Category: Store Events

  • Jo Dery at Quimby’s!

    Join us for an evening of storytelling! Come see short animations, hear live radio plays, check out zines and books from the Ocean State, lil’ Rhody! Jo Dery will show several short animated films and Walker Mettling will read and perform stories and radio plays from the new audio issue of his zine “The Sparkle.” Get your hands on the recently published book by Jo Dery, titled Quietly Sure – Like the Keeper of a Great Secret (Little Otsu, publisher).

    About the performers:

    Jo Dery lives and works in Providence, Rhode Island, where she makes drawings, prints and short films. Quietly Sure – Like the Keeper of a Great Secret is her first published book. She self-published little books under the series name Plant Life for Human Lesson, and her drawings have appeared in Paper Rodeo, Lumpen and the SPX Anthology.

    www.jodery.com
    New book from Little Otsu

    Walker Mettling is a Bay Area native who makes zines of collected stories; stories that come to him by postcard, email, and telepathy. He currently lives in Providence, Rhode Island.

  • Kramers Ergot at Chicago Comics!!!!!

    Calling all Nerds, Slackers, and Comics Dandies!

    Kramers Ergot will invade Chicago Saturday Dec 13th for a once in a lifetime ink stained event! While I am deeply saddened to report it is not at Quimby’s, I am glad our sister store has the chutzpa to undertake this epic endeavor!

    So don’t sleep, don’t drink, don’t miss it. If I catch you at Quimby’s on Saturday I’ll make fun of you too cause you should really be at this signing!

    ALSO Chicago Comics has limited copies of the new Kramers Ergot coming in for the signing so you better HOLLER at them if you know you want one! Since I don’t work there I’m gonna go off script and tell you this too!!!! I promise you this tour is the first place you can pick up a copy the new Kramers so if you “pre ordered” else where you probably won’t have a copy to get signed! So support your local comic shop and get it there, get it signed by comics legends…just don’t hug them too hard when you do!!!!

    This will be awesome! Be a part of it!

  • THE2NDHAND #30 Release Party

    We convene for the release of the 30th installment of THE2NDHAND’s broadsheet series, marking the magazine’s ninth anniversary and eighth year of hosting Quimby’s events, coincidentally, for which opportunity we are always grateful, if not quite gracious in our gratefulness at all time. Yes, there were pork chops involved, unfortunately, at one time.

    THE2NDHAND No. 30 features the “Gives Birth to Monsters” short by Spencer Dew, a tale of one man’s small heartbreak, the backdrop to a contemporary landscape of well-meaning but ultimately shallow political activism, fractured communicative lines, and more ultimately enduring drives toward total inebriation. In classic Dew fashion, he’ll have you laughing all the way to brink of the void.

    The issue also features excerpts from THE2NDHAND’s David Foster Wallace collaborative mini-tribute by THE2NDHAND editor Todd Dills and Bellingham, Wash.-based Doug Milam, author of our 27th broadsheet. Chicago editor C.T. Ballentine hosts this release event, featuring Dew, THE2NDHAND contributors Jill Summers and Y.Z. Chin, and Ballentine himself. This event is supported in part by Poets & Writers Event Grant Program by a donation from an anonymous donor.

    The Performers:

    Spencer Dew is the author of the short-story collection Songs of Insurgency (2008) and much else besides — he’s a prolific contributor to many literary venues, including THE2NDHAND’s online magazine, www.the2ndhand.com

    Jill Summers’ audio fiction has been featured internationally by Chicago Public Radio, the Third Coast International Audio Festival, and New Adventures in Sound Art. Her work has appeared in Stop Smiling Magazine, Ninth Letter, VAIN magazine, littleBANG, Gapers Block, Annalemma, and The 2nd Hand, where she’s a somewhat frequent contributor. She is the author of three collections of audio shorts, Cohabitation, Les Petites Tristes, and In The Realm of Normal Sized Things.

    Y.Z. Chin lives and writes in Chicago, is a former editor with Rhino Magazine and studied writing at Northwestern University.

    C.T. Ballentine studied down on Iron St. under the tutelage of Nova Capone, or Eric Graf, as he is sometimes known. His acumen, in so many respects, is world renowned.

  • Off-site Event: Peter H. Fogtdal Reads The Tsar's Dwarf At Chinaski's

    Peter H. Fogtdal‘s book The Tsar’s Dwarf (Hawthorne Books) is about a Danish dwarf given to Peter the Great as a gift who ends up as a court jester at the Russian court. It’s this author’s first book in English, though he’s had twelve published in Danish.

    Here’s more about the book:

    Soerine, a deformed female dwarf from Denmark, is given as a gift to Tsar Peter the Great, who is smitten by her freakishness and intellect. Against her will, the Tsar takes Soerine to St. Petersburg, where she becomes a jester in his court. There, she lives a life that both compels and repels her. Soerine eventually gives in to the attentions of Lukas, the Tsar’s favorite dwarf, and carves out an existence for herself amidst the squalor and lice-ridden world of dwarfs in the early 18th century. In this inhospitable milieu, Soerine’s intelligence and detached wit provide her some small measure of protection — until disaster strikes in the shape of a priest who wants to “save” her.

    This event will not be at Quimby’s but down the street at Chinaski’s, and Quimby’s will be there selling the book. Chinaski’s is at 1935 N. Damen, just south of Armitage. Starts at 7:30pm.

  • Kristy Bowen reads In the Bird Museum

    Poet and artist, Kristy Bowen is the author of In the Bird Museum (Dusie Press, 2008) and the Fever Almanac (Ghost Road Press, 2006), as well as the forthcoming Girl Show (Ghost Road, 2009). She lives in Chicago, where she runs dancing girl press & studio, which publishes a chapbook series for women poets, produces the online lit zine wicked alice, and hosts an online shop, dulcet.

    This will be the release event for In the Bird Museum.

    more info at:

    www.kristybowen.net

  • Handmade Nation Event at Quimby’s!

    Join Faythe Levine and Cortney Heimerl as they discuss their book and forthcoming documentary of the same name: HANDMADE NATION: The Rise of DIY, Art, Craft, and Design

    Today’s crafters are no longer interested in simply cross-stitching samplers or painting floral scrolls on china. Instead, the contemporary craft movement embraces emerging artists, crafters, and designers working in traditional and nontraditional media. Jenny Hart’s Sublime Stitching has revolutionized the embroidery industry. Each year Nikki McClure sells thousands of her cut-paper wall calendars. Emily Kircher recycles vintage materials into purses. Stephanie Syjuco manufactures clothing under the tag line “Because Sweatshops Suck.” These are just some of the fascinating makers united in the new wave of craft capturing the attention of the nation, the Handmade Nation.

    Faythe Levine traveled 19,000 miles to document what has emerged as a marriage between historical technique, punk culture, and the D.I.Y. ethos. For Handmade Nation (along with the documentary film of the same name, coming in 2009) she and Cortney Heimerl have selected 24 makers and 5 essayists who work within different media and have different methodologies to provide a microcosm of the crafting community. Participants in this community share ideas and encouragement through websites, blogs, boutiques, galleries, and craft fairs. Together they have forged a new economy and lifestyle based on creativity, determination, and networking. Twenty-four artists from Olympia, Washington, to Providence, Rhode Island, and everywhere in between show their work and discuss their lives. Texts by Andrew Wagner of American Craft Magazine, Garth Johnson of Extremecraft.com, Callie Janoff of the Church of Craft, Betsy Greer of Craftivism.com, and Susan Beal, author of Super Crafty, supply a critical view of the tight-knit community where ethics can overlap with creativity and art with community. Handmade Nation features photographs of the makers, their work environment, their process, their work, and discussions of how they got their start and what motivates them. Handmade Nation is a fascinating book for those who are a part of the emerging movement or just interested in sampling its wares.

    website:
    http://www.indiecraftdocumentary.blogspot.com

  • Off-Site Event! Graphic Adaptation Novels: After 9/11 & the Constitution At the Freedom Museum

    Two remarkable graphic novelists, Sid Jacobson and Jonathan Hennessy will be at Chicago’s Freedom Museum to discuss their newest books After 911 and The United States Constitution: A Graphic Adaptation (due out 10/21/08). Listen as these two renowned artists discuss their motivations, creative processes and various obstacles met in developing their newest books. Quimby’s will be there to sell the books!

    What: Graphic Adaptation Novels: After 9/11 & the Constitution

    Where: McCormick Tribune Freedom Museum, 435 N. Michigan Ave., Suite 754, Chicago, Illinois 60611. PLEASE NOTE THIS EVENT IS NOT AT QUIMBY’S.

    When: Thursday, October 30th, 6–7:30 pm

    Is this free? Yes! (Well what would you expect? It’s at the FREEdom Museum, ha ha ha)

  • Andrew Choate and Dmitra St. Oops at Quimby’s!

    Join Andrew Choate and Dmitra St. Oops as they read from recent works.

    Andrew Choate grew up in South Carolina listening to free jazz and kraut rock. He moved to Chicago when he was 18 so he could hear concerts by AACM members and there discovered the cultural wealth and ethical abyss that was the twentieth century. He studied language and art at Northwestern, and moved to Los Angeles seven years later to continue his research and community-probing at CalArts. His first book/CD, Langquage Makes Plastic of the Body, was published in 2006 by Palm Press; it is a collection of essays, short stories, poems and songs. Pigs in Blankets, a radio play from 2004, and Spir-ahchoo!-ality, a sneeze-based recording from 2005, have been exhibited in London, Los Angeles, Rome and Yerevan. His writings about music and art have appeared in Urb, Coda, the Wire, Signal to Noise, Art Ltd., d’Art International, Facsimile and the L.A. Times. He has been a guest lecturer at the Museum of Contemporay Art in Los Angeles and until his performance on November 8th, 2008 has not read in Chicago, a place he considers a pivotal spiritual and educational home. His reading at Quimby’s will consist of selections from his book and excerpts from his new project Accounting for Taste: Fictional Food.

    Dmitra St. Oops – grew up in Karkov, Ukraine and moved to Chicago when he was 18 to study mathematics. Stayed in Chicago for 10 years; currently lives in San Francisco. She writes fictional algorithms.

    PLUS!!!!! DRAMBUIE AND KIM CHI WILL BE SERVED

    Check out Dmitra St. Oops on-line

  • Chris Onstad creator of Achewood at Quimby’s!

    The elusive creator of Achewood has finally emerged!  Chris Onstad is shedding his usual shroud of secrecy and hitting the road on a national tour to meet, greet, shake hands, and kiss babies.

    On the heels of the release of The Great Outdoor Fight hardcover and a second straight Ignatz award for Best Online Comic, Onstad is making stops in major cities across North America to celebrate the success of Achewood with the dedicated fans that have made it all possible.

    But these aren’t your typical creator signings.  Tattoos, turkey, drinks, machismo bonding for ladies and dudes, topped off with enough Achewood merchandise for everyday of the week, each stop will be an event in its own right.

    Come and join the party at comic shops across the country with the man who spends his days drawing cats and dogs as you’ve never seen them before.

    Since 2001, cult comic favorite Achewood has built a six-figure international following. Intelligent, hilarious, and adult but not filthy, it’s the strip you’ll wish you’d discovered as an underappreciated fifteen-year-old. Dark Horse presents the hardbound edition of Achewood’s The Great Outdoor Fight, the story of “Three Days, Three Acres, Three Thousand Men.”

  • Henry “Chunklet” Owings at Quimby’s!

    Henry Owings will discuss his history and work with Chunklet in addition to explaining how The Rock Bible was conceived/created/written. He will then open up the floor to a Q&A, followed by a signing.

    The Rock Bible is an insider’s guide to living the rock ‘n’ roll dream. This hilarious rulebook is full of dos and don’ts for musicians, wannabe musicians, and rock fans of all ages.

    Complete with faux-biblical illustrations and parables and essays from comedian Patton Oswalt, drummer Brian Teasley, and professional smartass Andrew Earles, The Rock Bible is a rude and raunchy look at the best and worst of rock ‘n’ roll.

    Henry Owings is the publisher of the widely recognized Chunklet Magazine based in Georgia. He was in Entertainment Weekly’s “It List” for his confrontational “100 Biggest Assholes In Rock” issue and another time has been taken to court by Mad Magazine for his similarly parodied issue. “The Overrated Book”, Henry’s first foray into book publishing, came out a couple years ago. Mostly under the Chunklet moniker, he has been a concert promoter since the late 80’s and has put on over 1,000 shows in his career. Through show promotion and the magazine, Henry went on tour with Bob Odenkirk and David Cross’s Mr. Show comedy tour and has subsequently worked very closely with the Comedians of Comedy tour which has criss-crossed the country for the past four years and has filmed specials on Comedy Central and Netfliz. In addition, he’s produced six comedy releases for Patton Oswalt (Pixar’s Ratatouille) and was instrumental in getting him signed to Sub Pop last spring. Henry has recorded releases for The Oblivians and The Black Lips and has released records on his own label by The Olivia Tremor Control, Elf Power, Harvey Milk and Man or Astroman?. Finally, just to keep busy, Henry is also a full-time Grammy-nominated art director who has done graphic design work for such diverse artists as John Cale (Velvet Underground), Captain Beefheart and Charley Patton, and has also done book design for Mr. Show and political cartoonist/ columnist Ted Rall. In his spare time, Henry plays whirlyball and does nothing else except sleep. Henry resides in Atlanta, Georgia with his wife Sarah and dogs Bun and Dave. The Rock Bible is his second book.