Posts

JIMMY KATZ Anat Cohen Over the last decade reedist Anat Cohen has been the face of the bustling community of Israeli jazz musicians working in New York. (For those curious about this inspired scene, the third annual Israeli Jazz & World Music Festival has just been announced—it happens during May 14-22, and features several great bands led by bassist Omer Avital and Cohen’s trumpet-playing brother Avishai.) She’s demonstrated a voracious curiosity, juggling a strong feel for hard-swinging post-bop and a serious affinity for Brazilian choro, an instrumental cousin of samba that feels a lot like jazz in its spirited improvisational ethos....

There are those particular places—in my case, the house belonging to my grandmother—that in many ways have never left the 70s. When you step into this sort of place, your feet might sink into a beige shag carpet. You find yourself in a kind of alternate universe, pristine if somewhat dusty. This universe is not quite hermetically sealed—there weren’t televisions glowing with DVR’d episodes of Oprah’s Super Soul Sunday in the 70s—but what matters is that it is sealed enough....

This story was originally published by ProPublica Illinois. In Hadden’s view, the race came down to whether residents felt their neighborhood would remain vibrant and affordable. The 14 candidates for mayor all agreed on one point: To confront these challenges, Chicago didn’t need anyone like Emanuel. Most tried to distance themselves from his record of school closings, Wall Street campaign contributions and insider ties, touting themselves as progressives. Moore first won office in a runoff in 1991....

It’s February 25, 1964, and four men in the prime of their lives are in a hotel room to celebrate history in the making. Cassius Clay (Eli Goree), soon to be Muhammad Ali, is riding the high of becoming the heavyweight champion of the world at just 22 years old. He’s joined by his spiritual mentor and political activist Malcolm X (Kingsley Ben-Adir), charismatic soul singer Sam Cooke (Leslie Odom Jr....

Q: I’m 64 years young, a musician, chubby, full head of hair, no Viagra needed, no alcohol, I don’t mind if you drink, smoker, yes I am. I am also faithful, loyal, and single for five years. No health issues, nada, zero, zilch. Not gay, not prejudiced against gays, pro-woman, Democrat, MASCULINE. Except I only like the younger women and women without tattoos. And I like them FEMININE. Ladies my age are a shopping bag of issues with children and ex-hubbies....

Not long ago, the father and son who smoke what’s arguably the best barbecue in the city closed their doors in Bucktown and relocated to a former beauty salon on 43rd Street in Bronzeville. Most troubling of all is the restaurant’s regrettable policy of saucing all the barbecue before it comes to the table. By now most adults realize that reflexive saucing is emblematic of a problem. It shows a lack of confidence in the pit master’s product....

After a four-year hiatus between 2003 and 2007, Greek death-metal band Septic Flesh returned to the scene with a one-word name and a new, refined sound. Three members of the band—bassist-vocalist Spiros Antoniou, multi-instrumentalist Christos Antoniou, and drummer Fotis Benardo—had stayed active during those years as the Devilworx, in which they honed a sweeping symphonic palette. When Septicflesh made their triumphant return with Communion in 2008, they put the aesthetic they’d developed during their break to good use on the mothership....

Q: I’m a fortysomething gay male professor at a small college. I try hard not to get attracted to students, and usually succeed. But it’s tough to resist temptation when you’re surrounded by hot, smart, fun, horny young guys in a rural area with not many other options. Over the past several years, I’ve ended up having sex with several students. None of them were students I was currently teaching or likely to teach, and two had graduated....

Since 2004 Plastic Crimewave (aka Steve Krakow) has used the Secret History of Chicago Music to shine a light on worthy artists with Chicago ties who’ve been forgotten, underrated, or never noticed in the first place. Shines nonetheless followed his hero around, watching him play whenever he could and trying to learn his licks. Lore has it that Shines first performed onstage during one of Wolf’s juke-joint gigs: while the big man was taking a break, Shines hijacked his guitar and got the place jumping....

On one level, Keep the Change (which opens today at the Music Box) is a formulaic romantic comedy about a man and woman who meet cute, fall in and out of love, then rediscover their affection for each other. On another level, the film is a documentary-style portrait of what it’s like to be an adult with autism and learning disabilities—the principal characters are played by people who actually have these conditions, and writer-director Rachel Israel (expanding on a 2013 short of the same name) shows them engaging in activities they would likely pursue in their real lives....

If you’ve ever been to a comedy show—or, if you’ve ever been minding your own business at a bar before being ambushed by a comedy show—you know that Chicago’s known for being a robust comedy city. Part of what makes it formidable is the strength of Chicago’s comedy photographers. You know the ancient adage: if a comedy show happens and no one sees it on Instagram, did it really even happen?...

Welcome to the Reader’s morning briefing for Friday, July 8, 2016. Weather: Partly cloudy, breezy WBEZ finds that Chicago school construction furthers class and race segregation Architect asks George Lucas to reconsider leaving Chicago, build museum at U.S. Steel site New York-based architect Michael Sorkin penned an open letter to George Lucas and Mellody Hobson, asking them to reconsider their decision not to build the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art in Chicago....

Toronto group Okan make heady, jazzy, superbly crafted music driven by two virtuosos born in Cuba’s cultural capitals: violinist Elizabeth Rodriguez hails from Havana, and percussionist Magdelys Savigne is from Santiago. Rodriguez was a concertmaster for Havana’s Youth Orchestra, and Savigne is trained in orchestral percussion, but since moving to Toronto about five years ago they’ve both honed their chops in a variety of styles, notably with Juno-nominated postrock band Battle of Santiago and Grammy-nominated jazz group Jane Bunnett & Maqueque....

Of all the panic being peddled by centrist Democrats to scare voters out of voting for Bernie Sanders, the scariest fantasy is one I call Horror House. Hey, Elizabeth Warren supporters—don’t get smug. They’d be using Horror House against you if she were higher in the polls. If she wins a few primaries, trust me, they will. McGovern’s nomination followed a heated primary season that led to a contentious convention in which the faction loyal to Mayor Richard J....

Warning: This review contains spoilers. For months, Kiesha (played by Birgundi Baker) was held captive, and a determined Ronnie eventually finds her. But that redemption comes at a price when he’s shot in retaliation for that wrongful murder. Before he dies, though, he becomes what he aimed to be: a man who would make his grandmother proud. The season three finale itself neatly wrapped up most of the storylines—an action critiqued by some as feeling anticlimatic....

UPDATE Friday, March 13: this event has been canceled. Refunds available at point of purchase. “I would let [insert name here] ruin my life” is a phrase that anyone who’s radiated their eyes with thirsty comments online over the past few years will recognize as a hallmark of the genre. What does it mean? If Dex (Michael Vizzi) and Shellie (Allison Plott) feel that way about each other in Leslye Headland’s The Layover—a total masterpiece, ultimately just as devastating as it is hot—presented by The Comrades under Drew Shirley’s direction, as I contend they do, what does that feeling entail?...

Part of being a lifelong Cubs fan is that you never bother to plan what will happen when the Cubs win the World Series, because you’re too busy worrying about other, more likely possibilities. Like what to do if you’re in a plane crash, or your house burns down, or, I don’t know, a sea of angry merpeople storms Loyola Beach. Now it’s the morning after. I don’t think the world has ended, or maybe the afterlife is a lot like the regular world, except that it’s November 3, and the window is open, the sun is out, and I can hear and smell someone cutting grass outside....

All the Ships at Sea The writer and filmmaker Dan Sallitt had something of a career breakthrough in 2013 when his film The Unspeakable Act received fairly widespread distribution and wound up on a few end-of-year lists, including my own. (You can also purchase it on DVD or stream it on iTunes thanks to home video stalwarts Cinema Guild.) Previously, Sallitt was probably best known as a film critic and former Reader staffer, something he discussed in an interview with Ben Sachs....

After 16 years at Chicago’s classical music station, WFMT 98.7 FM, Executive Vice President and General Manager Steve Robinson is leaving, today. On the eve of his departure, which was announced last month, Robinson answered a few questions about the station, his long run there, and the future of the business. I inherited a healthy station. But I increased the amount of live broadcasts that we do. We’re now doing something like 250 a year....

Back in 2007, New Yorker theater critic John Lahr dismissed Theresa Rebeck’s play Mauritius, about a woman getting involved with petty thieves, as “Mamet for girls.” I remembered that while watching Rebeck’s 2018 Broadway comedy, Bernhardt/Hamlet, now in its local premiere under Donna Feore’s direction at the Goodman—and not just because a sexist critic plays a supporting role and decries an actress’s ambition with “You are a freak.” Though Rebeck has written many essays on sexual discrimination in theater, she’s now put those thoughts in a play about theater....