3ibooks has its kiosk just inside the entrance of 2515 N. Milwuakee Ave. The building is a converted roofing contractor's warehouse. Inside it's bloody hot, the lighting and ventilation are poor at best, and the cracked concrete floor is murder on the feet and it has a permanent layer of dust. But the flow of interesting people is nonstop, and we are right next to LSLR: -- The Logan Square Literary Review. This is a very high quality journal "hand crafted in Logan Square" -- www.loganliterary.com -- and edited by a triumvirate of Eleanor Black, Patrick Dahl, and Daniel Majid. There is a definite synergy to both our approaches to all-things-local literature, and I definitely think we will be collaborating on some projects together in the future.
One of the exhibits just behind our table is LSLR's showcase of MILWAUKEE AVENUE: THE MILLENNIAL SHIFT. This is a fascinating display of artwork, posters, photographs, broadsides, advertisements, rock concert handouts, circulars going way back, and these super-cool venue flyers for current places doing great work up and down the avenue. Young Chicago Authors at 1180 N Milwaukee is one notable organization that used to have a home on W Division Street, and was referred to me by past 1st Ward alderman Manny Flores. They sponsor the largest youth poetry festival in the city, the latest event being called Louder than a Bomb.
I met up with a very vivacious young woman named Katie Palmer, an actress who has come to Chicago by way of Orlando, FL. She originally hails from Connecticut, and she is involved with one of the venues featured in the Milwaukee Avenue showcase, the Gorilla Tango Theater at 1919 N Milwaukee Avenue -- http://www.gorillatango.com/ -- and Ms. Palmer is starring in a current stage version of the classic film THE OMEGA MAN. Ms. Palmer told me it was a burlesque, and being billed as a Hestonian Opera, in honor of screen actor Charlton Heston. I'm partial to THE TEN COMMANDMENTS and SOILENT GREEN myself, but I always dug Omega Man too. I really enjoyed talking to Ms. Palmer and her boyfriend, and I think this play might be worth checking out.
We are here in this outside-the-box venue as guests of Any Squared 2328 N Milwaukee Avenue. This is an art collective that grew out of the ashes of ARTillary, and they put on art shows such as this one in places that don't normally do them. They did an amazing job with it. There is a deejay spinning disks, real vinyl, and innovative sound performance artists coming in at regular intervals, and some really cool exhibits. The one that caught my eye was LOSS OF SPACE from the Espacio Perdido Gallery, curated by Abdi Y. Maya & Eliazabeth Farias. I had a chance to talk to Liz and went through some of the pieces from the show, a mixture of paintings, lithographs, photos, and multimedia collage. One set of photographs that was really arresting were ones by local photographer Luis Hernandez. He has this Indian Muse character, really photogenic, who inhabits three different settings. It draws the viewer in and makes you want more information.
All in all, Saturday at the Art Festival was fun and productive.
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