Tuesday Funk : Page 109
          

At our recent January 3rd reading, our guest Lawrence Santoro shared with us this evocative and shocking recipe for "Root Soup, Winter Soup." You may, in fact, be able to hear the gasps from our audience...

And if you enjoyed that, please join us for our next event on Tuesday, February 7, 2012, when we'll bring you great readings from Julia Borcherts, Lauryn Allison Lewis, Margie Skelly, Dustin Monk, and Lillian Huang Cummins.

January debriefing

          

Last night was the Rapture and most of us missed it. - click to view - mousewheel to zoom
If you were part of our standing-room crowd at Tuesday Funk this past January 3rd, you probably had not just your socks but your shoes blown off too. It was as strong an evening of readers as we've had at Hopleaf, and we've had some strong ones. (We've also ordered a few strong ones from Johnny at the bar, but that's a different, if simultaneous, story.)

The night started out with a bang as Christopher Sweet took us back to his college days and painted us a funny and discomfiting portrait of "El Amor Brujo." Holly McDowell explored the frustrations of being an ambitious girl in the France of yesteryear, with an excerpt from her novel Farah Minor. And co-host William Shunn showed that he's a "Stand Up" guy with a story about a most unusual comedy performance.

After a break for beer and a poem about Bill's cousin the burglar, we welcomed Lawrence Santoro to the microphone to lead us through a most unsettling recipe for "Root Soup, Winter Soup." Then Stephen Markley finished out the evening by attempting to explain to us (and to his idiot friends) what goes into a book about the process of publishing that book.

But don't worry if you weren't there! We'll be posting video of the evening's performances over the coming days and weeks, so watch this space. And of course Tuesday Funk will be back February 7th with work from Julia Borcherts, Lauryn Allison Lewis, Margie Skelly, Dustin Monk, and Lillian Huang Cummins. Be sure to be there, and strap your shoes on tight.

          

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Come in out of the cold! Tuesday Funk has an amazing show full of warmth and cheer all laid out for its 41st big episode—and maybe a few laughs and chills on tap, too, not to mention all that great Hopleaf beer.

Our cozy yet crackling lineup tonight includes Stephen Markley, Lawrence Santoro, Holly McDowell, Christopher Sweet, and William Shunn, not to mention, if you're lucky, one of our patented bonus Poems By Bill. So "like" us today on Facebook, arrive early, grab one of dozens of varieties of beer from the bar, and get set for a evening of entertainment that will warm the cockles of your heart and make you glad to be alive in 2012.

Start your new year right with Tuesday Funk. Resolve to be there!

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.

          

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Hey, Chicago writers! Did you start the new year with a resolution to get going on that novel of yours, or on that major article? Do you need a quiet place to write as part of your freelance work, or do you just need to get out of the house to do some writing in the early morning or late at night? The Writers Workspace is here to help!

The Writers Workspace is your writing space, a clean, quiet place where you can get your work done in peace, away from distractions and all those little daily chores that conspire to keep you away from your keyboard. It's also a supportive community of writers who are always willing to chat about the challenges of the writing life over a hot cup of coffee in the kitchen or lounge.

Conveniently located on Broadway near the Bryn Mawr stop on the Red Line, The Writers Workspace is a place for full-time professional writers and for dedicated part-time writers alike. For a reasonable monthly or annual fee, you get access to your private writing paradise when you need it. Workspace members

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include Alex Shakar, Terra Brockmann, Don Seiden, Maggie Kast, Zoe Zolbrod, Marianna Swallow, William Shunn, and many of the readers you've seen featured behind the Tuesday Funk microphone at Hopleaf.

Add your name to this distinguished membership roster and kick-start your writing ambitions for the year! The Writers Workspace is located at 5443 N. Broadway, next door to Graham Cracker Comics. You can schedule a tour and a complimentary work visit by calling 773-907-0336, or by dropping by the website at www.writersworkspace.com. Do it!

The Writers Workspace. Community when you want it—peace and quiet when you need it.

Meet Our Readers: William Shunn

          

William Shunn and the Curse of the Second Pyramid - click to view - mousewheel to zoom

You know William Shunn as a co-host of Tuesday Funk, the guy who does those wacky poems every month. But he's also a blogger, a podcaster, a programmer, a designer, an inventor, a collector, a cabinetmaker, a bowler, a moviegoer, a foodie, a traveler, a tinkerer, a priest, an atheist, a curmudgeon, a felon, a photographer, a chauffeur, a skeptic, a rube, a ruffian, a layabout, a lurker, a dilettante, a poseur, a pundit, a primate, an ancestor, an earthling, an alien, a canvas, a convenience, an improvisation, an illusion, and occasionally a writer.

His latest project is a young-adult science fiction novel which currently goes by the name Waking Vishnu, and which you can read a very brief snippet from here. He also wishes you would bug him more about going to the gym.

Please join us to hear Bill read an actual short story on Tuesday, January 3, 2012, at 7:30 pm in Hopleaf's upstairs bar, together with our great lineup of Stephen Markley, Lawrence Santoro, Holly McDowell, and Christopher Sweet!

Meet Our Readers: Holly McDowell

          

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Holly McDowell was already a writer, an artist, a computer geek and a day trader before she moved to Chicago three months ago. Now, she's also a drinker of glögg, a frequenter of Hopleaf and, most importantly, a collector of boots and winter coats. Her serialized novel series, King Solomon's Wives, begins in 2012. Look for the first episode from Amazon.com and Coliloquy, on e-devices everywhere.

Hear Holly read on Tuesday, January 3, 2012, at 7:30 p.m. at Hopleaf's upstairs bar!

Meet Our Readers: Lawrence Santoro

          

Award-winning writer and narrator, Lawrence Santoro began writing dark tales at age five.

In 2001 his novella "God Screamed and Screamed, Then I Ate Him" was nominated for a Bram Stoker Award.  In 2002, his adaptation and audio production of Gene Wolfe's "The Tree Is My Hat," was also Stoker nominated.

In 2003, his Stoker-recommended "Catching" received Honorable Mention in Ellen Datlow's 17th Annual "Year's Best Fantasy and Horror" anthology.  In 2004, "So Many Tiny Mouths" was cited in the anthology's 18th edition.  In the 20th, his novella, "At Angels Sixteen," from the anthology A DARK AND DEADLY VALLEY, was similarly honored.

Larry's first novel, "Just North of Nowhere," was published in 2007.  A collection of his short fiction, DRINK FOR THE THIRST TO COME, was published in 2011.

He lives in Chicago and is working on two new novels, "Griffon and the Sky Warriors," and "A Mississippi Traveler, or Sam Clemens Tries the Water"

Stop by Larry's blog, At Home in Bluffton at: http://blufftoninthedriftless.blogspot.com/ and his audio website, Santoro Reads, at: http://www.santororeads.com/Home.html

You can friend him at: http://www.facebook.com/lawrence.santoro

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Join Tuesday Funk on January 3, 2012, at 7:30 p.m. at Hopleaf's upstairs bar to hear Larry read! 

          

This past December 6th, Patricia Ann McNair graced our podium to bring us this "Deer Story" from her new collection The Temple of Air, and it went a little like this...

If you liked that, please don't miss our next event which takes place Tuesday, January 3, 2012, and includes readings from Stephen Markley, Lawrence Santoro, Holly McDowell, Christopher Sweet, and William Shunn!

          

Attention, aspiring writers! We interrupt this Christmas Eve to bring you an important message about skulls and spines.

No, it's not The Nightmare Before Christmas. It's the Skull & Spine Workshop, taught by two-time Tuesday Funk reader Suzanne Clores. It takes place in Evanston on Sunday evenings from January 8th to February 12th, and this is what it's all about:

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Bring an idea. We'll give it some bones.

Six sessions will be offered on Sunday evenings in Evanston, with specific focus on the first chapter of your novel/memoir and a working outline. Study of first chapters by Jonathan Franzen, Jennifer Egan, Joan Didion, Donna Tartt, Juno Diaz, Martin Amis and Patti Smith will serve as discussion topics before we workshop each other's chapters-in-progress. This is a fast moving workshop with aggressive deadlines.

Prior to each class, participants will present one or several sequential scenes belonging to the first chapter for their work in progress. Classes will begin with a 'round the circle check in on writing process and impressions of the assigned readings. Workshopping each other's submissions will be the bulk of the workshop, with attention to character, action, setting, and possible next steps.

Attendance is limited to five. Each writer will receive weekly written feedback on their scenes and revisions by all participants. The last two sessions will be devoted to crafting a working outline based on methods determined by discussion and exercises. By the end of the workshop, you should have a functioning first chapter and outline to guide you.

The cost is $225 for the full run of six sessions. Sign-up is on a first-come-first-served basis.

Suzanne Clores is the author of Memoirs of a Spiritual Outsider. She blogs for Gaiam and The Nervous Breakdown, has taught in the MA/MFA program at Northwestern University, and is currently revising her debut novel. Contact Suzanne about participating at suzanne@suzanneclores.com.

And here's a handy PDF flyer you can download and print for more info. Write on!

Meet Our Readers: Christopher Sweet

          

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Christopher Sweet has been writing for more than the requisite 10,000 hours. "Yet still no word from Publisher's Clearinghouse," as the New Yorker cartoon caption read, oh, about ten years ago, I'd say.

He enjoys literary genres where the writer talks about himself in the third person. It reminds him of growing up in Kansas City, where his parents would frequently reference him as if he were absent, though he were standing between them. For example:

Father: Has he washed his hands for dinner?

Me: Who? What are you talking about?

Mother: I don't know, you'll have to ask him yourself.

Father: He ought to know what's expected of him.

Me: Hello, Dad, Mom! I'm here.

Mother: I'm sure I have no idea what he thinks he knows...

His favorite comedic rant is from the British television sitcom Coupling, the episode where the Steve goes shopping with Susan for furniture, and ends up losing his composure over cushions.

Not to fear, Chris won't rant for you at Tuesday Funk. As Steve says, "I can't have opinions in a place like this!"

Instead, Chris will read you a story about his misspent youth. He promises "something for everyone."

When not on stage reading, the writer enjoys bicycling, drinking coffee, and "jotting down notes," while waiting for Quinn The Eskimo to get here. Subtext: Godot.

Time's a whirligig.

Of the four elements, fire, earth, air, and water, he most enjoys "hey, ho, the wind and the rain," wild words and wet cheeks, laughter and tears, comedy and the other thing.

But that's all one...

Join Tuesday Funk on January 3, 2012, at 7:30 p.m. at Hopleaf's upstairs bar to hear Chris read!

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