Catching Up and Looking Forward

Hello friends!

Sorry I've been so delinquent in updating this blog, but I started Grad School and it kind of ate all my extra time. The good news is, I have lots to share with you! Also, since Thanksgiving doesn't fall on the last day of November this year, we will have a No Shush Salon on November 30th (at 6:30 pm, in the Meeting Room at the Maze Branch of the Oak Park  and it is ALL OPEN MIC! So bring your newest story, song, dance, comedy routine, puppet play, etc.

Here's a brief recap of what has been happening from August to October:

August

This month we had an all female comedy troupe called, “The Kates” as our featured performers. They were awesome! We had 14 people and, along with the two comedians, five people presented in our open mic. Also, one of the open mic folks as well as four audience members had never been to the No Shush Salon before! Three women said they learned about us through a Mom’s email list.  The other two newbies were friends of regulars.

September

September’s No Shush Salon had Patricia Ann McNair as the featured reader. Patricia is a professor at Columbia College. She presented her recently published book, "And These are the Good Times: A Chicago gal riffs on death, sex, life, dancing, writing, wonder, loneliness, place, family, faith, coffee, and the FBI (among other things)". She brought along Randy Albers who is the head of the Fiction Writing department. We also had Gary, whose last name I missed, who used to be on the Board of the Oak Park Library. Sheila I was so honored to have such excellent writers!

October

This month we had John McNally as our featured reader. He read from his recently published book, “The Boy Who Really, Really Wanted to have Sex: The Memoir of a Fat Kid.” It was so fun and poignant! It was exciting to have one of my classmates show up as well as someone who learned about the No Shush Salon through the Writers’ Word Feast. Everyone had a great time and we had some excellent Open Mic readings. We also had a professional photographer show up that Rebecca arranged for us since the woman who usually takes our pictures was in Japan. (Sadly, she wasn’t able to stay and get shots of the Open Mic readers, but she did get some GREAT audience shots.)

           

Fantastic June with Aeverling & Open Mic!

An Aeverling Collage 

Aeverling thrilled us with their songs, The Drive, In Reverse, & Walk With Me! They also performed wonderful covers of Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah and The Civil War's Barton Hallow. I have a shaky little video clip that I hope I'll be able to download eventually, but for now, check out their music on their webpage: https://aeverling.com/



Our Open Mic kicked off with Ed reading An Exciting Science Fiction Story! (Yup, that's the title.) There was a cybernetic arm, an enraged moose, looters, and the ALIEN (Allied League of Interstellar Extraterrestrials) threat. So yeah... pretty dang exciting. This was followed by Sabotage!

H

Open Mic Performers: Sheila, Rhiannon, Jeanine, & Alex

Rhiannon brought us fever sweats in the sick house of the Fey. Going against expected practices, Kaylen was giving the dying Fey release for transcendence.

Mayle and her two little ones, told us an Estonian nursery rhyme involving a bumpy road and lemonade.

Alex shared a new part of his Four and Twenty Blackbirds story with Marta and Yohan. Twelve sets of twelve steps, drop a marble. In a tree, a blackbird sang.

Sheila shared Shadow Play, a story about old Mrs. Morton in her closet apartment and the thunk, thunk, thunking of the ball against the wall. Standing in the hall was a girl. "The Shadows won't play with me anymore! Will you play with me instead?"

Jeanine gave us a short little story Werewolves from Outer-space in which the electricity goes out in Birmingham. Patch and Seymour leave the heat of The Little Donkey Bar and see the bright lights that light up the zoo.

Our next No Shush Salon will be July 27th

6:30 - 8:45 pm 

The theme is FUN!

May: Luis Tubin!

What an excellent No Shush Salon we had in May! Our featured performer, Luis, is a spoken word artist. He has a very vivacious presenting style.

Luis kicked us off with his piece, Bidenity about being a Puerto Rican in Chicago. "I cannot keep Caribian blood quiet." He shared an Ode to the Photographer that took a look at the image rising to the top and an Ode to the Bartender about the fountain of euphoria. There was sad love and playing hop-scotch over landmines as he watches the bombing fill the holy land with holes. He spoke with a rhythmic slam about making mofongo with his hands stained a dirty gray. There was A Love Letter to Logan Square; "we used to be different... is this the hood I claim to keep?" He gave us Phone Call, a story about prejudice that was hard for his ears to digest.

In our Open Mic segment, Vann delivered a rap that held a hazmat suit Buddhist and the notion that "safe space means I have to feel safe first". Mike brought us The Unicorn's Song where cleaning became discovery of an office conflict involving an innocent plush unicorn. Stephanie told us about the Nimrod Club and the sketches by Seymour, "ripped from the headlines of 1867. Alex's Rattle Snake Tears gave us snake people and the understanding that "one day, the skin will wear you." Jeanine read from her Peculiar Predicament of Poppets novel about Margarita and her daughter Eva fleeing the fires in Peshtigo by running with the mass of people into the lake. CSE recited Little Sally and the Bull Fiddle God where he liked the thorns on this doll. She sang Lady Knight, a heart filling tune of a woman saving another woman. She also sang Lysistrata Strut Your Stuff -“The oracle has spoken, it is written in the stars If we can join our forces then this victory is ours". Sheila gave us Swimming Lessons about a mother dealing with her daughter's obsession with a real live mermaid.

Our next No Shush Salon will be on June 29th where we will be featuring the band Aeverling. 

We hope to see you there!

No Shush November Featured Sheila Johnson

Everything changes... this is the theme of the story that Sheila read from her book, All Our Loved Ones Together, on November 10th. Two brothers, a daughter / niece, and a Dryad show us how change is a powerful force. "Sometimes, the truth is a spell that loses its power when spoken aloud." 

If you wish to know more about this delightful creature named Sheila and find out how to purchase her book, please check out her website: sheilacjohnson.wordpress.com

The Open Mic gave us Alex's 4 and 20 Blackbirds. We heard about how Marta used the magic of the blackbirds and how her bother Yohan had changed. Ron followed it up with a musical rendition of Give a Little / Makin' Whoopie / Glory of Love / Paper Moon mixed with other songs. Then he tickled our funny bones with Ventriloquist Love. Next was Brendan who read from his book The Hidden Lands where Amber was on a train and met Lin Mae. They discussed Boarding School rules. Matt brought us Mythical Mike and his gang of Comic Bookstore misfits in an effort to "make the streets safe for the comic buying company." Ed brought us Spider-Man Unlimited and the True Meaning of Thanksgiving with Ted, the weredog, from accounting. Rhiannon brought us blue magic wielding elves who were on an investigation. But they got sidetracked in tossing Kava (magic). J9 shared a bit about Hazel, the Luchadora Librarian.

All pictures by Anna Peterson.

Just a reminder, we are off for December, but will be back on 

January 26th at 6:30 pm with the theme, Bring in the New!

September 29th: Kilty Pleasure

Thursday's event was awesome! 

Kilty Pleasure gave us a great show. Check out these mini-videos I recorded:

Kilty Pleasure 1

Kilty Pleasure 2

Kilty Pleasure 3

To check out more Kilty Pleasure, they'll be performing at 2 pm for the Danada Fall Festival at Danada Equestrian Center on October 9th. 

They are also often found playing at the Two Way Street Coffee House!

Much thanks to Anna Peterson for these excellent pictures!

After our delightful concert, we had our Open Mic.

Ed presented a Visual Novel of flash fiction that he and a few other writers are putting together. (Multi-media platforms for the win!) He shared some from his story with King William the 3rd and Rolf who was accused of putting Decart before de horse. He also shared Tim Yow's Call Me Cersei who is always listening and asserted that virtual Andrew would be better than actual Andrew. He shared Kashia Nowden's poem the Sin Tree which grew from the deadly sins the narrator planted. Eventually, the Visual Novel will be posted on  http://writingjourney.org/

Sheila gave us Saint Blow Me in which the old gods were pissed and trying to wipe out the small town of Hedwig with a tidal wave. We heard about crazy Mark and the Ironic raining of Lake Hedwig. "If this god stuff were real, it'd show up on Youtube." and "The Apocolypse will be reblogged!"

Alex shared the end of his story, Seeing Blue where Willow took after Red and became a Seeker. At Sacred Lake, making paint with mew colors by the Bright Rock. It was thought that, since Red "was no maker, her breath held no magic." But then it did and she wondered, "could one be a seeker and a maker?"

Jeanine gave us a few snippets of her life with Little Jeani One Note and read part of a poem called The Undying about her brain injured sister.

Our next event will be on October 27th, at 6:30 pm. This will be our THREE year anniversary! We'll have pizza and cake and readings from https://cemeteryguardians.com/

Aug. 25th Highlights on the theme: What is Family?

Another Open Mic filled with great storytelling and discussion!

Ed read his story, "The Kidnapper", where you can't believe everything you hear. He then shared a story about last week where the song was changed to Hotel North Dakota.
Alex shared "Seeing Blue" about seekers and makers where Red, a seeker, followed a snowy stag and we met Mother Maker.
Sheila read from her upcoming book, Open Arms, Steady Hearts, about Mirabird who posed the question, "is it okay to be a doctor when I grow up instead of a dragon?"
Jeanine shared, "Demons Love Latin", where a flirtation went all wrong since one of them was a demon.
Mike read, "Return of the Zombie", where a kid bought a zombie making kit from Mama Midnight to make a new friend.

Thanks again to Anna Peterson for her picture taking prowess and sneakiness!

Joyful July!

It was great to have Nathan Beachamp as our featured author!

Candid shot of our Featured
Reader Nathan Beachamp

From the Clones Anthology, Nathan read his story, "The Replacement Husband". Without giving too much away, 'cause really, you should read this story, I will say it captured the sense of loss and everything being wrong incredibly well. I was drawn in from the beginning, and thought I knew where things were going, but I was wrong... which is delightful!

What will we read?

Collage of Open Mic-ers - From top L
to bottom R: Brendan, Sheila, Jeanine, & Alex

Our Open Mic was also filled with great storytelling! We had something under the bed in Mike's story about shedding skin and a father that's truly terrible at lying. Ed brought us a spy-thriller about cookies that could solve world hunger and queried what that would entail. Sheila finished up A Gift Most Wanted, leaving us wanting to know more and more about Carol the hunter and her lover Looze (sorry for the misspell!) who was/is a meteoroid / asteroid / traveler. J9 gave us Demon Eye, a tiny poltergeist who haunts glasses. Alex had us Seeing Blue, where we met Red and learned about Seekers and Makers... Seeker Man - Maker Woman, though it sometimes gets turned around. Brendan brought us to the Chicago Arts District where we found a woman under a hood who intrigued and tantalized our protagonist and us. 

Discussion!

All of that and a bag of doughnuts... and ginger... and chocolate covered candy... and... I'm pretty sure I'm missing something else yummy, but it was an evening delicious to the taste-buds and the ears! 


Much thanks to Anna Peterson for her picture taking prowess and sneakiness!



UPCOMING:

Aug. 3rd, 10am - 1pm
Wednesday Writers' Word Feast
A writers' group for all types and genres meeting at the Main Library
Second Floor - Book Discussion Room

Aug. 25th, 6:30 - 8:45pm

A No Shush Salon Themed Open Mic: What is Family?

Meeting at the Maze Branch of the Oak Park Library Meeting Room

Amazing April!

 What a great No Shush Salon! 

We mixed things up a bit and had our open mic intermixed with Paula Ngo's belly dance performances along with a mini-dance class.  Here's a recap:

Brandon: Charcoal drawing of Amber abd poison on a dead body. You can come home. The training of playing chess. 

Paula did a beautiful serpentine dance to The Smiths.

Mike: The living ghost girl in the translucent dress haunted Floyd's building. He blushed. Haunting, it's kind of what ghosts do.

Open Mic

Paula did a more sprightly hip-bopping song of Amores y Amores.

Ed: A story of a kidnapping. Aunt Martha was driving Jack. Then a stop that changed everything.

Then a poem called "Homework O Homework".

Mini Belly Dance Lesson! Check out the pics below.

Allison: Her first comedy routine and she shared it with us! Sneaky woman recorded it:

Allison S Comedy At No Shush Salon

So AWESOME!

Alex: First scene of a Novelette about the beast princess. No one dared disturb the oracle. 12 augers, one is her uncle. Chose your words with care.

Rhiannon: Hospital bed sheets had more color in them than the cadaver in drawer two. Magical, freaky cadaver. "What the hell do we do? It's a self healing corpse."

J9: The first chapter of The Three Hazels. It's Hazel's 73rd birthday on the night the lights went out in Chicago. There was chocolate cake and an epidemic of dying children.

Paula wrapped the evening up with a traditional belly dance. Check out her fantastic website: Sepia Tribal 

photo credit: Anna Peterson 
Thanks for all the great pictures!

The Open Mic that gave Fools Wisdom

This is the night the DOUGHNUT WARS began. 

Brandon regaled us with a tale of orphans high on a mountain, eating and yelling and servicing airships. We met Jayer and Kiera (sorry if I misspelled), the outcasts of the misfits who are finding friendship with each other. 

You can pre-order this up-coming novel on your kindle for 99 cents: Orphan Fleet.

Sheila gave us a world where a dragon may bestow a gift, even to a hunter, but it might not be the blessing it seems to be at first. All that hot on the heels of a severed head and right before our narrator is swooped up by Carol, the infamous hunter.

Mike delighted us with a tale of Elliot who has the odious job of orienting new souls to the afterlife. They're never quite where they think they should be. Baby Steps Through Brimstone had an interesting dark-humored twist that we won't give away.

Jeanine shared the beginnings of a romance-gone-wrong story called Heart Space in which the narrator has visions of violence that may or may not be real.

But know this, the DOUGHNUT WARS are not over.

Highlights from Feb. 25th - "For the Love"

Our Feb. 25th No Shush Salon's Open Mic was grand! Here are some highlights from the stories addressing the "For the Love" theme:

• Working at the store that rhymes with "small fart" #667 (actually #666), our intrepid hero-ish describes all the paranormal creatures who come through to shop but more often destroy the store. Trolls, dragons, vampires, and zombies, to name a few, stink up the joint and leave random body parts or chard remains of their victims for the "clean up in aisle... well, all the aisles" call. Plus, maggots... nobody ever mentions the maggots.

• Pria and Nick, who have been friends for a long time, have sex and are suddenly confronted by their younger, teenage selves. Phrases like, "we're like lumpy" and "as if she was trying to duck beneath the oncoming future", are but a taste of the lovely language Shelia uses.

• A couple going through a rough patch, finds the guy who's being a bit of a bore actually turning into a boar. The best way to deal with a boyfriend turned boar is to growl and stand your ground. "Fuck, this is why I left Chicago," our heroine states.

• Jack gets beans from Maxwell street market. He climbs the stalk them hides from an enormous cat who calls for him to "come out so I can eat you." Finds salvation (sort of) with a spider. Now the spider wants something Shiny...

• Wearing a brown parka and holding a scythe, Death was doing donuts on a bike in the parking lot of the hospital. The snow melted wear and dead things scattered behind Death's tires. The storyteller in the car who passed Death was put out because Death didn't have the common curtesy to acknowledge her and she could only see darkness (or rather, absence of light) in the hood of the parka.

• Henrietta was the first human to be admitted into the Intergalactic Photographers' Convention. She could understand the aliens thanks to her sponsor, Ted, an Obliequean, loaning out his pet Peeve who farts translations.

• Fred had been publishing authors for exposure, paying them nothing, but reaping all the benefits under the "For the Love" publication. He believes he is getting another great publication deal at a fancy restaurant, but soon finds out that Pitchfork Press isn't exactly what he thought he was signing up for. 

The next No Shush Salon will be Thursday, March 31st at 6:30 and the theme will be "The Wisdom of Fools".