Do this in July

Photography and styling Ryan Robinson

BOOKS Swimming by Nicola Keegan
It’s not a Beijing hangover that has us interested in Keegan’s debut novel, about a girl who goes from her small-town Kansas swim team to the Olympics. And it’s not just that it’s about our favorite summer activity. It’s that we’ve opened it to random pages a dozen times and found something—a sentence, a simile, a joke—to like. July 14.—Jonathan Messinger

Photo: G.G. Rockwell

DRINK Death at 161
This cocktail from Province (161 N Jefferson St, 312-669-9900) bartender Jeff Donahue is a vibrant shade of pink. But it’s based on the Corpse Reviver, so girly it’s not.

¾ oz Death’s Door gin
¾ oz Lillet blanc
¾ oz Cointreau
¾ oz lemon juice
1 oz housemade blueberry-thyme syrup, or Torani blueberry syrup ($6.49 at the Coffee & Tea Exchange)
Pernod
Blueberries and oranges

Combine first five ingredients in a cocktail shaker. Add ice and shake—hard. Strain into a Collins glass that’s been lightly coated with Pernod and filled with ice. Garnish with fresh blueberries and a half-moon slice of orange. —David Tamarkin

Photo: William Hames

MUSIC Def Leppard + Poison + Cheap Trick
Bret Michaels (above) kicks the skanks off the bus for old Poison bros C.C. and Rikki. Okay, he probably just makes them scoot over. This must be the umpteenth time Def Leppard has poured some sugar over girls with poodle hairdos, but we’re not going to let them stop until they explain what the hell “Gunter Glieben Glauben Globen” means. July 17 at First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre (19100 S Ridgeland Ave, Tinley Park, 708-614-1616).—Brent DiCrescenzo

FILM Brüno
Another of British prankmeister Sacha Baron Cohen’s alter egos (the others are Borat and Ali G) gets his very own movie. During filming, flamboyantly gay Austrian fashion reporter Brüno was spotted with Ron Paul, defenders of Prop 8 and a former Mossad agent. He also reportedly does for an Arkansas cage match what Borat did for a Virginia rodeo. Let’s hope Baron Cohen can take a chair to the head. July 10.—Ben Kenigsberg

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