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Category: Local writer/artist
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Anya Davidson Celebrates Band for Life 10/6
Band for Life collects the beloved series that follows a misfit band of Chicago punks trying to be self-sustaining with their finances and friendships as they navigate the often confounding art world. It’s the story, told in comic strip form, of a noise rock band and their community of friends and acquaintances based in an alternate reality version of Chicago. Though beset with disaster at every turn and frequently reduced to squabbling, they stick together because the band is the fulcrum of their otherwise confounding lives, and together they help each other find their way.
Fusing elements of the classic British sitcom The Young Ones, as well as classic kids comic strips like Charles Schulz’s Peanuts and John Stanley’s Melvin Monster, Band for Life is a work of dark humor, but also infused with genuine affection for its cast; in many ways it is a love letter to creative people compelled to create, with no hope of financial reward.
“I was raised on old school adult comics from the ’60s to ’80s, the artwork of Pedro Bell, Overton Loyd and Ronald Stozo of the Parliament-Funkadelic Universe, Ralph Bakshi movies, and the like. When I came across Band For Life, I was immediately drawn in. The art reminded me of Funkadelic album covers, but with its own original swagger. The storylines spoke to my personal experience as a lifelong musician and band leader/member, in the same way that This Is Spinal Tap made me cry once I realized my life was as absurd as the movie. Anya Davidson is tapped into the very human experience that makes life in a band the story of family.” — Norwood Fisher (Fishbone)
“Anya Davidson gets that being in a band is generally about 5% playing music and 95% anything but. In true punk form, Band For Life kicks into high gear with page number one and never lets up.” — Brian Chippendale (Lightning Bolt)“Anya’s comics look like Dick Sprang and Boody Rogers got locked in a Pez factory and were told they would not be released until they produced hundreds of pages of a gutter punk Herculoids meets Josie and the Pussycats soap opera dripping soul and neglect.” — Gary Panter (Jimbo)“Band for Life is a warped and hilarious portrayal of the banality and adventure of bandhood from someone who lived it, but embellished gloriously by Anya’s imagination. Fucked up, feminist and funny. If you have ever ground away late nights in a basement trying to desperately remember the bad songs you just wrote, you will recognize your strife here with ‘the Wildest Band on Earth’.” -Jessica Hopper, author & Editorial Director, MTV NewsAnya Davidson was born in Sarasota, Florida in 1983. She graduated with a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2004. She is a cartoonist, musician, teaching artist and printmaker whose work appeared in many zines and anthologies, including Kramers Ergot and Best American Comics. Her debut graphic novel, School Spirits, was published by Picturebox Inc. The Ignatz award-winning series, “Band for Life” is her first book with Fantagraphics.
More info:Facebook invite for this event. Tell your friends!
for press inquiries: Anna Pederson (event manager) pederson(at)fantagraphics(dot)com -
QuimBrew Available For Pre-order!!!
Pre-order QuimBrew by Marz Community Brewing & Quimby’s Bookstore with an awesome label by the amazing Chicago artist Laura Park. Order it from The Beer Temple, and your shipment will come with the Quimby’s oral history zine!
It’s the 25th anniversary of Quimby’s Bookstore, and Marz Community Brewing Co made a beer to celebrate this milestone. Quimbrew is a pale wheat ale with rooibos tea packaged in 500 ML bottle with label art work designed by Laura Park.
This special edition beer is available for pre-purchase at The Beer Temple and comes with the 132 page zine: Ever Evolving Bastion of Freakdom: A Quimby’s Bookstore History in Words and Pictures.
Ever Evolving…is an oral history of the notorious and glorious Quimby’s Bookstore, in the tradition of Gillian McCain and Legs McNeil’s Please Kill Me. The story of the early days of Quimby’s up through today. Pictures, graphics, juice, from employees, shoppers, consignors and artists that have frequented the store’s hallowed doors. This special “ashcan edition” is a limited print run zine to celebrate the store’s silver jubilee, and was created to accompany the Marz Community Brewing Quimbrew beer pre-purchase.
Please note! This pre-order needs to be done at the Beer Temple website here, not at Quimby’s.
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Steven Krakow, author of My Kind of Sound: The Secret History of Chicago Music, in conversation with the Reader’s Philip Montoro on 2/18
Steven Krakow’s My Kind of Sound (Curbside Splendor) compiles more than a decade worth of “The Secret History of Chicago Music,” the illustrated column by Steve Krakow (“Plastic Crimewave”) that has been printed bi-weekly in the Chicago Reader since 2005. There is much to discover in these stories; amidst the slighted fame, botched contracts, overdoses, and break-ups, Krakow spotlights the glory that exists in making music.
Some of these musicians made considerable contributions to Chicago’s music culture, rivaling those of the legends we all know and collect. And some of them didn’t, but Krakow insists that you know about them. Each of the more than 200 columns included in My Kind of Sound were painstakingly constructed by Krakow in his signature scissor-and-glue process, the same he employs in his long-running psychedelic zine, Galactic Zoo Dossier. Charmed though his process may be, Krakow’s gigantic love for music and the people who make it is serious and staggering and the resulting collection is as fun as it is important.
“[The Secret History of Chicago Music] is an education even for us know-it-all music obsessives, and are the only comics that have sent me directly to the record store to dig in the bins for dusty gems.”
—Jessica Hopper, Pitchfork, author of The First Collection of Criticism by a Living Female Rock CriticFacebook invite for this event: https://www.facebook.com/events/106144166435422/
For more info, email Catherine Eves: catherine(at)curbsidesplendor(dot)com
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Quimby's Welcomes Brian Chippendale and Nick Drnaso 2/20
Brian Chippendale (Puke Force) is hitting the road with Nick Drnaso (Beverly). Cartoonist and Lightning Bolt drummer Chippendale’s debut with Drawn & Quarterly is a dark and dense social satire that comments on social media narcissism, the malice of the right, and the hypocrisies of the left. Drnaso’s Beverly delves into the barely repressed anxieties and obsessions of suburban teens. Join Brian Chippendale and Nick Drnaso for an evening of great comics and book signings!Brian Chippendale is a musician and artist based in Providence, Rhode Island. He was one of the founding members of the Fort Thunder collective. Chippendale is the author of Maggots, If n Oof, and Ninja, and the drummer/singer half of the noise rock band Lightning Bolt. His most recent publication Puke Force comes out this Fall. More info here.
Nick Drnaso was born in 1989 in Palos Hills, Illinois. He has contributed to several comics anthologies, self-published a handful of comics, been nominated for three Ignatz Awards, and co-edited the second and third issue of Linework, Columbia College’s annual comic anthology. Drnaso lives in Chicago, where he works as a cartoonist and illustrator. His debut publication Beverly comes out this Fall. More info here.
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Click the links below to download pdf press releases about these titles from Drawn & Quarterly, the publisher:
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HOW MANY FINGERS AM I HOLDING UP? Release Event With Andy Slater and Marisa Choate 11/21
You may have seen blind man-at-large, Andy Slater (aka Velcro Lewis) walking around Chicago with his trusty white cane. He makes being blind look so easy but if you ask him about his disability he’ll tell you just how hard it can be. From the stereotypical Mr. Magoo routines like walking into a tree to the confrontations with people who accuse him of faking his disability, Andy’s stories can be both amusing and heartbreaking. In an honest one-on-one or a sardonic rant, Andy is always willing to talk about his experiences.Slater’s Chick Tract-inspired comic, How Many Fingers Am I Holding Up?, chronicles his experiences as a blind pedestrian enduring harassment from aggressive ableists and the unwanted “help” from busy-body gawkers. The book doubles as a DOs & DON’Ts guide on assisting blind folks.
The comic was created so that Slater had something physical to hand to curious people or aggressive jerks that he runs into. Witnessing Slater cut a loudmouth down to size is an act of beauty but has weighed on the author’s soul. This comic ends the debate before it starts and saves many from embarrassment.
Slater looks to spread his propaganda like a Chick comic. Illustrated by Steve Krakow How Many Fingers Am I Holding Up?, stays true to the Chick tract format. The comic will blend perfectly on any church’s reading rack between The First Jews and The Gay Blade.
Andy Slater will read from his comic and share more or his absurd experiences. There will also be a Q & A with the author. Ask anything… learn everything!: “How do you wipe your butt?” “Can you fight like Daredevil?” “How come you don’t have a guide dog?” “Do blind people dream of invisible sheep?” “Do you know Stevie Wonder?”
Artist, Marisa Choate, will read excerpts from her piece, 1000 Voices, a collection of personal stories about disability told by people with and without disabilities. Slater will also make chili!
More info: thisisandyslater.com
Facebook event invite to send to people can be found here on Facebook.
Sat, Nov 21st, 7pm – Free Event, Quimby’s Bookstore
P.S. You might be interested in his most hilarious video he made for Rock Trauma:
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Daniel Makagon Reads From Underground: The Subterranean Culture of DIY Punk Shows With Photographers Patrick Houdek and Craig Kamrath 9/15
In Daniel Makagon’s new book Underground: The Subterranean Culture of DIY Punk Shows (Microcosm), he writes about DIY punk shows in the USA. The book focuses on the development of a DIY punk touring network, the emergence of punk house shows, and the establishment of volunteer-run community punk show spaces. Makagon describes how DIY punk shows provide opportunities for punks to form communities and enact social and economic alternatives to top down mainstream music industry practices. Underground weaves interviews with punk band members and show promoters to flesh out an argument about the reasons why punk shows are at the core of doing DIY.“Daniel Makagon was there, and he’s likely forgotten more about DIY than many of you will ever know.”
-Adam Pfahler, JawbreakerPatrick Houdek has been photographing punk shows for nearly three decades. He founded the P&S Productions cassette compilation label in the 1980s and was involved with early show promotion at Lost Cross house in Carbondale, IL.
Craig Kamrath has been photographing punk bands in the Midwest for the past ten years. He’s documented long-lasting and short-lived show spaces in Chicago as well as some of the most important DIY spaces in the Midwest.
Patrick’s photos and Craig’s photos are featured in Underground.
For more info contact Daniel Makagon: dmakagon(at)depaul(dot)edu
Facebook event post for this event is here.
Tuesday, September 15th, 7pm – Free Event
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Ben Tanzer and Jonathan Travelstead read from The New York Stories and How We Bury Our Dead With Zoe Zolbrod and Seth Berg 7/7
In 2006, celebrated author Ben Tanzer began working on a series of short stories all set in the fictional upstate New York town of Two Rivers, most of them published in various literary journals over the years and eventually collected into the three small volumes Repetition Patterns (2008), So Different Now (2011), and After the Flood (2014). Now for the first time, all 33 of these stories have been gathered in The New York Stories, for what is already being recognized as career defining collection.“With great humor and the natural voice of your closest confidant, Ben Tanzer brings us stories set in our shared fictional hometown of Two Rivers, NY. With tenderness and heart, Ben brings us real people and their poignant, messy struggles, reminding us of the folly of our youth and the beauty in even our most mundane histories. Though my family left when I was small for the big city, Tanzer has given this reader the gift of a sliding door here, and I think you’ll feel the same way, wherever you’re from.” – Elizabeth Crane, author of We Only Know So Much
Winner of the 2013 Cobalt Poetry Prize for his poem “Trucker,” Jonathan Travelstead has compiled an astounding collection of adrenalized poetry. How We Bury Our Dead is a narrative work which follows a single speaker as he jumps from one intense situation to the next in order to avoid his mother’s struggle with cancer. An Air Force firefighter, he volunteers to accompany his unit to Kuwait, and, after returning and still unable to cope, he hitchhikes his way across Alaska before finally going home.
“Jonathan Travelstead maps the quest for his elemental “end points and beginnings.” Doing so, he spans topography as various as Southern Illinois strip mines, automobile accident scenes, and Iraqi battle zones. What results are narratives that bare-knuckle gut-punch easy redemption. These poems honor the dead and the dying, refusing to avert the eye from certain explosion. It’s no wonder the keenest offer “prayers” for hand tools that do something palpably useful, say, prying open the wrecked heart’s flaming chariot of half-spoken desires.” —Kevin Stein, author of Wrestling Li Po for the Remote
Tanzer and Travelstead will be joined Zoe Zolbrod, author of the acclaimed novel Currency (Other Voices Books, 2010) and poet Seth Berg, co-author of The Aviary, the recent Twin Antlers Prize for poetry from Artistically Declined Press.
For more info: Ben Tanzer: tanzerben(at)gmail(dot)com
Tuesday, July 7th, 7pm – Free Event
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CAKE Presents . . . A Conversation with Eleanor Davis, John Porcellino, and Keiler Roberts Moderated by Hillary Chute 6/5
What better way to usher in CAKE weekend than a conversation with three of the most innovative cartoonists working today? If there’s a graphic narratives supergroup—the Emerson, Lake, & Palmer of American indie comics—this is it.Eleanor Davis’s Fantagraphics collection How to Be Happy was just nominated for a 2015 Eisner Award. Keiler Roberts’s series Powdered Milk is a consistently stunning example of why so many of us fell in love with autobiographical comics in the first place. John Porcellino’s The Hospital Suite was one of the most critically acclaimed comics of 2014. With King-Cat Comics and Stories now 25 years old and going stronger than ever, John remains one of the guiding lights of the indie comics scene and for CAKE itself. Hillary Chute, comics scholar extraordinaire, author of Graphic Women: Life Narrative and Contemporary Comics and Outside the Box: Interviews with Contemporary Cartoonists, will moderate this exciting roundtable.
Please join us for a rocking, inspiring kick-off event for CAKE 2015! For more information on this event & on the Chicago Alternative Comics Expo, visit cakechicago.com . CAKE is June 6th-June 7th. Quimby’s is proud to be a co-sponsor.
Click here for the Facebook invite for this event.
Friday, June 5th, 7pm – Free Event!
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Jessica Hopper Reads From The First Collection of Criticism By a Living Female Rock Critic 5/29
Featherproof is proud to announce the publication of legendary rock critic Jessica Hopper’s newest book, The First Collection of Criticism by a Living Female Rock Critic, in Spring 2015.
Jessica Hopper’s music criticism has earned her a reputation as one of the firebrands of the form, a keen observer and fearless critic not just of music, but the culture around it, revealing new truths that often challenge us to consider what it is to be a fan.
With this premiere volume, spanning from her punk fanzine roots to her landmark piece on R. Kelly’s past, The First Collection leaves no doubt why the New York Times has called Hopper’s work “influential.” Not merely a selection of two decades of Hopper’s most engaging, thoughtful and humorous writing, this book serves as a document of the last 20 years of American music making and the shifting landscape of music consumption.
Through this vast range of album reviews, essays, columns, interviews, and oral histories, Hopper chronicles what it is to be truly obsessed with music, the ideas in songs and albums, how fantasies of artists become complicated by real life, and just what happens when you follow that obsession into muddy festival fields, dank basements, corporate offices or court records.
PRAISE FOR THE FIRST COLLECTION OF CRITICISM BY A LIVING FEMALE ROCK CRITIC BY JESSICA HOPPER
“Jessica Hopper’s criticsm is a trenchant and necessary counterpoint not just on music, but on our culture at large.” —Annie Clark, St. Vincent
“In this crucial book, Hopper schools us all on the art of criticism. You’ll be reminded, as I was, why you care to read and write about (and listen to!) music to begin with. Hopper’s relationship with music is a joy to behold.” —Tavi Gevinson, Editor-in-Chief, Rookie
“I read Hopper’s book with a sense of bewildered gratitude. She concedes nothing to the idea that it is dumb to care so much. The excitement in her work is that these things are worth scrapping about.” —Rob Sheffield, author of Love is a Mixtape
About Jessica Hopper:
Jessica Hopper’s music criticism has been included in Best Music Writing 2004, 2005, 2007, 2010 and 2011. Her first book, The Girls Guide to Rocking, was named one of 2009’s Notable Books for Young Readers by the American Library Associa- tion. She is Senior Editor at Pitchfork and the Editor-in-Chief of The Pitchfork Review. She lives in Chicago with her husband and two young sons.
Click here for the Facebook invite for this event.
For press inquiries: Dana Meyerson dana(at)biz3(dot)net
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Kristy Bowen reads from Major Characters in Minor Films 4/3
“Get ready: Kristy Bowen’s major characters in minor films casts our favorite muse du jour in a ‘white-hot, white dress.’ Through poems that are lyrical, irreverent, and a little bit naughty, we discover the swanky, labyrinthine interior of her straight-to-DVD universe: remember, she tells us in ‘movie of the week,’ ‘Everybody loves a victim, especially the blonde, pretty kind.’ Through scathing missives to James Franco and sensual harangues directed at the moon, our wine-stained diva tempts us through vivacious non sequiturs to the ‘poem within a movie within a girl-shaped world’ in all of us.” -Sara Henning, author of A Sweeter Water“I want to be best friends with the ‘I’ of this book. She’s hilarious. She’s heartbreaking. She’s more than a little bit dangerous. Whether she’s writing about crying on the bus or hiding a knife under the sink, she deals out her words like a card shark—fast, sure, sly. What’s not to love about such a deft performance of wit, skill, and heart?” -Sara Biggs Chaney, author of Ann Coulter’s Letter to the Young Poets
“In Kristy Bowen’s major characters in minor films, language moves like a camera, cutting from image to image, leaving impressions that form intriguing fragmented narratives of love, intrigue, mystery and damage. Populated with both the familiar and the strange, with rabbits and birds as well as whiskey and fire, the journey through the scenes these poems create is a wild and rich ride.” -Donna Vorreyer, author of A House of Many Windows
A writer and visual artist, Kristy Bowen is the author of several book, chapbook, and zine projects including the shared properties of water and stars (Noctary Press, 2013) and girl show (Black Lawrence Press, 2014). Her work has appeared most recently in Birdfeast, Diode, and Eratio. She lives in Chicago, where she runs dancing girl press & studio. For more info: kristybowen.net
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Fri, April 3rd, 7pm, Free Event
