It’s come to our attention that Knee-Jerk Magazine’s One-Year Anniversary is the same night as our first ever benefit, Stacks! Soul Librarian Dance Party.

This is terribly unfortunate since we’re big fans of Chicago-based publishers, digital publishing, and bringing more print into the world. Fortunately, the endlessly creative folks over at Artifice Magazine (see our previous Artifice blog entry here) have come up with a solution:

1) Preorder your Stacks! ticket now ($7 in advance). (At Brown Paper Tickets)

2) Go to the Knee-Jerk party first ($5 suggested donation) & drink free beer.

3) Bike to Stacks!

4) Put on your sexy librarian outfit in the alley.

5) Dance till 4 am.

So what’s Knee-Jerk up to on Friday?

Come celebrate Knee-Jerk’s first year of existence! And while you’re at it, help raise a little dough for its soon-to-be-released debut print issue: Readings by Knee-Jerk authors Billy Lombardo, Zoe Zolbrod & Michael Czyzniejewski. Free beer. Raffles. A chance to win dinner and a movie with Knee-Jerk’s editors. More free beer! Music. And maybe, just maybe, the long-awaited push-up contest between Steve, Jon and Casey.

8:00pm - 11:00pm
Fill-in-the-Blank Gallery
5038 N Lincoln Ave
Suggested Donation: $5 RSVP on Facebook

And us?

Chicago Underground Library is throwing a Soul Librarian Dance Party at Late Bar with DJs John Ciba (East of Edens Soul Express), Lady J (The Merge), MLE (The Merge) and JJ (Windy City Soul Club). Prizes for best ’60s/soul/mod librarian style! Bonus points for braving tweed in August! Photobooth by Glitter Guts!

9:00pm - Midnight
Late Bar
3534 West Belmont Avenue
Chicago, IL
Advance tickets $7, $10 at the door RSVP on Facebook

You can do both! We have the utmost faith in your partying abilities.

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Books and booze appear to go together. And now in a potent triumvirate of power: Books and Booze, meet Benefit. And all is well with the world.

The Hideout is holding a benefit for Cook County’s Juvenile Temporary Detention Center this Friday at 9pm. And in case you haven’t heard, we also have our 1st fundraising event with loquacious libation at the Late Bar also this Friday @ 9pm, in case you’re not liquored up enough or wanna’ shake it all off with some booty bumpin’: Stacks! Soul Librarian Dance Party to Benefit Chicago Underground Library.

But first:

*Friends with Benefits*

Buy books for kids! Hideout show to benefit book drive at the Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center

* *

In order to celebrate the coming school year, enjoy the rest of our summer, and celebrate the passions of youth, the Hideout is hosting Friends with Benefits to buy books for the kids of JTDC. MICHAEL COLUMBIA headlines with their super-hybrid experimental prog pop; VERMA performs powerful psychedelic rock, and RUNNING will electrify your summer night. Prizes will be raffled, fortunes told, and as always, the Hideout offers fine spirits and socializing on the patio. CHANDO SOUND SYSTEM DJs a righteous Dance Party following the bands.

The Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center (JTDC) is the country’s largest youth detention facility, housing up to 500 children ages 10-17 from Chicago’s poorest and most underserved neighborhoods. JTDC is in the midst of a renewed effort to provide quality programming and care to these residents, including creative arts and expression. Reading programs are very popular, with kids connecting to books and stories in ways only an adolescent can.

Organized through Required Reading, an ongoing project to support reading programs at the JTDC, events are hosted periodically throughout Chicago designed to engage the artistic community in serving Chicago’s youth.

Friday, August 27, 2010

9:00pm

The Hideout
1354 W. Wabansia
Chicago, IL 60622

MICHAEL COLUMBIA (http://www.myspace.com/michaelcolumbia)
VERMA (http://www.myspace.com/vermaband)
RUNNING (http://running9586443.tripod.com/mainpage01/)

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The Chicago Underground Library is hosting the first World Listening Day this Sunday, July 18. Activities include a soundwalk that happens inside the building and around the neighborhood, and a listening party, with field recordings of nature sounds and urban sounds being played. This event is being organized by the World Listening Project, in partnership with the Midwest Society for Acoustic Ecology.

The purposes of World Listening Day are:

Get more details…

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Hello all! Saturday is a busy day and there is much to do. On top of the Son of Science of Obscurity event, we will also be present at the Chicago Folk and Roots Festival. Stop by our table, say hi and check-out our pop-up library!

And if you have time, The Chicago DeskSet are having their next books ‘n’ booze fundraising event:

Come hang out at the next Chicago Deskset event to raise funds for 826 Chicago!

826 Chicago is a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting students ages 6 to 18 with their creative and expository writing skills, and to helping teachers inspire their students to write.

Please bring $5 (or more!) to donate to the charity. You can make personal checks out to “826CHI” or bring cash! We have a private room (Siebel Hall) with our own cash bar and food can be ordered from the menu!

Also if you have emailed us about volunteering for a committee we will try to get the groups together at some point during the event. And as always, we will have some sort of raffle in exchange for your donations to 826 Chicago.

So come have fun, drink local beer and raise funds for a great local charity! We hope to see you there!

When: Saturday, July 10, 2010, 3-5 pm

Where: Goose Island Brewpub, 1800 North Clybourn Avenue

Facebook page here: Chicago DeskSet — 826 Chicago Fundraiser

* Please note, we will not have open hours at the Chicago Underground Library’s space at 621 W. Belmont Ave, this Saturday, the 10th of July.

(more…)

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Chicago Underground Library presents
Son of Science of Obscurity!
Chicago’s celebration of literary experiments returns for a second year!
Saturday, July 10, 7pm-10pm
Jupiter Outpost
1139 W. Fulton Market, Chicago, IL 60607

Free, all ages

The Chicago Underground Library celebrates the return of the “Science of Obscurity,” our annual lead up event to the Printers’ Ball featuring new, unpublished, and in-progress works presented as science fair experiments. The night will also feature a public “book launch” via catapult, scientist speed dating, and digital readings to warm your hardened techie heart. Left and right brains come together, print <3s digital, everyone wins when the laws of physics and literature collide.

More details about the event following…

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Come to the Chicago Deskset’s next event! This fundraiser will benefit a local organization called Open Books.

Please bring $5 (or more!) to donate to the charity. You can make personal checks out to Open Books or just bring cash. We will also be recruiting people for Graphic design, Charity liaisons and Professional development coordinators. Or just stop on by to have a good time!

We hope to see you all there and tell your friends! All are invited!

Facebook events page: Chicago Deskset - Open Books Fundraiser
Visit us at the Chicago DeskSet Website

-  The Chicago Deskset

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Spending time with friends and colleagues is always valuable. Using that time to nurture a common discourse is an imminently rewarding way to spend time. Teasing out ideas and developing them together builds relationships that otherwise might not exist. In the last few months, spending time with other librarians and chatting about common values and ideals has given birth to new projects. As a result, we bring you the Chicago DeskSet.

The Chicago DeskSet is a group of bibliophiles, librarians, archivists, information professionals, and like-minded folks. We are forward-looking librarians who have realized the need to focus on our local community. Much like the The Chicago Underground Library, we recognize that the most valuable assets lie close to home. Rather than collecting materials, we hope to collect social capital to leverage change close by. As the information landscape gets bigger, our ability to make a difference increases by maintaining a local focus and supporting and developing projects in our immediate community.

Our goal is to create an environment in which collective intelligence can thrive through social events and giving something back to our community. We aim to do this by supporting charities near and dear to our hearts. By giving locally, we strive to enact a better organized, localized information community. These efforts will help us to share our commitment to civic librarianship (and citizenship) through developmental strategies that empower and reinforce the library mission of education for a democratic society.

The Chicago DeskSet is where social responsibility hits the streets of Chicago, librarian-style. Please take a moment to show your interest and support for a truly progressive and socially responsible group in your own backyard.

The Chicago DeskSet was founded in 2010 to connect Chicagoland librarians by Adam Girard, Leah White and Anthony Molaro who believe that united we can make the profession more successful.

You are invited to our first event!

About The Event:
Come one, come all and kick off National Library Week with the very first meeting of the Chicago DeskSet! We are getting together to meet up, hang out and hold a book drive for incarcerated teens in the Chicago area. The Juvenile Temporary Detention Center at Ogden and Damen is looking for age appropriate paperback donations.
(examples: Harry Potter books, Twilight Series, Percy Jackson books, etc.)

Where:
The Grafton Pub and Grill - 4530 North Lincoln Avenue, Chicago
(Western stop, Brown Line; there is also street parking and a paid lot across the street)

When:
April 10th, 2010 @ 3:00pm-5:00pm

What to bring:
Please bring one (or more!) age appropriate paperback book(s) and ideas about future charities/fundraisers you would like to support.

Who is invited:
If you are interested in our mission, then you are welcome to be a part, and help shape this group.

We’ll also be raffling off a gift certificate to Unabridged Bookstore, mingling and just getting together to decide where this group will go next!

Please RSVP if you plan on attending. Feel free to RSVP via Facebook or email. Also, please note that The Grafton has asked us to have tables by table tabs. So be prepared with either cash or be willing to split tabs! If you are interested in helping out or you just have questions, shoot us an email at: chicagodeskset@gmail.com

We look forward to meeting everyone!

—  The DeskSet Crew

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In preparation for the Chicago Underground Library’s grand opening in our new space, Mike Birnbaum and Dave Rader sit down with members of VAD, The Data and the Lore and Chicago Phonography. The members of Chicago Phonography also touched a bit on another audio collective that they are part of, the World Listening Project. More on the World Listening Project, later!

To listen to the interview:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

OR

Subscribe to it in iTunes (Please leave us a rating and review on iTunes.)

Many thanks to everyone who took part in the interviews. We’re looking forward to the sounds you all will be sculpting out in our new audio space.

Hope to see everyone at the Loud Library event and be sure to check out the websites below for future shows if you like what you hear.

VAD Synths, scathing guitar riffs, and a cello, erupting in a fury of vocal feats and posturing, not heard of since the days of yore. They are loud, purposefully obnoxious (in a good way) and totally charming.

The Data and the Lore Thundering disco beats in tandem with a subversive approach to song writing makes TDATL unique, if not only for their idiosyncratic approach to “post-punk” music. A mixture of electro-clash sensibilities and raw, and sometime recondite, emotion, fastidiously rolfed and repeatedly molested by dubious improvisational tactics.

Chicago Phonography broadcast unprocessed local Chicago field recordings as an ensemble in a context of live improvisation

-  Mike Birnbaum and Margaret Heller (the Castmaster and his AV girl assistant)

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Who: You and the Chicago Underground Library
What: Loud Library Grand Opening
Where: 621 West Belmont Avenue, 2nd floor
When: Thursday, February 25^th, 7-10 pm
How: Loudly
Why: Because it’s the winter time and you need to shake those bones out

Did you hear about our blurb in the New York Times? What about our mention in TimeOut Chicago? We’re famous. You should check them both out: The Pulse: Looks Like a Library, but No Best Sellers and Moving on Up.

Yes, we are establishing our toehold in the world of renown and infamy (never know what ruckus those librarians will bring on with their free-thinking ways). And to continue on our trajectory of world domination and introduce you to the acoustics of our new location, we are having our Loud Library Grand Opening party on Thursday, February the 25^th, 7-10 pm at 621 W Belmont, 2^nd floor.

Loud Library, because not only do we not care for best sellers, we’ll toss aside those pesky rules forbidding you to speak above a whisper. It’s the celebration of self and uniqueness, so we say let your loud and proud, colorfully assembled self shine. You might even win the prize for our Loud Outfit contest; to be decided by dB (decibel) meter, so bring your friends and get them to shout, stomp their feet, shake their music maker and cheer you on to your grand prize.

And did we mention that we plan to be loud. We have The Data and the Lore and VAD performing for us that evening. And less loud but with just as much impact, Chicago Phonography bring their soundscapes, making you more aware of the tingly environment about you. Charlie Universe is MCing and Rachel Shine, Kaitlin Kruse and Ted Tremper will keep you pumped up throughout the event with their soaring Simul-Reads.

The Chicago Underground Library is a new model for open, location-specific archiving of independent and small press media and this is just the first of many creative collaborations that we have planned for the year. Stay tuned in for more and do join us on February the 25^th and help us to ring in a new year of innovative programming - bridging various artistic disciplines - with a clash, a bang, and a kazoo or two.

-  Thùy

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Ernest J. Ramon

When Ernest J. Ramon tried to hang his piece up, it promptly fell down. Perhaps, the creative content was more than the pushpins could carry the weight of? Nevertheless, the piece sold for $25 within 10 minutes, so the burden of figuring out a hanging system was on the buyer, and the space was now ready for the next artist to pin up their work. That was the way it went at the Atomic Sketch Event. Pieces go up, come down and another would take its place as the artists whipped out their images.

Assembled salon-style, with no hierarchy, once a space on one of the two walls becomes available, it’s an equal opportunity for any and all to present their work. The event is a basic, low maintenance set-up - utilizing pushpin and masking tape technology - and it works. I was informed by one of the organizers that this was a low turn-out. Seemed a pretty impressive turn-out to me. At times, I would have to push my way through the crowd.

The fun part is the privilege of peeking into an artist’s space, of watching someone else ply their craft. People were huddled in corners, on tables and perched pads on their laps with tools in hand.

And then there were the featured artists, people on the “panel” who got their own table space and light to create their works by. Along with Ernest J. Ramon, the rest were:

Joey Potts

Revise CMW

Nex

Scott Fricke

Blütt

Brent Houston

And a secret ingredient to the success of the show? Alcohol. It lubricates the creative juices and possibly loosens cash from people’s wallets. Plus it gave people a reason to hang around for awhile, chatting with their friends, and even talk to the artists.

But truthfully, the prices on many of the pieces were a steal, priced as low as $5. Some of the artists there could sell their work for many times the paltry Lincoln that you are handing over in exchange for art. And for the holidays, why not buy grandpa a pretty picture that will expand his horizons. Give him something to stare at in wonder.

Atomic Sketch Events occur once a month at Evil Olive (or evilOlive for palindromic sakes). To find out when you can attend the next event, check out Atomic Sketch Event for the date and time of future live art events. Please do keep in mind that the space can get packed and the warm crush of the crowd can make the environment quite toasty. Be prepared to peel off your layers of clothing and tote your coat. And be sure to bring cash so you can buy a piece of art and support your local artists. Or haul in your own art supplies, settle down into a comfortable corner and create art.

Thùy

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