Hey everybody,

We have over fifty people currently signed up for this Friday evening's Creative Social Club Meetup at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA), http://www.creativesocialclub.com/calendar/12133857/, so it should be a good crowd and a great event. With so many new people joining us for the first time, I wanted to make sure we don't lose anybody in the First Friday happy hour crowd at the MCA, and so I should let you know that I will be wearing a dark gray sportscoat, a BLACK dress shirt, and (probably) jeans. (No, Henri, I will not be wearing a jester hat, but I did consider a derby.) You have my profile photos on Meetup, you know what I will be wearing, and the running joke is that you can always find me near the bar. I don't think there will be many Filipino guys with sideburns at the MCA First Friday, so everybody should be able to locate me and get together as a group. After the happy hour, I am thinking of Timothy O'Toole's Pub at 622 North Fairbanks, but that is subject to change.

You can always email me real-time at [address removed]. And if you haven't RSVPed, there is still time to join us this Friday evening!


Jester


POST SCRIPT: Announcing a new Meetup for Chicago Creative Social Club!

What: We just like to hang out: Conversation Salon NUMERO UNO

When: Friday, February 26, 2010 8:15 PM

Where:
Hungry Brain
2319 W Belmont Ave.
Chicago, IL 60618

Sometimes, we at the Creative Social Club just want to hang out, and so, with a hat tip to Camille, I introduce to you The Conversation Salon Series.

What is a "conversation salon", you ask? Although I am ashamed to cite Wikipedia, my current level of laziness overwhelms my academic standards and intellectual pride, and thus I mostly copy and paste: According to Wikipedia, "the salon was a Chinese invention of the 16th century which flourished in France throughout the 17th and 18th centuries. The word salon first appeared in France in 1664 (from the Italian word salone, itself from sala, the large reception hall of Italian mansions). One important place for the exchange of ideas was the salon, a gathering of the intellectual, social, political, and cultural elites."

In other words, a conversation salon is just a gathering of people to have an exchange of ideas about a group of topics, also known today as "hanging out". This is apparently what the French did right before their Revolution. We will commence our own "Meetup Revolution" by downing refreshments while engaging in wild (but moderated, and mostly congenial) conversation and even debate about a range of creative and intellectual topics, including but not limited to:

• Avatar: overhyped videogame on the big screen or landmark film with provocative political statement?
  
• The future of 3D media
  
• Ayn Rand: some people love her, some people hate her
  
• Who doesn't like Katy Perry?
  
• The Chicago creative scene: tales from the front
  
• Hollywood hatchet job: Alan Moore's From Hell
  
• Looking ahead to the Oscars, looking back at the year in film (movies?)
  
• Whatcha wanna do? The year ahead for the Creative Social Club
  

I will do a fair amount of moderating, along with Camille on the topic of Ayn Rand and whatever other topic she might like to lead. In general, these conversations can be very open-ended, with no defined objective in mind, but since some people may feel uncomfortable with that style of interaction, we will try to moderate the topics to some level of closure. Also, OTHER TOPICS ARE DEFINITELY WELCOME, as long as whoever suggests a given topic is willing to lead and moderate that particular discussion. (Give me your topics!) With me as Organizer, it is certainly clear that we need participation from experts and enthusiasts in music, art, food, etc., so everybody is welcome to lead.

Where are we going to have this decadent (but mostly legal) exchange of ideas? Tentatively, I am scheduling Conversation Salon NUMERO UNO at Hungry Brain in Roscoe Village (2319 West Belmont). I would characterize Hungry Brain as a cool, dark, hip, (somewhat) out-of-the-way dive with cheap beer. The negatives of Hungry Brain as a venue for us are that it is (somewhat) out of the way, at least for patrons of the Red Line like me, and that it can get a bit loud as the evening progresses. The positives are the $2.50 Pabst Blue Ribbons and $3.50 312s, which explain the gradual increase in crowd noise, I am sure. But you can get a clean glass for your beer at no extra charge and we should be able to get the cool stage lounge area if I get there early enough.

Note that I may change the date and location to accommodate some key people, including Camille and Henri, our Senior Greetings Architect and the Club's Most Valuable Player for 2009, but these details will be firmed up no later than Wednesday, February 10th. Regardless, we will have Conversation Salon NUMERO UNO at the end of February, so book it!

Relevant Web sites:
http://chicago.metromix.com/bars-and-clubs/neighborhood_bar/hungry-brain-chicago/141231/content
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salon_(gathering)

Learn more here:
http://www.creativesocialclub.com/calendar/12510487/