to be a boisterous lot. They like to drink, they like to snort, they like to get in all sorts of trouble staying up past dawn. Thanks to the "Bored Collective," you can hear about such activities. Begun by local scribes Amanda Nowinski and Billie Sharp a year ago, the now-quarterly event started as a way for fans, writers, DJs, and musicians to get off the dance floor and in front of the mike. So far, the "Collective" has hosted such luminaries as DJ Spooky, nightlife chronicler Camper English, DJ and producer Charlotte the Baroness, and URBEditor Tamara Palmer, while featuring the music of Spacetime Continuum's Jonah Sharp and laptop hip hop duo Blaktroniks. Topics range from the ever-popular first Ecstasy trip and the best burrito in town to what it's like being a female DJ in a male-dominated scene and why everyone should bow down before Hans Kaufmann's cock. Increasingly, the night has moved away from standard drug and dance histories to feature puppet acts and snarky game shows. In February, the "Collective" held its first wrestling match, during which a thoroughly drunk ambient electro artist named O.S.T. pulled off the shorts of minimalist techno producer Kit Clayton, fingering his butthole and exposed penis. When was the last time you saw that at a poetry slam?