The No Shush Salon has been around for over 5 years!

October 31, 2013 - the first No Shush Salon

Over the years, The No Shush Salon has had musicians, comedians, dancers, authors, poets, spoken word artists, singers, a magician, and improv actors strutting their stuff. We started at the Clarendon Hills Public Library in 2013 then moved to the Oak Park Public Library at the end of 2015. We have had over 20 featured performers and readers, with 3 more to rock the podium before the end of this year. Plus, we have had countless creative geniuses stepping up to our metaphorical open mic, several of whom have come back again and again. 

Here is a list of all our brilliant creative stars with links :

January 2015 - Patty Templeton presented her novel, There is no Lovely End.

April  2015 - We all laughed with The Randy Scuffle Papers. 

July 2015 - Jeffrey Westhoff thrilled us with The Boy Who Knew Too Much. 

August 2015 - Michael Penkas graced us with Mistress Bunny and the Cancelled Client.

April 2016, Paula Ngo from Sepia Delux got us up and belly dancing!

June 2016, featured the poet Russell Jaffe and his book, INTROVERT // EXTROVERT.
July 2016, we were intrigued by the words of Nathan Beauchamp / NJ Tanger's Universe Eventual.
September 2016 (and again, April 2019), we had Kilty Pleasure delight us with their music.
October 2016, brought a few of the amazing authors and artists from the Cemetery Guardians online publication.
November 2016, we were delighted with Sheila Johnson's All Our Loved Ones Together.
Due to flooding, our March got moved to April 2017, and we were thrilled with Owen Patterson's The Dis-Condition of Ease.
Also in April 2017, we had the amazing spoken word poet Iztac Metztli.
May 2017, brought us the poetic stylings of Logan Lu.
June 2017, we had the fantastic music of Aeverling, a band that first graced our stage when we were in Clarendon Hills.
August 2017, The Kates comedy troupe had us all laughing.
September 2017, Patricia Ann McNair shared her fascinating essay collection "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)"
October 2017, we were captivated by John McNally's The Boy Who Really, Really Wanted to Have Sex: Memoir of a Fat Kid.
January 2018, Brendan Detzner shared his thrilling twisted stories.
February 2018, Alexei Collier elated us with his words.
March 2018, we had the pleasure to host Gary Johnson and hear his creative nonfiction.
April 2018, we were jubilant to have Outtaspace! Improv Ensemble that meets at the Outtaspace in Berwyn.
September 2018, Alice Liddell, aka Lauren A. R. Materson, charmed us with Love of the Sea.
October 2018, was our glorious five year anniversary.
March 2019, we were enchanted with Tina Jens.
May 2019, we were thrilled to have Rhiannon J. Taylor.

Coming up in June 2019, we have Carlos Hernandez and CSE Cooney (the Hernandooney) gracing our stage. 

In August 2019, we will have Stephanie Shaw sharing her delicious words.

I had hoped to include all of the amazing pictures that Anna, our unofficial photographer, has taken over the years, but I've been having issues with this post so that will have to wait for another post.

Looking at February - May of 2018

Hey all you No Shush Lovin' folks!

I've been wrapped up in Library School and work and this is the first chance I've had to update the blog in a long time. I'm excited that October 2018 will be our 5th year anniversary and our third year at the Oak Park Library Maze Branch! But before we get to that, check out these other exciting things coming up:

Thursday, February 22nd, we are excited to have one of our regular No Shushers, Alexei Collier! Alexei is a writer who grew up in sunny Southern California, in a house his family moved into on his very first Halloween. Many years later, powerful forces flung him deep into the heart of the Midwest, where he now lives across the street from Chicago with his wife and their cat. His short fiction has been published by Cicada, Ideomancer, and StarShipSofa's Tales to Terrify. You can check him out on his underused author website: alexeicollier.com

On March 29th, we are honored to have Gary Johnson. Gary is an Associate Professor in the English and Creative Writing Department at Columbia College Chicago. He is also a writer/producer of creative nonfiction for Public Radio on Morning Edition, Soundprint, Living On Earth, and Pacifica. His fiction appears in We Speak Chicagoese, F Magazine, Private Arts, Hyphen, and his articles have appeared in the Chicago Reader, and online at The Smirking Chimp, Buzzflash, and American Politics Journal.  He is a Certified Story Workshop Master Teacher.  He served as an Oak Park Library board Trustee from 2009-2013.

On April 26th, we are thrilled to have The OuttaSpace Ensemble as our featured performer. They are an improv group that meets weekly at OuttaSpace in Berwyn.  A core group of 6 players (sometimes more), hones "acting without scripts" in various long form improv formats.  With the understanding that improv doesn't have to be funny to entertain, the players focus on connecting with the audience through audience input and character development to tell a darn good story!

On May 31st, we'll be all about Rockin' the Open Mic (er, podium)! We look forward to celebrating your yet-to-be-published stories, experimental music, recently choreographed dances, trial comedy, and so much more.

All of our events begin at 6:30 pm on the last Thursday of the month unless otherwise noted. They all take place at the 
Maze Branch of the Oak Park Library 
in the Meeting room  

845 Gunderson Ave., Oak Park, IL 60304

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.)

           

July 27th: Summer Fun!

July's No Shush Salon took on the air of an actual salon rather than performance. It was fun to gather in a circle and talk about writing, art, and life! There were still readings - we had a poem, a short story, a novel chapter, a bit of a novella, and another novelesque piece of writing. 

At the end of August, we will have:

an all female comedy troupe that will leave you laughing and thinking!

Followed by our Open Mic.

Thursday August 31st

6:30-8:45pm

Oak Park Library - Maze Branch

845 Gunderson Ave., Oak Park, IL 60304

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!

The No Shush Salon Presents: Aeverling

JUNE 29th, 2017, 6:30-8:45 pm

AEVERLING

Half an hour of music followed by an Open Mic

(with goodies to eat on the side)

At the Maze Branch of the Oak Park Public Library

845 Gunderson Ave., Oak Park, IL 60304

Aeverling is an acoustic folk-rock trio made up of Lorinda Guenther-Wright, Juanita Rea, and Gary Guenther-Wright. They play a mix of original music and cover songs crafted from a rich blend of vocal harmonies and complex musical arrangements. Influences for this unique band range from Indigo Girls to Fleetwood Mac to James Taylor. Aeverling will put on a show with a little something for everyone, and they look forward to sharing their passion for music with you.

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!

Nobody Shushes the Salon! X2

April 13th - Owen Patterson

This is the event that got flooded. But even with the rescheduling, we had a great time!

Owen read from his book, The Dis-Condition of Ease, that explored life through short vignettes that asked about living up to a name, how great calamities befall humanity, and miracles in the everyday.

Oak Park Library's own Larry Nance was there and read his poem “Brother Tim” about the intersection of oppression and Tim who spoke of social justice in a way that spoke to the young Larry. I read from my short story “Lobster Girl” about a young girl and her father and what happens when a child’s desire translates to magic. (It’s going to be published May 15th!)  

We had a few folks who had never been to our even show up halfway through. Owen read a much lighter story that made everyone laugh about a student who had no patience and discovered by experience the importance of following the chain of command.

April 27th - Iztac Metztli

Iztac is a spoken word poet as well as a short story writer who is a former student of mine. She has grown into an amazing woman! She first read her short story, “The Old Man, The Ocean, and the Bird”, a magical realism story about a man losing his wife and discovering the flight of birds with the help of the ocean. Then she read some of her spoken word poetry - “White Bitch” was about being born here but being Mexican and knowing the soil from which her grandmothers sprang. “I Am, I Is” tackled the prejudice that comes from of how language is perceived. “In Between” dealt with her identity as a Mexican American born in a Puerto Rican neighborhood. “In the Seat of Suffering”, she explored Chicago’s response, or lack thereof, to gang violence and how these are our children with expiration dates.  “I Ain’t Hip-Hop” was about growing up in the shadow of older brothers in the Hip-Hop scene. “My Grandmother is a Candle” was about her grandmother Vella who taught her the art of ancient navigation and whose candle may flicker but always burns bright.

For our Open Mic, we had Mike reading his short story, “The Ancient Eyes of Sady French” about a murder that may or may not have been perpetuated by a parrot. Alex read from his novellla, “The World River Flows Where it Will” where two characters were looking for a place in an alien world where being human didn’t make them the lowest of the low. I read my poem, “We Were Never Mermaids” about my sister who has a brain injury and how her life affects the entire family. Sheila read, “Not For You”, a story about ghosts walking on halloween night and what to do when you are the lighthouse for the dead but one of the dead is an asshole. Ed read about how he wanted to write a serial, “In the Shadows of Giants” that sipped expensive marshmallows and his poem, “Homework oh Homework” about the terrible choices homework provides.

Our Next No Shush Salon is Thursday, May 25th a 6:30 pm, with Logan Lu!

TWO No Shush Salon's in the SAME MONTH??? HECK YEAH!!!

April's second featured reader is Iztac Metztli. 

April 27th, 6:30 PM - 8:45 PM

Oak Park Public Library Maze Branch - 845 Gunderson Ave, Oak Park, Illinois 60304

Iztac Metztli is social Justice advocate, Youth Worker, Spoken Word Poet, Buddhist, Seeker of self, Cultivator of Compassion and believes in using writing as a tool for breaking barricades, voicing our passions, healing our traumas & sharing a part of ourselves that too often remains hidden.
She also believes in leaving room for laughter, love, silliness, and gratitude.

We have 10 minutes for anyone who wants to present their latest creative endeavor. Treats to share are awesome, but we will provide munchies. Spectators are welcome and appreciated!

The No Shush Salon is a monthly Open Mic for all creative types who what to share their works-in-progress or newly finished endeavors. We often begin with a featured performer / reader or we have a theme. No registration required, just drop in and share your talents!

Can't make it? Follow us through our blog: noshushsalon.blogspot.com and like us on Facebook: No Shush Salon

April 13th, Presenting Owen Patterson (Take 2!)

Thursday, April 13, 2017 - 6:30pm to 8:45pm

Oak Park Library - Maze Branch

845 Gunderson Ave, Oak Park, Illinois 60304

Owen Patterson, a native Chicagoan, is this month's featured reader. He will be reading from his book, The Dis-Condition of Ease. To learn more about Owen and his book, check him out here: https://booklife.com/profile/owen-patterson-14779

We have 10 minutes for anyone who wants to present their latest creative endeavor. Treats to share are awesome, but we will provide munchies. Spectators are welcome and appreciated!

The No Shush Salon is a monthly Open Mic for all creative types who what to share their works-in-progress or newly finished endeavors. We often begin with a featured performer / reader or we have a theme. No registration required, just drop in and share your talents!

Can't make it? Follow us through our blog: noshushsalon.blogspot.com and like us on Facebook: No Shush Salon