Inhuman Swill

We'd like to offer a giant gusher of gratitude to everyone who helped make last night's episode of Tuesday Funk such a rousing success—readers and audience alike. Our biggest crowd yet (standing-room only!) turned out to see our fantastic five hold forth behind the magic mike. If you were one of the benighted few who failed to make it out, here's what you missed as the evening veered from the poignant to the thrilling to the hilarious.

Jotham Burrello—a return reader who earlier graced us with his essay "Speed of Life"—filled us in on his attempt to build a lean-to on his new Connecticut flower farm. Naomi Buck Palagi read poems from her chapbook silver roof tantrum and newer works too, and made us all salivate for fresh, hot biscuits. Anne Calcagno brought us a heartbreaking chapter from her pitbull of a novel Love Like a Dog.

After a break to let everyone visit our talented bartender John, co-host William Shunn read his poem "Smoke." Fraser Coffeen thrilled us with his account of the first UFC bout between mixed martial artists Ken Shamrock and Tito Ortiz. And inspired by that story, Johanna Stein tossed out what she'd planned to read and regaled us instead with the uproarious story of her throwdown with a purse thief in the ladies' room of a Winnipeg night club.

So that's what you missed at the last Tuesday Funk. The good news is that we'll be back at Hopleaf on Tuesday, January 4 with an all-new slate of readers, including Alyson Lyon, Mare Swallow, Cesar Torres, Suzanne Clores, Valerie Jupe, Christopher Sweet, and another Poem By Bill. Mark your calendars now! You never know quite where our evenings will go, and you won't want to be left out in the cold in the new year.




Crossposted from Tuesday Funk

Take a well-deserved break from the holiday rat-race with Tuesday Funk and our lineup of readers both naughty and nice—JOHANNA STEIN, ANNE CALCAGNO, JOTHAM BURRELLO, FRASER COFFEEN, NAOMI BUCK PALAGI, and possibly a bonus poem from one of our hosts. No mere stocking-stuffers, these! You'll be glad you spent your money here on beer instead of on presents for those whiny nieces and nephews.

Tuesday Funk convenes Tuesday, December 7, 2010, 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. Stay afterward for some great Belgian-style food downstairs!

Please bring your friends and show your support for Tuesday Funk. Help us deliver a record turnout so we can keep staging these readings at Hopleaf, the finest food-and-drink establishment on the north side.

Please also become a fan of Tuesday Funk on Facebook, so you never miss an invitation to our readings. And watch this space over the next dozen days for spotlight posts about our readers.


Crossposted from Tuesday Funk