Outer Minds drummer, Shame That Tune cohost, author, and occasional Reader contributor Brian Costello kicks off his Tuesday night residency at the Hideout tonight. The venue’s artist residencies tend to be musical in nature, but Costello plans to mess around with the format a little.
Tonight, for example, Costello will read from his recent second novel, Losing in Gainesville, which Kevin Warwick says, “is about the universality of hanging out in an aimless existence, wedged somewhere between college graduation and 6:30 AM wake-up calls and dry-cleaned suits.” The sharped-tongue entertainer will also bust out his drum kit to cover a couple popular songs, and he’ll read from a selection of published and unpublished pieces. Among the stories on Costello’s reading list are ones about “washed-up hair metal balladeers, award-winning tire salesmen, and the strange journeys several dozen pro-choice helium balloons underwent after being launched from the parking lot of a Peoria, Illinois, Catholic School in 1983.”
On Tuesday, February 10, Costello’s bringing in his Shame That Tune cohost (and 2013 Reader People Issue subject) Abraham Levitan for a late-night version of their Friday evening variety show. The performance on Tuesday, February 17, will be a revival of “The Brian Costello Show with Brian Costello,” which ran at the Empty Bottle for five years till 2008; Tim Kinsella will play Costello’s sidekick, punk outfit the Krunchies serves as the house band, and guests include Fred Schneider of the B-52’s, who will join in via phone or Skype.
For the final night of the residency on February 24 Costello plans to rope in close to two dozen friends for a covers set—I’ll leave the rest of the details out till the end of the month draws near. If you haven’t experienced a performance of Costello’s tonight is as good a night as any to dip your feet in.