Bukowski event in Chicago (1 Viewer)

Seven Days in Chicago

Booze "n' Books
For the last three years, members of the Drinking & Writing Brewery have celebrated the eponymous combination with plays, radio shows, festivals and, of course, beer. This year's festival will honor Charles Bukowski at the beloved Hopleaf on June 9 with words from Northwestern's Bill Savage and journalist Rick Kogan. But organizer Steve Mosqueda says the most popular activity, besides drinking, is the "Two Drink Minimum Writing Contest," where everyone attending has five minutes to write on a given topic. The prize hasn't been announced yet, but Steve convincingly points to last year's prize"”a tour of Goose Island Brewery for the winner and ten friends. "And then they all got to drink beer for free for an hour. Not bad, huh?" Despite the overarching presence of alcohol, Steve wants to make it clear that the festival "is not a drunken free-for-all." He prefers to emphasize the educational value of the event and the undoubted contribution of the authors. "If you like to read or like to write you have to admit that Bukowski is one of the greatest American writers of all time...OK, and he was one of the greatest drinkers of all time too."
 
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Gee, I don't know. A celebration of one of my favorite poets at perhaps the finest Belgian ale-house to be found this side of Antwerp ....where will I find the time ?

Thanks for the tip, scar.

On the topic of superior writing : Northwestern University's Bill Savage is the brother of Dan Savage, the syndicated sex-advice columnist seen in "The Reader" "Village Voice", etc... In my opinion, Dan Savage is a terrific writer, too, who, within the confines of an advice column, never fails to be direct and engrossing - with a flair for humor and insight.
God bless their parents - they have passed on the "lit-gene" to a pair of brothers who care about language and it's future.

I'll drink a pale ale to that. Cheers.
 
That's just dandy. Belgians and books, and I'm here in the land of guns and bibles. Hope someone makes it and lets us know how it goes.
 
OK, I just bought a ticket to this thing. seems like a decent enough deal. who knows? I'm only a couple of hours from chicago and a $20 ticket includes a really cool poster and 15(?) beer tickets. (hell, I don't even drink beer, can't stand it. hope theres some liqour or wine there!) but this gives me a perfect excuse to get up off my lazy ass and visit a great city that I love and see way too seldom. the web sight looks interesting enough and I'd probably give a 20 for the poster anyway. anyone else gonna check this thing out? ... now if I can just finance a loan for a tank of gas......
 
I would be very interested to see the makeup of the group that is going. Truthfully, I can see it is many people 21-25 that want to get shitfaced and party and only know that Buk was a drunk, dirty old guy.

I would be surprised if many Buk fans showed up. Seems more like those that party on Cinco de Mayo, but have no idea what the holiday is celebrating.

Damn, I sound like an old man. I know. I know.....

Bill

p.s. That being said, I would probaby pay $20 for the poster too!
 
Yep Bill, your probably right. Hell, I hate a damn crowd any way. I do hope that there's something of interest there tho, christ, I gotta try... er, no, wait.....
 
At a minimum, you will be representing the hardcore Buk fans that cannot make it there. Just correct any obviously false bullshit and you will be our hero. It would be great to have 3 or 4 true buk fans, like yourself, to make sure that people know that Buk was a damn fine writer and has earned his place in American literature and not just some drunk guy who they think that it is cool to like...

Take pictures, if you can. It should be interesting.

All best,Bill
 
OK, I just bought a ticket to this thing. seems like a decent enough deal. who knows? I'm only a couple of hours from chicago and a $20 ticket includes a really cool poster and 15(?) beer tickets. (hell, I don't even drink beer, can't stand it. hope theres some liqour or wine there!) but this gives me a perfect excuse to get up off my lazy ass and visit a great city that I love and see way too seldom. the web sight looks interesting enough and I'd probably give a 20 for the poster anyway. anyone else gonna check this thing out? ... now if I can just finance a loan for a tank of gas......

Have fun there! And yes, a couple of pictures of the event would be neat to show on buknet.
 
What??? In Chicago, land of my birth, and on my birthday, no less??? I SHOULD be there, but there's no way I can swing a trip to Chicago. Went last fall (first time since the 1960s, and loved it), and then did San Francisco in May. Just can't afford a plane ticket in June. Shit. Take pictures, report back, someone, please!
 
All right - I acknowledge the urgency of distress signals here - sweeping over the Lake Michigan skyline in beer can silouhettes. A hero is needed. Someone now.

And that someone is me.

Let me assure you that I will somehow find the time to at least blog - if not participate - in this thing directly.............
 
My faith in humanity restored. It's times like these, when the truly heroic push through, and face the challenge. God Bless Ye!

$25.00 to win on that Number Six horse.
 
Well I went to this Buk thing at the hop leaf bar in chicago this last weekend. guess there were 40 to 50 (?) people there and as Bill predicted, most were young. (not that there is any thing wrong with young) I'm not a good socializer, so I didn't talk with many people but I got the feeling that at least 1/2 of them were there for the micro brewery seminars. the speakers on Bukowski were ok but quite elementary,and I thought that the crowd found way too much humor in the poems being read and seemed to laugh the loudest at all the wrong times, of course this is just my opinion. I spoke with Todd Bauer from the Newberry Library (?) and informed him of this sight, but even he seemed uninterested in an "in depth" discussion. some times I guess I dont realize what a fanatic I am becoming. there were a couple of guys playing classical cello and violin, (enjoyable) a silly little eletric horse racing game (betting with beer tickets) a local small press, a few new ecco books and a number of brewerys. (hey, I did learn that the hole in a keg or cask is called a bunghole!!) the wine there was 8$ a glass, and where I come from that ='s almost 2 bottles. so needless to say I didn't get shitfaced tho I might have enjoyed myself more if I were. got bored, left early. all in all a pretty flat experience. I think that our ol' buddy Buk would of either found this stupidly humorous, or puked on his wingtips. I also had to park about a mile from the joint and deal with some incredibly ridiculous traffic due to numerous street fairs in the area, but at least I got to spend the day in one of the finest citys in u.s., and so I am glad to have made the trip....
 
Great to hear you made it 1Fish2

I had to decline because of my nephew's baseball playoffs. Would have been there otherwise ! :)

rock on.....and on...........................................
 
Well I went to this Buk thing at the hop leaf bar in chicago this last weekend. guess there were 40 to 50 (?) people there and as Bill predicted, most were young. (not that there is any thing wrong with young) I'm not a good socializer, so I didn't talk with many people but I got the feeling that at least 1/2 of them were there for the micro brewery seminars. the speakers on Bukowski were ok but quite elementary,and I thought that the crowd found way too much humor in the poems being read and seemed to laugh the loudest at all the wrong times, of course this is just my opinion. I spoke with Todd Bauer from the Newberry Library (?) and informed him of this sight, but even he seemed uninterested in an "in depth" discussion. some times I guess I dont realize what a fanatic I am becoming. there were a couple of guys playing classical cello and violin, (enjoyable) a silly little eletric horse racing game (betting with beer tickets) a local small press, a few new ecco books and a number of brewerys. (hey, I did learn that the hole in a keg or cask is called a bunghole!!) the wine there was 8$ a glass, and where I come from that ='s almost 2 bottles. so needless to say I didn't get shitfaced tho I might have enjoyed myself more if I were. got bored, left early. all in all a pretty flat experience. I think that our ol' buddy Buk would of either found this stupidly humorous, or puked on his wingtips. I also had to park about a mile from the joint and deal with some incredibly ridiculous traffic due to numerous street fairs in the area, but at least I got to spend the day in one of the finest citys in u.s., and so I am glad to have made the trip....

Sadly this is what people want. They want quick, dirty lines that make them laugh. They usually wnt them read to them LOUD. As long as they don't have to THINK. So they read Buk poems, but probably ones about screwing, shitting, drinking.... They did not read a great poem like "Genius of the crowd"? That would be too much of a downer for those that want to drink and hear poems read to them by a dirty old man.

I'm glad that you went and represented. At least there was one person there that actually GOT IT.

Bill
 
Did he Win?

Yes. They won their first game in a thrilling comeback, after being down 6-1. They rallied late to win 7-6. Game number two was a little different. They took it to extra innings, but lost 4-3. Still, a great run for a bunch of "Bad News Bears".....
 

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