Category: Event

  • Orderly Disorder: Zinester Librarians in Circulation Tour featuring the Fly Away Zine Mobile 7/6

    If librarians in roving vehicles makes you think of bookmobiles parked on corners of dusty country roads, think again. Come listen to librarians read from their various zine projects when they roll into town as part of a nine-city zine-reading tour kicked off at the American Library Association’s Annual Conference in New Orleans and wrapping up at the Zine Librarian (un)Conference in Milwaukee. The Fly Away Zine Mobile, a traveling library focused on zines and other forms of DIY publishing, will be present to help spread the zine love!

    Tour participants are Jenna Freedman (Lower East Side Librarian and Barnard Zine Collection); Jami Sailor (Your Secretary and Archiving the Underground); John Stevens (Dilettantes and Heartless Manipulators and Blue Floral Gusset); Celia Perez (I Dreamed I Was Assertive and Atlas of Childhood); and Debbie Rasmussen, former publisher of Bitch: Feminist Response to Popular Culture, with her latest project the Fly Away Zine Mobile.

    Wed, July 6th, 7pm


     Click here for more info.

  • Off-Site Event: The Return of the Geek @ Words That Kill 6/16

    Every year Words That Kill celebrates everything nerdy and geeky through literary, visual and performance arts. In the past, this meant love letters to Mr. Spock, comedy sketches about surviving zombie apocalypse, and poetry about inner Jedi and addiction to video games, amongst others.

    This month the Geek is back once again and he has planned an even more mind-boggling extravaganza with features by The Former Fat Boys (Mixtape release party), The Great Luke Ski and art installation by Rotofugi, John Campbell (Pictures For Sad Children), and many more artists and performers.

    Lethal Poetry Presents  W O R D S  T H A T  K I L L –  a comedy / poetry series & omni-slam featuring local, national touring, and award winning comedians and poets.

    Return Of the Geek on Thursday, June 16th and W O R D S  T H A T  K I L L every 3rd Thursday
    @ creative lounge CHICAGO (1564 N. Damen Ave 3rd Fl., Wicker Park)
    Doors / Sign-up 7 PM
    7:00 – Open Mic (geeks only please this month)
    8:00 – Show
    ALL AGES
    Admission: $5 or FREE with canned goods donation.

    Featured Performers:

    The Former Fat Boys: are the creators of YouTube sensation “I’m a Dinosaurus” and “Nerdapalooza.” Their sound resembles that totally pumped up noise you make when you’re watching the original Power Rangers and Tommy the Green Ranger blows his knife flute and the Dragonzord comes up and you just know there’s some ass that is about to be kicked, so you jump out of your seat and punch the wall and scream! Since they understand that they are continually awesome and timeless they call their genre: Shatnercore. The group will be releasing a mixtape called, “Wanna Buy Beats” – the idea spawned from all of the spam on MySpace, Twitter and Facebook to buy beats. So they bought a bunch and created an album.

    The Great Luke Ski: is the 21st century Weird Al Yankovich, but with better hair and no mustache! At Dragon*Con 2004, Dr. Demento declared “the great Luke Ski” to be his program’s “Most Requested Artist of the 21st Century”. Since then, he’s held that title by having songs on “Dr. Demento Show’s” annual year-end “Funny 25” countdown of his most requested songs for nine years running, two of which ranked #1 (“Peter Parker” 2002, “Stealing Like A Hobbit” 2003), & two ranked #2 (“You Don’t Know Jack” 2006, “Too Much Stuff” 2009). His song parodies, originals, and sketches about pop culture make him a popular act at sci-fi and geek conventions nationwide. In his 9 albums and 1 DVD release he’s covered: Lord of The Rings, Star Wars Star Trek, Battlestar Gelactica, Anime, Marvel, Spider-Man, and much much more!

    John Campbell: is best known for a popular web comic Pictures For Sad Children, but he is no stranger to gallery art. His work is satirical by nature and his humor has been described as “…mostly dark, incorporating elements of magic realism…” Campbell, began his work in 2007 while he lived in Zacatecas, Mexico, but has since moved to Chicago, released a book of the first 200 comics and continues to exhibit his gallery work with great success.

    Rotofugi Artists: Rotofugi is a fantastically geeky store notable for carrying a culture of toys whose origins trace back to China and Japan. Established in 2004 by husband and wife Kirby and Whitney Kerr, the store is a staple destination for geeks and nerds of Chicago. The store runs a gallery that will be exhibiting work from various artists that they represent (including Shawnimals and Squibbles Ink)

    That Juggling Guy aka Brad French: will make his second appearance at Words That Kill. A juggler and comedian, Brad is known to wonder off into ontological and existential discourses while trying to keep several objects in the air.

    Corey Arcangel is a digital artist from Brooklyn, NY. His work is concerned with the relationship between technology and culture, and media appropriation. He uses many different media including drawing, sculpture, video, and photographs but is best known for his video game ROM hacks.

    DJ Limbs: Nerdcore and Top Geek 40’s all night!

    Additional visual artists include: Seamus P Burke (of web comic Oh Goodie!) and Sara Brumlick (of Dikkers Animation)
    Hosted by Lethal Poetry’s President Mojdeh Stoakley as William Shatner!
    __________________________________________________________

    Words That Kill has been repeatedly selected for Metromix’s “Best Bets” column, written about in Sun-Times, and reviewed in NewCity. Our past performers include such distinguished comedians and poets as Marc Kelly Smith, Javon Johnson, Cameron Esposito, Marty McConnell, Michael Lebovitz, Chad Briggs, Robbie Q. Telfer, Brian Babylon, Shannon Matesky, Avery R. Young and others!

    Lethal Poetry is an arts/entertainment company and label built to support non-profits through the arts. LP produces interdisciplinary art exhibitions, music, comedy & poetry events, and seeks to utilize arts & entertainment as means to provide public service.

  • The Beat Cop's Guide to Chicago Eats Release Event 6/14

    Join Sgt. David J. Haynes of the Chicago Police Department, and his partner-in-crime, blogger Christopher Garlington on Tues, June 14th at 7pm as they talk about the places where they take a bite out of crime and also bites out of donuts, polish sausage, fried chicken, enchiladas, and omelettes. Peppered with outrageous stories from working cops, Chicago cop lore, and even a few recipes, The Beat Cop’s Guide To Chicago Eats takes you on a gustatory journey through all five Chicago areas, including some of the toughest neighborhoods in the nation.

    Sgt. David J. Biscuit Haynes has spent the past 15 years dodging bullets and chasing down gang bangers on the city’s West Side, running Chicago’s first ever Homeland Security Task Force, and supervising squads in the 19th District at Belmont and Western.  Christopher “The Bull” Garlington is a blogger and author, known for his stories of raising highly intelligent (devious) children published on the blog Death by Children. His writing has appeared in the Chicago Tribune, Another Realm, Bathhouse, The Dead Mule School of Southern Literature and more. Together Haynes and Garlington have hosted the radio program The Dave & Chris Show! since 2007, during which they cultivate and maintain a long-standing argument about…everything. From politics and video games to the importance of cool nicknames and secret societies, they cover it on their live weekly broadcast from cigar stores, bars, and other manly locales around Chicago. Their show first aired on WJJG and is now broadcast online on blogtalk radio.

    The book retails at $15.95 and includes $34 in coupons. It’s like being buddies with your alderman. For more info: lakeclaremont.com

  • Learnapalooza Comics Workshops Schedule at Quimby's 6/25 With Sara Drake

    Learnapalooza Workshops 6/25

    Quimby’s welcomes Learnapalooza for a second year. It’s a festival of free workshops, where Chicagoans will share their skills by leading free workshops throughout the day in different places. Quimby’s welcomes “Arty Party” and “Transmission” comics artist Sara Drake, who will be leading comics-making sessions in the afternoon. Her free workshops will be held at these times here at Quimby’s:

    1:45 comics making demo

    3:00 self-publishing demo

    4:45 comics drawing workshop



    Here’s more info about the rest of the festival!

    Want to be the next National Geographic photographer? Or learn to build a website, prepare a summer sandwich, knit, cure bacon, or dance like a Bollywood star? Don’t miss a bounty of workshops on Saturday, June 25th, 2011 from 10am to 5pm for the 2nd annual Learnapalooza, a summer festival of learning with nearly 100 free workshops across Wicker Park, led by neighbors, business owners, or you! The workshops are held at a variety of places around Wicker Park, including Quimby’s!

    Free workshops will include everything from improv comedy to social entrepreneurship to board games to worm composting and much more. Workshops will be hosted at more than a dozen businesses and organizations, and headquartered at the Wicker Park Art Center. The majority of the workshops are aimed at adults, but there will be a few options for children and families as well. It’s a fun, free way to share your passions, learn new skills, and connect with your neighbors.

    Learnapalooza is a volunteer-organized event and run in partnership with CommuniTeach, a website that makes it easy to learn from your neighbors for free throughout the year. Please visit www.learnapaloozachi.com to see the current list of classes and venues, sign up to teach a workshop, and join the Learnapalooza mailing list.

    We look forward to seeing you on June 25th!

    Learnapalooza is sponsored in part by WPB, the Special Service Area for the Wicker Park and Bucktown neighborhoods. For more information on their partner, CommuniTeach, visit www.communiteach.com

  • Ivan Brunetti, Lilli Carré, Paul Hornschemeier, Paul Nudd and Onsmith Sign “BLACK EYE 1” on 6/24/11

    This signing is occasioned by the publication of “BLACK EYE 1: Graphic Transmissions to Cause Ocular Hypertension,” a new anthology that collects original narrative comics, art and essays by 41 international artists and writers, all focused on the expression of black, dark or absurdist humor. With comics and art by Stéphane Blanquet, Ivan Brunetti, Lilli Carré, Max Clotfelter, Al Columbia, Ludovic Debeurme, Olivier Deprez, Nikki DeSautelle, Brecht Evens, Andy Gabrysiak, Robert Goodin, Dav Guedin, Gnot Guedin, Glenn Head, Danny Hellman, Paul Hornschemeier, Ian Huebert, Kaz, Michael Kupperman, Mats!?, Fanny Michaëlis, James Moore, Tom Neely, Mark Newgarden, Paul Nudd, Onsmith, Emelie Östergren, Paul Paetzel, David Paleo, Martin Rowson, Olivier Schrauwen, Stephen Schudlich, Robert Sikoryak, Ryan Standfest, Brecht Vandenbroucke, Wouter Vanhaelemeesch and Jon Vermilyea. Original essays by Jeet Heer (on S. Clay Wilson), Bob Levin (on “The Adventures of Phoebe Zeit-Geist”), Ken Parille (on Steve Ditko) and Ryan Standfest (on Al Feldstein and EC). Also includes the text “100 Good Reasons to Kill Myself Right Now,” by Roland Topor, translated into English for the first time by Edward Gauvin. Edited by Ryan Standfest.

    This event is an opportunity to bring together five of the contributing artists who are based in Chicago:

    IVAN BRUNETTI edited An Anthology of Graphic Fiction: Cartoon and True Stories, Vols. 1 & 2, and is the author of Misery Loves Comedy (2007), and Schizo #4 (2006), Cartooning: Philosophy and Practice (2011, Yale University Press).

    LILLI CARRÉ is the author of Nine Ways to Disappear (2009, Little Otsu), The Fir Tree (2009, HarperCollins), and The Lagoon (2008, Fantagraphics Books). lillicarre.com

    PAUL HORNSCHEMEIER’s books include Forlorn Funnies Volume 1 (2011, Fantagraphics), Life With Mr. Dangerous (2011, Villard), The Three Paradoxes (2006, Fantagraphics Books), Mother, Come Home (2004, Dark Horse), and the collections All and Sundry (2009, Fantagraphics) and Let Us Be Perfectly Clear (2006, Fantagraphics). blog.forlornfunnies.com

    PAUL NUDD has exhibited at Western Exhibitions and Hyde Park Art Center in Chicago, Jack the Pelican Presents, NYC, and in Seeing is a Kind of Thinking: A Jim Nutt Companion, at the Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art. He edits and publishes the art zine Corpus Corpus. http://www.westernexhibitions.com/nudd/index.html

    ONSMITH has contributed to An Anthology of Graphic Fiction, Cartoons & Stories Volumes 1 and 2 (edited by Ivan Brunetti), Corpus Corpus (edited by Paul Nudd), and Hotwire Comics (edited by Glenn Head).onsmithcomics.blogspot.com

    Copies of “BLACK EYE 1” will be available for purchase, as well as a limited edition letterpress print by Onsmith + Nudd.

    For more information on “BLACK EYE” visit http://rotlandpress.wordpress.com/

     

    Friday, June 24th, 7pm


  • THIS EVENT HAS BEEN CANCELED Eddie Trunk Signs Essential Hard Rock and Heavy Metal 5/20

    Event Canceled!

    The Eddie Trunk Signing for Eddie Trunk’s Essential Hard Rock and Heavy Metal at Quimby’s 5/20 has been canceled.

    Due to unseen circumstances, this signing has been cancelled. Stay tuned to quimbys.com for a potential rescheduling of this event in the future.

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

    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

    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

  • THIS EVENT HAS BEEN CANCELED Eddie Trunk Signs Essential Hard Rock and Heavy Metal 5/20

    Event Canceled!

    The Eddie Trunk Signing for Eddie Trunk’s Essential Hard Rock and Heavy Metal at Quimby’s 5/20 has been canceled.

    Due to unseen circumstances, this signing has been cancelled. Stay tuned to quimbys.com for a potential rescheduling of this event in the future.

    —–

    Eddie Trunk is heard on two national radio shows and seen on VH1 Classic and MSG Networks. He has also appeared on MTV several times and on Fox News Channel, worked as a freelance music journalist, boxing ring announcer, and MC for various concerts and rock events around the USA. He is the host of America’s biggest rock festival Rocklahoma in Pryor OK every July, hosts the events press conference in LA, and also consults on the lineup. This event is Fri, May 20th 6-8pm sharp at Quimby’s.

    Eddie will be signing and selling copies of his book Eddie Trunk’s Essential Hard Rock and Heavy Metal from 6-8pm, before heading to the UFO show at The House of Blues, so both starting and ending will be on the dot.

    “Eddie’s name should be spelled M-E-T-A-L. All of us should be thanking him because he has kept this scene alive for everyone.” —Ronnie James Dio

    For more info: eddietrunk.com

    This event is co-sponsored by Quimby’s Bookstore with Delilah’s Metal Shop , which is at Delilah’s the first Tues of each month at 2771 N. Lincoln Ave.

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

    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