Archive for the 'readings' Category

Page 32 of 38

Susan Slaviero and Kristina Marie Darling

Published on July 2, 2010 0 Comments
Aug ’10
14
7:00 pm

When asked about her influences, Susan Slaviero points to three enduring sources: popular culture, feminist theory, and a fascination with the lyric tradition. Not a likely combination for a poet, but one that has brought forth Cyborgia (Mayapple Press), a stunning debut collection that explores the intersection of female identity, technology, and the body.  Filled zombies, robots, “nickel marionettes,” and “electric women,” Slaviero’s book presents physical reality alongside the artificial and constructed, skillfully blurring the boundaries between the two.
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“Melding the language of sci-fi and sensuality, Cyborgia wallows delightfully in its rhythm and vocabulary, yet remains sharp and meticulous, slicing through the barriers of mechanism and the female body, of systems and viscera, where the women are filled with milk and smoke, rainwater and wristwatches, fractals and fish”—Kristy Bowen

Also reading is Kristina Marie Darling, a St. Louis author whose first book of poems, Night Songs, was just released by Gold Wake Press.  Kristina is the author of several chapbooks, which include Fevers and Clocks (March Street Press) and The Traffic in Women (Dancing Girl Press).  Awards include residencies at the Vermont Studio Center, VCCA, and Ragdale.

Jon Cotner and Andy Fitch read from Ten Walks/Two Talks

Published on July 2, 2010 0 Comments
Aug ’10
8
3:00 pm

Ten Walks/Two Talks combines a series of sixty-minute, sixty-sentence walks around Manhattan with a pair of roving dialogues—one of which takes place during a late-night “philosophical” ramble through Central Park. Mapping 21st-centure New York, Cotner and Fitch update the meandering and meditative form of Basho’s travel diaries to construct a descriptive/dialogic fugue.

TenWalks

“Barbed with genius.” -Wayne Koestenbaum

“Poetry in motion.” -Lynne Tillman

“Magic… A new way of moving through our worlds.” -The Boston Phoenix

[Five-Star Review] “Fantastic… A deceptively simple book, Ten Walks/Two Talks demands little but offers much. Cotner and Fitch invite us to experience our city with fresh pleasure and renewed awe.” -Time Out New York

“I hate exercise, and I hate conversation, but I love Ten Walks/Two Talks.” -HTMLGIANT

“This is a gift, a beautiful book, and nothing in it is forgettable.” -Bookslut

Also joining the bill are Chicago authors Joel Craig, who will read from his book Shine Tomorrow (Lost Horse), and Jessica Savits, who will read from her book Hunting is Painting (&Now Books).

For more info: http://www.uglyducklingpresse.org/catalog/browse/item/?pubID=63

Mike Faloon, James Jay and Jonathan Messinger

Published on June 18, 2010 0 Comments
Jul ’10
10
7:00 pm

Mike Faloon, editor of the world-famous Go Metric! zine, celebrates the launch of his new book of stories, The Hanging Gardens of Split Rock: Stories, out now on Gorsky Press. Faloon is on tour with fellow Gorsky-ite James Jay (The Undercards), and will be joined by Chicago guy Jonathan Messinger (Hiding Out).

According to conventional wisdom some goals are best not pursued. The characters in The Hanging Gardens of Split Rock have yet to learn this. Pocket Hercules taps into the power of the ancient wonders to mend a broken heart, with some heavy metal to help. Little League coach Gary Shouldice probably goes too far in motivating his son. Leon Rayner serenades a girl he barely knows with his week-old punk band. From small town watering holes to veterinary clinics to jam band festivals the people portrayed in The Hanging Gardens of Split Rock are undeterred in the pursuit of their dreams. And maybe they should be. Deterred, that is.

The Performers:

Mike Faloon has paid the bills as a DJ, dishwasher, drummer, and school teacher. He is the publisher of two zines (Go Metric, Zisk) and a contributing writer to magazines such as Chunklet, Razorcake, and Roctober. His work has also appeared in The Zine Yearbook (Soft Skull) and The Overrated Book (Last Gasp). He lives in Brewster, New York with his family.

Poet and essayist James Jay lives in Flagstaff, Arizona where he has worked as a bartender, fire fighter, dish washer, janitor, furniture mover, and the like. He has taught poetry in high schools, jails, and universities. Currently, he is the Executive Director for the Northern Arizona Book Festival and the Managing Editor for Two Dogs Press.

Jonathan Messinger is the co-founder of Featherproof books, co-host of the Dollar Store reading series, Books Editor for Time Out Chicago and author of the short-story collection Hiding Out. He’s currently at work on Hiding Out 2: Hiding In, and Hiding Out 3: Don’t Stop Hiding.

For more info:    Mike Faloon: http://www.gometric.typepad.com/ James Jay: http://jamesjay.org

Jonathan Messinger: http://featherproof.com

Tesco Vee and Steve Miller from TOUCH AND GO: The Complete Hardcore Punk Zine ’79-83

Published on June 18, 2010 2 Comments
Jul ’10
17
7:00 pm

Tesco Vee and Dave Stimson launched Touch and Go fanzine in Lansing, MI, in 1979, and set out to chronicle, lambaste, ridicule, and heap praise on the new punk happenings. In laughably minuscule press runs by today’s standards, T & G was made by guys within the Midwest scene strictly for the edification of scenesters and pals in other cities like DC, Philly, Boston, LA, SF, and Chicago. Inspired by Slash and Search and Destroy and writers like Claude Bessy and Chris Desjardines, TV and DS pumped out twenty-two naughty, irreverent issues, spawned a legendary independent record label, and brought fame and fortune to the best bands in the land, including:  Black Flag, Minor Threat, the Misfits, Negative Approach, the Fix, the Avengers, the Necros, Discharge, Die Kreuzen, Poison Idea—any punks worth their weight in glorious black and white.

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balloon-proof

I was inspired by how fearless and together Touch and Go were. They were really wild and extremely funny.”—Henry Rollins

“It was really one of the first times anyone outside of Washington really paid us any mind. The fact that Touch and Go took an interest in us really blew us away.”—Ian MacKaye

“Anyone who’s ever published a true DIY fanzine owes at least a small debt to Touch and Go.”—Decibel

For more info: http://www.touchandgobook.com

Poetry From Nicole Wilson, Kate Dougherty, and Patrick Culliton

Published on June 5, 2010 0 Comments
Jul ’10
6
7:00 pm

Nicole Wilson is the Assistant Programs Director of Poetry and Literature at Columbia College Chicago. Her poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Coconut, Fifth Wednesday, RealPoetik, pacificREVIEW, Rabbit Light Movies, and Another Chicago Magazine, among others.

Kate Dougherty’s e-chapbook, We Trundle We Ignite, is forthcoming from Scantily Clad Press. More poems are published or forthcoming in The Carolina Quarterly, Cannibal, SIR! Magazine, Used Cat, and Action Yes. Kate holds an M.F.A. from Columbia College Chicago,Hornet Homily where she served as editorial assistant on Court Green.

Patrick Culliton’s chapbook Hornet Homily is available from Octopus Books. Recent work has appeared, or will soon, in Another Chicago Magazine, Beeswax, Conduit, Eleven Eleven and elsewhere. He teaches at UIC and Loyola.
For more info: http://www.octopusbooks.net/