an artistic paradise for lost and wayward children

Spare some change, get some change! The West Side School for the Desperate is holding its 2nd annual fundraiser show to benefit our newest & most exciting venture, Desperate Press! Beyond that, this show is also a unique opportunity for us to switch it up and bring you four of Chicago’s best and brightest talents from four different scenes. Featured sets by

PAUL KARNER – musician. You may know him as the sultry doorman of Cole’s Bar, but did you also know that Paul Karner is a prolific guitarist and activist? Karner is the frontman to Ragged Claws and the former frontman of Braille. He also is the founder of Carrefour Collaborative, a non-profit organization to benefit the young musicians of Haiti. His songs have been featured on Daytrotter and in the Fey 7” Series along such giants as Bon Iver and Thao Nguyen. Karner’s got a big heart, and an even bigger… guitar case. What did you think I was going to say?

CHRIS TERRY – fiction writer. Coming all the way from Columbia College, you may know Chris Terry as the bamf prez of the Black Student Union, but he’s also a co-founder of the Neutron Bomb punk rock reading series. Let’s see how his punk sensibilities translate to the DIY aesthetic of the West Side!

BEN CLARK – poet. Ben Clark will also be repping the wizard-like beard community of Chicago. Clark is an MFA candidate in creative writing at SAIC, the author of “Reasons to Leave the Slaughter,” and a certified Write Bloody Artist. A prolific national touring sensation, this will be Clark’s first reading back in Chicago from his stint in Texas!

KEITH ECKER – essayist. Ecker is the curator of one of Chicago’s most unique reading series, Essay Fiesta! He has a reputation for transforming the non-fiction genre into side-splitting and sagacious performance. Ecker is also a veteran of Chicago’s improv comedy scene with credentials from both Second City and Improv Olympics. Not to mention he’s an incredibly snappy dresser.

plus a sorbet of even more local talent!

If you’re still not convinced that this is going to be a mind-blowing unison of nerdy badassery, please note that by attending this event, you’ll be benefitting Desperate Press, a new small press geared for young & emerging artists. Your generosity will help fund future projects including two manuscript contests, one for poets under 30 and another for poets under 20, in addition to The Desperate Reader, an anthology of core desperado poets.

Lovers, heathens, poets and writers of all kinds – Bad News Bible Church open mic & reading series is back in 2012 featuring the extraordinary Robert Brown.

Bad News Bible Church is a monthly open-mic and reading series based out of the West Side School for the Desperate radical arts collective. Every third Saturday we bring together writers & performers from all different backgrounds to share their work and celebrate the work of a fellow community builder.

This month’s feature is poet Robert Brown. Since moving to Chicago just last year, Brown has taken the poetry scene by storm, placing 2nd overall in the Louder Than A Bomb College Indy Slam in 2011. Brown also coaches the Kansas City, MO Brave New Voices team.

$5 suggested donation, 18+. Doors are at 8pm, show at 8:30. Sign-up is limited, so show up early if you want a spot!

Bad News Bible Church open mic & reading series is BACK for volume five, featuring Stevie Edwards!

Stevie Edwards is a poet, editor, and a certified BAMF. She currently is an MFA student in Poetry at the prestigious Cornell University in Ithaca, NY. She is the founder and editor-in-chief of Muzzle Magazine (http://muzzlemagazine.com/). She is currently a Pushcart Prize nominee for her poems “Three Rachels” and “For My Brother on His Sixteenth Birthday” out of Orange Quarterly.

We are very excited to have her back at the West Side School (so excited, in fact, that her bio gets a second paragraph). From the on-set she’s been a staple at our shows and workshops, and her chapbook, “Pain Needs to Remember,” was released here in March 2011 (and which you will be able to buy from our merch table!). Her first full-length book, “Good Grief,” is set to be released by Write Bloody in March 2012. We can’t think of a more appropriate or more impressive feature to finish off BNBC’s 2011 season!

Bad News Bible Church is an open mic & reading series open to all types of performance. Doors at 8pm, show at 8:30. 18+, $5 suggested donation at the door. Please do not BYOB and support your favorite local DIY arts space!

Bad News Bible Church is BACK for volume 4, featuring 3-time Louder Than A Bomb college indy champ Jamila Woods! This event will also be an opening reception for a photo series by none other but the prolific Josh Gaines.

BNBC is a monthly worship & open mic series open to all types of performance. What do we worship, you ask? That’s easy — Satan, alcohol, and the West Syde.

Doors at 8pm, show at 8:30. 18+/ID at the door. A $5 suggested donation and a request that you do not BYOB to support your favorite local DIY arts space!

Can’t make it this time? Then FUCK YOU and come back another 3rd Saturday. We’ll still be here, and we’ll still be fun.

Two lady veterans of the performance poetry renaissance request your presence at a unique event that has been called “a literally bitch slap with white gloves” and “an empowering call to wisdom and feistiness.” One night, two poets, joined together from coast to coast for the first time to strike a punch in the heart of anyone who thinks Feminism is asleep at the wheel.

RACHEL MCKIBBENS – Author of Pink Elephant (Cypher Books) & the 2009 Women of the World Poetry Slam Champion

MINDY NETTIFEE – Author of Rise Of The Trust Fall (Write Bloody) & Director of Write Now Poets

Yes there will be gloves! Yes there will be crazy teapots! Yes there will be creative cursing! But most importantly, the show will deliver the powerful, cathartic and expectation-shattering performances these two poets are known for.

With opening performances by Kristiana Colon, Krista Franklin, Emily Rose, and Marty McConnell.

More details on the official facebook event.