So Emotional

FRI 10/28
Jaimie Warren’s photographic diptychs and triptychs examine life through creative juxtaposition, in combinations of unwashed plates and expressions of despair — or cigarettes and sheep. Expect a similar mishmash of activity from her Special XXX Emotional Event, scheduled from 6 to 9 p.m. Friday at the Telephone Booth Gallery (3319 Troost). Warren knows what she’s doing, having put on 14 similar bazaars. This Halloween-themed event boasts pie throwing, face painting, games and performance art in a cemetery setting. Five bands — Witch and Hare, Bloody V and the Sutures, Y Not, Don’t Tell Pope, and Tina Peepee — take the stage, covering extreme goth and spoken-word comedy. Warren offers a musical style she calls “poetica” — part poetry, part erotica. Visitors can also check out the Haunted Troost Minivan. The festivities take place in the lot next to the gallery and mark the end of Warren’s exhibit Don’t Try Not to Be Me. Just Be Yourself. Check out her show inside until 8 p.m.; call 816-582-9812 or see www.telephoneboothgallery.com for details. — Libby Page

Team America

Lawrence enters the journal world.

SAT 10/29
The success of Dave Eggers’ consistently wonderful McSweeney’s has prompted other literary journals to make humor a priority. It also has inspired do-it-yourselfers to have a go at their own modest publications. Lawrence’s Johnny America — dedicated to “short fiction, humor and other miscellany,” according to co-editor Jonathan Holley — is one such periodical. It owes a certain debt to the staggering genius of Eggers, to be sure, but that doesn’t make its pop-culture dissertations or short narratives any less enjoyable. This Saturday, the Moon Rabbit Drinking Club and Benevolence Society (a Kansas nonprofit that supports unusual or small-run text works) sponsors a get-together to celebrate the third issue at the Bourgeois Pig in Lawrence (6 East Ninth Street). The latest contains an essay on magic, a short story about competitive-crossword-puzzle enthusiasts and reviews of Halloween records. Drop by between 6 and 9 p.m.; admission is free, but pick up the ‘zine for $4. — David Hudnall

Aye Times
Pirates of the Midwest, wanna look for some booty?

FRI 10/28
We missed this year’s Talk Like a Pirate Day (it was September 19). But we visited the organizers’ Web site (www.talklikea pirate.com) for pickup lines to use at Friday’s Tribute Bands and Pirates party at the Brick (1727 McGee, 816-421-1634). It kicks off the bar’s six-year-anniversary weekend. We plan to wrap ourselves in a Jolly Roger and try out “Come show me how ye bury yer treasure, lad!” Prizes (and free admission) reward the costumed. The ever-energetic KC5 channels the MC5, Rat Salad covers Black Sabbath, and Blood Feast fronts like they’re the Misfits. Yaaargh! — Rebecca Braverman