Bare Bones

“Genius might be the ability to say a profound thing in a simple way.”
- Charles Bukowski

There's no RoboWriters meeting tonight because of an event at the Uptown Writer's Space. It's the first night of The First Annual Chicago Lions and Typers Festival. It's a three day festival of readings from members of the Uptown Writer's Space and special guests.

The first form of this event occurred in 1924 on Cap d'Antibe in France. The first Lions and Typers Festival (known then only as the Lions Festival) began at the beach house of Gerald and Sara Murphy. The first attendees were Pablo Picasso and his aging mother, Gertrude Stein, Bunny Williams, Cole Porter and - of course - Hemingway and Fitzgerald. The French festival included sandcastle building, boxing and cliff diving.


Brian Crowley, from the Thursday night RoboWriters Group, and I will have scenes read on Saturday night at 6:30pm with other members of our group reading the roles. Please join us.


This week is also The Eighth Annual SKALD Storytelling Competition produced by WNEP in cooperation with the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs. Tonight is the Kid's Skald and I will be checking it out. I went to the main event last year and it was very exciting. It's what's theater is all about. Strip away all the razzle-dazzle and there better be a good story under there. This is theater unplugged.


VIDIOCY - There's a short video competition in Chicago produced by Jason Chin and Jeff Griggs that's very popular among the improv/sketch crowd. Basically, the filmmakers meet and randomly pull titles out of a hat. Then they have 30 days to create a video that fits the title. I like to keep tabs on former students of mine after they leave the writing program. One of my former students, Joe Avella, created the winning video from the most recent competition.

Basically, he took everything I taught and threw it out the window.

And, it's very funny. He's the guy in the stovepipe hat.

WARNING: There is profanity in this and beaucoup buttcheekage.