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Category: music-related
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Postponed: Nic Collins: Handmade Electronic Music, 3rd Edition Release Event
Nic Collins returns to Quimby’s for the release of the third edition of his book Handmade Electronic Music: The Art of Hardware Hacking (Routledge) on Saturday, June 20th!
Handmade Electronic Music: The Art of Hardware Hacking provides a long-needed, practical, and engaging introduction to the craft of making – as well as creatively cannibalizing – electronic circuits for artistic purposes. With a sense of adventure and no prior knowledge, the reader can subvert the intentions designed into devices such as radios and toys to discover a new sonic world. You will also learn how to make contact microphones, pickups for electromagnetic fields, oscillators, distortion boxes, mixers, and unusual signal processors cheaply and quickly. At a time when computers dominate music production, this book offers a rare glimpse into the core technology of early live electronic music, as well as more recent developments at the hands of emerging artists.
This revised and expanded third edition has been updated throughout to reflect recent developments in technology and DIY approaches. New to this edition are chapters contributed by a diverse group of practitioners, addressing the latest developments in technology and creative trends, as well as an extensive companion website that provides media examples, tutorials, and further reading. This edition features:
*Over 50 new hands-on projects.
*New chapters and features on topics including soft circuitry, video hacking, neural networks, radio transmitters, Arduino, Raspberry Pi, data hacking, printing your own circuit boards, and the international DIY community
*A new companion website at www.HandmadeElectronicMusic.com, containing video tutorials, video clips, audio tracks, resource files, and additional chapters with deeper dives into technical concepts and hardware hacking scenes around the worldWith a hands-on, experimental spirit, Nicolas Collins demystifies the process of crafting your own instruments and enables musicians, composers, artists, and anyone interested in music technology to draw on the creative potential of hardware hacking.
ABOUT NICOLAS COLLINS
New York born and raised, Nicolas Collins spent most of the 1990s in Europe, where he was Visiting Artistic Director of Stichting STEIM (Amsterdam), and a DAAD composer-in-residence in Berlin. He has been a Professor in the Department of Sound at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago since 1999, and a Research Fellow at the Orpheus Institute (Ghent) since 2016. From 1997 – 2017 he was Editor-in-Chief of the Leonardo Music Journal. An early adopter of microcomputers for live performance, Collins also makes use of homemade electronic circuitry and conventional acoustic instruments. His book, Handmade Electronic Music – The Art of Hardware Hacking (Routledge), has influenced emerging electronic music worldwide. nicolascollins.com -
Alexander Herbert Talks About What About Tomorrow? An Oral History of Russian Punk at Quimby's 10/19
What About Tomorrow? An Oral History of Russian Punk chronicles the history of punk rock in Russia from its earliest manifestation in 1978 to its current standing. It looks at how punk entered the Soviet Union and managed to persist despite the cultural police, how it struggled for definition in the 1990s, and how punks formed Antifa, animal rights, and feminist groups to help carve out safe spaces in an otherwise conservative country. The book is compiled from over one hundred interviews, fanzines, and releases, and is the first history of its kind in any language.
The title of the book What About Tomorrow? is a call for punks around the world to think about what punk has meant, and what it should mean. At this discussion, author Alexander Herbert will talk briefly about why he researched the book, and then gives a brief chapter outline before talking about the larger narratives. Then, during the Q and A, he invites everyone to think about the successes and failures of Russia’s punk scene as a way of critiquing our own counter-cultures and learning to use them to achieve the world we want.
Alexander Herbert is a doctoral student at Brandeis University focusing on the history of the late Soviet Union. His research interests include social movements, youth culture, macabre film, music, and politics toward the end of the socialist experiment. He is a devoted father to a beautiful daughter, veteran vegan, self-ascribed environmentalist, occasional musician, opportunistic freelance writer and translator, and fan of beer and pickle pizza.
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Quimby's Offsite at the Hideout: Brooks Headley In Conversation with Steve Albini About the Superiority Burger Cookbook
Author Headley Brooks and his pal musician/producer Steve Albini will be in-conversation for this talk + signing event.
Brooks wrote The Superiority Burger Cookbook based on the veggie burgers he sells in the NY restaurant of the same name. Before that he played drums in lots of bands like Universal Order of Armageddon, Born Against, (Young) Pioneers and others.
Producer and Chicago musician Steve Albini runs his production studio Electrical Audio, was in bands like Shellac and Big Black, and publishes a food blog WhatIMadeHeatherForDinner.SteveAlbiniCooks.com
Quimby’s will be selling books at the Hideout on Wed, June 27th, 6pm-7:30pm. The Hideout is at 1354 W. Wabansia Ave, Chicago. 21+, free event. This event is NOT at Quimby’s.
Here’s the Facebook event invite for this event.
SUPERIORITY BURGER COOKBOOK
The Vegetarian Hamburger Is Now Delicious
by Brooks Headley
“Brooks Headley makes the best veggie burger I’ve ever had.” — David Chang
“[Headley’s] punk ethos and deadpan humor make for some of the best cookbook
reading ever. . . Vegans—no, humans—rejoice.” — Bon Appétit
“No one has done more to make vegetarian and vegan fast food cool and
craveable than Brooks Headley.”— New York magazine
“Superiority Burger is the most radical restaurant in New York. . . the vegetarian cooking of Mr. Headley and his crew, served in paper boats and cartons, is surprising,
fun and truly creative.” — Pete Wells, New York Times
“What makes Superiority Burger a sensation is bigger than the food. It’s the understated yet lengthy creation of a singular vision, a place that evokes memory and comfort yet pushes food to a happier, more enticing place with considerable wit and verve.”
— Washington Post
In 2015, James Beard Award-winning chef Brooks Headley exiled himself from the fine-dining realm to sell six dollar veggie burgers in a 300-square-foot space in Manhattan’s East Village, aptly named “Superiority Burger.” A cozy counter hang-out filled with affordable, innovative food, Superiority Burger is a protest against the idea that extraordinary fare is the exclusive domain of the elite. Inciting a civilized vegetable revolution, Headley and his crew have rewritten the rules of non-meat cookery.
Now, fans can feast on Superiority Burger’s blueprint for rebel compassion and culinary sophistication with SUPERIORITY BURGER COOKBOOK: The Vegetarian Hamburger Is Now Delicious [W. W. Norton & Company; June 5, 2018; $29.95 hardcover]. With more than 90 mouth-watering recipes, SUPERIORITY BURGER COOKBOOK lays bare the secrets of America’s most talked-about vegetarian restaurant, in recipes as simple as they are irresistible. Divided into five flavorful sections—Sandwiches, Cool Salads, Warm Vegetables, Soups and Stews, and Sweets—the book includes restaurant favorites like the Sloppy Dave, Burnt Broccoli Salad, Potato Coconut Soup, Tahini Ranch Romaine Salad, Seared Polenta with Maple Olive Oil, and, of course, the now legendary Superiority Burger.
With recipes for a coterie of other delights—fresh, vegetarian, accidently vegan, and always incredible—SUPERIORITY BURGER COOKBOOK is a must-read for home cooks who want something delicious, new, and imminently within their reach. A home-friendly primer on meatless American cooking made delicious, SUPERIORITY BURGER COOKBOOK will be drooled over by vegetarians, vegans and steadfast carnivores alike.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Brooks Headley, chef-owner of Superiority Burger, was named best pastry chef in the country in 2013 by the James Beard Foundation. His previous cookbook, Fancy Desserts, won the Piglet Tournament of Cookbooks from Food52. He lives in New York City.
TITLE: Superiority Burger Cookbook
SUBTITLE: The Vegetarian Hamburger Is Now Delicious
AUTHOR: Brooks Headley
PUBLICATION DATE: June 5, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-393-25398-6
PRICE: $29.95
PAGES: 224
Praise for Brooks Headley’s Fancy Desserts:
“A cupcake primer this is not. The punk rocker turned pastry chef at NYC’s Del Posto has delivered a hilarious page-turner.” —Bon Appétit
“The most entertaining cookbook in memory. . . A game changer.”—Anthony Bourdain
“When was the last time a cake recipe made you weep with laughter? Exactly. Brooks Headley—punk dude, vegetarian sympathizer, stealth genius, hero to all in the New York pastry world— has created something entirely new. It’s a cookable memoir about his life in music and food (i.e., lots of time in basements), but not the kind they’ll make a cute movie out of.” — Christine Muhlke, Bon Appétit
“A visceral and attitudinal and gustatory joy-ride, an exhilarating few laps around a 4-star kitchen in a beat up obscure punk rocker’s tour van. And Brooks Headley is as devoted to the sweet joy as he is to the hard ride of excellence in the pastry kitchen.”
— Gabrielle Hamilton
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Robert K. Elder shares memories from THE MIXTAPE OF MY LIFE May 10th
Award-winning author, former rock photographer and journalist Robert K. Elder has composed the perfect walk down music memory lane in THE MIXTAPE OF MY LIFE: A Do-It-Yourself Music Memoir (Running Press; Trade Paperback Original; ISBN-13: 978-0762464074; 192 Pages/ $14.99).
THE MIXTAPE OF MY LIFE is a journal that guides user to write their autobiography through their music collection.
Sample questions from the book include:
What song or artist can’t you listen to because of a past romance?
What songwriter lied to or misled you?
What song allows you to time travel — that brings back a time and place so strongly that it’s palpable?No matter which musical generation you belong to, or whether your musical tastes range from doo-wop to Daft Punk, THE MIXTAPE OF MY LIFE can be instant conversation starter among friends and family.
Also enjoy work from these fine readers!
Andrew Huff
Liz Mason
Lou Carlozo“We all know that music is deeply intertwined with memory. The Mixtape of My Life is an astonishing tool for unlocking your long-forgotten histories.”
—Jason Bitner, author, Cassette From My Ex: Stories and Soundtracks of Lost Loves
Elder is the author of seven books, including 2016’s Hidden Hemingway. His work has appeared in The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe, Salon.com, and many other publications. He has worked for Sun-Times Media and Crain Communications, and is the founder of Odd Hours Media.
For more info, visit: mixtapeofmylife.com
Thursday, May 10, 7pm – 8pm
Free Event
Here’s the Facebook Invite for this event!
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Singer-Songwriter-Guitarist and Author Phil Circle Launches His New Book The Outback Musician's Survival Guide 10/19
In Phil Circle’s new book The Outback Musician’s Survival Guide (Guilt By Association), he uses his 30+ years as an independent musician to shed some light on the real world of music for 99% of American musicians. Through a series of tales both whimsical and dark, reflections on the craft and the business, and admissions of his own faults, he brings a human face to a seemingly glamorous world. You’re likely to find that some of what you’ve heard about being a musician is sadly or hysterically true, and that other widely held beliefs are little more than hot air.
“Towards the end of the book, Phil says, “I don’t have some profound message.” In fact, by sharing his humanity and his failings as well as his high points, he has created a profound message. It is often in mere survival that we create greatness, although we ourselves don’t know it at the time. The touch of human grief amidst all of the adrenaline pumping adventure makes this book something of a celebration of what it means to be human.” -Sarah Jane Clarke, Beat Media, Oxford, UK
Phil Circle has written, recorded and produced eight albums of his own music and two albums of cover songs, one featuring almost entirely music by Chicago songwriters. As a writer, Phil’s work has appeared in articles for various music zines and other publications over the years, including Chicago Music Guide, Pro-Am Guide and a report on the industry for NARAS.
For more info: www.philcirclemusic.com @philcircle
Here’s the Facebook invite for this event!
Thursday, October 19th, 7pm – Free Event
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Quimby's Opens Wicker Park Lit Fest: 3 Songs with Jonas, Marc Lazar, Kathy Moseley & The Blue Ribbon Glee Club 9/14
Quimby’s is proud to to open this year’s Wicker Park Lit Fest with 3 Songs, the reading series that combines words and music, during a festival that celebrates this neighborhood’s rich legacy of literature and entertainment in the Wicker Park neighborhood of Chicago. WP Lit fest continues through the 17th at a variety of venues around Wicker Park!
Three writers read one piece each, and each song is performed by Chicago’s only a cappella punk rock group The Blue Ribbon Glee Club. BRGC regularly performs songs by Fugazi, Gang of Four, the Dead Kennedys, the Buzzcocks and more.
Readers featuring their work at this performance:
Jonas, zinester – “Words and Guitar” by Sleater-Kinney
Marc Lazar, performer – “Glad Girls” by Guided By Voices
Kathy Moseley, zinester – “Dress” by PJ Harvey
Jonas writes zines and stuff. He wrote a long zine about punks and parenthood called Cheer the Eff Up, and a whole lot of other zines he probably can’t remember at the moment. They’re all probably also about punks and parenting in some stupid way. He also wrote a novel called The Greatest Most Traveling Circus. He lives here in Chicago with his wife and two little minions. He likes music a whole lot. The song he picked is “Words and Guitar,” but he almost picked David Bowie’s “Suffragette City” because aaaaaawwwwwwwww WHAM BAM THANK YOU MA’AM!
Marc Lazar works with adults with autism, and is a storyteller, former journalist, and member of BRGC. He is a fan of books, TV shows, and music about outsiders and misfits (including The Misfits), and recently discovered the joys of vegan elote pizza. (It’s better than it sounds, but kind of messy!)
Kathy Moseley has been publishing the zine SemiBold since the last century, is a 15-year-old girl living in the body of a 50-year-old woman. She blogs at semibold.wordpress.com.
Here’s the Facebook event invite to SHARE that you’re coming!
#WPLITFEST
#mychicagobookstore
facebook.com/blueribbongleeclub
Read local + shop small!
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Erin Osmon Reads From Jason Molina: Riding with the Ghost & Hosts a Q&A with members of Songs: Ohia 6/17
In Jason Molina: Riding with the Ghost (Rowman & Littlefield), author Erin Osmon presents an intensely researched, yet human account of the Rust Belt-born musician Jason Molina. The songwriting giant behind the bands Songs: Ohia and Magnolia Electric Co. had a knack for spinning tales, from the many personal myths he created and cultivated throughout this life, to the volumes of oblique poems and working man ballads he penned and performed. With the help of Molina’s family, friends and record label, Osmon details Molina’s trials and triumphs, from his earliest days as a trailer park kid in Lorain, Ohio, though his extensive world touring and his last days as a struggling artist addicted to alcohol. As the first authorized account of the prolific musician, Jason Molina: Riding with the Ghost provides readers with unparalleled insight into Molina’s life and the Midwest underground that supported his meteoric rise.
“In Jason Molina: Riding with the Ghost, Erin Osmon gives us a riveting biography not only of a great musician whose work deserves to be much wider known, but a well-rounded portrait of a fascinating human being, as well as a glimpse into the creative process. It’s a ride well worth taking.”—Jim DeRogatis, co-host, Sound Opinions, author, Let It Blurt: The Life and Times of Lester Bangs
Erin Osmon is a Chicago-based writer who covers music and culture. Her work has appeared in dozens of local and national publications like the Chicago Tribune and SPIN. She also writes liner notes for deluxe reissues of historic albums. For more info: erinosmon.com
Saturday, June 17, 7pm – Free Event
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Allen Callaci Reads From Heart Like a Starfish at Quimby’s 6/29
Heart transplant recipient and lead singer of lo-fi pioneers Refrigerator Allen Callaci will make his first ever appearance in Chicago to sing a few songs and read from his memoir Heart Like a Starfish (Pelekinesis Press).Heart Like a Starfish is Callaci’s account of that death-defying journey on which he had been given a 20% chance of survival. Callaci’s wonderfully chaotic tale is filled with music and pop cultural references and is told in a Kurt Vonnegut-esque style that captures the horror, humor and healing of his experience.
Callaci has written for The Huffington Post, BK Nation, Inland Weekly and was selected as Inlandia Institute’s author of the week. Heart Like a Starfish was selected as a recommendation by Small Press Distribution for December 2016.
“An inherent and consistently engaging read from beginning to end, “Heart Like A Starfish” is highly recommended for community library American Biography collections.” – Midwest Book Review, November 2016
“Allen shares his amazing story by locating his personal experience in the midst of a network of relationships that sustain and define his life.” –John Davis (Folk Implosion)
“For any generation… An astonishing story about how close life is to death.” – Claudia Lennear, featured singer in the Oscar-winning documentary “20 FEET FROM STARDOM”
Thurs, June 29th, 7pm – Free Event
Here’s the Facebook Event for you to SHARE with all of the people in the world.
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Damon Krukowski Reads from The New Analog, Joined by Bob Weston and Steve Albini 5/2
Having made his name in the late 1980s as a member of the indie band Galaxie 500, Damon Krukowski has watched cultural life lurch from analog to digital. And as an artist who has weathered the transition, he has challenging, urgent questions for both creators and consumers about what we have thrown away in the process: Are our devices leaving us lost in our own headspace even as they pinpoint our location? Does the long reach of digital communication come at the sacrifice of our ability to gauge social distance? Do streaming media discourage us from listening closely? Are we hearing each other fully in this new environment? Damon Krukoswksi takes this on in The New Analog: Listening and Reconnecting in a Digital World (The New Press, April 25, 2017). He is joined at this event by musician luminaries Steve Albini (Shellac, Big Black, Electrical Audio) and Bob Weston (Shellac, Volcano Suns, Chicago Mastering Service).“Millions of music-lovers have acquiesced to the shiny juggernaut of digital-age technology without asking its economic and cultural price. Damon Krukowski is an incisive, passionate, and, above all, rational critic of this new realm. No nostalgic conservative, he offers a radical defense of analog craft in the face of the digital hard sell.”—Alex Ross, author of The Rest Is Noise and Listen to This
Damon Krukowski was in the indie rock band Galaxie 500 and is currently one half of the folk-rock duo Damon & Naomi. He writes for music and art journals including Pitchfork, Artforum, frieze, and The Wire. He is the recipient of an Arts Writers Grant from Creative Capital/Andy Warhol Foundation, and a fellow at the Berkman Klein Center for Internetand Society at Harvard University. He has also taught writing and sound (and writing about sound) at Harvard University. He lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts. More info: dadadrummer.com, @dada_drummer on Twitter, thenewpress.com, or for publicity brivero(at)thenewpress(dot)com.
Tuesday, May 2nd, 7pm – Free Event. Here’s the Facebook link to Share this event!
Check out that tour poster!
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Quimby's Welcomes the Authors of Brick Through the Window: An Oral History of Punk Rock, New Wave & Noise In Milwaukee 4/29
In late-1970s Milwaukee, a compact circle of locals drew from their city’s cultural heritage, as well as the examples of New York, London and Los Angeles, to embrace the new in the form of a dynamic punk rock scene. Drawing on influences from 1960s garage rock and early ‘50s rock ‘n’ roll, Milwaukee punks created a formidable body of work. A new book published by Brickboys/Splunge Communications, Inc., tells the story in the words of the pioneers and participants.
Brick Through the Window: An Oral History of Punk Rock, New Wave & Noise in Milwaukee, 1964-1984 chronicles a small number of people who made history in a setting that produced internationally recognized bands such as the Violent Femmes, Die Kreuzen, Plasticland and Oil Tasters. Original interviews with such visionaries as the late Mark Shurilla and Richard LaValliere tell stories of imagination, creativity, resourcefulness and sacrifice. Compiled from hundreds of hours of interviews, Brick Through the Window brings vividly to life a short-lived period of creativity and excitement in a heartland American town that was home to a musical subculture more prolific and diverse than that of many larger cities.
And guess what? The last Saturday in April is Independent Bookstore Day (IBD), so enjoy it here with this extraordinary book! Click here for more info about taking the #MyChicagoBookstore challenge for an opportunity to get discounts on books!
“For the men and women who created the world of music in Milwaukee, the most American of cities, this book is not just an important historical document; it’s critical. Their story is told, and told well. In interviews with the players, and fantastic photos, the adventures and misadventures are chronicled with more gusto than the beer that made Milwaukee famous.” –Wayne Kramer, singer/guitarist/activist, founder, the MC5
Co-authors Steven Nodine and Eric Beaumont will celebrate the release of Brick Through the Window with a discussion and book signing, with recordings of music mentioned in the book.
For more info:
e_beaumont(at)yahoo(dot)com
Invite your friends with the Facebook invite for this event!
Sat, April 29th, 7pm – Free Event