Archive for the 'Local writer/artist' Category

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Margaret Hicks Reads From Chicago Comedy: A Fairly Serious History 5/28

Published on May 4, 2011 0 Comments
May ’11
28
7:00 pm

Famous for being a city of broad shoulders, Chicago has also developed an international reputation for split sides and slapped knees. Watch the “Chicago Style of Comedy” evolve from nineteenth-century vaudeville, through the rebellious comics of the 50’s, and into the improvisation and sketch that ushered in a new millennium. Drawing on material both hilarious and profound, Chicago Comedy: A Fairly Serious History touches on what makes Chicago different from other cities and how that difference produced some of the greatest minds comedy will ever know: Amos and Andy, Jack Benny, Lenny Bruce, Del Close, John Belushi, Tina Fey, Stephen Colbert and so many, many more.

Margaret Hicks is a professional tour guide in Chicago, who has been giving walking tours in the loop (like her tour of Old Town offered through the famous Second City Comedy Club) since she completed the Chicago Architecture Foundation’s docent program in 2004.  She maintains her own website at chicagoelevated.com and has had years of experience in the Chicago comedy scene working at improv theaters and stand-up clubs.

Sat, May 28th, 7pm

Marie Kanger-Born Reads From Confessions Of A Chicago Punk Bystander 5/27

Published on May 4, 2011 2 Comments
May ’11
27
7:00 pm

Confessions Of A Chicago Punk Bystander is a gritty insight into the city, clubs and lifestyle of the early Chicago Punk scene of the late 1970s and ’80s. This narrative follows the author’s introduction to punk rock via the notorious Chicago night clubs– O’Banion’s and OZ. The hedonism of the lifestyle and her harrowing exploits stand in stunning contrast to her accidental role as the primary caregiver for her mother, who was disabled by Multiple Sclerosis.

This poignant memoir traces the transformation of punk to hardcore, along with the author’s personal evolution as a photographer and zine producer. Story recounts the rise of the teenage hardcore scene over the bar based punk scene, to the later decline that began with the emergence of a skinhead jock era. Battles between the racist and anti-racist factions sealed the author’s belief that punk had lost it’s way. In disillusionment, she quit the scene in 1986, never to return until 2006. It was then that she found a web site which facilitated her discovery of a thriving underground scene in the Pilsen/La Villita neighborhoods. Today she is happy to declare that punk is not dead, and neither is she.

Includes the author’s photographs of the 1980s and 2006 bands, the crowds, her BS Detector fanzine, and other memorabilia. A visual delight, this book truly paints a picture of the era.

Marie Kanger-Born is a photographer and a participant of both the early and current Chicago punk music scenes. Her photos have appeared in various punk publications.

For more info: chicagopunkpix.com

Friday, May 27, 7:00 pm

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‘Dear Sweetness’ Book Release Event With Dan Gleason and Friends 5/21

Published on April 21, 2011 0 Comments
May ’11
21
7:00 pm

We’re going to scintillate your titillations!  This reading will celebrate the global/interplanetary release of ‘Dear Sweetness- Dan Gleason’s Greatest Hits, Vol. 3’ and will feature the Great Mike McPadden (aka El McBeardo), noted diarist Grace LaPeruto, Gabriel Wallace, author of the Great Sheboygan Panty Raid of 18977, Gregory Jacobsen – he of the long flowing locks- and the late Marc Arcuri! Be there!

This event will mark the release of Dan Gleason’s third compilation of short stories. Mr. Gleason has sold his weirdo zines at Quimby’s for well over a decade now.  Marc Arcuri, of Safety Pin and English Softhearts fame, will sing his songs of whoa.  Grace LaPeruto will recite excerpts from her diaries, and Gregory Jacobsen- former front man of Lovely Little Girls and painter extraordinaire- will punish the audience with a barrage of high-pitched screams.  Gabriel Wallace shall read his odd poetry, and Mike McPadden, Head Writer for Mr. Skin, will deliver the follow-up to his epic tale d’amor (and the torture that that amor can bring) ‘Madonna Boots.’

Saturday, May 21st, 7:00 pm

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Weekly Top 10 and an Attempt to Play A Portion of All Four Discs of The Flaming Lips’ Zaireeka at Once

Published on April 18, 2011 2 Comments

A children’s book made #1 this week?! That’s crazy. But true.

Also! Here’s footage from an event here at Quimby’s for the Continuum’s 33 1/3 series about albums of the past 40 years. This event on 9/17/11 featured NIU prof Joe Bonomo who did a book about AC/DC’s Highway to Hell, Editor-in-Chief of Pitchfork Media Scott Plagenhoef who did a book about Belle and Sebastian’s If You’re Feeling Sinister, and managing editor of Pitchfork Mark Richardson who did a book about the Flaming Lips’ Zaireeka. The footage below is of Mark Richardson reading from his book and then attempt to sequence the four CDs of the album to play simultaneously. Click on the image below and go watch it on YouTube.

Mark Richardson reads from his book The Flaming Lips' Zaireeka

Click on the picture to watch Mark Richardson discuss and play part of The Flaming Lips' Zaireeka

 

1. Counting In The Studio by Cecilia Pinto and Megan Williamson  $10.00 – This attempt to show the process of creative expression to young readers. A dog lives with an artist who has also depicted her own studio in the book. Inside the studio it is possible to stare out windows just like those in the book. The studio, at the back of the artist’s home, is nestled on a side street in a Chicago neighborhood. The artist and the writer met at the studio to talk about the project before and after making their own separate work. The dog was always present and lent his inestimable support even when napping on the comfy, pillow-strewn chaise lounge which is up against a wall with drawings on it, just like in the book.

2. Spoken Nerd Revolution by Shappy Seasholtz (Penmanship) $15.00

3. Mister Wonderful: A Love Story by Daniel Clowes (Pantheon) $19.95

4. Gentlewoman #3 Spr Sum 11 $10.95

5. Burn Collector #15 by Al Burian (Microcosm) $3.00 – Al Burian takes on his new home town, Berlin with a little help from a Chicago All-Star team of Anne Elizabeth “Unmarketable” Moore and Liam “Secret Beach” Warfield.

6. Archiving the Underground #1 by Jenna Brager and Jami Sailor $2.00

7. OP Original Plumbing #6 Trans Male Quarterly $8.00 – The theme this round is “Schooled”, highlighting a twin commitment to both the “It Gets Better” and the “Make It Better” campaigns targeted at queer youth.

8. Cartooning Philosophy and Practice by Ivan Brunetti (Yale) $13.00 – This is about as close you are going to get to having Ivan Brunetti come to your house and teach you how to make great comics. Turns out, it’s pretty damn close – Philosophy and Practice serves up a concise and well-honed crash course on finding and fine tuning your comics voice. -EF

9. Hi Fructose #19 $6.95

10. Hot Teen Slut by Cristin O’Keefe Aptowicz (Write Bloody) $15.00

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“Cinco De Awesome” J. Bradley Reads From The Serial Rapist Sitting Behind You Is a Robot

Published on April 7, 2011 0 Comments
May ’11
5
7:00 pm

When asked about his influences, J. Bradley points to three enduring sources: failure, 80s cartoon, unrequited love. Not a likely combination for a writer, but one that has brought forth The Serial Rapist Sitting Behind You is a Robot (Safety Third Enterprises). A collection of prose-poems from J. Bradley in his first foray into fiction. Bradley’s swift cuts and unapologetic style still remains intact in this new frame delighting in tales of Jurassic Park, sexual liaisons, and sexual disgust. Even in the darker times of the twenty story collection the Florida poet goes for a dirty bountiful laugh.

“Rabbit punches are illegal in boxing because they are a potentially fatal blow. “The Serial Rapist Sitting Behind You Is A Robot” is a series of rabbit punches comprised of poetry, wit, sex and sick.  J. Bradley attempts to kill with each piece; packing their tiny structures full of a power reserved for breaking the teeth of cheating spouses.  Each piece makes an impact that stuns strong and spreads circular in a visceral ring that will leave the reader wondering, “What just happened here?” After they stagger to their feet, they will taunt him to hit them again and again.” – xTx, author of Normally Special

Also joining the bill are Chicago author Ben Tanzer, who will read from his book You Can Make Him Like You (Artistically Declined Press), James Tadd Adcox, editor of Artifice Magazine and Brandon Will.

For more info: http://iheartfailure.net

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