Category: Store Events

Small Happy zine party Friday, June 23rd, 8:00 PMFREE
Come celebrate the first issue of Small Happy, a zine comprised of unrelated paragraphs and art collaged together by four strange and wonderful ladies (Erin Davis, Katy Rabbitt, Ursula Copenheaver and Erica Burkhart).
 
The event will include readings by:
Amanda Krupman (a multi-talented performer-of Girly-Q burlesque), Erica Burkhart (romantic scientist and band-mate of the late Sunday Tore Downs),
Aimee Brown (interdisciplinary artist originally from the dirty south) and
P. Genesius Durica (published in the Indiana Review, the Mid-American Review, Blue Mesa, Tinhouse and Spork). Juggling by Matiss Duhon (tall, dark and dangerous), and Other Special Guests TBA! Wine and Beer provided.
 
Small Happy with be available for purchase at Quimby\’s: $12 Color, $6 B&W.

Sparkle Kids Action Network presentsa workshop with Jacinta BunnellWednesday, June 21rd, 7:00 PMFREE
 
The Sparkle Kids Action Network presents Chorus of Crayons Tour 2006: a four week tour featuring Jacinta Bunnell, Michael Truckpile, Julie Novak, and Dave End. This troupe of independent thinkers, songwriters, artists, and activists will be bringing a coloring book-making workshop, acoustic music and a hearty collection of crafts, books, and zines to bookstores, cafes, collective houses, and art spaces near you. Beginning June 14th from their home in New York?s Hudson Valley, the Sparkle Kids will embark on a month long tour throughout the northeast, midwest and Canada in their converted 1987 veggie-diesel Mercedes.
 
The Sparkle Kids Action Network is eager to find listeners and collaborators to experience and share in their unique brand of home spun entertainment and progressive community atmosphere. Dealing creatively with the themes of gender, children?s media, politics, queer issues, work and play, the Sparkle Kids will all be performing at The Ice Factory in Chicago on June 22. On June 21 at Quimby\’s there will be just a workshop with Jacinta Bunnell.
 
Jacinta Bunnell is the creative force behind two gender-blending coloring books: Girls Will Be Boys Will Be Girls Will Be?.. and Girls Are Not Chicks. On the tour she will be facilitating workshops on making your own guerrilla-style coloring books. When she?s not holding a crayon, Jacinta loves to teach yoga-robics to toddlers and host masquerade parties for cats. http://www.girlsnotchicks.com/

The Machine Media presents
Music with Meaning 7
Quimby’s
June 19 7PM
Readings from Brian Costello, Jim Derogatis, Jessica
Hopper, J.R. Nelson and Amy Phillips. Hosted by Kelsey Snell and Brandon Wetherbee.
 
Brian Costello is the host of “The Brian Costello Show
With Brian Costello,” a live onstage talk show
performed regularly at the Empty Bottle tavern in
Chicago. His writing has been featured in New City,
the2ndhand, Bridge, Horizontal Action,
Maximumrocknroll, Sleepwalk, and Hair Trigger. He will
also appear as a regular columnist for the upcoming
garage punk n ‘roll webzine, Terminal Boredom.
Costello, a central Florida native and part-time
Fiction Writing instructor at Columbia College
Chicago, also manages the Protomersh Records label and
is the drummer for the Functional Blackouts. His first
novel ?The Enchanters vs. Sprawlburg Springs? was
released late last year on Featherproof Books.
 
Jim Derogatis is the pop music critic at The Chicago
Sun-Times and the author of several books about rock
‘n’ roll: Let It Blurt: The Life and Times of Lester
Bangs, America’s Greatest Rock Critic (Broadway Books,
2000); Milk It! Collected Musings on the Alternative
Music Explosion of the ’90s (Da Capo, 2003); Turn On
Your Mind: Four Decades of Great Psychedelic Rock (Hal
Leonard, 2003), and Staring at Sound: The True Story
of Oklahoma’s Fabulous Flaming Lips. You can hear him
every Saturday evening on WBEZ as co-host of the
?world?s only rock and roll talk show? Sound Opinions.
 
Jessica Hopper is a Chicago-based feminist music and
culture critic . For the last 14 years, she has
published the fanzine Hit it or Quit it. She is a
columnist for Punk Planet and is a regular contributor
to Minneapolis City Pages and The Chicago Reader. Her
work has also appeared in SPIN, Bunnyhop, Seattle
Weekly, Venus, Grand Royal, BB Gun, Melody Maker. Her
essay “Emo: Where The Girls Aren’t” appeared in
DaCapo’s Best of Music Writing 2004. Her piece on
Warped Tour “Punk is Dead, Long Live Punk” appeared in
DaCapo’s 2005 anthology, and was also nominated for
Outstanding Arts Journalism by the Society for
Professional Journalism. She also maintains the Tiny
Lucky Genius blog.
 
J.R. Nelson writes whatever he likes in his blog
?Ozzie Guillen for President?. You can harass him at
the Empty Bottle or at Myopic Books. He seems to
enjoy accepting random AIM messages from random
people. Go ahead and see for yourself, his name is
jrhardcore68.
 
Amy Phillips is the news editor at Pitchfork Media.
She writes regularly for The Village Voice and
Blender, and has contributed to the Philadelphia
Inquirer, Spin, Newsday, Hit It or Quit It, Kitty
Magik, Decibel, and many other publications.
 
Kelsey Snell and Brandon Wetherbee are the creators of
The Machine Media. They bit off more than they could
chew with Music with Meaning 7. Who does 30 days of
anything besides eating fast-food?

Friday, May 19th, 7:00 PM
…Perpetual Motion Roadshow #33…
featuring:
 
low-fallutin’ scribe
EMERSON DAMERON
from Chicago!
 
poetic super-vixen
TANIS RIDEOUT
from Toronto!
 
guitar slinging romantic
SNOOVY
from Toronto!
 
and local opener,
faithful urban scribe
ERIC LAB RAT
 
Emerson Dameron serves as editor and sole
contributor for the zine Wherewithal. He also
contributes to the2ndhand, Zine World: A
Reader’s Guide to the Underground Press, Dusted
Magazine, The Machine and other magazines and
websites. On Wednesday nights, he hosts a show
on WLUW-FM. With the rest of the Diatribe Media
family, he organizes small-press events in
Chicago. With Nell Taylor, he co-founded the
Chicago Underground Library, which you should
ask him about. He fancies himself a comedian,
though accounts vary. He is an ordained minister
and performs weddings at reasonable rates. He
maintains a skeletal online presence at
loudwire.net/~emerson.
 
Tanis Rideout’s first appearance was in a
foreign story line (Unclear Origins, issue #8),
which took her through Tai Chi Ch’uan poetry
training around the globe. Never a master of
secret identity, she took refuge from the world
to master control of language and rhythm (see
The Lost Years, issue #4). During that time she
learned to wield words with ninja-like
precision. She emerged from seclusion to join
the Justice League of Poets (Northern Stories,
issues #63-on). Current plotlines leave our hero
seeking to balance her search for poetic justice
with daily existence (The Continuing Adventures
of Po’ It Girl). www.geocities.com/tanis_rideout
 
What do hippie parents and too many Zeppelin
albums make? Snoovy — Toronto’s veteran grrl
rocker gives you the flower child experience in
a blend of her own jumpy rock hits and moody
ballads. Her sweet and sultry vocals and
heavy-handed acoustic rhythm guitar will make
you go groovy all over, baby. She’s the Montreal
Fringe Fest’s battle-of-the-bands winner, the
Toronto pride stage chick rocker, University of
Manitoba’s flute choir diva, and California’s
speed metal folkie. A true tour baby at heart,
Snoovy joins the Roadshow to spread more peace,
love, and rock and roll. www.snoovy.com

Anthony Neil Smith author ofThe Drummer readsTuesday, June 6th, 7:00 PMFREE
 
“[The Drummer is] the book to read this summer.” – Crimespree Magazine
“The future is assured. The future is Anthony Neil Smith. Let the devil rejoice.” – Ken Bruen
“Anthony Neil Smith has penned a masterpiece of heavy metal noir.” – Victor Gischler
 
The Drummer synopsis:
80’s band Savage Night was living the hair-metal fantasy when they discover they’re in debt while touring overseas. To avoid the IRS, the Drummer shaves his head-banging locks and fakes his own suicide. Fifteen years later, the Singer has tracked him down in hopes of convincing him to come out of hiding for a reunion tour.
 
Anthony Neil Smith is on the creative writing faculty at Southwest Minnesota State University. Born and raised on the Gulf Coast of Mississippi, not far from New Orleans, Smith is donating a portion of his profits from the sales of The Drummer to Foundations For Recovery, a charitable organization that services displaced persons and other victims of Hurricane Katrina.
 
Smith served as co-editor of the online crime writing magazine he co-founded with Hunter Hayes and Victor Gischler, Plots with Guns. In the Fall of 2005, Dennis McMillan Publications released a print anthology.
 
The Drummer is published by Two Dollar Radio; an independent book publishing company whose aim is to reestablish the literary, cultural, and artistic spirit of publishing.
 
“The creativity and vitality of punk and other underground/outsider art scenes is increasingly visible across the indie publishing spectrum, from stalwarts like Soft Skull and AK Press to newer companies like Two Dollar Radio…” – Johnny Temple; Editor in Chief of Akashic Books, in The Book Standard.
 
More info is at www.twodollarradio.com
 

Dan Berger author ofOutlaws of America readsSaturday, June 3rd, 7:00 PMFREE
 
Outlaws of America brings to life America\’s most famous renegades, the Weather Underground. Based on detailed and original research, it is a gripping account of the actions and motivations of the group of white people who risked everything to oppose war and racism. At the same time, it provides a nuanced and critically engaged study demostrating the Weather Underground\’s contemporary significance.
 
This engaging, and timely book tells the untold story of the Weather Underground, from its incendiary beginnings to its tumultuous end. In an unsparing critical analysis, Berger uses dozens of in-depth interviews with former Weather Underground members and other long-time activists to trace the group\’s evolution in relation to the civil rights, Black Power, and anti-war movements. From the Students for a Democratic Society of the 1960s through the political trials of the 1980s, Outlaws of America is a history of the Weather Underground that clearly resonates today. It is essential reading for students, activists, and anyone concerned about both the state of the world and what to do about it.
 
Dan Berger is a 24-year-old writer, activist, and graduate student living in Philadelphia. He is the author of Outlaws of America: The Weather Underground and the Politics of Solidarity (AK Press, 2006) and co-editor of Letters From Young Activists: Today\’s Rebels Speak Out (Nation Books, 2005).
 
The grandson of Holocaust survivors, Berger has been involved with an array of anti-racist and global justice organizing projects. Currently, he is a Ph.D. student at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania, and a member of Resistance in Brooklyn. His writing has appeared in Z, Socialism and Democracy, and the Philadelphia Inquirer, among elsewhere.

Mykel Board readsFriday, May 26th, 7:00 PMFREE
 
About Even a Daughter is Better
This is the true story of Mykel Board\’s journey into Outer Mongolia. Part black comedy, part travelogue, part memoir, Even A Daughter Is Better Than Nothing (the title is taken from a Mongolian proverb) recounts, among other things, a year of: teaching English at the National University in Ulaanbaatar, getting lost in the Gobi Desert, meeting the only rock band in Mongolia, having dinner with an arms dealer in China, sparring with Mongolian pro-wrestlers, witnessing a bizarre visit by Hillary Clinton and ritual sheep slaughter.
 
About I A, Meist (or The Portable Board)
The first compilation of the legendary Maximum Rock \’N\’ Rollcolumns. Fifty-three columns from 1985 to 2000. A huge, healthy dose of the caustic wit, provocative insights, and literary genius that has kept Mr. B as the longest running reason folks continue to pick up that venerable bible of the international underground punk community.
 
Mykel Board has written dozens of freelance articles and seventeen novels under pseudonyms. Maximum Rock\’n\’Roll has been printing his column for more than 20 years. His essays have appeared in several anthologies including Bisexual Politics, Hayworth Press and Good Advice for Young People, Last Gasp Press.

Jason Ockert author of Rabbit PunchesMonday, May 15th, 7:00 PMFREE
 
Jason Ockert?s debut collection of demented Southern short stories is titled, Rabbit Punches. George Saunders has said, “Rabbit Punches marks the debut of an exciting new American talent.?; and Padgett Powell has said, “The writing is hip but not terminally hip, fun, at times very fun, and contains signs that the author is disturbed enough to be worth watching. He may tell us some new things.”
 
Jason Ockert was the 1999 winner of the Atlantic Monthly Fiction Contest and the 2002 Mary Roberts Rinehart National Fiction Award. His stories have appeared in Virgin Fiction 2, McSweeney?s, River City, CutBank, Oyster Boy Review, Black Warrior Review, and are forthcoming in Alaska Quarterly Review. He teaches writing at Ithaca College.
 
More info: http://www.lofipress.com/rpunches.asp

Saturday, 20 May 2006
THE2NDHAND #20 release party
7:30 PM
 
THE2NDHAND\’s broadsheet installment #20 is Austin writer Lauren
Trojniar\’s \”This Is How You Paint a House,\” a tale of the giddy, drunken
moral collapse of a suburban couple and a sometime housepainter.
Trojniar, a preschool teacher by day, makes the trek to Chicago for this
reading, at which she\’ll be joined by THE2NDHAND contributors Susannah
Felts and Gretchen Kalwinski and editor Todd Dills, who plays host.
 
Lauren Trojniar is the author of THE2NDHAND\’s 20th Installment, \”This Is
How You Paint a House,\” the story of Greg and Moira, a suburban couple
loosed from the strains of rearing children and attending yoga classes
by the introduction into their lives of one housepainter, Tomas, a
Dominican immigrant who shares with Greg a taste for whiskey. Trojniar
teaches preschool in Austin, TX, where she also lives.
 
Susannah Felts is on the faculty of SAIC\’s creative writing department,
and she\’s a frequent contributor to the /Chicago Reader/, among other
publications.
 
Gretchen Kalwinski lives and writes in Chicago. Lately, her
journalistic work has appeared, in addition to her fiction being
featured at THE2NDHAND.com, in /Venus/ and a host of other publications.
 
Todd Dills is the editor of THE2NDHAND. His first novel, Sons of the
Rapture, is due out August/September from Chicago publishers Featherproof.

Michelle Tea EventMay 25th 7PMfree
 
About Rose of No Man?s Land
Fourteen-year-old Trisha Driscoll is a hungry machine, taking in her hometown of Mogsfield, Massachusetts ? a place that has shamelessly surrendered to neon signs, theme restaurants, and cookie-cutter chain stores. Cynical but naive, Trisha observes the disappointing world from the ignored perspective of a teenager: creepy guys, the unfathomable sadness of the elderly, illegal tattoos, and the wild kingdom of mall culture.
 
After being hired and abruptly fired from the most popular shop at the absurd and kaleidoscopic Square One Mall, Trisha finds herself linked up with a chain-smoking, physically stunted mall rat named Rose, and her life shifts into manic overdrive.
 
A whirlwind exploration of poverty and dropouts, Rose of No Man?s Land is the world according to Trisha ? a furious love story between two weirdo girls, brimming with snarky observations and soulful wonderings on the dazzle-flash emptiness of contemporary culture.
 
Michelle Tea is the author of four memoirs, including the Lambda-award winning Valencia and the illustrated Rent Girl, which is currently being developed for television. Tea is the founder of the notorious all-girl performance tour Sister Spit, which wrecked poetic havoc across the USA at the end of the last century. She continues to curate literary events nationally, and hosts and cookie-baker for the monthly Radar Reading Series at the San Francisco Public Library. Rose of No Man?s Land is her first novel.