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When living in a world that seems to be perpetually on fire, sometimes you just gotta toss some dough on the flames. At least that’s the MO for Eat Free Pizza, an Instagram sweepstakes-turned-culinary phenomenon that is spreading the good, oven-fired word throughout Chicago. The Eat Free Pizza trio consists of filmmaker Billy Federighi, 38, and Green Door Tavern manager Brad Shorten, 42, the aforementioned pizzaiolos, and full-time model Cecily Rodriguez, 29, who serves as social media guru for the team....

Courtesy of Stephanie Bassos Photography Fee Lion Every Monday night Beauty Bar hosts Salonathon, a variety show that’s also a great incubator for local talent. I’ve discovered a couple great musical acts just by stepping into Beauty Bar on a Monday to check out the show. Admittedly, I’ve missed one too many Salonathons in recent years, but I broke the streak this week and I’m glad I did—had I missed it I’d hate to think how long it would take me to come across the music of Justina Kairyte, aka Fee Lion....

I was almost immediately hooked after I first saw a campaign ad for Chicago congressional candidate Benjamin Thomas Wolf last week, showing him smoking a joint in front of an American flag. “Legalize Cannabis. Vote March 20,” it said. He looked smart and sophisticated. I was excited and flattered to meet him. So that night I went to his office at 2048 W. Chicago, where Wolf greeted me warmly. He was tall and handsome....

This past summer, a few articles appeared that called the Fate of Movies into question. “Why has this summer blockbuster season been so bad?” asked Benjamin Lee of the Guardian. “Could this be the year that movies stopped mattering?” pondered Wired’s Brian Raftery. The May-to-September season was indeed underwhelming, especially for comic book fans, and a string of disappointing reboots and superhero movies (Deadpool was a surprise exception) strengthened the argument that 2016 has been a subpar year for film in general....

Since Leela James put out her debut album, 2005’s A Change Is Gonna Come, the soul siren has released a steady stream of music, exploring new stylistic elements while staying remarkably focused. In a press bio from 2010, she said, “My sound today may be different than where I was five years ago, but my core is always the same.” More than a decade later, that still rings true. On the new See Me (BMG), the production by Rex Rideout and Jairus “JMo” Mozee, which features lots of electronic samples, might be the most experimental yet on a Leela James record....

The first time I saw Orkesta Mendoza was at SXSW about five years ago, and the group had already perfected an enormous, vintage Latin big-band sound and intense, punk-like sensibility unparalleled in the Latin scene. Led by bandleader, singer, and guitarist Sergio Mendoza (a longtime member of Calexico and Devotchka), the Tucson indie mambo group cross and recross the southern border of the U.S. on their new album, Curandero (Cosmica Artists), topping a foundation of 60s boogaloo with blends of rock, pop, and cumbia and adorning the whole thing with mariachi-infused, mambo-influenced horns....

Last year pianist Ethan Iverson announced he was leaving the Bad Plus, the singular piano trio he cofounded in 2000 with bassist Reid Anderson and drummer Dave King. Together they forged a new jazz paradigm, bringing postpunk concision to a style of music famous for its expansiveness. They attracted some derision for building a repertoire largely from pop, rock, and electronica hits, but anyone who was paying attention figured out that their interpretations were both sincere and inventive....

It’s not often that an editorial in the way-too-conservative-for-me Tribune makes me laugh. But the other day they ran one about an elected school board that had me howling. As the city’s foremost authority on editorials—probably because I’m the only person who reads them—I can assure you that there’s not much difference between the Tribune and the Sun–Times. On local issues. Like the Tribune did. Both papers have been more or less sighing with relief since Richard M....

Most of the music I listen to isn’t responding to a society-shifting event that’s literally just happened—in fact, most music isn’t even trying to do that. I often struggle to string together coherent thoughts about everyday injustices without repeating myself or, more commonly, repeating the words of other, smarter people. With that in mind, I don’t expect musicians to crank out work constantly in order to comment on everything that happens....

On August 1, Crain‘s reported that Bookworks (3444 N. Clark), my favorite bookshop, would be closing on October 15, after 32 years in business. Bookworks has been an oasis on that particular stretch of Clark Street, just south of Wrigley Field. It’s a bibliophilic haven. It can be a lot of work, but when a customer comes to the register with a book that you happened to shelve recently, having put it in the perfect place, and she’s just thrilled to have found just what she was looking for, your heart sings....

Last month, community organizer Jahmal Cole floated a bold proposal: Eliminate all fares for riding the CTA. As the founder of the My Block, My Hood, My City nonprofit, he often leads underprivileged youth on transit field trips to different neighborhoods. For example, a 2014 study by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration found that U.S. traffic crashes cost $871 billion a year in economic and societal costs. Since the city of Chicago represents about 1/120th of the nation’s population, our share of that loss could be roughly $7....

Alison Green Chance the Rapper is one of the headliners of this year’s Pitchfork Music Festival. Or most of it at least (there’s sure to be a straggler or two). At first glance, one of the best aspects of this year’s lineup is the heavy local influence. Wilco and Chance the Rapper are headliners—the reunited Sleater-Kinney are filling the Saturday headlining slot—with Vic Mensa, Jimmy Whispers, and Ryley Walker also being given the opportunity to get weird....

The Various Artists Independent Film Festival (VAiFF), a Chicago-based competition festival for independent filmmakers worldwide, begins taking submissions November 1 for the “fall season” of its inaugural festival, slated for October 7-8, 2017, at ShowPlace ICON in the South Loop. The festival is sponsored by Various Artists TV, an independent network and website launched earlier this year in Chicago. The network streams films and shows from independent filmmakers and gives viewers the option to vote for their favorites; it also provides production services to independent filmmakers or small business owners looking to “crew up” a film, TV commercial, web series, or music video....

Q: According to Science News, “If you would describe yourself as white or black, your earwax is probably yellow and sticky. If you are East Asian or Native American, it’s likely to be dry and white.” Is there DNA or other evidence available to show when this difference arose? —am77494, via the Straight Dope Message Board Cecil responds: A: If you’d asked this question not too many years ago, AM, I couldn’t have told you much: we’ve long known there are two types of earwax without knowing a ton more about it....

On May 11, Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced that the city had expanded COVID-19 testing, opening six new test sites. The city had chosen sites “based on community testing needs.” Moore is not alone in looking for answers. Other aldermen have been clamoring for more pandemic-response information from the administration since March—when, as I reported previously, Mayor Lightfoot fired off an emergency executive order that gave her administration sweeping budgetary and procurement powers during the COVID-19 pandemic....

As the world shut down early last year, Brandon Breaux began questioning the intention of his artistic practice. Art began to feel like a luxury to him, and he didn’t feel particularly compelled to make new work. In addition to being available on Breaux and Rebuild’s respective Instagram accounts, physical portraits will be posted outside the foundation’s Stony Island Arts Bank towards the end of February, so that the campaign will be accessible to Greater Grand Crossing residents....

Update: To help slow the spread of COVID-19, this show has been postponed until a date to be determined in the future. Tickets already purchased will be honored at that time. Emerging Chicago rapper-singer Sun Blvd, aka Sunny, approaches genre with a fluidity that should serve her well in the long run. On her 2019 EP, Link in Bio, her voice glides across pop, rap, and R&B, gassed up by skittering, sometimes blistering production that’s cut out for blasting late at night in a dim club....

Cowardly Scarecrow Theatre Company turns Chief O’Neill’s Attic Bar into the Kit Kat Klub circa 1931 in its unrestrained musical adaptation of Christopher Isherwood’s stories of Nazi-era Berlin, first created by Fred Ebb and John Kander. Marc Lewallen’s and Brad Younts’s collaborative design and direction borrow freely from previous revivals (particularly Sam Mendes’s 1998 version), while reflecting our current cultural conversation on gender fluidity and sexual identity. Any historical piece set in a time of encroaching fascism can’t help but feel timely....

There was no fork in the road in 1967 when Wisconsin turkey farmer Clarence H. Hartwig, Sr. opened the Gobbler, a supper club and motel in Johnson Creek, a two-and-a-half-hour drive from Chicago about halfway between Milwaukee and Madison. Interstate 94 was relatively new, and Hartwig wanted to attract attention to his space-age getaway. In its new life as a theater, the Gobbler doesn’t serve food, a fact that may disappoint people with fond memories of dining there....

Although clarinetist John McCowen is a founding member of the Chicago art-rock band Wei Zhongle, I only encountered his playing long after he moved to California for graduate studies at Mills College. Earlier this year his contributions to a tape by the Vibrating Skull Trio knocked me out; his overblown lines push things into the red and pulse with intense energy. I’m even more impressed after hearing the stunning new Solo Contra (International Anthem), a deep dive into the microscopic qualities of the contrabass clarinet....