2017 is a mystery, but at least 2016 is history, amirite? Tuesday Funk #101 ushered in the new year with style, PER USUAL. Kelly Swails started us off with the first chapter of her YA novel, This May Go on Your Permanent Record, about a school for world domination, followed by a series of lyrical and moving poems by another Tuesday Funk veteran, Cameron McGill. Co-host Andrew Huff promised, in haiku form, to avoid 2017 haikus about T-R-U-M-P, and then Amy Sumpter had us roaring with her story about a rogue opossum and other brushes with the strangeness of adulthood.

Sal expertly refilled our boozes, and then we sat back down.

Co-host Eden Robins read a microessay about losing and then finding her voice, and then Dmitry Samarov shared an excerpt from his memoir about art-making and influential teachers. Finally, James Gordon finished off the night with a story about a Labor Day party gone horribly, horribly wrong.

And we'll be right back here next month for Episode #102 of Tuesday Funk on Tuesday, February 7th, featuring Deborah Siegel, Leonard Zawadski, Jenn Sodini, Molly Dumbleton, and Keidra Chaney!

You know one of your New Year's Resolutions is to be more cultured, so get that one out of the way by coming to Episode #101 of Tuesday Funk! We've got James Gordon, Kelly Swails, Dmitry Samarov, Amy Sumpter, and Cameron McGill to motivate you to greatness in 2017. And of course, your faithful co-hosts remain 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!

James Gordon is an international award winning author and poet from the South Side of Chicago. He is the Reigning Moth Grand Slam Champion and Snubfest Storytelling Champion. James can be found at www.iblowyourmind.net and on Twitter at gr8estpoetalive.

Please join James and our other amazing readers on Tuesday, January 3, 2017 in the upstairs bar at Hopleaf. Doors open at 7pm, and the show starts at 7:30. It's free, and 21-and-over. RSVP on Facebook.

Kelly Swails is an author, editor, and all around fun gal. When she isn't wrangling words, she hangs out with her husband and friends, watches geeky TV shows, plays board games, and knits a blanket that she swears will be done someday. Some know her as a crazy cat lady, but since the ratio of humans to cats in her household is well below the requirement, she doesn't qualify. You can learn more about her work at kellyswails.com.

Please join Kelly and our other amazing readers on Tuesday, January 3, 2017 in the upstairs bar at Hopleaf. Doors open at 7pm, and the show starts at 7:30. It's free, and 21-and-over. RSVP on Facebook.

Amy Sumpter has been doing comedy in Chicago for 15 years. When she isn't high kicking while doing Stand Up, she is high kicking as MCAmy, in the all female Beastie Boys Tribute band, She's Crafty.

Please join Amy and our other amazing readers on Tuesday, January 3, 2017 in the upstairs bar at Hopleaf. Doors open at 7pm, and the show starts at 7:30. It's free, and 21-and-over. RSVP on Facebook.

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 (University of Chicago Press, 2011) and Where To? A Hack Memoir (Curbside Splendor, 2014). 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 our other amazing readers on Tuesday, January 3, 2017 in the upstairs bar at Hopleaf. Doors open at 7pm, and the show starts at 7:30. It's free, and 21-and-over. RSVP on Facebook.

Cameron McGill is a second-year MFA candidate in poetry at the University of Idaho and the poetry editor of the journal Fugue. He is originally from Champaign, IL, though he spent many years working as a musician in Chicago. He received his BA in Political Science from the University of Illinois. His poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Poetry East, Measure, Split-Lip, Aesthetica and Grist, where his work was recently selected as runner-up in the 2016 ProForma contest.

Please join Cameron and our other amazing readers on Tuesday, January 3, 2017 in the upstairs bar at Hopleaf. Doors open at 7pm, and the show starts at 7:30. It's free, and 21-and-over. RSVP on Facebook.

Many people make new year's resolutions, and a popular one in Chicago is to not let the frigid winter weather keep them indoors. If that's you, we've got a sure-fire way to keep that resolution for at least the first week: Come to Tuesday Funk! We'll be back in the upstairs bar at Hopleaf on Tuesday, Jan. 3 with readings by Kelly Swails, Dmitry Samarov, Cameron McGill, Amy Sumpter and James "GPA" Gordon. Fiction, non-fiction, poetry and storytelling all in one live lit show? Only at Tuesday Funk!

Doors open at 7pm -- no earlier, please -- and the show starts at 7:30 sharp. So get there early to grab a seat, but not too early. As always, admission is free, but you must be 21 or older. And come early or stay late after for dinner or snacks downstairs.

Please RSVP on Facebook, and bring a friend. And don't forget to become a fan so you never miss an invitation to one of our readings. Sponsored by the Chicago Review of Books.

The December 6 edition of Tuesday Funk found us celebrating 100 episodes of the show at the cusp of a new political era and the edge of winter weather. Andrew Huff's haiku reflected that.

It's getting cold out.
Snow blankets the city streets.
Holidays are here.

May 2016
go down in history as
the end of fake news.

Now, post election,
Cubs winning the World Series
seems so long ago.

On November 8,
we learned a new scary term:
president elect.

Did you watch West World?
Such violent means to such
violent ends.

Wow, what an unbelievable turnout for our 100th birthday! The World Series Champion Chicago Cubs (still love saying that) would be green with envy. To celebrate this auspicious occasion, we asked all five former co-hosts to return to the stage and delight us with their wit and prose. Connor Coyne started off the evening with a history of Tuesday Funk and an excerpt from a book he described as Les Miserables in Flint, Michigan. Hallie Paladino followed with a funny, cringe-worthy, and heartfelt story of her adolescence in an East Coast prep school. Co-host Andrew Huff read his signature haiku (ripped from the headlines!), and Reinhardt Suarez read a series of short-shorts before serenading us with an original song seeking to understand who IS Alex Trebek?

We all returned our gaping maws to their proper position, and drank some beer, courtesy of Sal behind the bar.

Co-host Eden Robins read a micro-essay about the nature of truth, and then Sara Ross Witt charmed us in the second half with an excerpt from her YA novel about a young witch, and William Shunn finished off the night with an excerpt from his first published short story (from 25 years ago) that chilled us with its uncanny political prescience.

It was quite an event, and if you weren't there, you wish you were. And you can be! Join us on Tuesday, January 3 for another excellent show, featuring James Gordon (aka G.P.A.), Dmitry Samarov, Cameron McGill, Amy Sumpter, and Kelly Swails!