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Dancing Girl Press presents an evening of readingsSaturday, July 29th, 7:00 PMFREE
 
Sarah Gardner?s chapbook, How to Study Birds, was released in June from Dancing Girl Press. Her poetry has recently appeared or is forthcoming in The North American Review, The Cortland Review, Runes Review of Poetry, Calyx, Cranky Literary Journal, and Heliotrope She lives in Texas, where she teaches creative writing to disadvantaged youth through Houston’s Writers in the Schools.
 
Lina Ramona Vitkauska?s work has appeared or is forthcoming in Aufgabe, Skanky Possum, The Prague Literary Review, The Chicago Review, 5_Trope, Gargoyle, and others. She is co-editor of Milk Magazine (w/ Larry Sawyer) and author of three chapbooks: Failed Star Spawns Planet/Star (Dancing Girl Press, 2006), Shooting Dead Films with Poets (Fractal Edge Press, 2004) and The Meanest Man Contest (mother’s milk press, 2000).
 
Kristy Bowen is the author of several handmade and limited edition chapbooks, including the most recent, archer avenue. Her work has appeared in Another Chicago Magazine, Slipstream, Cranky, Swink, and Rhino. Her first full-length collection, the fever almanac, is due out in November from Ghost Road Press. She is the editor of the electronic poetry zine wicked alice, and runs dancing girl press, dedicated to publishing work by women authors.

Perpetual Motion Roadshow #35Featuring Hadassah Hill, Cort Bulloch, Jesse Dangerously, and Brandon WetherbeeSaturday, July 15th, 7:00 PMFREE
…Perpetual Motion Roadshow #35…featuring: expat femme wordsmith HADASSAH HILL from New York City! sorry-ass folk singer CORT BULLOCH from Calgary! secret rap legend JESSE DANGEROUSLY from Halifax! and local opener foul-mouthed friend BRANDON WETHERBEE from Chicago!
 
Hadassah M. Hill (aka. Axon Panter) is a New York/Toronto-based performance artist and writer. Her work has appeared in Geeks, Misfits and Outlaws (2004) and Without A Net (2003). She toured Ontario and Quebec in 2004/05 with the performance troupe Trash and Ready and has performed at Ladyfest, Cheap Queers, Hysteria, and Mayworks. Her recordings include Bombshell Lexicon (2005) and Bad Girls Belief System (2005). In August, she’s heading to Femme 2006 in San Francisco. Hadassah’s also a textile artist who works in reconstructing/recycling vintage clothing and embroidery, and is Associate Art Director with $pread Magazine. She loves anything on two wheels, and rhinestones.
www.hadassahsbizzare.com
 
Cort Bulloch is a roots songwriter raised in southern Alberta. From being a jug hound in the oil patch to selling beads in Peru, Cort has roamed from Tuktoyuktuk to Buenos Aires in search of what he found to be his passion at the ripe age of 23: songwriting! The balance between melody, poetry and up-tempo pieces has him compared to such artists as Arlo Guthrie and Tracy Chapman. His nomadic, tossed salad past, along with his charming stage presence makes for a combination in which you will rarely find in folk songwriters. www.cortmusic.com
 
Jesse Dangerously is both a fan and a star in Halifax?s hip-hop scene and keeps the city in raps Friday nights as host of CKDU?s The Pavement. He was voted Best MC in this year’s Best of Music poll in Coast magazine. A prolific performer/producer, he has four solo releases and many collaborative credits. He’s brainy and bratty. Fast-talking and sing-songing. Self-aggrandizing and self-deprecating. He has performed at Toronto?s Wavelength and Montreal’s Under Pressure Graffiti Festival. By the time you read this, he’ll have played the North By Northeast festival in Toronto. And probably have been smooched a lot. www.dangerously.ca

Mark Siegel, Editorial Director of First Second BooksSaturday July 8th 7:00PM
 
Mark Siegel, Editorial Director of First Second Books (and a creator in his own right?he?s won the Bluebonnet Award for his illustrations on Lisa Wheeler?s Sea Dogs, and To Dance, a graphic novel composed by Mark and his wife, will be published by Simon & Schuster in the fall), has created an interactive multi-media presentation about graphic novels. Joann Sfar, Eddie Campbell, Jessica Abel, Matt Madden? all have upcoming projects with First Second Books.
 
Celebrating the launch of First Second Books, Mark?s presentation will be FUN and informative. Come join the party! With:
 
Book trailers?Grady Klein, the creator of The Lost Colony, has created a trailer for his graphic novel. Grady is both a comic artist and an animator, which lead him to the creation of a trailer for his graphic novel.
 
Comics-related music–one of Mark?s areas of interest is the interplay of the worlds of music and art/literature. He expresses this interest through the graphic novels he publishes, like Klezmer, a graphic novel by Joann Sfar about the origin of klezmer music in Eastern Europe.
 
?Lecture?? Mark is an excellent public speaker, and he?s very passionate on the topic of graphic novels. In this audience-guided lecture, Mark will speak about the position of graphic novels in society, literature, and art today. He?ll discuss the ?explosion? of graphic novels and upcoming media on the horizon.
 
Comics Jam?great art and great writing in graphic novels today has inspired people everywhere to attempt their own comic art. First Second encourages comics creation with a few simple exercises designed to help people understand the basics of the underlying structure of comics.
 

June 30th at Quimby\’s there is a reading. It involves
Dan Gleason, it involves the incredibly
talented Daniel Knox, it involves the superlative
Gregory Jacobsen. Here\’s the press stuffs for it:
 
Colonic Irrigation Jones, Diptheria Jackson & Rene
Standblatz present:
 
\”A One Time Promotional Event! Expect No Frills! The
Magical Misery Tour! Oslo! Budapest! And now
Chicagolicousness! Must move mega-units! Automatic
Audience Electrolysis! We Won\’t Be Undersold! Funk
Flotilla/Tampax Torpedo!\”
 
(Dan Gleason reads from \’It Ain\’t Extra, It\’s Sextra\’
and his new zine \’*@^>&/^-AC/DC/%!#

Karen Lee Boren reads from Girls in Peril
Wednesday, June 28th, 7:00 PM
 
A beautiful coming of age story, Girls in Peril, is the premier novella published by Tin House Books, and has already been nominated for the 2006 Discover Great New Writers Award.
 
About the book:
During a single summer in the 1970s, five 12-year-old girls idle away their time: jumping rope, playing four square, torturing the neighborhood Avon lady, sneaking out for late night swims in the lake. They find peril lies in places they never would have thought to look: in uncomprehending parents who steal their time and freedom (and, in one bizarre case, a thumb); in the pull of an uncertain world beyond their all-important friendships; and in their own burgeoning sexuality. Gradually the girls reassuring group identity splinters as they mature and violence close to home threatens to split them apart for good.
 
Girls in Peril is a novella about the special bonds between young women on the verge of adulthood. In this sparkling debut, issues of sexuality, identity, and class are woven into a magical and unforgettable coming of age story.
 
About the author: Karen Lee Boren teaches literature and creative writing at Rhode Island College. Her fiction has appeared in the Florida Review, Night Train, Karamu, Hawai?i Pacific Review and Dominion Review.

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