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
Wednesday, May 26 2010
BYOP @ California Clipper
Tonight the Guild Complex hosts their first BYOP (Bring Your Own People) party of the year at the fabulous California Clipper, home of The Clipper Ghost. Held three or four times a year, BYOP is "a 90-minute literary cocktail party which gathers writers and presenters with different styles and artistic practices into a kind of sampler...a fast track to learning the broader spectrum of literary offerings around Chicago." The May 2010 BYOP show features The Encyclopedia Show, The Reconstruction Room and Rhino Reads! Co-hosted by Kimberly Dixon and Kurt Heintz. The California Clipper, 1002 N. California, May 26, 8:30pm.
LCD Soundsystem @ Metro
Get a preview of LCD Soundsystem's Pitchfork headlining performance tonight, in a much more intimate venue. Tickets are $25. 9pm. 18 &up. 3730 N. Clark St.
Poetry Bomb Tour of Words 2010 @ Chopin Theater
Poet/actor S.A. Griffin brings his Poetry Bomb Tour of Words to the Chopin Theater (1543 W. Division) tonight at 8pm (doors open at 7:30). Hosted by Chicago Slam Works, admission is $10 at the door, and proceeds go to OUTSPOKEN: Chicago's Poetry & Spoken Arts Festival. Come out and help CSW and Griffin launch a poetic bomb!
The Tim Lowly Ensemble @ Empty Bottle
HEAVEmedia.com continues their monthly concert series with Chicagoans the Tim Lowly Ensemble at the Empty Bottle. Joining the Tim Lowly Ensemble are Indiana act husband&wife and locals Kaspar Hauser. Doors open at 8:30pm, show starts at 9:30pm. The show is 21+ and is free.
The 2010 Chicago Independent Film Festival Opening Night
The Chicago Independent Film Festival begins tonight at 6pm with an opening reception and free screening of Waiting List at the Instituto Cervantes (31 W. Ohio). The May segment of the two-part festival (with the second installment running from July 23 to 25) continues through the 29 and will showcase over 30 films from around the world at six different venues. More information on the next three days of films can be found at the Chicago Independent Film Festival website.
LCD Soundsystem Official Afterparty: Ellen Allien @ Smartbar
Ellen Allien, the owner of Bpitch Control, DJ, and producer brings her electro, techno, IDM, and unmistakeable sound to Smartbar tonight. With support from Blue J and Tyrel WIlliams, this party is the Official Afterparty to the sold out LCD Soundsystem and Holy Ghost! show upstairs at the Metro. Rumor mill's been turning about who the super secret special guest DJs are, but it's probably not hard to guess at, since for all the genres Ellen Allien does play, "Nu-Disco" (as stated on the Smartbar website) can't be said to be one of them. Smartbar is located at 3730 N. Clark and the show starts at 10. It's is 21+ and $15. It hasn't sold out yet, but chances are it probably will.
Robert K. Elder @ Blackstone Library
Tonight Robert K. Elder will talk about his forthcoming book Last Words of the Executed. Rob Warden, executive director of the Center on Wrongful Convictions, says "this is a powerful, haunting book. Whether you favor or oppose the death penalty, you won't think about it the same way after reading the last words of the condemned - some remorseful, some spiteful, some humorous, all tragic. Most horrifying is the realization that some of those who claimed innocence until the end probably were telling the truth." Actors will be performing dramatic readings of some of the more famous cases. Tonight's reading is part of the Leon Despres Memorial Lectures series. Blackstone Library, 4904 S. Lake Park Ave., (312) 747-1105, 6pm.
