Category: Store Events

  • Elwin Cotman Reads From Hard Times Blues With Patty Templeton 8/23

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    In Elwin Cotman’s new book Hard Times Blues (Six Gallery Press), zombies, elves, hobos, Martians, dragons; musical ghosts and sorcerous retail managers wreak havoc. These five lyrical and satirical fables look at the lives of the alienated and dispossessed through a fabulist lens. Drawing inspiration from the Gothic, pulp fiction, rock’n’roll, the Bible, and anime (to name a few), Cotman writes American fairy tales for a 21st century audience. For more info: http://lookmanoagent.blogspot.com/

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    “Elwin Cotman writes like a brilliant maniac, as if he’s afraid someone will take his pen away too soon.”–Timothy Schaffert, author of The Coffins of Little Hope

    Patty Templeton (below, right) writes hellpunk in a handbasket full of ghosts, freaks and fools. Her work has appeared in PseudopodPodCastleSteam Powered II and Criminal Class Review. She won the first ever Naked Girls Reading Literary Honors Award and has been a runner-up for the Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley Award. For more info: http://pattytempleton.livejournal.com/

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  • Queer Literary Showcase All The Writers I Know with Michael Garabedian, ellie navidson, Sam Lowry, and H Melt 8/10

    ATWIKQueer literary salon All The Writers I Know returns Sat, August 10th for their newest showcase, “More Than Alive.” Readers include Michael Garabedian, ellie navidson, Sam Lowry, and H Melt. Based around the idea of storytelling as a community-building act, producer Mar Curran wanted the event to continue ATWIK’s efforts to foster queer-positive space to share written work around the idea of not only surviving obstacles in life but overcoming them to thrive. This topic is something Curran and guest co-producer poet H. Melt felt was important to highlight and celebrate at an event described as “part grown-up story time, part poetry cipher, part cocktail party.”

    “Many people in our community face huge challenges, both related to and independent of their queer identities,” says Curran. “Coming together in a safe space to read work about rising above these challenges is hopefully a way to encourage others in the audience to do so themselves.”

    Created in 2011 by Patrick Gill and Rosy Phinick in Gill’s living room, ATWIK was started with the hopes of creating a safe space for Chicago queer writers to share their work with one another. Two co-producers aimed to create a space that “lets you feel as comfortable as you would in your own living room.”

    For more info: Contact Mar Curran at mcurr7(at)gmail(dot)com or like the All The Writers I Know Facebook page

    Saturday, August 10th, 7pm – Free Event

  • Laydeez Do Comics July Edition: Gina Wynbrandt & Mat Deflier

    Laydeez Do Comics is London’s monthly comics salon. Quimby’s is host to the Chicago edition. Come hear comics creators speak about their work, their process, their plans, and whatever else they want to share with us.

    The July 2013 meeting will take place on Thursday July 25th, at 7pm.

    The first guest will be Gina Wynbrandt. Gina is a recent graduate of the Art Institute of Chicago who makes comics about celebrity, fashion, and other fun stuff.

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    The second guest will be Mat Deflier. Mat Defiler has been scribbling quirky, political, personal, queer comics at a slow but steady pace for quite some time.  Mat has had work published in the Gay Genius anthology, The Collective Tarot, and over the years in small publications including The Industrial Worker, Arsenal, Bound to Struggle, the 1981 Lusher Elementary School Handbook, and several self published zines.  Mat Defiler currently draws comics about madness, the future, and working as a nurse and is working on releasing them as a tapestry narrative in web comic form as soon as technology cooperates.

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    The meeting is FREE.

  • Off-Site: POP-UP BOOK FAIR, Sunday, July 7th at The Empty Bottle

    POP-UP-BOOKS-624x794Sunday (July 7th) at The Empty Bottle is POP-UP BOOK FAIR! Beginning at 12:30pm and going until 5pm, join Curbside Splendor Publishing as they play host to 40+ small indie presses and publishers. The event is FREE with RSVP if you click here, and it’s $5 at the door. It is a 21+ event, so all minors must be accompanied. There will be live music provided by  Nagasaki, DJ Goldie Bear, DJ “2nd Cousin, Twice Removed”, DJ Kale Party, DJ Heavy Inspinuation, KRUBREDNUF, and DJ DG.

    Featured purveyors include:

    2nd Story
    7 Vientos
    826chi
    Another Chicago Magazine
    Artifice Mag
    Black Ocean
    Burial Day Books
    Chicago Center for Literature and Photography (CCLaP)
    Chicago Zine Fest
    chicagopoetry.com
    co•im•press
    Convulsive Editions
    Criminal Class Press
    Curbside Splendor Publishing
    Dream of Things
    Fifth Star Press
    Haymarket Books
    Kenning Editions
    Knee Jerk Magazine
    Labletter
    Love Symbol Press
    Mid American Review
    Miss Nyet
    Monsters & Dust
    Moon City Review
    New American Press
    Orange Alert
    Quimby’s
    READ/WRITE
    Rhino Poetry
    Richochet Review
    Rose Metal Press
    Soberscove
    Solace in So Many Words
    South Loop Review
    Switchback Books
    THE 2ND HAND
    Tortoise Books
    & MORE

    Please note this event IS NOT at Quimby’s. It is at The Empty Bottle which is at 1035 N. Western Ave.  Chicago, IL 60647.

  • Steve Miller Talks Detroit Rock City Book and Punk Rock Provocateur Tesco Vee Squawks Touch and Go

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    Michigan madmen Steve Miller and Tesco Vee, veterans of the unbridled musical sounds that made the Midwest famous, appear together July 26 to talk about Miller’s new oral history, Detroit Rock City: The Uncensored History of Five Decades of Rock ‘N Roll in America’s Loudest City (Da Capo). The two will also discuss the classic punk rock tome Touch and Go: The Complete Hardcore Punk Zine ’79-’83 (Bazillion Points), the 576-page monsterpiece written by TV and edited by Miller.

    Steve Miller is a noted true crime author, award-winning investigative journalist, and former singer of hardcore punk legends the Fix. In Detroit Rock City, Miller spins a tale of rust belt rebellion culled from hundreds of hours spent interviewing a litany of rock titans, from Alice Cooper and Iggy Pop to Jack White and John Brannon. Miller does the walkin’ and lets the principals do the talkin’ as he creeps through 50 years  of hard rockin’ magnificence from the “Mitten.”

    Tesco Vee is the irascible, ageless, iconic punk rock impresario, renaissance man, and founder of Touch and Go. His band The Meatmen continue to amaze and astound. His rapier wit will be on full display Friday.

    Detroit Rock City is …A sharply edited oral history that nails most of the major players and includes the inherent contradictions in each person’s account of how history went down, it offers up that singular Detroit attitude that somehow fuses an inferiority/superiority complex into something loud, aggressive, and delightfully unique. Not to be crude, but– holy crap. – Dave DiMartino, former editor, Creem magazine

    Creem may have taught me how to piss, but Touch and Go taught me how to shit. I owe my career to that magazine.”—John Brannon, Negative Approach

    facebook.com/detroitrockcitybook

    touchandgobook.com

  • Fan Interference: The Best of Zisk Zine Release Event with Mike Faloon, Steve Reynolds and Jake Austen 7/19

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    Intending to cover baseball from a fan’s perspective, the first issue of Zisk was published in the summer of 1999 and is now published twice a season. Named for the former “South Side Hitman” Richie Zisk, the zine is for those who love the charm, history and quirks of America’s pastime. The publication is edited by New York-based writers Mike Faloon and Steve Reynolds and is touted as “the Baseball Magazine For People Who Hate Baseball Magazines.” FAN INTERFERENCE: A COLLECTION OF BASEBALL RANTS AND REFLECTIONS  (Blue Cubicle Press, 2013) is an anthology of the best musings culled from over 15 years of Zisk. Edited by MIKE FALOON (Go Metric, Egghead.) and STEVE REYNOLDS (Trouser Press, Party Like It’s 1999) and featuring contributions from academics to punk rockers, comedians to fans with an ax to grind, FAN INTERFERENCE examines the intersection of baseball, lifestyle and music — all colored with bit of nostalgia, a great deal of humor and, often, a tongue planted firmly in cheek.

    In addition to Faloon and Reynolds, contributors to the anthology include JAKE AUSTEN (author, TV-A-Go-Go: Rock Music on Television from American Bandstand to American Idol), SEAN CARSWELL (college professor, co-founder of the independent music magazine Razorcake and the independent book publisher Gorsky Press), KEVIN CHANEL (Punk Rock Confidential), BRIAN COGAN (The Encyclopedia of Punk), DR. NANCY GOLDEN (writer; wildlife toxicologist), JOHN SHIFFERT (author, Base Ball in Philadelphia), TODD TAYLOR (founder and executive director of Razorcake/Gorsky Press Inc.), CHARLIE VASCELLARO (journalist, Washington Post, Chicago Sun Times, Los Angeles Times), ARI VOUKYDIS (comedian/writer, BuzzFeed, GQ, Grantland, etc) and REV NORB (musician; inventor of Sick Teen magazine, former writer for Maximum Rocknroll).

    FAN INTERFERENCE: A COLLECTION OF BASEBALL RANTS AND REFLECTIONS (Blue Cubicle Press, 2013)

    Anthology – Paperback

    238 pages Print – $22.95

    ISBN: 978-1-938583-04-9

    “…For those who love baseball for its charm, history and eccentricities and not merely as something to play a fantasy league around. It’s for the true fans who populate the upper deck, not the party animals in the bleachers.” – Chicago Tribune

    “Baseball is the most important thing in the world. It’s also completely meaningless in the grand scheme of life. These guys recognize that those two philosophies can co-exist in the human brain, which makes their writing a truly electric, and all too rare, jolt to the synapses.” – Variety

    Fri, July 19th, 7pm

    For more info:

    ziskmagazine.com

    facebook.com/ZiskTheBook

    thebellhouseny.com

     

  • Thai Comic Horrors Vol. 2 Release Event with visits to Buddhist Hell, Tropical Ghosts and Other Strangeness 7/23

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    Join Quimby’s for the release of Thai Comic Horrors Vol.2, a compilation of overlooked pulp horror comics from the Kingdom of Thailand.  Translated into English for the first time these stories offer a glimpse into folklore and superstition often unseen by outsiders.  The new issue of Thai Comic Horrors is themed around body horror and showcase stories involving Thai ghosts that share an unquenchable desire to consume fresh human intestines! For this event Logan Bay will present a slide show and lecture reflecting on the four years spent abroad. Lecture topics will include visiting Buddhist Hell parks and an introduction to Thai ghosts & superstitions.

    Artist (and former Quimby employee!) Logan Bay has created a diverse body of work over his artistic career. Past projects have included: publications, audiovisual performance, installation, graphic design and illustration. Active as a curator and organizer Logan has produced shows in New York, Chicago, & Bangkok. He is currently enrolled at Rangsit University, Thailand working towards a MFA in design.

    For more info visit: loganbay.com or loganbaybay@gmail.com

    Click here for the Facebook event invite.

    Tues, July 23rd, 7pm – Free Eventthaihor2thaicomichorrors1_lg

  • Grow Author Eleanor C. Whitney Moderates DIY Success Panel with Selena Fragasi, Rebecca Ann Rakstad & Bradley Adita

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    Eleanor C. Whitney’s new book Grow: How to Take Your Do It Yourself Project and Passion to the Next Level and Quit Your Job (Microcosm Publishing), is a practical field guide for creative people who want to achieve success with their ideas for independent projects.  Author Eleanor Whitney enables readers to clarify their vision, set goals, create a plan, fundraise, publicize, and manage their “do-it-yourself” endeavor. Whitney will discuss achieving success and sustainability as an independent writer, publisher and creative business owner with Chicago-based creatives Selena Fragassi (Boxx Magazine), Rebecca Ann Rakstad (Rarrar Press), and Bradley Adita (PopPunk.com).

    “The ultimate creative person’s companion- for anyone who’s thought of, attempted to, or has already made some steps to turning their vision into a  viable product, this practical and personal how-to is like a business-savvy mentor.” – Cathy Erway, author of The Art of Eating In: How I learned to Stop Spending and Love the Stove and editor of Not Eating Out in New York

    Eleanor Whitney is a Brooklyn-based writer, musician and arts professional. She has written for publications such as Venus Zine and Remedy Quarterly and contributes regularly to Idealist.org and Artsfwd.org. She has spoken about creative success and sustainability at national conferences such as South by Southwest and the Creative Chicago Expo.

    For more info: growdiy.com

  • Quimby’s Welcomes Dan Gleason and Friends 7/6

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    It’s a celebratory event for the release of Dan Gleason’s 50th zine, ‘A Book Of Themes!’ Skip all of those 6th of July firework-filled galas, which inevitably end in the emergency room, and take heed to the words of a cavalcade of weirdos at your favorite local bookstore. This night’s roster of readers includes the great Rachel McPadden, former lead singer of the hardcore punk band Shit Ass, the artists behind the early 90’s hit ‘Playground.’ She has contributed to Mr. Skin’s website and is the only person ever to have claimed a crush on film actor George C. Scott. Mike McPadden – he’s head writer at Mr. Skin and author of the books ‘Heavy Metal Movies: From Anvil to Zardoz, the 666 Most Headbanging Movies of All Time’ and ‘If You Like Metallica.’ He also briefly replaced Bowzer in Sha Na Na back in ’83 after that artist’s split from the group. Gregory Jacobsen is lead singer of the band Lovely Little Girls, the Fatty Jubbo behind Fatty Jubbo’s Cake and Polka Parade podcast, brought to you by WFMU, and the finest painter in all of Chicagolandia. For a time he danced with a box on his head on the Chic-A-Go-Go! show, too. Jenny Inzerillo writes, paints, molds the minds of the youth and is the only thing worth two shakes any more in that stinking Logan Square neighborhood. She aspires to leave this planet one day soon on Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo. Gabriel Wallace is Jeffrey-Elaine Shotzenberger, and host of the Pamela monthly reading series, and Dan Gleason is a hirsute hermit who has produced fifty of those little fold up zine/books that you (hopefully) enjoy.

    Come try their words on for size, evolve, and then leave the premises with a much more promising outlook on life, which should include a sudden longing to work with wicker, the ability to make your own gillie suit with only a half dozen discarded hairnets and five feet of twine, a won’t for knowledge of the ‘inner algorithms,’ a potential subscription to the H&R Block monthly newsletter, a lust for vice, a turning out, a tuning in, a tuna rolling, and a rin-tin-tin-atuding. GET DOWN FOR THE UPSTROKE! ’88 was great, ’99 was fine, but damn do I miss the music of GENUWINE! LOVE LIVING- AND BE THERE!

    Dan Gleason has at least 25 books on the market for your pleasure, here are the titles of just a few of them: The Unexpected Gratification I Received From Taking In The Sexual Act With A Homeless Person And Other Less Contemplative Thoughts Rendered In Short Story Form By Dan Gleason, The NCA’s Introductory Book To Your Newest Saints, Fairy Tales With Important Morals For Children And Other Unambitious Writings By Dan Gleason, The Great American Novella, Stories Of Life Minus Context And Sense Plus Other Little Ditties By Dan Gleason, I Married A White Woman, Satansbraten: Stories For The Season Of The Witch, The Gospel According To Dan Gleason, All Of Those Happier Thoughts I Was Too Afraid To Express Before (AKA My Big Bland Book Of Feelings) By Dan Gleason, Memoirs Of A Guy In The Band, and Interludes. He is a Quimby’s favorite.

    For more info: stopgostop.com/dangleason/

    Saturday, July 6th, 7pm – Free Event

  • Off-Site: Saturday Strip: Comic Day MCA

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    Quimby’s is proud to co-sponsor Saturday Strip:

    Comic Day at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago.

    July 27, 2013, 10am – 5pm

    On Saturday, July 27th the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago will be showcasing all that is amazing in the world of independent comics, cartoons, and animation in Chicago. This all day event will include a series of workshops, talks, screenings and performances that will take place throughout the museum. Highlights include a pop-up comic fair co-presented with Quimby’s Bookstore, an Eyeworks Festival of Experimental Animation film program, Chicago’s Second City performing comics-themed improv, a mini-comics demonstration by Jeff Brown, a large-scale interactive jam comic by Trubble Club, Ezra Clayton Daniels’s Comic Art Battle, and a live shadow puppet performance by Manual Cinema.

    This event is in tandem and inspired by the exhibit Modern Cartoonist: The Art of Daniel Clowes, hanging at the MCA Jun 29–Oct 13, 2013. Clowes is known for his his seminal comic-book series Eightball, as well as cover art for the New Yorker. Clowes is now well known to a wide audience following the 2001 film adaptation of Ghost World and the 2006 release of Art School Confidential, written by Clowes. In recent years, Clowes has realized the widely praised graphic novel Wilson (2010) and a serialized comic for the New York Times Magazine, a “middle-aged romance” titled Mister Wonderful, collected in an expanded hardcover edition in 2011.Clowes_Eightball18cover

    Please note this event IS NOT at Quimby’s. It is at the MCA, at  220 E Chicago Ave, Chicago, IL 60611 (312) 280-2660.