As you know, we like to take things easy during the month of July. Therefore on this pre-holiday morning on which we'd normally be mounting a live episode of Tuesday Funk we present instead a poem from nearly a year ago, on the subject of living forever...

And if you enjoyed that, you'll get another new Poem by Bill at our next Tuesday Funk, Tuesday, August 7th, 2012, which will also feature great readings from Stacy Bierlein, Holly McDowell, Scott Smith, Jesse Jordan, and our very own Sara Ross Witt. Have a great Fourth of July!

Back in August, Julie Rosenthal gave our rabidly attentive audience not one but two provocative short stories to chew on...

And if you're panting for more great readings like this one, be sure to join us on Tuesday, November 1st, when we present the stellar lineup of J.D. Adamski, Suzanne Clores, Laura Stark, Cesar Torres, and Matt Wood!

Back in August, we were delighted to host Eden M. Robins at our microphone, who presented us with this exciting excerpt from her novel-in-progress The Grand Adventure of Aught-Nine...

And if you're in the mood for more great readings like this one, be sure to join us on Tuesday, November 1st, when we present the stellar lineup of J.D. Adamski, Suzanne Clores, Laura Stark, Cesar Torres, and Matt Wood!

Our September reading is coming up fast, and there's no better way to get in the right frame of mind than with videos from past events. This reading from August—relating Karen Skalitzky's moving encounter with, yes, a car wash door—should set the stage nicely and give you a good idea what to expect...

And be sure to join us tomorrow night, Tuesday, September 6, 7:30 pm, upstairs at Hopleaf, for five more great readers, including AD Jameson, Edison Blake, Noreen Natale, Naomi Buck Palagi, and Carissa DiGiovanni!

In our humble opinion, Tuesday Funk just keeps getting better and better. What can we submit as evidence, you ask? May it please the court, we present our August 2nd reading at Hopleaf, which, in succession, drew a standing-room crowd and blew its socks off. Honest, we had to gather up all the socks after the audience had departed. The occasion was, in part, a makeup session for some of the readers from our legendary February reading who were prevented from attending by the blizzard, with a couple of jokers tossed into the deck to keep everyone on their toes.

Blizzard refugee Karen Skalitzky kicked things off with "Out," a funny and heartfelt excerpt from her memoir-in-progress. Sondra Morin favored us with a sheaf of her superb poetry. And snowstorm reschedulee Julie Rosenthal enthralled with excerpts from two of her short stories.

After a break to let our audience visit John at the bar, co-host William Shunn read his poem "Immortality." Tegan Jones scored with an excerpt from her novel-in-progress The Year of the Rabbit. February returnee Eden M. Robins delighted us with the prologue from her novel The Grand Adventure of Aught-Nine. And the prodigal yet prodigious Jerry Schwartz hit big with a reading and a song from his novel Pixels of Young Mueller.

(You can check out Jerry's song, "The King of I Don't Care," in the video below, or watch his full performance here. Or if you'd prefer to watch the entire evening's program straight through, you can do that here.)

In short, it was far more than just a makeup session—more like a makeout session with the minds of our Tuesday Funk audience. And if you want to get that same treatment, please join us September 6th for an evening with Edison Blake, Carissa DiGiovanni, AD Jameson, Noreen Natale, and Naomi Buck Palagi. We promise you won't regret it the morning after.

It's hot as an iron foundry out there, so what better way to replenish your cool than joining us tonight for Tuesday Funk, the monthly Chicago reading series where good writing and good beer mix. This evening, in honor of our 6 x 6 = 36th epic episode, we're bringing you six great readers for no more than the price of a single ice-cold beer.

Our scorching lineup on this hottest night of the year includes several readers we're bringing back from our fabled February blizzard edition, so get ready to greet the hardy Karen Skalitzky, Jerry Schwartz, Julie Rosenthal, and Eden M. Robins, not to mention the intrepid Sondra Morin and Tegan Jones. We'll also throw in one of our patented Poems By Bill for no extra charge.

So grab a beer from the bar, "like" us today on Facebook, and we'll all cool down at Hopleaf tonight!

Hopleaf is at 5148 N. Clark St. in Chicago. The reading begins at 7:30 pm in the upstairs lounge. The lounge opens at 7:00 pm. Arrive early for a seat!

As always, the upstairs lounge at Hopleaf is cash-only and 21 and over. Remember also that no food can be brought in from the restaurant.

They call them the dog days of summer. But we hope it won't insult any of the dogs of your acquaintance if we tell you our August readers are no pack of dogs. Au contraire! In the spirit of the season, Tuesday Funk will bring the hottest writers in town together at Hopleaf, including Tegan Jones, Sondra Morin, Eden M. Robins, Julie Rosenthal, Jerry Schwartz and Karen Skalitzky. Good thing there's so much great beer available—dozens of varieties of it—because you'll need it to cool down before, during, and after.

Tuesday Funk convenes Tuesday, August 2, 2011, 7:30 pm, in the upstairs lounge at Hopleaf, 5148 N. Clark St., Chicago. Arrive early, stake out a table in the upper room, and grab a beer from John at the cash-only bar. We start seating at 7:00 pm and no earlier. Admission is always free, but you must be 21 or older. And come early or stay afterward for some great Belgian-style food downstairs.

Please bring plenty of friends, and become a fan of Tuesday Funk on Facebook so you never miss an invitation to our readings, which this fall will feature an amazing array of writers you won't want to miss. Ruff!

And as you await our August event, please enjoy this short preview, taken from our February reading, of the work of Eden Robins...