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Category: Store Events
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Comics Artists Alex Robinson, Jeremy Tinder and Josh Cotter
Top Shelf Productions publishes contemporary graphic novels and comics by artists of singular vision. Dedicated to championing veteran creators as well as finding and developing emerging talent, the Top Shelf library is anchored by such masters of the craft as Alan Moore (From Hell, Lost Girls), Craig Thompson (Blankets), Jeffrey Brown (Clumsy), James Kochalka (American Elf, Johnny Boo), and many more. Top Shelf’s catalogue includes all-ages material and cutting-edge erotica, genre fiction and autobiography, and all that exists in-between, and has received dozens of awards. Quimby’s is proud to welcome Top Shelf artists Alex Robinson and Jeremy Tinder. Local alternative comics artist Josh Cotter will be joining the event, whose Skyscrapers of the Midwest is similar in feel, even though his publisher is Adhouse.
After graduating from art school, Alex Robinson began doing mini comics (small print run comics xeroxed and stapled by himself). He soon started working on the story that would become his first graphic novel, Box Office Poison. In 1996, Antarctic Press started publishing the serialized version of Box Office Poison. The series ran for twenty-one issues, and once the story was complete, Top Shelf Productions published the entire thing in one 608 page book. Shortly after the book was published, Alex won the Eisner Award for Talent Deserving of Wider Recognition. As a graphic novel, Box Office Poison was nominated for several awards (a Harvey, an Eisner, an Ignatz and the Firecracker book award). 2005 got off to a great start when the French translation of Box Office Poison won the prestigious Prix du Premier Album award in Angouleme, France. Top Shelf published Alex’s second book Tricked in 2005. In 2006, Tricked won a Harvey and Ignatz Award. The Spanish publisher Astiberri released both of his graphic novels in handsome, one volume editions. Alex has expanded his storytelling to include fantasy, with the release of Lower Regions (Top Shelf) in 2007, and time travel/high school in Too Cool to Be Forgotten (Top Shelf) published in summer 2008.
Jeremy Tinder is an artist and cartoonist based in Chicago, IL. In 2007, he earned an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where he now teaches classes in cartooning and self-publishing. Jeremy exhibits his artwork across the country both as a solo artist and as a member of the artist collective Paintallica. His first two books, Cry Yourself to Sleep and Black Ghost Apple Factory are published by Top Shelf Productions. New comics from Jeremy will soon appear in the fourth volume of Image Comic’s anthology series Popgun, Family Style’s Elfworld 2, and in the current volume of Black Warrior Review, published by the University of Alabama Press. Jeremy proudly contributes weekly to the jam comics of the Trubble Club.
Joshua W. Cotter was born and raised in the vast farmy nothingness of northwest Missouri, as reflected in his Eisner-nominated Skyscrapers of the Midwest (Adhouse), filling sketchbooks and painting paintings. He now resides in Chicago where he recently finished up work on his “intuitive narrative,” Driven by Lemons.
For more info: www.comicbookalex.com , www.jeremytinder.com , www.comicstripjoint.blogspot.com
www.topshelfcomix.com -
Dave Reidy and Friends Host a Quaroke Reading
Dave Reidy’s collection of fiction, entitled Captive Audience (IgPublishing) features, among other stories, the award-winning story “The Regular.” And that particular piece is about arty nerdy introverts doing karaoke. In Chicago. In a neighborhood that sounds suspiciously like Wicker Park.
What better way to welcome this new collection of punchy literature with a night of Quimby’s Quaraoke? KJ (that’s karaoke disc jockey, folks) services will be provided by Shameless Karaoke, a husband-wife team composed of, well, arty nerdy introverts who met doing karaoke. In Chicago.
Also appearing: Claire Zulkey, Megan Stielstra and Mark Bazer
“Dave Reidy’s matchless reports from the heart of twenty-first century America, a landscape of technological obsession and performance anxiety (in many forms), are elegant, precise, cool, and funny. Here is a young writer from whom we can expect much in the future.” -David Leavitt, Author of The Indian Clerk
Dave Reidy’s fiction has appeared in Pindeldyboz and The MacGuffin. In 2007, Charles D’Ambrosio chose Reidy’s story “The Regular” as winner of the Emerging Writers Network Short Story Competition. Captive Audience, a collection of short stories about performers, is his first book.
For more info: http://www.davereidy.com
FREE EVENT
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Jason Buhrmester Reads Black Dogs: The Possibly True Story of Classic Rock’s Greatest Robbery
In Black Dogs: The Possibly True Story of Classic Rock’s Greatest Robbery, Inked magazine editor Jason Buhrmester tells the conceivably true tale of a group of small-time crooks who, against all odds, manage to pull off one of the most infamous fleeces in classic rock’s history.
Hours before the final show of their 1973 U.S. tour, the members of Led Zeppelin find all the cash missing from their safe deposit box at the Drake Hotel in New York City. The $203,000 robbery was never solved. Now, in Black Dogs: The Possibly True Story of Classic Rock’s Greatest Robbery, Inked magazine editor Jason Buhrmester tells the story. In this book of fiction, slacker Patrick returns home with the plan for one last crazy scam. He gathers his slacker buddies—Alex, Frenchy, and Keith—and convinces them to take a break from their crappy jobs, getting high, and jacking car stereos to plot an improbable robbery of Led Zeppelin. Nothing quite goes as planned, and the guys find themselves mixed up with Backwoods Billy, the psychotic, born-again leader of the Holy Ghosts Christian motorcycle gang and various other adventures, in this tale that just might shed light on one of the biggest capers in rock and roll history.
“Almost Famous meets Reservoir Dogs in Inked editor Buhrmester’s debut novel about a quartet of wannabe young criminals who probably should’ve stayed in school. Buhrmester demonstrates…a heartfelt affection for all that rocks. Casual music fans will enjoy the heck out of this hilarious and gritty tale; rock fanatics will adore it.” —Kirkus Reviews
Former editor at Playboy and current editor at Inked, Jason Buhrmester has been published in Spin, Wired, the Village Voice, and other publications. He currently lives in Brooklyn, NY, where he is working on his second novel and listening to Black Sabbath.
A helpful review of the book is here.
FREE EVENT -
Gigposters.com Founder Clay Hayes Brings His Gig to Quimby’s With Artists Featured In the Book, Just In Time For Pitchfork Music Festival!
You’re used to seeing gig posters, flyers, and handbills displayed outside your favorite concert venue. Now, with Gig Posters Volume 1: Rock Show Art of the 21st Century (Quirk Books), artwork featuring your favorite musicians can be found in a lasting book format. Each of these posters originates from Gigposters.com, which has been the Internet’s first and best resource for concert art since 2001. Their massive online database showcases more than 100,000 posters from 8,000 different designers, including all of today’s top poster studios. Gig Posters Volume I highlights the best examples from that collection. Inside you’ll find artwork promoting shows by Radiohead, Kanye West, Wilco, the Decemberists, the Shins, the Beastie Boys, Arcade Fire, Sleater-Kinney, Cat Power, Joan Jett, Wu-Tan Clan, N.E.R.D., Diplo, and many, many, many more. Organized by designer, each page features an artist along with their insights on influences, methods and mediums, and why they do what they do. Author Clay Hayes is the founder of Gigposters.com. Read a helpful interview with him here.
Specifics about the book follow:
Gig Posters Volume 1: Rock Show Art of the 21st Century
By Clay Hayes of Gigposters.com
Paperback with perforated pages, $40.00
11 x 14, 208 pages, in color
700 full-color examples of unique concert art,
including 101 perforated, 11-by-14 inch
ready-to-hang posters!
Like all events at Quimby’s, this event is free!
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OFF SITE EVENT: Quimby's and the Alternative Press Center Welcome Paul Buhle at the Alternative Press Center Open House
Paul Buhle has edited several books of comic art, including Studs Terkel’s Working: A Graphic Adaptation, Wobblies!, A Dangerous Woman, Students for a Democratic Society, A People’s History of American Empire and The Art of Harvey Kurtzman: The Mad Genius of Comics. An active member of Champaign-Urbana, Storrs, and Madison SDS chapters during the late 1960s and founding editor of Radical America as well as co-author of The Encyclopedia of the American Left, Buhle will discuss the legacy of alternative media and underground papers as well as his contemporary work in graphic adaptation of left history at the newly expanded and relocated Alternative Press Center (APC).
The APC is a periodicals library and nonprofit collective that promotes access to independent and critical sources of news and information. Founded in 1969, it remains one of the oldest self-sustaining alternative media institutions in the United States. The APC Library is located in Logan Square after more than 30 years in Baltimore, Maryland. The most recent five years of the collection is held at the APC Library and includes titles from around the world such as Colorlines, n+1, Souls, Gay & Lesbian Review, EarthFirst! Journal, Off Our Backs, Camera Obscura, Claridad, Historical Materialism, Canadian Dimension, Review of African Political Economy, Labor History, Hypatia, Red Pepper, El Viejo Topo, Le Monde Diplomatique, and hundreds more. In addition to the periodical collection, the APC Library has more than 1,800 books — classics of the Left with emphasis on the 1960s and 1970s.
Buhle’s books and other merchandise will be on hand courtesy of Quimby’s and APC will celebrate the author’s presence and its move with free wine, beer and snacks.
For more info: www.altpress.org
FREE EVENT
At The Alternative Press Center / 2040 N. Milwaukee, 2nd floor.
Note: the location is not handicap accessible -
Rory Litwin Discusses Library Juice Press
Quimby’s is always crawling with librarians during the ALA conference (American Library Association Annual Conference, July 9th-15th) every year, and we expect this year will be the same. And who better to have come speak during the conference at Quimby’s but some cool librarian who publishes stuff like Alternative Publishers of Books in North America or Barbarians at the Gates of the Public Library: How Postmodern Consumer Capitalism Threatens Democracy, Civil Education, and the Public Good?
Rory Litwin runs Library Juice Press, which specializes in books like the two listed above. Topics covered include library philosophy, information policy, libraries and politics, and in general anything that can be placed under the rubric of “critical studies in librarianship.”
This event is, of course, of particular interest to librarians. But it will also appeal to anyone interested in going to libraries, curating and organizing book collections, or checking out hot librarians with or without sassy glasses. ‘Cause let’s face it: librarians are hot.
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James Kennedy and Jonathan Messinger Read
James Kennedy is the author of THE ORDER OF ODD-FISH, a fantastical YA comedy that was one of the Smithsonian’s Notable Books for Children 2008. Booklist praised ODD-FISH as “hilarious . . . readers with a finely tuned sense of the absurd are going to adore the Technicolor ride” and Time Out Chicago described it as “a work of mischievous imagination and outrageous invention.” He also plays bass in the Chicago art-punk band Brilliant Pebbles, which has been described variously as “melodramatic video game music,” “moon-man opera,” and “gypsy sex metal.” He lives in Humboldt Park in Chicago.
Jonathan Messinger is the author of the short story collection, HIDING OUT, which was named one of the best books of 2007 by the Omaha World- Herald. He’s also the books editor of Time Out Chicago and founder of The Dollar Store Show. He co-publishes Featherproof Books, a small press publishing novels and downloadable mini-books, and is currently
at work on HIDING OUT 2: HIDING IN and HIDING OUT 3: DON’T STOP HIDING.For more info:
www.jameskennedy.com -
Just Added Event! Eames Demetrios Presents Kcymaerxthaere
Explore Kcymaerxthaere, the first global work of three-dimensional fiction, a collection of stories from Geographer-at-large Eames Demetrios. Eames travels the linear world installing bronze markers and entire historical sites that honor events from a parallel world in our linear world. Join us as Eames takes us into his alternate universe, Kcymaerxthaere! And yes, that spelling is correct!
Steven Haulenbeek, who may or may not be in some way related to Eames Demetrios, is here this weekend for, among other things, NeoCon, Chicago’s largest design fair.
For more info:
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James Hannaham Reads From God Says No
In God Says No (McSweeneys) by James Hannaham, Gary Gray marries his first girlfriend, a fellow student from Central Florida Christian College who loves Disney World as much as he does. They are nineteen, God-fearing, and eager to start a family, but a week before their wedding Gary goes into a rest-stop bathroom and lets something happen. God Says No is his testimony—the story of a young black Christian struggling with desire and belief, with his love for his wife and his appetite for other men, told in a singular, emotional voice. Driven by desperation and religious visions, the path that Gary Gray takes—from revival meetings to out life in Atlanta to a pray-away-the-gay ministry in Memphis, Tennessee—gives a riveting picture of how a life like his can be lived, and how it can’t.
James Hannaham has written for the Village Voice, Spin, New York Magazine and once, circa 1997, a tiny sidebar in the front section of the New York Times Magazine. His fiction has appeared in The Literary Review, Nerve.com, Open City, and several anthologies.
For more information about James Hannaham, see www.jameshannaham.com.