Friday 24
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Walter Benjamin: Marxist Moses, an evening of readings and discussion of literary critic and philosopher Walter Benjamin, celebrates a man who is now considered one of the 20th century’s most influential thinkers. An acclaimed journalist and critic, Benjamin was driven out of Germany by the Nazis; he turned to academics in France, but committed suicide while on the run from the gestapo in 1940. Tonight’s reading of his work is an event Benjamin might have approved of. He believed that language creates our reality, and he had an inordinate fondness for quotations: “The ideal piece of criticism was in his eyes a mosaic of quotations,” writes J.G. Merquior. The featured readers at this Guild Complex event are playwright Warren Lemming, poet George Drury, and the Reader’s own Jerry Sullivan. It all starts at 6:30 at HotHouse, 1565 N. Milwaukee. It’s $4. Call 278-2210.
You can check out a large selection of art from behind bars at a daylong show of work from inmates of the state’s prisons today. There’s no word whether any celebrity felons will be participating, but more than a thousand works from less-celebrated losers will be up for sale from noon to 5 today at the Jessie “Ma” Houston Park, at 50th and Cottage Grove. (Today’s the park’s rededication ceremony as well.) Prices range from $3 to $300, with the proceeds going to the artists, less a 10-percent gallery fee. It’s free to go look; call Jeffrey Whitfield at 815-727-3607 for more.
A comely array of bachelors and bachelorettes and an equally attractive spread of date destinations will be on the block tonight at Stop AIDS Chicago’s Cruising for a Dreamdate benefit auction. The remarkable Alexandra Billings (currently wowing ’em in Cannibal Cheerleaders on Crack) will man the podium, taking bids for hot dates to restaurants like L’Escargot and Wishbone and theaters like the Goodman and Second City. It all begins at 7 tonight at the Vortex Night Club, 3631 N. Halsted. The $15 ticket gets you Billings, comedian Lori Noelle, a buffet from Bella Vista, and an open bar from 7 to 9. The auction starts at 8:30. Call 871-3300 for more.
Wednesday 29
The nagging guilt we’ve been feeling lately–it’s hard to explain, but it has to do with our having contributed to society’s neglect of the art of the business card–has been greatly eased by the news that a massive display from the Business Card Archives’ 35-million-strong card depository opens today in Chicago. Yes, that’s 35 million different business cards, representing everything from the Arizona Ostrich Farmers to Submarine Combat Systems and from the Surfers Hall of Fame to the JFK Assassination Information Center. Curator of this important collection–“the world’s only archives for preserving business cards for posterity”–is Iowa’s Walter Day, who’s in town for the conference of the National Association of Quick Printers, at the downtown Hyatt Regency, 151 E. Wacker, through Saturday. Day will show thousands of samples from his collection at a booth in the conference’s trade show, open today and Friday from noon to 6 and Saturday from 10 to 4. Admission is $10. Call 644-6610.
