Most of Liz Baudler's time is spent in front of her computer trying not to freak out. This goes for whether she is writing writing of any sort or working on The Toucan Literary Magazine, of which she is founding editrice. Liz's fiction has been published in Toasted Cheese and Half Nelson. She is a senior Fiction Writing major at Columbia College where she is also vice-president of the department's student board.

She also edits Transcendent Journeys, the ezine for Life Force Arts Center, a spiritual arts organization. In whatever little spare time Liz has left, she likes to collapse onto the floor, drink lots of coffee, listen to the Beatles at the highest volume possible on her stereo, and call up friends to complain about how busy she is. And she works at Brookfield Zoo during the summer, which has given her a shocking command of animal facts and somewhat diminished faith in humanity.

Join Tuesday Funk on October 4th at 7:30 p.m. to hear Liz along with the rest of our talented readers at Hopleaf's upstairs bar!

Erin J. Shea lives in the Beverly neighborhood with her husband, Scott Smith, daughter Abigail and superhound, Glinny. Originally from Joliet, she works as a vice president at Edelman Digital, where she spends most of her waking hours playing on Facebook and Twitter and reading blogs. Well, not really, but almost.

Her book, Tales From The Scale, was named one of the top six health books of 2005 by the Wall Street Journal. Her most recent work can be found in the newly published anthology, "Welcome to My World," and at her blog, ejshea.com. In the past she's performed at Funny Ha-Ha, CHIRP's First Time reading series and The Paper Machete.

Because her daughter is still a baby, Erin's favorite hobby is sleeping and then sleeping a little bit more.

Join Tuesday Funk on October 4th at 7:30 p.m. to hear Erin along with the rest of talented readers at Hopleaf's upstairs bar!

Our October 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. In this great reading from September, Naomi Buck Palagi shows us the good that can come from a twice-yearly cigar...

Be sure to join us next week on Tuesday, October 4, 7:30 pm, upstairs at Hopleaf, for five more great readers, including William Shunn, C.P. Chang, Erin J. Shea, Matt Darst, and Liz Baudler.

Our October 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. In this great reading from September, A D Jameson polarized our audience with a hilarious, inventive, and euphonious descent into the language of depravity. Be sure to listen closely for the occasional gasp from a listener...

Be sure to join us next week on Tuesday, October 4, 7:30 pm, upstairs at Hopleaf, for five more great readers, including William Shunn, C.P. Chang, Erin J. Shea, Matt Darst, and Liz Baudler.

Um, should we really be in this graveyard after midnight? Did you hear something groan? What's that horde lurching out of the mist? My God, it's coming, it's Tuesday Funk! Quick, the only safe place to take cover is that upstairs bar on Clark Street! Hurry!

We've laid in a strong cache of supplies, with readings from C.P. Chang, Erin J. Shea, Liz Baudler, zombie fiction by Matt Darst, and a sci-fi baseball story from your Co-Master of Cemeteries William Shunn. And what would an October apocalypse be without dozens of varieties of cold beer to tide you over?

Tuesday Funk convenes Tuesday, October 4, 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 later this fall will feature the likes of John Klima, Hanna Martine, Matt Wood, Patricia Ann McNair, JD Adamski, and many more. You won't want to miss a single tasty morsel.

BRAAAAIIIIINNNNS.

Hey, if you weren't at Hopleaf this week for Tuesday Funk, you missed a good 'un, a real good 'un. 12-point buck good, in fact.

We had Carissa DiGiovanni reading us poems, Noreen Natale telling us amusing stories, and Naomi Buck Palagi on a return visit to read us more poems. After a break for beer and a downer of a 9/11 poem from co-host William Shunn, we had a rip-snorter of an excerpt from Edison A. Blake's recent novel, and a wild selection of prose from A D Jameson (not to mention plenty of audible gasps from the audience). And the elk? The elk was present only in our hearts.

In fine, it was a spirited and challenging kickoff to our fall season, which will continue on October 4th with the work of Erin Shea Smith, Liz Baudler, CP Chang, zombie fiction by Matthew Darst, and a sci-fi baseball story from William Shunn. It's a veritable Oktoberfest of good stuff, so next time take careful aim because you won't want to miss your shot.

Hey, do you smell that? No, not that! The good smell, I mean. It's ... could it be? ... I think that's the crackling smell of raw talent,, and I'm pretty sure it's heading for Tuesday Funk, the monthly Chicago reading series where good writing and good beer mix. This evening, in honor of our 37th big episode, we're bringing you five prime readers for no more than the price of a single ice-cold beer.

Our electric lineup tonight includes AD Jameson, Edison Blake, Noreen Natale, Naomi Buck Palagi, and Carissa DiGiovanni, none of whom you'll want to miss. We'll also throw in one of our patented Poems By Bill for no extra charge. So "like" us today on Facebook, grab a beer from the bar, and we'll all get blown away tonight at Hopleaf.

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.

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!

Carissa DiGiovanni is a third-generation Chicagoan who works in the non-profit sector. Her work has appeared in Sierra Nevada College Review, Journal of Experimental Fiction, SLAB, and Muslim, Wake Up! She graduated from the MFA program in Creative Writing at Indiana University, Bloomington. Currently, she is working on a chapbook.

 Join us Tuesday, September 6, 7:30 p.m., at Hopleaf's upstairs bar to hear Carissa and all of our talented readers!

A D Jameson is the author of two books: the prose collection Amazing Adult Fantasy (Mutable Sound, 2011), in which he tries to come to terms with having been raised on '80s pop culture, and the novel Giant Slugs (Lawrence and Gibson, 2011), an absurdist retelling of the Epic of Gilgamesh. He has taught classes at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Lake Forest College, DePaul University, Facets Multimedia, and StoryStudio Chicago. He is also the nonfiction / reviews editor of the online journal Requited. This fall, he became a PhD candidate at the University of Illinois at Chicago. In his spare time, he contributes to the group blog Big Other.

Join us Tuesday, September 6, 7:30 p.m., at Hopleaf's upstairs bar to hear AD and all of our talented readers!