BONK III – MILWAUKEE BASED “PEZZETTINO” ADDED TO LINEUP

Racine - The 3rd event for the Racine Public Library's new "BONK!" performance series will take place on Saturday, December 20 at 6 p.m. Created to expose the public to both local and nationally recognized artistic talents, the series showcases poets, writers, musicians, film makers and all sorts of talents in between. A completely free program, this series is located in downtown Racine at the Blueberries restaurant, 418 Sixth Street, which offers food and drink to be purchased at the events.

This month's featured performances include a reading from Milwaukee poet Chuck Stebelton, the Indie/Folk music of Pezzettino, and new work from local teen artists, writers and video artists from the Main Gallery program.

Chuck Stebelton works as Literary Program Manager at Woodland Pattern Book Center. He is the author of Circulation Flowers (TougherDisguises, 2005) and Precious, an Answer Tag chapbook. Newer work appears in recent issues of Antennae, Jubilat, LVNG, Verse, and Chain 12: Facts. He recently collaborated with Cindy Loehr on Revival, "a cathedral of flame with a pre-recorded oration inside." For more information on his recently released title Circulation Flowers visit http://www.tougherdisguises.com/books.html

Milwaukee-based musician Pezzittino, is the project of singer-songwriter, Margaret Stutt. Margaret was trained in classical piano at the local convent, and is self-taught on her father's accordion. Her influences include Yann Tiersen, Sufjan Stevens, Andrew Bird, Tchaikovsky, Bach, The Avett Brothers, The Cranberries, Erykah Badu, Juliana Hatfield, Ben Folds, Sheryl Crow, and Billie Holiday. The solo debut album, "Because I Have No Control" was released in September 2008, and Margaret is touring in support of the release. Pezzettino is named after Leo Lionni's illustration book, "Pezzettino."

Main Gallery is a summer program that provides meaningful employment in the arts for young people (14-19) of Racine. The young artists work in a variety of media to create works of art that will be auctioned off at the annual Chair-i-ties fundraising event in August. All proceeds from Chair-i-ties go back into the MG program for the following summer. Started in 1995 Main Gallery is modeled after the nationally acclaimed Gallery 37 in Chicago.

Each BONK! performance features a short question and answer session with the artists. Local artists and performers are encouraged to consider sharing their talent/craft with the community via the BONK! series. For more information on how to participate please contact the organizers at http://bonkperformanceseries.wordpress.com. You may also contact the Racine Public Library at 262.619.2571 or Becky Spika at becky.spika@racinelibrary.info and Nick Demske at nick.demske@racinelibrary.info.