Whether it's out of genuine love for the Funk or the result of New Years resolutions, our January show is always packed to the gills! And what a great show it was! Christopher Sweet started us off with an excerpt from his novel about a boy just trying to make sense of mid-century America... and who is also a balloon. Next up, Chuck Sudo read a strange-but-true story of his childhood spent scamming Columbia House Records and mingling with religious zealots. Then co-host Eden Robins, in a little switcheroo, read some haiku, and Lori Rader-Day closed out the half with an excerpt from her new novel Little Pretty Things, a mystery set in a roadside motel in northern Indiana.

Whodunit? Well, if you're asking about pouring beer, the answer is Jason, our bartender!

After intermission, co-host Andrew Huff read a micro-essay about being part of Gen X... an article he had written in 1996. Then Robert O'Connor told a story about a four-day, many-hundreds of miles trip he took for a piano audition at Oberlin. Finally, Mare Swallow gave a multi-media presentation all about the many benefits of the celebrity crush.

Don't give up those resolutions now! We're going to have another show - Tuesday Funk #90 (!!) on February 2. See you there!

Lori Rader-Day's debut mystery, The Black Hour, won the 2014 Anthony Award for Best First Novel and was a finalist for the Mary Higgins Clark Award, as well as Barry and Macavity awards. Her second novel, Little Pretty Things, received a starred review from Booklist and was named a 2015 "most arresting crime novel" by Kirkus Reviews. Lori's short fiction has appeared in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, Time Out Chicago, Good Housekeeping, and others. Lori lives in Chicago, where she teaches mystery writing at StoryStudio Chicago and is the brand new president of the Midwest chapter of the Mystery Writers of America.

Please join Lori and all our amazing readers on Tuesday, January 5, 2016, upstairs at Hopleaf at 7:30 pm. This 21-and-older event is free.

Chuck Sudo spends his days making commercial real estate sound sexy as the Chicago reporter for Bisnow.com. A former editor-in-chief at Chicagoist, Chuck's reporting and criticism has appeared in nearly every major local publication. As a performer, he's read his work at That's All She Wrote, The Paper Machete, The Frunchroom, CHIRP Radio's "The First Time" and Story Sessions.

Please join Chuck and all our amazing readers on Tuesday, January 5, 2016, upstairs at Hopleaf at 7:30 pm. This 21-and-older event is free.

Mare Swallow is an essayist, public speaking coach, and director of the Chicago Writers Conference. She reads her essays and tells stories at events like "Is This a Thing?", Story Lab, This Much is True, Story Club, and Tuesday Funk. She enjoys high-quality gin and loves living in Chicago.

Please join Mare and all our amazing readers on Tuesday, January 5, 2016, upstairs at Hopleaf at 7:30 pm. This 21-and-older event is free.

Robert O'Connor is a writer and editor in Chicago, who has edited books for the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography and magazines for the Public Media Institute. His work has been published in Mash Tun, Proximity, the Lumpen Times, Spike, 3:AM and Gapers Block. His book Hiroshima, Nagasaki, An Illustrated History, Anthology and Guide from Odyssey Publications came out last year and he just finished an intensive design course at the Startup Institute. He's looking for a more stable gig.

Please join Robert and all our amazing readers on Tuesday, January 5, 2016, upstairs at Hopleaf at 7:30 pm. This 21-and-older event is free.

At our December show, artist, writer and past Tuesday Funk guest Dmitry Samarov attended and gave us a gift -- sketches of all the readers -- Clayton Smith, Gint Aras, Britt Julious, Bill Savage and James Gordon.

Keep reading—there’s more!

Christopher Sweet spent virtually his entire working life cunningly disguised as a high school English teacher in the Chicago suburbs. He blogs irregularly at Chicago Now, "Truth and Absurdity Spotting in Chicago," under his boyhood nickname, Kit.

Please join Christopher and all our amazing readers on Tuesday, January 5, 2016, upstairs at Hopleaf at 7:30 pm. This 21-and-older event is free.

The Dec. 8 edition of Tuesday Funk saw a collection of topical haiku from co-host Andrew Huff that touched a nerve.

Turkey's sleeping potion,
5-hydroxy tryptophan,
is five syllables.

Fourten months before
we learned what really happened
to Laquan McDonald.

His killer, a cop,
is already out on bond, days
after his arrest.

McCarthy is out,
but what about the officers
who lied on reports?

Rahm and Alvarez
can't be fired. You can vote one
out on March 15.

It's a new year soon -- refresh and look ahead to 2016 with for your favorite eclectic monthly reading series! We'll be back in the upstairs lounge at Hopleaf, 5148 N. Clark St., on Tuesday, Jan. 5 with guests Christopher Sweet, Robert O'Connor, Mare Swallow, Lori Rader-Day and Chuck Sudo. Eden Robins and Andrew Huff co-host.

As usual, doors open at 7:00 pm -- no earlier, we're serious. Don't ruin it for everyone else. But do get there as close to 7 as you can, because the room fills up quickly (hence no admittance before 7). The show starts at 7:30 pm. Admission is free, but you must be 21 or older.

Don't forget to RSVP on Facebook and bring a friend. And if you're not already, become a fan so you never, ever miss an invitation to one of our readings.

Holy standing room only, Batman! This was a popular show... and for good reason! Clayton Smith started us off strong with an excerpt from his new novel Anomaly Flats, about adventure and fantastical... anomalies in rural Missouri. Next up was Gint Aras, reading from his new novel The Fugue, about secrets, neighborliness, and the displacement that comes with immigration. And Britt Julious ended the first half with a powerful essay about the fears and bodily perils of traveling around Chicago as a woman.

We swarmed Jason for drinks, and he responded admirably.

After intermission, Bill Savage read an essay about why we should stop using the classist and divisive term "dive bars," and James Gordon (aka G.P.A.) wrapped up the evening with a true story about a frightening run-in with gun violence as a young man.

It was really a stellar show, and if you missed it, then you are sorry you missed it. But you don't have to miss any more! Tuesday Funk #89 will be on Tuesday, January 5, featuring Christopher Sweet, Robert O'Connor, Mare Swallow, Lori Rader-Day, and Chuck Sudo!