This is the first event in a new monthly series at Green Lantern Gallery in Chicago (2542 W. Chicago Ave.). It’s free. Performing on the 11th:

Halle Butler was born and raised in Bloomington, Illinois, where a noticeable percent of the streets and monuments are dedicated to her forebears.  She has a BFA from SAIC and currently works for a gastroenterologist.

Aurora Tabar sat down to write a conventional bio but it ended up sounding stupid and boastful. Mostly she wants to say that she is interested in movement, healing, repetition, home, history, community, discomfort, meditation, stillness, and slowing down. She is exploring the connections between these things and sharing her findings with others. Her current project, a collaboration with Sara Zalek, is called HUG. The two hug continuously for an hour every week in downtown Chicago to promote physical affection and healing through touch. Also it’s fun. You can read about their hug adventures here. Hug on.

…And while she’s too modest to admit it, Aurora’s also a founding member of the classic rock ensemble BoneCrusher:

Robbie Q. Telfer is the co-founder and curator for the Encyclopedia Show, a live literary variety show being staged independently in over 10 cities around the world.  He’s been in two documentaries (from HBO and Siskel and Jacobs) for his work at Young Chicago Authors where he organizes the world’s largest team poetry slam for youth called Louder Than A Bomb.  He’s written on two video games, is the poetry correspondent for TimeOut Chicago, and in 2007 was an individual finalist at the National Poetry Slam.

…Super R-Type as a series will explore “word-based art.” In particular I want to invite artists who work with words but who rarely get invited to more traditional reading series: painters, sculptors, paper and book artists, textile artists, printers, musicians, actors, playwrights, lecturers, stand-up comedians, improv and sketch comedians, cartoonists, comics artists, performance artists, walking artists, talking artists, martial artists, yogis, massage therapists, athletes, movement-based artists, dancers, acrobats, clowns, jugglers, mimes, puppeteers, conceptual artists, film- and video-makers, and so on and on, including also the unclassifiable. And there will also be poets and Slam poets and storytellers and fiction-writers and memoirists and biographers, etc.; it’ll be a mix. The idea is that, at each event, you’ll see/hear/experience three very different word-based performances, from three very different artists who are working with words in different ways. (The December event will feature a comics artist, a conceptual/visual artist, and a walking artist.)

As for this first event, I don’t entirely know what Halle, Aurora, and Robbie are going to do, although Aurora did mention delivering a lecture on hugging, and there will probably be some hugging. But we’ll see! I’ll be sure to document it, plus each future event, and present reports here at Big Other. Until then, for those who can make it to Green Lantern on the 11th (Armistice Day!), I’ll hope to see you there!