Tuesday Funk is eternally grateful to Hopleaf Bar for giving us such an atmospheric and welcoming home every month. In return, we'd like to congratulate Michael Roper not just on Hopleaf's recent beautiful expansion, but also on its appearance earlier this month on Food Network's Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives with Guy Fieri. But be careful, Michael! We sense an up-and-coming TV star in chef Ben Sheagren!
We just hope we'll still be able to get a seat!
Hey, Funkers! There's a bounteous harvest of literary goodness coming in August, with the 47th big episode of Tuesday Funk. We'll bring you great readings from Holly McDowell, Scott Smith, Sara Ross Witt, Jesse Jordan, and Vacation on the Island of Ex-Boyfriends author Stacy Bierlein! You'll also get a new Poem By Bill, not to mention your pick of dozens of varieties of cold beer at the bar.
The evening gets underway with your co-hosts Sara Ross Witt and William Shunn on Tuesday, August 7th, 2012, 7:30 pm, in the upstairs lounge at the newly expanded and renovated Hopleaf, 5148 N. Clark St., Chicago. Arrive early for a seat, and grab a beer from Mark 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 late after 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 one of our readings. Same Funk time, same Funk channel!
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!
Our latest edition of Tuesday Funk at Hopleaf was a real humdinger. Were our audience members trying to hold onto their dinners because they were laughing so hard, or was there some other reason? If you weren't there, I'm afraid, you may never know.
The memorable evening started out strong with fiction from Jennifer Schaefer, poems from Kristin Lueke, and a sweet, affecting memoir from Dion Walton.
But after a break for beer and a biking poem by Bill—well, that's where the evening took a turn for the indelible. Seriously, we don't think anyone who heard it will ever forget the personal essay by Samantha Irby that brought the house down. We wish, seriously, that we could show it all to you, and not just the excerpt you'll find below, but it was so scorchingly vile that it must have broken our camera, because somehow the audio track became corrupted. We could only salvage the last few lines from Sam's reading, but we think you'll find that it conveys the, er, flavor of the piece quite well.
No one could possibly have followed that reading, but somehow Alex Shakar managed it, with an engrossing chapter from his L.A. Times Book Prize-winning novel Luminarium. We look forward to sharing that video with you soon.
So that's it—a Tuesday Funk for the ages. But if you missed it, don't fret. After a break in July, we'll be back on August 7th with our guests Stacy Bierlein, Jesse Jordan, Holly McDowell, Scott Smith, and our own Sara Ross Witt. Be sure to join us! The airsickness bags will be optional.
It so happens that our September reading will take place Tuesday, September 4th, 2012, the day after Worldcon ends. We plan to put on an evening of great science fiction readings that night—a veritable Science Fiction Spectacular—with a group of terrific science fiction and fantasy writers we wouldn't normally be able to bring together in Chicago.
We're very pleased to announce our stellar September 4th lineup of Daryl Gregory, Rae Carson, Rajan Khanna, Adam Rakunas, and Gregory A. Wilson! We look forward to telling you much more about these amazing writers as the convention draws closer.
And whether you're a science fiction fan or just a lover of great writing, mark September 4th on your calendar. It's going to be a terrific evening!
This stellar evening will feature Alex Shakar (author of the L.A. Times Book Prize-winning novel Luminarium), not to mention Samantha Irby, Dion Walton, Kristin Lueke, Jennifer Schaefer, and one of our patented Poems By Bill.
So "like" us today on Facebook, grab one of dozens of varieties of beer from the bar, and get set for an evening of entertaining and provocative live literature with your hosts Sara Ross Witt and William Shunn. You'll be glad you did.
Hopleaf Bar 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 if you want 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.
Kristin Lueke once lived in Southern California for 17 years in a row, if you can believe it. Her poems have been published in NAP, Untoward Magazine, the Acentos Review, and elsewhere. Her first chapbook, (in)Different Math, is forthcoming this summer from Dancing Girl Press.
She sometimes reads not-poetry at the sometimes monthly but mostly sporadic reading series Ray's. No matter what she tells you, she knows nothing about science.
His novel The Savage Girl was a New York Times Notable Book. His story collection City in Love won the FC2 National Fiction Competition.
A Brooklyn native, he now lives in Chicago.
