Gapers Block has ceased publication.
Gapers Block published from April 22, 2003 to Jan. 1, 2016. The site will remain up in archive form. Please visit Third Coast Review, a new site by several GB alumni.
✶ Thank you for your readership and contributions. ✶
TODAY
Slowdown
BY DAY
Thursday, May 06 2010
River North Sleep Around Challenge
Ever watch the Amazing Race and think you could do it -- if it weren't for the jetlag? Take part in the River North Sleep Around Challenge, and you won't even need to leave the 312 area code. The Challenge Starts at the Holiday Inn Mart Plaza and ends up at Martini Park. Along the way, there are stops at 7 hotels that will provide challenges and refreshments. Lots of prizes will be offered. Tickets are $35 per individual, or $125 for team of four people .
Chicago Nerds Speed Dating (LGBT Night) @ Cuna Chicago
The Chicago Nerd Social Club presents their first evening of speed dating for nerds! This evening is for LGBT nerds (hetero nerds had their own date night on Thursday, April 29). Date night takes place at Cuna Chicago (1113 W. Belmont) tonight from 6pm to 9pm. Tickets are $25 and include 2 complimentary cocktails and appetizers; please see the Chicago Nerds Website for tickets and full information.
World Kitchen Learning Series: Celebration Brunch
Brunch gets a makeover at this class, which is part of the World Kitchen learning series offered by the City of Chicago. Class runs 6-8:30pm at Gallery 37 for the Arts, 55 East Randolph. Pre-registration required; admission is $30.
Dave Tompkins @ Stop Smiling and The Charleston
What do the Styx song "Mr. Roboto" and the Pentagon have in common? Why, use of the vocoder, of course. Invented by Bell Labs in 1928, the vocoder was originally designed to guard phones from eavesdroppers, and has expanded beyond its original purpose to become a widely used voice-altering tool for musicians.This Thursday, Stop Smiling magazine hosts Dave Tompkins, reading from his years-in-the-making book How to Wreck a Nice Beach: The Vocoder From World War II To Hip-Hop, The Machine Speaks. Tompkins is hailed by American Book Award winners and NPR commentators as "one of the best hip hop writers ever born" and "one of the most bugged, brilliant guys I know." How To Wreck is the debut title release from Stop Smiling Books (in partnership with Melville House Publishing). Slide show and discussion moderated by editor James Hughes at Stop Smiling Storefront, 1371 N. Milwaukee Ave., Thursday, May 6, 7-9pm. Book release afterparty with DJ sets by Dante Carfagna, Courtland Green and Dave Tompkins at The Charleston, 2076 N. Hoyne, Thursday, May 6, 9pm. Both events are free. Books sold at a discount throughout the night.
Mortified @ Beat Kitchen
Mortified Chicago shares hilarious childhood devastation and self-deprecating memoirs tonight at Beat Kitchen (2100 W. Belmont). The 21+ performance features "a comic excavation of adolescent writing, art and media" and starts at 9P (doors open at 8P). Tickets are $12 in advance and $15 if you wait.
