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Preshow party in honor of Dirk Huelstrunk
Lincoln Square, Chicago, June 13 2004
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In June 2004 I had the German sound poet Dirk Huelstrunk visit me, the co-founder of the Frankfurt poetry slam and a real help to me when I made my own book tour over there in 2003. My friends, international travelers that they all are, also took a shining to Dirk while he was here on his own first American tour, and ended up sorta adopting him into our circle of friends during his week-long stay. On Sunday, the afternoon before Dirk's feature at the Green Mill that night, my friends Garth and Dave decided to throw a barbecue for the growing amount of people planning on attending. This is just part of the crowd in this photo. Clockwise, from left: Sophie, Garth and Dave's neighbor; Mary Ann and Scott, my novelist friend and his girlfriend; Dirk; and AJ, a new friend of ours, significantly younger than the rest of us but already with a lot of international traveling experience under his belt.

Another shot of the peanut gallery.

Why yes, we did go through a lot of liquor that afternoon! Whoo man.

Dave, one of the co-hosts of the party. (That's his apartment you're seeing in the photos; Garth lives a floor above in the same building.)

Shrimp on ice, waiting for the rest of the meal to be prepared.

Garth, the other co-host of the party, manning the grill.

A special spicy type of lamb sausage, bought from a Baltic butcher in the neighborhood. Garth made us a dish he learned from his time in the former Yugoslavia.

Ah, the always sanitary conditions at a barbecue - raw meat, uncovered onions, and cigarettes!

Dave, poking his head into the refrigerator.

Dirk detailing the daily life of Frankfurter artists, to the rapt attention of Mary Ann.

On the left, Sophie catching me taking a picture.

Ah, what a fun party! Dirk's performance later that night went great, but he didn't sell a single CD. Undeterred, I took him out the next night to a couple of more down-to-earth open mics, where the audience bought every copy of his CD he brought with him.

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