Wednesday June 23, 2010 at 10pm, Quenchers, Chicago

Genital Hercules like to play fast songs with lots of chords and catchy hooks. They take bits of Devo, Frank Zappa, Sparks, Cardiacs, Mr. Bungle, and lots more stuff that they like, then re-arrange them until it sounds more like them. Their newest album is a rock opera entitled Spring Break ’86. It’s cool as hell!

From their website – “I’m sorry to report to you that Genital Hercules will be doing two more shows–Iowa City on May 29th, and Quenchers on June 23rd–and then breaking up. I have had a (mostly) great time keeping this band going over the past eight years, but as our current bassist is moving away at the end of June, I feel like now is the time to end things on a high note. I would like to express my sincerest appreciation to the eleven (I think) other people who have been members of Genital Hercules over the years.”

Quenchers
Fullerton and Western
Chicago

Thursday, June 3, 2010

Archeworks’ day-long symposium will be structured around three urban challenges facing Chicago and urban communities everywhere in the 21st Century: shrinking economies, health crises, and ecological security. The symposium will begin with the premise that the problems we face today cannot be solved at the level of thinking that gave rise to them. Our goal is to develop a vision for a Great Lakes Model that will become the most sustainable, resourceful and beautiful metropolis in the world.

About Archeworks’ Infrastructure for Change Symposia Series
Today, substantial new investments in infrastructure are being made nationally, regionally and locally. It is incumbent on designers and planners to conceive and propose alternative recommendations so these investments will increase the livability and sustainability of American cities. Increased spending on infrastructure is good news for both the nation’s economy and our cities; however, if it simply means more of the same 20th Century solutions that have in many cases had devastating social and environmental effects on our built environments, we will experience the same and now foreseen negative consequences. At this crucial juncture at the beginning of the 21st Century, Infrastructures for Change explores key principles underpinning alternative and sustainable cities of the future. We will bring together design practitioners, planners, and theorists, engineers, environmental scientists and ecologists, policy makers, and public health specialists, with the goal of increasing our knowledge of alternative infrastructure solutions to improve the livability and sustainability of the American City.

May 25, 2010, Martyrs’, Chicago

The Moth believes that everyone has a story. The Moth created StorySLAM to give those stories a forum.

Following the wild success of our Mainstage series, The Moth sought to accommodate all the people who asked, “When can I tell my story?” and to encourage those people who doubted they had a story worth telling. The Moth StorySLAM provides a stage and a microphone, a theme to inspire and shape the evening, a lively and supportive audience, and a host to guide the festivities. SLAM stories are limited to five minutes, and ten stories are heard.

The stories are scored by three teams of audience-member judges, and a winner is announced at every SLAM. SLAM winners later face off in a Moth GrandSLAM. Since 2001, the raucous, moving, funny and wild quilt of themed stories that emerge during each show has kept the crowds coming back again and again.

Martyr’s
3855 North Lincoln Avenue
Chicago, IL 60613
8pm Stories start (get there early to ensure seating)
$7 at the door

Sunday, May 16 at 2 pm

When religions are compared, scholars often distinguish Judaism by noting the centrality of law and the parallel de-emphasis of faith. Spinoza once opined that Judaism was not a religion but a legal system. Famous Talmudic texts highlight the central authority of rabbis—not God. Join Dr. Barry Wimpfheimer to explore the relationship between law and religion in Judaism.

Dr. Barry Wimpfheimer is Assistant Professor of Religion and Law at Northwestern University. He received his rabbinic ordination from Yeshiva University and his PhD in Religion from Columbia University.

Spertus Institute
610 S. Michigan Avenue
Chicago, IL 60605
2:00 pm
Tickets are $18 | $10 for Spertus members | $8 for students

Wednesday, May 12, 2010 at 5:00 pm, Northwestern University, University Hall 201 (Hagstrum Room)

M. NourbeSe Philip is a poet and writer originally from Tobago, now living in Canada. Her recent book Zong! is a striking kind of history that enacts a near impossibility of articulation; a linguistic, typographical and poetic experiment of ellision, overlapping, and syntax in shards; multiple voices and authorship; and more. Her interest in African diasporic experience, her awards from the Casa de las Americas, and the variety and originality of her books have made her an essential writer of our time.

Northwestern University, University Hall 201 (Hagstrum Room)
1897 Sheridan Road
Evanston, IL 60208
Free to the public

Tuesday, May 11th, 2010 at 6pm, InterContinental Hotel, Chicago

Author awards will be given in six categories: Adult Fiction, Adult Nonfiction, Poetry, Biography, Children’s Fiction and Children’s Nonfiction. The James C. Friend Memorial Award for Literary Criticism also will be presented.

Steve Edwards, acting program director of radio station WBEZ-Chicago Public Radio, will be the emcee.

InterContinental Hotel
Camelot Room
505 N. Michigan Avenue
Chicago, IL
6:00 pm. cash bar, 7:00 pm. dinner
Tickets will be $75 each

April 27, 2010, Martyrs’, Chicago

“The success of The Moth is one example of storytelling that is gaining momentum nationwide. In The Moth’s case, these narrative sessions are fast becoming an institution.”

- The New York Times

Martyr’s
3855 North Lincoln Avenue
Chicago, IL 60613
8pm Stories start (get there early to ensure seating)
$7 at the door

Tuesday, April 13, 2010 at 6pm, Cliffdweller’s Club, Chicago

Poetry slam champion Roger Bonair-Agard will perform at SMA’s annual poetry reading. A native of Trinidad, who now lives in Chicago, Bonair-Agard is a two-time National Poetry Slam Champion. He has appeared on HBO’s “Poetry Def Jam,” “The NewsHour,” and “60 Minutes.” Co-founder of the louder ARTS Project and a Cave Canem fellow, Bonair-Agard is the author of “Tarnish and Masquerade.” His second book is due out this fall.

Cliff Dwellers Club
200 S. Michigan Avenue
Chicago, IL
The social hour begins at 6:00 p.m., the program at 7:00.
Free to the public

Sunday, April 11 at 2 pm

In commemoration of Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day), Spertus welcomes commentator and author Martin Goldsmith to share a riveting and emotional story of courage under unimaginable circumstances. This story is the basis of Mr. Goldsmith’s book, The Inextinguishable Symphony. It brings to light the Jüdischer Kulturbund, an extraordinary collection of Jewish artists who performed for Jewish audiences in Germany between 1933 and 1941. Mr. Goldsmith’s parents met while performing in the Jüdischer Kulturbund.

Martin Goldsmith is the daily morning voice of Symphony Hall, the classical music station of Sirius XM Satellite Radio. One of America’s foremost classical music commentators, he was the longtime host of National Public Radio’s Peabody Award-winning Performance Today. He is the author of the six popular Composer Portraits which were performed with Leonard Slatkin and the National Symphony Orchestra to enthusiastic crowds at the Kennedy Center from 2003 to 2008.

Spertus Institute
610 S. Michigan Avenue
Chicago, IL 60605
2:00 pm
Tickets are $18 | $10 for Spertus members | $8 for students

Tuesday, April 6, 2010, Archeworks, Chicago

Panel discussion and exhibition featuring design proposals for the future of public architecture and infrastructure. Presentations will be made by several Chicago-based participants in UCLA cityLAB’s recent WPA 2.0 competition. Moderated by the Chicago Architecture Foundation’s Greg Dreicer, the program will include project presentations, a panel discussion, and an exhibition of each team’s design proposals.

WPA 2.0: Working Public Architecture looked beyond the mere replacement of obsolete or overtaxed infrastructure, seeking design proposals that employed nested scales of intervention to catalyze larger and more visible public benefit.

Archeworks
625 North Kingsbury St. (at Ontario)
Chicago, IL 60654-6997
April 6, 2010 at 6pm
Free to the public