Friday 9

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The Howard Brown Memorial Clinic has brought back native son Mr. Sleep, now a celebrated hip-hop DJ at New York’s Sound Factory, for a benefit dance party and fashion show at the Vic tonight. Besides the tunes, designers Rosalyn De’Lores, Lee Do, and Ila Allen will show off some new threads (around 1 AM). Cover is $10. The Vic’s at 3145 N. Sheffield; the party runs from 11 PM to 4 AM and all proceeds go to the clinic. Call 871-5777 ext. 350 or 472-0366 for details.

The Sex Show features the work of 14 artists on the subject of sex, ranging from the sacred to the “downright nasty,” say the folks at Oz 77 Gallery, 3153 N. Broadway, where the show runs through August 11. It opens tonight with performances by artists, members of the Annoyance Theatre, and special guests. It’s free and runs 6 to 10; regular gallery hours are noon to 6 daily. Call 929-6200 for more.

Manning Marable, poli-sci prof at the University of Colorado at Boulder, keynotes the 13th annual convention of the National Association of Black & White Men Together, the interracial gay activist group, at the Bismarck Hotel, 171 W. Randolph, this week. The convention opens tonight at 5 in the hotel’s Walnut Room. Activities range from a screening of Paris Is Burning, the documentary on drag queens in New York City (at 11 tonight), to discussions on the status of gays in South Africa (10 AM Friday) to Marable’s talk, which closes down the conference at a 6:30 PM banquet on Saturday. Registration is $150; you can also make arrangements to attend individual events by calling 907-0400 or 334-2012.

The last time the Chicago Public Library did a study of its holdings, the most comprehensive general collection was found to be of telephone books. The crappy holdings and the short hours of most libraries in the system will probably be the focus of acting commish Karen Danczak Lyons’s town hall meeting tonight. What’s needed is heat on the politicians who control the library’s purse strings; you can voice your opinion at Grace Episcopal Church, 637 S. Dearborn. You have to sign up to speak, starting at 6:30; Lyons will take testimony from 7 to 9. It’s free. Call the sponsoring Chicago Public Library Advocates at 436-6150.