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While listening to Dreams of a New Day: Songs by Black Composers, the most recent release by operatic baritone Will Liverman with pianist and recital partner Paul Sánchez, I realized with a start that time had ground to a halt. But when? Had the clock stopped with H. Leslie Adams’s churning 1992 composition “Amazing Grace”? Was it when Liverman first slipped into his silken falsetto in Damien Sneed’s 2017 song “I Dream a World”?...

The bad news is that 4 Suyos, one of my favorite Peruvian restaurants—which I loved for its relaxed, friendly atmosphere and BYOB policy as much as its excellent food—is closed. The good news is that I only realized it was gone when I went to Tumi, a Peruvian restaurant that, it turns out, occupies the old 4 Suyos space. Aside from a fresh coat of paint on the walls, new curtains, and the addition of flashing lights that frame the front windows, the new place looks almost identical to its predecessor....

For the opening of its 27th season, Factory Theater presents Oh Sh#t! It’s Haunted!, a spooky Scooby-Doo-inspired, Polish-themed mystery written by Scott OKen and directed by Manny Tamayo. Henry Aldrichzewski (Jose Cervantes) and his cohort of idiot friends band together in order to assist Ma Aldrichzewski (Christy Arington) in finding somewhere to host the Polish American Festival, preferably somewhere with a staging area to cook pierogies and kołaczki. The old Lockwood place owned by creepy old geezer Peter Jasonczevik (Eric Frederickson) becomes the sought-after venue— except for the fact that it’s haunted by a band of ghost musicians....

Nick Offerman is quite the combo platter. Whether he’s acting in television or film, writing a New York Times best seller (he has four under his belt), or making a dining room table out of a nice slab of elm, he’s always on the go. These days, he’s wearing the hat of “comedian” for a 37-state tour of his latest one-man show, All Rise, which he describes as an evening of “deliberative talking and light dance with several songs and stories....

Michael Gebert Jamon de Iberico bellota Several of my friends had spoken highly on social media of their experiences at Bom Bolla, a new cava bar—that is, a wine bar focused on sparkling wine from Spain—from the owners of Pops for Champagne. As food gets more ornate in Chicago, there’s a counter movement of places that focus on simple but high-quality foods from other cultures; chefs in particular seem to like to eat at these sorts of places, maybe because there’s no other chef’s hand in between them and the ingredients....

The Comedy Bar Some of Chicago’s best comedy clubs aren’t actually comedy clubs. Many of the city’s most noteworthy stand-ups carry on in places without doormen, two-drink minimums, or even a stage. The Lincoln Lodge, the city’s premier stand-up revue for more than a decade, spent most of its existence in the back of its namesake, the late Lincoln Restaurant; Uncharted Books, a used bookstore in Logan Square, hosts Congrats on Your Success, the venerable monthly series produced by Rebecca O’Neal....

To that long and growing list of people declaring unmitigated resistance to President Trump—a distinguished bunch that includes Charles Blow of the New York Times, the Reader‘s own Derrick Clifton, and pretty much everyone in my family—let me add one more name: Luis Gutierrez. I know this because I checked in with the congressman one dark and dreary day just before Thanksgiving, just as, coincidentally, I watched a few teenagers gather in the alley outside my neighbor’s garage to fire up a joint....

Chicago singer-songwriter Daniel Knox can conjure whimsy and tenderness with subtle shifts in his commanding baritone voice. That ability suits him well in his new album-length tribute to everyone’s favorite neighbor, Fred Rogers. You Are My Friend: The Songs of Mister Rogers honors the original spirit of the material; Knox plays simple piano melodies that exude inviting playfulness, and he sings about everyday joys and fears with an earnest care that legitimizes listeners’ life experiences....

International Mr. Leather (IML) invades Chicago this week, and while those in the Leather community are very familiar with this premier competition and conference, the uninitiated visitor might be pleasantly startled by the weekend’s conflux of well-built people in extravagant leather garments tooling around town. The band Judas Priest is also scheduled to play the Rosemont Theater on Saturday night, which is not part of the conference but could always result in some other leather-wearing visitors to Chicagoland....

The FX drama The Americans is a TV show about a couple of Soviet spies posing as American parents in the 1980s, the decade when my own family—newly arrived from the USSR—were doing what we could to become more or less what the protagonists are pretending to be. For me, watching it has always been a conundrum. On one hand, the period detail, actual Russian speech, and intriguing plot twists are entertaining; on the other, the depiction of the Russian characters and the dialogue the screenwriters have written for them are completely off....

This weekend, October 15 and 16, is one of the best of the entire Chicago year. That’s because it’s Open House Chicago, when hundreds of buildings in and around the city open their doors so that mere mortals like you can explore! I’ve already publicly declared my love for this wonderful annual event. Now here’s a list, arranged roughly from north to south, of some of the more interesting-looking of this year’s offerings....

Seeking: women Occupation: Lawyerly things What do you do when you’re not working? His friend says: “The perfect mix of left and right brain.” (She even made the infographic at the bottom of the page to prove it!) Playing ice hockey, playing music, making art, photographing, and going to lots o’ concerts. Smoker? No, thank you. Pets? I have none, but animals seem to like me, and I like them....

In Andrew Haigh’s moving indie drama Lean on Pete, a motherless 15-year-old boy in Portland, Oregon, gets a part-time job caring for horses at the local racetrack and bonds with a five-year-old quarter horse named Pete; when the stallion begins losing and faces a trip to the glue factory, young Charley (Charlie Plummer) makes off with Pete and the two set out on a treacherous cross-country journey together. A quietly observant filmmaker, Haigh understands the need for connection: his breakthrough feature, Weekend (2011), traced a gay romance through its heady first days, and his acclaimed 45 Years (2015) gave Charlotte Rampling one of her best roles as a wife suddenly alienated from her longtime husband....

Q: I’m a gay guy living in New York in his late 20s. My boyfriend has really been emotionally impacted by the pandemic having been a frontline worker. I think he is suffering from some mild depression or at the very least some intense anxiety so I just want to preface this by saying I completely sympathize with what he’s going through. Before the pandemic we had a really good sex life, but lately he hasn’t been interested in sex at all besides a few assisted masturbation sessions....

The Reader’s archive is vast and varied, going back to 1971. Every day in Archive Dive, we’ll dig through and bring up some finds. Last week the music section published a meaty feature on the Atlas Moth. As much as I welcomed a thoughtful, engaging story on one of this city’s great metal bands, I was even more happy to see the story’s byline: Monica Kendrick. The feature is her first for the Reader in about a decade....

Few potential legends have been more grievously overlooked than singer-songwriter Jay Bolotin. You don’t have to take my word for it: the Kentucky-raised artist has written songs for Porter Wagoner (Dolly Parton’s ex), Dan Fogelberg, and David Allan Coe, among many others, and has earned praise from Americana greats such as Kris Kristofferson, Mickey Newbury, and Merle Haggard. Luckily for us, Bolotin’s visibility has been boosted by a few recent releases, including a track on the Numero Group’s 2009 compilation Wayfaring Strangers: Lonesome Heroes....

One of the most important lessons of the annus horribilis that is 2020 is the dangers of truly unchecked power and privilege, even when they are wielded by a big city’s first openly gay mayor, or an openly gay presidential candidate. But many queer people of color speaking out against the event, like Chicago-based author, artist, and educator Benji Hart, say that the pair, in particular, have done much to sow the distrust they will be discussing, and that their historic political victories do not absolve them of that....

Thinkstock If we don’t talk about climate change maybe it will just go away? Apparently the Republican Party is turning global warming into a man thing. Some would call it denial. Some would invoke the contemporary catchphrase “avoidance coping,” which means dealing with a problem by pretending it doesn’t exist. I see something much more noble going on. When our troubles are real and immense, authentic American heroes like Clint Eastwood and John Wayne bear them in stoic silence....

Argentine native Gabriela is the first female principal cellist for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Her husband, Marty, is a successful architect initiating his first skyscraper commission. Life is great, even if Gabriela’s domineering mother, Soledad, has overstayed her visit by three months. Then, through murky circumstances, two strangers arrive at Soledad’s birthday party and reveal a horrific secret, tying both Gabriela and her mother to the darkest moments of Argentina’s 40-year-old Dirty War....

For its second year, the first with new partners Empire Productions, the two-day Chicago Doomed and Stoned Festival has scored some big names: on Friday the headliners are Florida heavy legends Torche, warming up for the July arrival of their new album, Admission; on Saturday, they’re occult-rock primogenitors Coven, who formed in Chicago in the late 60s, and eerie flute-wielding Canadian witch rockers Blood Ceremony. Led by front woman Alia O’Brien, Blood Ceremony work their penchant for folk-magic aesthetics and their obvious Jethro Tull influence into a distinctively sparse, primitive fairyland sound....