STAY AT HOME AT STAY CHICAGO’SFREEWEEKLYSINCE | MARCH THIS WEEK CHICAGOREADER | MARCH | VOLUME NUMBER IN THIS ISSUE T R - prepareforadelugeofnovel ChicagoMusicBluesguitarist @ coronaviruspatients LurrieBellbeatmentalillnessto buildathrivingcareer PTB 34 EarlyWarningsRescheduled ECS K KH concertsandotherupdatedlistings CLRH MEP M 34 GossipWolfSilkwormveteran TDKR TimMidyettfi nallydropsthefi rst CEBW MintMilefulllengthSteveReidell AEJL SWMD L G ofAirCreditsalmostremakesthe DIBJ MS FILM GenesisalbumDukeand EAS N L 23 SmallScreenStandupMae more GD AH CITYLIFE L CSC -J 03 ShopLocalInsteadofbuying Martin’snewseriesFeelGoodgets CE BN B fromAmazonsupportChicago heavybutthere’salwaysalaugh OPINION L C MDLC M businessesfromyourcouch 10 FeatureEssaysonisolation waitingaroundthecorner 36 SavageLoveDanSavageoff ers C J F SF J H IH C MJ Whatstayingathomehastaught 25 MoviesofnoteThePlatform adviceonwhethertohookupwith M K S K FOOD&DRINK usaboutourcityandourselves packagesthrillsinathickshroud anERdoctorduringapandemic N DLJL 04 GardenersYoucan’tgrowtoilet ofmoralambiguityUncorked MMA M-K JRN JN M paperbutyoucangrowyourown ARTS&CULTURE isacharmingtakeonyounger O M S C S food 16 LitCameronEspositolooksback generationsrejectingtheirparents’ ---------------------------------------------------------------- onherdefi ningmomentsinthe traditionsandVivariumleans DD J D memoirSaveYourself intosciencefi ctiontodepictthe D AC W 17 CommunityHowDIYface dystopianutopia SMCJ G MPC maskscanhelpourlocalhospitals YD 18 ComedyHowsoonis“toosoon” MUSIC& SSP tomakejokesaboutcoronavirus? ATA NIGHTLIFE SECK K THEATER 26 FeatureTheChicago ADVERTISING 19 EssayAlovelettertothe UndergroundQuartetrecapture -- @ C Chicagotheatercommunity theirfreewheelingjazzspirit CLASSIFIEDS - @ 21 ReviewStevenStraff ord’ssolo yearsa ertheirfi rstalbum 38 Jobs NEWS chronicleofmethaddiction 30 ShowsofnoteEvena 38 Apartments&Spaces SDP F &POLITICS VPSA M 06 Joravsky|PoliticsLookon streamsonlinewiththStreet pandemiccan’tstopthefl owof 38 Marketplace CRM T P thebrightsideChicagoBurke 22 Profi leNoraDunn’sSteppenwolf greatmusicOurcriticsreviewnew SAR LipinskiandConwaylost! showispostponedbuttheSNLvet andrecentreleasesthatyoucan L M-H L S AR 08 Interviewswitha isn’tholdingback enjoyathome O P S Hospitals BF B’ G MFNS doctorandnurseashospitals 31 TheSecretHistoryof CSM WR NA V M G - - - ­­ J L SB THIS WEEK ON CHICAGOREADER.COM ---------------------------------------------------------------- DC [email protected] -- CHICAGO READER L C BPD R L TE R SJ S A- S V CC E B ---------------------------------------------------------------- R ISSN­-­ R LC SM S C IL­­­ -- C ©C R P C IL The Reader’s stay-at-home Who voted for Iris Martinez? Chicago movie journal: Make A C R R Maybe she was the most qualifi ed RR T ® chronicles candidate in the clerk of the Circuit no little home-viewing plans Here’s a daily-ish journal of how our Court race. Or maybe she had the Now is the time to tackle some staff , friends, family, and pets are best name. daunting cinema. spending time. 2 CHICAOREADER - MARCH ll CITY LIFE KELLYSIKKEMA/UNSPLASH wonderland that is HarvesTime Foods for a while, but that doesn’t mean you can’t get your chicharrones esponjados fix. The Lincoln Square institution is offering free same-day and curbside pickup. Visit Harves- timefoods.com to place an order. The website for Lincoln Park’s lush Green City Market also has a searchable list of ven- dors (read: farmers) that are o ering pickup and delivery. Meals and more If you haven’t yet, check out Reader senior writer Mike Sula’s recent stories about the restaurant delivery site Dining at a Distance and e orts by Rogers Park Food Not Bombs to convert restaurant food waste into food for the needy. Many local restaurants have gotten creative and are offering meal kits, care packages, and grocery staples for de- livery. Ordering direct from the restaurants helps them avoid the fees of delivery sites. Self-care Four words: discreet flat-rate shipping. If you’ve never ordered online from sex toy store Early to Bed and you don’t want your mail carrier or neighbors all up in your business, those four little words will be key. The shop’s online store is accepting orders, though they warn there may be a delay in fulfi llment. See what we did there? Gifts that keep on giving Many service-based businesses—spas, SHOP LOCAL salons, child-care providers, etc.—that have been shut down by the stay-at-home order are o ering gift certifi cates, and all of the Support Chicago businesses from your couch owners I’ve spoken to are counting on the gifty influx of cash while their doors are Because Amazon is gonna be just fi ne. closed. Even better: if you can buy a gift you don’t intend to claim. If your go-to self-care By KARENHAWKINS oasis isn’t open now, giving to them ensures that someday in the future they will be. We appreciate how many businesses ou need something—make that every- with a single click, you’re supporting the closed, including podcasts and their best- around the city are hosting fundraisers for thing—delivered, and before you’ve local economy from the comfort of your seller lists. their idle employees, including some of our Yeven fi nished typing A-m-, your brows- couch. Not all heroes wear capes; some wear Get crafty favorite bars, restaurants, and music ven- er has taken you to that magical behemoth pajamas. All damn day. A customer of South Loop crafter’s par- ues. Koval Distillery is hosting a GoFundMe in the sky (aka Seattle) that will make all of Books adise Yarnify called the need to keep your that caught our eye—and not just because your free two-day shipping dreams come Many beloved members of the Chicago- hands busy a “Pandemic Project,” and what- alcohol is involved. The company is raising true. Not so fast, friend. Before you hit Add to land Independent Bookstore Alliance ever language you use, this yarn shop’s on- money to help provide alcohol-based hand Cart and add another dime to Je Bezos’s bil- (ChIBA)—including Women & Children First line store is open. They note that they don’t sanitizers to the medical community, retire- lions—with a B—consider supporting a local and 57th Street Books—are accepting online always get prompt notifi cation when orders ment homes, and others involved in fi ghting business instead, especially for things you’d orders you can have shipped to your door. come in and ask that customers e-mail a coronavirus. At press time they had raised usually stroll by and buy. Visit your favorite store’s website to verify copy of orders to barbaraofyarnify@gmail. more than $24,000 toward their $40,000 Many of your favorite independent shops their delivery status. Some are o ering free com. goal from 531 donors. v and stores are delivering on demand, and shipping and have digital programming you Groceries while it may not be as convenient as buying can access while their physical spaces are You won’t be able to wander around the @ChiefRebelle ll MARCH - CHICAOREADER 3 Search the Reader’s online database of thousands of Chicago-area restaurants FOOD & DRINK at chicagoreader.com/food. ter gardener, founder of the Peterson Garden den and provide education and materi- Project, and the owner of City Grange garden als relevant to their growing conditions. center in Lincoln Square. She’s the author of • Organize the people with food-grow- Start a Community Food Garden: The Essen- ing knowledge and deploy tial Handbook and Fearless Food Gardening them in their communities. in Chicagoland (with Teresa Gale), and has • Have an ongoing campaign of support lectured on the topic of Victory Gardens at the with media. Library of Congress. What can people do right now to get What were Victory Gardens and what was started? their historical impact in Chicago? Start to think about where they can garden. LaManda Joy: People have been growing If you have a yard, go stand outside. Figure their own food in times of crisis since agri- out where the sunniest spot is. When it comes culture was invented. But Victory Gardens, time to create raised beds, there’re a lot of under that name, happened in WWI and ways to do it. You can build a wooden raised WWII all over the world. bed, you can build something out of cinder- Chicago, during WWII, due to great fore- blocks. You can do in-ground gardening, thought, collaboration, and coordination, led although I like to recommend gardening with the nation in the Victory Garden movement. fresh soil in the city just because [of potential In 1942, organizers were able to recruit and contamination by] lead-based paint and stuff educate upwards of 300,000 new gardeners like that. to grow their own food in an incredibly short amount of time. Many people think of Victo- What seeds can you put directly in the ry Gardens as something that was “nice to do” ground? You can do this, Chicago. KELLYNEIL/UNSPLASH for people on the homefront (which I’m sure It’s still a little cold out for direct seeding it was—gardening has many benefi ts beyond without some sort of covering, but some of food) but, in reality, those vegetable gardens the earliest, and easiest, plants that can be supplemented food shortages and rationing grown directly are radishes, lettuces, spinach, FOOD FEATURE due to the heavy burden the war effort was arugula, sorrel. making on global supply chains. What seeds are still worth starting? Get growing Why is this a good idea to revisit in general? If you’re going to start seeds indoors, it I’ve spent the past decade teaching people should happen right now. Generally what we Chatting with expert gardeners shows that the time for a new Victory Garden how to grow their own food in pop-up victo- call “hot crops” (tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, movement is right now. ry gardens with the Peterson Garden Proj- etc.) should be started indoors eight weeks ect (PGP). We’ve had thousands of people go before the “last frost date” (the last average By M through the program, and the results for the day we can get a hard frost which, for Chica- individuals and the communities have been go, is between May 1 to 10).