Monthly Archive for March, 2024

Chicagoland Bookstore Crawl, Independent Bookstore Day, April 27th

Apr
27
12:00 pm

Independent Bookstore Day – Saturday, April 27, 2024

Quimby’s is celebrating Independent Bookstore Day this year in 2 great ways! We’re a stop on the annual IBD Chicagoland Bookstore Crawl, and we’re also featuring an in-store event with Bianca Xunise in discussion with Jessica Hopper to celebrate the release of PUNK ROCK KARAOKE.

About the 2024 Chicagoland Bookstore Crawl

Yet again, Chicagoland proves itself to be the dream destination for book lovers and readers of all ages! More than 40 independent bookstores in the greater Chicago area—from Lake Forest to Beverly, and Naperville to the Loop—are collaborating on our annual Chicagoland Bookstore Crawl, which encourages book lovers to indulge in bookstore tourism by visiting 10 or more stores in a single day.

The annual challenge is being held again on Independent Bookstore Day (IBD), which is a one-day national party celebrating indie book stores on the last Saturday in April. Each store creates its own unique events—including guest authors, special kids’ story times, readings, contests, giveaways, and special sales.

How to Participate…
Select your first bookstore and receive a passport and your first stamp.

Now check out the map—which lists all the participating stores—and start planning your route!

Additional bookstores you visit throughout the day will provide you with a stamp with no purchase required! (However, showing them some love today, too, would of course be a very cool thing to do.)

And to remind you of the goals:

• Visit TEN stores in one day and get 10% off at all participating bookstores for an ENTIRE YEAR!

• Visit FIFTEEN stores in one day and get 15% off at all participating bookstores for an ENTIRE YEAR!

After visiting 10 or 15 participating bookstores, on your last bookstore visit show your passport and receive a limited edition pin!

Readers are encouraged to post a snapshot of themselves and their Independent Bookstore Day haul on social media with the hashtag #TEAMINDIE and #ChiLoveBooks.

See chilovebooks.com for more info about IBD in Chicago, including info about tickets for 3 bus routes to different stores.

Stay posted for more #IBD24 surprises!

 

New Stuff This Week

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Quimbys Bookstore (@quimbysbookstore)

Zines

On a Stroll with Dan Gleason $3

Concessions: A Break Up Zine by Tin Diaz Rodriguez $2

Past Present #4 $15

Stacks #7 by Lennon McCrea $6.66

Wild Payphones of North America by P. Hofstad, N. Hardy and G. Lovera $9

The Anarchist Review of Books #7 $6

Comics

Scorpio Venus Rising #1 by Corinne Halbert $8

The Plot #6 Home by Neil Brideau (Radiator) $8

Bubbles #19 An Independent Fanzine About Comics and Manga editd by Brian Baynes $8

Dear You Written and Drawn by Giles Crawford $10

Rimki Comix #1 Land of the Dead by Rimki $4

Cat Gang Comix #1 by Ellen Chao $12

Graphic Novels

Light It Shoot It by Graham Chaffee (Fantagraphics) $24.99

Merriment by Joe Steinhardt and Marissa Paternoster (Don Giovanni Records) $24.95

Isle of Elsi vol 2 the Egalliv Examiner by Alec Longstreth (Phase 7 Comics) $24.95

Igaguri: Young Judo Master by Fukui Eiichi (Bubbles Publication) $21.99

Art Books

Vivienne Westwood: The Story Behind the Style, Unofficial and Unauthorised by Jessica Bumpus $19.99

FOLK PORN: Anonymous 1940s Sex Drawings by Anonymous edited by Alison M. Gingeras $20

Politics & Revolution Books

City Is Up for Grabs: How Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot Led and Lost a City in Crisis by Gregory Royal Pratt $28.99

How to Abolish Prisons: Lessons From the Movement Against Imprisonment by Rachel Herzing and Justin Piche (Haymarket) $18.95

The Black Antifascist Tradition: Fighting Back From Anti-Lynching to Abolition by Jeanelle K. Hope & Bill V. Mullen (Haymarket) $24.95

Music, Film & TV Books

Neue Deutsche Welle (33 1/3 Genre Series) by Claudia Lonkin $19.95

Math Rock (33 1/3 Genre Series) by Jeff Gomez $19.95

Cinema Speculation by Quentin Tarantino $21

Companions of Doctor Who edited by David Bushman and Ken Deep $19.99

Weird Music That Goes on Forever: A Punk’s Guide to Loving Jazz by Bob Suren, illustrated by Brian Walsby (Microcosm) $16.99

Live: Why We Go Out by Robert Elms (Unbound) $26.95

Mayhem & Outer Limits

Queens of the Underworld: A Journey into the Lives of Female Crooks by Caitlin Davies $21.99

Encyclopedia of Rootical Folklore: Plant Tales From Africa and the Diaspora by Natty Mark Samuels (Scorched Earth Press) $24.95

Fiction

Stitches: Short Stories by Hirokatsu Kihara, art by Junji Ito $18

Rainbow Black: A Novel by Maggie Thrash $18.99

The Snow Ghost and Other Tales: Classic Japanese Ghost Stories edited by Lafcadio Hearn, Yei Theodora Ozaki and Richard Gordon Smith $29.99

More books in The British Library series:
Flaw In the Crystal and Other Uncanny Stories edited by May Sinclair $16.99
Holy Ghosts: Classic Tales of the Ecclesiastical Uncanny edited by Fiona Snailham $16.99
Penny Bloods Gothic Tales of Dangerous Women edited by Nicole C. Dittmer $24.99

Bikes, the Universe, and Everything: Feminist, Fantastical Tales of Bikes and Books by Elly Blue (Microcosm) $12.95

Bloodline: A Novel by Jenn Alexander $18.95

DIY Books

Unfuck Your Business Workbook: Using Math and Brain Science to Run a Successful Business by Joe Biel and Dr. Faith G. Harper (Microcosm) $14.99

Essay Books

No Judgment: Essays by Lauren Oyler $28.99

Like Love: Essays and Conversations by Maggie Nelson $32

Christian Atheism: How to Be a Real Materialist by Slavoj Zizek $19.95

Chap Books

Micropoetry for Microplanets by Brian U Garrison and Gowri Savoor $6

Rob Drew Celebrates Unspooled: How the Cassette Made Music Shareable, June 22nd

Jun
22
3:00 pm

Rob Drew Celebrates
Unspooled: How the Cassette Made Music Shareable,
In Conversation with Liz Mason
at Quimby’s Bookstore
1854 W. North Ave
Saturday, June 22nd, 3pm

Quimby’s welcomes Rob Drew to celebrate the release of his book Unspooled: How the Cassette Made Music Shareable on Saturday, June 22nd at 3pm, in conversation with Quimby’s manager Liz Mason.

Join us to hear Dr. Rob Drew trace the history of the cassette tape, a cheap, low-fidelity music medium that fans grew to love. Rob will discuss how cassettes upended the music industry, inspired independent musicians, and initiated rituals of music sharing through mix tapes.

 

Well into the new millennium, the analog cassette tape continues to claw its way back from obsolescence. New cassette labels emerge from hipster enclaves while the cassette’s likeness pops up on T-shirts, coffee mugs, belt buckles, and cell phone cases. In Unspooled, Rob Drew traces how a lowly, hissy format that began life in office dictation machines and cheap portable players came to be regarded as a token of intimate expression through music and a source of cultural capital. Drawing on sources ranging from obscure music zines to transcripts of Congressional hearings, Drew examines a moment in the early 1980s when music industry representatives argued that the cassette encouraged piracy. At the same time, 1980s indie rock culture used the cassette as a symbol to define itself as an outsider community. Indie’s love affair with the cassette culminated in the mixtape, which advanced indie’s image as a gift economy. By telling the cassette’s long and winding history, Drew demonstrates that sharing cassettes became an acceptable and meaningful mode of communication that initiated rituals of independent music recording, re-recording, and gifting.

“Offering a comprehensive history of the cassette from its origins in post-World War II taping technologies to the recent revival of the music cassette as a hipster artifact, Unspooled is the first book to give an extended account of the various ways that cassettes have transformed musical culture. This wonderfully engaging, clear, and witty book will appeal to a wide audience of music fans and critics interested in mixtapes, cassettes, and cassette culture and will become a classic in many fields.” -Will Straw, Professor of Urban Media Studies, McGill University

“Rob Drew is one of my favorite writers on music, and I wish more people knew about his work. This is the definitive cultural history of indie music’s tangled but fascinating love affair with the audiocassette.” -David Hesmondhalgh, author of Why Music Matters

“Any readers who have ever received or created a mixtape will appreciate this narrative. A solid blend of history and nostalgia about cassette tapes that’s perfect for Gen Xers.” -Tina Panik, Library Journal

“The story of the cassette tape Drew and Masters tell is compelling: how a lo-fi, accident- and deterioration-prone, and more-or-less parasitic audio technology not only achieved market dominance but captured a permanent place in the imaginations and practices of music-makers, labels, distributors, and fans the world over. Unspooled and High Bias show readers that the peculiar technology of the cassette tape exemplifies the inherent contradictions of popular music perhaps better than any other medium.” — David Pike, Popmatters

“Divided into six sharp chapters, Unspooled walks readers through the rich history of music nerds who used cassettes in ever-evolving ways. By following the chronology, Drew provides a detailed exploration of the cassette in terms of format, medium, and artifact.” — Adam P. Newton, Treble Zine (Read the full review here.)

Rob Drew is Professor of Communication at Saginaw Valley State University and author of Karaoke Nights: An Ethnographic Rhapsody. Follow him at @slobster48602

Liz Mason is the manager of Quimby’s Bookstore, a zine publisher, a mix tape aficionado and a karaoke enthusiast. Follow her at @caboosezine

Want the Facebook event invite for this? Here ya go!

Watch Rob on the “Cassette Books Mixtape” panel with Marc Masters (High Bias: The Distorted History of the Cassette Tape), Jerry Kranitz (Cassette Culture: Homemade Music and the Creative Spirit in the Pre-Internet Age), moderated by Tom McCourt.

New Stuff This Week

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Quimbys Bookstore (@quimbysbookstore)

Books from Mansion Press!

Hynotic Midday Movie: The Art of Simon Hanselmann $42
Maniac Army Tale of Terror vol 2 by Johnny Ryan $22
Metafables: The Art of Andrew Blucha $36
…and more!

Zines

Maps and Legends by C.E. Hanifin

Postcards From Irving #7 Win 24 by Tyler $3

Fastfoodlegend Magazine issues #1-5 $7 each

2 titles by Birch Rosen:
Disabled Artist Affirmations December 2023 $15
Trans Restroom Rants #4 $5

Our Favorite Goos by Sick Sad Trans Fags $5

Comics

Psychic Hours Jan 24 by Kai Lumbang $10

Chicken Shit: A Collection of Random Discordant Autobio Comics by Ellie Gerken $3

Master of None $7.77

Hyperreal Texas by Lake Markham $12

Graphic Novels

How War Begins: Dispatches from the Ukrainian Invasion by Igort (Fantagraphics) $29.99

Anna by Mia Oberlander (Fantagraphics) $24.99

Haruki Murakami Manga Stories vol 2: The Second Bakery Attack Samsa in Love Thailand by Haruki Murakami, Jean Christophe Deveney, illustrated by PMGL $19.99

Art Books

Signal 09 A Journal of International Political Graphics and Culture edited by Alec Dunn and Josh MacPhee (PM Press) $14.95

The Fluxus Newspaper by The Fluxus Editorial Council for Fluxus (Primary Information) $20

Essay & Essay-Adjacent Books

Cat Party: Cats We’ve Known In Words and Pictures, edited by Katie Haegele (Microcosm) $16.95

Shit in My Notes App by Jordan Dunne $13

Music & Film Books

Velvet Terrorism: Pussy Riot’s Russia, edited by Maria (Masha) Alyokhina & friends $45

So It Started There: From Punk to Pulp by Nick Banks $28.99

Missing Music: Voices from Where the Dirt Roads End by Ian Brennan (PM Press) $15.95

Adventures in Modern Recording: From ABC to ZTT by Trevor Horn $17.99

Cannibal Error: Anti-Film Propaganda and the ‘Video Nasties’ Panic of the 1980s by David Kerekes & David Slater (Headpress) $32.95

Tokyo Cinerotix: 100 Scenes From Classic Japanese Sexploitation Cinema edited by Kagami Jigoku Kobayashi (Shinbaku) $22.95

Fiction Books

More in Tales of the Weird Series from the British Library, $16.99 each:
Ways of Ghosts and Other Dark Tales by Ambrose Bierce, edited by Mike Ashley
Uncanny Gastronomic: Strange Tales of the Edible Weird, edited by Zara Louise Stubbs

Death Row Restaurant by Daniel Gonzalez $18.95

Poetry & Chap Books

a “Working Life” by Eileen Myles $17

2 Koraly Dimitriadis titles:
Love and Fuck Poems Book Anniversary Edition
$16.99
She’s Not Normal $18.17

Sick Sad Boy by Stevie Linn $5

Consciousness Expansion

Women and Psychedelics: Uncovering Invisible Voices, edited by Erika Dyck & friends $24.95

New Stuff This Week

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Quimbys Bookstore (@quimbysbookstore)

Zines

SeXXX Files #3 edited by Elizabeth Tieri $15

Bicycles Against Tyranny by Bronwyn Mauldin $7

Rate of Decay #3 Keyed Up on Punk Imploders Interview Mar 24 by Chris $1

Homocats Fight for Peace by J. Morrison $10

Anarchy $10

Skizm $10

Lost Records #1 $10

In Passing: A Game by Seb Galvez $5

2 zines from April Malig, $12 each: April’s Eating Zine #4 Summer Food Report, I Want to Share With You a Place We Could Never Go Postcard Book

Comics

2 titles by Annie Fish: Ass and Two More $9, Sire of Sorrow #1 Desert Debauchery $11

Kool Kat issues #1-#3 $15 each

Bimbocore #1 Does Logic $5

Day In the Life $5

Ways You Make Me Feel $5

Tongue Tied by Benni (Wiggle Bird Mailing Club) $6

Fickle Bean #2 by Evan Hicks $12

Microscopic Monologues: More Minicomix by Tori Holder $6

New Comics by Steve Schaberg: One Man Dust Bowl Comics issues #1+#2 $18 each, Concrete $10

Graphic Novels

Tender by Beth Hetland (Fantagraphics) $19.99

Ruins: A Graphic Novel by Peter Kuper $22.99

The Werewolf at Dusk: And Other Stories by David Small $25

Music Books

The Other Fab Four: The Remarkable True Story of the Liverbirds, Britain’s First Female Rock Band by Mary McGlory and Sylvia Saunders $30

Politics & Revolution Books

How We Fight White Supremacy: A Field Guide to Black Resistance by Akiba Solomon & Kenrya Rankin $17.99

Essay Books

Splinters: Another Kind of Love Story by Leslie Jamison $29

Fiction

Tides of Time by Duke Pierce Reade $8.99

Wellness: A Novel by Nathan Hill $30

Lit Journals & Chap Books

Moss Piglet March 2024 Self Portraits $12

Excavation: You’re an Archaeologist Exploring the Crumbling Ruins of Youth $3.50

2073 Poems by Jupiter Brown $4.99

Newspapers

County Highway #5 $8.50

For the Young at Heart

Katherine the Koala by Jo Fredell Higgins $14