Category: Event

  • THE MDW FAIR Visual Arts Landing in Chicago 4/23 and 4/24


    Version 11: The Community. Announces the creation of The MDW Fair: Visual Arts Landing in Chicago

    THE MDW FAIR Visual Arts Landing
    At Geolofts, 3636 South Iron Street, Chicago, IL, 60608
    Saturday, April 23rd: 1-10pm
    Sunday, April 24th: 1-6pm
    www.mdwfair.org
    Admission: $5

    Public Media Institute, Roots & Culture and threewalls have created The MDW Fair, a first annual gathering of independent art initiatives, spaces, galleries, publishers and artist groups from the Chicago metropolitan area and beyond. With over 50 participants, The MDW Fair demonstrates the diversity, strength and vision of the people and places that make up the rich art ecology of our region. Launched at Version 11: The Community, The MDW Fair is a rare chance to encounter the creators of the vibrant art ecology of our region.

    Held April 23-24, 2011 at The Geolofts, 3636 S. Iron Street, Chicago, the fair features 501(c)3, commercial and unincorporated galleries, independent curatorial projects, publishers and media groups in over 25,000 square feet of exhibition space that includes a 8,000 square foot sculpture garden with work by local artists featuring: Mike Andrews, Dayton Castleman, Jacob C. Hammes, Jesse Harrod, Cody Hudson, Daniel Lavitt, Heather Mekkelson, Brian Murer, The Mt. Baldy Expedition: James Barry and Hui-min Tsen, Ben Stone, and Patrick Willi.

    In addition to exhibitions by participating spaces, local podcasters Bad At Sports will host a live game-show and panel discussions will be scheduled throughout fair hours chaired by Britton Bertran, Jamilee Polson, Lorelei Stewart and Steve Ruiz.

    The MDW Fair is a manifestation of the collective spirit behind the region’ s most innovative visual cultural organizers, focusing on the breadth of work done here by artists and arts-facilitators alike. Please join us and see why Chicago remains a center of ingenuity and talent. Participants include: Twelve Galleries, Peregrine Program, Western Exhibitions, Alderman Exhibitions, ACRE, 65GRAND, Roots and Culture, Lloyd Dobler, Flat 9 Prelude, Adds Donna, Johalla Projects, Devening Projects, Linda Warren Gallery, Green Gallery, Sidecar Gallery, Pentagon Gallery, Post Family, Iceberg Projects, Slow, Reuben Kincaid, The Hills Esthetic Center, Ebersmoore, Antenna, University of Illinois at Chicago, LVL3, No Coast, JNL Graphic Design, Roxaboxen, Packer Schopf Gallery, Monument II, Stockyard Institute, Harold Arts, Heaven Gallery, The Suburban, ZG Gallery, Regional Relationships, The Storefront, Hornswaggler, University of Chicago, 2nd Bedroom/TAG TEAM, Chicago Arts Review, Oxbow, Bad At Sports, What It Is, The Hyde Park Art Center, threewalls, The Cultural Center, Rebuild Foundation, The Chicago Urban Art Society and others

    Visit the MDWfair.org website for updates

  • Weekly Top 10 and an Attempt to Play A Portion of All Four Discs of The Flaming Lips' Zaireeka at Once

    A children’s book made #1 this week?! That’s crazy. But true.

    Also! Here’s footage from an event here at Quimby’s for the Continuum’s 33 1/3 series about albums of the past 40 years. This event on 9/17/11 featured NIU prof Joe Bonomo who did a book about AC/DC’s Highway to Hell, Editor-in-Chief of Pitchfork Media Scott Plagenhoef who did a book about Belle and Sebastian’s If You’re Feeling Sinister, and managing editor of Pitchfork Mark Richardson who did a book about the Flaming Lips’ Zaireeka. The footage below is of Mark Richardson reading from his book and then attempt to sequence the four CDs of the album to play simultaneously. Click on the image below and go watch it on YouTube.

    Mark Richardson reads from his book The Flaming Lips' Zaireeka
    Click on the picture to watch Mark Richardson discuss and play part of The Flaming Lips' Zaireeka

     

    1. Counting In The Studio by Cecilia Pinto and Megan Williamson  $10.00 – This attempt to show the process of creative expression to young readers. A dog lives with an artist who has also depicted her own studio in the book. Inside the studio it is possible to stare out windows just like those in the book. The studio, at the back of the artist’s home, is nestled on a side street in a Chicago neighborhood. The artist and the writer met at the studio to talk about the project before and after making their own separate work. The dog was always present and lent his inestimable support even when napping on the comfy, pillow-strewn chaise lounge which is up against a wall with drawings on it, just like in the book.

    2. Spoken Nerd Revolution by Shappy Seasholtz (Penmanship) $15.00

    3. Mister Wonderful: A Love Story by Daniel Clowes (Pantheon) $19.95

    4. Gentlewoman #3 Spr Sum 11 $10.95

    5. Burn Collector #15 by Al Burian (Microcosm) $3.00 – Al Burian takes on his new home town, Berlin with a little help from a Chicago All-Star team of Anne Elizabeth “Unmarketable” Moore and Liam “Secret Beach” Warfield.

    6. Archiving the Underground #1 by Jenna Brager and Jami Sailor $2.00

    7. OP Original Plumbing #6 Trans Male Quarterly $8.00 – The theme this round is “Schooled”, highlighting a twin commitment to both the “It Gets Better” and the “Make It Better” campaigns targeted at queer youth.

    8. Cartooning Philosophy and Practice by Ivan Brunetti (Yale) $13.00 – This is about as close you are going to get to having Ivan Brunetti come to your house and teach you how to make great comics. Turns out, it’s pretty damn close – Philosophy and Practice serves up a concise and well-honed crash course on finding and fine tuning your comics voice. -EF

    9. Hi Fructose #19 $6.95

    10. Hot Teen Slut by Cristin O’Keefe Aptowicz (Write Bloody) $15.00

  • Monstrous Achievement : Jack Grisham Reads From His New Memoir An American Demon 5/14

    An American Demon is Jack Grisham’s story of depravity and redemption, terror and spiritual deliverance. While Grisham is best known as the raucous and provocative front man of the pioneer hardcore punk band TSOL (True Sounds of Liberty), his writing and true life experiences are physically and psychologically more complex and unsettling than those of Bret Easton Ellis and Chuck Palahniuk.

    Eloquently disregarding the prefabricated formulas of the drunk–to–sober, bad–to–good tale, this is an entirely new kind of life lesson: summoned through both God and demons, while settling within eighties hardcore punk culture and its radical–to–the–core (and most assuredly non–evangelical) parables, Grisham leads us, cleverly, gorgeously, between temporal violence and bigger-picture spirituality toward something better. An American Demon flourishes on both extremes, as a scary hardcore punk memoir and as a valuable message to souls navigating through an overly materialistic and woefully self–absorbed “me first” modern society.

    An American Dem    on conveys anger and truth within the perfect setting, using a youth rebellion that changed the world to open doors for this level of brash destruction. Told from the point of view of a seminal member of the American Punk movement — doused in violence, rebellion, alcoholism, drug abuse, and ending with beautiful lessons of sobriety and absolution — this book is as harrowing and life–affirming as anything you’re ever going to read.

    Now in heavy demand as a public speaker, Jack Grisham currently receives thousands of monthly phone calls from individuals and organizations seeking his advice, expertise, wit, mentorship, and support, especially on drug and alcohol–related issues. Grisham is a master hypnotherapist and resides in Huntington Beach, California. He spends his time with his family, surfs, and voluntarily offers his services to his community. An American Demon is Grisham’s first book.

    “If you’ve ever found yourself unable to turn away from witnessing an accident, crash or natural disaster, you’ll read An American Demon straight through, like I did.  Jack Grisham’s memoir is as original as it is horrifying.  I couldn’t put it down.”    — James Frey, bestselling author of A Million Little Pieces

    “What isn’t shocking is that Jack wrote a fantastically depraved, heart wrenching, thoroughly engaging book that you’ll want to read in one sitting. What is shocking is that it wasn’t written from inside a jail cell at a maximum security prison.”     — Jim Lindberg, former lead singer of Pennywise, and author of Punk Rock Dad

    “…the book is unnervingly brilliant, compulsive reading for those of us that are glad it’s all over.”
    — Rat Scabies, musician.  Scabies played drums for the punk band The Damned.

    “Jack Grisham is a legend to those in the know.  Much of the success of punk rock was built on the blood, sweat, and tears of this surf punk, Southern California mad man. After such a compelling read, it’s so nice to see him break on through to the other side…some weren’t so lucky…” — Mark McGrath, singer

    “Jack Grisham finally, irrevocably, puts to death the slander that the early Los Angeles punk scene was ‘plastic.’ The first true literature to come out of our pathetic little punk lives, American Demon is haunting and awakens monsters. But it should come with a warning label: it’s a dangerous book. Read Patti Smith’s Just Kids. Then read this. But only if you have the courage to follow poetry as far as it can go.”— Paul Roessler, producer, composer, musician

    For more info: jackgrisham.com and  ecwpress.com

    Saturday, May 14th, 7pm

  • Chester Brown Stops at Quimby’s on the Paying For It Tour 5/11

    It’s tempting to call Chester Brown a recluse, but if you live in Toronto, he’s not. But it is rare for him to hit the road, and he will be on tour in 2011 for PAYING FOR IT.

    Chester Brown has never shied away from tackling controversial subjects in his work. As the cartoonist of the autobiographical The Playboy and the biography Louis Riel, Paying For It is a natural progression for Brown as it combines the personal and sexual aspects of his autobiographical work with the polemical drive of Louis Riel. Brown calmly lays out the facts of how he became not only a willing participant in but also a vocal proponent of one of the world’s most hot-button topics–prostitution. Paying For It offers an entirely contemporary exploration of sex work–from the timid john who rides his bike to meet his escorts, wonders how to tip so as not to offend, and reads Dan Savage for advice, to the modern-day transactions complete with online reviews, seemingly willing participants, and clean apartments devoid of cliches street corners, drugs, or primps.

    Paying For It is a book that stands for itself and will be the most talked about graphic novel of 2011. In stores this May.

    Hardcover, 5.5 x 7.5, Black & White, 272 pages, ISBN: 9781770460485, $24.95 US / $25.95 CDN

    “PAYING FOR IT is a very enlightening book, as well as being entertaining…{Chester Brown} is a very skillfull artist in that way.”–R. CRUMB, from his introduction to PAYING FOR IT

    Wed, May 11th, 7pm

    Refreshments Provided by Piece Pizzeria & Brewery!

  • “Cinco De Awesome” J. Bradley Reads From The Serial Rapist Sitting Behind You Is a Robot

    When asked about his influences, J. Bradley points to three enduring sources: failure, 80s cartoon, unrequited love. Not a likely combination for a writer, but one that has brought forth The Serial Rapist Sitting Behind You is a Robot (Safety Third Enterprises). A collection of prose-poems from J. Bradley in his first foray into fiction. Bradley’s swift cuts and unapologetic style still remains intact in this new frame delighting in tales of Jurassic Park, sexual liaisons, and sexual disgust. Even in the darker times of the twenty story collection the Florida poet goes for a dirty bountiful laugh.

    “Rabbit punches are illegal in boxing because they are a potentially fatal blow. “The Serial Rapist Sitting Behind You Is A Robot” is a series of rabbit punches comprised of poetry, wit, sex and sick.  J. Bradley attempts to kill with each piece; packing their tiny structures full of a power reserved for breaking the teeth of cheating spouses.  Each piece makes an impact that stuns strong and spreads circular in a visceral ring that will leave the reader wondering, “What just happened here?” After they stagger to their feet, they will taunt him to hit them again and again.” – xTx, author of Normally Special

    Also joining the bill are Chicago author Ben Tanzer, who will read from his book You Can Make Him Like You (Artistically Declined Press), James Tadd Adcox, editor of Artifice Magazine and Brandon Will.

    For more info: http://iheartfailure.net

  • Ryan Van Meter Reads From If You Knew Then What I Know Now 4/28

    In fourteen linked essays, If You Knew Then What I Know Now reinvents the memoir with all-encompassing empathy—for bully and bullied alike. A father pitches baseballs at his hapless son, and a grandmother watches with silent forbearance as the same slim, quiet boy sets the table dressed in a blue satin dress. Another essay explores origins of the word “faggot,” and its etymological connection to “flaming queen.” This deft collection maps the unremarkable landscapes of childhood with compassion and precision, allowing awkwardness its own beauty.

    Ryan Van Meter holds an MA in creative writing from DePaul University and an MFA in nonfiction writing from The University of Iowa. His essays have appeared in The Gettysburg Review, Gulf Coast, and Fourth Genre, among others, and been selected for anthologies including Best American Essays 2009. In the summer of 2009, he was awarded a residency at the MacDowell Colony. He currently lives in California where he is an assistant professor of creative nonfiction at The University of San Francisco.

    “Ryan Van Meter’s is both a charming and wounding intelligence. To read a book this observant, this fiercely honest, and this effortlessly beautiful is to feel the very pulse of contemporary American essays.”

    —John D’Agata

    For more info: ryanvanmeter.net

    Thursday , April 28th, 7 pm

  • Flint Expat Poets Larry O. Dean and Sarah Carson Read 4/29

    Larry O. Dean reads from his just-released chapbooks, About the Author (Mindmade Books) and abbrev (Beard of Bees), as well as new and collected works. He was born and raised in Flint, Michigan, where he worked with Academy Award-winning filmmaker, Michael Moore. He attended the University of Michigan, where he won three Hopwood Awards in Creative Writing, and Murray State University’s low-residency MFA program. He teaches literature and composition, and is a Poet-in-Residence in the Chicago Public Schools through the Poetry Center of Chicago’s Hands on Stanzas program. Dean was a recipient of the Gwendolyn Brooks Award for teaching excellence in 2004. Selected magazine publications include Berkeley Poetry Review, Passages North, Big Bridge, Keyhole, OCHO, Dinosaur Bees, and Used Furniture Review. His work has been widely anthologized, and translated into Chinese, Italian, and Spanish.
    “In About the Author, Larry O. Dean’s anti-author’s note poems do what the author’s note never sets out to do, that is tell us what really makes the most sense. These funny and elegant poems about assertion and negation, give us a poet pushing the edges of his own new genre. The reader is in for an enjoyable and revelatory ride.” –Mark Statman, Tourist at a Miracle (poems) and co-translator, Poet in New York (Federico Garcia Lorca)

    “When the author is Larry O. Dean, the odds are the book is very, very good indeed. Like his books that preceded it, About the Author is funny and insightful and has a sneaky way of making serious sense through all the cleverness. Reading this book is smiling with the author while he gives you something new to think about. And, serious though he may be, he never lets you lose the grin. Outstanding!” –Charlie Newman, author of deadmachinecity

    In addition, Dean is a singer-songwriter, working both solo as well as with several ‘hard pop’ bands. His numerous critically-acclaimed albums include Throw the Lions to the Christians (1997) and Sir Slob (2001); Public Displays of Affection (1998) and Fables in Slang (2001), with Post Office; Gentrification Is Theft (2002), with The Me Decade; and Fun with a Purpose (2009), with The Injured Parties. He is currently working with producer, Chris Stamey (of The dB’s) on his third solo album, titled Good Grief. Since 2001 he has hosted and performed at the monthly songwriter showcase he created, Folk You!

    Dean will be joined by fellow Flint expat, Sarah Carson, associate editor at RHINO and the Communications Specialist at Switchback Books. Her poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in Barrow Street, Diagram, Epiphany, Limestone, Poet Lore, Strange Machine, and Slipstream, among others. She is the author of two chapbooks: Before Onstar (Etched Press, 2010) and Twenty-Two (Finishing Line Press, 2011).
    Copies of the poets’ most recent works will be available for purchase and for signing at this event.

    For more info: contact larry@larryodean.com or info@mindmadebooks.com

    Fri, Apr 29th, 7PM

  • Fame and Disgrace: Christopher Smit Reads From The Exile of Britney Spears 4/23

    Over the course of her decade-long career in the music industry, Britney Spears has both fascinated and repelled the American public, first as an international pop icon, then as a media spectacle gleefully criticized for her rocky marriage and bizarre actions, including shaving her head. The Exile of Britney Spears A Tale of 21st Century Consumption charts the pop star’s rise and fall (and rise again?), illustrating American popular culture’s thirst for—and complicity in—celebrity disgrace. While there have been many takes on Britney, Chris Smit uncovers the psychological and social aspects of the uniquely American spectacle of fame and disgrace.

    Just in time for her new album.

    Christopher Smit, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Media Studies at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan. His newest book is The Exile of Britney Spears: A Tale of 21st Century Consumption (Intellect/University of Chicago Press, 2011). His work on disability, aesthetics, culture, and popular music can be found in a variety of texts and journals. He is also an award-winning singer-songwriter and musician who currently fronts the band The New Midwest. For more on his work, to read his blog, and hear/download his music, please visit smitwork.com.

    For more info: University of Chicago Press Books

    Saturday, April 23, 7:00 PM

  • Calling All Nerdy Sluts & Slutty Nerds: Shappy Seasholtz & Cristin O’Keefe Aptowicz Read at Quimbys

    Poets Shappy Seasholtz and Cristin O’Keefe Aptowicz have had a pretty incredible last few months. In August, they left New York City (their home for the eight years) to move to Philadelphia, where Aptowicz had been awarded the 2010-2011 ArtsEdge Writer-in-Residency at the University of Pennsylvania– the first time that the honor had been given to a slam poet.

    In October 2010, Seasholtz won the slot to represent Philadelphia at the Individual World Poetry Slam Championships, where he competed in December, placing in the top 10 after the first night of competition. In November 2010, it was announced that Aptowicz had been awarded a 2011 National Endowment of the Arts Fellowship for Poetry. And in 2011, a combined total of five books of poetry – covering the couple’s compete back catalogue – are being released on two separate independent presses.

    Shappy Seasholtz’s Spoken Nerd Revolution (Pennmanship Books, 2011) covers Seasholtz’s 20 year history in Performance Poetry. Cristin O’Keefe Aptowicz’s Hot Teen Slut – her memoir-in-verse about the year she spent as a writer for porn – is one of four books by Cristin being re-issued in expanded editions by Write Bloody Publishing..

    “Reading Spoken Nerd Revolution was like looking in a fun house mirror, letting us laugh at and relish in our own oddity.  He makes nerd beautiful. Shappy pees on the shoes of the accepted poetic stereotypes.  He’s not writing the verses that will be dissected into eulogies and greeting cards, or blasted atop break beats until the meaning is lost.   These are real words, from a hilariously cynical and sincere person.  Everyone needs a Shappy in their life..” – John Hancock, The Legendary

    “When Aptowicz graduated from college, she got a job as porn editor. Hot Teen Slut are the poems she wrote about that time. The poems are as much about that first foray into the real world as they are about the day-to-day life of a porn editor. They are funny and painful and funny. I understand that what I’m about to say might seem a little nuts to poetry pros, but I’m going to say it anyway: I have found the greatest book of poetry ever written.” – Melissa Lion, Bookslut

    Quimbys is proud to be welcoming Shaptowicz back! Special guests and refreshments will be provided!

    For more info: uncleshappy.com and aptowicz.com

    Sat, Apr 16th, 7pm

  • Sean Yseult from White Zombie Reads From I’m In The Band 4/4

    Art rock? Noise rock? Punk-metal? Alternative? White Zombie may have been unclassifiable, but it didn’t stop them from carving out a place for themselves in music history. The band became a multi-platinum, two-time Grammy nominee with the release of their 1992 album, La Sexorcisto. But while most people will remember their bizarre look and macabre lyrics, what many failed to realize was that their lanky, high-octane bass player was a woman.

    I’m in the Band charts White Zombie’s rise from the gritty music scene of New York’s Lower East Side in the eighties to arena headliners during the nineties alternative-explosion that followed in Nirvana’s wake, while sharing the unlikely story of a female musician who won the respect and adoration of male metal musicians and fans. From 1985 to 1996, Sean Yseult was the sole woman not only in White Zombie, but in the entire metal scene: bands, roadies, managers, you name it—with the exception of girlfriends and groupies, Yseult was in a world by herself.

    With I’m in the Band, Yseult combines eleven years of tour diaries, flyers, and personal photos and ephemera—many featuring rock icons such as Lemmy Kilmister, Iggy Pop, Joey Ramone, and Lux Interior—into a striking visual memoir. She offers fans a unique vantage on the life of a mega-band during rock’s last golden age.

    Sean Yseult played bass and wrote music for White Zombie from its inception in 1985 through its breakup over a decade later. Since then she’s played with Famous Monsters, Rock City Morgue, and The Cramps; exhibited her photography in galleries across the country; and formed the design company Yseult Designs. She divides her time between New Orleans and New York City.

    “This book has more good stories than a salty old sailor:  tattoos, evil deeds and alcohol breath included!”
    -CJ Ramone, The Ramones

    For more info: seanyseult.com

    Monday, April 4th, 7pm

    ********************

    Tuesday, April 5th, 9pm

    And then the next night, April 5th, we’ll be selling books at Delilah’s where Sean will  be guest DJing!

    Metal Shop at Delilahs, Chicago’s longest-running metal DJ event, is excited to announce that on Tuesday April 5th, former WHITE ZOMBIE bassist SEAN YSEULT will guest DJ! Sean Yseult and DJ Platz will also have rare White Zombie items to giveaway, along with 5 hours of the best in new and classic metal and hard rock!

    Delilahs
    2771 N. Lincoln Avenue. Chicago
    773-472-2771

    Metal Shop is from 9pm-2am, the first Tuesday of each month. As always, NO COVER.

    For more information:
    delilahschicago.com
    seanyseult.com