Is winter really over? In Chicago it's always hard to tell. But whether or not there's still snow on the ground, we at Tuesday Funk will be bringing you a veritable spring runoff of talent in April from the likes of Robert K. Elder, Ian Belknap, J.H. Palmer, Lisa Chalem, and William Shunn. Oh, and the beer, the beer—eighty varieties of it upstairs alone! You'll want to be sure and wear your hip waders.

Tuesday Funk convenes Tuesday, April 5, 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 in future months will feature the likes of Paul McComas, Tim W. Brown, Brooke Wonders, Scott Smith, Bradley P. Beaulieu, Eden M. Robins, Jerry Schwartz, Brenda Cooper, Sarah K. Castle, and more. Our cup runneth over!

---

Please note that this post has been updated to reflect a change in our lineup of readers. Robert K. Elder will appear April 5th in place of Tegan Jones, whom we hope to have back later this spring or summer.

We at Tuesday Funk are thrilled by the literary firepower converging on Chicago over the coming week, as Columbia College presents its 15th annual Story Week. This festival of writers takes place March 13-18, with various free events around town featuring such talents as Irvine Welsh, Audrey Niffenegger, Sam Weller, Jonathan Messinger, Dan Sinker, and Tuesday Funk alumnus Gina Frangello.

Story Week kicks off this Sunday night with a special free 2nd Story reading at Martyr's, 3855 N. Lincoln Ave., featuring Eric May, Lott Hill, Patricia McNair, and April Newman. Doors open 6:30 pm. See you there!

We at Tuesday Funk were delighted last week, delighted, to see our wonderful audience rebound after February's blizzard, once again giving us a standing-room-only event in the upstairs lounge at Hopleaf. What's all the fuss about? Let us fill you in on the sorts of things you're missing out on if you're not coming out to our readings on the first Tuesday of every month.

Maggie Kast took us back to Roaring '20s Chicago with an excerpt from her in-progress novel. Jenny Seay, continuing an unofficial Tuesday Funk leitmotif, invited us inside the world of professional female wrestling in an excerpt from her novel. And anchoring the first half, Essay Fiesta's Keith Ecker shared a poweful personal account of family and acceptance.

After a break to let everyone grab a beer, co-host William Shunn read his poem "Passing." Steven H Silver regaled us with a hilarious example of what we can only call "hard-boiled Cthulhu noir." And the extraordinary Joe Weintraub dazzled us with an extract from his performance piece "An Investigation into the Life of the Screenwriter, Henry Frank."

And there was also beer, plenty of it, brought to you by our friendly bartender Johnny.

So that's what you missed at the last Tuesday Funk. The good news is, we'll be back at Hopleaf on Tuesday, April 5 with an all-new evening of readings from Ian Belknap, J.H. Palmer, Lisa Chalem, and Tegan Jones, plus an all-new memoir excerpt from William Shunn. Mark your calendars now, and we'll see you when spring has sprung.

You've survived the Great Chicago Blizzard of '11. You've survived the mayoral campaign. You've survived the coyotes in Winnemac Park. You've even survived your Oscars party. (Okay, scratch that last one. The Oscars were insufferable.)

The point is, you're a survivor, and it's time to reward your endurance with some good writing and good beer. So trek on over to Hopleaf tonight (Tuesday, March 1st) and join your hosts Sara Ross and William Shunn for the 32nd entry in our theoretically infinite Tuesday Funk reading series.

Our hot lineup tonight will include poetry, fiction, essays, and more from the likes of Joe Weintraub, Keith Ecker, Maggie Kast, Steven H Silver, and Jenny Seay.

That's five great readers for the mere price of a beer. Or maybe two because, hey, 2 to the power of 5 equals 32. That's some real mathematics for your ass.

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.

For the past thirty or so years, Joe Weintraub has been publishing fiction, essays, translations, and poetry in all sorts of literary reviews and periodicals, from The Massachusetts Review to Modern Philology.

He has had one-act plays produced in New York City and Naperville, and has been an Around-the-Coyote and StoneSong poet as well as a featured author in readings at such Chicago landmarks as the Uptown Writers Space, the Red Lion Pub, the Mix, and the Bourgeois Pig. He is pleased to be adding Hopleaf and Tuesday Funk to that list.

Join Tuesday Funk at Hopleaf’s upstairs bar to hear Joe and our talented group of readers on March 1 at 7:30 p.m.

Steven H Silver is a publisher, editor, author, poet, and reviewer ... in his "free time." When he isn't messing around in the literary arts, he raises his two daughters, spends time with his wife, and shores up the foundation of his house so it doesn't collapse under the weight of books—his own personal collection and the warehouse for ISFiC Press.

Steven has been questioned by the police outside the KGB building in Russia, spent several days chauffeuring Buzz Aldrin, and was a Jeopardy! champion. His writing has been features in Zombie Raccoons & Killer Bunnies, Helix, BookPage, Love & Rockets, and The New York Review of Science Fiction, and amazingly enough has been translated into French, Japanese, and Russian.

Join Tuesday Funk at Hopleaf's upstairs bar to hear Steven and our talented group of readers on March 1 at 7:30 p.m.

Keith Ecker is the co-producer of Essay Fiesta, a monthly reading series at the Book Cellar.

He has been invited to read at numerous shows throughout Chicago. He is also a professional freelance writer, specializing in travel, technology and law, and a theater critic for the Chicago Theater Blog. When he's not writing, he's sleeping.

Join Tuesday Funk at Hopleaf's upstairs bar to hear Keith and our talented group of readers on March 1 at 7:30 p.m.

Jenny Seay was in the third grade when she first decided to be a writer. Her pursuit of this dream has never been simple or straightforward, but she continues to follow it anyway, knowing that the journey has taken her to some pretty interesting and unexpected places.

 

Jenny recently completed her MFA in Creative Writing from Columbia College Chicago, and is the founder and Artistic Director of Tamale Hut Cafe Presents: a semi-monthly reading series. Her work has appeared in publications such as TimeOut Chicago, Venus Zine, Punk Planet, Swink, and Hair Trigger. Lately all she can think about outside of work is finishing her novel, a coming-of-age tale involving professional wrestling.

 

Join Tuesday Funk at Hopleaf's upstairs bar to hear Jenny and our talented crew of readers on March 1 at 7:30 p.m.

Maggie Kast grew up with egg nog on Christmas morning and clambakes on the beach in summer. She learned to cook from Fannie Farmer and Julia Child, while marriage broadened her horizons to inlcude Tafelspitz and Salburger Nockerln. Her M.F.A.—Writing from Vermont College was nourished by New England Culinary Institute's whimsical food service: funny eggs for breakfast and ice sculptures at night.

Food figures in her stories in The Sun, Nimrod, Rosebud, Paper Street and others and in her book, The Crack between the Worlds: a dancer's memoir of loss, faith and family, as well as in her blog, ritualandrhubarbpie.blogspot.com. No food in her essays in America, Writer's Chronicle, Image Journal and ACM/Another Chicago Magazine.

She is currently at work on a novel, tentatively titled Starting at the End. An excerpt from the novel, "Just Ducky" is forthcoming in spring 2011 in Crave It: Writers and Artists Do Food, an anthology of visual art and writing from Red Claw Press.

 

Join Tuesday Funk at Hopleaf's upstairs bar to hear Maggie and our talented group of readers on March 1 at 7:30 p.m.  

By the way, Funkers, there's a most excellent literary face-off coming your way tonight at The Hideout, where impressario Ian Belknap regularly hosts Write Club, a bare-knuckle brawl where words are weapons.

Tonight's edition of this long-running tradition features, among the other bouts, Essay Fiesta hosts Keith Ecker and Alyson Lyon squaring off on the subject of BOY vs. GIRL. Who's your money on?

Alyson read for us on January 4th, Keith will appear March 1st, and Ian will drop by our podium April 5th. But to see them all in one exciting evening, be sure to drop by The Hideout tonight at 7:00 pm, 1354 W. Wabansia in Chicago. Suggested donation $8.