Category: readings

  • 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

  • Cleveland Confidential Book Tour at Quimby's 4/2

    Smog Veil Records announces the Cleveland Confidential Book Tour returns to the road in April, with a stop at Quimby’s in Chicago on April 2.  The tour features three author-musicians also from Cleveland, Ohio including Cheetah Chrome (Rocket From The Tombs, Dead Boys, Batusis), Mike Hudson (The Pagans) and Bob Pfeifer (Human Switchboard, Tabby Chinos, former Senior Vice President A&R/Epic/Sony Records and President of Hollywood Records). Each will read excerpts from their book, answer questions from the audience and discuss their books and careers with each other. Authors will be available to sign books at each appearance.

    Cheetah Chrome – A Dead Boy’s Tale From The Front Lines Of Punk Rock is the no-holds-barred autobiography of Cheetah Chrome, lead guitarist of the Dead Boys, one of the greatest punk bands ever. It’s a tale of success and excess—amazing music, legendary antics, epic drug use, and eventual resurrection—that only a true rock and roller could deliver. As a songwriter Chrome’s work has been covered by artists such as Guns n Roses, Pearl Jam and the Beastie Boys. He still performs and records with Rocket From The Tombs and Batusis (with Sylvain Sylvain of the New York Dolls). He lives in Nashville with his wife and son.

    Mike Hudson will read from Jetsam and Diary of a Punk. The 32 short pieces that make up Jetsam were written and published between 1977 and 2009. His lean and unsentimental prose style is apparent in even the earliest entries here. Diary of A Punk is Hudson’s autobiography. He is the founder of the seminal American punk rock group, the Pagans, formed in 1977. His work has appeared in Hustler, the Associated Press, Master Detective, Field & Stream and many other publications here and abroad. He is currently the founding editor and CEO of the Niagara Falls Reporter, a New York tabloid specializing in politics and organized crime.

    University of Strangers is Bob Pfeifer’s first novel. In a sensational case that made headlines all over the globe, the American student Amanda Knox was convicted of the murder of her British roommate Meredith Kercher, in what Italian authorities described as a sadistic sexual encounter. Pfeifer’s novel details the efforts of a secret society, comprised of famous contemporary figures from the worlds of literature, show business and politics, to clear the girl’s name. A unique blend of fact and fiction the book is a spellbinding account of the violence, corruption and celebrity worship that characterize much of 21st century life. Pfeifer was Senior Vice President A&R/Epic/Sony Records and President of Hollywood Records. Artists he’s worked with include Alice Cooper, Ornette Coleman, The Screaming Trees, also soundtracks like the Crow: City of Angels and Lion King. He is a founding member/songwriter of Human Switchboard and Tabby Chinos. He lives in Los Angeles with his son.

    Saturday, April 2nd, 7pm

  • Josh Alan Friedman Celebrates Black Cracker 3/29

    Celebrate “Black Tuesday” with Josh Alan Friedman and his autobiographical novel Black Cracker, about his childhood at New York’s last segregated school in the early 1960s. In first grade, your friends are your friends and all that really matters is who can come up with the best doo-doo jokes. But as the lone white boy at the local “colored school,” young Josh is in for some hard — and often hilarious — lessons in readin’, writin’, ’rithmetic and race.

    With its child’s-eye view of controversial subjects, turbulent times and all-too-human frailties, Black Cracker is hard-hitting, heartbreakingly honest and hysterically funny — often all at once.

    Writer-musician Josh Alan Friedman’s eight books include Tales of Times Square and Tell the Truth Until They Bleed; his recordings include Blacks ’n’ Jews and Famous & Poor. Quimby’s welcomes Josh Alan to Chicago for Black Tuesday, an unforgettable evening featuring readings from Black Cracker and a live set of Friedman’s music on atomic acoustic guitar.

    “Friedman splits sides, breaks hearts and always remains ruthlessly honest about the real world, a place that doesn’t conform to the politically correct wishes of liberals or conservatives.”
    — Michael Simmons, L.A. Weekly

    For more info: BlackCrackerOnline.com

    Tuesday, March 29th, 7 pm

  • Mike Sacks Reads from Your Wildest Dreams, Within Reason 3/10

    Your Wildest Dreams, Within Reason collects Mike Sacks’ unique humor pieces—Craigslist ads, lesser-known tantric positions, letters to famous authors, Shaft living in the suburbs, a classic-rock DJ suffering a nervous breakdown, the occasional list—into one handsome, convenient volume. Originally published in The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Esquire, and McSweeney’s, among other venerable publications, Sacks’s writing is original and sharp, yet broadly funny. Whether it’s a groom tweeting his wedding and honeymoon in real time, or a publisher offering editorial suggestions for The Diary of Anne Frank, Sacks’s work tangles contemporary social satire with absurdist sensibilities.

    Mike Sacks has written for such publications as The Believer, Esquire, GQ, McSweeney’s, The New Yorker, Premiere, Radar, Salon, Time, Time Out New York, Vanity Fair, Vice, and Women’s Health. He has worked at The Washington Post, and is currently on the editorial staff of Vanity Fair. His first book, And Here’s the Kicker: Conversations with 21 Humor Writers About Their Craft, was released July 2009 by Writer’s Digest Books. His second book, SEX: Our Bodies: Our Junk, co-written with Scott Jacobson, Todd Levin, Jason Roeder, and Ted Travelstead, was released by Random House in August 2010.

    For more info: http://www.mikesacks.com

    “Mike Sacks is not just a sensational comic writer, but a sensational writer—period.”—David Sedaris

    Thursday, March 10th, 7pm

  • Mildred Pierce Magazine Issue #4 Release Party 2/26

    Join us as we celebrate Mildred Pierce‘s fourth issue, the theme of which is “Comedy and the Grotesque.” A number of Chicago artists and writers are featured in this bad boy, with a cover designed and screenprinted by Edie Fake.

    The evening’s program will feature readings and performances by MP contributors James Tadd Adcox (Artifice Magazine), Edie Fake (Gaylord Phoenix), Jim Joyce (Or Let It Sink), Vicky Lim (Dear Jaguar), Ed Choy Moorman (editor/publisher, Ghost Comics), and writer/artist Ellen Nielsen.

    Mildred Pierce is a (maga)zine, co-founded in 2005 by John Bylander and Megan Milks and co-edited by the same. It is a somewhat annual zine dealing in art, writing and countercultural cultural criticism.

    Refreshments will be provided. A limited edition zine will be sold.

    For more info: http://mildredpierce.wordpress.com

  • Carrie Colpitts and Jami Sailor with Friends 2/11

    Love is in the air! Carrie Colpitts and Jami Sailor with Friends Celebrate the Valentine’s Day Split Zine Brilliant Mistake #4 + Your Secretary #8

    And check out these fellow readers!:

    Dave Roche of About My Disappearance and On Subbing. Dave vowed to finish his first novel by the time he turned 30 years old; at 36 he’s five pages in. L.B. of Truckface and So Midwest and Awkward Spaces. She enjoys playing drums, dancing to the Kinks, and teaching. Puppy Dave of Black Carrot, Fort Mortgage, and How I Learned to Love Myself and Ocassionally Other Men. Dave likes some things and dislikes others. He plays drums in Warboner….and fresh of the state fair circuit, Laura Palmer and the Kates!


    For more info:  http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=171109372934574

    Friday, February 11th, 7pm

  • Deb Olin Unferth Reads Revolution: The Year I Fell in Love and Went to Join the War With Adam Levin 3/7

    Deb Olin Unferth offers a new twist on the coming-of-age memoir in this utterly unique and captivating story of the year she ran away from college with her Christian boyfriend and followed him to Nicaragua to join the Sandinistas.

    Unferth is the author of the story collection Minor Robberies and the novel Vacation, winner of the 2009 Cabell First Novelist Award and a New York Times Book Review Critics’ Choice. Her work has appeared in Harper’s, McSweeney’s, The Believer, and the Boston Review. She has received two Pushcart Prizes and a 2009 Creative Capital grant for Innovative Literature.

    “This is a very funny, excoriating honest story of being young, semi-idealistic, stupid and in love. If you have ever been any of these things, you’ll devour it.”—Dave Eggers

    Also joining the bill is Chicago author Adam Levin, author of the novel THE INSTRUCTIONS.  His collection of short stories, HOT PINK, will be published next Fall by McSweeney’s.  He lives in Chicago, where he teaches Creative Writing at the School of the Art Institute.

    For more info: us.macmillan.com/revolution-1

    http://www.mcsweeneys.net/books/aboutinstructions.html

    Monday, March 7th, 7pm

  • Modern-Day Griot Arthur Flowers Shares His Graphic Novel on Dr. MLK Jr. 2/12

    In celebration of Black History Month, Arthur Flowers celebrates I See the Promised Land: A Life of Martin Luther King, Jr., a singular take on the graphic novel genre, an extraordinary jam session between two very distinct storytelling traditions. Flowers tells a masterful story in musical prose. Artist Manu Chitrakar, a scroll-painter from Bengal, India, carries the tale confidently into the vivid idiom of Patua art, turning King’s journey into a truly universal legacy. replete with destiny, fate and the human condition, I See the Promised Land traverses the milestones of King’s short life, his ministry and journey, in a dramatic collaboration.

    “Both evocative and factually rich…a standout both as a distinctive graphic narrative that combines two world storytelling traditions and as an examination of King’s life and its enduring legacy across the globe.” – Booklist Starred Review

    Arthur Flowers, a remarkable performance artist and oral historian, originally hails from Memphis. He is an associate professor of English at Syracuse University. Arthur is a captivating presence, memorizing his text, singing from the story in a free-form jive style and accompanying himself with a small African drum. He performs with select pieces of the original Patua scroll artwork. Arthur is also the author of Another Good Loving Blues and De Mojo Blues.

    Saturday, February 12, 7pm

  • Connor Coyne Reads From Midwestern-Noir Novel Hungry Rats 2/5

    In Hungry Rats, the Rat Man, a serial killer, is on the loose in Flint, Michigan.  Meredith Malady, a high-school girl with a dysfunctional family and a terror of rats sees some common threads between her own life and the killer’s MO.  She runs away from home to unearth a trail of clues, determined to catch a killer, but unsure what she’ll do when she meets the Rat Man face-to-face.

    Connor Coyne has been published in Santa Clara Review, Moria Poetry Zine, Dick Pig Review, The Saturnine Detractor, and the Flint Broadside. He has a website at connorcoyne.com and a blog devoted to the apotheosis of the Gothic. Connor grew up in the East Village of Flint, Michigan, and has lived in Chicago and New York City.  This year he published his first novel, Hungry Rats, but he is even more excited by the birth of his daughter, Mary Adelina.

    “Hungry Rats is an emotional and aesthetic tour de force about deep matters of the human heart. Author Connor Coyne shows why the novel is still the most important medium to write about what matters in a manner that matters.”  — Jeffery Renard Allen, author of the Heartland award-winning novel Rails Under My Back

    For more info: http://hungryrats.com

  • Sanya Glisic Presents Her New Version of Struwwelpeter Here Feb 10th!

    Struwwelpeter, first published in Germany in 1844, contains ten cautionary tales for children, each one with a clear moral and overly exaggerated consequences for misbehavior. In one parable, a mother warns her son not to suck his thumbs. The son continues his habit. A tailor with giant scissors joins the scene, and the story heads in a dreadful direction. Artist and Illustrator Sanya Glisic, while a Resident Artist at Spudnik Press Cooperative, has created a new version with whimsical and playful illustrations that capture the dark, often morbid sensibilities of the tales. Glisic’s book is a handbound piece of art containing 36 pages of full color screen prints utilizing an astonishing array of overlays and halftones.

    Sanya Glisic is best known for her silkscreens illustrations and poster design, including the Zodiac-Sideshow Collection based on the 12 Astrological signs. She is originally from  Banja Luka, Bosnia. In 2007, she received her BFA in Illustration from the University of Arizona in Tucson. She currently lives in Chicago, printing, volunteering and occasionally teaching at Spudnik Press Cooperative, while working on art and illustration projects.

    For more info: www.spudnikpress.com/struwwelpeter

    Thursday February 10th, 7 pm