neutron bomb: punk rock writing

NEUTRON BOMB IS DEAD/LONG LIVE NEUTRON BOMB

Sat, 04 Aug 2012 12:03:00 -0400

Drawing by Robert Gooden, courtesy of the Googleheim Museum.

My girlfriend Sharon and I stopped at a bookstore on the way to the June 23 Neutron Bomb. We were less than a week from a trip to Ireland, and I bought a thrift edition of “Dubliners” by James Joyce, wanting to give his writing a try while in his home country. I’d read a couple of Joyce’s short stories in class, and they’d bored the pants off of me.

Me and my Neutron Bomb cohosts Benny Kumming and Maggie Ritchie bonded over a mutual dislike of Joyce while in the Fiction Writing grad program at Columbia College Chicago. “James Joyce Sucks” became our unofficial slogan as we planned readings, Joyce standing in as the stuffy, self-indulgent and tedious literary prick that we were kicking against.

I felt almost guilty buying “Dubliners” on the way to one of our events, and stashed the paperback on the passenger-side floor of Sharon’s car, tucking it away like a teen might do to a pack of smokes, just hidden enough to avoid easy detection, but not so buried that it would be clear that it was contraband. I’ll risk ridicule, or being grounded, to prove that I do what I want.

From a planning standpoint, the event was a nightmare. When we got to Cal’s, it was locked because the owner Mike had forgot his keys. One reader canceled due to illness. Our musical act was at an uncle’s funeral. Even though we’d promoted it a bunch because we had a reading by original L.A. punk Alice Bag, only about twenty people showed up.

But it all fell together. The locked doors and late start made up for a shorter bill. Everyone who came had fun, and got a good view of the show; like how realtors call a small apartment “cozy,” an underattended event is “intimate.” Still, I like flying by the seat of my pants and working with what I’ve got, and the bottom line was that I was moved by the readings that I did see, so why moan about who didn’t read or play or come to bear witness?

After Alice Bag and L.B. and Natalie Edwards ripped that shit, and goodbyes were said, Benny sat down next to me at the bar and told me that he didn’t want to do Neutron Bomb anymore. He said it was taking time that he needed for other things. He just bought a house that he’s renovating. He just got married. He’s trying to finish his novel and grad school. As I was telling him I understood, Mike from Cal’s came up and said, “Let me talk to you outside.”

Standing on the sidewalk by the window I’d seen someone nod out on the first time I came to Cal’s, Mike told me that the bar was closing at the end of summer. The building had been sold. We could still do our August show, but that would be it. Mike was looking on the upside, too. “This place needs a lot done to it. I’m gonna open a new bar, something nicer, where the bathrooms work.”

We both laughed.

In the car on the way home, I kicked at “Dubliners.” Had I jinxed myself by buying it? I wondered if I should take a cue. If hosting readings was something that was coming to an end, the way grad school had the month before, the way I’d started a new job, the way Sharon and I had got a new apartment. Was Neutron Bomb something to be relegated to a past life?

Something that I fight against, especially as I speed into my 30s, is not beating a dead horse. I don’t want to be the dude who needs to hang it up, who is clinging to a dream, Chris Rock’s “old guy at the club.” I want to age gracefully, by getting better at doing the things that I enjoy.

I like putting together events that I care about, that share two worlds that I love - independent literature and punk music - with one another. But if I fought to continue Neutron Bomb in a new venue, without one of my cohosts, would it be a busted, diminishing returns version of the original? Synthy Neutron Starship to my original, psychedelic Neutron Airplane?

I fell asleep, lulled by a heady concoction of Jameson whiskey and mediocre pizza. When I woke up the next morning, the first thought in my mind was, “Find a new place, maybe think of a new name, but keep putting together readings that you want to see. There’s no need to stop. Just don’t expect things to be the same.”

I nodded and opened “Dubliners.” The first story was like a fingernail, opaque and dry. I set the book down but, Joyce had worked his way into my head, a taunt to be responded to. Over the weeks, I got this urge to read his super-complicated novel “Ulysses” and picked up a copy. When something stops working, you’ve got to go on to the next.

- Chris L. Terry

The last Neutron Bomb will be on Saturday, August 18, from 7-9pm at Cal’s Liquors (400 S. Wells St., corner of Van Buren). Co-hosted by Cool Dad. Readings by Jim Joyce (not James Joyce) of “Or Let It Sink” zine and Dan Terrill from Guns.com. Comedy by James Cardis. Music by Krayola. As always, it’s free and 21+. Benny will be there.

NEUTRON BOMB PRESENTS: ALICE BAG (Reading from her memoir...

Wed, 13 Jun 2012 23:45:00 -0400

NEUTRON BOMB PRESENTS:

ALICE BAG (Reading from her memoir “Violence Girl”)

LB (Truckface Zine, The Ovens)

NATALIE EDWARDS

CYN VARGAS

Music by:

ANNIE from THIS IS MY FIST

SAT. 6/23 - 7-9PM

CAL’S - 400 S WELLS

CHICAGO

21+

BRING $ TO BUY ALICE’S BOOK

FACEBOOK EVENT PAGE

ALSO GO TO ALICE’S AFTERNOON EVENT IN PILSEN

Here’s Little Dave Merriman of The Arrivals playing...

Sun, 15 Apr 2012 20:24:53 -0400

Here’s Little Dave Merriman of The Arrivals playing “The Power Won’t Be Staying On For Long” off the “Volatile Molotov” LP at the 4/14 Neutron Bomb.

*Video rotates after 3 seconds*

NEUTRON BOMB SAT. 4/14, 7-9PM FREE, 21+ CAL’S...

Mon, 02 Apr 2012 15:59:00 -0400

NEUTRON BOMB

SAT. 4/14, 7-9PM

FREE, 21+

CAL’S LIQUORS

400 S. WELLS

CORNER OF VAN BUREN

READERS:

KIM MORRIS / REBECCA LYON / WYATT ROEDIGER-ROBINETTE / JILL WESTERFELHAUS

MUSIC AND STORIES BY LITTLE DAVE MERRIMAN OF THE ARRIVALS

New Herring Press is a Brooklyn micropress who are cosponsoring...

Mon, 27 Feb 2012 17:14:00 -0500

New Herring Press is a Brooklyn micropress who are cosponsoring the special AWP Neutron Bomb on 3/2.

Facebook invite.

chris heavener...

Mon, 27 Feb 2012 17:07:00 -0500

…is Editor in Chief of the lit journal Annalemma.

…had a story called “Omens” in PANK.

…is reading at the 3/2 AWP Neutron Bomb.

NEUTRON BOMB 3/2 FACEBOOK INVITE

sara marcus...

Mon, 27 Feb 2012 17:03:00 -0500

…wrote “Girls to the Front: The true story of the riot grrrl revolution.”

…teaches at girls’ rock camps.

…plays the drums like a maniac.

…co-edits New Herring Press.

…is reading at the special AWP Neutron Bomb on 3/2.

NEUTRON BOMB 3/2 FACEBOOK INVITE

NEUTRON BOMB SPECIAL AWP EDITION COHOSTED BY NEW HERRING...

Mon, 27 Feb 2012 16:52:00 -0500

NEUTRON BOMB

SPECIAL AWP EDITION

COHOSTED BY NEW HERRING PRESS

FRIDAY, MARCH 2. 9-11:30PM

CAL’S LIQUORS, 400 S. WELLS (CORNER OF VAN BUREN)

FREE, 21+

FACEBOOK INVITE.

READERS:

SARA MARCUS (Author of “Girls to the Front: The true story of the riot grrrl revolution, New Herring Press co-editor”)

CHRIS HEAVENER (Editor of Annalemma)

KURT KENNEDY (Krunchy)

JESS ARNDT (NHP co-editor)

JASON DANIEL SCHWARTZ (NHP co-editor)

MUSIC BY DJ COLIN

3.2: special awp neutron bomb w/new herring press

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 23:04:44 -0500

NEUTRON BOMB

SPECIAL AWP EDITION

COHOSTED BY NEW HERRING PRESS

FRIDAY, MARCH 2. 9-11:30PM

CAL’S LIQUORS, 400 S. WELLS (CORNER OF VAN BUREN)

FREE, 21+

READERS:

SARA MARCUS (Author of “Girls to the Front: The true story of the riot grrrl revolution”)

CHRIS HEAVENER (Editor of Annalemma)

KURT KENNEDY (Krunchy)

+ MORE TBA

MUSIC BY DJ COLIN

the ovens are...

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 22:56:00 -0500

…a noisy, feminist, two-piece punk band who will be musical guest at the February 11 Neutron Bomb punk rock writing extravaganza.

Stream “Trouble Lasts an Hour.”

Gaze happily at their Facebook.

ben tanzer is...

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 22:53:00 -0500

…one of the nicer guys you could meet, and that might not strike you as terribly punk, but being nice is actually one of the punkest things you can do. And he’s reading at the February 11 Neutron Bomb.

Here’s Ben’s story “Smiling to Himself” on the Atticus Books site.

kayla sargeson is...

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 22:45:00 -0500

…punk as shit and she’s reading at the February 11th Neutron Bomb at Cal’s.

Here’s her poem “I Met Ozzy Osbourne Last Night,” published by Phantom Limb Press.

NEUTRON BOMB 2.11

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 22:42:29 -0500

Aaaaand we’re back!

Come to Neutron Bomb this Saturday!

2/11, 7-9pm

Cal’s Liquors (400 S. Wells)

READERS:
BEN TANZER (Author of “You Can Make Him Like You,” http://bentanzer.blogspot.com/)
KAM OI LEE (97-Shiki)
KAYLA SARGESON (Poet)
FRANK MANZANO (The poetry-writin’ doorguy from Cal’s)
Kickoff reading by co-host BENNY KUMMING

MUSIC:
THE OVENS (Noisy feminist two-piece: http://www.facebook.com/theovens)

NEXT NEUTRON BOMBS:
Fri. 3/2 (AWP Special, cohosted by New Herring Press) Sara Marcus, Chris Heavener, Kurt Kennedy and more. Music by DJ Colin.
Sat. 4/14 - Kim Morris, Music and stories by Little Dave Merriman (The Arrivals)

Eliza Fogel is a Fiction Writing grad student at Columbia...

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 16:28:03 -0500

Eliza Fogel is a Fiction Writing grad student at Columbia College and she will be ripping it up at the 12/17 Neutron Bomb (7-9pm Sat., Cal’s). Here she is reading “Godzilla Vs. Sweden” on Vocalo radio.

We are pleased to announce that Patty McNair will be reading at...

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 16:23:36 -0500

We are pleased to announce that Patty McNair will be reading at the 12/17 Neutron Bomb (7-9pm Sat. at Cal’s). Patty is full-time grad faculty in Columbia College Chicago’s Fiction Writing department. Read our homey Leah Tallon’s review of Patty’s new book, “The Temple of Air,” on The Nervous Breakdown.

Quickies co-host Lindsay Hunter is reading at the 12/17 Neutron...

Sun, 11 Dec 2011 17:18:15 -0500

Quickies co-host Lindsay Hunter is reading at the 12/17 Neutron Bomb (Saturday, 7-9pm at Cal’s Liquors). Check out Featherproof’s free minibook of her short story “My Brother.”

Daylight Robbery are playing the 12/17 Neutron Bomb (7-9pm at...

Sun, 11 Dec 2011 16:05:23 -0500

Daylight Robbery are playing the 12/17 Neutron Bomb (7-9pm at Cal’s Liquors). I think they sound like X meets The B-52s. Here’s “White Sheets in the Street” off their LP “Through the Confusion” on Residue Records.

ctwashere: Co-hosting this on Saturday 12/17 at Cal’s from...

Sun, 11 Dec 2011 15:52:07 -0500

ctwashere:

Co-hosting this on Saturday 12/17 at Cal’s from 7-9pm.

READERS:

Lindsay Hunter (http://www.featherproof.com/Mambo/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=272)

Patty McNair (CCC Fiction Writing Faculty, author of “Temple of Air” http://patriciaannmcnair.com/)
…
Dave Roche (On Subbing Zine: http://microcosmpublishing.com/catalog/title/1010/)

Eliza Fogel (CCC Fiction Writing grad student, http://www.vocalo.org/node/61664)

MUSIC:
Daylight Robbery (Chicago male/female new wave punk, like X meets B-52s http://daylightrobberychicago.blogspot.com/)

neutronbombchicago.tumblr.com

FREE, 21+

Jason Frederick of Cool Devices - Back II Cool: 9/10

Sat, 03 Sep 2011 18:33:28 -0400

Jason Frederick of Cool Devices - Back II Cool: 9/10:

Jason Frederick of Cool Devices will be playing a solo set at the 9/10 Neutron Bomb. Click through to stream Cool Devices’ EP.

Jessie Morrison - Back II Cool: 9/10

Sat, 03 Sep 2011 16:49:00 -0400

Jessie Morrison - Back II Cool: 9/10:

Jessie Morrison is a bad bitch. Come see her read at the 9/10 Neutron Bomb. Here’s her story “The Carnival at Bray,” from the 2010 Chicago Reader fiction issue. For more of her insights, check out her Writer’s Digest blog MFA Confidential.