Re-Thinking Soup @ Hull House

UIC hosts Re-Thinking Soup, a free weekly lunch where participants eat soup cooked from ingredients found at Hull House's urban gardens and chat about an assortment of topics. Event runs today from noon-1:30p at Hull House, 800 South Halsted.

Flautist Claire Chase @ Velvet Lounge

International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE) flautist and Music Director Claire Chase will perform a selection of works from her debut CD, Aliento, at the Velvet Lounge (67 E. Cermak) tonight at 8:30. More information at Transmission.

The Moth StorySLAM @ Martyr's

The Moth is back! The thirteen-year-old New York based storytelling institution is coming to the Windy City for a StorySLAM, and your story could be the winner! Come prepared with a five-minute story to be performed without notes, and drop your name into a hat. Ten lucky people will have their names called out loud and have a chance at storytelling greatness onstage at Martyr's, 3855 N. Lincoln Avenue.

StorySLAMS are held once a week in New York and twice a month in L.A. to sold out crowds. Tonight's SLAM will focus on the theme of "firsts", so get your story down on paper, and rehearse it out loud until you can tell it to a roomful of people without looking at your notes.

Tickets are $7, doors open at 7:30pm, storytelling begins at 8pm. Information on future StorySLAMS here.

Augusten Burroughs @ Music Box

Augusten Burroughs is back with another books of essays, this time focusing on Christmases past and present. To celebrate the book, titled You Better Not Cry: Stories for Christmas, Burroughs will be at the Music Box Theatre for a reading and signing. Tickets are $5 if you purchase the book at the event and $10 if you don't. 7pm at 3733 N. Southport Ave. Call 773-935-3909 for tickets and information.

Aleksandar Hemon @ LUC

Bosnian-born Chicago resident Aleksandar Hemon's works The Lazarus Project, The Question of Bruno and Nowhere Man were finalists for the National Book Critics Circle Award, and since he began writing in English in 1995 he's gained a Guggenheim Fellowship, "genius grant" from the MacArthur Foundation, and comparisons to Joseph Conrad and Vladimir Nakobov. Come hear the author discuss Lazarus and his latest, Love and Obstacles, at Loyola's Crown Center Auditorium (1032 West Sheridan Road), 6pm. To RSVP, contact Carol Franklin at (773) 508-2641 or cfrankl@luc.edu. Free.

Chicago Underground Comedy's Free Halloween Show

Chicago Underground Comedy's free Halloween show is tonight at Beat Kitchen, 2100 W. Belmont Ave., starting at 9pm. Catch comedians CJ Sullivan, Adam Burke and Cameron Esposito, plus terrifying comedy characters from: Dan Polydoris, Ricky Carmona, Ken Barnard, Beth Stelling, Chad Briggs and Paul Thomas. Details here. 21+