The Blues of Achilles is a set of 17 original songs composed by Joe Goodkin for guitar and vocals. It tells the story of the Iliad through the eyes of the characters: Achilles, Patroklus, Briseis, Helen, Priam, and more. The performance evokes the original oral tradition of epic bards that stretches back millennia and frames the poem in an accessible way (both musically and narratively) for modern audiences. A discussion will follow, more info at www.thebluesofachilles.com and www.joesodyssey.com

Joe Goodkin is a Chicago-based singer/songwriter with a BA in Classics from UW-Madison. He has performed his original song retellings of Homer's Odyssey and Iliad almost 500 times in all 50 US States, Canada, Greece, Italy, England, Scotland, Ireland, and The Netherlands. He has released 13 albums of original music, most recently a collection called Consolations and Desolations produced by founding Wilco drummer Ken Coomer.