Deb Olin Unferth Reads Revolution: The Year I Fell in Love and Went to Join the War With Adam Levin 3/7

Published on January 15, 2011 0 Comments
Mar ’11
7
7:00 pm

Deb Olin Unferth offers a new twist on the coming-of-age memoir in this utterly unique and captivating story of the year she ran away from college with her Christian boyfriend and followed him to Nicaragua to join the Sandinistas.

Unferth is the author of the story collection Minor Robberies and the novel Vacation, winner of the 2009 Cabell First Novelist Award and a New York Times Book Review Critics’ Choice. Her work has appeared in Harper’s, McSweeney’s, The Believer, and the Boston Review. She has received two Pushcart Prizes and a 2009 Creative Capital grant for Innovative Literature.

“This is a very funny, excoriating honest story of being young, semi-idealistic, stupid and in love. If you have ever been any of these things, you’ll devour it.”—Dave Eggers

Also joining the bill is Chicago author Adam Levin, author of the novel THE INSTRUCTIONS.  His collection of short stories, HOT PINK, will be published next Fall by McSweeney’s.  He lives in Chicago, where he teaches Creative Writing at the School of the Art Institute.

For more info: us.macmillan.com/revolution-1

http://www.mcsweeneys.net/books/aboutinstructions.html

Monday, March 7th, 7pm

Tags: , , .

New Stuff This Week

Published on January 15, 2011 0 Comments

We found this hilarious picture posted on Flickr when we did a random search for Quimby’s! If you take a photo at Quimby’s, send us a jpg or link to it and we’ll post it on our blog! This one we found on Karen Foto’s Flickr photostream. If you want to make yourself a contact to Quimby’s on Flickr, click here. Have a photo you took at Quimby’s and want to put it in the public Quimby’s Group? Click here.

Anyway, good new stuff as usual: a cool zine about after-tattoo care, a cool anthology of contemporary Day of the Dead kustom kulture book, new ish of Juxtapoz, and a whole mess of cute Little Otsu thingies. It’s awfully awesome in here right now!

ZINES!
So Me and You Are Reading This Zine #4 and You’re All Like Whoa This Is Great I’m All I Know by Justin Michael Valmassoi $3.00
Prism Index #1 $25.00
False Flag (Picturebox) $15.00
Alan Moore’s Dodgem Logic #6 Oct Nov 10 (Knockabout) $7.00
Little Otsu Living Things vol 1 by Lizzy Stewart (Little Otsu) $7.00
Little Otsu Living Things vol 2 by Jo Dery (Little Otsu) $7.00
Herbal Healing for Piercings and Tattoos Organic Aftercare for Everyone by Anastasia Weedsmith $3.00
Proof I Exist #13 by Billy Da Bunny $8.00 – As per Billy’s own review: “Seven awesome, but random, stories from my life, typed out on a computer, then cut n’ pasted all DIY-style.” Yay for Billy! He moved away from Chicago but we are sad to see him leave.

COMICS & MINICOMICS!
Mould Map #1 New Comics and Narrative Art Publication (Picturebox) $12.00
Conversating by Martine Workman $8.00
Treasures of Sky Mall Your Inflight Shopping Magazine by Emma Correll (Little Otsu) $6.00

ART & DESIGN BOOKS!
Monte, King of Atom Age Monster Decals: Secrets of Fifties Vintage Decals Revealed by Bill Selby (Last Gasp) $14.95
Portrait of Keiichi Tanaami: 14 Films 1975-2009 (Carte Blanche) $35.00 – includes DVD
Viva La Revolucion: A Dialogue with the Urban Landscape by Pedro Alonzo and Alex Baker (Gingko) $29.95 – This show catalog for the exhibition at The Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego documents the historic revolution in visual culture, in which the codes and icons of the everyday found on the streets in graffiti, signage, waste, tattoos, advertising, and graphic design have been used in art. 20 artists from 10 countries including Shepard Fairey, Barry McGee, Ryan McGinness, Swoon, and more.
Day of the Dead El Dia de Los Muertos by Dr. Alderete and Antoni Cadafalch (Korero) $35.00 – contemporary graphics inspired by Day of the Dead, including tattoo and kustom art mixed with Hollywood hip and the graphic tags of L.A.’s Latino gangs. Traditional elements of sugar skulls, flowers, and devils taken to the edge.

BODY MODIFICATION BOOKS!
Angels Ink From Above by Spider Webb (Schiffer) $35.00

GRAPHIC NOVELS & TRADE PAPERBACKS!
Proof vol 5 Blue Fairies TPB by var. (Image) $16.99

DIY/FOOD & DRUG CONSUMPTION STUFF!
Psychedelic Healing: The Promise of Entheogens for Psychotherapy and Spiritual Development by Neal M Goldsmith (Healing Arts) $16.95
Morphine/My Lady Opium Double Book by Claude Farrere and Jean-Louis Dubut de Laforest (Harper) $14.99 – A “flip book” featuring two classic novels about drugs, decadence—and Paris in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Morphine is a rollicking novel about a handsome cavalry officer who introduces morphine to the aristocrats of 1889 Paris… and sleeps his way through town; and My Lady Opium, a fevered tour through the romantic and mysterious world of opium at the turn of the 20th century.

MAGAZINES!
Juxtapoz #121 Feb 11 $5.99
Taps paraMagazine vol 7 #1 Jan Feb 11 $5.95
High Times Mar 11 $5.99
Tape Op #81 Jan Feb $4.95
True Crime Jan 11 $8.99

LITERARY JOURNALS & CHAP BOOKS!
See You in the AM #1 by Dane Kuttler $4.00
Stories of Apples and Bellies #2 by Dane Kuttler $5.00
Explorers Are We #3 by Xavier $1.00

POLTICS & REVOLUTION!
Terrible Mistake: The Murder of Frank Olson and the CIA’s Secret Cold War Experiments by HP Albarelli (Trine Day) $29.95
Global Slump by David McNally (PM Press) $17.00

MUSIC BOOKS!
Bossa Nova and The Rise of Brazilian Music In the 1960s, edited by Gilles Peterson and Stuart Baker (Soul Jazz Records Publishing) $39.95 – Deluxe hardback 12″ x 12″ book, 200 pages, 100s of stunning absolutely killer Bossa Nova sleeves from Brazil plus loads of historical, cultural and social text as well as biographies on loads of the artists!
MAYHEM, MISCELLANY, MIRTH & (M)OUTER LIMITS!
I Found This Funny: My Favorite Pieces of Humor and Some That May Not Be Funny At All by Judd Apatow (McSweeney’s) $25.00
Why You Should Store Your Farts in a Jar and Other Oddball or Gross Maladies, Afflictions, Remedies, and “Cures” by David Haviland (Tarcher) $12.95

SEX & SEXY!
Filament vol 2 #3 $12.50

OTHER STUFF!
Ancient Documentaries of Southside Park DVD by var. $5.00 – This short film documents with humor the quest – in early 1900s fashion – of world famous archeologist La Stef (Stephanie Sauer) and her local assistant Miss Ella (Ella Diaz, Ph.D.) for the “Ancient Documentaries” of the Royal Chicano Air Force, an artist/activist collective that played a vital role in the Chicano civil rights movement. The two take on the personas of traditional historians in order to play with the presumed authority of such roles and question the cultural narratives they impart.
Not For Tourists Guide to Chicago 2011 $21.99
Little Otsu’s Annual Weekly Planner vol 5 $18.00 – 12 months, 54 weeks, undated, you fill in your own dates. Perfect if you need to go, say April 2011 to April 2012. Hey! You might have an accountant’s schedule. Who are we to judge?

Tags: .

Call for Proposals: AREA issue #11 – im/migration

Published on January 13, 2011 1 Comment

AREA Chicago is dedicated to gathering and sharing information and histories about local social movements, political and cultural organizations. They do a biannual mag and lots of events. They’re accepting proposals for their upcoming issue. Here’s their announcement:

Chicago is a city shaped by movement and trade. First inhabited by indigenous peoples, the city was built through land speculation at the intersection of major waterways, and expanded as the intersection of railroads and highways. It became the destination for successive waves of new arrivals seeking opportunity: from those escaping the Jim Crow South and European fascism during the industrial era, to post-industrial rustbelt refugees and, most recently, those displaced from a structurally adjusted global south in the era of free trade. Today’s corporate towers tout Chicago’s preeminence as a hub for the non-stop flow of global capital. Mainstream media often couch these economic, demographic and spatial shifts within a partial and simplistic narrative of “progress”. AREA Issue #11 is calling for a range of contributions to support a more robust and nuanced discussion of human movement, and its impact on the political and cultural life of our city.

The distinction between migration and immigration can be viewed and discussed via the concept of the nation-state. In recent decades, as globalization opened borders for the movement of goods, natural resources and currency, a call for national security is increasingly used to justify the policing of human movement. US international policy has resulted in the forced dislocation of peoples around the world, while the fear of losing jobs and social benefits to immigrants is used to criminalize migrant labor forces in the US. Meanwhile, domestic policies increasingly reinforce inequalities along race and class lines. These disparities take physical form in our cities and can be seen by mapping the distribution of social services, wealth and resources, and access to arts and culture. In our city political forces draw imaginary lines that have real, tangible consequences for those who must navigate them.

How have internal migrations, such as the African American Great Migration and white flight, shaped the physical and psychological space of the city? How are race politics woven into the visible and invisible borders that crisscross the urban landscape? What are the forces driving displacement and gentrification, and how are they being resisted? Whose mobility is deemed “legitimate” and whose is considered a “trespass”? How is access created and redefined by im/migrants and people disabilities? Who is intentionally immobilized and by what forces? How does human movement impact the natural environment—from animal migration patterns to invasive species?

As immigrants arrive in Chicago from around the globe, what do they carry with them and what is left behind? How are language, food and music preserved as transmitters of culture, and how are they transformed? What is shared in the experience of immigrants from different countries of origin and what is particular? How does the immigrant experience differ according to age and place in life? How does identity shift in relation to where one stands at any given moment and to whom one speaks? How does media focus on Latina@ immigrants affect the discourse around immigration in the US? How does immigration reform reinforce the legitimacy of borders and the increased militarization of society?

While issues central to the theme of im/migrations are among the most talked about political issues in the country today, it seems that remarkably little is actually being said. In Im/migrations we invite contributors to depart from the mainstream discourse, to traverse the blurry line between personal and political experiences of movement.

We hope the issue will be an opportunity to explore the diverse politics of the individuals and organizations working for the rights of the undocumented. We invite contributors to challenge existing dialogues about immigration reform and to think of AREA as a space to experiment with new possibilities for language and action. We hope it will be a space to explore how migration and immigration intersect with other movements, such as those for environmental justice, gender justice, economic justice, and more. We also hope the issue will serve as a movement-building tool for those working to carve out a space in the city and defend the right to stay.

If you have something to say about these issues, we invite you to contribute! Your contributions can take many forms. We are interested in brief descriptions of the work you or your organization are doing, analysis and commentary, interviews, mapping projects, photography and other visual expressions, events, performances and more. If you have an idea, but are unsure how it might fit into im/migrations we´ll be happy to discuss the possibilities with you.

Proposals are due February 1st. Scheduled for release in May 2011.

Direct proposals, comments and questions to: immigration@AREAchicago.org

Tags: , , .

Modern-Day Griot Arthur Flowers Shares His Graphic Novel on Dr. MLK Jr. 2/12

Published on January 12, 2011 0 Comments
Feb ’11
12
7:00 pm

In celebration of Black History Month, Arthur Flowers celebrates I See the Promised Land: A Life of Martin Luther King, Jr., a singular take on the graphic novel genre, an extraordinary jam session between two very distinct storytelling traditions. Flowers tells a masterful story in musical prose. Artist Manu Chitrakar, a scroll-painter from Bengal, India, carries the tale confidently into the vivid idiom of Patua art, turning King’s journey into a truly universal legacy. replete with destiny, fate and the human condition, I See the Promised Land traverses the milestones of King’s short life, his ministry and journey, in a dramatic collaboration.

“Both evocative and factually rich…a standout both as a distinctive graphic narrative that combines two world storytelling traditions and as an examination of King’s life and its enduring legacy across the globe.” – Booklist Starred Review

Arthur Flowers, a remarkable performance artist and oral historian, originally hails from Memphis. He is an associate professor of English at Syracuse University. Arthur is a captivating presence, memorizing his text, singing from the story in a free-form jive style and accompanying himself with a small African drum. He performs with select pieces of the original Patua scroll artwork. Arthur is also the author of Another Good Loving Blues and De Mojo Blues.

Saturday, February 12, 7pm

Tags: , , , , .

Weekly Top 10

Published on January 11, 2011 0 Comments

1. Hi-Fructose #18 $6.95
2. Proximity #8 Education As Art $12.00 – Writing the book on learning as art and the art of learning: Proximity #8 comes from all angles, focuses, builds, supports. Weighing in at 232 pages, this volume does an exceptional job with a wide variety of profiles, interviews and portfolios and essays, staying both solidly local and vitally connected, you’d be hard pressed to find a smarter art magazine.
3. Maximumrocknroll #332 Jan 11 $4.00
4. Henry and Glenn Forever Perfect Bound Deluxe New Edition by Igloo Tornado (Microcosm) $6.00 – The gay love of Henry Rollins and Glenn Danzig? I’d get in that van.-EF
5. Mojo #207 Feb 11 $9.99
6. Cometbus #52: The Spirit of Saint Louis by Aaron Cometbus $3.00 – “It all starts with the story I’ve told so many times it’s turned stale and tired from overuse. There I was, dropped off in a city far from home. I didn’t know a soul or have a hope, and so on…”
7. Serial Killers Unite #5 $2.00
8. Truckface #13 by LB $3.00- A huge little zine about a nerve-wracking rookie year teaching reading and writing to high school freshmen. This would basically be my nightmare job, and LB minces no words about how impossible, frustrating and life-consuming it can seem- but at the same time, there’s tons of funny shenanigans and the illustrations are beyond good, in a madcap Esther Pearl Watson way. An epic account of struggling through the school year and making out the other end with your sense of the ridiculous and amazing intact. -EF
9. Crap Hound #4 Clowns Devils and Bait $12.95
10. True Crime Dec 10 Detective Monthly $8.99

Wow, they’ll give the Eisner-award to anybody!