Quimblog

Duncan Wilder Johnson and Dan Lockheed

Published on July 10, 2009 0 Comments

Aug ’09

7:00 pm

Cabildo Press, an Orono-based small press dedicated to publishing works by new and emerging writers and poets, celebrates their release of author Duncan Wilder Johnson’s “How I Fell In Love With Punk Rock. Johnson is the frontman for Boston-based band Destruct-a-thon, who recently advanced to the semi-finals of WBCN’s annual Rock N’ Roll Rumble. He has performed spoken word shows in the United States since 1999, reading with such luminaries as Jim Carroll, Eugene Mirman and Lydia Lunch. He has read in England, Scotland and Ireland.

Joining Johnson is Dan Lockheed. Through a tilted glass and a jilted sense of self actualization, he finds retrospect with his latest spoken word piece “Life in the Shit Show”. Fresh off five years in LA as a screenwriter Lockheed steps back into his Midwestern roots to make sense of his past plundering in the land of silicon dreams. After a myriad of independent films, commercials and sketch shows; including his self produced “Buck Stew” and “Coffee and Crackers”, Lockheed finally moved out west to…. take it on the chin. He feels much better now. Really, so much better… loads better actually. Lockheed currently has three film projects in play between LA and Detroit including “Getaway Girl$”, “Freakquency” and “Son of Rock” currently optioned by National Lampoon.

For more information, see Duncan Wilder Johnson: http://www.thrashachusetts.com/dwj/

Tags: events, store event.

BARRY SCHECHTER READS FROM THE BLINDFOLD TEST

Published on July 10, 2009 1 Comment

Aug ’09

7:00 pm

A WILDY IMAGINATIVE COMEDY ABOUT A MAN WHOSE LIFE HAS BEEN RUINED BY A ROGUE FBI AGENT…AND WHAT UNCOVERING THAT PLOT MAY MEAN In the sixties Jeffrey Parker briefly attended an antiwar rally. He wasn’t all that interested, listened to a few speeches, and went home…and nothing was ever the same. In this wildly comic debut novel, Parker’s brief dalliance is the beginning of the end. He never lands a decent job. Girlfriends never stick around. He has terrible stretches of bad luck, and is the unwitting victim of just plain bizarre occurrences: once, the final page in every one of the books in his library is removed. Then Parker discovers that he’s the victim of a government plot—like the FBI’s real-life COINTELPRO, set up to harass and surveil sixties peace activists—and the obsession of a rogue FBI agent who just won’t give up. This outrageously imaginative debut is reminiscent of John Kennedy Toole’s explosive out of-nowhere farce, A Confederacy of Dunces. Part thriller, part national tragedy, and all hysterical comedy, it is devilishly entertaining even as it forces Parker, and readers, to uncover the truth not only about their country, but about themselves.

The Blindfold Test was inspired, according to author Barry Schechter, by his meetings with two people: The first was someone who claimed to have been a victim of the COINTELPRO program, “It sounded as if the harassment had amounted to a lot of very nasty practical jokes,” Schechter notes. His second inspiring encounter was “soon after that, with a woman who told me that one time, after she had cracked open a fresh egg, a perfect, white sphere about two thirds the size of a golf ball plopped out … and at that point I started thinking about how strange the life of somebody with a long-term practical joker controlling things might look. It would become very hard to distinguish between the conspiracy and the genuine oddness of everyday life.” And that, says Schechter, “is when I knew I had a novel.”

BARRY SCHECHTER is a lifelong resident of Chicago. He has written for the Paris Review, the Chicago Tribune, and the Chicago Review. This is his first novel.

“Reading The Blindfold Test is a new and radical pleasure. Barry Schechter regards the dirty tricks with which life undoes his protagonist—the nightmare neighbors and prodigious happenings—with a kind of glee. We are reminded that Kafka was supposed to have held his sides laughing while he read friends his stories.” —Lore Segal, author of Shakespeare’s Kitchen “The Blindfold Test is a beautiful and terrifying pleasure, a metaphysically witty novel rich with melancholy joie de vivre.” —Matthew Sharpe, author of The Sleeping Father

Tags: barry schechter, events, store event.

Top 10 Bestsellers For Last Week

Published on July 7, 2009 0 Comments

OldNewSigns

Look! It’s a Quimby’s New Sign Salad. Have we posted this picture in the blog already? We can’t remember. They’re old and bleached, and isn’t that ironic? Old New signs. Anyway, this is for the week of June 28th-July 6th, 2009.

1. Cometbus #52 by Aaron Cometbus $3.00

2. Fart Party vol 2 by Julia Wertz (Atomic) $13.95

3. Stop Smiling #38 $6.99

4. Make Your Place: Affordable Sustainable Nesting Skills by Raleigh Briggs (Microcosm) $7.00

5. Giant Robot #60 $4.99

6. Juxtapoz #102 Jul 09 $5.99

7. Monocle vol 3 #25 Jul Aug 09 $10.00

8. RFD #138 $7.75

9. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame Smith (Quirk) $12.95

10. Brinkley Girls by Trina Robbins (Fantagraphics) $29.99

New Stuff 7/2/09

Published on July 2, 2009 0 Comments

cometbus52

Cometbus #52 The Spirit of Saint Louis by Aaron Cometbus $3.00 – Yes, a new issue of the zine with the most amazing penmenship ever.

Multiforce by Mat Brinkman (Picturebox) $15.00 – Collects various issues of the orginal comic Multiforce into one volume.

Xerography Debt #25 $3.00

Girls Guide to Rocking How to Start A Band Book Gigs And Get Rolling to Rock Stardom by Jessica Hopper (Workman Publishing) $13.95 – By Chicago writer, as featured in among other places, The Chicago Reader.

Ugly Man by Dennis Cooper (Harper) $13.99 – New fiction by the author of God Jr.

The Comics Journal # 298 (Fantagraphics) $11.99

Low Moon by Jason (Fantagraphics) $24.99 – New hardcover graphic novel from the artist of I Killed Adolf Hitler.

Giant Robot #60 $4.99

Mojo Classic #2 Britpop $12.50

Bizarre #151 $10.50

Fortean Times #250 $11.99

Punk Rock Etiquette: The Ultimate How To Guide For DIY Punk Indie and Underground Bands by Travis Nicholas (Roaring Brook) $12.95

Fart Party vol 2 by Julia Wertz (Atomic) $13.95 – Another installment of hilarity ensues!

We Did Porn: Memoir and Drawings by Zak Smith (Sabbath) (TinHouseBooks) $24.95 – From the artist who did 750 illustrations of Gravity’s Rainbow.

Seriously Sick Jokes: Most Disgusting Filthy Offensive Jokes from the Vile Obscene Disturbed Minds of b3ta.com by Rob Manuel (Ulysses) $10.95

Dark Night Of The Soul by Danger Mouse/Sparklehorse/David Lynch (Dnots) $50.00

RFD #138 $7.75

Good Times Bad Trips by Cliff Hengst and Scott Hewicker (Gallery 16) $25.00

Implausibility of Gnus by Tobias Amadon Benglesdorf (Another New Calligraphy) $10.00 – Arty box thing with interesting fiction in tiny pamphlets.

Spunk #6 $5.00

I Love You Gabrielle Bell by Jason Kieffer $1.50 – Mini-comic. And what’s not to love about Gabrielle Bell? She’s great!

Rad Dad #14 $3.00 – Next issue of the popular radical parenting zine.

Morrissey: The Pageant of His Bleeding Heart by Gavin Hopps (Continuum) $24.95 – Yes, rock criticism about Moz.

Black Dogs: The Possibly True Story of Classic Rock’s Greatest Robbery by Jason Buhrmester (Three Rivers Press) $13.95 – Don’t miss the event here on July 17th!

Experiencing Hypnotism Atomic Activity Book #1 by Francesco Spampinato (Atomic Activity) $6.00 – Long live weirdo zines!

Sprung #1with CD $5.00 – Delicate litle mini comic. Beautiful!

Giant Melvins Sticker (Sticker Robot) $59.95 – And worth every penny. Served on a platter of cardboard so you can keep it bagged and boarded if that’s your style.

First Line vol 11 #2 $3.00 – Every story in the issue starts with the same first line.

East Village Inky #41 $3.00

D90 #3 Mix Tape Zine $2.00

Next Stop Adventure #3 by Matt Gauck $2.00 – Always a hit with those who prefer a perzine feel to their reading.

Versal #7 $15.00 – New ish of the popular lit journal.

Lowbrow Reader #7 $3.00 – A highbrow approach to lowbrow culture. Now that’s something we can get behind!

Comic Book Design: The Essential Guide to Creating Great Comics and Graphic Novels by Gary Spencer Millidge (Watson) $24.95

Juxtapoz #102 Jul 09 $5.99

Judas Goat Quarterly #42 by Grant Schreiber $1.50 – Local zinester keeps on keepin’ on, on being down on the Man.

Hos Hookers Call Girls and Rent Boys: Professionals Writing on Life Love Money and Sex by David Henry Sterry (Deitch) $15.99

Beautifulism by Kembra Pfahler (Deitch) $30.00 – Remember the wall of vaginas art exhibit? Yeah, she did that. And oh yeah! She’s a supermodel too!

Smash The Church, Smash The State: Early Years of Gay Liberation by Tommi Avicolli Mecca (Citylights) $18.95

Goodbye 20th Century A Biography of Sonic Youth by David Browne (Da Capo) $16.95 – Now in soft cover.

Prayer Requested by Christian Northeastern (Drawn+Quarterly) $15.95 – Another release as part of D+Q’s dainty Petits Livres series.

Downtown Owl by Chuck Klosterman (Scriber) $15.00 – Soft cover release of fiction, from the author of Sex Drugs and Cocoa Puffs.

Burning Fight: Nineties Hardcore Revolution In Ethics Spirit and Sound by Brian Peterson (Revelation Books) $18.0

Plus, a whole mess of new toys to keep you occupied this summer: WWZD What Would Zombie Do Spinner, Ultimate Pocket Protector (Comes with geeky stickers!), Angry Mob Play Set, and various other frivolous toys you want to laugh at.

And oh! Did we mentio nSof Boy Bandanas, Sof Boy Mouse Pads, Coctails Tote Bags? And Read Or Die Totebags, plus of course, the Quimby’s totebags are still available. So many totebags here it’s like a public radio pledge drive.

See you soon!

Tags: new.