Archive for the 'photos' Category

From the Archives March Edition

Liz here, and I was having a great time in the basement organizing. Well, I mean, real talk: define “great.” But you know what I mean; I was amused by some of the things I rediscover as I get it all in order down there. But also, again, real talk: define “all in order.” YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN, STOP SASSING ME, PEOPLES. Still though. The stuff I have for you! Dig it.

Well what do we have here? It’s famed sculpture artist legend Cynthia Plaster Caster and former Quimby’s employee and CUFF legend Bryan Wendorf at an event here, talking to whoever’s hand is in the photo. Are they talking to the hand? You know it. The best I can triangulate the date is as follows: this is from before I started here because whatever this event was, it was pre-me at Quimby’s, so it would be sometime before 2001. It was clearly after Quimby’s moved from the original location at 1328 N. Damen to here at 1854 W. North Ave., so it was definitely the late ’90s. And the guy all the way on the right has a chinstrap beard that screams 1998 in a way that I can’t even begin to describe. So I think somewhere between 1998-2000. No YOU go do the carbon-dating, I’m too busy scanning weird mail art.

Sir! My soul is beaten down! Me too, bucko. I’m 90% sure we included this postcard in one of our MiniMagalogs but it is totally worth showing it off in its full glory here. How did this get here with no post date? And notice it is addressed to “SQUIMBY’S.” I understand why that happened. If you look at our logo, if you didn’t know otherwise. Allow me to explain once you look at the picture below.

Check out our patches through the ages. The one we have now is the one on the left. Why did I not put them in order? Because I am a fool. When I placed them down on the scanner I accidentally put them in the reverse order because I am just that sort of absentminded hippo. Don’t @ me, people. And no, we don’t have the white or yellow rimmed ones. Just the peach-y salmon ones, which you can get here. ANYWAY, notice how close that S is at 8:00 to where Quimby’s starts at 9:00, you know what I’m saying? That’s why I know someone is a Quimby’s nube when they’re like “SQuimby’s!” But still, I understand how they arrived at that, even if there’s a color separation.

Well look at that! It’s Matt Fagan, of Meniscus comic fame. And one of the founders of Brainstorm comics, which used to be down the street. The Evil Dead lunchbox! Can I tell you I forgot we even carried that? Or did he come in carrying it? Like on his way to work with a sandwich in it? Or maybe a necronomicon or something? No, you know what? I think we did sell that lunchbox.

As the flyer says, Adrian Tomine and Seth did events at both here and Chicago Comics, but what really grabs me are the incidentals: the Chicago Comics phone number! It has a 312 area code. The 773 area code didn’t become a thing until 1996. And the event was at the OQ (Original Quimby’s, as coined by Billy McCall). So was this pre-1996? Wow. And anybody who has done stuff with print and photocopiers recognizes that white tape. It’s so that you don’t see the marks of the paper underneath. Yesssssss. Or if this was 1996, should I say “rad” and “booyah?” You’re welcome.

I’m pretty sure Shappy (RIP) made this. He worked at both Quimby’s and Chicago Comics, so he dealt with the alternative comics vs superhero comics dichotomy on the regular. I loved his signs. But boy did he hate working! He said to me once, “Can’t I just sit and read issues of Eightball?” Chicago poet Robbie Telfer told me that Shappy got in trouble for using up all the toner in the printer for printing out pictures of Hanna-Barbera characters. Oh Shappy, I miss you. I’m so glad I was never your manager though.

It’s Jake Austen, editor of the famed Chicago zine Roctober and Chic-a-Go-Go cable access impresario! With baby! So this must have been two decades ago. But I can tell by the placement of the lighting overhead that he was standing in front of the counter, and it was taken by whoever was sitting in the very spot I am sitting in at this very moment. It was me. I think I took this photo. At least, I’m pretty sure. There was a period of time before smart phones in which I always a had a camera with actual film in it, and then we’d take the film over to the Walgreen’s at Wood and Milwaukee to get developed. We’d pick it up like a million weeks later when we remembered it was there.

Thanks for those super sick Gremlins in 2012, Cara Bean! These are excellent. We get a lot a lot of good mail art on envelopes. We could do a zine or a book of just the correspondence we get from people.

Jesus saves big money! Thanks for the mail art in 2014, Peter Sickman-Garner! I bet this contained Hey, Mister. Sent Media Mail, the postal choice of self-publishers everywhere.

A Quimby’s ad in a 1998 edition of Lumpen! That font is so fabulously 1990s-cocktail-exotica-space-age-bachelor-pad-revival that I just want to go drink a martini and listen to Combustible Edison.

That’s what I got! Now go get in your time machines and listen to the Four Rooms soundtrack.

xoxo

Liz @caboosezine

CHIPRC’s Zine Club: Through the Lens Edition, at Quimby’s!

Aug ’19
13
7:00 pm

From vintage daguerreotypes and Polaroids to strips of photo booth selfies and digitally altered images, the pages of zines provide an excellent frame for photographs of all kinds. This month at our book club-style event for people who read zines, we’ll be talking about our favorite titles that focus on photos. Zine newbies and longtime enthusiasts alike are welcome to join us for a fun discussion and snacks.

If you’d like to participate in our Mystery Zine Swap, bring a zine (concealed in some way) to trade with someone else on the spot!

CHIPRC’s Zine Club is produced by Chicago Zine Fest organizer Cynthia E. Hanifin.

Tues, Aug 13th, 7pm

Here at Quimby’s Bookstore, 1854 W. North Avenue in Wicker Park

Here’s the Facebook invite!

Free

Quimby’s 25th Anniversary Celebration With Founder Steven Svymbersky 9/15!

Sep ’16
15
7:00 pm

QUIMBY'S INSIDE 07-96978

Don’t miss the Quimby’s Bookstore 25th Anniversary Event 9/15: Founder Steven Svymbersky Shares the Mayhem of Underground Press and the Beginnings of Quimby’s Bookstore!

Quimby’s Bookstore opened on September 15th, 1991, a tiny store at Damen and Evergreen, serving up weird, saucy and aberrant DIY zines, books and comics to a Wicker Park that was a very different place than it is now. Two and a half decades later, the store continues to offer subversive printed matter in an environment that fosters a creative artistic community that employees jokingly call, “a tourist destination for cool people” as well as events, all with an inclusive yet snarky DIY punk aesthetic.

Quimby’s is proud to welcome back founder Steven Svymbersky to the store on the occasion of the store’s 25th anniversary. Svymbersky will present a history of zines and underground comics as well as sharing memories of his years as a zine publisher and the beginnings of Quimby’s Bookstore.

Quimby’s has a variety of things planned to celebrate our silver jubilee, including: an exclusive Chris Ware print celebrating our anniversary, the release of an printed store history with stories and graphics, a commemorative t-shirt by artist Gabby Schulz, an artisanal Marz Community Brewing Quimby’s beer with a specially designed label by Chicago artist Laura Park and more surprises.

This event also kicks off Wicker Park & West Town Lit Fest’s second year, which celebrates the neighborhoods’ literary past and present. Events around Wicker Park and West Town include a story slam, book swap, workshops, author readings and signings and more.

For more info: info(at)quimbys(dot)com

Invite your friends with the Facebook invite!

Thurs, Sep 15th, 7pm Quimby’s Bookstore  Chicago, IL quimbys.com

Quimbys 25 L Palmer celebrates full ad

QuimbysAd

New Stuff This Week

Thanks to Dave Roche for taking this photo of Luke Sinclair (Platic Knife, You, Sticky) reading here and posting it on Flickr. Took some pictures here at Quimby’s? Tag ’em with Quimby’s Bookstore and/or add them to the Quimby’s Bookstore Group on Flickr. If you took a picture you’re particularly proud of let us know and we’ll post it on our blog.

But! So! New Stuff This Week!

ZINES & ZINE-RELATED BOOKS!
East Village Inky #47 by Ayun Halliday $3.00
Lean Mean Teen Zine Machine #2 and #3 $1.00 each
Vamostja Vampire Monster Ninja $1.00
Talzine #1 A Zine About Taleen – A Zine About Being Armenian by Taleen $2.00
Dining With Words – An Artists Banquet by Caroline Liebman, Taleen Kalenderian and Nicki Yowell $6.00
Faux Cal Point Press vol 1 #1 May 11 $1.00
Filth #1 Jan 11 $2.00 and Filth #2 Spr 11 $3.00
A Day in the Life of Baldwin P Leninforth Ombudsman #1 by Jennifer Shiman $5.00
Pneuma #1 by Tommy Nease $10.00
Holiday Pay #20 Appropriate Attire bt Turner Hilliker $3.00 – We also have several back issues.
Turbochainsaw #6 $7.50
Monsters Rock Apr 11 by Kione Kochi $2.50
Maribooks #1 Bully Power by Maria $1.00
Danielas World #1 by Daniela $1.00
12 Going on 13 $1.00
Your Boss Wants To Instill Confidence – Impar Skills and Ignite Potential by M. Miller $10.00
Bushwick Review #2 by Kristen Felicetti $5.00
How Things Break – A Short Poem by Marissa F $.50
Nature of Love – An Exploration by Devan Elyse Bennett $1.50
Bound Woman – Meditations On Love and Loneliness $1.50

COMICS & MINI COMIX!
Life & Times of Baby Otto Zeplin #5 by BT Livermore $4.00
Terrible Beasts $4.00
Elf World vol 2 #2 ed. by Francois Vigneault (Family Style) $7.00 – Fabulous anthology featuring such artists as Horrocks, Tinder and more!
Andromeda #12 by Andy Scott $2.00
Peoplings Ashcan 2011 Autism Education and the Savage of Aveyron by Courtney Angermeier and Jeff Benham $3.00
Nace and Cenu At the Park by Natalie Peary and Jeff Benham $3.00
Feeberts Guest #2 an Ombudsman Tale by Jennifer Shiman $5.00

GRAPHIC NOVELS & TRADE PAPERBACKS!
Congress of the Animals by Jim Woodring (Fantagraphics) $19.99 – Jim Woodring’s second full-length graphic novel, and first starring his signature character Frank that tells the story of what happens when Frank leaves the Unifactor.
Citizen Rex by Mario and Gilbert Hernandez (Dark Horse) $19.99 – This book asks the question “What compels life without a soul?” and is a bizarre, sexy view of the future! This handsome hardcover collection also features a new cover by Gilbert, sketches and behind-the-scenes material from Mario, and a special pinup from third Hernandez brother Jaime.
Isle of 100000 Graves by Jason and Fabien Vehlmann (Fantagraphics) $14.99 – Jason teamed up with Fabien Vehlmann to tell this dark comedy about a treasure map that leads to an island with a terrible secret.
Buffy The Vampire Slayer season 8 vol 8 Last Gleaming by Joss Whedon and various (Dark Horse) $16.99
Yesterday and Maybe Tomorrow Too by Jeff Benham and Courtney Angermeier $6.00
Salmonilla Chronicles Collection vol 1 or Patchoulis Allure by Jeff Benham and Martinez Ryk $7.00
Blacksad by Juan Diaz Canales and Juanjo Guarnido (Dark Horse) $29.99
Blunderbuss Wanderlust – Being an Account of the Temprol Travels of Colonel Victor by David Shapiro and Christopher Herndon $14.99
Tooth by Cullen Bunn, Shawn Lee and Matt Kindt (Oni) $24.99
Celluloid HC an Erotic Graphic Novel by Dave McKean (Fantagraphics) $35.00 – Dave McKean’s first original graphic novel since his landmark book Cages. And it’s kinda sexy.
Graphic Subjects: Critical Essays on Autobiography and Graphic Novels by Michael A. Chaney (University of Wisconsin Press) $26.95

ART & DESIGN BOOKS!
Cellophane House $20.00
Art and Agenda Political Art and Activism (DGV) $68.00

FICTION!
Tell All by Chuck Palahniuk (Anchor) $14.95 – Now in soft cover.
Wicked Gentlemen by Ginn Hale (Blind Eye) $12.95
Citrus County by John Brandon (McSweeneys) $14.00 – Now in soft cover.

DIY & HOW-TO!
Kid Made Modern: 52 Kid Friendly Projects Inspired by Mid Century Modern Design by Todd Oldham (Ammo) $22.95
We Are Paper Toys by Louis Bou (Collins) $29.99
Pinhole Cameras: A Do It Yourself Guide by Chris Keeney (Princeton) $18.95
Protest Stencil Toolkit by Patrick Thomas (Laurence) $24.95
Psychedelic Explorers Guide: Safe Therapeutic and Sacred Journeys by James Fadiman PhD (Park Street) $18.95

LITERARY JOURNALS, CHAP BOOKS & POETRY!
Granta #115 Spr 11 The F Word $16.99
Conduit #22 $10.00
Issues #5 and #6 of Concisely: Stories Under 500 Words $4.00 each
Theyre at It Again: Stories From Twenty Years of Open City, ed. by Thomas Bellar and Joanna Yas (Open City) $22.95

MAGAZINES!
Maximumrocknroll #337 Jun 11 $4.00
Chicago IRL #1 Spr 11 $20.00
AdBusters #96 July Aug 11 $8.95
In These Times Jun 11 $3.50
Cabinet #41 Infrastructure $12.00
Bizarre #176 Jun 11 $10.50
Art of Mary Jane Jun 11 $6.99
Frieze #139 May 11 $10.00
Infamous #4 $6.99
Murder Most Foul #80 $9.99
Monocle vol 5 #44 Jun 11 $10.00
IdN vol 18 #2 $17.50
Fangoria #304 $8.99
True Crime May 11 $8.99
Skateboard Mag #88 $3.99
Pinstriping #26 Kustom Graphics Magazine $9.95
Mojo #212 Jul 11 $9.99
Big Takeover #68 $5.99
Tattoo Collection #44 $7.75
Bound By Ink Annual 11 $8.99

CHILDRENS BOOKS!
ABC is for Circus by Patrick Hruby (Ammo) $14.95
The Red Shoes by Gloria Flower and Sun Young Yoo (Ammo) $16.95
Terra Tempo Ice Age Cataclysm by David Shapiro, Christopher Herndon and Erica Melville $14.99
City Numbers by Joanne Schwartz and Matt Beam (Groundwood) $18.95
Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn Young Readers Edition by Herge (Littlebrow) $8.99 – Includes bonus source material section.
Adventures of Tintin: Red Rackhams Treasure Young Readers Edition by Herge (Littlebrow) $8.99 – Includes bonus source material section.
Patrick in a Teddy Bears Picnic and Other Stories – A Toon Book by Geoffrey Hayes (Toon Books) $12.95

MUSIC BOOKS OR BOOKS WRITTEN BY MUSIC PEOPLE!
Buskers: The On-the-Streets, In-the-Trains, Off-the-Grid Memoir of Two New York City Street Musicians by Heth and Jed Weinstein (Soft Skull) $14.95

MUCKRACKING, MEMOIRS, MAYHEM, MISCREANTS & MISCELLENOUSNESSESESNESS!
JFK and UFO: Military Industrial Conspiracy and Cover Up From Maury Island to Dallas by Kenn Thomas (Feral House) $17.95 – Illustrated with rare images, JFK & UFO interconnects the lingering mysteries of America’s most notorious assassination and its weird ufological subculture.
Casebook On the Men in Black by Jim Keith (Adventu) $14.95
Soft Skull’s Deep Focus Series takes a critical and entertaining look at selected films and devotes a slim volume of affordable analysis ($12.95 each) to each film, not unlike Continuum’s 33 1/3 Series, except with movies instead of albums: Heathers by John Ross Bowie and The Bad News Bears In Breaking Training by Josh Wilker
It Was Over When…: Tales of Romantic Dead Ends by Rob K. Elder (Sourcebooks Casablanca) $12.99 – By local journalist Rob K. Elder, who was a staff writer at the Chicago Tribune from 2000-2009. This snapshot of modern romance gone bad is complete with its complexities and contradictions, compiling the best user-submitted stories from ItWasOverWhen.com, a site devoted to lost love, as well as from its companion website (www.itwasoverwhen.com), to create a greatest hits collection of cringe-inducing love schadenfreude.

POLITICS & REVOLUTION!
The Beach Beneath the Street: The Everyday Life and Glorious Times of the Situationist International by McKenzie Wark (Verso) $26.95
The Next American Revolution: Sustainable Activism For the Twenty-First Century by Grace Lee Boggs (Univ Calif) $24.95

SEX & SEXY!
Pinups #14 $14.00
Afternoon Pleasures: Erotica for Gay Couples by Shane Allison (Cleis) $14.95
Jade Door Erotic Stories from Ancient China by Chaiko, Cheng Cheng, 7th Orange (Eurotica) $17.99
Travel Naturally #79 $9.95

OTHER STUFF!
Weirdo bobbleheads: GG Allin 1991 Condensed Carnage Edition Throbblehead $14.95, Keith Morris Statue Aggronautix $19.95, Tesco Vee of the Meatmen Bobblehead Aggronautix Condensed Carnage $19.95, Wendy O Williams Aggronautix Condensed Carnage Bobblehead $19.95

Weekly Top 10

Thanks to Jerianne Thompson of Zine World for these Revenge of Print stamps!

1. Paying For It: A Comic Strip Memoir About Being a John by Chester Brown (D&Q) $24.95 – Chester Brown did a pretty great thing with this book, one of the most anticipated graphic novels pretty much ever. I think it’s about time more johns speak out publicly about their involvement and investment in sex economies. In Paying For It, Brown presents an especially crisp libertarian-flavor case in favor of decriminalized sex work. There’s also sort of a nice journey of personal growth in here too where, through the course of the book, he goes from completely trashing and dismissing the idea of “romantic love” to finding his own weird and wonderful variation of it (thanks to his john-dom).Here in Chicago, aldermen are currently trying to get batshit-crazy anti-prostitution laws on the books, so, you know, speaking up about the destigmatizing and decriminalizing of sex work truly matters. Brown’s frank and shame-free stance is loud and clear and his cartooning style is built primarily around building his case. At times, the dialogue gets so loaded it’s almost polemic but the characters are all fleshed out enough that it sways more toward Fun Home-style self-analytical autobio. Also, there’s this tricky issue where he draws all the women he pays with the same faceless anonymity. Initially, this seemed troublesome, but I think that here Brown is showing us physical anonymity while letting the dialogue convey some of the subtler levels of involvement that make each of his encounters unique. When I think of great writing and art by sex workers, johns are often afforded a similar style of anonymity, making Brown’s approach just seem like common courtesy from the other side of the coin. -EF

2.The Believer #80 May 11 $8.00

3. Diamond Comics #6 (Floating World) $4.00

4. Kus #5 Baltic Comics Magazine

5. Rigor Mortis vol 4 by Davida Gypsy Breier $3.50 – The classic horror review zine with MAD drawing chops! Much like Robin Bougie’s Cinema Sewer, Rigor Mortis is oozing outrageous content out every orifice. Built on an open artery of monster flick reviews with special features on sexual subversion and queer subtext in early horror cinema, this is like sweetened condensed homebrew Fangoria . -EF

6. Ultraviolet Catastrophe by Andrea Walls $5.00 – “Ultraviolet Catastrophe is a chapbook excerpted from a larger work-in-progress, The Black Body Curve, a full-length collection of poetry in which the author considers the events of May 13, 1985, the day the city of Philadelphia, under the leadership of its first Black Mayor, dropped a C-4 explosive into the roof of 6221 Osage Avenue, a row-home known to be occupied by men, women and children, ultimately killing 11 people including 5 children and destroying 61 homes leaving 250 citizens homeless. The author tries to answer the question, how did this happen? How did issues of race, rhetoric and geography collide with the city’s history to inform the catastrophic conflict with the MOVE Organization and the residents of Osage Avenue?”

7. Boneshaker Magazine #4 $9.00

8. Boys Club #4 by Matt Furie (Pigeon Press) $6.00

9. Monocle vol 5 #43 May 11 $10.00

10. List #12: Goodbye Baltimore $3.00