'The City Is Dead, Are We Next?'

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IN THIS ISSUE T R - AtomicScientists examines the THEATER 34 EarlyWarnings Rescheduled @ theory that COVID resulted from 22 Profi leScott Silberstein talks concerts and other updated listings a lab accident about catching liveperformance PT B 08 News A man who has waited magic onscreen EC S K K H years for a courtordered hearing is 24 StreamingA few ways that CLRH M EP M trying to secure release from prison artists and theater companies are TD K R before the virus hits trying to keep the virtual lights on CEB W A EJL SWMD L G FEATURE DIBJ MS 10 Dukmasova|Housing EA S N L Chicagoans without shelter face the G D A H CITY LIFE L CSC -J 03 ShopLocal Three friends tough choice between the streets CE B N B created a postpartum undergarment and shared air L C M DLC M that can hold an ice pack 34 GossipWolf Damon Locks’s C J F S F J H I H C M J Black Monument Ensemble drop a M K S K live video to buoy a lockeddown N DLJL city selfdescribed “bohemian MM A M-K JRN JN M electronics” act Sip releases its fi rst O M S C S studio album and more ------FILM D D J D 25 PreviewEnjoy a mini streaming OPINION D A C W fi lm festival all from the comfort of 36 SavageLove Dan Savage off ers S MCJ G MP C your couch advice on Applepolishing trouble YD swallowing and a so return to S S P 11 Photos|HomelessWhat staying “normal” AT A MUSIC & NIGHTLIFE S ECK K at home means for people who stay 26 Feature Prolifi c musical polymath FOOD & DRINK on the streets Nnamdï uses his new solo album CLASSIFIEDS ADVERTISING 04 Feature Grill your way to teach himself something about 38 Jobs -- @ C through the pandemic with Leela ARTS & CULTURE worklife balance 38 Apartments&Spaces - @ Punyaratabandhu’s new book 14 Relationships What it’s like to 29 ChicagoansofNoteA new 38 Marketplace FlavorsoftheSoutheastAsianGrill virtually fl irt at the hot new fi rstdate feature that introduces members SD P F V P SA M spot Google Hangouts of the Chicago music community in CR M T P NEWS & POLITICS 16 Comedy Lane Moore brings their own words SA R 06 Joravsky|Politics Some advice people together with a daily 30 RecordreviewsA pandemic L M-H L S O P L A R for Biden as he tries to court the livestream can’t stop the fl ow of great music DG F DG ’ G MFNS Berniecrats 18 Games Jackbox Games is Our critics review releases that you C SM WR 07 Isaacs|Culture Bulletinofthe sweeping the nation can enjoy at home NA V M G - - - J L SB THIS WEEK ON CHICAGOREADER.COM ------DC [email protected] -- CHICAGOREADERLC BPD R L TE R S J S A- S V

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C ©C R We don’t have to prove our Did John Prine die for The Reader’s stay-at-home P C IL

A C R R ‘American-ness’ Donald Trump’s sins? chronicles RR T ® On rejecting anti-Asian American The cruelty, ignorance, and Here’s what we’re reading, watching, rhetoric and standing up to hate incompetence of the federal listening to, etc., to pass the time. pandemic response have cost the life of a beloved singer-songwriter. 2 CHICA OREADER - APRIL ll When A Great Deal Matters, Shop Rob Paddor’s... FW N CITY LIFE nyssacare.com Evanston Subaru in Skokie 0% FOR 63 MONTHS % % FOR % % A LIMITED 00 TIME 00

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continued from 3 fully covers the buttocks and has an adapt- FOOD FEATURE name is a nod specifi cally to women, “Fourth- able waistline that can be lowered or raised Wear Underwear is intended for anyone who according to the wearer’s preference. It is has given birth,” she says. “We know that plen- made with post-consumer recycled plastic, Grill your way through the ty of people who give birth don’t identity as a surprisingly suitable choice: “Our fabric women or mothers, and we do our best to rec- (and product) needed to accomplish four ognize that by being purposeful about the lan- very important things: stretch (and recover) pandemic guage we use and the people we profi le on our enough to accommodate a postpartum body, social media and podcast (such as transgender be incredibly soft and silky to the touch, have Leela Punyaratabandhu’s new cookbook Flavors of the Southeast Asian Grill parent Trystan Angel Reese). Being inclusive of as little environmental impact as possible, is a remedy for isolation. LGBTQ+ people is extremely important to us, and be able to securely hold an ice/heat too. So is being inclusive towards people of all press against the skin. We tried everything: By MS sizes and races.” bamboo blends, Lyocell, organic cotton, To create FourthWear Underwear—which charcoal-coated fabrics, even wool! Though has both a design and utility patent—the three polyester gets a bad rap as people associate friends consulted with new mothers, ob-gyns, it with uncomfortable and rigid garments, ne of the very few things I’ve been ingredients or equipment. You don’t need and doulas. They also drew from their own the actual feel is akin to a luxury athleisure looking forward to this spring that coconut husks to smoke fi sh Quezon City-style. experiences: “The thing about the healing post- product. To top it o , recycled polyester is Ohasn’t been ruined by COVID-19 is the You don’t need an ong to make Thai-style clay partum body is that most garments, including actually one of the most environmentally third cookbook by Leela Punyaratabandhu, jar chicken. And you don’t need salted soybean underwear, are incredibly uncomfortable to sustainable fabrics,” Howard says. The Flavors of the Southeast Asian Grill: Classic paste to make Teochew roasted duck, a recipe wear. The allure of the fl imsy mesh hospital un- undergarment is machine washable, costs Recipes for Seafood and Meats Cooked Over she shared with the Reader. (Pro tip: if things derwear is that it doesn’t provide any points of $32—the three-pack sells for $85—and Charcoal. get really bad during the pandemic, ducks are irritation on the skin, but that also means that comes in gray and navy blue. More items are For more than a decade I’ve relied on her plentiful in public parks this spring).* it barely holds a maternity pad, and defi nitely expected to be added to the line this summer advice and expertise anytime I wrote any- All you need is some fuel and even the most not an ice pack,” explains Howard. to cater to customers beyond the fourth thing about Thai food. Beginning with the rudimentary of grilling equipment. “Between us, we had a mix of vaginal and trimester. graceful, witty, and frequently elegiac words Leela answered my questions about the uni- caesarean births at varying levels of recovery Nyssa goes beyond just commerce for on her blog shesimmers.com and in subse- versality of barbecue and its place in the time time, so we experienced a wide spectrum of the three entrepreneurs: their production quent books Simple Thai Food and Bangkok, of COVID-19 from her halftime home in the needs that are commonly shared between follows ethical and community-driven she established herself as the English lan- western suburbs, where she quarantined her- those who have experienced birth. Almost values that can be seen in many aspects of guage’s foremost authority on Thai food. self in early March after fl ying home from Italy everyone bleeds for days, weeks, even months their company. Their garments are made in But her well is much deeper than that. on a plane full of people evacuating the epicen- after giving birth—that is why we chose fabric Chicago and will soon be produced at a local Born and raised in Bangkok, she’s traveled ter of the country’s outbreak. (She’s OK.) “The that is also leak resistant, and widened the women-owned and -operated manufacturer; throughout Southeast Asia since she was responsible thing to do will be to isolate myself gusset so it could better accommodate over- returned underwear are triple-washed and child, enjoying a thorough exposure to food from society,” she told me. “Very easy for this size pads. If you had a C-section, you will have donated to a women’s shelter; their “Women throughout the region. “Every time I go back homebody to do, actually.” pain at the incision site, which can be greatly Werk” program is an e ort to employ women to Thailand, I always include short trips to soothed through the application of heat and who are officially in retirement. “When we surrounding countries and beyond,” she told Mike Sula: Anyone who follows you on Ins- ice. It is a little known fact that over 90 percent started Nyssa, we had two goals in mind: me. tagram knows you are a prodigious home of fi rst-time mothers who give birth vaginally create a company that provides incredibly If you’ve followed her Instagram account cook. Are you cooking more prodigiously in will experience tearing, which can range from e ective, empathetically designed products over the last few years, you’ve seen tanta- the time of COVID-19? What, if anything, are minor (first degree) to debilitating (fourth that support people during times of transfor- lizing sneak peeks at live-fire foods from you doing di erently? degree). Ice is an essential support to help with mation, starting with the fourth trimester. Burma, Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Laos, pain relief,” says Clarke. “We also wanted to The other was to create the community we and Cambodia. I’ve been having a great Leela Punyaratabandhu: COVID-19 has made address an emotional need,” she adds. “After wish we’d had while we were pregnant and time this spring with a number of recipes most home cooks more creative. I don’t mean being in a hospital (for those who don’t give postpartum,” Clarke says. In her opinion, one from the new cookbook, smoking satay of experimenting with unusual flavor pairings birth at home), it can feel pretty demoralizing of the highlights of their podcast, aptly called baby back ribs with peanut sauce, grilling or esoteric ingredients, but thinking outside to continue to wear the very clinical-looking The Unmentionables, is an interview with pork and crabmeat crepinettes with pineap- the box—cooking by the seat of your pants. hospital mesh underwear. It makes you feel as Brown University economist Emily Oster. ple-chile dipping sauce, and I’ve applied her With the situation being what it is and with though you are still a patient. We wanted our “Her data-driven approach to parenting real- method of lacto-fermenting pork to preserve the weather in Chicago still being as cold as it underwear to help women start to feel like ly helps mitigate some of the anxieties fi rst- all sorts of meats and imbue them with the is, you can’t rely on fresh ingredients from the ‘themselves’ again after going through a very time parents have,” she says. One of those tantalizing, tangy power of sour. store or your home garden. This is the time intense physical and emotional experience.” anxieties used to be hoarding mesh undies The book continues a long-running theme when we start our day staring at what’s left in Though there are currently many other distributed at maternity hospitals. Fortu- in her work: here in the U.S. you can very our freezer and pantry and hope that an idea options of postpartum underwear available, nately that won’t be necessary anymore. v often cook versions of traditional Southeast for a good dish will emerge. It’s like playing none feature an opening for an ice or heat FourthWear Underwear can be purchased Asian recipes in your home kitchen better Iron Chef with yourself at home. It’s kind of pack. Besides that, thorough consideration was at Moon Voyage in Wicker Park and at nys- than those you can order in restaurants— fun. given to fi t and fabric; FourthWear Underwear sacare.com. even with limited access to traditional For example, just a week or so ago, the 4 CHICA OREADER - APRIL ll FOOD & DRINK

yard—setting up a tent outside and cooking smoked fi sh tinapa. food in the fire pit, perhaps? Create a game In the case of naem and sai krok isan, sour- of cooking exclusively outdoors for maybe a ing is fi rst and foremost to preserve the meat. week—over charcoal or wood—to see what it’s Then people discovered that the deeply savory like. Cooking over live fi re outdoors teaches us tang you get out of the lacto-fermentation tast- about how to build a fi re, how to manage it, and ed good, and so they continued to ferment the how to control the heat as we cook. It sharpens meat in this way. our instinct and, I think, makes us better cooks Preservation of food exists independently indoors or outdoors. of the barbecue culture. Sometimes these Honey-roasted duck with pickled preserved foods are cooked on the grill or ginger and chile- How much preservational function exists smoker—like tinapa; sometimes, they’re not. It soy-vinegar sauce for smoking and fermenting in Southeast all depends. For example, naem in its simplest, COURTESYPENGUIN Asia? Was the original rationale for fer- most traditional form—similar to pressed RANDOMHOUSE menting Isan sausage (sai krok isan) preser- ham—doesn’t even need to be cooked at all, vational? What about naem (soured pork)? let alone grilled, before serving. If not for the Was souring meat supposed to preserve it, fear of harmful pathogens and parasites, there or did people just like the taste? What about would be a lot of people who prefer to eat their the Filipino smoked fi sh on page 42? naem raw. And if you want to cook it, you can cook it many di erent ways, including steam- In the hot and humid climate of Southeast ing and stir-frying. It’s not accurate to think of Asia, food preservation is essential for naem as being made for barbecue since grilling long-term storage—whether it be through or smoking is just one of the ways to cook it. lacto-fermentation, as is the case with soured *Don’t do that. That would be illegal. v only fresh produce I had left was literally one seasonal activity but part of everyday life—all meats like sai krok isan or naem, or curing and kabocha squash. My next scheduled grocery year round. You won’t see food magazines hot smoking as is the case with the Filipino @MikeSula delivery was a couple days away, and I had publish their grilling issues during the sum- nothing else other than the squash and some mer months or hear conversations about how seasonings and dried goods in the pantry. I cut they need to dust o their grills and smokers half into 1-inch cubes, leaving the rind on for and get ready for the grilling season when texture; I stir-fried them with fi sh sauce, oyster the weather gets warmer. A charcoal grill is sauce, garlic powder (no fresh garlic that day), regarded in much the same way as an indoor and lots of ground black pepper and served kitchen gas/electric range; it’s a cooking tool that with rice. I peeled the other half, cut it that just happens to be located outdoors out into 1-inch cubes again, and cooked the squash of necessity. So, with or without a pandemic in in coconut milk just until soft but firm. The the picture, as long as people cook, people grill. coconut milk was then sweetened with palm In the U.S., on the other hand, live-fi re cook- sugar and seasoned with a dash of salt. It’s a ing outdoors has a celebratory aspect to it. classic Thai dessert. I lived on these two things When we think of grilling or barbecue, we think for two days in a row. On the third day, the of a season—the arrival of warm weather and squash in sweet coconut milk had become too outdoor living, newsstands fl ooded with food soft, so I ran it through a sieve into something magazines with grilling recipes on the covers, that looked like baby food and incorporated large gatherings of people you love, Fourth of that into a pancake mix that came in that day July picnics, Memorial Day weekend, backyard with my grocery delivery. Kabocha-squash- cookouts with friends and family, tailgate par- overcooked-in-coconut-milk-and-palm-sugar ties, barbecue festivals, etc. The pandemic has pancakes are pretty darned delicious. already disrupted the rhythms of our lives and, in severe cases, turned our world upside down, The book does really underscore how uni- and the thought of it continuing into the spring versal and elemental cooking over coals is. and summer doesn’t exactly put us in a party Anyone can do it with a wide range of food, mood. fuel, and equipment. But does this open, Not to sound glib, but even in the midst communal form of cooking have a place of COVID-19 when we’re hunkered down at right now? Is there some way it could be home, instead of bemoaning this time, we can useful or helpful for people, if only psycho- embrace it, knowing that we’re staying home logically? Can you make a case for grilling to save lives. We can still make something fun outdoors, over coals, during a pandemic? out of it. Grilling as a family is already fun, but maybe if you have small children, you can In Southeast Asia, grilling is not regarded as a turn it into an adventure in your own back- ll APRIL - CHICA OREADER 5 NEWS & POLITICS

I know le ies who voted for Nixon in ’68 because Yes, it’s true. I know lefties who voted for they were so incensed with Dems over the war. Nixon in 1968 because they hated Humphrey DEPARTMENTOFDEFENSE and Johnson so much for that war. For that matter, they’re some of the same it’s all gonna be on the test . . . people who voted for Ralph Nader over Al Gore Berniecrats fall into three basic categories, at in 2000. And while I’m on that subject . . . least when it comes to voting for Dems. Hey, Dems, stop whining about 2000. There are the Berniecrats who will hold their It’s not Ralph Nader’s fault that Al Gore noses and vote Democrat—especially over “lost” to George W. Bush. Gore ran a lackluster Trump—no matter what state they live in. Even campaign. He picked a lousy running mate if, like Illinois, their state is guaranteed to go (Joe Lieberman). And then when the fi ght over blue. Florida really heated up, Gore wimped out. He For better or worse, I’m in that category. told Jesse Jackson and union activists not to go Then there are the Berniecrats who will hold to Florida to protest the recount, pretty much their noses and vote Democrat—but only if conceding the fi ght to Republicans and proving they live in a swing state, like Michigan, where once again that Republicans play the game of their vote really counts in winning the electoral politics to win, and Dems play to make the con- college. tacts they need to get a good job on Wall Street. Biden could win more of these voters if he Sorry for that outburst—it’s just the hard- backed off some of his centrist policies—like core leftie in me. his aversion to Medicare for All (all he has to do Where was I? Oh, yes, advice to Biden. is say the pandemic has forced him to see the I suggest Dems worry less about hard-core world in a new light). lefties and more about getting more Black vot- POLITICS He might even win over some Libertari- ers to the polls. an-like swing voters by getting over his bizarre I realize this might be tough for some Dems, aversion to cannabis legalization and support- as many of them hold on to power precisely be- Hey, Joe ing it. (You watch—if Trump feels his campaign cause Black people don’t vote—what up, Mayor needs a jolt, he’ll come out in favor of legaliza- Rahm? Some advice for Biden as he tries to court the Berniecrats tion, while Joe’s still talking about more studies Just imagine how Chicago would be run if being needed.) all—or even most—of eligible Black residents B BJ Finally, there are the Berniecrats who will actually voted. never, ever, ever vote for Biden—or any Dem— For one thing, we wouldn’t dedicate $1.3 ar be it from me to give advice to Joe Biden, On top of everything else, Tara Reade’s sex- no matter what state they live in. billion in property taxes to Lincoln Yards, then a candidate I never supported during the ual assault accusation against him isn’t going These are hard-core lefties. Many of them cry that we’re too broke to pay for nurses in our Fprimaries and still sort of wish would get away. could barely bring themselves to vote for Ber- public schools. o the ticket. But as one of the foremost authorities on nie because he wasn’t leftist enough. Remember when the teachers had to go on lefties—with a subspecialty in the breed often I know the type very well—you might say strike before the mayor agreed to budget more known as Berniecrats—I’d like to give him some I’ve spent more than a few Thanksgivings with nurses for our public schools? Seems like an- advice for the sake of party unity and defeating some of them for most of my life. cient history, doesn’t it? #TVKUV9TKVGT Trump, which is at the top of my list of political They think Dems aren’t much better than Re- At the moment, we’re celebrating the brave priorities. publicans, and that when push comes to shove, nurses who are sacrifi cing their lives and safe- 2GTHQTOGT! Winning over Berniecrats has been on Dems will sell them out every time. ty to treat COVID-19 patients. And just a few %4'#6+8' 51.76+105 (14 the to-do list of Dems since Bernie Sanders You can talk to them until you’re blue in the months ago it was like—nurses? Who needs %4'#6+8' 2'12.' dropped out last week. Democrats think they face about judicial appointees and the Supreme nurses? can do that by saying nice things about Bernie. Court and they’ll remind you that Nancy Pelosi And you wonder why hard-core Berniecrats 5WRRQTVKXG #HHKTOKPI CPF )QCN It’s funny to watch everyone from Biden to and the Dems gave Trump everything he want- have a hard time voting Democrat. &KTGEVGF 2U[EJQVJGTCR[ CPF writers for the New York Times fall over them- ed on the military budget. Anyway, that’s my advice, Biden. Along with *[RPQVJGTCR[ HQT #FWNVU selves to say nice things about Bernie—even Oh, man, do I know this type . . . this: fi ght like hell to save the post o± ce and by- though they never had anything nice to say They’re descendants of the people who voted mail voting, no matter how many Republicans /#: - 5*#2'; .%59 about him while he was still in the race. for Henry Wallace over Harry Truman back in say they’ll oppose it. .QECVGF KP &QYPVQYP 'XCPUVQP Apparently they’ve decided that if they but- 1948. One thing you ought to know about Repub- ter up Bernie, they can win over Bernie voters. They couldn’t bring themselves to vote for licans: when we go high—as Michelle Obama Well, it sort of worked—at least, they got Adlai Stevenson or John F. Kennedy. once advised—they punch us in our exposed YYYOCZUJCRG[EQO Bernie to endorse Biden. They voted for LBJ over Goldwater in 1964, bellies. OCZUJCRG["CQNEQO But winning over Bernie’s voters? That’s and then felt betrayed by the Vietnam War. This isn’t going to be easy, even if the Bernie- NWG TQUU NWG 5JKGNF 2TGHGTTGF 2TQXKFGT going to be tougher. So in 1968, they voted third party over Hubert crats fall in line. v KIPC 2TGHGTTGF 2TQXKFGT To help you out, Dems, I’m o ering this brief Humphrey—LBJ’s vice president. Or, gasp, they primer on Berniecrats. Pay attention because voted for Nixon. @joravben 6 CHICA OREADER - APRIL ll Matt Field COURTESYBULLETINOFTHEATOMICSCIENTISTS NEWS & POLITICS

have come from a laboratory was pushed o to international sharing site for scientists, but can the loony fringes along with the suggestion of still be found on the Internet. intentional biological attack. The Bulletin, a nonprofi t now housed at the So it was surprising, on March 30, to find University of Chicago, was founded here in the estimable Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists 1945, in response to an incidence of devastat- reviving the theory of a lab as the possible orig- ingly disruptive technology: the atomic bomb- inal source. Not as a lab creation, and not as a ings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Its goals were biological weapon, but as an accidental leak of to educate the public about nuclear weapons, a substance that was being studied. The story to make activists of scientists, and to manage was reported by associate editor Matt Field, a the “Pandora’s box of modern science,” Bulletin native Chicagoan who covers disruptive tech- president Rachel Bronson says. Over the years, COVID-19 nology for the Bulletin. issues like climate change and pandemics have Field says he wrote the story because it’s im- joined the threat of nuclear war as concerns: portant to know how the pandemic started, and “Whenever there’s a science-based issue that Viral theories because there’s disagreement among scientists has the potential to bring great benefi t or great about whether an accident at a lab could have harm and there’s a need for political action, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists examines the possibility that COVID-19 launched it. The authors of a piece published in we’re interested.” resulted from a lab accident. Nature Medicine last month (led by scientists There’s a risk in writing this kind of piece, at the Scripps Research Institute), for example, Bronson says. “It did get picked up by some By DI presented a strong case against COVID-19 as a right-wing blogs, and we did take some criti- lab creation, and also said they “do not believe cism for it. We’re really proud of it, notwith- mong many unfortunate truths about the animal and seafood market there. When Donald that any type of laboratory-based scenario is standing that criticism.” She says it’s import- pandemic currently ravaging us is this Trump used the presidential podium to brand plausible,” Field told me. But, he says, others ant, “in this very polarized environment, that Aone: we don’t know jack about it. it “the Chinese virus,’’ he fed into fears already disagree with the latter conclusion. One of the credible places like the Bulletin not shy away We don’t know how to prevent or cure it, we stoked by right-wing conspiracy theorists sug- most outspoken is Professor Richard Ebright from stories,” regardless of who might pick don’t know whether it can infect us more than gesting that the virus was a laboratory-created of Rutgers University’s Waksman Institute of them up. “We’re just trying to keep the pres- once, and we don’t know how it suddenly devel- weapon of biological warfare. Microbiology. “Ebright thinks that it is possible sure on understanding how this virus originat- oped—rising like a bat out of hell and making These conspiracy theories were quickly that the COVID-19 pandemic started as an acci- ed so that we can prevent it from happening its way into our lungs. dismissed by mainstream experts. It was incon- dental release from a laboratory such as one of again.” We know something about bat poop, howev- ceivable that China would purposely unleash the two in Wuhan that are known to have been “It’s not like lab accidents never happen,” er. Some of these alarming night creatures—all such a catastrophe on its own people. And studying bat coronaviruses,” Field wrote in a Field observes: “It’s an issue with laboratories teeth and claws, riding on devil wings and scientists examining the structure of the virus read-it-again sentence in his Bulletin piece. across the world, including the United States.” flapping up out of nowhere—have feces that were increasingly convinced that it was a nat- Field also mentioned an article by Yanzhong Ebright, via e-mail, notes that U.S. laboratories harbor a similar coronavirus. They’ve been urally occurring phenomenon. The dominant Huang, a senior fellow for Global Health at the alone report more than 200 incidents in which identified as the original source of the 2003 theory was that it had gone from bats to some Council on Foreign Relations, who in his own substances with biological weaponry potential SARS epidemic and, we’re told, they probably intermediate animal, and then to humans. (You reporting cited a paper by a researcher at South are lost or released each year. incubated this new COVID-19 plague, too. might remember that China initially said it had China University of Technology that “conclud- “Lab accidents are common,” Ebright Unless, you know, it came from a lab. Out of no evidence of human-to-human transmis- ed that the coronavirus ‘probably’ originated says. And, except for smallpox virus, “there our ignorance, and our politics, theories have sion.) First snakes, and then the scaly pango- at the Wuhan Center for Disease Control and is no international oversight of work with emerged. lin—a winsome, endangered anteater, valued in Prevention,” which is only about 280 meters pathogens.” v COVID-19 cases first showed up in Wuhan, China as meat and medicine—were fi ngered as from the seafood market. That paper subse- China, mostly among people exposed to a live likely candidates. The idea that the virus might quently disappeared from ResearchGate, an @DeannaIsaacs WIN THE JACKPOT FROM THE COUCH Play at home on our app or online at IllinoisLottery.com

ll APRIL - CHICA OREADER 7 NEWS & POLITICS

Roosevelt Myles and Tonya Crowder TONYA to receive three or four months of credit that CROWDER can be granted at the discretion of the director of IDOC (currently Rob Jeffreys), which blood pressure and has already had pneu- could help him get released as soon as May. monia twice in his life. “I’ve been looking at (Bonjean’s letter to the governor, however, the news. It’s bad out there,” Myles wrote me warns that the pandemic could delay the pro- via the prison’s e-mail service at the end of cessing of his request for additional credit.) March. “I’m not overreacting—if I’m infected Meanwhile, Governor Pritzker has signed an with COVID-19, there’s a strong chance that it executive order allowing the IDOC director to may become fatal to me.” When he was fi rst release certain vulnerable inmates on med- placed in lockdown, reading news about the ical furloughs. So far, Pritzker has also used virus with no way to check on his family and his clemency power to release 17 individuals friends, he became so worried that he ended since March 11, according to the Tribune. up with an ulcer. Bonjean says that they are trying any and In the fall, I wrote about Myles’s long strug- all avenues to get Myles released as soon as gle to have his wrongful conviction over- possible, including additional sentence credit turned and his efforts to maintain his rela- from Je reys, the medical furlough program, NEWS tionship with his fi ancée of eight years, Tonya and clemency from the governor. “Whether Crowder, even as he remains incarcerated. In Mr. Myles is released next month or in several 1996 Myles was convicted of the 1992 murder months, the remainder of his sentence should of 16-year-old Shaharian Brandon and sen- be commuted in light of his enhanced risk for ‘I’m not overreacting’ tenced to 60 years in prison. His conviction COVID complications should he become in- A man who has waited 20 years for a court-ordered hearing is trying to was based primarily on the testimony of one fected,” his petition reads. Bonjean and Cohen secure release from prison before the virus hits. witness, a teenager at the time, who changed cite his compelling innocence claim, his un- her story multiple times before trial. She now derlying health conditions, and his record as a By MC says that she was coerced into implicating model citizen as reasons the governor should Myles by a police detective who has been ac- move to grant his request. But the process cused of misconduct in numerous cases. takes time. oosevelt Myles, an inmate at Illinois aging inmate populations, and often inferior In 2000 the Illinois Appellate Court ruled “They need certain documentation, and River Correctional Center who has been health care—could easily become petri dishes that Myles deserved a new hearing on his getting documentation from your clients who Rwaiting 20 years for a wrongful convic- for the infection if significant precautions conviction because his trial lawyer did not have no access because they’re all on lock- tion hearing that was granted by the appellate were not taken, including releasing as many call three witnesses who could have provided down is di± cult,” says Bonjean. “I know there court in 2000, has now earned enough “good inmates as possible. Now, in Illinois, worst- an alibi. Myles was then assigned a lawyer are people who are working hard on their end time” sentencing credit to leave prison in Au- case scenarios have already become reality: to file another post-conviction petition, but to process these petitions, but it’s slow going.” gust. Under di erent circumstances, for a man Cook County Jail is the site of the nation’s his public defender was negligent, and his The Prisoner Review Board—which is who has already spent 27 years behind bars for largest outbreak, with over 300 positive cases case languished for years in an astonishing tasked with making recommendations to a murder he says he did not commit, waiting and three deaths among detainees so far. The delay. The judge assigned to the case, Dennis the governor regarding clemency—and the just a few more months to get to live with his state prison system has reported 146 cases J. Porter, did not push Myles’s lawyer to move governor’s o± ce did not respond to requests fi ancée and begin a career as a paralegal might among inmates, most of them at Stateville the case forward. Myles is now represented by for comment on Myles’s petition. The Cook have been tolerable. Correctional Center, near Joliet, where 124 civil rights lawyer Bonjean, but early last year, County State’s Attorney’s Office, which will But now, with COVID-19 already causing incarcerated people have tested positive for Judge Porter denied Bonjean’s petition for have an opportunity to weigh in on Myles’s major outbreaks in other correctional facili- the virus and two have died. Myles and refused to hold a hearing. Bonjean release, said in an e-mailed statement that ties in the state, any extra time spent in prison While the Illinois Department of Correc- immediately appealed; currently the case is it is “urgently and thoroughly reviewing could be a major health risk for Myles, and tions (IDOC) insists that it is taking all pos- pending before the Illinois Appellate Court. matters on a case-by-case basis, including his attorneys are petitioning the governor to sible measures to protect inmates and sta , Like other inmates sentenced before 1998, cases presented for emergency bond hearings grant him an immediate release. In a letter some incarcerated people have reported hav- Myles has been allowed to have one day as well as petitions for clemency during this submitted to Governor J.B. Pritzker and the ing limited access to hand sanitizer and other taken off his sentence for every day served unprecedented crisis.” state’s Prisoner Review Board on April 3, Myl- items they need. Illinois River, where Myles with good behavior. In January, a new law Meanwhile, Myles and Crowder are taking es’s pro bono lawyers, Jennifer Bonjean and is, about 30 miles west of Peoria, has yet to went into e ect that granted additional sen- advantage of the opportunity to talk over Ashley Cohen, wrote, “it is your obligation as see any cases, but inmates and advocates are tencing credit to eligible inmates based on video chat when they can—Illinois inmates Governor to protect the citizens of the State still concerned that the virus could make its participation in certain programs. After a lot are now receiving one free video visit a of Illinois, get ahead of the inevitable COVID- way inside. Myles and his fellow inmates are of effort navigating the IDOC bureaucracy, week in light of in-person visit suspensions. 19 spread, and assist in saving this innocent currently on a precautionary quarantine lock- Myles learned last week that he had been Crowder was in good spirits when she called man’s life before it is too late.” down, with limited access to phones, work approved for 15 months of additional time me last week from Peoria, where she’s quaran- As soon as the novel coronavirus pandemic canceled, and all outside visits suspended. o his sentence because of his experience in tining with her son and daughter. She hopes started to upend life across the country, ad- Myles, who is 55, is particularly worried correctional industry work programs and his that Myles will be able to join them soon. v vocates began to raise the alarm that prisons about how the virus would affect him if he paralegal certifi cation. Those 15 months put and jails—given the crowded conditions, gets it, given that he has diabetes and high his release date in August. He’s also hoping @maricohen95 8 CHICA OREADER - APRIL ll PAID ADVERTISEMENT

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tancing and ramped-up medical screening permanent housing.” HOUSING at shelters, many homeless advocates argue Meanwhile, for the people still living on the that traditional “congregant” shelters, even streets and in encampments, the most press- with beds spaced farther apart, are not safe ing need now is food. As pedestrians have Homeless during a during a pandemic. “It hasn’t happened yet disappeared so have donations of food and that tons of people in shelters are getting sick, spare change that help sustain this popula- but it’s going to happen,” says Julie Dworkin, tion. Some of the charities that provide meals pandemic policy director of the Chicago Coalition for to people on the streets have cut back their the Homeless. “Shelters really don’t have the operations to comply with social distancing Chicagoans without shelter face the tough choice between the streets and ability to follow the ideal CDC guidance, which guidelines, too. shared air. is isolated rooms.” “I haven’t seen a lot of people who [have The Chicago Housing Initiative, Illinois Pub- symptoms of COVID-19] but we are seeing a By M D lic Health Association, and more than 1,300 lot of people who are having a lot of problems online petition signatories have called on the finding food,” said Noam Greene, who leads s local, state, and federal authorities either have a COVID-19 diagnosis or who are Chicago Housing Authority to make some the Night Ministry’s street medicine outreach. step up their COVID-19 response, one of awaiting test results, but who cannot safely 2,000 units of vacant public housing available Their team travels around the city in a special- Athe most pressing issues is managing return home and do not need hospital care,” for the homeless. But so far “there’s complete ized van to provide basic health-care services Chicago’s existing (and sure-to-be-growing) according to the mayor’s o± ce. resistance on the part of the CHA and com- to the homeless (and can be called out as need- homelessness crisis. An estimated 86,000 And so the most direct way to get a roof over plete inaction on the part of the mayor’s o± ce” ed at 773-256-7549). While the Night Ministry people are homeless in the city, according to one’s head remains through an existing emer- in response to this idea, said CHI executive has temporarily suspended HIV testing in the the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless. Tens gency shelter. To get into a shelter, people have director Leah Levinger. van, and still doesn’t have coronavirus tests, of thousands live “doubled up” with relatives to call 311, or go to a police station, hospital, or “Most vacant CHA units are not concen- it’s continuing to distribute limited quantities or friends, and between 5,000 and 6,000 people city drop-in center for a referral to a location trated within one or two buildings but are of food, such as nonperishable snacks and pea- are on the street or in “congregant” emergency that can accommodate them. CDPH has issued interspersed among other family and senior nut butter and jelly sandwiches, as well as the shelters such as the Paciﬁ c Garden Mission or a set of guidelines and a questionnaire for buildings across the City, making it impracti- overdose reversal drug Narcan. Franciscan Outreach shelters. shelters to screen every incoming person for cal and ill-advised to house groups of people “There’s a lot of issues with people access- So far, there’ve been no confirmed cases COVID-19 symptoms. who need to be isolated or quarantined due to ing whatever drugs or alcohol they might be or deaths from the novel coronavirus among While some smaller shelters have stopped coronavirus,” CHA spokeswoman Molly Sulli- using,” Greene said. “We’re actually finding Chicago’s homeless population. In a statement taking new clients to help protect those al- van wrote in a statement. Besides that, “many that sometimes that leads to an increase in to the Reader the city said its Department of ready in their care, others, such as Franciscan of those units are not habitable or leasable.” overdosing because if you go down on your Public Health epidemiologists “investigate Outreach (the largest city-funded emergency Sullivan also wrote that the housing assis- dose and then get access to your drugs again and track all reported cases of COVID-19 with- shelter), have continued to receive new guests. tance e orts already being undertaken by the you’re more susceptible to overdose.” As in all congregate settings in the city, including Currently, Franciscan is serving 400 people city “are designed to address an immediate dealers socially distance too, those who might homeless shelters.” Nevertheless, with tests across its three shelter facilities and at one of need while not disrupting the CHA housing want to use the dry spell to reduce their drug John, aka Moe, on the corner surrounded by pigeons; April 1, 2020 in short supply and a grave lack of access to the new YMCA locations brokered by the city. process or further extending wait-list times use or get clean are ﬁ nding it harder to access health care among this population, public “We have protocols in place for disinfecting for housing throughout the City. The City isn’t detox services because local health-care pro- health experts and housing advocates are all of our sites,” said Laura Reilly, Franciscan’s currently contemplating CHA units for these viders are overwhelmed, Greene explained. had shown symptoms of the virus. However, their hands, and have demonstrated a cavalier bracing for the worst. director of development and marketing. “Our interventions.” There have already been documented out- the people showing those symptoms were not attitude about health concerns. They claim The city has launched a variety of initiatives sta is also screening for symptoms of corona- Sullivan said that homeless families on the breaks of the virus at shelters in San Francisco tested; there were no test kits available. Did that they’ve built up their immune systems to help homeless people stay safe and access virus.” Reilly said that donations of personal agency’s waiting list—now topping 145,000 and New York City. Anecdotally, advocates ‘The city is dead, they have the virus? No one knows for sure. because of everyday exposure to the di± cult shelter during the pandemic. Porta-potties hygiene and cleaning supplies are needed now applicants—already receive priority when have heard of people leaving Chicago congre- I recently talked about the virus and pho- conditions a ecting their lives. They have not and handwashing stations have been installed more than ever but that the organization is units become available. gant shelters in favor of sleeping on the streets, tographed four people who are homeless and seen or heard much of the news, and many at several encampments. Some 700 new shel- managing to supply all guests and sta with The federal stimulus package passed in especially with the weather improving. are we next?’ live on the street or in the depths of Lower have missed the precautionary measures that ter beds were created at area YMCAs to help masks. She added that teams of medical work- March includes $12 billion for various De- “Shelters are powder kegs, it’s really a bless- Wacker and other subterranean streets. These the rest of us see every hour of the day. existing emergency shelters implement social ers from Rush University Medical Center and partment of Housing and Urban Development ing this pandemic hit in the spring and not in What staying at home means for people who stay on the streets. are people I’ve known for years, people who I distancing protocols, like moving beds six feet other health-care providers conduct symptom programs, including $4 billion for homeless the winter,” said Levinger. “Spacing beds six try to help out when I can. They tell me about HIS NAME IS JOHN, street name Moe. apart. Two thousand $1,000 emergency hous- surveys and temperature checks for every per- assistance, and the state has also allocated $8 feet apart when everyone is using the same S L DG the lives they lead in the “Underworld.” For His cat is named Lazy. John sits on the corner ing assistance grants were created (for which son staying at their facilities multiple times million for homeless programs. However, the door handles and bathrooms to me seems a lit- some, when they walk up the stairs onto the of Lake and Michigan. Hundreds of people used the city received 83,000 applications in six a day. “We don’t have tests, so if people are speed with which these funds will be available tle bit like window dressing. It’s no fault of any downtown streets, they enter the world “Up to walk by him every couple of hours. Today, I days) and more are in the pipeline with fund- exhibiting signs and symptoms then they’re in Chicago is unclear. guests or workers, it’s just everyone is living in or the past five years, I’ve been docu- far, no one. I’ve asked people who stay on the Top,” the world of sunlight. Up Top is where counted three people walking past in the 20 raising help from the Family Independence transported to a designated hotel to isolate,” “We are working to ensure that anyone that a really tight space . . . I know because I live in menting homelessness and some of its street if any of their friends or acquaintances the regular working people are. It’s where the minutes we spent together. They gave John and Initiative. Reilly explained. “And if people are seriously does get housed because they become ill does a Catholic Worker house. We’re doing intense Fcauses. I’m not a social scientist. I use a have been sick from the virus. They’ve all an- Underworld people hustle to make enough Lazy a wide berth. The hundreds of local hotel rooms desig- ill they’ll be transferred to a hospital instead of not end up homeless again after they recover,” cleaning protocols, but it’s a shared kitchen, camera and a voice recorder. Among the many swered no. We don’t know anyone, they tell me. money to get through a day. “We’re here, on this corner now, all by nated as isolation housing, however, are not a hotel.” So far two people who’d been staying said Dworkin of CCH. “We are working on ad- shared bathrooms, we’re packed in together, homeless people I know who stay in downtown I received word from one of the local street The homeless people who I know have not ourselves. We are not in contact with regular currently available to homeless people trying at Franciscan shelters have been transferred vocating to use federal recovery resources to we share air together.” v Chicago, not one has shown symptoms of medicine groups that I work with that a cou- practiced social distancing, have continued to people walking by anymore. So the virus is to get o the streets. Instead, they’re reserved to the isolation hotel rooms. get people into temporary housing units rath- COVID-19. Of course, they could be carriers, and ple of the unsheltered people they visited smoke snipes (other people’s cigarette butts not around us. I don’t know anyone who’s sick. for health-care workers and “individuals who Despite attempts to increase social dis- er than hotel rooms, and then linking them to @mdoukmas on any given day they could get sick. But, so recently, not from the downtown community, found on the streets), do not regularly wash I take care of Lazy, try not to let her near too 10 CHICA OREADER - APRIL ll APRIL - CHICA OREADER 11 John, aka Moe, on the corner surrounded by pigeons; April 1, 2020

had shown symptoms of the virus. However, their hands, and have demonstrated a cavalier the people showing those symptoms were not attitude about health concerns. They claim tested; there were no test kits available. Did that they’ve built up their immune systems ‘The city is dead, they have the virus? No one knows for sure. because of everyday exposure to the di± cult I recently talked about the virus and pho- conditions a ecting their lives. They have not tographed four people who are homeless and seen or heard much of the news, and many are we next?’ live on the street or in the depths of Lower have missed the precautionary measures that Wacker and other subterranean streets. These the rest of us see every hour of the day. What staying at home means for people who stay on the streets. are people I’ve known for years, people who I try to help out when I can. They tell me about HIS NAME IS JOHN, street name Moe. S L DG the lives they lead in the “Underworld.” For His cat is named Lazy. John sits on the corner some, when they walk up the stairs onto the of Lake and Michigan. Hundreds of people used downtown streets, they enter the world “Up to walk by him every couple of hours. Today, I or the past five years, I’ve been docu- far, no one. I’ve asked people who stay on the Top,” the world of sunlight. Up Top is where counted three people walking past in the 20 menting homelessness and some of its street if any of their friends or acquaintances the regular working people are. It’s where the minutes we spent together. They gave John and Fcauses. I’m not a social scientist. I use a have been sick from the virus. They’ve all an- Underworld people hustle to make enough Lazy a wide berth. camera and a voice recorder. Among the many swered no. We don’t know anyone, they tell me. money to get through a day. “We’re here, on this corner now, all by homeless people I know who stay in downtown I received word from one of the local street The homeless people who I know have not ourselves. We are not in contact with regular Chicago, not one has shown symptoms of medicine groups that I work with that a cou- practiced social distancing, have continued to people walking by anymore. So the virus is COVID-19. Of course, they could be carriers, and ple of the unsheltered people they visited smoke snipes (other people’s cigarette butts not around us. I don’t know anyone who’s sick. on any given day they could get sick. But, so recently, not from the downtown community, found on the streets), do not regularly wash I take care of Lazy, try not to let her near too ll APRIL - CHICA OREADER 11 Jimmy in an alley during a snowstorm; March 22, 2020

continued from 11 in the hell are the seagulls doing on this side- think we’re full of disease. Now we are looked thing is gonna last a long time.” many people. I watch her close so that she’s walk over here? I never saw them at this spot at as walking, sitting, time bombs. No one is not breathing anything in. before. Everything is changing. I don’t know giving nothing. We got to figure out how us STACEY LIVES WITH HER partner “The pigeons are fl eeing Lower Wacker and what it all means. It’s kind of scary.” homeless can receive something from the gov- Greg and their cat Simba along Lower Wacker. coming Up Top now. They’re getting attacked ernment . . . we Americans too.” Stacey woke up one morning to the sound of by the rats down below because there’s no I MADE AN EMERGENCY food run A few days later I photographed the pages in city workers delivering a washing station to working people spilling food or throwing food for a few people who needed it. Jimmy was his journal. her encampment. into the garbage. one of them. I kept a distance and dropped o “My memory is getting bad. 2 days without “I was barely awake and they just said, “These pigeons have nothing to eat any- some supplies, including a notebook so Jimmy food or nothing else, just some coffee and ‘Keep washing your hands.’ That’s what they more. So I’m tossing them bits of leftover cat can write about the virus, a couple of fresh cigarette butts to smoke. Everyday seems the told me. As they were leaving they said, ‘You’ll food. Yeah they’re eating cat food. They never cigarettes, a jar of peanut butter, a jar of jelly, same. The city is dead, are we next? I thought get more information Thursday.’ Thursday used to do this before. There used to be just and a loaf of white bread: Jimmy likes PB&J about jumpin o the roof of a building I know is the day when city sanitation workers, with a few of them here but people would walk by sandwiches. I can get into. But I don’t have it in me. It’s se- a police escort, come down to Lower Wacker and scare them o . Now there’s only me, Lazy, My friend Jimmy lives downtown in an rious, people see me and walk way around me. and clean things up. Sometimes they do a and the pigeons. One thing I’ve noticed in the alley. He’s got a fl ip phone and texted me one Writing in this notebook makes me realize power wash, sometimes a trash pickup. People last couple of days is the seagulls that land on morning when COVID-19 fi rst impacted Chica- how repetitive my life is. Same shit di erent that live in the Underworld must be in their the sidewalk. The seagulls joined the pigeons go and businesses began to shut down. day. I know this much . . . it’s gonna be a dif- camp, standing next to their belongings, or and they all fi ght for food. I’m thinking what “Yea it’s slow down here. People already ferent world when this is over. This ‘distance’ the city workers will throw all of their posses- 12 CHICA OREADER - APRIL ll sions into a trash truck. No questions asked, everything you own is suddenly gone. You’re done!” Stacey and other homeless people who I talked to knew very little about the pandemic and coronavirus. “The news I get about anything is when I’m out on the street hustling and people walk up to me and say, ‘Keep your hands washed or you’ll get sick,’” Stacey said. I talked with her man Greg on the street earlier that day. Greg told me, “The only news I hear about is from reading the captions o of the TVs I walk past that are in the windows of bars and restaurants, but they’re all going to be closed now. Sometimes people tell me things about the news. You just told me it’s all over the world. Jesus! No, I never talked about this with any other homeless people that I know. It’s like the fl u, I heard. What I do know, for sure, is that there are fewer people walking downtown today.” A few days later Stacey told me that things are changing. “I’m hustling on the street now and the few people that are out are talking to me now, they’re friendlier,” she said. “These are some of the people that walk by me every day, everybody was in such a big rush to get their train. Now, they’re asking me how I’m doing. I’m OK, I tell them. I ask them how they are because I know that everybody is hurting, Above: Stacey holds Simba and stands next to a portable wash station; March 15, 2020 some more than others. City workers came Below: Tay smokes a cigarette fl anked by the pillars that support the “Up Top” streets; April 6, 2020 back down to us and dropped off a portable toilet. It was like Christmas. Wow, a toilet at our camp. All we had before was a white plastic bucket.”

TAY IS AN ARTIST. On the streets he tries to sell his drawings of iconic Chicago land- marks to passersby. He’s usually successful, but now the streets are empty. “The last two or three days we’ve had very little food. People aren’t coming down here anymore. They’re afraid because of the virus. Monetarily, I make my money hustling my art. So, the more people that are out on the street the better are my chances of selling my art. All it takes is for one person to make my day. But with no people around we are all getting desperate. The virus intensiﬁ es the desperation. The streets yeah, it’s so bad. It’s unalive now. I can’t get past how surreal it all is. I keep thinking it’s got to be a bad joke. I hear homeless people talking under Lower Wacker and they’re saying it’s like the zombie apocalypse. I tell them don’t be talkin’ that shit now. “As much as I don’t like being around hordes of people, I learned that I can do some necessary thinking just walking amongst the city’s residents. Now, I feel out of place seeing downtown like it is. I have no words to describe what I’m thinking. All I see are strag- glers going . . . wherever.” v ll APRIL - CHICA OREADER 13 ARTS & CULTURE ANDERSONVILLE UPDATES SUPPORTING OUR BUSINESS COMMUNITY IN THE WEEKS TO COME andersonville.org/updates

RELATIONSHIPS Dating at a distance What it’s like to virtually ﬂ irt at the hot new ﬁ rst-date spot: Google Hangouts By R H

“STANDS AT THE UNICORN-RARE INTERSECTION cruised through my pre-date ritual with a time, not a long time,” and couples seeking a rhythmic familiarity: showered, moistur- third party for threesomes. It only takes a mo- OF MESMERIZING AND INDISPENSABLE” ized, tweezed errant hairs from my eye- ment of swiping through profi les, however, to – Chicago Reader I brows, put on makeup, threw on my favorite fi nd reminders of the extraordinary event we’re jeans and sweater, and paced around my room living through, namely, in the form of pickup to whittle away at the nervous pit in my stom- lines. “If coronavirus doesn’t take you out, I WATCH FROM HOME! ach. Standing in front of the mirror, I swiveled will,” read a few profi les. “Imagine telling our REMOTE VIEWING back and forth to investigate every angle, kids about our fi rst date over Zoom,” another PERFORMANCES grimacing at the way my ass looked in my jeans said. as I normally would before catching myself—on Determined to retain usership at a time NOW AVAILABLE the other side of the webcam, I would exist only when so many sectors of the economy have from the shoulders up, and in one dimension. been decimated by the crisis, dating apps have LIMITED AVAILABILITY I have been on fi rst dates at bars, restaurants, responded to stay-at-home orders by steering NOW – APRIL 19 and co ee shops. I’ve been to the Art Institute, into the skid. For the month of April, Tinder to a student opera, and to improv shows. I had, has removed the paywall on Passport, a feature until recently, never had a fi rst date over Goo- which allows users to search by city around the gle Hangouts—a few weeks ago I would have world. Tinder and other dating apps such as laughed at the prospect. Since then, the world Bumble and Hinge are pushing “virtual dating” has changed, in ways that, if not outright hor- as a replacement for the real thing. “Get togeth- CHICAGO PREMIERE rifi c, are just mundanely bizarre. er while staying apart,” a banner ad on Bumble “I’m inspired by your dedication to putting reads, while Hinge advises that “70% of Hinge yourself out there,” a friend told me when I members would be up for a phone or video call mentioned I was still using dating apps even as right now. No pressure, just keep it short and by JAMES IJAMES directed by WARDELL JULIUS CLARK the city entered into lockdown. fun!” “That’s one way of looking at it,” I replied. Quarantine, the apps claim, has been a boon Even now, the apps have maintained their for online dating. Bumble reported to Mother usual staples: preppy consultants who promise Jones an increase in messages sent through 773.281.8463 TIMELINETHEATRE.COM your mom will love them, aspiring rappers the app of at least 20 percent, with bigger whose profi les link to their Soundcloud tracks, boosts in large, heavily impacted cities. Tinder aloof men who claim to be there “for a good likewise reported an increase of 10–15 percent 14 CHICA OREADER - APRIL ll POETRY CORNER ARTS & CULTURE

RACHELHAWLEY versation was sometimes more awkward than The Bags You Don’t See on a real-life date—pauses in conversation, By Tara Betts in mid-March, around the time restaurants and screen lag, both parties talking at the same bars began closing down in most major cities. time—sitting across from a nervous stranger We carry our invisible luggage tagged with names What’s more, Vice reported that in-app Tinder felt less daunting from the comfort of my own like grief, trauma, anxiety, stress, depression, hurt conversations in the UK have been lasting lon- bedroom. We bounced between discussing and heartbreak, and we get tired when straps ger since quarantine began. non-coronavirus topics and the pandemic and cut into our fingers and dig into shoulders, I am a longtime on-and-o dating app user, its effect on our lives. One feared potential hunched over and slowed down. Unpacking but I haven’t given the apps more than a curso- layo s at work; another expressed frustration comes as a chore no one wants. Clean house. ry glance since I started working at the Reader with his roommate’s choice to go on an in-per- TTake out the trash. Pay bills. Shower. Brush in December. A few weeks ago, however, fueled son date. We also discussed the typical subject and floss so teeth don’t turn to long tombstones. by boredom and loneliness, I began swiping matter of fi rst dates: our families, our jobs, our Check email and social media. Check the mailbox. through Tinder and Hinge. Immediately, I no- hobbies, and our favorite books and movies. I Walk every day. Practice yoga. Meditate. Reiki. ticed a difference in my own behavior on the politely cut one date short (without anywhere Acupuncture. Take vitamins. Medicate. Check-ups. apps; where I have usually been too shy to mes- I might plausibly need to be, I resorted to the Find the therapist. Meet with said therapist. Keep sage fi rst and choosy about whom I reply to, I time-tested classic, “sorry, my mom is calling showing up if they consider your problems valid. now found myself messaging or responding to me”), but on another, I was shocked to look at TTake out the trash, at least one bag per week. messages from most of the people I matched the clock and fi nd that we’d spent more than an Other people will raise their hands with suggestions with. Those first messages presented varia- hour and a half talking. they think will help and ideas will weave themselves tions on a clear theme: “How are you holding One doubt that has lingered with me is into another bag to carry, as if you didn’t try or know. up?” “How is quarantine treating you?” “Are whether or not a virtual date provides the same They don’t know getting to a shower is a gut punch you going stir-crazy yet?” Gone is the pressure kind of information about a person that an to death’s midsection. We keep lifting until the bags to fi nd an opening salvo that can transition into in-person date does, and whether my virtual aare not so heavy, maybe they disappear, while others fertile conversational ground—there’s plenty experiences are enough to ascertain whether are tucked into the closets of our brains, those shuttles to talk about where coronavirus is concerned. I’d like to see these men again. Before meeting, of dream and action. We see ourselves without any bags, I maintained longer conversations with it’s di± cult to gauge chemistry; God knows, I’ve dancing in yellow amber and smiling, or at least catching about ten men in the Chicago area, whose had lovely texting exchanges with people only a shimmer of someone, or us on our own, just like that. ages ranged from early to late twenties. Some to then realize four minutes into the fi rst date were working from home, some had lost their that there simply is no spark. My impressions jobs due to the virus, and two were graduate from the Google Hangouts are valuable—I’ve Tara Betts is the author of Break the Habit and Arc & Hue. She's a co-editor of The Beiging students attempting to take classes over Zoom. learned who can make me laugh, who shares my of America: Personal Narratives about Being Mixed Race in the 21st Century and editor of There were, notably, no essential workers politics, who I can carry on a conversation with. the critical edition of Philippa Duke Schuyler's memoir Adventures in Black and White. among this group. Our conversations flitted But in some ineffable way, meeting on either Poem curated by Nikki Patin, who holds an MFA in creative non-fiction from the University of between the present and past tense, describing side of a webcam fails to capture the experience Southern Maine, is a recipient of a 3Arts Make A Wave award in music, and was recently named our lives before and after the crisis began. On a of meeting a person in fl esh and blood, just as one of “30 Writers to Watch” by the Guild Literary Complex. Patin is the community engagement director for the Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation and the founder and executive few occasions, one of us momentarily forgot the taking a virtual tour of an apartment will never producer of Surviving the Mic, a monthly live podcast and writing workshop series based on the ways in which coronavirus has put our normal compare to the experience of standing inside it. south side of Chicago, where she lives with her six-year-old son, Tobias. routines on hold. “I love going to bar trivia,” Dating is a series of cumulative escalations— one guy told me, “. . . or, I guess I used to.” second and third dates, sex, commitment, and Eventually, all but three conversations fiz- so on—and being unable to meet in person puts zled out, at which point it was time to suggest a the possibility of escalation on hold, such that Celebrate National Poetry Month virtual date. On the day of each date, 15 minutes my flirtationships feel almost hypothetical with the Poetry Foundation and before the agreed-upon time, I began position- at times. Perhaps part of the problem is that Poetry magazine! ing and repositioning my bedroom lamp in the future has become nearly impossible to Download the April issue of search of the best possible webcam lighting. imagine. Will quarantine be lifted on April 30, Poetry for free in the Poetry Then, I opened Google Hangouts, ran my fi ngers as the current stay-at-home order suggests? Or MMagazine App. through my hair repeatedly for a casually tou- will it be extended into May or June? I have no Free Online Book Club sled look, and invited my date to join the call, idea what my life or the broader world will look April 24 each beat of my heart landing with a thud in my like in a month or three or six; there is only this Book Group discussing Postcolonial Love Poem chest as I tried to maintain a collected façade. moment, boring and lonely as it often is. by Library staff. Removing the natural context of an in-person As for right now, I’m planning on a second date also strips away many avenues for small virtual date with one of the guys I saw last talk; you can’t dip your toe in the conversa- week. It’s strange to feel cheerful about any- tional waters by asking if their trip to the date thing at a time like this. Still, I can’t help but location was alright, or what looks good on the feel optimistic, even if I might not get to stand Poetry Foundation menu. My virtual dates each began with some within six feet of him for a while yet. v 61 West Superior Street poetryfoundation.org/events variation of one party sheepishly murmuring, “so, how was your day?” While the fl ow of con- @boughsofhawley ll APRIL - CHICA OREADER 15 ARTS & CULTURE

COMEDY Lane Moore knows How to Be Alone The author and comedian shares her techniques while also bringing people together with a daily livestream. By SN L

purchased How to Be Alone sometime last Moore’s book helped me gain some confi dence ed upside down and backward. year when my partner and I were taking a in aloneness. I had planned to either meet or phone-chat Ibreak. I remember sitting in the bathtub The award-winning comedian, writer, with Moore (who is based in New York) when tearing up, sinking in my bubbles, and tweet- musician, and actor writes in her book, “I am she came to Chicago for her Tinder LIVE! tour. ing to Lane Moore, the author of the book, that working every day, tirelessly, like you wouldn’t During the show, Moore pulls up her Tinder she was getting me through a rough time. I’ve believe, on being fi ne, fucking fi nally, can we onstage and the crowd decides if she swipes never known how to be alone. I still don’t. I’m a get this over with, I’m so tired and I just want left or right. Her scheduled Chicago dates were serial monogamist, and even now, my partner to travel and eat and smile and move through in April, but then the pandemic happened. So (we reconciled six months later) is isolated the world with a semblance of peace.” These Moore had to get creative. At fi rst, she was dev- here with me (like, right next to me). Yes, being words coincide perfectly with our world right astated. “So I thought wait, wait, there’s got to alone is something I enjoy—on walks, at the now. Right now, if we are alone or together, we be a way to stay connected with my audiences, grocery store, in the shower, for a few hours are working, working harder than ever before and be alone together right now, and still do while writing—but overall, I’m a shit person to remain afl oat, to try and manage some sort live shows, because artists and audiences need without my buds, family, and lips to kiss. of normalcy in a time when everything is twist- each other,” she says. “Well, I literally wrote

We're all unsettled. We're all confused. We're all confined.

Thankfully, we're all able to get really really really stoned.

Legally. *

Join us for a symposium on how our cannabis industry will be the leading lady of the upcoming economic recovery.

* Ages 21+, legal states.

16 CHICA OREADER - APRIL ll H BA R Streams Mondays and Fridays at PM EST on Twitch and Instagram Live. You can find previous episodes on Moore’s Patreon. Her Venmo is @ hellolanemoore. ARTS & CULTURE

Lane Moore KATIATEMKIN than these beginning stages. She may bring on video gaming, as Twitch is a platform typically the book on how to be alone, and now I make used for gamers, and she may start up her idea my living doing live comedy and music, so I for a children’s show called Strawberry Milk. created this livestream show.” But for right now, Moore is just trying to hang Moore describes her livestream, How to Be on. “Like most of us right now, it’s gonna take Alone, as a “late-night show” where she talks me a minute to get used to a completely new about how she’s doing, how she’s feeling, and world,” she says. “I’m still grieving so much, then opens up the chat to viewers. “Then we and trying to help people through it who are watch funny videos from the 50s/60s and I grieving too. I’m trying to tell myself to just make jokes throughout them, like Mystery keep taking it one step at a time, but I’m really Science Theater,” she says. “Then we play an excited to see where the How to Be Alone lives- ’80s board game I have, Heartthrob, and the treaming show can go.” v audience guesses who I’m gonna pick, which is a lot like Tinder LIVE! in that way. Some- @snicolelane times I do Tinder LIVE! as well.” Moore ends her shows with a “musical guest,” where she covers songs in a karaoke-style performance of whatever artists she chooses (viewers can o er up suggestions, too). I had the pleasure of hearing Moore cover Fiona Apple’s “On the Bound”—she belted out a perfect pandemic tune that made one of the viewers say that they may consider becoming an Apple fan. Moore’s band, It Was Romance, is releasing their second album this year so the livestream is a way for Moore to promote it. “And right now every show is donation based, either through Venmo, Paypal, or Patreon, so it’s really supported by the viewers,” she explains. Throughout the stream, the cha-ching noise from her Venmo goes o and Moore gleefully thanks her kind donors via video. Your partners in health and wellness. Though during the livestream it seems like Moore is simply chatting with an old friend, Dr. Mauricio Consalter has been serving medical she does say some preparation is involved. “I choose the videos for the night, and the songs, cannabis patients since 2015 and is now expanding his and often will prepare to talk about a certain practice to include a wider range of treatment options question people had on loneliness/isolation during this time, but the show is totally impro- for his patients with intractable chronic pain and vised otherwise, which is really fun.” And you mental health disorders. can see the excitement Moore has when watching videos for the ﬁ rst time with her viewers. If you'd like more information Improvisation is sort of Moore’s thing, it seems, as she gets a thrill from spontaneity. about adding medical cannabis What I especially appreciated as a viewer or infusion therapy into your was how I could be invisible if I chose to be or JOINTODAYAND I could enter the chat room (like the good ol’ wellness plan, contact us today! GETINVOLVED! AIM days) and chat with Moore’s fans if I was Telemed Available! craving some Internet connections. Moore agrees. “Dude, the How to Be Alone viewers are so connected it’s magical.” Although she doesn’t get to directly participate in the chat 312-772-2313 because she’s performing, she thinks it’s excit- ing and special to watch her fan base grow and get to know one another at the same time. www.neuromedici.com Future shows for Moore may look di erent ll APRIL - CHICA OREADER 17 Important ARTS & CULTURE GAMES Reader News Jackbox Games is sweeping the

Due to business closings and for safety purposes, the nation Chicago Reader is going biweekly with a print run to The head of the Chicago-based company on bringing laughter and levity to a stressful time 600+ locations, including our box route. On the o weeks (April 9, 23, May 7) the Reader is just being B BW distributed as a free PDF, with a small press run to

ful ll subscriber and library mailings. uiplash. Zeeple Dome. Trivia Murder equivalent to New Year’s Eve. The holidays are Party. What once might have looked like typically the biggest time of year for us, when We are also making a limited number of copies Qjust a nonsense string of words is now everyone’s back at home and together. Right available for special short-term subscriptions, 12 recognizable as a list of games being played on now, no one is together, but they’re all together Zoom meetings, Google Hangouts, and Twitch playing over video conferencing and ﬁ nding a weeks for $50, and every week’s issue will be mailed streams in isolation thanks to Jackbox Games. way to still socialize. to your home. The Chicago-based company has seen a record number of downloads of its six di erent party Many of the people I’ve been playing with packs over the last month, providing many at didn’t realize Jackbox was based here. How Just a few hundred copies will be sold of these very a discounted price and o ering tips on how to did the company get started here? limited souvenir editions of the Reader: organize remote games on its blog (they even secure.actblue.com/donate/chicago-reader-print-12 lay out how the games can be used for homes- It was known as Jellyvision [when the company chooling). And the company has found itself in started in 1995], and it was best known for a the spotlight outside of our Instagram stories successful trivia game called You Don’t Know thanks to initiatives like Broadway Jackbox, a Jack. There were a number of versions of that Find the full curated PDF download of the Reader at weekly livestream game started by Dear Evan on PC CD-ROM played on PCs and Macs at the chicagoreader.com/issues Hansen’s Andrew Barth Feldman that features time. The company ultimately fell on hard Broadway stars and raises money for out-of- times in the early 2000s: there was a rise in by Wednesday each week. work performers across the country through home gaming with consoles, and a lot of the the Actors Fund. I hopped on a Google Hangout CD-ROM market—the bottom fell out of it. I with Jackbox Games CEO Mike Bilder to check joined in 2008 to restart the company’s gaming in with the company, dive into its history, and initiatives. In 2014 we did our ﬁ rst game where learn a little more about what goes into creat- you use your mobile phone as a controller, that ing the games we’re now playing daily. was Fibbage. It took some iteration to get to that idea, but the impetus behind it was we rec- Brianna Wellen: Based on my personal expe- ognize that most people have one controller on rience playing so much Jackbox in the past their console—multiplayer gaming played over few weeks, I can imagine this is a crazy time a console, you play over the Internet. You have for you guys. your PlayStation, I have my PlayStation, and we connect and play a game together. We want Mike Bilder: Yes, it’s been very busy for us. to make party games, social games that happen We’re happy about that because it brings some in the same room, that make social interaction social interaction and some fun and levity to occur and make laughter and levity occur. what is a very stressful and anxious time. So the games that everyone is playing right Do you have any numbers on how many now are actually fairly new to the whole more games have been downloaded in the company’s history. past few weeks? Thank you, Yes, but they’re kind of still built on the DNA What I can tell you is just about every day as far of what the original You Don’t Know Jack is as tra± c is concerned, with games played on about, which is bringing people together. Back The Reader team our servers and that type of thing, it’s equiva- then it was three people had to gather around lent to Thanksgiving. And the weekends are a keyboard and they each had a button to buzz 18 CHICA OREADER - APRIL ll ARTS & CULTURE

in. There was interaction with the game: it was kinds of games because we love playing games talking and would talk with you and there were like that, but Fakin’ It was pitched for two years jokes and irreverence and humor, so the same and Push the Button was pitched for almost kind of DNA of what that [intellectual proper- three years before it was fi nally green-lit. ty] was is definitely in all the games and the COmedy direction for creativity that we put into all our It feels like the Chicago gaming community, games. both people playing the games and people from Your creating them, has really grown in the past What is the process of coming up with and ten years. What have you noticed in that creating these games? time? We’ve got a very, very talented sta . We em- It used to be more large, established compa- cOUCh ploy full-time and some contract writers; a nies. We had Midway Games, they did a lot of lot of them have cut their teeth in the Chicago coin-op, they did a lot of consoles, we had EA comedy scene, so Second City, iO—they’re Chicago for a while. Neither of those kinds comedy writers at heart. Anyone at the com- of big entities exists anymore, but out of the pany can pitch games. At this point, we’ve done kind of disruption of them going away, a lot of this kind of annual cycle: we ship the party people formed companies or built up teams. So pack in October and then we immediately start there is still a very vibrant community in Chica- Connect, Laugh, Create with People concepting and pitching and prototyping inter- go of game development. No one is a hub of big Around the World Through Virtual Classes! nally to fi gure out what the games will be in the publishers, but there’s a lot of little people. It’s next year’s pack. It’s a very open process. a neat community. IMPROV • STAND-UP • WRITING • & MORE! We’ll help assign teams or resources to a SECONDCITYONLINE.COM • 312-337-3992 concept if it gets some traction, so we want to What’s happening now is a ecting a lot of build a digital prototype of it. There’s a lot of businesses very di erently and you guys are paper-and-pencil testing where we can, and obviously benefiting from it. How has this then sometimes you have to make a digital pro- a ected your sta and how does that change totype based on the function of the game. Then things in the future? those are evaluated and we have a green-light committee and a process where we go through We have brought on a number of temporary approving and disapproving games. It’s a very workers in the last three weeks just to handle fun process, it happens very quickly, but it’s customer service tickets—we’ve had this infl ux neat because, like I said, a lot of people have of new customers that just kind of happened opportunities to pitch, and I think that’s what overnight—so that has pushed some efforts keeps it fresh. We’ve done 30 games now over into other areas for us where we’ve had to sta Thrive in Challenging Times the last fi ve years or so, and you can easily fall up. So that’s one good thing that’s come out into a rut of, “Ah, it’s kind of the same game of this, we’ve been able to hire people. How it with just a di erent coat of paint.” We always changes in the long-term, I really don’t know. try to push the envelope where we can. Eventually things will settle down when the world gets back to normal. What that means LIfe coaching Are there any rejected games that you still for us moving forward as far as our customer love or ones that get pitched over and over base and our usage, I don’t know, I suspect it again until they fi nally make it through? will decline as the world goes back to work, but I do think it’s leveled up from where we were There’s both. There are a few internally that I before. I think we’re fortunate for that and Powerful one-on-one coaching to really like that just aren’t quite ready for prime we’re happy to have new people in our ecosys- time, and I’m hoping in coming years they’ll get tem wanting to play our games. v help you deepen your relationships, there. We have a few games as well that actually have that path. If you’ve played Fakin’ It, that’s @BriannaWellen excel in your career, and reach your the hidden-identity game where you have to be the faker and try to blend in, then we have full potential! another game in a similar tone called Push the Button, which is another hidden-identity game that’s more strategic, a bit more like Werewolf or Secret Hitler, those kind of games. But both please recycle of those were very challenging to crack in a dig- this paper wrightfoundation.org/coaching ital form. We knew we wanted to make these ll APRIL - CHICA OREADER 19 THEATER

WE ARE ONE. ONE COMMUNITY, ONE CITY.

For now, we embrace shelter-in-place. But we’ll dance together again soon.

In our studios and far beyond. When the time is right.

AND THE CITY HAS WON. THEATER

Be well, The Joffrey Ballet Community Stage to screen Scott Silberstein tells us how HMS Media captures the magic of live performance. By K R

f COVID-19 hadn’t shuttered all the theaters streaming productions, both newly created and in town about a month ago, Scott Silberstein archival, it seemed like a good time to check in Iestimates that his company, HMS Media, with Silberstein about what he and HMS view “would have been in ten di erent theaters over as the most essential tricks of the trade. five or six days, capturing everything possi- Silberstein and his HMS partner, Matt Ho - ble.” Par for the course for HMS, which has man, met at Wisconsin’s Camp Nebagamon recorded live performances of everything from when they were 13. A shared love of the Beatles small dance companies to touring Broadway brought them together in a camp version of productions over the years, as well as creating Beatlemania, and they stayed friends through original documentaries about Second City and college (Silberstein at University of Pennsyl- John Kander and Fred Ebb, the legendary song- vania, Hoffman at Syracuse). The camp also writing team behind Cabaret and Chicago, for provided Silberstein with an introduction to WTTW. Kander, who was his dad’s counselor at Nebag- Instead, like everyone else, Silberstein and amon in the 1950s. the company he cofounded 32 years ago had “You just can’t get a better mentor,” says to retreat and rejigger. They worked with the Silberstein. “John was all about collaboration Actors Fund to create a video of Carole King’s and all about not knowing, but going for dis- “You’ve Got a Friend,” featuring actors and covery and humility and ensemble. Which is musicians from Beautiful, the hit King biomu- remarkable for a man in the Broadway world, sical, performing from quarantine (including because that’s not necessarily an environment Chicago native Jessie Mueller, who won a Tony that Broadway fosters.” for playing King in 2014, and her sister Abby Silberstein joined Ho man in Chicago after Mueller, who played the role on tour). Silber- graduating and they worked at a cable pro- stein and his ﬁ ancée have also postponed their duction facility. Their first collaboration to wedding until after the shutdown. gain notice was a documentary highlighting Joffrey Artist Jeraldine Mendoza and ensemble. Photo by Cheryl Mann. With so many fans of live performance the work of Rape Victim Advocates, Why Am now getting their ﬁ x through the screen with I Hiding?, which Ho man directed. That won 22 CHICA OREADER - APRIL ll THEATER

Scott Silberstein COURTESYHMSMEDIA archiving [a live performance]. But if you’re to capturing her.” to catch them a half second after they started doing something that is a documentary, like For his sta , that means hiring camera oper- speaking, as opposed to half a second before. a couple of local Emmy Awards and launched the River North special . . . we take a look at ators with “innate talent and a willingness to In that split-second di erence, all your energy their relationship with WTTW. it and say, ‘Well, what can we do with video surrender to the logistics. If you are a camera is gone, because your element of surprise is Before shooting theater productions, HMS that only video can do?’ What can you do? op who needs to have things a certain way with gone.” ﬁ rst got into capturing dance on camera. The You can violate time-space continuum. You a certain amount of light and a certain amount Audio quality remains a key for a good video ﬁ rst Chicago modern dance performance Sil- can give people access to places they couldn’t of control, this is probably not for you.” In- experience, notes Silberstein. “A great audio berstein saw with the now-gone Lynda Martha go, in quick proximity that they could never stead, Silberstein and HMS embrace the “yes, design can make so-so video feel like it looks Dance Company was because Martha, one of have, and show them things in an hour that and” ethos of Chicago improvisation, where better than it actually is.” his neighbors, wanted to set him up with one might otherwise take them three days to get to obstacles become opportunities. For companies creating new content or of her dancers. He became hooked instantly on everything.” Silberstein notes that many people think repurposing older content online for the shut- the art form, if not the artist. He adds, “Even when we’re doing full-out that the bigger the show, the more cameras you down, Silberstein thinks the same questions “The only way I could describe what I saw live performance specials, we start with need. The opposite is often true. he asks artists at the start of any collaboration was to say ‘This is what music looks like.’” ‘What’s the analogous experience? What can “Think about this big musical I just shot for apply. “Why this video? Why this platform? With he and Hoffman both having musical we do that feels really responsive to what’s you. There’s stu happening around the stage Who is it for, and why do we think they’ll be backgrounds—Silberstein is a classically happening onstage as opposed to capturing all the time. If I cut wide, that shot is meaning- interested?” trained pianist—the transition to translating it? We’ll have shooting scripts in the sense of ful. You can actually make that look really good But he also finds value in watching older dance for video came naturally. A special they ‘Here’s what’s about to happen.’ But however with two cameras. Now the play that we’re performances and the sense of community it did for WTTW on River North Dance Company it happened at rehearsal is not how it’s going about to shoot, there’s a scene where someone captures for our current state of isolation. “The followed. to happen tonight. Renée Fleming might be in is all the way stage left, someone’s center, and magic is the space between what’s onstage and For Silberstein, the key to doing the work one frame of mind in the afternoon rehearsal, someone’s all the way stage right. You want the audience and that air. We’re trying to shoot well lies in both preparation and improvisa- but now she’s in her wonderful formal gown close-ups of everybody at any given time. Our that energy of that air, and hopefully that’s tion. “The phrase we kept using was make it and there’s a whole other energy and there’s an editors know that sometimes you don’t want what you feel when you see it.” v not just presentational, but make it invitation- audience. So we’ve got to make sure that we’re to edit that shot too soon, because part of the al. You can only take that so far when you’re in a position to respond to Renée, as opposed joy of the moment is popping your head over @kerryreid

SCHOOL GIRLS; NOW ONLINE! OR, THE AFRICAN Through April 26 only

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of us came to Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s name- Philip Dawkins in The Happiest Place on Earth MICHAELBROSILOW less character through bingeing both seasons of Fleabag on Amazon Prime. But until April 24, you can watch this recording from last er, and if your appetite for vengeance is in the year, in which Waller-Bridge reprises the 2013 red zone, this is the show for you. Black But- one-woman stage show that started it all. ton Eyes puts the text of the show (including Fair warning: there are some even darker suggestions for how this could be staged in moments in the stage version that didn’t a full theatrical production) on the company make it to the series. But though created long website along with the series of videos, cre- before we were all spending too much time ating a combination of a literary and visual with ourselves, Fleabag still speaks to the age experience. blackbuttoneyes.com, free of isolation and the desire for connection, no matter how fleeting or seemingly sordid it Play(s) at Home might be. Waller-Bridge’s quicksilver ability Connective Theatre Company had to cancel to switch from one character to another feels their planned production of Morning in Amer- like a welcome throwback to great solo work ica, based on interviews from people across of decades past from the likes of John Legui- the political spectrum. They instead solicited zamo or Lily Tomlin. When Joe, the cockney submissions about COVID-19 for this virtual regular at the “guinea pig cafe” asks Waller- play festival and selected eight short pieces, Bridge’s proprietor, “When will people realize which they rehearsed via Zoom, shot, and that people are all we got?,” it lands with edited in 72 hours. They’re broken into three extra emotional oomph. sohotheatreonde- “acts,” all refl ecting di erent aspects of what mand.com, $5 (proceeds benefit COVID-19 THEATER living in isolation means, and company artistic relief e orts) director Chase Hauser talks to therapist Erich From Poe to hummingbirds, Fleabag to Disney Heintzen about coping mechanisms between The Happiest Place on Earth Four streaming theater pieces to watch this week the acts. Another previously recorded solo show The pieces range from the satirical, as in hits the livestream from Sideshow Theatre By K R Leah Huskey’s Coronavirus: The Game Show, Company, which o ers Philip Dawkins’s 2016 in which Huskey’s contestant keeps giving Jeff Award–winning piece about how, in the “take another nap” as the correct answer, to aftermath of his grandfather’s premature (on- hen you’re used to seeing at least of a quick overview of a few ways that art- the meditative: Kathleen Cahill’s monologue, air) death in New Mexico, his grandmother, three or four shows a week at the ists and theater companies are trying to Being Here Now, illustrates how FOMO feels mother, and aunts took a trip to Disneyland. Wtheater, adjusting to online content keep the virtual lights on in the quarantine. even more oppressive in quarantine, as Dawkins presents the story, recorded through is a challenge. Over the last few days, there Tehilla Newman’s Valerie laments missing a single fi xed video camera at the back of the have been mini-uproars around whether crit- Masque of the Red Coronavirus her chance to see the brightly hued elegant Greenhouse Theater, as a pseudolecture. ics should even be writing reviews of online Black Button Eyes goes all in with creating trogon hummingbird on a social-distancing Using an old-fashioned overhead projector to shows. Kelly Leonard, executive vice presi- new material in direct response to COVID-19 nature walk. Anxiety about the fi nancial fu- highlight photos and documents, he entwines dent of Second City, took the Tribune’s Chris by ri± ng on Edgar Allan Poe’s classic short ture comes through in Mary Athena’s Clown, his family’s story in startling ways with the Jones to task on Facebook when the latter story “The Masque of the Red Death,” about as a woman who lost her job during the shut- bogus vision of America, or what he calls “the reviewed Second City’s new created-in-quar- a group of elites shutting themselves off in down submits to having cream pies shoved in national fantasy,” dreamed up by Walt Disney. antine Improv House Party, writing, “It’s a a pleasure palace during a plague. The con- her face for money. Throughout the show, Dawkins introduces modestly amusing diversion, no more than nection makes sense for the company, which Heintzen provides reassuring perspectives all the parks within the park at Disneyland that, and it needs a lot of work.” Peter Marks has made staging the supernatural its call- along the way for theatermakers and viewers. with snippets of what was said at the o± cial of the Washington Post also caught heat for ing card. Here, we have a Trumpian Prince, “This [shutdown] might give you an opportu- opening, from the anti–Native American his reviews of online productions. played by Shane Roberie, toggling between nity to do things you’ve been wanting to do,” sentiments in Frontierland to the misogynist What are the rules now? Should free self-pity and self-aggrandizement as he intro- he says, adding “but it’s also important to ac- comments about women drivers in Tomor- content get more of a critical pass than paid duces clips from a variety of performers, in- knowledge that we may not get to everything rowland. The isolated world of merriment streaming events? Is there any point to cluding burlesque artist Cyn S Tease Ya doing that we wanted to. And that’s OK, too.” The at Disneyland has its own echoes of “The reviewing archival content for a show that a Salome-esque “Dance of the Seven Gels,” company is soliciting scripts through April Masque of the Red Death.” But thankfully, the closed years ago? Are you reviewing the story Scott Gryder performing a macabre song 20 for their next o ering, Play(s) at Home: a women in Dawkins’s family found a way to or the technology? I’m not sure I have the (composed by Jonathon Lynch) with a spider Green Theatre Festival. connectivetheatre- escape by embracing the reality that “nothing answers as a critic, and I’m damn sure I’m puppet, Mikaela Sullivan singing “Elle a fui, la company.com, free is promised, and no one lives happily ever in no position to be offering prescriptions tourterelle” from The Tales of Ho mann, and after.” sideshowtheatre.org, pay what you to artists—or anyone else right now—for Dawn Xiana Moon demonstrating a thrilling Fleabag wish v how to survive this plague creatively. So fi re dance. Consider this limited-time streaming perfor- consider what I’m providing here as more As in the original, the rich can’t hide forev- mance a reverse commute of sorts, since most @kerryreid 24 CHICA OREADER - APRIL ll FILM

able to rent on Amazon Prime Video and Google Play)

There have been a handful of ﬁ lms that touch on cults in recent years—from Charlie Says to Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, among others—and Małgorzata Szumowska’s The Other Lamb is a worthy addition that focuses on an often overlooked theme: revenge. A young woman born into an all-female cult, led by a man known as “The Shepherd,” begins to question the only thing she’s ever known. Her quest for autonomy is underscored by violent visions, striking cinematography, and a haunt- ing score that will stay with you long after the credits roll. The Other Lamb is not a subtle allegory, but it never claims to be. Rather, it’s See you on the a phoenix rising from the ashes and taking no Blow the Man Down shit. other side, Chicago.

Sea Fever PREVIEW Directed by Neasa Hardiman (available to rent on Amazon Prime Video)

For fans of sea monsters and pandemic horror, The At-Home Genre Fest chicagodancesupply.com Neasa Hardiman’s indie feature is sure to be Enjoy a mini streaming fi lm festival, all from the comfort of your couch. a crowd pleaser. In Sea Fever, an introvert- ed marine biologist joins a tight-knit crew By C C on the Atlantic for her research, but plans Chicago's Free Weekly change when members of the crew become Since 1971 e might not be able to go to movie ing cast of characters who ultimately crack infected after coming across a dangerous, theaters for the foreseeable future, under the pressure of keeping up with their unidentifiable creature. The film dives into Wbut that doesn’t mean we can’t stream appearances. high-stakes problem-solving that’s gripping and support some new releases. Now more from beginning to end—from interrogations than ever feels like a perfect time to dive into Bacurau to quarantining and testing—while heralding some fresh genre fi lms—they are uniquely able Directed by Kleber Mendonça Filho and an all-too-relevant moral message of the im- to transport you to another world and provide Juliano Dornelles (available to rent on Ki- portance of distancing oneself for the greater a much-needed distraction, but they can also noNow, with half of proceeds benefi ting the good. allow you to think about the current state of Music Box Theatre) our world with a fresh perspective. From cults The Sharks to creature features, these o erings will make Vibrant in its presentation and ballsy in its Directed by Lucía Garibaldi (available on for a rousing genre fest you can host from the form, Kleber Mendonça Filho and Juliano VOD April 14) comfort of your own home. Dornelles’s Cannes Jury Prize winner offers an inventive, genre-bending twist on the long- Lucía Garibaldi’s Sundance darling is a searing Blow the Man Down standing horrors of colonialism. The people of take on the coming-of-age fl ick set in a small Directed by Bridget Savage Cole and Dan- a small Brazilian village mourn its matriarch, beachside town that becomes enraptured by ielle Krudy (streaming on Amazon Prime and they grow tired of their corrupt leader rumors of a shark invasion. Fourteen-year-old Video) who lives in luxury while they barely scrape Rosina lives her life unnoticed and dismissed, by. But when the town is suddenly nowhere to even when she tells her father she may have Sea shanties and mischief abound in Bridget be found on maps, UFOs are spotted in the air, seen a dorsal fi n in the water. Unsure of wheth- Savage Cole and Danielle Krudy’s impressive and mercenaries come out to play, it’s quickly er or not it was a product of her imagination, debut feature. Following the death of their revealed that there are other, more sinister Rosina is haunted by the shark, laying the mother, two sisters (Sophie Lowe and Morgan forces at play. It’s a rallying cry against struc- groundwork for a complicated sense of self chicagoreader.com/donate Saylor) find themselves uncovering a series tural injustice told through a satisfying blend and sexuality. The Sharks ruminates on desire of macabre secrets—and attempt to cover up of western and science fi ction infl uences. through an unlikely female gaze: one of preda- We Couldn't Be Free Without You— some of their own—in their seemingly pic- tor vs. prey. Support Community Journalism ture-perfect New England fishing town. It’s The Other Lamb an incredibly cunning mystery with a charm- Directed by Małgorzata Szumowska (avail- @dykediscourse ll APRIL - CHICA OREADER 25 MUSIC

“He’s just Nnamdï, and he makes music that’s incredibly real,” says Ratboys front woman Julia Steiner. “His music makes you feel like you can do anything." STEPHANIEBROOKS

With Brat he began going by simply “Nnamdï,” not by his full name, Nnamdi Og- bonnaya—an attempt to mark a new chapter in his personal and musical development. “It also comes from the same brain, same source,” he wrote in a statement explaining the change, “but presented in a more concise, direct way.” Some of the tunes on Brat carry the desperation he’d heard in his music back in 2018, while others refl ect what he discovered as he tried to heal his life. On those later songs, it’s as though current Nnamdï is reaching back to console past Nnamdï. I’ve known Nnamdï since 2010, when his fi rst band, an instrumental duo called the Para- Medics, played at my punk house in Normal, Illinois. He’s 29 now, and he’s been making his boundary-defying music since middle school, when he fi rst fell in love with DIY punk, math rock, and hip-hop—still the main currents in his furiously hybridized sound. He’s empathet- ic and funny, and his songs are harmonious despite their wild complexity. He injects inventive rhythms not only into his drumming and programmed beats but also into his dexterous guitar playing, sharp-edged rapping, and playfully layered vocal arrangements, whose shimmering harmonies sometimes sound Nnamdï grows up on Brat almost sanctifi ed. Drool is probably his most The prolifi c musical polymath uses his new solo album to teach himself something about work-life balance. stylistically and tonally consistent album—it feels carefully curated, especially compared By TC to the random smatterings of everything and anything on his earlier releases. Brat falls somewhere between those two extremes—it n winter 2018, Nnamdï sat in his swivel mark for him: coreleased by Bay Area indie increasingly out of touch with his circle, even has a lot of variety in its sound, but it’s unifi ed chair in the basement recording studio Father/Daughter Records, it was the fi rst thing the people he cared about most. He’d thought by a strong emotional center. Iof his home in Portage Park, listening in- he’d put out on a label not his own, as well as of his creative pursuits as an unqualifi ed good, “When I went and listened to choose some tently to the sound of his own voice. A tireless his fi rst full-length to get a vinyl pressing. without realizing what they were costing him. songs for the new record, I picked up on these musical polymath, he was using the studio’s Drool earned Nnamdï a wave of recognition Those emotions crystallized that winter day themes,” Nnamdï says. “They didn’t stem from monitor speakers to review a batch of 30 or so from critics and peers, not just in Chicago but in his studio. Three of the songs he’d played nothing—it came out of my brain and what I song sketches for his next album. He hoped to far afield, and it quickly changed his life: he back for himself appear on his new album, was feeling.” One of those songs is “Flowers fi nd a common emotional thread in at least a sold more music and stepped up his touring Brat, which came out the fi rst week of April. to My Demons.” Built around a gorgeously few, to give him a theme to pursue—but what regimen, and in summer 2018 he played the Before COVID-19 canceled everything, its re- knotty acoustic guitar progression, it repeats he heard was a sobering message from his Pitchfork festival. He’d quit his day job after lease party had been scheduled for Saturday, a direct appeal that appears on more than half own subconscious. Song after song, each in Drool came out, and between his frequent April 18, at Lincoln Hall. of Brat’s tunes: “I need you / Need something a di erent way, announced itself as the work tours, he settled back into his favorite space— “The songs on this record are all connected new.” But that “you” isn’t anybody in particu- of a human who wasn’t doing so hot. If he he holed up in his studio. Nnamdï is gregarious to a particular time frame where I was learn- lar. “I put that in there to motivate myself to approached what he’d written as a listener, not and charming when he goes out, but he was ing a lot about myself,” Nnamdï says. “It docu- keep going,” he explains. as its creator, it sounded like a cry for help. going out less. “The shifts coming back from ments a growth period that is one of the most As Nnamdï fought his self-isolation and By the time Nnamdï dropped his previous tour can be di± cult,” he says. “I wouldn’t call important periods of my life in understanding workaholism, he reminded himself to be more album, 2017’s Drool, he’d already appeared on friends or my family. I’d come home, not sure myself, learning how to be vulnerable, and deliberate and consistent about talking to dozens of releases by a long list of bands. Drool what to do with myself, so I would just come becoming more confident in who I am as a people. He wanted to remember to be open was his 12th solo record, but it was still a land- home and only work on music.” He began to feel person.” and present, and to check in on friends who’d 26 CHICA OREADER - APRIL ll MUSIC

moved away. During the years when Brat took “That was my introduction into a di erent was to fi nd a space to make art and practice,” a burst of gentle falsetto vocals that fl oats o shape, that phrase from “Flowers” became a world,” Nnamdï says. “People were making Nnamdï says. Alfred didn’t need that kind from the point of impact. Ratboys singer and mantra for him. He also had to work around their own art and booking their own shows—it of space—he writes fiction—but he put his guitarist Julia Steiner provides the song with his tendency toward self-deprecation—with infl uenced me to want to do it myself.” brother’s needs fi rst. its lullaby chorus: “Sit tight / In my hideaway.” the record’s title and cover photo, for instance, In 2011, Nnamdï and his brother Alfred Nnamdï’s move to the city precipitated an Hi-hat coated in digital distortion fl utters and he jokingly cast himself as a petulant child (he also has two sisters) started putting on almost comical increase in his number of musi- stutters while a rim-stick sound rattles in throwing a tantrum. Focusing on art and self- shows in the family home. Their parents, both cal projects. Over the next few years, he added bursts like a woodpecker intent on disrupting actualization often felt indulgent, but he stayed preachers, spent extended periods organizing at least half a dozen more: he started playing the dream. But the percussion drops out for a “brat”—that is, he sat there and thought parishes on the west coast, and the brothers bass in kinetic pop-punk band Nervous Pas- Steiner to join Nnamdï in singing, “No one’s about what he’d done. How did he end up as took the chance when they saw it. They called senger and math-rock unit Teen Cult, as well as gonna judge you here / We’re the only people an emotional creature who didn’t know how their ad hoc venue Nnamdi’s Pancake Haus, drumming in ambient pop group Mother Ever- near for miles and miles and miles.” to express himself? The things he learned from and with Alfred working the skillet, they fi lled green, screamo outfi t Ittō, math-fusion band The combination of the melody’s syrupy asking that question inform the new album. hundreds of bellies with fl apjacks while host- Monobody, and another math-rock act called movement and the nagging, busy rhythms be- “Throughout the whole project, I was get- ing touring and south-suburban bands such as My Dad. Through 2014, he put out one or two neath it is exactly the type of counterintuitive ting really down about the state of the world,” Easter and Ratboys. Nnamdï also performed albums per year with the Sooper Swag Project choice Nnamdï has always made, as if drawn he says. “A lot of musicians and artists I’m frequently in several different contexts, in- or under his own name, most of which con- to the challenge of making clashing elements friends with share the feeling sometimes when cluding the Para-Medics, his solo act, and the tained at least 20 songs. The 2013 full-length sing beautifully together. The anxious percus- they’re working on their art or working on newly formed trio Sooper Swag Project. The Bootie Noir included the syrupy fever dream of sion gives the song’s dream world a reason to their music, and they’ll look outside and think, last consisted of three MCs—Nnamdï, Lus- “Ice Cream” and the bright midwestern-emo exist—it’s the safe place Nnamdï wants. ‘What the fuck is the point of what I’m doing?’” cious Duncan, and JD—with JD (who also goes guitar lead of “Art School Crush,” while the “Nnamdï is magnetic because he’s so him- Sometimes he thought he should fi nd a job by ThrashKitten) contributing thick, schizo- EP Despondent, released later that year, was a self,” Steiner says. “There’s no pretension, no where he could help people more concretely. phrenic Ableton beats. march into screamo despair. BS—he’s just Nnamdï, and he makes music “It seemed selfi sh to pursue this music when Nnamdï had been making solo tunes for Nnamdï’s 2014 album Feckin Weirdo has a that’s incredibly real. His music makes you feel family wasn’t doing well, the world is insane,” about as long as he’d been playing with the song called “Sit Tight,” which positions music like you can do anything.” he says. “Sometimes it got hard to justify Para-Medics, and in 2010 he’d launched a Face- making as a refuge for him. The song arose Even during his Swerp Mansion years, not doing something more. That’s where the book page for Nnamdi’s Sooper Dooper Secret from his experiences being bullied as a kid. Nnamdï was spending a lot of time in his home ‘brattiness’ comes in—feeling selfi sh for the Side Project, where he posted “albums” that “I’m never mad about it, because I’m happy studio. His roommates rarely saw him out of it. art, even though I know it’s not selfi sh because were mostly songs for and about his friends. with the person I turned out to be and I don’t When he wasn’t holed up working on music, he I know how important art is to me and to the But the self-titled debut full-length from the think I would be myself without any of those was studying—he’d eventually graduate from people I meet.” Sooper Swag Project, which came out in 2012, encounters,” Nnamdï told me during a 2016 UIC in 2014 with a degree in electrical engi- Nnamdï grew up in the south suburb of Lan- was the fi rst time his music got traction out- interview for my podcast Better Yet. “But I got neering. And neither of those things was es- sing and started drumming in the Para-Medics side his social circle. “Drop It in Some Water” bullied a lot by the cool kids in high school and pecially compatible with the thin walls of the with guitarist Dylan Piskula in 2004. They combined elements of trap and cloud rap with middle school. They’d say, ‘Why do you sound space’s thrown-together bedrooms, especially evolved from classic-rock covers by the Who deliberately wonky beats and self-consciously white?’ It didn’t make me feel as bad at the when people came over to hang out and party and Led Zeppelin into noisy, Don Caballero– silly lyrics: “While you laying in the gutter / time, I would try to brush it o , but I’d think in the common areas. Nnamdï looked forward influenced math rock. They were inspired Straight from the udder / Smooth like butter / about it more and more. I really thought that to shows at Swerp Mansion—held in what was by Lansing’s vibrant DIY punk scene, which You on some margarine.” no Black people liked me.” usually the living room—as a release from the at the time included Dastard, Like Bats, and In summer 2012, Nnamdï and Alfred closed “Sit Tight” opens with a bass drum pulsing grind. He lived there for three years, moving Erfert—whose bassist, Tommy Borst, booked up shop and moved from Lansing to the for- in a panicked frenzy like a crashing hard drive, out in summer 2015. local shows with soon-to-be-canonized emo- mer Lucky Gator Loft location at Grand and which drops out on the same downboat that In June 2016, Nnamdï launched Sooper revival bands such as Grown Ups, Lautrec, and Pulaski, rechristening it Swerp Mansion. “We introduces the song’s digital clouds of Tron- Records with Longface guitarist Glenn Castevet. talked about having shows, but the priority style synths—with the transition marked by Curran, whom he’d gotten to know while Donate to Elastic or become a member today Friend: Any donation (plus a free button!) Advocate: $500-$999, or $50/month, Backer: $35-$99, or $6.25/month, button, button, shirt, limited edition newsletter, invitations to member events. plus free admission to most events. 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continued from 27 changed. “I realized that withholding infor- helping out with vocal arrangements for Cur- mation is a form of lying,” he says. “If people ran’s solo project, Man Without a Head. “Glenn are asking about you because you seem off, brought up the idea,” Nnamdï recalls. “He it’s really not fair to just say ‘I’m fi ne,’ which said, ‘I think you have a community of people is literally what I always did. It was completely that support you in a way that I haven’t seen second nature to me.” before. I think we should start a label.’” With the Brat song “It’s OK,” he speaks Nnamdï was reluctant at first—he’s al- directly and tenderly to these old emotions. ready made two failed attempts at starting “There’s no need to pretend / You’re OK if a label—but the quality of the music coming you’re not,” he sings to himself and to every- from that community soon pushed him off one. He’s made a leap forward from the Nnam- the fence. “This shit is undeniably good—it’s dï on “Sit Tight,” who tried to keep up a facade not even a matter of opinion for me,” he says. of being unbothered by bullies even as he “Everyone around us is killing it and making created an imaginary hideout for himself. interesting music, and people should hear it.” “I think it’s important to me as a Black male In July 2018, the two founders brought aboard to show openness and to show all the di erent a third owner, eclectic hip-hop artist Sen aspects, show that I get angry and that I can Morimoto, who’d met Nnamdï while playing use that anger in a positive way, show that I do at Rich Jones’s All Smiles series at Tonic Room get sad,” Nnamdï says. “Because Black males in summer 2015. The Sooper catalog includes are mostly shown as these intense fi gures that BIT.LY/GOOSEDELIVERS records by Kaina, Wrong Numbers, Miranda are very one-sided, which is not true. I think Winters of Melkbelly, and all three owners. it’s important for younger Black kids to see When Sooper and Father/Daughter released older Black folks that are being vulnerable and Drool in April 2017, it was the climactic mo- also confi dent in themselves.” ment Nnamdï had been ceaselessly working An earlier song on Brat—one of the “things toward. When the album took off, he was are not so good” songs—is “Perfect in My able to quit the odds-and-ends job he’d been Mind,” where falsetto vocals and caterwauling working at Curran’s law fi rm. But even as he guitar feedback evoke the disappointment continued to innovate musically, build com- that’s baked into the creative process. It’s munity, and inspire people around him, he was about learning how to live with the fact that starting to feel like his e orts were pointless. your art never lives up to the vision of it in your To support Drool, Nnamdï toured as an head. “Glass Casket” is a dreamscape shaped opening act for Do Make Say Think, Vagabon, by dissatisfaction, filled with wishes for all and Speedy Ortiz. During the same period, the things Nnamdï could be: a farmer to feed he hit the road drumming for Monobody, his loved ones, for instance, or an astronaut to Ratboys, and Mother Evergreen. The trouble take them far away from the fucked-up world. he had reintegrating when he was home was But by the album’s closer, “Salut,” Nnamdï driving a wedge between him and the rest of seems centered, grounded, and at peace with the world, especially those closest to him. “It’s himself. It’s as though he’s finally accepted Summit a weird time when you come back from a tour, that he really can inspire people and bring especially if you don’t have any other work,” them together, and he’s prepared to take that Chicago he says. “I thought, ‘Well, I’ve got to make my power seriously. He’s found his faith, and it’s own schedule.’” not in a distant God: “If it’s meant to be, then it That schedule kept Nnamdï in his studio will be,” he repeats. “Salute to my lord, silent “I take great pride in being the owner of Summit for long hours. He worked himself into a and above he remains.” Chicago for over 22 years. The Summit pioneered deep rut, and without realizing it, he came to Everything about Nnamdï’s process in mak- the dedicated urban meeting environment and rely on music as his only outlet for emotional ing Brat is interwoven with his desire to be a now it is the largest growing sector in the meetings expression. better person. Some part of him may think he’s industry. Leading the Summit has afforded me the “I used to not tell anyone what I was going acting like a spoiled child by using his art to fi x opportunity to build, nurture, and support my team through. I would write songs and say, ‘That’s his life, but his e orts will benefi t anyone who and our clients.” it, it’s in the song,’” he says. “I don’t like telling listens. “If there was a younger me looking at Louise Silberman, Owner people how I feel. I don’t want to bring anyone me,” he says, “I would want him to think, ‘I’m down—if I’m down or depressed, I would put learning things from this person, and I feel 312.938.2000 | [email protected] it into a song and let that be the outlet, rather comfortable enough to be myself because of 205 N. Michigan Ave. 10th Floor than have to burden people with these things.” this person.’” v Chicago, IL 60601 As Nnamdï came to understand what he www.summitchicago.com wanted to do with Brat, though, his attitude @betteryetpod 28 CHICA OREADER - APRIL ll MUSIC

angle. He looks at it as a fan, but also the busi- it.” For my part, I’ve been educating as many ness elements—looking at the way musicians people about it and just making sure everyone moved and the way their teams were operating. uploads all their new material there. I realized My cousin was a friend of Hebru Brantley’s, it was kind of a case-by-case basis, where peo- and they’re both friends with Andrew, so they ple would upload to Audiomack, so I kind of just introduced me to Andrew. After I’d been writ- made it happen where every time a friend of ing for a number of local blogs for a little while, mine released a song, “Hey, make sure you put they pretty much just saw, “He’s serious about this up there.” this.” So my cousin reached out to Drew, like, We also had the Hometown Heroes concert “Hey, check him out.” And he liked my writing. at Metro for All-Star Weekend, which is more PJ Gordon So it went from there. or less the live version of the playlist I curate. DANIELZALKUS I went from a guy that was trying to get That was a big part of the Chicago engagement. a bunch of people to listen to my artist, to a It was really cool that we got to be a part of bunch of artists reaching out to me to either All-Star Weekend; I’m glad they saw that submit their music or just in general. I was opportunity. someone from Fake Shore that they could talk I just like learning as much as I can and see- to a little bit easier, because I was more likely ing things from as many angles as I can. I work to be at an event, because I was still trying to for the local operation, which is Fake Shore, network everywhere. So it introduced me to a and Audiomack is more of a national thing. I’m lot more people and taught me how to operate meeting new artists all the time; I’m meeting in the peer group of the music scene. new managers. I feel like every interaction I I started working at not just doing small have makes me a little bit better at my job. v community theaters—I went to bars and I threw stu there. I helped book stu at Metro. I @imLeor was widening my network and keeping my ears CHICAGOANS OF NOTE to the ground. I went from just trying to get as many people on, to tailoring my events—I hate shows that are just all over the place, like, PJ Gordon, hip-hop promoter, music that doesn’t really go together. I put more e ort into making it so, like, “Hey, this is a show where I want to see everybody perform- curator, and writer ing. I’m not just here to see my friend, or I’m not just here to see one person. I want to stay for Rattleback “I have a pinned tweet on my page that says, ‘“I fucked someone to that the entire thing.” It’s how I got into playlisting. RECORDS playlist you made” is the highest compliment you can give me.’” It’s a full experience, a full something for people to enjoy. ANDERSONVILLE'S FULL As told toLG Working for a music blog is in some way cu- SERVICE RECORD STORE ratorial. But I have a pinned tweet on my page that says, “‘I fucked someone to that playlist WE WANT TO WISH YOU ALL PJ Gordon, 24, has been involved in Chicago’s Young—Vic Mensa, Alex Wiley, I believe Joey you made’ is the highest compliment you can HEALTH & PEACE DURING THESE CHALLENGING TIMES hip-hop scene since his senior year at Whitney Purp. I would see them around. The music give me.” And Audiomack marketing director Young Magnet High School in 2014. He contrib- scene was such a big part of high school, ’cause Joe Vango saw it; I guess he checked the com- utes to Fake Shore Drive, organizes concerts, all of those guys, they were about my age. They ments to see if it was valid, and he really liked WHILE OUR SHOP and works as a curator for streaming service would be at the parties, or they were the center my work. He hired me to do Chicago playlisting IS TEMPORARILY Audiomack—he makes its playlist Hometown of the parties, or they threw the parties. If you for Audiomack—I think it was early 2019. CLOSED Heroes: Chicago. were a kid that went to a high school in the city I make sure that as many artists as possible at that point, you knew who they were, and so get signed up for Audiomack—not just Chicago. WE’RE HAPPY TO was graduating high school and wasn’t too by extension you were at least a little into the When I go to other cities, I talk to people and SHIP YOU ANY sure what I was gonna do next. Two of my music scene. see if they’re with us. I maintain the Chicago MUSIC YOU’RE Ibest friends were starting a rap group. They I started seeing how the sausage was made. I Hometown Heroes playlist. I curate other ones, needed help e-mailing blogs and coming up saw more of it from the inside. I was obviously whatever I’m feeling. When Juice Wrld died, I LOOKING FOR! with a rollout and a marketing plan, so I start- still a fan, but just seeing the behind-the-scenes made one to commemorate him. ed helping them out. Basically I became their stu , it changed my perception of it. I started In general, I was surprised by how few artists manager. This is May of 2014. I got into putting thinking of it more business-like. Andrew Bar- knew about Audiomack, or they thought that it on shows and doing rap journalism, and from ber, who hired me at Fake Shore Drive, he was was something that they had to pay for, or they there it all snowballed. a really big part of helping me get to the next didn’t realize, “Hey, we’re just here to make www.rattlebackrecords.com A few of the local guys went to Whitney level, but also kind of seeing things from every sure your music gets out and you get paid for ll APRIL - CHICA OREADER 29 Recommended and notable releases and critics’ insights for the week of April 16 MUSIC

PICK OF THE WEEK Legendary Chicago experimentalists Ono confront centuries of race-based violence on the transformative Red Summer

onous sound collage that’s in turn superseded by a @ The Lincoln Lodge jazzy melody, complete with moody electric-piano THU APR. 16 Late Night 5 licks and an evocative sax solo—and just as quickly, this noir–ish street scene dissipates into the noise of a creaky door blowing open in the wind. Some- APR. 17 @ The Lincoln Lodge times Ono are so sonically interesting that you FRI can miss just how intense their lyrics are, but that’s Late Night 5 not the case on “26 June 1919,” which refers to the gruesome lynching of John Hartfi eld in Mississippi, APR. 19 @ District Brew Yards which was advertised in local newspapers and drew SUN Cheers with Beers Cupcake Class a mob of more than 10,000 witnesses. Album single “Tar Baby,” a regular part of Ono’s set, is a modern psychedelic classic, with its ominous strings, vocal APR. 19 @ Online, Baker Bettie, LLC chants, wild distortion, pulsing Can-like grooves, SUN Sourdough for Beginners Stooges-style one-finger piano, and overarching (In Support of Lakeview Pantry) spiral of backward-guitar madness. “Syphilis” features seldom-heard Ono mem- APR. 20 @ North Bar ber Rebecca on vocals, and bandleader P. Michael MON Monday Night Munchies: undergirds its pedal-steel guitar and Suicide-type A 420 Comedy Show grind with monstrously funky bass. The song takes a broad look at the titular sexually transmitted @ Online, Make & Muddle infection and the compounding issues of race, sex, SAT APR. 25 gender, and colonialism that surround its history in Stir Crazy: The art of the stirred cocktail the U.S.; these aren’t topics that many bands could tackle, and the song feels even more relevant in light of the disproportionate impact COVID-19 is @ Online, Make & Muddle SAT MAY 2 DAVIDMAGDZIARZ having on Black Americans. Ono close Red Summer Shake it Up: The art of the shaken cocktail with the transcendent live staple “Sycamore Trees,” which comes in with lapping waves of ambient sound and builds to towering operatic heights, with @ Online, Make & Muddle ORS SAT MAY 9 American Dreams Travis’s deep, gospel-tinged baritone ringing from Porch Pounders cocktail class ono1980.bandcamp.com/album/red-summer the mountaintops. Trust me: After this challenging but rewarding album journey, you’ll never be MAY 9 @ Laugh Factory quite the same. Red Summer isn’t merely a collec- tion of songs but rather an urgent document that SAT Head Talks with Shane Mauss ICOULDWRITEANOVELABOUTONO This African slaves were fi rst brought to North Ameri- addresses the past, present, and future—a work of & Sophia Rokhlin Chicago avant-garde group are one of the great ca at the colony of Jamestown; something resem- art that penetrates the core of the human condi- bands, and their story is endlessly fascinating. Few bling carnival music slowly fades in, its jaunty bells tion. —SK @ North Bar SAT MAY 9 groups that had their heyday in the 80s have come almost soothing, but within two minutes everything Marcella Arguello - Early Show back in the late aughts sounding completely reju- swirls into unsettling, uber-processed oblivion. venated and vital. Most important, they’ve contin- “Coon” exemplifi es the classic Ono sound: it kicks Adamn Killa, Hit the Adamn ued to progress, honing their wild experimentation off with samples (this time voices, hand drums, and Self-released @ North Bar into incendiary, out-of-this-world performances and woodwinds), and then Travis’s wildly delayed vocals soundcloud.com/adam47/sets/hit-the-adamn-1 SAT MAY 9 Marcella Arguello - Late Show recordings. Like all great sonic art, their work isn’t echo through the void, heralding a sudden turn just entertainment meant for toe-tapping. In fact, into dense industrial riff age that mixes white noise, On March 11, prolifi c Chicago rapper Adamn Killa 74-year-old lead singer/whirlwind Travis will tell you sputtering drum machines, and skronky sax. Funky debuted a new dance on Triller that he calls “Hit @ Online, Make & Muddle he’s not much of a fan of mere “music” at all. live drums permeate the anthemic “I Dream of Sod- the Adamn,” performing it to a sample of his new SAT MAY 16 Summer Slushies: Frozen boozy slushies Starting with the very first, 1983’s Machines omy,” whose inside-out new wave could be a hit in song of the same name. In the clip, Adamn cocks That Kill People, Ono’s records have always been an alternate universe. his arm at a 90-degree angle and leans his shoul- journeys with the power to transform the listen- Perhaps the best thing about Ono is their der to one side, then makes sharp crouching move- er in real time. Such is the case with their latest unpredictability; like life or a good thriller, you ments in response to the track’s thundering, mini- album, the hyperdetailed Red Summer (American never know where they might go next. “Scab” starts mal bass—it’s simple enough, but the connection Dreams), which includes several pieces they’ve off with an old-school Severed Heads-type beat of the song to the dance is so unpredictable that been performing live in recent years. It’s a concept that tapers into spoken word over a bleak sound- I can’t imagine anybody actually learning it. Lots in partnership with record that confronts ongoing race-based violence scape, but then an actually catchy melody line of local rappers with untraditional approaches in the U.S., and it shares its title with a months- saunters in, accompanied by tinkling Speak & Spell- to the genre have emerged in the past fi ve years long stretch of 1919 marked by anti-Black white- like sounds. “Sniper” conjures Screamin’ Jay Haw- or so, but Adamn knows better than most how to supremacist terrorist attacks in dozens of cities kins via Throbbing Gristle darkness, serving up a embrace the whimsy in his style without undermin- to add your event to TIXREADER COM, across the country, including an epicenter in Chi- lesson about Woodrow Wilson’s legacy of racism ing his workmanlike dedication to the cra of hip- email [email protected] cago. The story starts to unfold with opening track and his impact on the Red Summer. Underneath the hop. On his recent self-released EP, also called Hit “20th August 1619,” which refers to the date that lyrics, textural drums slowly open up into a cacoph- the Adamn, he half-whispers through raps about 30 CHICA OREADER - APRIL ll MUSIC

his place in the world of hip-hop, his flow teeter- DJ Hank, Traffic Control ing on the edge of the beat—but even when Adamn Sophomore Lounge sounds like he’s tripping over himself, he never djhank.bandcamp.com/album/traffi c-control loses his footing. Wild aff ectations rub up against dry detachment in his delivery, creating a strange On the title track of DJ Hank’s debut 12-inch, Traffi c but magical friction. He releases music frequent- Control (Sophomore Lounge), car alarms bleat atop ly enough (Hit the Adamn follows up February’s thickets of overactive drums, occasional blown- Life of Whodeywant) that he can quickly pivot to out hi-hats, hiccuping bass, and a tasteful array of respond to the news, and on the new EP he uses hand claps. At first listen, “Traffic Control” might “Wash My Hands” to address everybody’s least rattle you just like a real-life car alarm, but thank- favorite new virus. It’s one of several songs on Hit fully Hank understands how to rearrange anxiety- the Adamn with hooks as catchy as jingles, and inducing electronic screams into joyous blasts. A some of their instrumentals evoke nursery rhymes North Carolina native, he’s lived in Chicago for too (on “Throw in the Towel,” producer the Leg- nearly a decade, paying his bills as a bike messen- endary Fya Man interpolates “Mary Had a Little ger while ingraining himself in the city’s footwork Lamb”). This makes them perfect for replaying in scene. He’s tight with many members of founda- your head to make sure you keep scrubbing long tional footwork collective Teklife (for example, he enough. —LG contributed to Boylan’s September EP, Renegade), and though he’s not a member himself, he’s clear- ly learned from Teklife how to flit between pop Friend/Enemy, HIH NO/ON ecstasy and battle-centric percussive arrhythmia. Joyful Noise On Traffi c Control, Hank colors a broad palette of joanofarc.bandcamp.com/album/hih-no-on dance styles with a blur of everyday street-transit blare, often rendering even the harshest sounds Immediately after the 2016 presidential election, into smooth, glistening melodies while retaining Tim Kinsella and a coterie of collaborators gath- the bite of his hard-hitting percussion. The album’s ered at Chicago’s Minbal studios to work through diversity of genres skews toward footwork, and the their feelings about America’s new nightmare. It energy and noise in these frenetic tracks evoke the took them two days to record an album of solemn, rush of zooming through the dense heart of the city fretful indie rock, and then it took them more than on a bike, dodging pedestrians and threading the three years to release it. HIH NO/ON (Joyful Noise) needle between cars and buses. In Hank’s music, came out late last month under the name Friend/ the bustle doesn’t slow you down—it energizes you. Enemy, which Kinsella and HIH NO/ON synth play- —LG er Todd Mattei used for 2002’s Ten Songs. Kinsella juggles a lot of projects, which partly explains the gap between the session and the release. In the King Von, Levon James intervening years, he’s released two Joan of Arc Only the Family / Empire albums (2017’s He’s Got the Whole This Land Is Your empire.lnk.to/LevonJames Land in His Hands and 2018’s 1984), reunited Cap’n Jazz again for a spate of 2017 shows, published Sharp songwriting and bombastic delivery have a novel (last year’s Sunshine on an Open Tomb), made King Von one of fastest-rising stars in drill, and formed postindustrial duo Good Fuck with the pummeling hip-hop subgenre born in Chicago. Jenny Pulse of Spa Moans (they’ve released two Born Dayvon Bennett, the 25-year-old rapper grew albums and an EP so far). Kinsella and Pulse, who up in Englewood, and he’s been filling his verses are recently married, moved to Italy in mid-January, with crime-fi ction narratives at least since his break- and in early March they boarded the last plane out out single, 2018’s “Crazy Story.” As he told Genius of the country as it shut down due to the coronavi- in a video this spring, he draws on urban novels and rus pandemic. Before they le , they’d both gotten on his own experiences for his lyrics—his history of sick—possibly with COVID-19—and recovered. HIH legal trouble includes arrests for fi rearm possession NO/ON arrived a few weeks a er they got back to and attempted murder (he was acquitted of the lat- the U.S. The fears that Kinsella, Pulse, and the col- ter a er spending three and a half years in Cook lective express on the album gain horrifying new County Jail). Von’s said he’s used his time while dimensions from the suff ering unfolding here due incarcerated (including a recent house arrest in to the Trump administration’s denial, lying, bully- Atlanta for a pending case involving Only the Fam- ing, and profiteering. Kinsella and Pulse half-sing ily label boss and codefendant Lil Durk) to refi ne about everyday fascism and creeping totalitarian- his street-rap storytelling. On “Took Her to the O,” ism, their sparse lyrics and dehydrated duets evok- a single from the new Levon James, Von plans to ing dread, helplessness, and grief. The rest of the bring a date to O Block, the notoriously violent ensemble—Mattei, pianist Jamey Robinson, guitar- stretch of South King Drive (which Von compared ist Bill Mac Kay, Sam Wagster and Skyler Rowe of to “a mini resort” in that Genius video because of Mute Duo, and Kinsella’s younger cousin Nate from the fun he’d have with his friends there). He’s wait- American Football—supports the vocals with loop- ing in his car outside her house, having doubled ing melodies that gallop and drone. Kinsella has back to let her pick up her purse, when a stranger written that HIH NO/ON is his answer to his music- shows up and the confrontation spirals into a shoot- business pals who’ve long pushed him to try making ing. The date is unfazed, since the victim is from a a “simple ‘guitar rock’ record,” which is to say that diff erent block, and Von drives off impressed. Von these skewed jams are as straightforward as he can wrote the song a cappella while in jail, and produc- get, outlining the surreal and disastrous present er Chopsquad structured the instrumental around through the curtain of a fugue state. —LG it, a reversal of Von’s usual process. Levon James expands on the sonic palette of Von’s 2019 full- length debut, Grandson Vol. 1, which stays close to ll APRIL - CHICA OREADER 31 Find more music reviews at Stay Home. Stay Positive. MUSIC chicagoreader.com/soundboard. Stay Connected.

Midwife KATIELANGLEY

continued from 31 can feel even more overwhelming during these the classic drill sound, combining blown-out beats times of physical isolation. So while Forever focus- We can’t wait to get back to making music and with blunt-force effects. The beat for “Block,” by es on one community and a special relationship dancing together at the Old Town School! superproducer Mike Will Made-It, pairs trap 808s between two friends, its intimate revelations can with chimes that cut to the bone like winter wind. resonate with anyone. —JL The synths on the G Herbo collaboration “On Yo Ass” sound like the ghosts from Super Mario 64 are In the meantime, many of our classes are chasing Von, only to turn invisible when he turns Oranssi Pazuzu, Mestarin Kynsi to face them—but the boom in his boasts makes it Nuclear Blast currently running online, and we are actively clear they won’t catch him. —J R oranssipazuzu.bandcamp.com

working on more ways to keep you making When I wrote about these Finnish xenonauts last music and learning new things with us, from Midwife, Forever October, on the occasion of the only stateside tour The Flenser in their 13-year history, I called their music “worm- home, in the near future. midwifemusic.com/album/forever hole black metal”: “Oranssi Pazuzu plunge you into a tunnel of fatally deformed spacetime, bathe you In December 2016, a fi re ripped through Oakland in a sizzling cocktail of exotic radiation, and spit arts space Ghost Ship, killing 36 residents and you out somewhere cold, dark, alien, and very, very We are so thankful to be part of the wonderful guests who were attending an underground elec- far away.” I stand by the wormhole metaphor, but and supportive arts community in Chicago and tronic show. As the tragedy was picked up by main- the band’s brand-new fifth album, Mestarin Kynsi stream media, misinformation and misrepresenta- (“The Master’s Claw”), has me rethinking the “black are especially thankful for all our dedicated tion of DIY artists and venues resulted in a back- metal” part. Over the years they’ve drifted so far lash felt across the country. Shortly a er the fi re, from the genre’s familiar signposts that wherever students and teaching artists persevering with the Denver music community was hit hard when they are now, they’re alone out there—and I can’t arts hub Rhinoceropolis was shut down without ask for more from musicians than that they grow us during this time. warning, displacing its occupants to face the high to sound like no one but themselves. You’ll waste rents and gentrification that already threatened your time hunting for frosty tremolo-picked gui- the city’s creative scene. Among them were multi- tars, blurry blastbeats, and sandpaper shrieks on For updates, rescheduled concert info, ways to instrumentalist Madeline Johnston, who makes Mestarin Kynsi. The clotted vocals of guitarist and slow-burning dream pop as Midwife, and her close front man Juho “Jun-His” Vanhanen admittedly sig- help support our staff & more please visit friend Colin Ward. A little more than a year later, nal “some sort of metal is happening, probably,” but Ward took his own life, and Midwife’s new second the album is dominated by turgid, peristaltic bass oldtownschool.org/alert album, Forever, is dedicated to his memory. Over and a kaleidoscopic constellation of keyboards. the mournful, atmospheric guitar of opening track Increasingly, Oranssi Pazuzu don’t have a sound so “2018,” Johnston conjures the surreal feelings that much as a psychedelic profusion of sounds: insis- Stay safe, sane, and keep on playing from all of can come when tragedy strikes hard and fast. The tent oscillations of cosmic roller-rink organ, smears fuzzed-out, hook-driven “Anyone Can Play Gui- of dissonant hornlike synths, a violin ostinato that us at Old Town School of Folk Music! tar” and “S.W.I.M.” wouldn’t sound out of place on wobbles like a dragging reel-to-reel tape, pinging the soundtrack of a 90s indie fl ick, but underneath rhythmic chatter reminiscent of late-80s EBM, cas- their relaxed, summery vibes, they’re both poi- cades of urgently pulsing wordless female vocals, a gnant confessionals about inner struggle and say- grotty guitar that dives in pitch like a circular saw ing goodbye. “C.R.F.W.” starts with several minutes biting into sheet metal. Only one track on Mestarin oldtownschool.org of spoken-word poetry recorded by Ward, after Kynsi uses a steady rock backbeat, and the lone which Johnston emerges with a shimmering, ambi- recognizable blastbeat arrives in album closer ent instrumental. Everyone is missing someone, and “Taivaan Portti”: the drums hammer steadily for- plenty of us are grieving—and those personal voids ward, gradually overwhelmed by an insane ecsta- 32 CHICA OREADER - APRIL ll MUSIC

sy of cathedral-size drones that grows and grows tic solo project shortly a er the dissolution of her until its howling overtones pour from the heavens previous band, P.S. Eliot (which also featured her like curtains of fi re. The songs complicate riff s that twin Allison, later of the band Swearin’). The frac- might otherwise be catchy by dilating them with tured, confessional bedroom emo on her debut as unpredictable extra beats or adding competing Waxahatchee, American Weekend, remains one of patterns—these guys will give you something awe- the saddest, most beautiful collections of heart-on- somely heavy to dig into, but only so they can use the-sleeve songs ever put to tape. By the release of that hook to drag you somewhere weird. “Ilmestys” 2013’s Cerulean Salt, Waxahatchee had grown to a begins with oozing synth bass and a kick drum that full band, and while the music was louder this time feels like it’s pressed up against your forehead, around, it still felt raw and exposed. With each sub- chased by a whirling disco-ball keyboard that stag- sequent album, Crutchfi eld’s sound grew bigger as gers dizzily through the lopsided ten-beat bars— her songwriting grew even better. It was an amaz- meanwhile, the sparse vocals stubbornly ignore ing progression to witness. The 2017 record Out in that odd meter, suspending the oscillating pat- the Storm felt almost as over-the-top as Dinosaur terns in a sort of infi nite moment where everything Jr., barreling forward with guitars soaring; even the feels like it could be fl owing backward or forward. most heartbreaking numbers conveyed the punk When the full drum kit fi nally enters, it brings along energy and ethos behind the music. That’s why I a dilated bass riff that fi nally pushes the song in a fi nd myself feeling a bit let down with Saint Cloud. clear direction, triggering an explosively satisfying Crutchfi eld can still write a chorus that will bring a release of that tension. In English, “Ilmestys” means tear to your eye, but the sound of the songs feels “Revelation.” —P M very safe and quaint. But while the album might not seem as punk as its predecessors, its musical shi s come from a place of positivity and per- Charles Rumback with Jim Baker and sonal growth—Crutchfi eld recently got sober, and John Tate, June Holiday many of her lyrics here explore this change. —L Astral Spirits C cadillacturns.bandcamp.com/album/june-holiday BIT.LY/GOOSEDELIVERS

Like many other participants in Chicago’s contem- Wrekmeister Harmonies, We Love to porary jazz scene, drummer Charles Rumback is Look at the Carnage both a sideman and a leader. Whether backing Thrill Jockey singer-songwriters such as Steve Dawson and Ange- wrekmeisterharmonies.bandcamp.com/album/ la James, playing space-bound Americana with gui- we-love-to-look-at-the-carnage tarist Ryley Walker, swinging behind jazz saxophon- ist Dustin Laurenzi, or leading this trio with bassist Enigmatic former Chicagoans Wrekmeister Harmo- John Tate and pianist Jim Baker, he sustains momen- nies recorded their seventh full-length, We Love to tum and adds atmospheric accents without hogging Look at the Carnage (Thrill Jockey), in a cold, iso- the spotlight. The three pieces that he wrote for lated farmhouse in upstate New York with producer June Holiday, the trio’s third album, invite the listen- Martin Bisi. This time around, the core duo of J.R. er to appreciate his accompanists’ strengths. While Robinson and Esther Shaw added insightful, ver- Rumback restricts himself to subtle accents on his satile percussionist Thor Harris (Swans, Shearwa- tune “Here & Now,” Tate fluently articulates the ter) and confrontational, challenging electronicist piece’s dynamic shi s and harmonic framework; the Jamie Stewart (Xiu Xiu). Neither of these musicians molasses pace of “Burning Daylight” seems tailor- is a stranger to the travails of laying oneself open in made to showcase Baker’s ruminative method of dark and challenging work, which makes them per- working through a ballad’s improvisational poten- fect collaborators for an album whose loose con- tial. Baker, who spends most of his time working in cept has to do with the late hours that start well totally free settings these days, contributes three after midnight and end before dawn. We Love to compositions as well, and their fl eetly stated, ele- Look at the Carnage is subtler and more restrained gantly constructed melodies showcase Rumback’s than some of Wrekmeister’s heavier records, light but propulsive touch when playing at quicker such as 2016’s Light Falls. On these tracks, Robin- tempos. Tate only brings one tune, “Hard Goodbye,” son’s voice narrates a struggle against breakdown but the way that he and Baker exchange melancholy moment by moment, with clenched-jaw deter- phrases over Rumback’s rustling brushwork makes it mination (think Nick Cave with more self-control the album’s emotional center of gravity. Drummers or David Tibet with less). The band create a thick are o en evaluated by how good they make the rest and spiky environment in which to nestle: the way of the group sound; part of Rumback’s genius as a Shaw’s violin and Harris’s percussion adorn the bandleader is that in the group he’s put together, churning riff s of “The Rat Catcher” adds grace to everyone has everyone else’s back. —BM the horror-inducing inevitability of time passing and sweeping people away. The sepulchral windswept echoes of “The Coyotes of Central Park” give a Waxahatchee, Saint Cloud rapt tenderness to a heavy lullaby evoking nature’s Merge reclamation of human spaces. On their Facebook waxahatchee.bandcamp.com/album/saint-cloud-2 page, Wrekmeister Harmonies describe their sound as “pastoral doom,” and here that’s apt. This album Katie Crutchfield has taken a huge step forward. is pastoral in both senses of the word: it’s spa- The sound of her new album, Saint Cloud (Merge), cious enough to refl ect the peace and the terror of her fi h under the Waxahatchee name, is a far cry the countryside, and it can also conjure visions of from the ragged glory of her previous records, rogue clergy ministering to fl ocks of parishioners trading in bombast for slick, streamlined introspec- whose desperation has sent them in search of salva- https://www.gofundme.com/f/chop-shop-virtual-beats-amp-eats tion. Crutchfi eld started Waxahatchee as an acous- tion. —M K v ll APRIL - CHICA OREADER 33 CHICAGOSHOWSYOUSHOULDKNOWABOUTINTHEWEEKSTOCOME

EARLY WARNINGS b ALLAGESF WOLFBYKEITHHERZIK Never miss Sleep on It 10/16, 7:30 PM, Beat a show again. Kitchen, 17+ Sound Stage showcase fea- Sign up for the turing St. Blvd, Just Logan, newsletter at Avehre, De’Jauve, Nick Hen- chicagoreader. derson, Chanelle Truvillion GOSSIP 6/16, 7 PM, the Promontory b com/early Splean 12/5, 8 PM, Park West, 18+ WOLF Sun Blvd, Richienough, Bonita will be honored b Appleblunt 6/11, 8 PM, the Robbie Fulks 8/2, 8 PM, A furry ear to the ground of Promontory SPACE, Evanston, resched- Travelin Band 6/26, 8 PM, Bev- uled b the local music scene erly Arts Center b Gi-dle 5/5, 8 PM, House of Tri Patterns, Ex Okays, Skeet Blues, postponed until a date THEAMBITIOUS 2019 debut of Damon Pete 6/19, 9 PM, Martyrs’ to be determined b Tony Trischka 10/18, 3 PM, Goodie Mob 5/8, 9 PM, Bottom Locks’s Black Monument Ensemble, Szold Hall, Old Town School Lounge, canceled Where Future Unfolds, was one of the of Folk Music b Hip Abduction 8/22, 8:30 PM, best Chicago albums not just from the Duke Tumatoe & the Power Martyrs’, rescheduled past year but from the past decade . Last Trio, Joanna Connor Blues Hockey Dad, Red Pears, Gym- Band 7/10-7/11, 7 PM, Kingston shorts 4/22, 8 PM, Subterra- week, the collective dropped the single Mines nean, canceled, 17+ “Stay Beautiful,” recorded live at the Mattiel JASONTRAVIS Vetiver 8/7, 9 PM, Sleeping Kuma’s Fest featuring Garfield Park Conservatory during Red Village Anthrax, Converge, Russian Bull’s 2018 Chicago festival. Scrappers Violet Crime 8/15, 9 PM, Circles, Atlas Moth, Indian Martyrs’ 8/29, 1 PM, Brands Park, Film Group made a video using intimate FitzGerald’s, Berwyn Lincoln Hall b Wavves, Sadgirl 11/5, 10 PM, rescheduled b performance footage from that show: it Intocable 9/19, 8 PM, Rosemont Negativland 7/26, 8 PM, Schubas, 18+ V.V. Lightbody 10/2, 9 PM, opens with a monologue from Locks, in NEW Theatre, Rosemont b Schubas, 18+ Bob Weir & Wolf Bros 10/20, Sleeping Village, rescheduled the voice of a vulnerable patient alone in a Jay Electronica 6/26, 9 PM, the S. Joel Norman 5/15, 9 PM, 7 PM, Chicago Theatre b Lone Bellow 10/30, 8 PM, Jhené Aiko, Queen Naija, Ann Promontory Tack Room Westerman 7/28, 9 PM, Sleep- Thalia Hall, rescheduled, 17+ hospital who fi nds solace in an anonymous Marie 6/17, 8 PM, Chicago Jerry Dance Party featuring Not Our First Goat Rodeo ing Village Midwest Live & Loud festival message of hope, and ends with clips of Theatre b DJ Jerrbrother 7/24-7/25, featuring Yo-Yo Ma, Stuart Young Man in a Hurry, Blisters, 9/4-9/6, Cobra Lounge, ensemble members at home with friends Balkan Bump, Blue Future, 11 PM, Cubby Bear Duncan, Edgar Meyer, Chris Yours, Mookie 9/12, 9 PM, canceled and family, thriving during the shelter-in- Tomcat Trumpet 5/2, 9 PM, La Adictiva Banda San Jose Thile, Aoife O’Donovan 8/13, Schubas, 18+ Minks 8/12, 9:15 PM, Empty Bourbon on Division de Mesillas 6/27, 8 PM, Rose- 6:30 PM, Pritzker Pavilion, Zoofunkyou 12/19, 8:30 PM, Bottle, rescheduled place order. The song’s message of resil- Ballroom Thieves, Dead mont Theatre, Rosemont b Millennium Park F b Schubas Odyn V Kanoe 5/2, 7:30 PM, ience and mutual support takes on new Horses 8/30, 8 PM, Lincoln LA Priest 11/15, 9:15 PM, Empty Off Broadway, Handcuff s 8/22, Martyrs’, canceled urgency and power during this pandemic. Hall, 18+ Bottle 8 PM, Reggies’ Rock Club, 17+ Pigface 7/1, 8:30 PM, Thalia Gossip Wolf has been thirsty for a full- Batu, Hijo Prodigo, Club Jessy Lanza 10/1, 9 PM, Sleep- Oshun, Mourning A Blkstar UPDATED Hall, canceled, 17+ Politix, JS Alvarez 10/2, ing Village 9/30, 8 PM, Schubas, 18+ Post Animal, Twen, Woongi length from self-described “bohemian 10 PM, Smart Bar Last Free Exit to the Inner Papadosio 9/11-9/12, 9 PM, Note: This is a sampling of 9/24, 8:30 PM, Thalia Hall, electronics” project Sip , masterminded Jason Bieler & Jeff Scott Soto Soular Sis-tem: a Sun Ra/ Lincoln Hall, 18+ the many concerts that have rescheduled, 17+ by Jimmy Lacy from Black Math and Pop- 8/7, 7 PM, Bananna’s Comedy Juneteenth Celebration Graham Parker 4/10/21, 8 PM, been rescheduled or can- Kim Richey 8/18, 7:30 PM, ulation, ever since the tasty, transcen- Shack at Reggies’ featuring Lisa E. Harris 5/28, Maurer Hall, Old Town School celed due to safety concerns SPACE, Evanston, resched- Birthday Massacre, Julien-K, 8 PM, the Promontory b of Folk Music b regarding the COVID-19 uled b dent Lumpen Radio session Live on Plan- Bellhead 12/16, 7 PM, Reggies’ Legendary Shack Shakers 9/13, Christopher Parrish 5/30, virus. We suggest that you RJD2 8/15, 8:30 PM, Thalia Hall, et CatieO dropped via Eye Vybe Records Rock Club, 17+ 8 PM, Beat Kitchen 8 PM, Tack Room contact your point of pur- rescheduled, 17+ in late 2018. On Friday, April 24, eternally Bölzer, Suff ering Hour, Beast- Little Big Town 10/22-10/23, Pimpinela 10/25, 7 PM, Coper- chase for ticket exchange or Sheer Mag, Young Guv 8/15, cool Los Angeles label Not Not Fun fi nal- lurker 6/26, 8 PM, Bourbon 8 PM, Chicago Theatre b nicus Center b refund information. 10 PM, Empty Bottle, resched- on Division Bob Log III 11/5, 8 PM, Beat Steve Poltz 12/2, 8 PM, SPACE, uled ly releases Sip’s studio debut, Leos Natu- Russell E.L. Butler, Justin Aulis Kitchen, on sale Fri 4/17, Evanston A Accidentals 4/22, 8 PM, Chop Spag Heddy, Effi n 8/8, 9 PM, rals. Like Lacy’s gently mind-expanding Long, Grey People, Nishko- 10 AM Gregory Porter, Ledisi 6/7, Shop, canceled Concord Music Hall, resched- live sets, tracks such as “Amitabul” bubble sheh 6/20, 10 PM, Smart Bar Stephen Lynch 8/15, 7:30 PM, 7 PM, Chicago Theatre b Bakar 5/9, 7:30 PM, Bottom uled, 18+ with peaceful psychedelic energy—imag- CNCO 6/21, 7 PM, Rosemont Park West Professor Louie & the Lounge, canceled Strawberry Girls, Andres, Theatre, Rosemont b Mike Mains & the Branches Crowmatix 6/2, 9 PM, Rosa’s David Bromberg 9/24, 8 PM, Amarionette, Dwellings ine the mellowest moments of Manuel Combichrist, King 810, Killer 9/19, 6:30 PM, Cubby Bear Lounge Maurer Hall, Old Town School 9/18, 7:30 PM, Beat Kitchen, Göttsching’s classic Inventions for Electric Confession 10/22, 6:30 PM, Dan Mangan 9/27, 8 PM, Quique Escamilla 6/24, of Folk Music, rescheduled b rescheduled, 17+ Guitar dappled with California sunshine. Cubby Bear Schubas, 18+ 8:30 PM, Szold Hall, Old Town Channel Tres 5/21-5/22, 9 PM, Swans, Anna Von Hausswolff Anonymous local darkwave duo None Dokken, Lynch Mob 10/24, Johnny Mathis 12/12, 8 PM, School of Folk MusicF b Sleeping Village, canceled 2/10/21, 8:30 PM, Thalia Hall, 7 PM, Genesee Theatre, Rosemont Theatre, Rose- A.R. Rahman 6/20, 8 PM, Audi- Louis Cole Big Band 12/9, rescheduled, 17+ of Your Concern hide their faces behind Waukegan b mont b torium Theatre b 8 PM, Chop Shop, resched- This Will Destroy You 9/10, uncanny faceted metallic masks, which Ana Everling & the Taraf Mattiel, Liam Kazar 7/22, 9 PM, Rdgldgrn, Little Stranger, 7/23, uled; tickets purchased for 9 PM, Sleeping Village, makes fi guring out who cra s these pro- 5/26, 8 and 10 PM, Jazz Sleeping Village 7 PM, Cubby Bear original date will be honored, canceled pulsive jams some real Scooby-Doo busi- Showcase b Christian McBride & Inside Dianne Reeves 6/5, 8 PM, 18+ Two Feet, Upsahl 8/18, 9 PM, Every Shiny Thing: A Tribute Straight 5/21-5/23, 8 and 10 Orchestra Hall, Symphony Shawn Colvin, Daphne Willis Metro, rescheduled, 18+ ness! Earlier this month, the duo dropped to Joni Mitchell with Andrea PM; 5/24, 4 and 8 PM, Jazz Center b 1/23/21-1/24/21, 8 PM, SPACE, Violent Femmes, X 5/30, 8 PM, “Cinnamon,” a hurtling comet of bop- Bunch 6/12, 8 PM, Maurer Showcase b Carlos Rivera 6/18, 9 PM, Rose- Evanston, rescheduled b Radius Chicago, postponed ping EBM that will appear on their debut Hall, Old Town School of Folk John Mark McMillan 10/16, mont Theatre, Rosemont b The Dip 9/25, 8 PM, Thalia Hall, until a date to be determined, album, Primer, which arrives Friday, April Music b 7:30 PM, Subterranean, 17+ Reginald Robinson 6/17, 8 PM, rescheduled b 17+ F.I.L.T.H., Amsedel, Death on Moonrunners Music Festival the Promontory b Five Finger Death Punch, Pabllo Vittar, Tatiana Hazel 24. Their release show at Sleeping Village Fire, Jury of Fears, Darling 8/8-8/9, 11 AM, Reggies’ Rock Rotting Christ, 2/20/21, 6 PM, Papa Roach, I Prevail, Ice 10/20, 9 PM, Metro, resched- with Wingtips and Panic Priest has been Dead 5/30, 7 PM, Live Wire Club Reggies’ Rock Club, 17+ Nine Kills 11/5, 6 PM, Allstate uled; tickets purchased for moved from Friday, May 1, to Friday, Octo- Lounge José María Napoleón 9/25, Tom Ryan, Dan Holohan Band Arena, Rosemont, resched- original date will be honored, ber 9. —JRNLG Azizi Gibson 12/13, 7 PM, Sub- 9 PM, Rosemont Theatre, 6/26, 8 PM, Szold Hall, Old uled b 18+ terranean b Rosemont b Town School of Folk Music b Fozzy 7/12, 6:45 PM, the Forge, Volvox, Harry Cross 11/13, Ike Reilly Assassination, Peter Natewantstobattle, Vespera, Scrapomatic 10/22, 8 PM, Joliet, venue changed; tickets 10 PM, Smart Bar, resched- Got a tip? Tweet @Gossip_Wolf or e-mail Joly Group 9/19, 8:30 PM, Andrew Stein 9/13, 7 PM, Martyrs’ purchased for Bottom Lounge uled [email protected].

34 CHICA OREADER - APRIL ll BE COUNTED. 2020 CENSUS

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ll APRIL - CHICA OREADER 35 OPINION OPINION

to how I’ve heard women during sex, neither of us can Dr. Debby Herbenick describe their orgasms. come. It’s infuriating, to say unpacked the cause for SAVAGE LOVE Ever hear of anything like the least. She has no trouble another reader a few years this? Is this some sort of when she masturbates and I back: “Prostaglandins are This isn’t some underground kink thing Japanese underground kink know I have no trouble when substances made by the thing? —W H I masturbate, so why can’t body and that the body Apple-polishing, trouble swallowing, and a so return to “normal.” OA we come together? —C’ is sensitive to. Semen By DS UM contains prostaglandins—and A: The act you’re describing prostaglandins can have a Chicago Reader already has a name, A: If you can come laxative eff ect on people. WHOA, and an entry on when you masturbate Related: If you’ve ever : I am a super queer- unsupportive girlfriend loves men and loves dicks. Urban Dictionary: apple- and she can come when felt a little loosey-goosey presenting female who who has done really crappy I love dicks so much that polishing. Most men fi nd she masturbates, CUM, right before getting your recently accepted that I things to her over the I fantasize about having the sensation of having the masturbate together and period, that’s also thanks to have desires for men. My course of their relationship. one. Nothing brings me to head of their cock worked you’ll be coming together. prostaglandins (which spike partner of two years is I kept pushing for her to orgasm more quickly or so overwhelming that their Mutual masturbation isn’t just before your period, bisexual and understands make a decision and use reliably than closing my eyes bodies involuntarily recoil, a sad consolation prize— because the prostaglandins the desires, but has this aff air as a way for her and imagining my own dick, which makes it diffi cult to mutual masturbation is sex get the uterine muscles to personally dealt with those to free herself, but she is or imagining myself as my polish someone’s apple if and it can be great sex. And contract, which then helps to desires via masturbation just coasting along with her partner, and what they’re the “victim” isn’t restrained the more o en you come shed the lining of the uterus, while my desires include girlfriend and her lover. feeling through their dick. in some way. But it’s not together through mutual resulting in a menstrual acting. Her perspective is She’s under a lot of stress I love being a woman, and painful—it’s like being masturbation, the likelier period). So why don’t more that the grass is greener and she’s turned into a I’m afraid to bring this up tickled; indeed, the victim it gets that you’ll be able semen swallowers fi nd where you water it and major liar and it’s creeping with any partner(s) of mine. usually reacts with desperate to come together while themselves running to the that my desire to act is me out. I’m considering Is this super weird? Am I laughter and gasping pleas enjoying other things. bathroom post blow job? immature, selfi sh, and has either telling her girlfriend secretly trans somehow? for it to stop. (Don’t ask I don’t know why most an unrealistic end game. myself (though I promised Am I overthinking this? — me how I know.) That all- : I have a weird and people aren’t extra-sensitive What gives when you don’t my friend I wouldn’t) or P MP over feeling of euphoria terrible problem. I’ve been to prostaglandins, but feel fulfi lled sexually in a maybe I just need to end you experienced when your seeing someone new, and fortunately most of us aren’t, monogamous relationship? this friendship. My friend’s A: It’s not that weird, some apple got polished was most have just discovered that or there would probably be —O OO? double life upsets me. It’s people are trans and you likely a wave of endorphins— I get diarrhea every time a lot less swallowing in the just been going on too could be one of them (but like a runner who pushes I swallow his come. Like world.” A: Something defi nitely long. —IM FA fantasizing about having a herself past her physical debilitating pee poops So, MSA, you’ll have to gives when a person A? dick ≠ being a male), and limits and experiences a an hour a er, every time. stop swallowing your boy- doesn’t feel fulfi lled in a you’re overthinking what you full-body “runner’s high,” I know the solution to friend’s come or only swal- monogamous relationship— A: If your friend—the should be enjoying. Buy a you were pushed past your the problem would be to low when you have imme- sometimes it’s an ultimatum one leading the double strap-on, tell your partners physical limits, WHOA, and stop swallowing, but I was diate access to a toilet in a that’s given, sometimes it’s life—is asking you to run about your fantasies, and experienced the same sort wondering if you had ever restroom with a powerful a one-time-only hall pass interference for her, if she’s enjoy having the dick you of high. heard of this before or knew fan. v chicagoreader.com/puzzle that’s given, sometimes it’s asking you to lie to her can have. why this was. —M S an agreement to open the girlfriend, or if she’s asked : I’m a 35-year-old straight A Send letters to mail@ relationship that’s given. But you to compromise your : I wonder if you might guy. I recently started savagelove.net. Download the relationship sometimes integrity in some way, she’s be able to put a label on seeing an amazing 34-year- A: I have heard of this the Savage Lovecast at gives, e.g. the relationship an asshole and you’re a sap; this sex act: It has to do old girl. We love being before, MSA, and superstar savagelovecast.com. collapses under the weight tell your friend you’re done with overstimulation, in this around each other, but Savage Love guest expert @fakedansavage of competing and mutually covering for her and that case of a penis (mine). A er exclusive needs and desires. you won’t be able to see her receiving a wonderful hand If you want to open things again until the deceit or the job, the giver kept stroking Do Not Touch Puzzle up (if allowed) and she pandemic is over, whichever me purposefully. My penis Piece together the first of our iconic wants to keep things closed comes fi rst. If the issue is was in a heightened, super- (no allowance), OOO, it’s your friend expects you to sensitive state. It was Stay Home cover series. ultimately your willpower— ooze sympathy while she almost like being tickled, your commitment to goes on and on about the if you’re ticklish. I was This is a 432-piece, 18” x 24” puzzle. The honoring the commitment mess she’s made of her life, being forcefully held down you’ve made—that’s likely to IMFAA, simply refuse to (consensually), and just as cost of this puzzle is $60 + $10 for shipping. give. discuss the mess that is her I thought I couldn’t take it (U.S. orders only) love life with her. Remind her anymore, I had a second : I have a close friend that she already knows what amazing orgasm. I didn’t who’s cheating on her you think she needs to do— ejaculate again, it was more girlfriend. It has been she needs to break the fuck of a body orgasm. It came going on for over a year. At up with her shitty girlfriend— in waves and everything fi rst I actually supported and then change the subject. was warm. It was mind- please recycle this paper the exploration because blowing, spiritual, galactic, my friend has a really : I’m a cis het woman who unique, and very similar 36 CHICA OREADER - APRIL ll APRIL - CHICA OREADER 37 OPINION

to how I’ve heard women during sex, neither of us can Dr. Debby Herbenick describe their orgasms. come. It’s infuriating, to say unpacked the cause for Ever hear of anything like the least. She has no trouble another reader a few years this? Is this some sort of when she masturbates and I back: “Prostaglandins are Japanese underground kink know I have no trouble when substances made by the thing? —W H I masturbate, so why can’t body and that the body OA we come together? —C’ is sensitive to. Semen UM contains prostaglandins—and A: The act you’re describing prostaglandins can have a Chicago Reader already has a name, A: If you can come laxative eff ect on people. WHOA, and an entry on when you masturbate Related: If you’ve ever Urban Dictionary: apple- and she can come when felt a little loosey-goosey polishing. Most men fi nd she masturbates, CUM, right before getting your the sensation of having the masturbate together and period, that’s also thanks to head of their cock worked you’ll be coming together. prostaglandins (which spike so overwhelming that their Mutual masturbation isn’t just before your period, bodies involuntarily recoil, a sad consolation prize— because the prostaglandins which makes it diffi cult to mutual masturbation is sex get the uterine muscles to polish someone’s apple if and it can be great sex. And contract, which then helps to the “victim” isn’t restrained the more o en you come shed the lining of the uterus, in some way. But it’s not together through mutual resulting in a menstrual painful—it’s like being masturbation, the likelier period). So why don’t more tickled; indeed, the victim it gets that you’ll be able semen swallowers fi nd usually reacts with desperate to come together while themselves running to the laughter and gasping pleas enjoying other things. bathroom post blow job? for it to stop. (Don’t ask I don’t know why most me how I know.) That all- : I have a weird and people aren’t extra-sensitive over feeling of euphoria terrible problem. I’ve been to prostaglandins, but you experienced when your seeing someone new, and fortunately most of us aren’t, apple got polished was most have just discovered that or there would probably be likely a wave of endorphins— I get diarrhea every time a lot less swallowing in the like a runner who pushes I swallow his come. Like world.” herself past her physical debilitating pee poops So, MSA, you’ll have to limits and experiences a an hour a er, every time. stop swallowing your boy- full-body “runner’s high,” I know the solution to friend’s come or only swal- you were pushed past your the problem would be to low when you have imme- physical limits, WHOA, and stop swallowing, but I was diate access to a toilet in a experienced the same sort wondering if you had ever restroom with a powerful of high. heard of this before or knew fan. v chicagoreader.com/puzzle why this was. —M S : I’m a 35-year-old straight A Send letters to mail@ guy. I recently started savagelove.net. Download seeing an amazing 34-year- A: I have heard of this the Savage Lovecast at old girl. We love being before, MSA, and superstar savagelovecast.com. around each other, but Savage Love guest expert @fakedansavage Do Not Touch Puzzle Piece together the first of our iconic Stay Home cover series.

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