Dear people of superhuman love,

You must realize that the wait is nearly over – it’s almost time for
Spoutstock. We quiver.

For newcomers, Spoutstock is our annual fundraiser/cover song
contest/good-time party. We get some of our favorite local rock stars
to come down to the cool, thirsty basement of Mario’s Keller Bar and
compete for your approval by playing a cover song.
It’s such a guaranteed good time.

This year’s action will commence on Thursday, July 28, at 8:30. The
location: Mario’s Keller Bar, 2300 University Avenue NE in Minneapolis(lower level of the Gasthof).

Our panel of celebrity judges is set:
Lori Barbero (Babes in Toyland)
Jacquie Fuller (host of 89.3’s “Teenage Kicks”)
Peter Scholtes (City Pages music writer and beyond)

Sure they are high-powered scenesters and they will decide the judges’ award – but only your votes can bestow the legendary ‘audience choice’ trophy to some lucky rock star. This year’s contestants include members of Nice Purse, The Fontanelles, Pilla, and Long Straight Forever plus Little Man, Paul Metsa, Jerome Mayne, Natalie Lovejoy and more secret big-time players.

We only have one fundraiser a year, and this is it. All you have to do
is come on down, listen to some music and enter visionary space. With your help we can publish more local authors and create more local events. Spout Press is a collective – no one gets paid and we fight corporate tyranny by having no bosses. Don’t you want that?

It’s our ninth-annual Spoutstock, so trust us, we know what we’re
doing. We’ve seen many amazing covers over the years – Bjork to Otis Redding, Willie Nelson to the Misfits, Outkast to Burt Bacharach. It could be anything. And new this year – the Spout Press ‘draw our cover’ competition. You can draw the next cover of Spout Magazine! Materials provided. Plus we reveal the winner of last year’s Spoutstock poetry contest, and you can get a first look at our latest book – Blink Again: Sudden Fiction from the Upper Midwest.
Dancing time will follow the contest.

All this for 7 bucks? It’s grassroots arts activism. For one night,
let’s set aside our partisan differences. No shutdown at Spout Press –
we’re here, we’re ready.

Livin’ easy, livin’ free.

In loving, enthralled solidarity,

Spout Press