Greetings Space Family!

Who said Apocalypse can't be fun? I mean even good old St. John of Patmos made these wild and wooly End Times sound like John Carptenter's once and final masterpiece. You know that one where he teams up with effects legend Ray Harryhausen and casts a digitally reconstructed Rowdy Roddy Piper as a sword-spitting, flying-horse riding Jesus?

(You know - as an aside - a trick to riding roller coasters is knowing when to let go. Artful timing on when to wave your fingers airside and let your tongue slap against your skull's back like a lovable Labrador out for a Sunday spin in a green family truckster can be a difference between a harrowing barf bus and an extended glimpse into life and sublimity.)

And, as far as Apocalypse weekends go, have we got a doozy in store for you here at everyone's favorite IBW Lodge #1!!!

Saturday, we open at 4:30pm. That gives you 30 minutes to order a beer and secure a seat before HAPPY LOBSTER FOOD TRUCK rolls up to deliver that delicious, hot & buttered lobster roll you were smart enough to PRE-ORDER at this here link. That's right, HAPPY LOBSTER FOOD TRUCK will be here Saturday, September 25th from 5-8pm. We're doing this, once again, with our friends at WineStyles Norwood Park. There will be outdoor seating and we'll have some plastic cups for you if you want to enjoy your lobster outside. Or, if you want to bring your wine glasses inside IBW Lodge #1 that's fine, too. We're just happy to have you all here forgetting about life for a minute, being funny and fun and letting your tongue slap at ye olde backside of your skulls. Lord knows, we all need it. Pre-order here.

Sunday, we're closing to public at 5pm because this SINGLE GREATEST THING IN ALL OF HISTORY is happening here at IBW Lodge #1. Your esteemed and gregarious host of DESERT ORACLE RADIO, Brother Kenneth Layne Esq., will be here at our humble IBW LODGE #1 to spread the Good News about these Bad, Bad Times... LIVE and in person. Tickets are very limited and almost gone, so, act NOW and FAST as they say.

If you aren't familiar with Desert Oracle Radio, it's about time you edumacate thyself! Desert Oracle Radio is a weekly 30-minute radio show broadcast every Friday night at midnight from Joshua Tree's 107.7 KCDZ Radio. I've described it as if William S. Burroughs and Joe Frank had a baby and that baby made a radio show about all that odd and wonderful flotsam & jetsam in our Mojave Desert. I've also heard him described as Garrison Keillor at World's End. You pick your analogy at will.

A lot of people come to IBW and think, for some reason, that we're running a Cult of some kind here. Maybe it's all these smiling faces floating about unbouyed from earthly fears. Maybe it's our general aire of Devil-May-Care as we wash our bodies and brains in lovingly crafted and delicious poisons. Or maybe it's that our website describes us as a Cult. I don't know, your guess is as good as mind.

But, I'll tell you. That whole intellectual sheep mutilation that is this 'Q' phenomenon, happening to some otherwise nice folks in our country as of late, has really given "cults" a bad name. Which is, you know, really saying something! I mean, for a population whose only real knowledge of cults includes Charlie Manson's Family, Heaven's Gate & Nexium, for somebody to come along and make that word "Cult" sound even more dubious... now that takes something. So congratulations for that. I guess?

So yeah, we're definitely not a Cult. Not like that. And definitely not like THAT.

BUT.... if we were a Cult, we'd certainly need some kind of prophet to steer our listless masses. You know, a door-to-door salesman of hard-won wisdom, gilt with solid one-liners and a general sense of purposelessness and malaise that is somehow embodied with SPIRIT and loosely knit across a bed of found sounds and etheric, atmospheric music. And he'd probably come from a desert of some kind. Most likely from our country's Wild West.

But, we're not a Cult. So we don't have anything like that. Instead, we've got Ken Layne of DESERT ORACLE RADIO and, by all my estimations, this young fella will do. Just fine.

So, why don't you JOIN US? This Sunday. Gooble Gobble, Gooble Gobble.

We'll have limited edition prints by Jason Pritchett (the talented and crispy angel who descended from Southern Illinois to paint our Lodge mural) of that image at the top fo this email, too. Screwball Press is screening them as I write this. You can buy one at our IBW LODGE #1 on Sunday and, who knows, if you're a gentleperson and polite about it, Brother Ken may even sign it for you. Maybe.

If you're into maps, here's a map that shows you where the IBW Lodge #1 is. I would recommend you use this in conjunction with a bike or feet. If you must drive to come see us, please don't park in WineStyle's parking lot. There's a ton of street parking all around us. Indulge in our glut of street parking at will.

6186 N Northwest Hwy, Chicago, IL 60631

Saturday, 4:30 - 11pm
Sunday, Noon - 5pm
Monday, 6pm - 9pm
Tuesday, 4pm - 10pm
Wednesday, 4pm - 10pm
Thursday, 4pm- 10pm
Friday, 4pm - 11pm