Originally from Alaska, Noël Jones is a writer and former member of the 2000 National Poetry Slam Champion Team NYC-Urbana, featured in The New York Times and on NPR's "Infinite Mind," as well as at the South by Southwest Music Festival in Austin, TX. As a performance poet, Jones has toured internationally and was selected to be part of an all-woman tour introducing slam poetry to Denmark. She now lives in Chicago and is focused primarily on fiction, most recently completing the first draft of her novel Vigil at Ragdale. She is very excited to be reading at Tuesday Funk again.

Please join Noël and all our impressive readers on Tuesday, October 7, 2014, upstairs at Hopleaf at 7:30 pm. This 21-and-older event is free.

Lori Rader-Day's debut mystery, The Black Hour (Seventh Street Books, 2014), received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly, Booklist, and Library Journal. Her short stories have appeared in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, Time Out Chicago, Good Housekeeping, and others. Her next book, the mystery Little Pretty Things, is out in 2015. She lives in Chicago.

Please join Lori and all our mysterious readers on Tuesday, October 7, 2014, upstairs at Hopleaf at 7:30 pm. This 21-and-older event is free.

Dmitry Samarov was born in Moscow, USSR in 1970. He immigrated to the US with his family in 1978. He got in trouble in 1st grade for doodling on his Lenin Red Star pin and hasn't stopped doodling since. After a false start at Parsons School of Design in New York, he graduated with a BFA in painting and printmaking from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1993.

Upon graduation he promptly began driving a cab--first in Boston, then after a time, in Chicago--which eventually led to the publication of his illustrated work memoir Hack: Stories from a Chicago Cab by University of Chicago Press in 2011 and the forthcoming Where To? A Hack Memoir from Curbside Splendor.

He has exhibited his work in all manner of bars, coffeeshops, libraries, and even the odd gallery (when he's really hard up ).

He paints and writes in Chicago, Illinois. He no longer drives a cab.

Please join Dmitry and all our Lenin-doodling readers on Tuesday, October 7, 2014, upstairs at Hopleaf at 7:30 pm. This 21-and-older event is free.

Photo courtesy of Paul Germanos

This October, the 74th edition of Tuesday Funk will live up to its tagline with a truly eclectic show, featuring Mark Turcotte, Noel Jones, Paul McComas and Maya Kuper, Lori Rader-Day, and Dmitry Samarov -- plus your regular cohosts, Andrew Huff and Eden Robins.

The reading gets underway on Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2014, promptly at 7:30 pm in the upstairs lounge at Hopleaf, 5148 N. Clark St., Chicago. Doors open at 7:00 pm sharp -- no earlier, unfortunately, but get there as close to 7 as possible to secure a table, as the room fills up quickly. Visit Mark at the bar for an adult beverage, and perhaps stick around afterward for dinner downstairs. Admission is free, but you must be 21 or older.

RSVP on Facebook and bring a friend. While you're at it, become a fan of Tuesday Funk on Facebook so you never miss an invitation to the show. See you in October!

Tuesday Funk co-host Andrew Huff shared his topical haiku at the Sept. 2nd show in spite of a sinus infection.

Little League Champions
Jackie Robinson West are
Chicago heroes.

This rainy summer
has shortened and compressed
construction season.

A blur of motion.
Licensed bonded and ensured
says the speeding van.

Nothing says the end
of summer like a surprise
sinus infection.

Your naked photos
should stay private, not become
public spectacle.

The SS Tuesday Funk disembarked again, and ahoy matey, what a grand voyage it was. That's about all the ship metaphor I can manage.

Holly McDowell pulled us in right away with an excerpt from her YA novel Snake Eyes - about a religious girl who decides to give up the reins of her life to the roll of two dice instead of God. Ryan DiGiorgi had us cracking up with his wacky tale of man's best friend, namely a dog named Roger whose influence extended to the Oval Office. Anne Holub closed out the half with poems about travel and the reasons we should be grateful for Chicago, even though winter is coming.

We caroused, we drank Mark's booze, we waited until the very last minute to return to our seats.

Co-host Andrew Huff told us about current events in 5-7-5, and then Jasmine Davila made her 20 year high school reunion actually sound like a lot of fun... not to mention a meaningful experience. Finally, Scott Smith closed us out with a thoughtful and poignant essay on the Jackie Robinson West victory and its political and social implications.

Listen. You know you should come to Tuesday Funk. What's keeping you? Come to the next one - Tuesday, October 7th, same time, same place. We'll be featuring Mark Turcotte, Paul McComas & Maya Kuper, Lori Rader-Day, Noël Jones, and Dmitry Samarov.

Well, it's official. Summer has dumped us like yesterday's trash. Next up - the bleak, endless winter. But before all that... we can have one last glorious hurrah at Tuesday Funk #73. Don't miss it!

Create your own personal beer pairings with each reader - this month, we're featuring Scott Smith, Ryan DiGiorgi, Anne Holub, Jasmine Davila, and Holly McDowell. And, as always, your faithful co-hosts Andrew Huff and Eden Robins.

Our readings take place at Hopleaf Bar, 5148 N. Clark St. in Chicago. We get started promptly at 7:30 pm in the upstairs lounge. Arrive early if you want a seat--but no earlier than 7:00 pm. Our readings are free, but only those 21 and over will be admitted. No food can be brought in from the restaurant. See you there!

Anne Holub thoroughly dismayed her parents by majoring in English and then following that degree up with an MA and an MFA in poetry. Her day job is pretty boring, but she has a not-so-secret second life as the music editor at Gapers Block (she apologizes for not coming to your band's last show). When she's not baking biscuits or ordering ham off the internet, she can be found on Twitter at @izatchu.

Please join Anne and all our ham-buying readers on Tuesday, September 2, 2014, upstairs at Hopleaf at 7:30 pm. This 21-and-older event is free.

Scott Smith is a digital strategist and an analog opportunist. A child of the Chicago suburbs, he cites his years attending college in Ohio as his most formative, and his years since, living in Chicago's city proper, as his most enriching. In his spare time, Scott enjoys comic books, scotch and the oeuvre of The Faces. He lives on the South Side in Beverly with his wife and daughter. Follow his further exploits on Twitter at @ourmaninchicago.

Please join Scott and all our incredible readers on Tuesday, September 2, 2014, upstairs at Hopleaf at 7:30 pm. This 21-and-older event is free.

Ryan DiGiorgi makes things for the internet. He spends most of his time trying to convince large companies to approve his robot jokes. He also writes fiction, edits comedy videos, and eats at Chipotle.

Please join Ryan and all our robot jokers on Tuesday, September 2, 2014, upstairs at Hopleaf at 7:30 pm. This 21-and-older event is free.