This past fall, the board of local nonprofit Pure Joy, who came together in 2013 to launch an ADA-accessible, LGBTQ-safe all-ages punk venue, reached a crossroads when the latest in a series of potential spaces fell through. “We were like, ‘OK, that was our best bet,’” says board member Jes Skolnik. “‘We should probably figure out what to do, because it’s been four years and we’re not gonna get closer than that....
I was startled when I saw the news come up on my Twitter feed. A young American journalist in Myanmar had been detained and was likely being held in the country’s Insein Prison, notorious for incarcerating political dissidents, infamous for reports of its horrendous human rights violations. I read the story and instantly recognized the journalist. Danny Fenster. Danny is a former student of mine whom I met at Columbia College Chicago in 2009....
MARCH History ShmistoryIf you’ve ever wondered what Nikola Tesla’s stand-up was like, then this is the show for you. This show features comedians performing jokes as a historical figure. This time around includes Stephanie Weber as Johnny Appleseed, Analicia Kocher as Jimmy Hoffa, and Alex Collyard as Tesla. Thu 3/19, 8 PM, the Lincoln Lodge, 2040 N. Milwaukee, thelincolnlodge.com, $5. Peace CampThis stand-up showcase features Jewish and Muslim comics to “prove that [they] can live and laugh with each other in peace....
The bike helmet debate stirs strong emotions. Many of us have heard stories of people who suffered traumatic brain injuries after being struck by a motorist while biking without a helmet. It’s also common to hear testimony from people who believe that wearing protective headgear made the difference between life or death during a crash. On the other hand, there are many people—even mainstream American bike advocates—who say helmets aren’t necessary for all kinds of riding....
Michael John LaChiusa’s musical Queen of the Mist contains a second-act song that critiques its heroine Anna Edson Taylor’s lackluster performance on the lecture circuit recounting her 1901 trip over Niagara Falls in a barrel. The lyrics ask how she’s managed to make such an inherently thrilling adventure sound so “tedious, monotonous, repetitive, and not fun.” It’s an apt critique of the show itself, directed by Elizabeth Margolius in this Firebrand production starring Barbara E....
Chicago producer and multi-instrumentalist Dan Jugle got hooked on electronic music in the mid-90s, when he had to find his way to raves without being old enough to drive. Shortly after he turned 16, he started messing around with analog equipment to make his own music. He fell in love with techno, and in recent years he’d earned a reputation for the waterlogged club tracks he made with Juzer (a duo with Beau Wanzer) and the raw, throbbing cuts he recorded with Dar Embarks (a duo with childhood friend Ken Zawacki)....
In Sławomir Mrożek’s 1965 satire of life in communist Poland, everything’s topsy-turvy. A family and a couple hangers-on live in a chaotic household in which every member’s role is constantly shifting. It’s a vision of society in flux and disillusioned despair—which shouldn’t be difficult for Americans in 2019 to identify with. At the beginning, Arthur, the uptight son, is imposing his will on the rest of the clan. Arthur is bent on restoring a sense of order to his anarchic home, but can’t quite settle on a unifying theory under which to govern....
When I write that most of the movies I previewed from the Peace on Earth Film Festival play like educational films, I don’t mean that pejoratively. This free four-day event aims to educate viewers on the subjects of nonviolence, tolerance, and social justice, with many selections spotlighting issues and communities one rarely encounters on mainstream TV news, let alone movie screens. Even the titles I didn’t like taught me something new, and most made me think seriously about how people might change the world for the better....
“Having the necessary arrogance to assume that a failed production of a play is not necessarily a failed play, I have prepared this new version for publication and subsequent reappearance on other stages. . . . As for my depression over the failed production, I believe it is temporary,” wrote Tennessee Williams in his foreword to Out Cry, his published revision of The Two Character Play, which opened to critical rejection in London in 1967, wrecked his relationship with his literary agent in Chicago in 1971, and lasted all of ten days on Broadway in 1973....
Before the pandemic, seeing a play often meant sitting in the dark and fading away amongst the crowd of other audience members, but with Court Theatre’s Chicagoland premiere of Theatre for One: Here We Are, “the audience is front and center,” according to Miranda González, director of Pandemic Fight and Thank You For Coming. Take Care. Moreover, unlike Zoom meetings where individuals have access to their self view, the platform does not allow for either the audience or artist to see themselves, making the experience feel all the more intimate....
Not only is 2020 the Year of Chicago Music, it’s also the 35th year for the nonprofit Arts & Business Council of Chicago (A&BC), which provides business expertise and training to creatives and their organizations citywide. To celebrate, the A&BC has launched the #ChiMusic35 campaign at ChiMusic35.com, which includes a public poll to determine the consensus 35 greatest moments in Chicago music history as well as a raffle to benefit the A&BC’s work supporting creative communities struggling with the impact of COVID-19 in the city’s disinvested neighborhoods....
I Anecdotally, this seems to be an unusually high number of bike crashes for a 30-day period. But it’s a difficult thing to prove, since collisions that don’t result in serious injuries or fatalities often go unreported. And while the Illinois Department of Transportation is responsible for documenting local crashes, the agency doesn’t release its findings until about two years after the fact. The first of the three crashes that resulted in serious injuries took place on June 21 at the intersection of Wilson and the Lakefront Trail....
The Ube Doobie is a chewy, vivid purple pastry showered with toasted coconut flakes. Rob Menor, the chef who created it, describes it as a “big purple blunt,” partly because his recipe calls for a double dose of cannabis butter and coconut oil. Collaboration and connection are critical to his particular mission. “A lot of different Filipino chefs decided like, ‘Let’s move forward with a different philosophy than those before us....
For the last several years, Mick Dumke and I have been writing about the “grass gap“—i.e., even though everyone smokes reefer, far more blacks get busted for illegal possession of pot than whites or other racial groups. Not that it will hasten the legalization anytime soon. Remember, it’s only an advisory referendum, and Mayor Rahm and Governor Rauner oppose legalization. So I’m not sure if the no votes came from Latinos or the remaining white voters—Burke’s base, if you will....
Not every couple can navigate marriage, parenting young kids, and running a lifestyle brand and store, but Brian and Autumn Merritt do it artfully, making it look easy — a real-life definition of couple goals. The duo is the creative force behind their “classic with a twist” Chicago-based apparel label, Sir & Madame. The Merritt’s Hyde Park store brings in both customers and fashion stylists alike, with themed collections snapped up as soon as they’re launched....
All Our Tragic The day before I saw the Hypocrites’ loose adaptation of all 32 surviving Greek tragedies, I flew back to Chicago from a vacation in Austria. The flight lasted nine hours, the show 12. But although it took significantly more time to get through than it takes to cross the Atlantic, All Our Tragic was no slog—and not just because we were given frequent breaks for trips to the bar and the bathroom....
Chicago singer-songwriter Jess Shoman started her folk-leaning project Tenci in her bedroom a little more than a year ago. Spencer Radcliffe & Everyone Else, who opened Tenci’s first show last December at the Hungry Brain, had helped her get the project out of the house. Before that gig, Everyone Else vocalist Tina Scarpello had joined Shoman’s burgeoning band as a bassist and brought early demos of the songs to Radcliffe, who eventually produced and played guitar, sax, and piano on Tenci’s debut album, the new My Heart Is an Open Field (Hobbies)....
Campy and fun, Elizabeth A.M. Keel’s Corona follows the voyage of the starship Corona Borealis and its captain, Ariadne, on a mission to bring 14 sacrifices to the minotaur on planet Crete. A spin on the classic Greek myth, it hits every great sci-fi trope: a computer gone bad, a spaceship with a monster, a Kirk-like dude who wants some space sex, and an alternative mission only one person knows. There is humor, mystery, fighting, gods, sacrifices, and a bit of bestiality....
Manuel Gaines, who performs as DJ Manny, was ten years old when he first heard footwork music at a party. Before long, the Chicago-born, Brooklyn-based producer met two titans of the genre, DJ Spinn and the late DJ Rashad, with whom he eventually collaborated on a handful of tracks. Manny has multiple releases under his belt, but the new Signals in My Head (Planet Mu) is the first to be specifically focused on R&B and centered on love....
Chicago’s diagonal streets mean that the city has a fair share of oddly shaped buildings—and businesses with unusual layouts—but I’ve never seen one embrace its triangular configuration as completely as Estereo, the Latin-inspired cafe and bar at the pointy intersection of Milwaukee and Sacramento that Heisler Hospitality opened this summer. Not only does the bar itself form a triangle, following the lines of the walls, but the track lighting is also arranged in concentric triangles....
