Results tagged “poetry”

Marc Kelly Smith, founder of the slam poetry movement is featured today in a New York Times article on the evolution of the art form.

April may be the cruelest month

This Sunday, young Chicago authors will flood the Vic Theatre for the ninth-annual Young Chicago Authors poetry slam, Louder than a Bomb. While Flava Flav further exploits the legacy of Public Enemy to VH1’s Celebreality bacchanalia, Young Chicago Authors brings over 650 of the best and brightest writers attending over 50 Chicago area schools and community centers together to spit, flow, and speak the truth in the name of oral storytelling and the spoken word.

If you happened to notice a number of kilted men and tartan-clad women wandering around the area of Irving and Lincoln this weekend, that would Chicago's Scottish community celebrating the 250th anniversary of the birth of Robert Burns at the Globe Pub. Poet, songwriter, bard, womanizer and drinker, Burns' birthday is always cause to celebrate. At the Globe there was reading of his poems, singing "Auld Lang Syne," drinking whisky, enjoying bagpipe tunes, and dining on what was most likely the only haggis in the city. Each year, the Globe (which also has a very impressive beer list) toasts Scotland's national poet with poetry, booze, music and a feast on the intimidating dish.

Art

book release makes for cerebral entertainment so nice you can see it twice.

Poet Thax Douglas has long been described as a polarizing figure in the local music scene, but after viewing the recent documentary on Douglas, Thax: The Movie, we've decided that viewpoint is skewed and incorrect. While there are a number of incredibly vocal critics who deride Douglas' presence at shows, the overriding majority of musicians and concert attendees appreciate his contributions to the community. Luminaries from Ted Leo, to Josh Caterer, to Jeff Tweedy sing the praises of Douglas' wordsmithing, and we even admit to gaining a new appreciation of his work now that we have a broader view of the poet's background.

Behold, an actual Memory Lane! It's near Foster and Canfield.

At a Rainbow/PUSH Coalition Dr. Martin Luther King Junior Scholarship Breakfast this morning, Governor Blagojevich gave a three-minute speech, and included this charming verse, aimed at the seniors in the audience.

What do you get when you combine an elaborate set design, rock and roll magicians, acoustic custom poetry, and a melange of feel-good local bands? A whole lotta awesome, that's what.

Chicago Calling, a collaborative festival linking Chicago-based artists with international friends and counterparts, continues tonight and Saturday, the exclamation point to Chicago Artists Month 2007. The festival as exchange program is perfect for an age where Skype, Google Talk, and unlimited wireless plans have dissolving the distance between us and our European, African, and Asian friends. If you’re commuting through the Thompson Center tonight, stop by the front plaza to hear Jennifer Karmin’s “Beast Poem,”...

We hope some of you got a chance to go to something at the Chicago Book Festival last week, but if not, here’s your chance. Our take on the second week: Jeffrey Toobin, CNN’s senior legal analyst, discusses and signs his newest book The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court, and maybe adds a few pointers for broke Chicagoists. Monday, Oct. 8, 6 p.m., Harold Washington Library, 400 S. State St., Cindy...

"When I was younger, I used to try and charm women into taking me home so I could, you know, get a look at their ... bookshelves." Troy Jollimore says this about judging people based on what books they read, and as a preface to his poem consisting of the titles of books he's read or owned. Jollimore, alongside authors Emily Flake and Rebecca Barry, read their work last night at September's Bookslut reading, nestled...

Conventional wisdom says that we should not speak ill of the deceased, but that's a tall endeavor if we're to take the pundits' criticisms of William Wirtz as law, although one has surprised us with his restraint. The longtime Blackhawks owner and liquor magnate passed away early this morning at the age of 77 from cancer. It's easy to say that Mr. Wirtz was stuck in a bygone era, treating his beloved hockey franchise as...

Braless and wearing an oversized white T-shirt with a hand drawn peace sign and the word "Love" written underneath it, Patti Smith humbly began her set with an extra-Jamaican sounding "Redondo Beach," fumbling some of the lyrics and apologizing to the crowd for being too excited.

Having attended the Printers Ball in the past, we knew that the free-to-all-comers event would attract more than its fair share of people. We also hoped that having Bridgeport's Zhou B Center host this year's model would allow for more accommodation of guests. We had intended to show up as the Zhou B Center is practically in our backyard, but decided to first pay our respects to the recently departed. Unfortunately, as we were making...

Sometimes we long for the old days when there were no cell phones. Text messaging was only for the über-rich Skytel set, and there was no reminder to silence your phones at the beginning of every concert, movie, poetry reading, dance recital, etc. It was much quieter then. And much, much cheaper. But in 2007 we are all carrying around computers in our pockets. Just over thirty years ago, in order to get a fraction...

Seattlest has a talk with the photographer from last week's "Segway Mom" and then experiences some dissension in the ranks over the question of wine vs. beer. It's not West Side Story, but about as close as they'll get. They're also still waiting on some inbox relief after a spammer is arrested. As Chicagoist counts down the days to its third anniversary party, they found all-organic pizza to be underwhelming amidst the hoopla, tried...

Chicagoist doesn't think about poetry much. Oh, sure, we acknowledge its timeless beauty and reason for being, mostly through the cramped pages of our high school notebooks. And we recognize its innate role in the magical media of music — after all, "my hump" and "my lumps" rhyme sublimely, do they not? Surely it must be Fate. But we jest. Overall we take poetry for granted, preferring instead the down-to-earth words of novels and stories. Maybe that standing will change in our mind once the Chicago Poetry Foundation puts up their new building in River North.

Spring is when we get busy here in the Ist-A-Verse. Very busy. But, after staying bundled-up indoors all winter, it's nice for us to be out, about, and collecting things to write about for you. Here's a glimpse at what's been keeping your favorite citybloggers busily away from home and out of bed. For LAist, strong winds attacked LA on the same day the Feds raided the Crips. Not to fear, though: the Japanese...

Chicagoist is not easily star struck. We’ve done our fair share of entertainment-biz mingling, and the last time we remember getting that knot-in-stomach, sweaty-palm, motor-mouth anxiety about meeting a “star” was when a third-string catcher for the Milwaukee Brewers visited our 5th grade class to talk about staying off drugs and saying our “pleases” and “thank yous.” Imagine our surprise last March when the old nerves started to jangle at the prospect of meeting Rocky...

Nell Taylor and Emerson Dameron, Founders of Chicago Underground Library

Whenever Chicago gets overcast skies, our mind drifts to highfalutin' aspirations and rainy afternoons spent cuddled in an old bookstore like After-words or a creepy museum like The International Museum of Surgical Science. Here are a couple of places we'll be shedding off our rainy day blues this weekend. Chicagoist really wants more tattoos. Even if we can't afford them right now, we can drool over Mitch O'Connell's aptly named new book Mitch O'Connell's Tattoos....

Quincy Long’s The Joy of Going Somewhere is performed sans scenery, props, and fancy costumes. In Rubicon Theatre’s production, the set is low tech: a few chairs, a table and a couple of risers on hand for quick scene changes. But out of the ether, Director Josh Johnson, his cast, and a Foley artist construct a rich world and lead a journey worth taking.

Normally we are proud of the fact that we don't own a car, what with auto fatalities rising, global warming, and the always increasing dependence on oil. But, those things mean nothing when the wind is nipping at you like a thousand angry piranhas. So this weekend we are going to get re-acquainted with our four wheeled counterparts. After that we are going to reserve a car here, or here, and enjoy our weekend. As...

Discussions about Black History Month have become as complex as discussions about race. Debating the labels ‘black’ and ‘African-American’ lead to debates about biracial identity and, recently, whether Senator Obama, Joe Biden’s “first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy” friend, is actually African-American. In the same vein, Black History Month has increasingly been relabeled African-American Heritage Month and African Heritage Month, terms emphasizing the present and future as...