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AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite Congressman John Lewis holds a copy of March, Book 2, the second volume of his graphic memoir of his years as a civil rights activist. In October of 2013, 73-year-old Congressman John Lewis was arrested on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. during a rally to spur action on an immigration bill. It was hardly the first time that the Georgia Democrat had been picked up for nonviolent civil disobedience....

Hank Willis Thomas, who describes himself as a “visual culture archaeologist,” was in town last week for the opening of his one-man show, Hank Willis Thomas: Unbranded, at Northwestern University’s Block Museum of Art. Thomas told an audience at an opening-day lecture Saturday that the construct of race “is a divide-and-conquer strategy,” and “advertising is the most powerful and ubiquitous language in the world.” He also answered a few questions about the show during an interview in the gallery last week....

Local artist Melina Ausikaitis is a member of Joan of Arc, but she also makes music on her own—which includes a cappella material, where she runs her poetry through idiosyncratic sing-songy ups and downs that add a chilling range of moods and emotions to her words. To create her new collaborative project, the self-released tape Aitis Music, Ausikaitis gave her raw, simple songs to nine of her prolific and talented friends, asking them to record their own takes on them....

Almost everyone has done something and/or someone they regret doing—although it’s possible your ex-girlfriend doesn’t regret fucking her married boss for three years, SAAD, and it’s possible there’s no need for regret. Sometimes people have affairs for all the right reasons. Sometimes abandoning a spouse and/or breaking up a home with kids in it, aka “doing the right thing” and divorcing, is the worse choice. Life is long and complicated, and it’s possible for a person to demonstrate loyalty and commitment with something other than their genitals....

He moved with a feral grace, with a heat that blazes through the grain of the film that remains, with a virtuosity that never disguises—but rather illuminates—the sheer risk of dance, the insolence of a human daring to flout the laws of gravity, time, and space to attain a momentary immortality. He lived with furious energy, inspiring multitudes, consorting with celebrities, infuriating authorities. “He was Mick Jagger before Mick Jagger. ....

Courtesy of Thelonious Martin’s Facebook page Thelonious Martin Kanye West isn’t the only local hip-hop artist receiving a degree this month. Chicago producer Thelonious Martin is in the middle of his final week of classes at Columbia College; with the exception of a single summer course he’s aiming to take online, he’ll have his degree in music business very soon. It’s the latest milestone the 22-year-old has achieved in recent months....

The centerpiece of this year’s Onion City Experimental Film and Video Festival is Sauerbruch Hutton Architects (Sat 1/31, 3 PM), the penultimate documentary feature by German filmmaker and theorist Harun Farocki, who passed away last summer at age 70. Farocki’s massive body of work—which spans films, gallery installations, and critical essays—centers on the theme of social control in everyday life, and Sauerbruch documents a group of Berlin architects as they design an impersonal-looking office complex for a French software company....

Standing in the middle of Standard Market/s new 1,200-square-foot cheese cave in Countryside, a suburb 20 miles southwest of Chicago, David Rogers looks worried. “You shouldn’t see that,” he says, frowning at the mist hissing from the cooling units on the ceiling. “I don’t know where that moisture is coming from. I’ll have to talk to the refrigeration company.” Affinage, the art of aging cheese, is a separate concern from the making of the cheese, and is often done by different people....

For this week’s Reader music feature, I traveled around the city with Save Money rapper Joey Purp, visiting places that have shaped him and his music. Part of the impulse for that project came from all the writing I’ve seen from outsiders to Chicago that reduces the city’s hip-hop scene to a few bullet points and a handful of easily recognizable names. Though I cover local hip-hop week in and week out, my knowledge will never be complete, and I thought it would be good for me to learn about a local rapper (who’s receiving more and more national attention) by listening to him talk about his experiences—otherwise it’s distressingly easy to fall into the kind of facile, well-trodden narratives peddled by people who learn about Chicago exclusively from websites based in New York....

The old man is angry. “It is NOT MEDIUM RARE!” he insists. “And even if it was, you should’ve informed me that’s how the chef serves it—then I could decide for myself.” This most recent act of bravery was committed by the principals behind the music video production company Audiotree, the relatively new owners of Schubas (and its attendant Lincoln Hall). They commissioned the Chicago office of Gensler, the world’s largest architecture firm, which flattened Harmony Grill and built this lovely modern annex that somehow manages not to mess with the aesthetic integrity of the 115-year-old neo-Gothic tavern....

Peter Nickeas is a Tribune reporter recently accused of informing on protesters to the police. Monica Trinidad is the activist who publicly accused him. Jerry Boyle is the Chicago attorney who put the idea in her head. And I’m the media writer who wishes he hadn’t. On a pro bono basis, Boyle serves the causes he believes in. He was on hand when Black Lives Matter demonstrators gathered at Taste of Chicago earlier this month, wearing the green hat that identifies him as a legal observer....

Update: As of Friday evening, Ex Fest has been canceled, according to a post on the festival’s Facebook page. Salsation The all-Latinx members of Salsation have plenty to say about Donald Trump’s new immigration policies and not-so-subtle racism. This sketch show focuses on Trump’s policies, specifically those about discrimination against folks of Latin American descent. Fri 1/12, 8 PM The Cool Table This high-energy ensemble returns to Chicago for a 12th appearance at SketchFest....

Lucky is the suit, empty or otherwise, whose downfall inspires somebody to reach for Shakespeare. Jack Griffin, the ousted CEO of Tribune Publishing, was just shown that kindness. “This is almost Shakespearean,” says the “savvy industry observer” quoted in media writer Ken Doctor’s account of Griffin’s downfall. “The CEO brings in a new shareholder as his ‘partner’ and his ally’s first move is to kick him out. Act One is Romeo and Juliet and Act Two is Julius Caesar....

Amanda Harth, founder of Runwayaddicts, an online resource for the local fashion industry, is determined to give a leg up to local designers beyond the well-known names (Virgil Abloh, Joe Freshgoods of Fat Tiger Workshop, etc) and neighborhoods (downtown, Wicker Park-Bucktown). At last weekend’s two-day pop-up Museum of Streetwear in East Garfield Park, she showcased a dozen mostly south-side brands at the airy Lab on Lake. Among the standouts: Gabriella Meyer of Denimcratic, who uses dye and distressing treatments among techniques to give her fabrics unique details....

Is tattooing an art form? Answers vary. People who work at tattoo parlors will respond in the affirmative without batting an inked eyelid. My parents would adamantly disagree; not only does Jewish law forbid the practice (Leviticus 19:28: “You shall not etch a tattoo on yourselves”), but many Jews of my grandparents’ generation associate tattoos with the Holocaust and don’t care for any kind of reminder. “Tattoo,” a new exhibit at the Field Museum, doesn’t provide any kind of resolution, which is part of what makes the show so worthwhile....

HBO Amanda Peet, Melanie Lynskey, Mark Duplass, and Steve Zissis are always together in Togetherness. The Duplass brothers have been in the independent film game for years, creating low-budget films that intimately and effectively explore the nature of family and personal relationships. The two have made names for themselves as writers, directors, and as actors (Mark Duplass stars in The League and Jay Duplass is in Transparent), and their new show on HBO, Togetherness, allows them to do what they do best, just in a shinier package....

Vicki Quade had a new show opening at the Royal George Theatre the weekend of March 15, 2020. Quade, coauthor and producer of the long-running comedy show Late Nite Catechism, was appearing herself in some performances of this new spin-off, Easter Bunny Bingo, as former nun Mrs. Mary Margaret O’Brien. The show played for just two performances before it was shut down by COVID. Otherwise, like almost the entire Chicago theater community, the nuns have been sidelined—interrupting a nearly 28-year Chicago run for the original show....

Q: Are you incapable of concision? Your answers are too long! You blather on, often rehashing the problem (unnecessary!) before giving four words (at most!) of (rarely!) useful advice. I’ve heard you say you have to edit letters down for space. Try this instead: Edit yourself! I want more of the letters—more from the people asking questions—and less of YOU. —Keep It Short, Savage, Expressed Sincerely A: You’re doing nothing wrong, SLASH....

Courtesy of Eartheater’s Facebook page Alexandra Drewchin, aka Eartheater In 2012 Doug Kaplan and Max Allison of local noise trio Good Willsmith launched Hausu Mountain, an experimental label that’s found a niche on the international scene. Just a couple months into the new year, Kaplan and Allison have already had a strong 2015—last week Hausu Mountain released the engaging, hallucinogenic Metalepsis from Eartheater, aka New York musician (and Guardian Alien front woman) Alexandra Drewchin....

QMy father is 65 years old and has been a devoted husband to my mother, who’s been battling a medical condition for the past 30 years—a condition that prevents her from engaging in sexual activity of any kind. He has not had sex in all this time and is desperately frustrated. He’s not Internet savvy—quite the opposite—and has taken to calling me across the continent from Michigan to ask for my help in getting him laid....