We Back Baby, Two Cookie Weclomes 2013 on January 8th!

Two Cookie welcomes 2013 with a stellar line up Tues Jan 8 solidifying this as:
The Year of the Cookie.

Readers include:
Grant Reynolds (comix artist and member of Self Publishers of Chicago),
Thomas Simmons (stand-up comedian of sorts),
Collin Brennan (poet turned zinester),
Daniel Copulsky (publisher of now defunct Concisely zine),
Cyn Vargas (Columbia Fiction Writing Grad Student), and
Kevin Michael Gunderson (local poet).

As always there will be free cookies (come early to make sure you get some). Hosted by Johnny Misfit at the Hungry Brain, 2319 W. Belmont. 

Two Cookie will resume in February back on schedule, hosting readings on the 1st Tuesday of each month.

Two Cookie on Notes and Bolts Podcast

Two Cookie Mini was featured on the Notes and Bolts podcast last week. They are a record label that record a weekly podcast focusing on conversations with Chicago creatives. Past guests included Liz Mason (zinester, manager of Quimby's Bookstore, Shameless Karaoke), Ryan and Andy (HeWhoCorrupts record label), Kerry (from the Vegan Skate Blog), and countless other musicians, writers, artists, zinesters, etc.

Johnny Misfit got to site down and chat with host Kriss Stress about zines, growing up punk rock and the influence digital media has on both. We also talked about the Misfits (more than we should have).

Listen to it here streaming on their site. They also have it available on Itunes as a free download.

Last Two Cookie of 2012!

Illustration by Jaclyn Miller

Two Cookie Minimum closes out 2012 with another great lineup Tuesday December 4.

Featured readers include:
Neil Brideau (comix artist, Oh Boy Comics)
Jason Fisk (author of new book Hank and Jules)
Lisa Mrock (Columbia College Fiction Writing undergrad)
Piper Pennigan (singer of The Eternal Flames)
Rosamund Lannin (former editor of Gaper’s Block Book Club)
Elizabeth Tieri (editor-in-chief of Back to Print Publishing)
As always its hosted by Johnny Misfit.
Drop into the Hungry Brain 2319 W. Belmont at 9pm.
There will be festive cookies at the event.

See ya in 2013, the year of the Cookie!

Vote Two Cookie Minimum this Election Day Nov 6

Join Two Cookie Minimum on Election day Nov 6 with a cast of readers and some voting antics to follow.

The rub, we will have a few readers participate in a writing exercise on the spot. At the beginning of the night, readers Mason Johnson (ex P Fanatics Reading Series and Co Host of Karaoke Idol) and Matt Rowen (editor of Untoward magazine) will be given a theme chosen by the audience. They will write something to that theme be it a poem, story, creative non-fiction essay, etc.

Simultaneously, the other featured readers will take the stage including Stuart Ross (emerging writer and east coast transplant), Patrick Andrews (Columbia College Fiction Writing MFA candidate), and Hillary Stone (zinester, blogger, karaoke fanatic) .

After a brief intermission we will share what was written. The audience will vote on which piece should be chosen to win a prize of immense proportion.

Hosted by Johnny Misfit.
The Hungry Brain 2319 W. Belmont at 9pm.
There will be cookies at the event.

Dead Zine Reading Monday Oct 29

Monday October 29th Two Cookie Minimum presents a Dead Zine reading.

Featured Zinesters will read from their oldest or out of print issues, or popular zines that are out of print.

Closing the night will be touring self publishers Nate McDonough (Don't Come Back) and Daniel McCloskey (A Film About Billy). Both are resident members of Pittsburgh's Cyberpunk Apocalypse, a DIY writing project.

Dead Zinesters will include:
Lynne Monsoon (Shit I didn't Tell You)
Aaron Cynic (Diatribe)
Mairead Case (Fabulous Color)
Ben Spies (No More Coffee)

IF ARE A ZINESTER OR USED TO PUT OUT A ZINE AND WANT TO READ, EMAIL ME. THE MORE DEAD ZINES THE MERRIER.

Hosted by Johnny Misfit (I Hate Hair).

The Hungry Brain 2319 W. Belmont at 9pm.

 Donations accepted for touring readers.
There will be Halloween cookies at the event.
Flyer by Caro Griffin.

Oct Two Cookie Minimum Welcomes Special Guests Nate McDonough and Daniel McCloskey

Two Cookie took a break on the first Tuesday of Oct and returns on the 29th with special guests Nate McDonough and Daniel McCloskey on tour to promote their newest self published comics.

 

Both are members resident members of Pittsburgh's Cyberpunk Apocalypse, a DIY writing project. Nate McDonough will be supporting his work Don't Come Back while Daniel McCloskey will be supporting his work A Film About Billy. Both will present a multimedia reading of their, have copies for sale, and will be around to chat with you and share a drink. 

Other readers and surprises on the reading to come. We'll be rocking the Hungry Brain, as usual, 2319 W. Belmont 9p.

 

Mingle Part 2: Chicago in Seattle

While on the west coast, zinester Johnny Misfit and writer Jill Summers will also read in Seattle Wednesday Oct 3 at Left Bank Books 92 Pike Street. Joining them will be Seattle's Neely Bat Chestnut (half of the grrl run press Mend My Dress). If you're in the area stop on out at 7:30 and say hi!

Zinesters mingle: Chicagoans visit PDX Sept 27

 Join local and Chicago zinesters for a night of reading Thursday Sept 27. Traveling from Chicago, Johnny Misfit (Wawrzaszek) and Jill Summers will join local Portlanders Alex Wrekk and Keith Rosson.. Misfit is an organizer of Chicago Zine Fest and will be reading from his newest zine Field Manual: Human Body (released Sept 22). Summers' writing has been published in Ninth Letter, Decomp, and Monkeybicycle among others and was the winner of the 2012 Paper Darts Short Fiction Award.  Rosson is a graphic artist (who designed the flyer for the event) and writer publishing the zine Avow, whose work has appeared this year in Menda City Review and Northwind. Wrekk is a long time organizer of Portland Zine Symposium and publisher of Brainscan. Her latest venture is the opening of the Portland Button Works a store front specializing in self made buttons, magnets, zines and more. 

Readers will have zines for sale. Stick around and chat with them after the event. Stop by Portland Button Works 1322 N. Killingsworth Street, 8pm.

Two Cookie Septmeber Reading

As you can see by the lime green image, we are back. Check out the lineup this time. We got:

Lauryn Allison Lewis (author of Solo/Down), Bobby Evers, Taylor Cowan, Brelyn Gerard, and zinester Nicki Yowell. Sounds good even without the mention of free cookies. Drop on in to the Hungry Brain, 2319 W. Belmont at around 9pm on Sept 4th. We'll close out the bar, or at least till all the cookies are eaten.

flyer created by Pete DiCamillo

Two Cookie Minimum celebrates its second year on the streets Tuesday August 7th.

Readers will include:
Ben Spies (no more coffee zine),
Natalie Edwards,
L.B. (truckface zine),
Susie Kirkwood & Jill Summers (doing a shadow show),
plus more TBA.

Hosted by Johnny Misfit.
At Hungry Brain 2319 W. Belmont,  9pm.

There most definitely will be cookies. Party hats optional.

Concisely magazine Publishes Final Issue

Concisely magazine is released its final issue, #7 Summer 2012. The focus has been short prose under 500 words and it's packaged like a zine. Great run by Dan Copulsky, editor who invested his time and energy to put this out over the years. Get a copy here or look for it in selected stores in the Chicago area.

Cover art by Els Baum

The Amazoning Spyturd Man

Ok so yes, I saw this movie, i mean comic book movies are coming a long way and its about time they are getting just desserts. It was like, the 80 and 90s movies were the silver age stuff and now we are rocking. So Spyturdman, well, guess what, it was the best in the franchise thus far. Why? Good casting (Dennis Leary, Sally Field, Martin Sheen, etc) and the young kids, well they were young enough (not no toby mac who was 30 in the roll of spidey). Good CGI, actually first movie to place you in the POV of the superhero webcrawler). There was a twist on the story, but, you know, what revamp doesn't mix it up. Go see it. If you love Batman, its like that is he was a mutant minus the Sherlock Holmes shit (which the BBC series Sherlock is balls awesome).
Think the Ramones: spider man, spider man, friendly neighborhood spiderman, in his web, dah dah dah .

Toucan Cookie Minimum

Two Cookie Minimum and Toucan Literary Magazine present:

Toucan Cookie Minimum

Join the Two Cookie Minimum reading series July 3rd for a night of reading promoting the July release of the Toucan Literary Magazine.

Featured readers include:
Greg Baldino, T.W Townsend, and Nikki Dolson.

With music by Kat Kidwell.

Plus the magazines editrices Liz Baulder and Laura Rynberg will read submissions from previous issues.

Hosted by Johnny Misfit.

Arrive at the Hungry Brain 2319 W. Belmont at 9pm.
 
The toucan literary magazine, published since 2008, has made readers bust guts, sob buckets, and recoil in horror. The July issue will be its second online-only issue. The magazine, which has a focus on publishing prose and poetry, is curated by two Columbia College graduates.

With out fear, there will be cookies present and ready for consumption.

Two Cookie Minimum is back Tue June 5 with Cookies and Cake, a fundraiser for the first ever Chicago Alternative Comics Expo! Readers include: Corinne Mucha, Sara Drake, Marian Runk, Ezra Claytan Daneils and Leslie Perrine.

As always the reading will be at our home the Hungry Brain 2319 W Belmont, hosted by Johnny Misfit. Stop by at 9pm for some cookies and fingers crossed cake too! A $5 donation is asked, proceeds go to C.A.K.E!
                (flyer art by Dean Johnson)                      

Two Cookie Minimum presents Industry Night

Join industry professionals from all areas of the literary and publishing community for a night of reading Tuesday May 1st.

Featured readers include:

• Rob Duffer (freelance writer for Time Out Chicago, New City, Chicago Reader, the Examiner)
• Ben Tanzer (founder and spokesperson for This Zine Will Change Your Life inc)
• Wly Villacres (political correspondent for the Examiner)
• Sarah Dodson (executive director of MAKE magazine)
• Daniel Majid (founder and editor of the Logan Square Literary Review)
• Naomi Huffman (an editor at Newcity and Trilling magazine)

Hosted by Johnny Misfit.
Stop by Hungry Brain 2319 W. Belmont at 9pm. As usual, there will be cookies at the event.

Two Cookie and P. Fanatics Team Up!

April is bringing a classic style team up to Two Cookie (think Marvel, think Punisher and Spider man and Wolverine, which is 3 but thats a killer team up). My friend Mason at P Fanactics presented this idea a while back and after hosting Karaoke with him, I felt a bond that we needed to explore further.



So April 3rd, Two Cookie Minimum will return to the Hungry Brain 2319 W Belmont with our typical mix of zinesters and emerging writers. The cast will include: Maggie Ritchie, Laura Szumowski (zoo mouse key press), Dave Snyder, Kieth Rosson (avow zine from Milwaukee), Jill Summers, and Adam Drent.

On April 8th, P Fanatics takes over its home at Cole's Bar 2338 N. Milwaukee with an all around entertainment extravaganza. The lineup includes Lindsey Hunter, Matt Rowan, the father son duo of Fred Sasaki and Fred Sasaki, musical comedy by Rich Salamander, plus the house band Hawaiian Death Folk.

Both events will be hosted by Mason Johnson and Johnny Misfit. Plus each reading will feature the irreverent Dan Shapiro kicking things off.

We are also working on making some zines to commemorate the occasion. One will be available at each reading, so collect both.

This will go well, we promise. If not, there will be free cookies.

Two Cookie Minimum's Year One

Two Cookie Minimum reading series returns in 2012 with a lineup of readers culled from the many guests that appeared in their 2011 readings. You know, like when Batman got a revamp in Year One. Hello?

Returning readers include:
Larissa Levitan
Carrie Colpitts (my aim is true zine)
Tom Lynch
Georgi Johnson (cursive zine)
Jim Joyce (or let it sink zine)
Hosted by Johnny Misfit

Monday Jan 30th, 9pm at
Hungry Brain, 2319 W. Belmont
As usual, there will be cookies for all!