00 TK TK 10
B M D
Police unions were born of resistance to discipline for brutality. brutality. for to discipline resistance born of were unions Police labor movement? belong in the they Do From soldier to worker to soldier From
CHICAGO’S FREE WEEKLY SINCE | JUNE THIS WEEK CHICAGO READER | JUNE | VOLUME NUMBER
IN THIS ISSUE T R 10 Dukmasova | Labor Police Hours Festival pairs playwrights and the huge scene defi ning parties he - unions were born of resistance to performers helped throw as a teenager @ discipline for brutality Do they 35 Early Warnings Rescheduled belong in the labor movement? concerts and other updated listings FILM P T B 13 Photo Scenes from a protest 22 Outdoor Screenings Chicago 35 Gossip Wolf Wyatt Waddell E C S K K H where cops shot pepper spray into a Drive In opens in Bridgeview drops a single to rally the fi ghters C L R H kettled crowd for Black lives Femdot’s nonprofi t M E P M TD K R begins free food deliveries on the C E B W south and west sides and Nnamdï A E J L gives away more than in S W M D L G D I B J M S “Bandcamp day” revenue E A S N L FOOD & DRINK G D A H 03 Key Ingredient Pandemic L C S C -J C E B N B Pantry Brian Jupiter turns dry ass L C M D L C M C chicken breast into the ultimate J F S F J H I protein ball H C M J M K S K N D LJ L 25 Movies of Note The Hill of M M A M -K 14 The New Normal A comic on Freedom is fueled by candid J R N J N M O M S C S what the a ermath of coronavirus conversations and leisurely meals ------will bring for Chicago’s small Shirley is not so much a biopic as D D J D businesses a fanciful evocation of its complex S M C J G 17 Rest Uneasy Your wildest dreams subject and Mr Topaze Peter OPINION SS P and odd sleep patterns during the Sellers’s fi rst directorial endeavor is 36 Savage Love Dan Savage off ers A T A pandemic explained a minor eff ort that might appeal to advice on lurking and sex buddies S I D M N his devotees during a pandemic D D C W M P C Y ARTS & CULTURE D 18 Lit The Chicago Poetry Center MUSIC & NIGHTLIFE CLASSIFIEDS E A S L K NEWS & POLITICS gives CPS students virtual literary 26 Feature On Fantasize Your Ghost 38 Jobs S EC K K 05 Art A tribute to George Floyd by lessons Ohmme make their music a place of 38 Apartments & Spaces ADVERTISING Isabella Scott 19 Visual Art Conceptual artist trust discovery and compassion 38 Marketplace -- @ 06 Joravsky | Politics Telling it like Nate Young’s “The Transcendence 30 Records of Note A pandemic C it is about race to the NFL ESPN of Time” puts his own family’s Great can’t stop the fl ow of great music - @ and the Bears Migration story on display Our critics review releases that you V P S A M 08 Isaacs | Culture At Saint Xavier can enjoy at home O I C R M T P N T F T ’ University a faculty union vanishes 34 ChiMusic House music S A R THEATER L M -H L S and COVID is the offi cial excuse 20 Virtual Festival Prop’s Small pioneer Vince Lawrence remembers C S M W R
N A V M G -- - J L S B THIS WEEK ON CHICAGOREADER.COM ------D C [email protected] -- CHICAGO READER LC BP D R L T E R SJ S A- S V
C C E B ------R ISSN - R LC S M S C IL --
C © C R Open your wallet Alexander out at Second City The day of an ICU nurse P C IL A C R R A guide to donating money to fi ght In the wake of backlash on “I listen to his lungs. They sound R R T ® white supremacy and police brutality institutional racism, the longtime like a washing machine, junky and owner announces his departure. wet.”
2 CHICA O READER - JUNE ll F When A Great Deal Matters, Shop Rob Paddor’s... N. Milwaukee - - Evanston Subaru in Skokie thefrontierchicago.com FOOD & DRINK GRAND REOPENING OUR SHOWROOM IS OPEN! NO APPOINTMENTS ARE NEEDED WELCOME BACK DEALS! % % % % 0%
Ground chuck and quinoa save the day. C|LOUISE PR AND MARKETING 63 MONTHS
KEY INGREDIENT: PANDEMIC PANTRY 00 00 Brian Jupiter turns dry-ass FORESTER OUTBACK ASCENT IMPREZA
9:00AM-8:00PM 9:00AM-6:00PM chicken breast into the ultimate Monday-Friday APPOINTMENTNO REQUIRED Saturday Social Distancing & Face Masks will be protein ball Required for all Customers and Employees Chef Jup needs fuel. Voted “Best Auto DeAlership” By M S By CHICAGO Voters’ Poll 2019 TOP-QUALITY INSPECTED USED CARS & SUV’ S ey Ingredient was a multimedia cooking Restaurant IMPORTS & DOMESTICS SUBARU FORESTERS series produced by then-Reader staffer The ingredient: dry-ass chicken breast ‘17 Honda CR-V LX AWD ...... Automatic, Full Power, White, 24205A ....$17,995 ‘16 Forester Touring ...... Automatic Sunroof, Leather, Silver, 23651A ....$18,995 Julia Thiel and food writer/filmmaker ‘17 VW Passat 1.8T SE AWD...... Auto., Leather Sunroof, Grey, 6485A ....$14,995 ‘17 Forester Ltd...... Automatic Sunroof, Leather, Silver, 24102A ....$17,995 K ...... Automatic, Sunroof, Heated Seats, Red, 24456A .... ‘16 Honda Fit EX ...... Automatic, Moonroof, 13K, Black, 24485A ....$13,995 ‘16 Forester Prem. $16,995 Michael Gebert from 2010-2018 in which Chica- “We always have some leftover chicken,” ‘17 Hyundai Elantra Value Ed...... Automatic, Blind Spot, Black, 24367A ....$12,995 ‘14 Forester Prem. ..Automatic, Sunroof, Heated Seats, White, 24116A ....$13,995 go’s baddest chefs challenged their colleagues says Brian Jupiter, who’s been frying plenty of ‘12 Acura TL w/Tech/Navi/ ...... Leather, Moonroof, Black, 24284A ....$11,995 to redeem unusual, underappreciated, or often it at Ina Mae Tavern throughout the pandemic. SUBARU OUTBACKS / ASCENT / CROSSTREK ‘13 Hyundai Sante Fe 2.0T AWD .. Automatic, Full Power, Black 23373B ....$11,995 ‘19 Ascent ...... 8 Passenger, Sunroof, Eyesight, 4K, Grey, P6528 ....$25,995 abhorrent ingredients by showcasing them in So he was unfazed when Virtue’s Erick Wil- ‘14 Buick Encore...... Automatic, 1-Owner, 42K, Ruby Red, 23690A ....$10,995 ‘16 Outback Prem...... Automatic, All Weather, Alloys, Black, 24117A ....$17,995 beautiful plated dishes that might or might not liams challenged him with “dry-ass chicken ‘11 Honda CRV EX AWD ...... Automatic, Sunroof, Silver, 24311A ...... $9,995 ‘16 Legacy 3.6R Ltd./Navi...... Automatic, Full Power, Blue, 24428A ....$15,995 have been edible. breast.” “The fi rst thing you’re trying to do is ‘15 Kia Soul ...... Manual, Full Power, Alien2, 21917A ...... $7,995 ‘17 Crosstrek Ltd...... Automatic, Leather, Sunroof, White, 34321A ....$19,995 At the prompting of Funkenhausen chef add some sauce to it,” Jupiter says. “That’s the ‘13 Hyundai Tucson GLS ...... Automatic, Full Power, Bronze, 24460A ...... $6,995 ‘16 Crosstrek Prem...... Automatic, All-Weather, Hyper Blue, 24275A9 ....$15,995 Mark Steuer, we’re rebooting the series, easy way out.” A+ pandemic-cooking-style. Jupiter has been hustling takeout and deliv- RATED ery at both Frontier and Ina Mae (the sno-ball EvanstonSubaru.com The chef: Brian Jupiter, Ina Mae Tavern, window is open!), teaching virtual cooking 3340 OAKTON - SKOKIE • 847-869-5700 Frontier classes, as well as cooking 1,000 meals a week *Add tax, title license and $300 doc fee. 0%financing for 63 months. Monthly payment of $15.87 per $1,000 borrowed. The challenger: Erick Williams, Virtue for those in need via the Power of 10 Initiative— Finance on approved credit score Subject to vehicle insurance and availability. Ends 7/3/2020 ll JUNE - CHICAOREADER 3 I M T & P G N. Wood -- FOOD & DRINK inamaetavern.com
LOGAN THEATRE’S POPCORN + CANDY! BEER + WINE!
Chef Jup C|LOUISE PR AND MARKETING Follow for info on upcoming pickup dates: @thelogantheatre fil continued from 3 en sandwiches. and somehow fi nds the time once or twice a day “I always give him shit,” says Jupiter. “‘You to take Muay Thai kickboxing classes via Zoom. stick with all the fancy stu . Let me cook the “I’ve been eating a ton of protein,” he says. fried chicken.’” For that, Wolen must redeem “Every way I can get it.” He needs more gas in the yardbird’s muscular gastric mill, a notori- the tank than mere dry-ass chicken breast can ously tough nugget that it uses to grind its food. provide. That’s why he threw ground chuck at “Gizzards are tricky,” says Jupiter. “You can it, contributing fat and moisture, and the “ulti- screw them up really easily. I think the biggest Office and Artist mate protein ball” was born. mistake you can make is throw them in some Studios for Lease Jupiter shredded the chicken, crust and all, chicken dredge and fry them up.” Bridgeport Art Center but added ancient grains to the mix instead Kinda sticks in your craw, doesn’t it, Wolen? of breadcrumbs. “Quinoa is a new friend of 1200 W. 35th Street, mine,” he says. He tossed onion, garlic, grated Chef Jup’s Protein-Packed Meatballs parmesan, parsley, thyme, salt, pepper, Cajun Chicago IL 60609 seasoning, and an egg into the mix, and deep 1 pound ground beef ground chuck fried the balls until crispy and—well, what the 1/2 pound dry-ass chicken breast, fried, left For rental information hell—doused them in barbecue sauce. overnight, and shredded with batter please call Michelle at He gives the rest of us permission to panfry, 1 cup quinoa, cooked 773.843.9000 but he doesn’t have time for that. On Friday he 1 teaspoon minced garlic reopened the beer garden and patio at Frontier, 1/4 cup chopped parsley with a limited menu of smoked and grilled 1 teaspoon chopped thyme meats, sides, and a full bar. Ina Mae opened 1/4 cup grated parmesan its patio last Wednesday, serving up po’ boys, 1/4 cup onion seafood towers, and beignets just days after op- 1 egg portunists popped o up and down Milwaukee Cajun seasoning to taste Chicago's Avenue in Wicker Park. Salt and pepper to taste “It got a little bit crazy,” he says. “But I defi - Free Weekly nitely keep moving. I need that. I don’t like to sit Combine all ingredients in a bowl, and mix still. You gotta fi ght to keep stu going.” v gently. Form into meatballs. In an oiled skillet, Since 1971 panfry over medium-high heat until evenly Who’s next: Lee Wolen, of Boka and Somer- browned and crispy. Serve with barbecue We Couldn't Be Free Without You— set, whose challenge is chicken gizzards. Wolen sauce. Support Community Journalism just opened GG’s Chicken Shop in Revival Food Hall, serving rotisserie chicken and fried chick- @MikeSula 4 CHICA O READER - JUNE ll Illustration by Isabella Scott THEARTBYIZZIE
ll JUNE - CHICAOREADER 5 NEWS & POLITICS Important Reader News Due to business closings and for safety purposes, the Chicago Reader is going biweekly with a print run to 600+ locations, including our box route. On the o� weeks (June 4, June 18) the Reader is just being distributed as a free PDF, with a small press run to fulfi ll subscriber and library mailings.
We are also making a limited number of copies available for special short-term subscriptions, 12 weeks for $50, and every week’s issue will be mailed to your home.
Just a few hundred copies will be sold of these very limited souvenir editions of the Reader: secure.actblue.com/donate/chicago-reader-print-12 POLITICS
Find the full curated PDF download of the Reader at Telling it like it is chicagoreader.com/issues Are you listening, NFL, ESPN, and the Bears? by Wednesday each week. By B J
f you want to understand another way in “There has been no oppression in the last 100 which George Floyd’s murder has upended years that I know of.” Iour world, consider that the loudest, boldest And . . . voice in Chicago sports once belonged to Mike “If you don’t like the way that our democracy Ditka, former coach of the Bears. was set up, haul your ass out of the country.” At least when it came to speaking his mind And . . . about politics. “Obama is the worst president we’ve ever A lot of younger readers may not know much had.” about Ditka, who has stepped back from the In 2016, he endorsed Trump—naturally. limelight in recent years. He was, among other For my money, Ditka’s daffiest comment things, a great football player, a mediocre came in 1992, when he declared that electing coach, and a raging right-wing windbag. Bill Clinton would be “the biggest step back- Ditka turned his everyman image into a ward this country would take in 200 years of brand, making millions pitching everything existence.” from Campbell’s Chunky Soup to Levitra, an Look, I’ve had my problems with Bill Clinton. erectile dysfunction drug. But biggest step backward in the history of the Thank you, Over the years, I watched in amazement— USA? Ahead of slavery? The Civil War? The not knowing whether to laugh or cry—as Ditka founding of the KKK? The Great Depression? maintained his commercial endorsements, Pearl Harbor? The assassination of Dr. King? The Reader team radio show, and TV talking head gigs, all while The Vietnam War? You get the idea—feel free freely mouthing whatever boneheaded notion to make your own list. popped into his brain. Like . . . Now, imagine if you were a Black player on 6 CHICA O READER - JUNE ll NEWS & POLITICS Stay Home. Stay Positive.
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell now says assuring MAGA—as Trump refers to his Stay Connected. the league was wrong for not listening to Black followers—that they have nothing to fear as players earlier. TEDDY WADE / U S DEFENSE DEPARTMENT those knee-taking Black troublemakers have been removed and Hank Williams Jr. has been the Bears when Ditka made that comment. You returned. may not have liked it. But, most likely, you kept Well, I’m happy to report that “the trouble- your mouth shut. ’Cause back then if a Black makers” are back! football player were to challenge Mike Ditka, In the last few days, some of the game’s he’d probably be labelled a troublemaker and biggest Black stars—including quarterback ushered out of the game. Patrick Mahomes—made a video in which Like Craig Hodges was ushered out of bas- they declared they “will not be silenced.” They ketball for daring to raise the concerns of Black demanded that the NFL condemn “racism and America to the fi rst President Bush—another the systemic oppression of Black people” and story for another time. admit that it “was wrong in silencing our play- In short, the NFL faces a challenge. At least ers from peacefully protesting.” 70 percent of its players are Black. But many Almost immediately, NFL commissioner football fans are of the MAGA-hat persuasion. Roger Goodell responded with a video in which So how do you employ the best Black players he said “we were wrong for not listening to NFL without losing the most bigoted of white fans? players earlier, and encourage all to speak out To help in this effort, ESPN brought in Hank and peacefully protest.” Williams Jr. to sing the opening song for Mon- Other white players and coaches are making day Night Football. a similar pledge. Williams may even be to the right of Ditka. After saying that “it was o ensive to kneel We can’t wait to get back to making music and His most infamous moment came during a 2011 during the national anthem,” New Orleans dancing together at the Old Town School! appearance on Fox News when he likened Presi- quarterback Drew Brees profusely apologized. dent Obama to Hitler. After saying the NFL’s a “meritocracy—you You know, there’s just something about earn what you get” and “I don’t see racism at all In the meantime, many of our classes are Obama that brings out the worst in MAGA hat- in the NFL,” Denver coach Vic Fangio also apol- ters—wonder what that could be. ogized and joined a Black Lives Matter march. currently running online, and we are actively Anyway, Williams and Fox host Gretchen So far, no reports of Ditka joining a march. working on more ways to keep you making Carlson had the following exchange . . . And we’ll have to see if ESPN continues to have music and learning new things with us, from Carlson: You used the name of one of the Williams open its show. most hated people in all the world to describe, Having mentioned Mahomes—the greatest home, in the near future. I think, the president. young quarterback in the game—I must point Williams: That’s true. But I’m telling you like out that the Bears, who desperately need a it is. quarterback, could have taken him in the 2017 We are so thankful to be part of the wonderful Concerned about the fallout, ESPN removed draft. Instead, they decided it was a good idea and supportive arts community in Chicago and Williams and his song from Monday Night to draft Mitch Trubisky, an exceedingly medio- Football. Defiantly unapologetic, Williams cre QB. are especially thankful for all our dedicated responded by writing “Keep the Change,” in The Bears also passed on Deshaun Watson, students and teaching artists persevering with which he sang: “This country’s sure as hell been another Black quarterback who, like Mahomes, goin’ down the drain.” is now one of the bright stars in the game. us during this time. ’Cause what kind of country is it when you The Bears general manager who took Tru- can’t compare a moderate Democrat to a mass bisky over Mahomes and Watson is Ryan Pace. For updates, rescheduled concert info, ways to murderer! He still has his job—in case there’s anyone Wait, the Williams / ESPN saga is not over. out there who really believes the NFL is a help support our staff & more please visit In 2017, as Trump fi red up his MAGA nation meritocracy. oldtownschool.org/alert against Colin Kaepernick, ESPN returned Wil- That’s the same Ryan Pace who signed ex- liams and his song to the opening of Monday ceedingly bad white quarterback Mike Glennon Night Football. over Kaepernick as a free agent in 2017, as I’ve Stay safe, sane, and keep on playing from all of So, follow me on this . . . discussed before. Kaepernick gets banished from football— You know, I’m starting to think Pace and the us at Old Town School of Folk Music! couldn’t even get a tryout—for peacefully pro- Bears would sign me before selecting a Black testing against police brutality. man to play quarterback. Meanwhile, it’s Welcome Back, Kotter to Hope I’m not o ending anyone—just telling oldtownschool.org Hank “Obama is Hitler” Williams—no apolo- you like it is. v gies required. In my opinion, that was ESPN’s way of @bennyjshow ll JUNE - CHICAOREADER 7 NEWS & POLITICS
HIGHER EDUCATION At SXU, a faculty union vanishes COVID-19 is just the offi cial excuse. By D I
OVID-19 has already provided the ratio- of making unions vanish—and the Faculty nale for some previously unimaginable A airs Committee (FAC), certifi ed by the Na- Csocial changes, but here’s a new one: tional Labor Relations Board in 1979, is gone. union busting. In a statement released by the 140-member On May 28, the administration at Saint union, FAC chair Angelo Bonadonna says the Xavier University announced that it will no faculty are facing “disenfranchisement” and longer recognize its longtime faculty union. “the complete degradation of our mission and In a letter to faculty and sta , president Laurie values.” M. Joyner and board chair Patricia A. Morris How is that possible? The explanation has put it this way: more to do with the separation of church and “As we emerge from the initial disruption state than with COVID. of COVID-19 on our campus community, we Saint Xavier is Chicago’s oldest college. must prepare for the economic and structural Its roots go back to 1846, when the Sisters of impact of the pandemic on higher education Mercy established a “Female Academy” at as well as longtime trends for universities. what is now Michigan and Madison Street. By . . . To this end, the Board of Trustees has the mid-1950s, SXU was in its current location unanimously decided that Saint Xavier Uni- at 103rd Street and Central Park; it went coed versity will no longer recognize the Faculty in 1969, and—after recovering from fi nancial A airs Committee as a collective bargaining difficulties a few years ago—serves about unit e ective immediately.” 3,000 undergrads and more than 600 graduate Presto: done. A simple, unilateral declara- students. tion—like a wand wave by the fairy godmother The last faculty contract expired a year ago; 8 CHICA O READER - JUNE ll NEWS & POLITICS
The entrance arch at Chicago’s oldest college money is not the issue. “It’s really about the COURTESY SAINT XAVIER UNIVERSITY role of the union,” he says. “It’s about account- ability and power.” negotiations have been in process for two The administration says it will “continue to years. According to the administration, they honor the principles of academic freedom and “have proven ineffective and unproductive, shared governance” by working with the fac- depleting critical faculty and institutional ulty senate, as if that would be an equivalent resources.” They’re not the fi rst employer to arrangement. find that dealing with unions can be a drag. And, although money may not be the union’s But, like other institutions with religious issue, the university is o ering fi nancial con- affiliations, SXU has some special options. solation: lump-sum checks have been issued to They were clarifi ed by a recent court decision faculty to make up in part for lagging salaries, in a lawsuit involving another Catholic school, and there’s a promise of salary increases for Duquesne University in Pittsburgh. the 2020–2021 academic year if the COVID-re- Duquesne has been notorious since a vet- lated drop in fall term revenue isn’t too great. eran adjunct professor there, reportedly too So are the professors rising up in unison to broke to fi x the furnace in her house, collapsed object? Not exactly: senate president Karen on the street and died after being let go from Wood responded to an interview request a job that never paid her more than $25,000 with this e-mailed comment: “The unanimous annually and included neither retirement nor decision of the Board of Trustees, who have health-care benefits. She became an instant ultimate responsibility for all acts of the Uni- BIT.LY/GOOSEDELIVERS poster person for the widespread abuse of ad- versity, provides for no longer recognizing the juncts by colleges and universities of all kinds, faculty a airs committee. As Faculty Senate religious or not. President, my job is to support the continued That was 2013, but the legal battle that functioning of our University for the benefi t Duquesne was waging at the time to keep its of students, faculty and sta . I intend to do my miserably paid adjuncts from unionizing is best to ensure that all faculty have voice and still making its way through the federal courts. input into the future direction of this Univer- In January, an appeals court ruled that the sity by engaging in any and all activity to fur- National Labor Relations Act (and the right ther both the University mission and faculty to form unions) does not apply to any faculty concerns.” The Virtual Beach Ball at nonprofit schools operated by religious The union is asking the NLRB for “immedi- groups. An exception the National Labor Rela- ate injunctive relief.” v tions Board had tried to make for colleges that Online Auction have a religious a liation but are, in practice, @DeannaIsaacs relatively secular (and for nontheological fac- bac.givesmart.com ulty), was negated. There could be further litigation on the Duquesne decision, but in the meantime, #TVKUV9TKVGT he Virtua the status of faculty unions at schools with T l religious a liations is this: they exist at the 2GTHQTOGT! mercy of the school’s administration. And, %4'#6+8' 51.76+105 (14 for full-time tenure-track faculty at private %4'#6+8' 2'12.' colleges like SXU, this appears to be doubly true: they’ve been excluded from unionization 5WRRQTVKXG #HHKTOKPI CPF )QCN rights under the National Labor Relations &KTGEVGF 2U[EJQVJGTCR[ CPF Act since 1980, when the U.S. Supreme Court *[RPQVJGTCR[ HQT #FWNVU decided they are management. Theology professor and FAC vice chair Mi- /#: - 5*#2'; .%59 chael O’Kee e says the union has fi led a com- .QECVGF KP &QYPVQYP 'XCPUVQP plaint with the National Labor Relations Board and is expecting clarification on its status soon. He says the major sticking point in nego- YYYOCZUJCRG[EQO tiations has been a union demand for binding OCZUJCRG["CQNEQO arbitration, which they haven’t had and the NWG TQUU NWG 5JKGNF 2TGHGTTGF 2TQXKFGT university doesn’t want. Although SXU faculty KIPC 2TGHGTTGF 2TQXKFGT salaries are relatively low, O’Kee e insists that ll JUNE - CHICAOREADER 9 NEWS & POLITICS
As protests erupted in Chicago over the police killing of George Floyd, CPD fl exed its muscle. BROOKE HUMMER
forged alliances with other municipal employ- ees and the wider labor movement. But now, there are signs that the long-standing com- radery between cops and the rest of organized labor is fracturing, as more and more people explore what could be done to limit the power of police unions.
n the early 20th century, organizations for rank-and-fi le cops were not initially oriented Itoward forming unions for collective bar- gaining, but they did try to represent o cers’ concerns over labor conditions and pay. In Chicago, the Patrolmen’s Social, Athletic and E ciency Club was named this way to specifi - cally signal that it wasn’t a union, though it did give voice to cops’ frustrations over having to pay for their uniforms and work seven days a week. Still, as unionization was sweeping the private sector through World War I, the Ameri- can Federation of Labor began issuing charters to nascent police unions. Public officials and police superintendents condemned this incur- sion of unionism among o cers, arguing that policing was a paramilitary pursuit requiring full allegiance of its o cers to the governments they served. Cops were soldiers, not workers. In 1919, the AFL-chartered Boston police LAW ENFORCEMENT AND LABOR told the New York Times. Donahue, mean- union went on a five-day strike demanding while, refl ected that police o cers had “come recognition from the city, which led to chaos a long way” since their violent repression of and rioting in the streets and the deployment From soldier to worker labor activists. “We recognize that the people of the State Guard in response. As Woodrow who fought for labor rights in the past gave us Wilson put it, the police strike was “a crime Police unions were born of resistance to discipline for brutality. Do they the protections we have today,” the president against civilization” and the AFL suspended belong in the labor movement? of the police union told the Times. its attempts to unionize cops for decades in its As the nation roils with protests over police aftermath. Meanwhile, police remained the By M D violence, scrutiny has turned toward police principal response of governments and busi- unions like the FOP, whose collective bar- nesses to labor unrest. In 1937, during what n September 14, 2004, a scene unfolded memorated the events at Haymarket Square gaining agreements with municipalities help became known as the Memorial Day Massacre in the West Loop that would have been with a massive statue of a police o cer, which shield o cers from consequences for miscon- in Chicago, cops shot live rounds into striking unthinkable a few decades before. The was periodically vandalized or destroyed. After duct. Conversations have started about how steel workers and their families, killing ten city unveiled a 3,200-pound bronze two consecutive bombings by the Weathermen cities and states might go about limiting the and injuring dozens more. sculpture commemorating the Hay- between 1968 and 1970, the statue was moved power of police unions. Labor councils and The next wave of police unionization Omarket Affair of 1886. A seminal moment in to Chicago Police Department headquarters, federations are weighing the expulsion of po- attempts would come during World War II, international labor history, the Haymarket where it stands to this day. lice unions from their ranks. But how did cops as cops’ salaries deteriorated compared to A air started as a labor strike for an eight-hour Thirty years later, on that day in 2004, the come to have such powerful unions in the fi rst those of other workers. These attempts were workday and ended in a violent confrontation massive sculpture depicting workers atop a place? Over the course of the 20th century again thwarted by the local, state, and federal between demonstrators and police. Someone wagon was dedicated by Chicago Federation police officers in Chicago went from violent government, this time bolstered by a series threw a bomb, four workers and seven cops of Labor president Dennis Gannon and Frater- antagonists of workers to legitimate mem- of court decisions that a rmed the view that were killed, dozens of people were injured, and nal Order of Police Lodge 7 president Mark Do- bers of the labor movement. As it turns out, cops were akin to the military and were thus more than 100 arrested. Ultimately seven peo- nahue. “Haymarket represents the beginning the transformation of officers’ public image di erent from other public employees. Police ple accused of inciting the riot were sentenced of labor rights in this country. It’s really about and self-understanding from a paramilitary unions were banned around the country, but to death based on scant evidence in a trial crit- our most important right, which is freedom of organization to public-sector workers was the informal organizations formed by the icized for its prejudice against the defendants. speech, freedom to protest. If you don’t have catalyzed by cops’ resistance to discipline for rank and fi le often received some department For the next century, the city of Chicago com- that, you’re going to be oppressed,” Gannon brutality and misconduct. Over time police funding for recreational and charitable activi- 10 CHICA O READER - JUNE ll NEWS & POLITICS
ties and negotiated for pay raises and working enforcement o cers killed Illinois Black Pan- organizations and kept big labor groups, such trusting and complacent local media to spin condition changes with police chiefs and city ther Party chairman Fred Hampton as he slept as the Paperworkers and Teamsters, at arm’s official narratives about police killings and governments. In Chicago these “handshake” in his home. Day-to-day incidents of police length. According to Adams, many officers has fought tooth and nail to keep o cers’ mis- deals were usually secured by the Chicago brutality and violence against citizens were saw the unions as corrupt and incongruent conduct records hidden. Patrolmen’s Association. Throughout the also beginning to receive more attention. with their identities as law enforcement, Even as its public stature has declined, and mayoral tenure of Richard J. Daley, these As historian Megan Marie Adams docu- even as they organized labor actions of their its leadership has become increasingly mili- kinds of labor agreements with city workers mented in her 2012 dissertation on Chicago own, like pickets, ticket “blitzes,” and even a tant in resisting what they see as a culture war of all types were the norm. The mayor would police unionization, between 1969 and 1970 meeting at which an e gy of Mayor Daley was against police, the FOP has continued to deliv- periodically grant extra compensation for CPD o cers killed 79 people, and thousands hanged from a hotel chandelier. er bulletproof contracts to its 8,200 members. overtime work, salary raises, and a shorter reported being beaten and injured by cops. With the death of Richard J. Daley in 1976, The current contract prohibits investigation workweek to cops, and the conservative city Three-quarters of those killed by police were the traditional system of handshake bargain- of anonymous complaints against o cers, and police force wasn’t keen on having a union— Black, and Chicago cops killed people at a rate ing with public employees collapsed. Two requires complainants to submit affidavits; until the city launched a major crackdown on three times higher than those in other major years later Jane Byrne campaigned on the it allows o cers to change their statements police misconduct in the early 1960s. cities. But, even though internal a airs inves- promise to let city workers, including cops, after reviewing video or audio against them; The “Summerdale Scandal” of 1960 ex- tigations sustained less than 3 percent of bru- have collective bargaining agreements. In it bans rewards for whistleblower cops; and posed a police burglary ring in Chicago and tality charges, discipline for minor violations 1980 Chicago cops became the last major it indemnifi es o cers against any liability for brought Orlando W. Wilson as the new CPD tended to be swift and severe. Renault Robin- city police force in the country to officially acts committed on the job. Though this con- superintendent. In the years that followed, son, the head of the AAPL, put it this way in a unionize. Three police organizations, the Pa- tract technically expired in 2017, it remains in the city increased police funding (which went 1971 speech: “You will get more time for being perworkers, and the Teamsters competed to e ect as the FOP and the city negotiate a new up by 20 percent in just one year), overhauled late than killing somebody accidentally.” represent the o cers, while the department one. the technological capacity of the department and the AAPL campaigned against a union. Over the years, the union has also made it a (including moving foot patrolmen into cars), ops around the country and in Chicago (The latter’s justification was that a police practice to stonewall during negotiations, and and got more serious about punishing police began demanding a “Police Bill of Rights” union would do little to fi ght discrimination demand arbitration for their contracts. Three misbehavior. Resentment festered between Cthroughout the 1970s. This bill of rights against minority officers.) The FOP won the of the last four FOP contracts were drawn up supervisors and the rank and file because sought to enshrine protections for cops facing representation election on the strength of its by an arbitrator rather than decided through Wilson also instituted the fi rst internal a airs internal discipline that mirrored those o ered reputation for successfully winning union give-and-take bargaining. As we’ve reported division to investigate and discipline o cers to criminal defendants by the U.S. Constitu- contracts in other cities, all while maintaining before, arbitration is an inherently conserva- and cut funding to police organizations. tion. As Adams puts it, cops began to conceive that they weren’t a union. tive process, which privileges existing provi- Throughout the 1960s new police orga- of themselves as a persecuted minority and As the country moved into the Reagan years sions in a contract and makes it nearly impos- nizations started to vie for cops’ dues with co-opted the language of the civil rights and and organized labor entered a prolonged pe- sible to implement signifi cant changes. Last promises of better representation of their Black Power movements to demand new rights riod of decline, the FOP secured the fi rst con- December then-FOP president Kevin Graham interests. This included the Afro-American and protections from public scrutiny. The FOP, tract for rank-and-file cops, which included demanded arbitration once again, seeking an Patrolmen’s League (AAPL), which would fi ght which had endorsed segregationist George a Police Bill of Rights. The cops gave up their 18 percent salary increase for cops over three for fairer minority hiring and promotion prac- Wallace for president and fundraised for cops right to strike in return for new protections years and resisting changes to policing prac- tices within CPD for 20 years under the slogan facing criminal charges for their behavior from dismissal and discipline. “The FOP’s tices that are supposed to be implemented “Black Power through the law.” The FOP set up during the DNC, proved particularly skillful in contract also forged a partnership between through the city’s consent decree with the Illi- its lodge in Chicago in 1963, quickly signed up channeling o cers’ frustrations into concrete the union and the police department as the nois Attorney General. The new Lodge 7 pres- hundreds of members, and started demand- demands. Though they were still relatively department aided FOP efforts to dismantle ident, John Catanzara (who’s been stripped of ing a 20 percent raise for cops. Nationwide, small among the Chicago police organizations, affirmative action policies in court,” Adams police powers for allegedly fi ling a false report police organizations began to win formal rec- they were beginning to succeed in winning writes. This would eventually result in the against former superintendent Eddie Johnson ognition as collective bargaining agents for collective bargaining recognition in other marginalization and disappearance of the and has logged 50 misconduct allegations) has o cers, beginning with New York City’s Police police departments in Illinois. They also capi- AAPL and other police organizations. vowed to go back to negotiating with the city Benevolent Association in 1964, which agreed talized on white male cops’ resentment of the Over the years, the FOP has negotiated in- but is keeping the possibility of arbitration in to give up its right to strike and not to a liate increased presence of minorities and women creasingly complex contracts and won steady play. with any other labor union. on the force to grow their membership ranks. salary increases for its members as well as Given this state of a airs, what, if anything, The late 1960s saw a culmination of the Chicago cops were finally allowed to join sweeping protections against misconduct al- could be done to limit the power of the FOP? civil rights movement, along with landmark unions in 1975, after the United Paperworkers legations, all the while staunchly supporting Supreme Court rulings granting protections International Union sued CPD for violating even the most disgraced members of the force. n a blog published in OnLabor last week, to people accused of crimes, such as Miranda their employees’ free association rights. In her research, Adams found that in 1992 Harvard labor law expert and former SEIU as- rights and a right to legal counsel. At the same Amid the American manufacturing decline the FOP won cops pay for “o -duty police dog Isistant general counsel Benjamin Sachs wrote time the nation witnessed shocking images of private-sector union membership was dwin- care” while the next year it dedicated its Saint that there’s precedent for limiting the collec- police repression at civil rights demonstra- dling, but the public sector o ered a lifeline. Patrick’s Day parade fl oat to Jon Burge, who’d tive bargaining powers of particular unions tions and anti-Vietnam War protests. In Chi- Groups that originally had nothing to do with led a ring of detectives in torturing suspects without threatening the labor movement as a cago, a “police riot” marred the Democratic cops, fi refi ghters, and clerks vied to unionize for two decades. The union has done precious whole. National Convention four months after Mayor these workforces. Still, Chicago didn’t recog- little to help the department root out corrupt “When unions bargained contracts that Daley authorized police to “shoot to kill” nize city workers’ unions. And even though an cops or protect whistleblowers who went out excluded Black workers from employment or during riots in response to the assassination AFL-CIO a liate went to court on their behalf, on a limb to expose them. Until the Laquan that relegated Black workers to inferior jobs, of Martin Luther King Jr. The next year, law police officers mostly stuck with their own McDonald scandal, the union capitalized on a the law stepped in and stripped unions of the ll JUNE - CHICAOREADER 11 NEWS & POLITICS
continued from 11 the Chicago Federation of Labor or national president of SEIU Local 1, who emphasized low-wage workers, mostly at industrial laun- right to use collective bargaining in these ones like the AFL-CIO. Fraternal Orders of he was only sharing his opinion as a member dries. “But every worker in America deserves ways,” he wrote. Sachs argued that “police Police and Police Benevolent Associations of the local and not as the voice of leadership. a union, including police o cers.” Ginard said unions have abused the power of collective rarely belong to federations anyway (Lodge The union represents 35,000 public-sector that his union’s membership has been active bargaining in indefensible ways” and suggest- 7 isn’t part of the CFL), but there are smaller workers in Chicagoland, mostly janitors, in protests and that they support the call to ed curtailing their power by opening bargain- police unions that do. When a union isn’t part security guards, and doormen. “The FOP has defund the police, but that he doesn’t see that ing sessions to the public, changing state laws of an umbrella group, other unions can set up always been seen as a far-right, reactionary as an attack on police labor rights. to allow police forces to have multiple unions competing groups within the workforce that organization,” Morrison said, “I can’t think “I’ll never advocate for cutting pay to union or “minority union bargaining,” and limit- union represents. Though the FOP is the exclu- of any union in Chicago that would defend a members, but I think we need to reform how ing “the range of subjects over which police sive bargaining agent authorized by the city member who committed murder on the job. we police our streets completely,” he said. unions have the right to bargain.” of Chicago, public-sector employees in Illinois Not only did the FOP defend [Jason] Van Dyke, “We’ve been giving cops too much money While private-sector union bargaining are allowed to vote to decertify a union if they they gave him a job. They used union dues to and that’s created a criminal justice system rules are governed by federal laws, public-sec- can gather the support of 30 percent of their give him a job. They don’t behave like a union.” that’s completely against the poor. Look at the tor unions are under state jurisdiction. This is shop. Of course, since the FOP has won such “I think police can have their union but we equipment that police o cers have, you could what has allowed some states, like Wisconsin strong contracts for its members, it seems need to attack the power of the police union. be buying so many things for children in this and Texas, to prohibit, eliminate, or severely unlikely that that would ever happen. And that means not having other labor move- city with that same money.” limit public employee unions. In Wisconsin Avendaño said that so far she’s been disap- ments stand in solidarity with police,” said In Chicago’s labor community, the most cops and firefighters were the only ones ex- pointed by organized labor’s response to the Scott Mechanic, a member of National Nurses forceful stance against the current state of cluded from the 2011 legislative changes that current political moment and hopes to see United and a nurse in the COVID-19 intensive policing has come from the Chicago Teachers made it a right-to-work state for public-sector bolder statements calling out police unions care unit at the University of Chicago hospital. Union. Last week the union joined protesters’ workers. There’s no reason why new state laws from national labor groups like the AFL-CIO. He said he’s been disappointed in his union’s calls to defund CPD and take police o cers out couldn’t apply to police alone. But such legis- “The labor movement can’t be the armadillo “heartfelt but bland statement condemning of schools. It seems the union has evolved in lation would require sweeping action from protecting its soft underbelly with a hard shell racism and calling George Floyd’s death a its position since fumbling to distance itself politicians who, by and large, still fear not hoping this issue will go away,” she said. “Nor murder,” adding that what he views as his from abolitionist organizer Page May’s “fuck coming across as tough enough on crime more can we just sign on to a right-wing agenda to union’s hesitancy to speak out against the po- the police” cries at CTU’s 2016 one-day strike. than they fear the optics of supporting police do away with collective bargaining rights for lice “is a refl ection of endemic racism amongst Yet Stacy Davis Gates, vice president of the o cers that brutalize Black communities. public employees. For us to be able to manage our rank-and-file nurses, many of whom are Chicago Teachers Union, said condemning “The cops are bargaining with politicians this dilemma, the labor movement is gonna married to cops. . . . There’s so much work to the FOP isn’t really the point. “While we can and other leaders who have bought into the have to stand up, recognize that there are do toward police abolition in health care—re- go o about the FOP and its behavior I think carceral state, this awful law-and-order nar- problems with police unions, and form strong claiming health-care work from police, which the greater focus has to be on how labor has rative that demonizes communities of color,” alliances with activist groups who are chang- includes responding to mental health emer- to take a sharper stance on eradicating white said former AFL-CIO associate general coun- ing the system.” gencies, criminalization of homelessness, and supremacy,” Gates said. That starts by putting sel Ana Avendaño. “They have an incredibly limiting harm from drug use. I don’t think any women and people of color—who comprise the weak opponent, dealing with politicians who n Chicago, much of the organized labor of those things should be functions of police in overwhelming majority of many labor unions’ have no backbone, and so they’re able to bar- community has been treading lightly on the our society and that’s a huge part of what they members—in leadership positions, she said. gain these incredibly unjust contracts.” Iissue of whether the FOP belongs in the labor do and [NNU] has not taken a stance on that.” “If you have people most impacted by white “We’re in a moment when the abuse of movement and whether the power of cops’ “In my view, every working person has a supremacy in control of decisions, you’ll get a collective bargaining power by the police unions should be limited. This is despite the fundamental right to a voice on the job. But labor movement that expresses racial justice.” has been exposed for the world to see,” Av- fact that the FOP has long stayed at the margins along with this right comes a responsibility Gates veered away from discussing the endaño said, adding that state laws can limit of the labor community here. to use that voice to promote justice for all,” CTU’s positions in 2016, when she wasn’t yet the scope of union contracts—for example, Local labor leaders who spoke to the Reader Chicago Federation of Labor president Bob Re- in leadership, but said that “Black youth and allowing cops to bargain over wages and were generally evasive when it came to talking iter wrote in an e-mailed statement. The CFL organizers have led us to a space of reckoning benefi ts but not over disciplinary procedures. about the FOP. Some in the labor movement is an umbrella organization comprising 300 where we get to decide to fund the communi- Similarly, state laws can also change when have been wary to speak out against police unions in Chicago and Cook County. Last week ties where they reside and the schools where it comes to arbitration. “States allow public unions for fear of feeding into broader an- it issued a statement “resolving to commit it- they attend and to make sure they’re safe and employees the right to bargain and that’s a ti-union sentiment that threatens public-sec- self to fi ghting for social, economic, and racial not brutalized.” good thing. It gives them safety and security, tor collective bargaining rights as a whole. justice in all aspects of its work,” but Reiter The Reader reached out to leadership of the it makes a more stable workforce and protects There’s also the issue of culture inside labor hesitated to make any specifi c remarks about Teamsters (who represent guards at the Cook the public,” she said. “I think what’s di erent unions, whose members (especially those in the FOP. “When it comes to Lodge 7 we’ve had County Jail, among others) and the American about the police is they have been able to wield the Chicago public sector and those in the very little interaction with them,” he said on Federation of State, County and Municipal the power of white supremacy to bargain con- trades) often have family and neighborhood the phone. FOP leadership hasn’t shown public Employees (who represent Illinois prison tracts for themselves that are just unlike any ties to cops. support for a CFL action since the 2012 teacher guards, among others) but didn’t receive a other public employee contract.” “I’ve never seen the police stand in solidari- strike, Reiter said. response. A way to limit police union power and ty with striking workers, but I have seen them “The FOP has a very complicated relation- FOP Lodge 7 president John Catanzara also change the political calculus around support- stand in solidarity with white supremacists ship with the rest of us,” said Carlos Ginard, didn’t return a request for comment. v ing the police, Avendaño added, is to expel to protest [Cook County state’s attorney] Kim assistant manager of Workers United in the cops’ unions from local labor councils like Foxx,” said Jerry Morrison, assistant to the midwest, a union that represents some 4,000 @mdoukmas 12 CHICA O READER - JUNE ll DISPATCH The front lines of police brutality Scenes from a protest where cops pepper sprayed a kettled crowd P S B H
I TOOK A PHOTO of an offi cer shooting pepper spray into the face of a man holding his bicycle. He must have seen the fl ash from my camera because he turned around and sprayed my face too. He was two feet away. I was blinded. My throat and eyes were on fi re. I share this experience as a testimony to the injustice I observed against others, the Black Chicagoans who have no choice but to protest in the streets during a pandemic. By the time I came home to the comforts of my white privileged life, I was undone. I had no idea where to direct my rage. I do not have internalized pain from hundreds of years of oppression, abuse, and institutionalized racism raging inside my soul, yet the intensity of my fury was explosive. Law enforcement had incited violence. v
Read more at chicagoreader.com ll JUNE - CHICAOREADER 13 14 CHICA O READER - JUNE ll music bar on the north
ll JUNE - CHICAOREADER 15 16 CHICA O READER - JUNE ll NEWS & POLITICS
RACHEL HAWLEY Drawing from recent telehealth visits with patients experiencing sleep disruptions and this vivid before COVID-19, and we all didn’t insomnia, Wyatt said some people are having quite know how to process what was hap- trouble sleeping out of fear of exposure, anx- pening. But somewhere, subconsciously, our iety or stress associated with job loss, or be- brains were making sense of the stark shift cause they don’t have the same daily routine in routine and lifestyle, if not a wave of grief to get up and go do. On the other hand, some over constant news about the suffering and people have had less pressure put on their loss of life brought on by the pandemic, or the sleep because they have more fl exibility than feeling of collective stress. before. If this sounds like something you or your Still, some therapists say that the hyper- friends have also experienced, experts consumption of news about the virus could say you aren’t alone, and that there are be adding to daily stress and contributing various methods of processing and coping to trouble sleeping, in addition to the very with the unusually vivid dreams and sleep real experiences of scarcity at the height of disturbances. the pandemic, and the economic fallout. The Dr. Jennifer Mundt, a sleep psychologist at problem comes when vivid dreams turn into the Northwestern Medicine Sleep Disorders persistent nightmares, or when sleep disrup- Group, said a number of behavioral, psycho- tions become more of a long-standing chal- logical, and environmental factors are at lenge versus an occasional occurrence. That’s play with the disruption in sleep patterns when treatment with a doctor or therapist that’s emerged since the onset of COVID-19. could become necessary. Although some people may be sleeping better “There’s nothing really problematic with CORONAVIRUS with the extra time, she said others may have vivid dreams, but there’s a problem when their schedules thrown off due to sudden you’re disturbed by it. It’s the content that unemployment or increased use of alcohol at disturbs people,” said Monica Guzman, a Resting uneasy home, along with any emergence of anxiety licensed clinical professional counselor at a or depression, lack of sunlight from extended community-based health center. “Sometimes, Your wildest dreams and odd sleep patterns during the pandemic, explained time indoors, and most of all, elevated stress. when you talk [or write] about it, you can work By D C “Insomnia and nightmares are really out the path the brain was trying to work common reactions to stress and trauma, so through so there can be resolution . . . or leave it’s a very normal reaction, and people are your bed and do something like reading, and t’s 2 AM. Social media lights up with posts people and places. In one instance, I dreamt having trouble sleeping. It is normal. For if you get sleepy, go back.” that send a feeble fl are. that I was naked and unprepared for an event most people, it will just fade naturally over Guzman advises focusing on rest rather I “Is anyone else up and having trouble where I was scheduled to speak; right as I time,” Mundt said. “I think that’s important, than getting back to sleep, because stressing sleeping?” one friend on Facebook writes. was in the middle of writing my speech, the because it’s not something to focus a lot on about sleeping may spur anxiety that ends up Another quips, “I’ve been able to do nothing appearance quickly changed to taking place and worry about, it’ll pass as life goes back to keeping you awake. Others note that it’s im- but nap o and on during the day, and I can’t at home, from my computer, within minutes. I normal. Sleep will go back to normal for most portant to take a holistic approach to deter- seem to get anything done once the afternoon was left scrambling, running to the restroom people.” mining what’s impacting your ability to sleep strikes.” Since the coronavirus pandemic and feeling harried. And then I woke up, short of But the experience of nightmares, newly well, especially during the pandemic. stay-at-home orders began, countless people breath at 4 AM, having to relieve myself and vivid dreams, or altered sleep patterns with “Are you sleeping enough? What are you on Twitter have been habitually waking up make sense of why I felt so tense. COVID-19 isn’t universal. Some people may eating? Are you exercising? Taking care of earlier than the birds, canvassing their fol- After that night, I learned I was not alone. like the new vividness of dreams, said Dr. your physical health, too, can impact your lowers to see if anyone is experiencing similar One of my friends on the west coast said James Wyatt, who specializes in clinical sleep dreams. If you’re thinking it’s COVID related, sleep patterns. they’d dreamt that the nation had descended disorders and behavioral sleep medicine at are you reading the news before bed? Are More often than not, I’ve been up late—or into martial law and a time of extreme mea- Rush University Medical Center. you watching a lot of TV before bed? I really early—enough to be able to respond in real sures for survival. Another friend slumbered “The experience of people dealing with this encourage sleep hygiene as a practice and time. After one particularly rough night in into a nightmare about getting yelled at in a is highly varied and mixed. Many people are noticing and recognizing any patterns that which I woke up sweating profusely, I got up drive-thru testing site for COVID-19. Others spending more time at home, and there may may be a ecting sleep which, in turn, may be enough gumption to post and ask my own had stress dreams about work, traumatic be more positive and negative elements asso- a ecting your dreams at night,” said Caroline friends if they, too, were struggling with get- events from their past, or accidentally in- ciated with it. If you’re working from home, Heller, a licensed clinical professional coun- ting good rest. And there was an added layer fecting other people with COVID-19 by not there may be a positive element to not having selor and board-certifi ed art therapist. to my nightly disturbances in the form of properly socially distancing, and one friend’s a longer commute, more time with the kids, “I also take a harm reduction approach,” unusually vivid dreams that woke me up and nightmare mirrored the news of some cruise or more cooking,” Wyatt said, noting that an Heller added, encouraging people to consider made it more di cult to return to sleep. ships being docked indefinitely due to out- individual’s level of resilience is also a factor. what they might do or reduce to have a better There was something of a pattern at play: breaks, as she ended up as a passenger on an “It’s challenging individuals to see how much night’s rest. v the feeling of being punished for trying to go infected private yacht. they can process the change and how much about life as usual, and a nostalgia for familiar Most of them said they hadn’t had dreams good can they pull out of it.” @DerrickClifton ll JUNE - CHICAOREADER 17 ARTS & CULTURE
Leslie Reese ELIZABETH METZGER SAMPSON
‘My World’ poems lesson. I wanted students to feel encouraged to share their own candid, whimsical, and visionary ideas for the world we live in.” There is also work by students from Taft Freshman Academy, whose poet in residence is Timothy David Rey. In these poems, sev- enth-to-ninth-grade students were inspired by Li Po’s “Quiet Night Thoughts” and wrote about the quietness (or lack thereof) of their evenings. “I try to pick poems that were written where they could express themselves, maybe about what’s going on now with the pandemic, or how they’re feeling,” says Rey. “A lot of poems had to do with self-care, so they could sort of look around themselves and see what’s hap- pening and respond to that through poetry.” Rey believes one of the challenges of teach- ing poetry virtually is that there is no chance for feedback. Yet he’s found that even with this challenge, students are still engaging with the material, even the most reluctant writers. “We would receive writings from students who may not have written when they were in a formal classroom setting,” he says. LIT experiment with her remote teaching method. Another way CPC has continued engaging “I set up a colorful corner in my apartment with their students is by transitioning their with a display of illustrated poetry antholo- pop-up assemblies into a remote format. Last Stanzas in place gies and my fl ipboard with markers and that’s week they hosted their fi rst virtual assembly where I recorded my videos. I reshaped some with Urban Gateways attended by more than The Chicago Poetry Center gives CPS students virtual literary lessons. lessons from my syllabus so that there was 90 fifth-grade students. Additionally, they room for students to channel their feelings have moved their annual “All Schools Read- By M DL C imaginatively,” she says. “For instance, in the ing” event online, which features a select num- ‘persona poems’ lesson, I asked students, ‘Do ber of students reading their poems in front you think that school misses us?’ and then of family and friends. “We got 35 videos back ust one week after Chicago Public Schools paper packets if students are coming to the guided them to write poems in the voice(s) of with 35 signed parental media releases,” says (CPS) went remote, the Chicago Poetry school for meal and enrichment packet pickup things at school (art paintbrushes, classrooms, Metzger Sampson. “We are now building out JCenter (CPC), a not-for-profit 501c3 arts so that way we can support students without etc.) that miss the sights and sounds of being a couple of videos that are going to be broken organization designed to facilitate creative lit- Internet access,” says Elizabeth Metzger used and inhabited by students and teachers.” up by grade group, and we’ll be debuting that eracy and self-expression through poetry, was Sampson, executive director of CPC. The work- Pre-COVID-19, the poets in residence would video in probably like mid-June.” able to follow suit and pivot their CPS school- books consist of two to three pages of step- collect students’ work and publish different With these lessons, virtual assemblies, and based poetry residencies “Hands On Stanzas” by-step instruction on the poetry lessons the poems on CPC’s website every week. Now, videos, CPC hopes students feel encouraged to virtual programs. poets in residence have chosen for the week. the publishing is limited to who is writing and inspired throughout these trying times. “I Currently, CPC has virtual residencies in 26 “Each poet has done this a little bit di er- and sending in work. The work is published think a lot of what these lessons are teaching classrooms across nine schools in the city. The ently,” says Metzger Sampson. “For instance, on CPC’s “Shelter in Poetry” blog—currently, right now is, it’s OK to have feelings. It’s OK residencies, which usually consist of a Chicago one of our poets, Joy Young, she actually the blog has 12 posts with a brief description to explore that feeling. It’s OK to have compli- poet in residence meeting with their assigned throws the workbook on her screen, screen of the lesson students were taught and the cated feelings,” says Metzger Sampson. “And classrooms weekly to read, write, and perform shares, and really does sort of an ‘I do, you do, poems they wrote as a result. alternately, what I think that they’re exploring poetry, now exist via videos for students with we do’ sort of lesson with the students in the “In ‘A Little Girl’s Poem’ by Gwendolyn is, ‘Hey, let’s dream. Let’s imagine and let’s computer and Internet access, or via work- screen share.” Brooks, the voice of the child shares a vision create’ because [this is] a wonderful way to en- book packets for those in need of non-digital Similarly, Leslie Reese, who works with of what is good and what is not right in the ergize themselves and spend their time while support. second graders at Swift Elementary School, world. She ends by saying, ‘Life is for us, and is we’re all stuck at home.” v “We try to make sure that we’re delivering says she uses the bond she created with her shining. / We have a right to sing,’” says Reese. workbooks and instructions that can turn into students in person as an encouragement to “Reading that poem inspired me to create the @marndel7 18 CHICA O READER - JUNE ll “TT T ” R Through / , online or by appointment, Monique Meloche Gallery, N. Paulina, moniquemeloche.com. F ARTS & CULTURE
Nate Young, three works on paper, 2020 ferent time, they take o , and they may take COURTESYMONIQUEMELOCHEGALLERY on di erent kinds of meanings.” In the online presentation, Young explains grandmother. his family’s history and how he created the “If he was someone before he left and then work, and guides audiences through the he was someone else when he arrived, or set exhibition, which has multiple sets of sculp- up a new life, that liminal state was kind of tural works made of the excavated bones and a vacuum of identity,” Young says. “And that handwritten words from Jackson’s suicide was what was really driving my initial inter- note. White oak and walnut reliquaries (or est in him as a character.” box altars) line the walls and walnut vitrines Today, a century after Jackson’s move, (or displays) that also have motion-activat- Young’s exploration of time feels eerily more ed audio of the bones rubbing together are relevant than ever—a blending of the past placed randomly throughout the gallery. and present. The combination of a global Young’s use of sound here is intentional. pandemic that disproportionately affects “I wanted to use sound as a proof of a Black communities and widespread protests presence of an object that you can’t necessar- against racism-driven police violence feels ily see, and that for me is parallel to thinking both unprecedented and reminiscent of past about history,” Young says. “I never saw my struggles. great-grandfather. I’ve seen a picture of him, “The thing that I’ve been thinking about a but even that picture is constantly evading lot lately is the complicated nature of time, me. I’ve been trying to find it and I haven’t about the potential of collapsing the past and been able to fi nd it for years. But there must VIS ARTS the present and the future into one thing as be another way to prove his existence, and opposed to thinking about it linearly,” Young maybe a sound is a memory.” An examination of Black identity and time says. Young’s exhibition lies in the in-between, Conceptual artist Nate Young’s “The Transcendence of Time” puts his own In Philadelphia, Jackson was a fugitive. in what you can and cannot see, and he hopes family’s Great Migration story on display. While looking through his journals and writ- that visitors spend time in that place of ings, Young found that out of fear Jackson doubt. By A N put down the horse that he’d used to travel “When someone encounters the exhibition north and buried it. Jackson also attempted and then leaves, that doubt is important to to take his own life. The horse’s bones and me because it reveals the dichotomy between hen William Nathaniel Jackson never see complete, an oral history pieced words from Jackson’s suicide letter are incor- belief: belief and unbelief,” Young says. “Be- arrived in Philadelphia in the early together with memories and stories. porated throughout the work. cause what I don’t want is just to reveal my W1900s, he became a new man. He was It’s a familiar narrative for Black families “How do you hide something so large? A own familial history, but to think about the fleeing from somewhere near the Carolinas who relocated during the first and second horse is a huge, really strong, and really large ways in which those ideas are transmitted— when he traveled north. There, he took a new waves of the Great Migration. The mining of animal,” Young says. “To hide something like whether it’s through historical text, whether name, made a new family, and built a new life. these memories led conceptual artist Nate that is very di cult; it takes a lot of e ort. So it’s through oral tradition, whether it’s visu- He buried his old life. He became a pillar Young to his new work, “The Transcendence I was thinking about that in parallel with . . . ally, whether it’s sound—that vessel that I of the community—he was likely one before, of Time,” showing virtually and in person the way that history is erased as well—or hid- was describing is the vehicle through which which may have contributed to his need to by appointment through Chicago’s Monique den, buried and then unearthed at di erent belief can be produced.” v escape. The full story, though, is a puzzle that Meloche Gallery. Jackson was Young’s times. It’s sort of, once those hidden things his family can vaguely make out but possibly great-grandfather—the father of his paternal start to come to light, in the context of a dif- @ArionneNettles CHICAGO READER MASKS
CHICAGOREADER.THREADLESS.COM ll JUNE - CHICAOREADER 19 R READER RECOMMENDED b ALL AGES F T S H F Thu / , - PM (content remains THEATER online afterward), instagram.com/smallhoursfestival, F
Isaly Viana performed in the fi rst Small Hours Festival. COURTESY PROP THTR
each other,” Lilley says. The producers say the festival is meant to not only highlight new artists and amplify their voices but also create lasting relation- ships in the theater community that continue outside of Small Hours. That starts with the foundational pairings of talent and perspective to fi nd people who can complement each other. “With submissions, it’s fi nding people that care about the same things, that are passionate about the same things and matching them to- gether,” Fontano says. The first festival featured monologue dra- mas about people coping with isolation, death and the cycle of life, the Black Lives Matter movement, and other emotional stories about our past and present. Fontano, who is also on the board of Prop, wants artists to have full VIRTUAL FESTIVAL creative freedom and write about whatever they choose and not be limited by any curato- rial perimeters. Community through monologue Fontano and Lilley, who both have back- grounds participating in Chicago’s DIY scene, Prop’s Small Hours Festival pairs playwrights and performers. want the festival energy to be reminiscent of that familiar community that, at its best, trans- By A P -A mits positivity, creation, and inclusion, rather than competition and status. “We are not com- peting with one another in Small Hours, we are hen Aniello Fontano fi nished his MFA getting paid to work solely in the arts, which creating,” Fontano says. “You are amplifying studies in dramatic writing from the means they have multiple jobs and must look one another’s voices for the sake of the art and WUniversity of New Mexico, COVID-19 for other ways to get involved and help com- our collective enjoyment and sanity.” was just getting started. The Chicago actor, munities in times of crisis. And when your The producers say the fest was created to director, and playwright had been away from industry is suffering, how do you cope? You fi t the current time but hope it can transition the local theater community for three years create, Fontano says. to an in-person showcase once the pandemic is but with the pandemic’s swift hit, now was not “[We are] boots on the ground workers, we behind us. Lilley says the project was also built the time to go back. cannot donate money, it’s not a thing we can to partner with other theater companies in the Isolated in his Albuquerque apartment, he do, and further, our main source of income is future. “It has a brand unto itself and we want felt compelled to contribute to the artistic gone,” he says. “The thing we love, the thing we it to be fl exible and malleable and go wherever community from afar and give voice to the are passionate about is changing drastically. it needs to go,” she says. discomfort brought on by the current times. For those people like myself, who really want The experimental festival, cosponsored by He started by writing monologues for actors to give something but can only give their heart Cape Horn Illustration, is back June 18 with now doing self-tape auditions from home. “I and art and mind right now, [the festival] gives a new lineup of actors and writers, featuring was constantly looking for ways to feel like I them an outlet to do so.” Chelsea Turner, Jessica Kearney, Kenya Ann was being productive and like I was helping The festival, which debuted May 21 on Hall, Patrick Agada, Bernadette Carter, Derek people,” Fontano says. Instagram’s IGTV, pairs Chicago playwrights, Lee McPhatter, Aidaa Peerzada, Ada Alozie, Through the large network of actors he screenwriters, and TV writers with local ac- Terry Guest, and more. While May’s festival knows, those creative efforts grew into the tors to create collaborative monodramas that featured 48 artists and 24 pairings that were Providing arts coverage Small Hours Festival, a new monthly virtual highlight individual style and skills. It’s also a invite only, the producers say the next round festival produced by Fontano and Prop artistic way to disrupt a local theater scene that can be will have 24 people and 12 pairings, half of in Chicago since 1971. director Olivia Lilley as a way to connect actors cliquish and isolated, Lilley says. And as copro- which will be invite only. Those who want with each other, let them speak their minds ducers of Rhino Fest, Chicago’s longest-run- to participate in the June 18 fest, which will about the pandemic, and give creatively to the ning alternative theater festival, Small Hours begin uploading to the Instagram account at 8 world, instead of fi nancially. fits into Prop’s mission of showcasing new PM that evening, can e-mail a cover letter and For gig workers, sometimes donating money voices and work. “We wanted to disrupt [the resumé to [email protected]. v www.chicagoreader.com isn’t an option. As in other artistic endeavors, theater scene] by introducing people who many theatermakers don’t have the luxury of didn’t know each other who were awesome to @ArielParrella 20 CHICA O READER - JUNE ll Donate to get Leor Galil's best articles over the past 10 years of Chicago music! chicagoreader.com/leorbook
ll JUNE - CHICAOREADER 21 FILM
OUTDOOR SCREENINGS o say that the COVID-19 pandemic has of a group of local festival and event orga- put a damper on live arts and cultural nizers, including Cobra Lounge manager Tevents would be to say that the Hinden- Louie Mendicino, who says it was born out of Chicago Drive-In opens in burg was a little explosive. But as we’ve seen necessity. “What we do, and what we’re most countless times since Chicago’s shelter-in- proud of, is what we bring to the masses,” place order went into effect in mid-March, Mendicino says. “We really needed to tap Bridgeview the virus is no match for the ingenuity of the into that degree of pride again, and come city’s creative community. together on a project. That’s where we’re at A group of local festival and event organizers invite us to the movies. Enter Chicago Drive-In, which opens in a our best, personally and professionally.” parking lot in Bridgeview’s SeatGeek Stadi- The venue, which can fi t up to 300 cars, will By J L um this week. The venture is the brainchild screen family-friendly classics such as The
TURN MILES INTO A MILLION ON ROUTE 66 Learn more at IllinoisLottery.com
ROUTE 66™ Scientific Games International, Inc. All rights reserved.
22 CHICA O READER - JUNE ll FILM POETRY CORNER
Surviving Something... Choked We still haven’t come back from that The Goonies Slapped By N.A. Patin Punched Trauma snaking through DNA Kicked We time travel Bitten Conduits branded into our ribonucleic According to some Black folks Lied to Black survivors of Cheated ono and with Rivers carrying everything sexual and domestic violence Mercilessly In its streams Black Brought it on themselves Molested abandoned wateryw schemes Goonies and The Sandlot on a nightly basis Fallen through Rippling serene across its 70-foot screen. “These are movies Followed up by Dirty dozens of cracks Lapping surface my generation wants their kids to see—they Vigorous insistence Roses pounding against concrete Muting screams of ThatT not all Black people are like that Trampled by pampered feet Who just didn’t make it are timeless to a degree,” Mendicino says. The GOOD Black people “[Parents] have an opportunity to not only The respectable Black people WeW exist Those who did get out of the house, but to o er something Are absolutely not like that, darling Here and there Can’t shake the hatred to their kids: an insight to their youth and across spans of genders WeW are neither post racial or post traumatic They’re fierce, they’re elegant Sexualities When present day Black lives don’t matter their culture. So it’s kind of a bonding mo- Brilliant successful educated Sizes stay splattered ment for kids and their parents as well.” Black Excellence Classes Across concrete police cars foster care headlines For adults who want to watch something Abilities and accessibilities NotN somebody’s survivor Ages Stress disordering our everything slightly more scandalous than Smalls los- Not somebody’s victim On Stages ing his stepdad’s prized baseball over the Not somebody black eyed baleful Pages Can’t you see you are surviving neighbor’s fence, though, Friday and Satur- Bodily integrity violated in classrooms something just like me? Being forced to endure for pleasure day nights will also feature midnight movie Courtrooms Profit plantations power Corporate boardrooms YYou may have never seen screenings of R-rated crowd pleasers, includ- Reduced to producing for the very bottom of lines Church choirs and trap houses Yourself bloody with grief ing Reservoir Dogs. Of someone else’s cruelty SuchSuc pride we take in those Mendicino says that the organizers in- SurvivingSurv in the blur Borne of their own lack of healing Who have managed to adjust to the sickness Of intersectional invisibility tend to follow city guidelines for COVID-19 Of this society You may have never looked broken reopening every step of the way to ensure all surviving something Skin always touched with love We diagnose us who chafe that the experience is as safe as possible for In between lines of Black But something against toxicity which intersect all If you are what is Black guests and workers alike: moviegoers must Who lack medicine to make peace Something wear masks anytime they are away from With inequity Great grid of universe Something has laid you low their vehicle, and audio will be screened on as not all therethe Woven tight with Black Made you bend and carry what was not yours Ghetto hood ratchet ignorant MatterMatte FM radio instead of clip-on speakers (the Ass negroes Not so different from me company’s website advises picking up a new How it holds the weight of gravity From the least of these Bitter angry black baby mama boombox if your car stereo is on the fritz). Without back breaking Black All of us Black Thugged out thot crackheads There are also plans in the works for a Who just don’t want to do no better All of us second drive-in at an undisclosed Chicago As not all of us are like that Blowing breezes location, and Mendicino says if the fi rst two sweet Black and mild Surviving Yet.Y theaters are a success, they’d ideally like Surviving nothing to live for with wielding wind Something. to add a couple more in other parts of the I am one of those Gone ballistic city. For now he hopes to extend the season A survivor and a Black Ripping black from the land through the fall and end with Halloween I am the talented tenth out of tenth stripping blood from backs weekend, and suggests that with enough person I know that were always strapped community support the Chicago Drive-In To be raped Always strapped could return next year, even as the pandemic (fi ngers crossed) subsides. Guests are encouraged to prepurchase A biweekly series curated by the Chicago Reader and sponsored by the Poetry Foundation. Poem by Nikki Patin, who holds an MFA in creative tickets online, rather than chance pulling non-fiction from the University of Southern Maine, is a recipient of a 3Arts Make A Wave award in music, and was recently named one of “30 Writers to up to a full lot. And given the organizers’ Watch” by the Guild Literary Complex. Patin is the community engagement director for the Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation and the founder and executive producer of Surviving the Mic, a monthly live podcast and writing workshop series based on the south side of Chicago, where she lives with live music backgrounds, they’re planning to her six-year-old son, Tobias. enhance the experience with special touches such as retro cartoons during intermissions, and by giving guests the opportunity to share “happy birthday” messages and pro- posals across the big screen (for a small fee). “We tend to get creative on the fl y,” Mendi- cino says. “This is just who we are as people and we’re not going to stop that anytime soon.” v Poetry Foundation | 61 West Superior Street | poetryfoundation.org/events @unlistenmusic ll JUNE - CHICAOREADER 23 R READER RECOMMENDED b ALL AGES N NEW F Get showtimes and see reviews of everything playing FILM this week at chicagoreader.com/movies.
The Hill of Freedom
as Jackson, it mostly succeeds. Aspects of Jackson’s real life, especially her convoluted marriage to satyrlike liter- ary critic and academic Stanley Hyman (Michael Stuhl- barg), blend with the real-life mystery that inspired her 1951 novel Hangsaman. A young couple, Fred and Rose Nemser (Logan Lerman and Odessa Young), move into the Jacksons’ Bennington home, where their relation- ship begins to mirror that of Shirley and Stanley. (The latter’s four children, of whom Jackson wrote frequently, have vanished from the narrative like the missing girl in Jackson’s nascent novel.) The story fl irts with obvious references (a group of boys on the street playing with rocks, a la “The Lottery,” along with echoes of Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and Richard Yates’s Revolutionary Road). But Moss cuts through the self-conscious narrative glaze and Sturla Brandth Grøvlen’s crepuscular cinematography with serpentine cunning and palpable anguish. —KR107 min. Through 6/18, Facets Virtual Cinema NOW PLAYING elegantly betrays the deceptive chronology of memory. series, Dr. Strangelove, et cetera. Absent is anything of Yet Hong’s infl uences are never oppressive; as always, interest, really—the fi lm is mostly just dull, inoff ensive as Volition The Hill of Freedom the protagonist’s dilemma is realized through candid it is uninteresting. Reportedly all but one 35-millimeter Volition is a layered look at a clairvoyant’s vision of their R At the start of this epistolary 2014 fi lm by conversations and leisurely meals (though here there’s copy of the fi lm was destroyed a er its lackluster death. The gi ed individual in question is James (Adrian South Korean writer-director Hong Sang-soo—the pro- more wine than beer or Soju). In English and subtitled reception; other sources say Sellers kept a 16-millimeter Glynn McMorran), a man who spends his time using lifi c auteur’s 16th feature —a sickly Korean woman drops Korean and Japanese. —K S 67 min. 6/12- print that he ran for himself on occasion. Whatever his his unique skill set to win bets and solve crimes. The a pile of letters written by her Japanese ex-boyfriend; 6/25, Facets Virtual Cinema personal feelings about the fi lm, it’s intriguing as an arti- latter leads to a bleak and personal vision depicting a the fi lm then takes the form of a disorganized series fact but isn’t satisfying as much else. Originally released sequence of events that culminates in James’s untimely of vignettes as she reads through them, making this a Mr. Topaze in the United States as I Like Money. —K S death. He and Angela (Magda Apanowicz), a woman he’s more literal representation of the emotional dislocation Based on the play Topaze by French author and fi lmmak- 97 min. Music Box Virtual Cinema just met and developed feelings for, try to change his that tinges much of Hong’s work. The story centers er Marcel Pagnol, Peter Sellers’s fi rst and only credited future. A time-bending cerebral science-fi ction movie on Mori (Ryo Kase), who travels to Seoul in hopes of directorial endeavor (1961) is not so much a lost classic Shirley that calls to mind the likes of Twelve Monkeys, Minority starting a relationship with Kwon (Seo Young-hwa) as it is a minor eff ort that might appeal to his devotees. R Not so much a biopic as a fanciful evocation of Report, and Next, Volition holds its own partly because it a er a two-year separation. Unable to get in touch with Sellers likewise stars as the mild-mannered Auguste its complex subject, Josephine Decker’s Shirley (2020), provides a considered and unforeseen reveal, the build- her, he spends his time with the nephew of his inn’s Topaze, an earnest rural French school teacher who adapted by former Chicago playwright Sarah Gubbins up to which will keep viewers guessing. These choices, proprietor, Sang-won (Kim Eui-sung), and the owner of a gets fi red from his post for refusing to falsify a student’s from Susan Scarf Merrell’s 2014 novel, attempts the the work of director Tony Dean Smith and his cowriter nearby cafe, Young-sun (Moon So-ri), with whom he has grades and is then inveigled into a life of white-collar alchemical in conjuring Shirley Jackson’s witchy claus- and brother Ryan Smith, paired with performances that a brief romantic aff air. Hong’s movies are o en likened crime in Paris. Much like Topaze, Sellers seems to be trophobic literary magic, which found horror and humor feel tangible, make for a fascinating and moving take to those of French master Eric Rohmer, but this recalls taking himself much too seriously; absent is any of the in the mundane. It focuses far more on the former, but on fate. —B J 91 min. In wide release on another, Alain Resnais, in how the narrative structure humor that defi ned his iconic roles in the Pink Panther thanks to a mesmerizing performance by Elisabeth Moss VOD v
24 CHICA O READER - JUNE ll LIVE WITH PURPOSE 100% of profits go toward HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment in Illinois
Learn how every play helps at IllinoisLottery.com
ll JUNE - CHICAOREADER 25 MUSIC
Sima Cunningham (in black) and Macie Stewart formed Ohmme as a duo in 2014, then added drummer Matt Carroll in 2016. ASH DYE
and growth that can produce in a soul. Let’s all keep learning, keep going, and keep lis- tening to Black voices.” In the months since COVID-19 shut down the live-music ecosystem, Ohmme have played several online sets, sometimes shar- ing a room and sometimes remotely, includ- ing as part of Goose Island’s 312unes series and the Dr. Martens Presents: Stay In series (the latter included Carroll live from Den- mark). When Carroll can’t participate, Cun- ningham and Stewart use his drum tracks or do without, as they did on May 10, when they played acoustically via Mayor Lightfoot’s Instagram to benefi t the Arts for Illinois Re- lief Fund. They’re also scheduled to headline the fi rst night of the Do Division Street Fest’s inaugural virtual edition on Friday, June 26.
a room of he ten muscular tracks on Fantasize Your Ghost showcase the band’s in- Ttrepid spirit and clever control over their instruments, while their lyrics explore what it means and how it feels when you’ve become a stranger to the life you once knew. On Fantasize Your Ghost, Sima Cunningham Meaningful relationships run their course and Macie Stewart make their music a place and empty out; places and things you’ve built of trust, discovery, and compassion. an identity around stop feeling significant. The album’s 40 minutes succinctly evoke the By J R anger, clarity, pain, and joy that can come if you accept what comes next. Cunningham, 30, and Stewart, 27, are nimble multi-instrumentalists and arresting singers, and they’ve collaborated widely magine you’ve spent months at a time Chicago art-rock band Ohmme among them. When Fantasize Your Ghost came out last throughout Chicago’s sprawling music on the road with your band for more Ohmme founders Sima Cunningham and week, its release coincided with the latest communities, playing with artists working than two years running, bouncing be- Macie Stewart and their drummer, Matt Bandcamp revenue-sharing day, when the in rock, hip-hop, classical, folk, country, tween opening slots, festival appear- Carroll, were supposed to hit the road in platform waives its cut of sales to help artists jazz, noise, and more. Between them they’ve ances, and headlining sets in the U.S., April opening for Waxahatchee, ahead of the and labels struggling during the pandemic. worked with the likes of Chance the Rapper, IMexico, Canada, and Europe. You’ve been June 5 release of Fantasize Your Ghost (Joy- Rather than celebrate their album, the band Tortoise, Je Tweedy, and Twin Peaks. enthralling audiences with the frenetic yet ful Noise). Then they would’ve kicked o the chose to stand in solidarity with another Ohmme’s sound reflects their varied tightly controlled energy of your immersive west-coast leg of a headlining tour with their struggle—the ongoing fight for Black lives backgrounds and their classical training. live show, supporting a bold and proudly un- friend V.V. Lightbody. that erupted again into the streets after the The band might adopt the cadences and conventional debut album. Continued efforts to flatten the curve of police killing of George Floyd. Ohmme donat- syncopation of hip-hop, take deep breaths of Now imagine that mere months from the pandemic mean they’re now self-isolat- ed their Bandcamp proceeds to Chicago non- folk-rock simplicity, or erupt with the all-in the release of your second full-length, all ing separately and confi ned to livestreaming profi t Assata’s Daughters, a Black liberatory ferocity of a freely improvised electric-guitar but guaranteed to explosively broaden their performances. And like so many of us, activist group formed by women, femmes, freak-out—and they can balance it all grace- your audience, you’re sidelined—not by they’ve been trying their hand at making and gender-nonconforming people. fully. Stewart and Cunningham don’t know the standard-issue music-industry evils (a focaccia and turning to astrology to try to “We are asking for you to transform your exactly why their partnership works so much soured major-label contract, a monopolistic make sense of the wrenching changes in the support for us into support for our Chicago better than all their other musical relation- booker) but by a force much more powerful world. community and the Black Lives Matter move- ships, but they’re grateful for it. and even more impersonal. “I made my first successful focaccia the ment,” Ohmme explained on Instagram. “Our The band had planned for their debut That’s the reality faced by many buzzed- other night,” Cunningham says. “My fi rst one record is about confronting the inevitability full-length, 2018’s Parts, to “waterfall into” about acts as COVID-19 continues to spread— did not rise. Now, I’ve got it down pat.” of change and the chaos, discomfort, beauty Fantasize Your Ghost, as Cunningham puts 26 CHICA O READER - JUNE ll D D V S F O F W W P J W W Tonight’s bill is booked by the Empty Bottle. Fri 6/26, 5:15 PM, West Town Chamber of Commerce, westtownchamber.org, $10 suggested donation, all ages MUSIC
it—they’d hoped to weave its material into a deceptively sweet style: “Have you found learning” approach. “Guitar music encom- he two women were acquainted before their sets on that canceled April tour with your stomach or your spine? / When I leave, passes such a vast variety of music from starting Ohmme: Cunningham often Waxahatchee. They see the albums as two they’ll eat you alive,” they coo. “One, two, so many different cultures that the idea of Tguested in Marrow, an indie-rock facets of the same journey, but where the three, you’re not your mother’s daughter,” boundaries begin to dissipate, and you real- band Stewart cofounded in 2013. By then former looks outward at social norms—par- they repeat, their honeyed vocals dissipating ize that it really can be anything,” Stewart they’d known each other for years—Stewart ticularly those navigated by women, which into murky strings. “Your whole vision’s not says. “I think that’s the biggest takeaway was an original member of Kids These Days, were placed under a microscope before and enough.” for us. There’s no one correct way to do any- a genre-bending hip-hop/funk/soul/pop after the 2016 presidential election—the lat- As the album unfolds, its layers of over- thing, no end-all, be-all technique for achiev- group cofounded in 2009 by Vic Mensa and ter turns its focus inward. dubbed vocals and processed guitars evoke ing something. The most important thing is Cunningham’s brother, Liam Kazar. After Fantasize Your Ghost also seems prescient the turmoil that boils and bubbles inside a to have an idea and try to use the tools you Kids These Days split up in 2013, Stewart and in light of how state-mandated shelter-in- person as they outgrow their surroundings have in front of you to execute it. At the mo- Kazar formed Marrow with Carroll, their for- place orders and new e orts to phase in pre- or who they thought they needed to be. Each ment, that happens to be the guitar.” mer bandmate Lane Beckstrom, and Dorian COVID activity have affected our relation- track has its own urgent push and pull, and They both play guitar, with Stewart some- Gehring, who’d become Ohmme’s longtime ships to daily existence. It can seem futile to Stewart often punctuates the arrangements times switching to bass or violin. Both sing, engineer. try to control our lives and what’s happening with intricate flurries of strings that can usually together, and treat their voices as Stewart, a keenly melodic improviser, around us, or even to wrestle with our desire sound clean and sweeping or knotty and equally important instruments with their joined the explorative, high-energy jazz to do so—and it’s especially di cult to put tortured. own distinct roles. Even without a drummer, quintet Marker, led by veteran reedist Kevin o uncomfortable questions. Fantasize Your Ghost is as much of a call to they “fi ll a lot of space,” as Stewart puts it. Vandermark and including three other young “A lot of this record deals with contending action to reclaim one’s life (“3 2 4 3”) as it is “Because we’re both able to play multiple in- Chicago musicians, in 2016. Cunningham with different versions of yourself,” says a taunt, a challenge to, and an admonishment struments and multitask, we can do the work spent 12 years in the Chicago Children’s Choir Cunningham. “The version you are right now of those who lose themselves to the expec- of a much larger band.” and released her debut solo album, Time was the version that, at some point in the tations of others. It describes opportunities Because Ohmme have never tried to tour Is Never Your Friend, in 2010. She’s been past, you chose—and you kind of followed for redefi ning your behavioral and emotional with more than three musicians, they’ve involved in several bands, and for more than that for a while. You can start to feel a little patterns (“The Limit,” “Spell It Out”) as well been able to do so more frequently. But Stew- a decade she’s done event production and hollow or feel you really need to bring your- as for sabotaging yourself by kissing strang- art’s arrangements on Fantasize Your Ghost promotion work around the city. self back to life in a different way to move ers or falling for fl attery from fl awed heroes did raise the question of traveling with a After debuting in July 2014 at the Postock forward. It’s about making those decisions.” (“Twitch”). string section. Festival, an annual DIY music celebration in “Change is the only constant, as cheesy as While Ohmme’s lyrics generally offer “We’re not gonna tour with a string sec- rural Wisconsin that Cunningham has pre- it sounds,” Stewart adds. “It’s up to you to more questions than answers, the album’s tion,” says Cunningham, deadpan. “We’ll sented since 2008, Ohmme played their fi rst figure out how you approach and welcome closing track, “After All,” comes closer than make di erent arrangements. But that being Chicago show that September at Constella- it into your life—whether you’re up for it or most to a resolution; it also has the most said, there’s a lot of strings on the record. We tion. (They were initially called Homme— fi ghting against it. Either one is worthwhile, familiar, traditional melody, tinged with 60s had some fun, special shows planned in Chi- French for “man”—but made the change to but it’s about fi guring out how you want to vocal-group pop. Unambiguously about hav- cago and a couple other cities, and Macie’s avoid confusion with a South Korean duo of respond while you can.” ing compassion for yourself, it’s a reminder such a great string arranger—she was going the same name.) Cunningham had started for women to stand firm and create their to reach out to di erent local string sections. booking the long-running singer-songwriter hmme fi rst surprised audiences with own spaces in a society that demands they That’s something we’ll bring back at some series I Hear Voices at Constellation shortly an ambitious self-titled EP in 2015 shrink themselves. “Lonely girl, it’s OK / Take point, but just not in the near future.” after drummer and arts presenter Mike Reed O(which was reissued two years later). a breath, get away / Seek your cocoon,” they Stewart and Cunningham work together (perhaps most famous as founding director Their aesthetic took shape early: haunting sing, with Stewart’s sweet, high voice fl oat- as a unit so seamlessly it seems instinctual. of the Pitchfork Music Festival) opened the melodies, lyrics that read like riddles, and ing above Cunningham’s warm, cozily worn- They describe their relationship as equal venue in 2013, and she and Stewart were confident disruptions of pop-songwriting in one. “Lonely girl, you’re enough / Take a parts intense artistic partnership, deep enamored with the shows there. After a Marc and instrumental techniques. They incor- breath, loosen up.” friendship, and sisterhood; they share their Ribot concert at Constellation in May 2013, porate odd meters and unusual chord com- Stewart thinks she and Cunningham were own verbal and nonverbal language, onstage, they got to talking shop, planting seeds for binations so fl uidly that their sophisticated picking up on a low-grade crisis in their o stage, and in the studio. what would become their current approach musical intelligence erases its own finger- corner of Chicago’s music scene. “In our com- Carroll, 30, joined Ohmme in 2016, and be- to progressive music. prints, but at the same time they embrace munity, everyone was working like crazy,” cause he’s the only other person who’s ever “A lot of the early part of this band was “mistakes” and work to unlearn technically she explains. “Maybe not taking the time for been a member of the group, he’s part of the coming out of the improvised-jazz world. We correct ways of doing things. It’s a way of themselves that they needed to take in order family. Cunningham says he sometimes gives were both going to Constellation a lot,” Stew- fi nding the freedom to explore that they ab- to be fully present in any given moment. I his bandmates shit for bickering in rehearsal. art says. “It was just really inspiring to see sorbed from the world of free improvisation. think, whether or not we realized it, we were “When me and Macie get up in our heads instruments played and music played with Right from its first track, “Flood Your tuned into that. We’re defi nitely tuned into too much, he shakes us out of it,” she says. such intention. Being able to just improvise Gut,” Fantasize Your Ghost is daunting. Not that on a personal level, and it makes sense “Matt is really just a source of joy. When we and go—letting sounds be what they are and because it’s ugly or confrontational, but our songs would come out that way.” brought Matt into the band, musically, it exploring textures rather than feeling you because the distortion of pop convention created this kind of centrifuge for us. He’s at have to fi t them into the constraints of what- creates uncertainty and suspense. The song tewart and Cunningham founded the center, at the middle—able to bend out ever arbitrary rules there are.” captures a brooding tone, with an anxious Ohmme in 2014 with the intention with us but also really hold it together back Stewart and Cunningham’s friend Vivian guitar riff and rumbling bass, and Stewart Sof pushing the boundaries of guitar there. He’s always egging us on from behind McConnell, aka singer-songwriter V.V. Light- and Cunningham deliver its angry lyrics in music, which soon evolved into their “un- the drum set.” body, opened for them at their debut show. ll JUNE - CHICAOREADER 27 MUSIC
continued from 27 makeshift studio they’d put together in a barn layer of tension to the album. a nod to our beginnings,” Stewart says. “A lot “They really excite me,” she says. “When I see in Wisconsin, on the farm where Cunningham “Recording in the barn, there were defi- of the early part of this band was coming out them doing stu with the guitar that I haven’t hosts Postock. “I just really encouraged them nitely a lot of room mikes placed around to of the improvised-jazz world. It brings up so seen anybody do or wouldn’t have thought to play as loud as they could,” Cohen says. capture the breadth and feeling of the room,” much raw joy and satisfaction that I think you of—I’m just blown away.” Playing loud wasn’t a problem, but the vocals Cunningham recalls. “There’s actually a silo can feel in the track too. It’s kind of chaos, but The three of them met when McConnell’s needed to match that power. next to the barn, so we put a mike in there and it’s directed chaos.” old band Grandkids shared a bill with Marrow Ohmme drew inspiration from Bulgarian re-amped the whole session through there so Ohmme have had much more time than at Schubas in March 2014. They’ve been going women’s choruses and Abba, particularly for we could play around with that as this enor- they expected this spring to prepare for the to each other’s gigs ever since, and McConnell the keening close harmonies of the loss-of- mous reverb chamber.” release of Fantasize Your Ghost, and for the calls Ohmme her “band besties.” innocence song “Selling Candy.” Their goal Cohen remembers the band having fun with time being, they’re considering the possibili- “I will never, ever forget—people were los- was to just open their mouths and “push out the setting they’d chosen for their sessions. “I ties of what a show should feel and sound like ing their shit when they played ‘Woman,’” she sound.” think everyone was excited to treat it like it when they play it. With Carroll now living in says. “People were screaming. It was insane. In spring 2019 the band had tracked a few was a performance and just play into this big, Denmark with his wife and newborn son (he It’s crazy, because that energy—that happens early demos for Fantasize Your Ghost while open space,” he says. “I usually like to record comes back to tour), they’ve had to work on to this day when they play that song at shows. on the road in upstate New York. Then they where there are less unknown factors, but it live arrangements of the new album’s songs Just them as musicians really struck me—it went in search of a producer. Stewart has wasn’t a problem at all. It was really cool. It without him, isolating his drums tracks still does. And they’re friends of the scene: been a fan of Cohen’s old band Deerhoof for turned out to be a good choice.” and working around those. By the time the they grew up in Chicago and have just been so years, and more recently Cunningham heard Cunningham feels the same way about pandemic suspended touring, they’d played supportive.” some of his solo albums through Twin Peaks choosing Cohen to produce. “Chris Cohen was only three of its singles onstage, opting to A 2017 Noisey piece called Ohmme “the multi-instrumentalist Colin Croom. The defi nitely the right energy to bring onto this keep a lid on the new material for maximum band at the heart of Chicago’s music commu- pair also liked Cohen’s production on Weyes record, at a time where we were both feeling freshness. nity,” and McConnell echoes that sentiment— Blood’s 2016 album Front Row Seat to Earth. very chaotic, feeling the turmoil and wanting Stewart says they’re hoping Ohmme’s dates not only as a fellow musician but also as Ohmme squeezed in those five days of to translate that into the art and also fi nd calm with Waxahatchee, now pushed from April another woman rejuvenating and recasting a tracking between their tours and Cohen’s. in it,” she says. “But you kind of need tension into September and October, don’t have to be male-dominated genre. Stewart played violin Between August 2019 and the end of the year, to make music great sometimes, but you also rescheduled a second time. For now, they’ve arrangements for three songs on the latest they mixed the album in Chicago with Dave really want to fi nd a way to—” put o a headlining tour to support Fantasize V.V. Lightbody album, Make a Shrine or Burn Vettraino at Public House Sound Recordings “You’ve got to take care of yourself,” Stew- Your Ghost till their shows with V.V. Light- It, and Cunningham provided vocals on the and mastered it with Shelly Ste ens at Chi- art fi nishes. body in January 2021, hoping the wait won’t single “Horse on Fire.” cago Mastering Service. The relatively brief “It was kind of a marathon getting to the be even longer. “Sonically, we’re very di erent,” McConnell window the band had available to record recording session, and it was going to be a Whenever it happens, Ohmme are ready. says, “but I also think there are certain things pushed them to focus their explorations. marathon right after the recording session,” Creating the new album has reinforced the we do that place us in our own little nook— Cohen encouraged them to venture into new Cunningham continues. “We knew we had this strength of the bond between Stewart and they’re still songs, but take on a different approaches and techniques, modify their har- huge fall coming up. We were just trying real- Cunningham as well as the purpose of their shape and complexity that’s indicated by what monies, and more. Nothing was o limits. ly hard to create this special bubble of time, band: as Cunningham puts it, “exploring we do with our instruments. They’ve helped “It was very intense. We did a lot of work and Chris was a big part of that—and a big doors of creativity that are only opened up me realize my own inconsistencies, but al- every day,” he says. “I felt like I got where they part of why I think the record carries this kind through our partnership.” ways in a positive way. Women, especially were coming from. They’re into improvised of shimmering beauty to it, in its foundation.” Stewart believes that partnership is still women musicians—singing and working with music, and I liked that they were adventurous. growing stronger. “We both understand each them lifts me up. They’re very encouraging. And obviously, they could sing really well hat August week in Wisconsin fell other—especially after making this record They’ve inspired me to do more with my in- together. under the Sturgeon Moon—an old and touring so much over the last year—fun- strument and vice versa.” “My role was to help them get sounds,” Tname for the full moon that happens damentally better than we ever have before,” McConnell describes the X factor that sets Cohen continues, “to be another opinion, in August, because Indigenous people as- she says. “I think whatever music we make Ohmme apart: “Trust—and having so much make suggestions for overdubs. They had the sociated that time of year with a surge in going forward, or whatever the band is going confi dence and trust that whatever they do is material, and they had worked it out quite numbers of sturgeon in the Great Lakes. The forward, is coming from an even more trust- going to be good,” she says. a bit on their own. I don’t try to get in there word “sturgeon” means “stirrer” in several ing place. and pull everything apart. My job is just kind European languages, and it describes the way “The both of us are very headstrong, very hat dynamic is apparent even to of setting a tone in the room—making people the fi sh searches for sustenance—as well as ‘fi gure out a solution for it,’ and we can both people working with Ohmme for the feel comfortable to try things while keeping Ohmme’s approach to songcraft. They stir up get down on ourselves if we can’t do those Tfirst time. Indie-rock veteran Chris them on track.” the material that’s settled to the bottom, the things necessarily or we feel like we failed Cohen (formerly of Deerhoof, the Curtains, The barn was weathered, with gaps in the foundation, hoping to fi nd something hidden, at something. Us having more compassion and Cryptacize) produced Fantasize Your walls that left it open to the elements—Cohen forgotten, or new. for ourselves and for each other will make it Ghost over five days in August 2019, and he remembers birds living inside, and of course Ohmme named the lone instrumental track fruitful going forward. There’s still so much felt it right away: “They’re special people,” he lots more outside. Their singing, the buzzing on the new album “Sturgeon Moon,” and more out there left to discover, even just be- says. “I always feel that way about the people of insects, and other environmental sounds it’s the fi rst and so far only track of its kind tween the two of us and how we create. That’s I work with, but they have a really special almost act as a thread through Fantasize Your they’ve released—a nightmarish, free-form an exciting prospect.” v touch.” Ghost. The juxtaposition of this pastoral am- fl ood of beautiful noise. “It felt totally right Cohen joined Ohmme and Gehring at a bience with Ohmme’s pissed-o songs adds a to put an improvised track on this record, as @JessiTaylorRO 28 CHICA O READER - JUNE ll BREAKING NEWS... PAID ADVERTISEMENT Men’s Virility Restored in Clinical Trial; 275% More Blood Flow in 5 Minutes A newly improved version of America’s best-selling male performance enhancer gives 70-year-old men the bedroom performance they enjoyed in their 30’s.
America’s best-selling sexual performance enhancer just trials, 5,000 mg is required for satisfying sexual performance. got a lot better. Primal Max Red contains a bigger, 9,000 mg per serving dose. It’s become so popular, he’s having trouble keeping it in stock. It’s the latest breakthrough for nitric oxide – the molecule that makes erections possible by increasing blood ow to your Dr. Sears is the author of more than 500 scienti c papers. penis. Thousands of people listened to him speak at the recent Palm Nitric oxide won the Nobel Prize in 1998. It’s why “the Beach Health & Wellness Festival featuring Dr. Oz. NFL Hall of little blue pill” works. More than 200,000 studies con rm it’s Fame quarterback Joe Namath recently visited his clinic, the the key to superior sexual performance. Sears Institute for Anti-Aging Medicine. And this new discovery increases nitric oxide availability Primal Max Red has only been available for a few months resulting in even quicker, stronger and longer-lasting erections. — but everyone who takes it reports a big difference. “I have the energy to have sex three times in one day, WOW! That has One double-blind, placebo-controlled study (the “gold- not happened in years. Oh, by the way I am 62,” says Jonathan A new discovery that increases nitric oxide availability was standard” of research) involved a group of 70-year-old-men. K. from Birmingham, AL. recently proven in a clinical trial to boost blood fl ow 275% They didn’t exercise. They didn’t eat healthy. And HOW IT WORKS resulting in even quicker, stronger and longer-lasting erections. researchers reported their “nitric oxide availability was almost totally compromised,” resulting in blood ow less than HALF Loss of erection power starts with your blood vessels. Then he used ingredients in Primal Max Red and, “The of a man in peak sexual health. Speci cally, the inside layer called the endothelium where nitric oxide is made. results were off the charts. I rst woke around 3 a.m. on But only ve minutes after the rst dose their blood ow Tuesday with a throbbing boner. My nitric oxide levels increased 275%, back to levels of a perfectly healthy 31-year- The problem is various factors THICKEN your blood measured at the top end of the range.” old man! “It’s amazing,” remarks nitric oxide expert Dr. Al vessels as you age. This blocks availability causing the nitric FREE BONUS TESTOSTERONE BOOSTER Sears. “That’s like giving 70-year-old men the sexual power oxide “glitch.” The result is dif culty in getting and sustaining of 30-year-olds.” a healthy erection. Every order also gets Dr. Sears testosterone boosting formula Primal Max Black for free. WHY SO MUCH EXCITEMENT? How bad is the problem? Researcher shows the typical 40-year-old man absorbs “If you want passionate ‘rip your clothes off’ sex you had in Despite the billions men spend annually on older nitric your younger days, you need nitric oxide to get your erection oxide therapies, there’s one well-known problem with them. 50% less nitric oxide. At 50, that drops to 25%. And once you pass 60 just a measly 15% gets through. going. And testosterone for energy and drive,” says Dr. Sears. They don’t always work. “You get both with Primal Max Red and Primal Max Black.” To make matters worse, nitric oxide levels start declining Dr. Joseph Loscalzo explains why. He’s studied nitric oxide in your 30’s. And by 70, nitric oxide production is down an HOW TO GET PRIMAL MAX for over 43 years. He is the physician-in-chief at Brigham alarming 75%. To secure free bottles of Primal Max Black and get the hot, and Women’s Hospital. He says a “de ciency of bioactive new Primal Max Red formula, buyers should contact the Sears nitric oxide… leads to impaired endothelium-dependent Primal Max Red is the rst formula to tackle both problems. vasorelaxation.” Combining powerful nitric oxide boosters and a proven Health Hotline at 1-800-586-8354 within the next 48 hours. delivery mechanism that defeats the nitric oxide “glitch” “It’s not available in drug stores yet,” says Dr. Sears. “The In plain English, these older products may increase resulting in 275% better blood ow and stronger erections. Hotline allows us to ship directly to the customer.” levels of nitric oxide. But that’s only half the battle. If it’s not There’s not enough space here to fully explain how it works, Dr. Sears feels so strongly about Primal Max, all orders bioactively available then your body can’t absorb it to produce so Dr. Sears will send anyone who orders Primal Max Red a are backed by a 100% money-back guarantee. “Just send me an erection. free special report that explains everything. back the bottle and any unused product within 90 days from Experts simply call it the nitric oxide “glitch.” And until MORE CLINICAL RESULTS purchase date, and I’ll send you all your money back,” he now, there’s never been a solution. says. Nutrients in Primal Max Red have logged impressive NEXT GENERATION NITRIC OXIDE results. The Hotline will be open for the next 48 hours. After that, the phone number will be shut down to allow them to restock. FORMULA FLYING OFF SHELVES In a Journal of Applied Physiology study, one resulted in a Call 1-800-586-8354 to secure your limited supply of Primal Upon further research, America’s No. 1 men’s health 30 times MORE nitric oxide. And these increased levels lasted Max Red and free bottles of Primal Max Black. You don’t need expert Dr. Al Sears discovered certain nutrients x this “glitch” up to 12 hours. a prescription, and those who call in the rst 24 hours qualify resulting in 275% better blood ow. “I measured my nitric oxide levels, you can buy a test kit for a signi cant discount. Use Promo Code NP0620PMAX41 He’s combined those nutrients with proven nitric oxide from Amazon,” reports 48-year-old Jeff O. “Monday night I when you call in. Lines are frequently busy, but all calls will boosters in a new formula called Primal Max Red. In clinical showed depleted.” be answered. THESE STATEMENTS HAVE NOT BEEN EVALUATED BY THE FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION. THIS PRODUCT IS NOT INTENDED TO DIAGNOSE, TREAT, CURE OR PREVENT ANY DISEASE. RESULTS MAY VARY
322977_10_x_9.875.indd 1 6/1/20 4:51 PM ll JUNE - CHICAOREADER 29 Recommended and notable releases and critics’ insights for the week of June 11 MUSIC
PICK OF THE WEEK Interpol side project Muzz bask in unpredictability on their debut album JUNE 12 FRI @ Online Wisecrackin’ (EVENT REPEATS JUNE 20)
SAT JUNE 13 @ Online Sophia Lucia’s Freak Show Cabaret (EVENT REPEATS WEEKLY)
to add your event to TIXREADER COM and see it listed here weekly, please send an email to [email protected]
DRIELY S
DATING APPS GOT YOU DOWN? Muzz, Muzz Matador Try finding someone the muzztheband.bandcamp.com/album/muzz old-school way.
ON THEIR NEW SELF TITLED debut album, Muzz simultaneously chal- allure: cinematic soundscapes give way to exhilarating buildups lenge listeners and envelop them in gentle, sublime atmospheres. The and mercurial, borderline cosmic harmonies. The delicate, elegantly New York-based trio formed out of the long friendship of vocalist and melancholy piano on “Broken Tambourine” makes the light-hearted, guitarist Paul Banks (Interpol), multi-instrumentalist Josh Kaufman jovial “Knuckleduster” the perfect follow-up. The rhythmic dexter- (Bonny Light Horseman), and drummer Matt Barrick (Jonathan ity of “Chubby Checker” gives it an insatiable energy that resonates Fire*Eater). Individually, these artists are known for their musical beyond the track’s less than three-minute length. “Summer Love” is malleability, and their chemistry together is undeniable. Banks is a simple in its longing, and “All Is Dead to Me’’ feels more resilient than master at concocting disarmingly murky anthems tinged with just its title lets on. Though Muzz has no overall theme, it conjures up soft- the right amount of melodrama, and in Muzz he leans into malaise ness, warmth, and a bit of mystery. The band’s biggest asset is their with precision. The album’s opening track, “Bad Feeling,” sets the unpredictability, whether their songs are full of fl owery euphony or SUBMIT YOURS FOR FREE at tone with its immersive rumination and wistful melodies, while “Ev- somber confessions. These veteran musicians have crafted a gleaming ergreen” meanders experimentally but never strays too far from total epistle of sophisticated pop art—Muzz have raised the bar for indie chicagoreader.com/matches sonic ecstasy. Lead single “Red Western Sky” embodies the band’s rock. —C MD
30 CHICA O READER - JUNE ll MUSIC
El Shirota COURTESY THE ARTIST A virtual event streaming live on Facebook and welcoming Midsommarfest favorites
Civic Center, The Ground Below El Shirota, Tiempos Raros 16 Candles, Dancing Queen: An ABBA Salute, American Dreams Devil in the Woods civiccenter.bandcamp.com/album/the-ground- elshirota.bandcamp.com/album/tiempos-raros-2 CATFIGHT and more! below The debut album of Mexico’s El Shirota, Tiempos Local postpunk label Chicago Research quick- Raros (“Weird Times”), resonates mightily as the ly became a locus for bizarre, depraved sounds world convulses from the eff ects of America’s racist after launching in February 2019, in part because violence in the midst of a global pandemic. Found- MORE INFO AT: the people involved are longtime friends as well as ed by lead singer and guitarist Ignacio Gomez in like-minded musicians. Industrial surrealists Civic 2013, the band went through several lineup chang- Center put out one of the label’s first releases (a es before settling on their current configuration andersonville.org/midsommarfest cassette called A Place for the Weak), and all three in 2018: Gomez, guitarist Ruben Anzaldúa, bassist members also have other bands or projects with David Lemus, and drummer Gabriel Mendoza. El music on Chicago Research. Front man Jack Brock- Shirota’s smart postpunk melange, with its inten- DONATE IN ADVANCE: man records mutant coldwave as Understudy; bass- tional rawness and volatile edge, connects the ist Clementine Wink masterminds the psychedelic- dots between Nirvana, Weezer, and the sounds of leaning Hen of the Woods; and synth player Blake Mexico City’s rock scene from the 90s till today. Venmo: @AvilleChamber Karlson, who founded the label, makes experimen- Despite the band’s classic indie influences, their tal solo tracks as Lily the Fields (he’s also fronted sound is unpredictable and fresh; on tunes such as postpunk trio Product KF, though they’re on hia- “El Bob Rosendo” they fracture and fi lter their DIY tus). Karlson says that he and his Civic Center com- aesthetic through the prism of Mexico’s distort- patriots find it easy to write lots of material, and ed, sludgy, slowed-down cumbia and the carefree in their year and a half as a band they’ve released rebellion of its 60s rock scene. The band’s master- four cassettes and one compilation through Chica- ful control of dynamics ensures their songs never go Research. The group’s vinyl debut, The Ground become monotonous: on “Más de Una Vez,” growl- Below, arrives through American Dreams Record- ing, yelling, and overdriven guitars alternate with ings, a local label founded by experimental musi- elegant lyricism, while “La Ciudad” trades off punk cian and Reader contributor Jordan Reyes. (In eruptions and classic-rock grooves, then ends with May he released a cassette of his own on Chicago a cathartic explosion that slides into slinky, psy- Research, Broken Sleep, and he’s also a member of chedelic guitar twang. Over the past few days, I’ve Ono, whose new Red Summer came out via Amer- had the hazy earworm “A Donde Voy” in my head. Thank you to our ican Dreams.) Much of Civic Center’s back cata- When Gomez sings, “No sé si desperté / Oscuro log sounds the way burning plastic smells during amaneció / Pero entendí que ayer no estaba igual Media Sponsor its toxic liquefaction, but The Ground Below dials que a donde voy” (“I don’t know if I woke up / It back their most aggressive inclinations. On “Fly on was dark at dawn / But I understood that yesterday the Wall,” Civic Center gird Brockman’s restrained, is not the same as where I’m going”), it reminds me echoing vocals with minimal percussion and aus- that we’re living in a time of more questions than tere bass, demonstrating how well they can trans- answers. —C M J mute their haunting aff ectations into dance music. —L G ll JUNE - CHICAOREADER 31 Find more music reviews at MUSIC chicagoreader.com/soundboard.
Thomas DaVinci MARYGENTRY
continued from 31 munities, and his teetering flow and deliberately unstable infl ections amplify the painful surreality of Thomas Davinci, Home Grown facing a world that constantly tells you that you’re Self-released disposable. Last month, Mckinney self-released Because of the pandemic, our doors thomasdavinci.bandcamp.com/album/home- two intertwined EPs, Broke and Ugly and No Face grown Mckinney. The former ends with a recording of a woman speaking: “Growing up, my son had a split were forced to close until further Chicago singer, producer, and rapper Thomas personality, which I didn’t believe until later. There DaVinci is a chameleon, able to adapt his supple were so many internal battles that he called himself notice. The livelihoods of our box voice and fl uid fl ow to any instrumental track. On ‘No Face Mckinney.’” Mckinney does justice to his his album Home Grown, which he self-released in pathos-laden songs with needling performances May, he applies his versatility to a broad swath of that demand listeners pay attention to every detail. office workers, security, stagehands, stylish sounds, including a few that wouldn’t quite —L G fit together without him. Granted, he produced all but one of the record’s songs, and it’s hard to techs, and bar servers have been throw yourself a curveball, but he creates a confi - Yannis Kyriakides & Andy Moor, dent through-line connecting the white-knuckle Pavilion directly affected by this decision. boom-bap percussion and plastic neosoul synths Unsound of “Destinfi nity,” the melancholy harplike notes of unsounds.bandcamp.com/album/pavilion “Toxic,” and the summery, nostalgic melody and minimal 808 beats of “Just Another Day.” Though a Cypriot composer and electronic musician Yannis We want them to know how much few of the songs sag, DaVinci’s performances never Kyriakides uses polyphonic vocal arrangements, feel like fi ller—he delivers tough-as-nails raps with string sections, glitchy beats, and found-sound col- expert precision and croons with a nuanced sen- lages to articulate wordless experiences and evoke we appreciate their hard work suality that’ll help you stop pining for a new Frank things lost or removed. English electric guitarist Ocean album. —L G Andy Moor is best known for playing with the Ex, a band that has never abandoned the principles or and help support them ferocity of its punk roots, but whose music can’t be Daweirdo, Broke and Ugly and No contained within any known genre. He also works in during this trying time. Face Mckinney free-form settings, not just with Kyriakides but also Self-released with the likes of Ken Vandermark and John Butcher. soundcloud.com/young-hoodchiano As a duo, Kyriakides and Moor have o en used bro- ken shards of Portuguese and Greek folk songs as Englewood MC Darrel Mckinney makes music as starting points for freewheeling improvisations, but DaWeirdo, which is a pretty obvious clue that his on Pavilion, they’ve edited their extemporaneous PLEASE DONATE: approach is unusual. He warps his raps with ani- playing into a set of compositions. In 2017, as part mated squeaks that leap out of his mouth a cou- of the 57th Venice Art Biennale, they took up resi- ple times per line; at his wildest, he sounds like a dence in the Studio Venezia, an oddly shaped envi- jamusa.com/helpourstaff bristling cat clinging desperately to a shoddy roller ronment in the French pavilion that contained fan- coaster. Mckinney’s vocal aff ectations can be unset- ciful sculptures of instruments and some high-end tling, but that’s the point: he raps about systemic studio gear. They played for three days while art racism and disinvestment in Chicago’s Black com- patrons came and went, and ultimately compiled 32 CHICA O READER - JUNE ll MUSIC
Mike Kinsella of Owen COURTESY POLYVINYL RECORDS
nine hours of recordings—which they cut down to and Dead,” which is also the album’s most musically BIT.LY/GOOSEDELIVERS this album-length collection. The music they pro- emotive song, with cascading guitars and a beauti- duced is much more jagged than the clean lines ful glockenspiel sequence over descending bowed of the room in which they made it, but it nonethe- cello. As the track slowly climaxes, Kinsella sings, less feels like it was sculpted to emphasize textures “How can you live without me? / Who’ll pour your and shapes, instead of the melodies that defi ne the drinks? / Who’ll make your heart beat?” It’s o en duo’s other work. —B M said that pain makes for great art, and The Ava- lanche is the latest proof. —S M
Owen, The Avalanche Polyvinyl swEet Whirl, HOw Much WOrks owenmusic.bandcamp.com/album/the-avalanche Chapter sweetwhirl.bandcamp.com/album/how-much- Few indie-rock artists are more prolifi c than singer- works songwriter Mike Kinsella, who’s been playing in Illinois bands since the late 80s, including Cap’n With all the unrest and pain in the U.S. right now, Jazz, Joan of Arc, and American Football. The lat- it can feel strange or wrong to listen to an album ter band reunited in 2014 following a 14-year break of calm, airy songs that recall sunnier days, even and subsequently released two acclaimed albums, if those days were sometimes bittersweet. But in 2016’s American Football (or LP2) and last year’s a way it’s just like massaging an extremely tense American Football (LP3). Now the singer and muscle: if you can keep leaning into the bad feel- multi-instrumentalist is set to release The Ava- ing, you’ll be rewarded with some relief. In that lanche (Polyvinyl), the tenth studio album from his respect, How Much Works, the new album by vet- solo project, Owen. Produced by Bon Iver drummer eran Melbourne singer-songwriter Ester Edquist, MONEY + and fellow musical Swiss army knife Sean Carey aka Sweet Whirl, feels a bit like a balm—despite the (who recorded Owen’s ninth LP, The King of Whys), melancholy mixed into its warm, easygoing songs. the nine-song album is typical Kinsella: full of beau- Edquist plays the bulk of the instruments on the tiful, intricate melodies, lush arrangements, and album herself (Casey Hartnett contributes guitar POWER naked lyrics. Whatever the project, Kinsella pours and Therevox synth, while Monty Hartnett adds his life into his writing, and The Avalanche is no drums), and she creates a variety of moods that exception. His lyrics on last year’s American Foot- recalls classic songwriters such as Carole King and ball LP were metaphorical and opaque, with allu- Joni Mitchell, albeit with a minimalist fl avor indebt- sions to heartbreak, self-medication, and a broken ed to contemporary bedroom recordings and low- father-son relationship. By contrast, The Avalanche key shows in DIY spaces. The twists and turns can is straightforward about his personal issues, and be delightful: opening track “Sweetness” combines frankly addresses the end of his marriage. Over the 70s FM quirkiness with a sleek, jazzy melody, and folksy acoustic melody, hushed brush strokes, and the following song, “Weirdo,” captures a country- pedal steel of “Dead for Days,” Kinsella sings, “Now tinged vibe just as convincingly. The album’s most I’ve got friends that don’t know me / A wife that’s poignant track might be the wistful, atmospheric disowned me / You in concept only to miss / And “Something I Do,” where Edquist sings about lov- I’ve been sober for over two weeks.” Accompanied ing someone but not being willing to relinquish her by the light alt-country vibe of “The Contours,” he autonomy for a conventional relationship; some- confesses, “I’m in therapy / She’s in therapy / Turns times it’s necessary to break our own hearts in out all the answers are just questions / For next order to fulfi ll our dreams. —J L v Visit ChiUL.org/moneyandpower week’s sessions.” But perhaps most cutting is “Mom ll JUNE - CHICAOREADER 33 MUSIC
COURTESY THE ARTIST
they’re the best that they can be.
What’s one of your favorite Chicago music moments?
There was a party that we threw at Sauer’s called Izod Fest. I want to say [the fi rst one] was ’79 or ’80. Our peer group had come to distinguish itself by the straight-leg Levi’s, K-Swiss, and Izod movement that took over middle class Black America in the early 80s. And we faced a dilemma of less-than-desirable fac- tions busting up our parties with fi ghting and other disruption. We banded together and said, “How can we keep these bad kids out of our parties?” We decided that our desired customer was this kid from Hyde Park who wore Izod. So we said, “Let’s throw a party that requires you wear that for admission. Or at least require that you wear that to get a discount.” And we had Farley (Farley “Funkin” Keith was his name at the time), Jesse Saunders, and a bunch of other DJs. Our party would go to three or four in the morning, and it was a #CHIMUSIC35 the early history of Trax Records, he shares pretty awesome time. credit with high school friend Jesse Saun- ders for what’s widely considered the first You guys were young, right? Late teens, Vince Lawrence’s greatest house-music release, the 1984 classic “On and early 20s? On.” Lawrence’s vast music-business resumé also includes cowriting the 1986 Farley “Jack- Seventeen-year-old kids, renting restaurants moment in Chicago music master” Funk hit “Love Can’t Turn Around,” [a er hours]! We would take all of the tables the fi rst house record to chart in the UK. and move them to one side of the room. This interview was conducted by Ayana Then we would bring in the sound system, history Contreras, who’s a DJ, a host and producer at put some police lights on top of that, and WBEZ radio, and a columnist for DownBeat have DJs. The house-music pioneer remembers the huge scene-defi ning parties he magazine. We’d pass out flyers all over town . . . in helped throw as a teenager. front of schools that we didn’t go to. We Ayana Contreras: Why do you think Chica- thought that we would get maybe a 5 per- By V L A C go has this history of creating artists that cent return on flyers. So we’d print 10,000 resonate worldwide? fl yers and hope we get a thousand kids. And we would. Vince Lawrence: I think that Chicago being divested from the mainstream record busi- That’s powerful, especially for folks so ot only is 2020 the Year of Chicago a ra e to benefi t the A&BC’s work supporting ness has created a different standard of young. Music, it’s also the 35th year for the creative communities struggling with the excellence for artists that are requesting Nnonprofit Arts & Business Council of impact of COVID-19 in the city’s disinvested support. The record business will sign ten It was a great time to be a young Black per- Chicago (A&BC), which provides business ex- neighborhoods. acts, knowing that one of them will cover the son trying to do something, because you pertise and training to creatives and their or- Another part of the campaign is this cost of all. But with a typical investor in Chi- could. And it seems that all of us that were ganizations citywide. To celebrate, the A&BC Reader collaboration: a series spotlighting cago, rather than try nine shots at the apple, involved in that are, in one aspect or anoth- has launched the #ChiMusic35 campaign at important figures in Chicago music serving they just want to get one that works. er, self-employed businesspeople to this ChiMusic35.com, which includes a public as #ChiMusic35 ambassadors. This week, And because of that, the bar for excel- day. v poll to determine the consensus 35 greatest we hear from businessman, producer, and lence is just astounding. Chicagoans are moments in Chicago music history as well as promoter Vince Lawrence. A key figure in hardened, groomed, and polished until @vingoslang 34 CHICA O READER - JUNE ll CHICAGO SHOWS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT IN THE WEEKS TO COME
b ALL AGES F EARLY WARNINGS WOLF BY KEITH HERZIK Julie Slick 10/16-10/17, 9 PM, Never miss Martyrs’ a show again. Stay-At-Home Concert Series featuring Paul Cebar 6/13, Sign up for the 2 and 4 PM, live concerts newsletter at on the street in Forest Park chicagoreader. GOSSIP (2 PM) and somewhere in Riverside (4 PM), livestream com/early at facebook.com/fi tzger- WOLF aldsnightclub b Wednesday 13, Haxans, Dead 8/21 sold out b A furry ear to the ground of Girls Academy 9/25, 7 PM, The Pack A.D. 11/22, 9:15 PM, Reggies’ Rock Club, 17+ Empty Bottle, rescheduled the local music scene Jontavious Willis 1/28/21, 8 PM, Pottery 7/28, 9:15 PM, Empty SPACE, Evanston b Bottle, canceled WYATT WADDELL dropped the remark- Without U2, Dead Letter Purity Ring 5/3/21, 7:30 PM, Offi ce 9/25, 8 PM, Martyrs’ Riviera Theatre, rescheduled; able new single “Fight!” on Wednes- tickets purchased for the orig- day, June 3, and it vibrates with the grief, inal date will be honored b rage, and revolutionary purpose that mil- UPDATED Tom Ryan, Dan Holohan Band lions of Americans have been demon- 6/26, 8 PM, Szold Hall, Old NOTE: many concerts have Town School of Folk Music, strating since the killing of George Floyd. been canceled, rescheduled, postponed until a date to be “This song is me looking at what’s happen- or postponed in light of ongo- determined b ing and what I’d tell the people protest- ing concerns about COVID- Skatalites, DJ Chuck Wren ing,” says the local singer- songwriter and Lynne Jordan & the Shivers COURTESY THE ARTIST 19. We suggest that you con- 6/21, 8 PM, SPACE, Evanston, tact the point of purchase if postponed until a date to be multi- instrumentalist. Waddell recorded you need information about determined b the track—with its pumping funk instru- NEW Food Depository. Donation presents Blues Music night ticket exchanges or refunds. Southern Hospitality 6/19, mentation and a roof-raising choir of his required for livestream access one featuring Mike Wheel- 8 PM, SPACE, Evanston, multitracked vocals—alone in a single day. Andersonville at Home featur- b er, Guy King 7/31, 6 PM, Amaranthe, Battle Beast, postponed until a date to be ing Mel Senese, Molehill, Oh The First Time live lit and livestream at youtube.com/ Seven Spires 9/1, 7 PM, Con- determined b “I hope that it can be an anthem for my Yeahs, Lynne Jordan & the music series with the First ChicagoDCASE cord Music Hall, canceled Spanish Love Songs, Future people,” he adds. “Fight!” is a pay-what- Shivers, and more 6/12, 6 PM, Time Four 8/12, 8 PM, Millennium Park at Home Backstreet Boys 7/31/21, Teens, Dollar Signs 7/25, you-want Bandcamp download, and he’s livestream at facebook.com/ Martyrs’ presents Blues Music night 7:30 PM, Hollywood Casino 7 PM, Cobra Lounge, can- pledged to pass all donations along to the andersonville F b FitzGerald’s presents Live two featuring Melody Angel, Amphitheatre, Tinley Park, celed Jimmy Buff ett 6/20, 7 PM, From Where They Live John Primer 8/1, 6 PM, rescheduled; tickets pur- Lennon Stella, Kevin Garrett Chicago Community Bond Fund, Black livestream at margaritaville. featuring Royston Langdon livestream at youtube.com/ chased for the original date 7/11, 7 PM, House of Blues, Lives Matter Chicago, and the Great- tv/live b & Jill Hopkins 6/17, 11 AM, ChicagoDCASE will be honored b postponed until a date to be er Chicago Food Depository. He’ll also Corey Dennison Band, Michael livestream at facebook.com/ Millennium Park at Home Cannonball 6/26, 9 PM, Fitz- determined b stream a set as part of the fi rst virtual Do Wheeler Band 7/1, 7:30 PM, fi tzgeraldsnightclub presents Blues Music night Gerald’s, Berwyn, canceled Thao & the Get Down Stay Kingston Mines Flipturn 6/17, 6 PM, livestream three featuring Ivy Ford, Roger Clyne & the Peacemak- Down 7/16, 8:30 PM, Thalia Division Street Fest on Friday, June 26. Diamondback 7/17, 9:30 PM, at instagram.com/martinguitar Toronzo Cannon & the ers 6/28, 8 PM, Lincoln Hall, Hall, postponed until a date to Chicago rapper Femdot launched the Carol’s Pub F Chicago Way 8/2, 6 PM, canceled be determined, 17+ nonprofi t Delacreme Scholars in 2018 to Djent Fest featuring Tanzen, David Ryan Harris 8/5, livestream at youtube.com/ Rose Cousins 6/3/21, 7:30 PM, Three Bad Jacks, Bama Lamas help Black and Brown college students; Frequencies, Psithurism, 6 PM, Uncommon Ground on ChicagoDCASE SPACE, Evanston, resched- 6/27, 7 PM, Reggies’ Music Immortalis, Speaking With Devon b Moonlight Pickers 7/11, uled b Joint, postponed until a date this past semester, it gave six Illinois and Ghosts, Dead/Awake, Hive Eric Holljes 6/19, 7 PM, lives- 10:30 PM, Carol’s Pub Fetty Wap, Emilie Brooklyn to be determined Indiana students scholarships and clothes . 8/15/21, 6 PM, Beat Kitchen, tream at instagram.com/ Music Friendly Distancing 7/18, 7 PM, House of Blues, Toastamania X featuring Last week, after CPS briefly suspend- 17+ martinguitar F Fridays starting on 6/19, 5 PM, canceled Ghoul, Nunslaughter, Cross ed its food-delivery program, Delacreme Do Division Virtual Street Fest The Interview Show hosted livestream at emptybottle. John Fullbright Band 6/22, Examination, Sanguisuga- night one featuring Ohmme, by Mark Bazer featuring com/music-friendly-distancing 8:30 PM, FitzGerald’s, Ber- bogg, Texas Toast Chainsaw Scholars began food-distribution eff orts Fran, We Were Promised music and more 6/16, 7 PM, Old Man Saxon, Rich Jones, wyn, canceled Massacre, Coffi n Rot, Mold- serving the west and south sides. Those Jetpacks (solo), Wyatt Wad- livestream at hideoutchicago. Haviah Mighty, Doso 10/8, Hip Abduction 8/22, 8:30 PM, er, Toxic Ruin, Slutbomb, and in need can e-mail delacremescholars@ dell 6/26, 5:15 PM, livestream online 8 PM, Reggies’ Rock Club, 17+ Martyrs’, canceled more 6/12/21, 4 PM, Reggies’ gmail.com; you can use that address to at westtownchamber.org/ Boney James, Average White Parkway Drive, Hatebreed, Hombres G 7/16, 8 PM, House Rock Club, rescheduled, 17+ virtual-events F b Band 7/24, 8 PM, the Venue at Knocked Loose, Fit For a of Blues, postponed until a Dan Tyminski 6/19, 8 PM, Maur- donate via Zelle or QuickPay (or use Do Division Virtual Street Fest Horseshoe Casino, Hammond King 8/29, 6:45 PM, Wintrust date to be determined, 17+ er Hall, Old Town School of $delacremescholars on Cash App). night two featuring Pedro Jungle Rot, Convalescence, Arena b Janet Jackson 7/27, 8 PM, Unit- Folk Music, postponed until a On Friday, Chicago polymath Nnamdï the Lion (solo), Ratboys, Armored Assault, Bloodlet- Prison Music Project presents ed Center, postponed until a date to be determined b self-released the EP Black Plight through Sen Morimoto, Heligoats ter, Extraction Point, Vile Long Time Gone album date to be determined b Kurt Vile, Cate Le Bon 9/8-9/9, 6/27, 5:15 PM, livestream at Secretion 7/23, 6:30 PM, the release featuring Ani Stacey Kent 6/18, 7 and 9:30 8:30 PM, Thalia Hall, canceled Bandcamp. Snaggletoothed guitars, ram- westtownchamber.org/virtu- Forge, Joliet b DiFranco, Zoe Boekbinder, PM, SPACE, Evanston, Hayley Williams, Arlo Parks bunctious bass, and athletic drumming al-events F b Live From New York featuring Terence Higgins, Spoon postponed until a date to be 6/26, 8 PM, House of Blues, tangle in its freewheeling protest songs— Alan Doyle, Chris Trapper Edie Carey, Andrew Kerr, Jackson, Samual Brown, Free determined b postponed until a date to be the seesawing “Rage” conveys the anger 4/30/21, 8 PM, City Winery b Teddy Goldstein, Anne Hea- Feral, Launa Reed 6/12, 8 PM, Liquid Stranger 7/23-7/24, determined b Hamid Drake & Michael Zer- ton 5/5/21, 7:30 PM, SPACE, livestream at livexlive.com/ 9 PM, Concord Music Hall, and anxiety he feels seeing police kill peo- ang 6/20, 4 PM, livestream Evanston b live-events postponed until a date to be ple who look like him. Black Plight sold at elasticarts.org/streaming Lone Wolf Band 7/4, 9:30 PM, R&B Spring Fest featuring determined, 18+ UPCOMING so well on “Bandcamp day” that Nnam- F b Carol’s Pub Brian McKnight, Tevin Camp- Alanis Morissette, Garbage, dï made more than $10,000; he’s giving Every Shiny Thing: a Tribute Los Chicos Del 512 8/14, 8 PM, bell, El DeBarge, Res 4/24/21, Liz Phair 9/11/21, 7 PM, Holly- Batu 10/2, 10 PM, Smart Bar to Joni Mitchell 1/24/21, 7 PM, Genesee Theatre, Waukegan 8 PM, Wintrust Arena b wood Casino Amphitheatre, Azizi Gibson 12/13, 7 PM, Sub- $4,000 to Assata’s Daughters and to EAT Maurer Hall, Old Town School b Royal Albert Home presents Tinley Park, rescheduled; tick- terranean b Chicago and directing the rest to Chica- of Folk Music b Lyric Opera of Chicago 6/20, Cadillac Three, Michael Ray, ets purchased for the original King Gizzard & the Lizard goans who need help with food or hous- Feed Chicago Virtual Summer noon, recorded performance Tenille Townes, Twinnie 7/18, date will be honored b Wizard 10/29, 7 PM, Radius ing. —J R NLG Fest featuring Omar Sanchez of Verdi’s Rigoletto from the 1:30 PM, livestream at royalal- Mystic Braves, David Turel Chicago, 17+ Omi, Twin Peaks, Dennis opera’s 2017-2018 season, berthall.com 8/7, 10 PM, Empty Bottle, Gregory Porter, Ledisi 2/17/21, DeYoung, and more 6/18, broadcast on.wfmt.com/listen Shallou 6/17/21, 8 PM, House canceled 7 PM, Chicago Theatre b Got a tip? Tweet @Gossip_Wolf or e-mail 7 PM, livestream event to and WFMT 98.7 FM of Blues Sinead O’Connor 8/18-8/19, 8 Squarepusher 12/3, 9 PM, [email protected]. benefi t the Greater Chicago Millennium Park at Home Start Making Sense with PM; 8/21, 8 PM, City Winery, Metro, 18+ v ll JUNE - CHICAOREADER 35 the cannabis platform a Reader resource for the canna curious OPINION
Thursdays on SAVAGE LOVE CannabisOn lurking and sex buddies during a pandemic Chicago’s friendliest ConversationsAnswers to quickies in quarantine cannabis shop chicagoreader.com/joravsky By D S
Cannabis : Is it a red fl ag or sign ideally someone who isn’t penis questions. My wife Conversations of deeper attachment or interacting with too many wants to circumcise our son commitment issues if your other people. If you can fi nd because she says that if he’s chicagoreader.com/ long-term partner never tells someone you trust—and if uncircumcised he’ll get made nuMed.com | 1308 W. North Ave joravsky you he loves you? you are someone who can be fun of in the locker room. trusted—you could go Dutch. Does this happen? How o en A: I’ve heard people describe do boys look at each other’s relationships that were : My fi ancé has an dicks growing up? three months old as “LTRs.” ex-girlfriend who just can’t Your partners in health and wellness. Assuming you’re not one let it go. He’s blocked her A: The circumcision rate Find out today if medical cannabis or infusion therapy is of those people—assuming on social media but his among newborn boys has right for you. Telemed available! you’ve been with this guy for mother still follows his been falling for decades Serving medical cannabis patients since 2015. www.neuromedici.com 312-772-2313 more than a year—and you’ve ex and is friends with her and now only a little more already said “I love you” to and they interact at least than half of all boys are him and he hasn’t said it back, monthly. Likes, comments, circumcised at birth. So even well, that’s a bad sign. But I etc. Can I address the issue if boys were comparing their wouldn’t describe it as a red with his mom or is that just dicks in locker rooms—and fl ag. Early warning signs for somewhere you don’t go? they’re not—your son won’t physical or emotional abuse be alone. And for the record: are red fl ags; not hearing A: Why are you monitoring the American Academy “I love you” from someone your fi ancé’s ex-girlfriend’s of Pediatrics doesn’t you’d like to hear that from social media? I mean, if recommend the procedure does suck, I know (because you weren’t lurking on her and the supposed health I’ve been there), but it’s not Instagram, you wouldn’t know benefi ts—a lower risk for a sign that you’re in danger, your future MIL is liking and urinary tract infections and a girl. It’s also not proof your commenting on her photos. lower risk for some sexually partner has attachment or Your fi ancé’s mom is an adult transmitted infections— commitment issues; he just and she can follow anyone aren’t a convincing argument might not be interested in she likes on Instagram. And in favor of the routine attaching or committing to if you don’t want her to think circumcision of male infants.
The Reader 420 you. But whatever the case you’re the toxic one, you And while the complication Companion is fi lled with might be, if you’re unhappy won’t address this with her. rate is low (1.5 percent), those great recipes, activities and coloring pages. being with someone who Be the change you wanna see complications can range from GET INVOLVED! can’t bring himself to say “I in your fi ancé’s ex: let it go. easily treatable infections to Your purchase supports the Reader. 15% of the proceeds will be love you” then you shouldn’t “amputation of the glans,” donated to the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless. be with that person. : I’ve always wanted to “necrosis of the penis,” and chicagoreader.com/420book know more about your “death.” Risking your son’s : Is there a safe way to history with circumcision. life and most important limb date/be slutty now? Will to spare him a moment’s An Essential Calm. there ever be again? I’m poly A: My history with awkwardness in a locker Day or Night. but live alone so I haven’t circumcision isn’t that room seems unreasonable to had sex in 12 weeks. HELP! interesting: I was present me—particularly since your at one circumcision (my son can’t consent. A: While health offi cials in own), I’ve never performed Whole-plant hemp most places are urging all to a circumcision (that I recall), : My partner wants me formulations for peace only have sex with people and I’ve encountered (F) to peg him! Hooray! of mind and body. we live with—mom and both circumcised and Any advice? He is very hot! dad excepted—over in the uncircumcised dicks in the Thanks! You rock! Netherlands health offi cials wild (enjoyed them all). are advising single and horny A: He should douche! Plenty Dutch people to fi nd “sex : My wife and I are lesbians of lube! Take it slow! Film it mineralhealth.co buddies.” One sex buddy who just found out we’re for HUMP! per person, someone you having a baby boy! We’re To advertise, call 312-392-2934 or email [email protected] advertise, call 312-392-2934 To can meet up with for sex, super excited but had some : I’m a bisexual male in 36 CHICA O READER - JUNE ll Chicago's Free Weekly Since 1971 OPINION
California. When is the and C while B is out there during sex, of course, so long right time to tell someone I fucking C won’t protect you as toys aren’t going from just started dating that I’m and A from whatever B might assholes to vaginas between bisexual? And how? bring home from C. cleanings. You also shouldn’t put a dildo in your spouse A: Mention your bisexuality : Gay Black male from and then turn and stick it in on dating apps—which is NYC here. Two months ago your very special guest star. where most couples meet I lost my partner of 17 years But if you obey those simple these days—and you won’t to COVID-19. I have a pretty rules—clean toys, no ass-to- have to tell someone you’re strong support system but vag, no used toys in thirds bisexual a er you’ve started it’s really hitting me hard or toys used by thirds in dating them. If you meet right now because my primaries—it’s safe to share someone the old-fashioned partner was very politically your toys. way (school, work, through active and supportive of friends), tell ’em right away. the struggles of Black and : I’m a 25-year-old lesbian It’s nothing you should be Brown people. I’ve been in trans woman in Chicago. I ashamed of or have to roll therapy but any suggestions had a long video chat two out carefully. And being with or resources for how to deal weeks ago with a woman someone who can’t embrace with such a loss in the midst I met at the Chicago Age and celebrate your sexuality of all this chaos? Players Convention—think is bad for your mental health; International Mr. Leather the more out you are about A: I’m so sorry for your but for Adult Babies/Diaper chicagoreader.com/donate being bi, the lower your odds loss—and I apologize for Lovers—and we really hit it of winding up with someone not spotting your question off . It felt like we were about who has a problem with it. It during the show. I’m glad you to pull a U-Haul despite We Couldn't Be Free Without You— ups your odds of winding up have a strong support system being in quarantine. We even Support Community Journalism with someone who fetishizes and that you’re working discussed a visit. But since your bisexuality, of course, with a therapist. If you need then I haven’t heard from but if you had to choose more support, your therapist her. I’ve tried texting and between a partner who should be able to refer you calling. My question is what disapproves (and polices) to an online grief support should I do? How can we and a partner who drools group. And I’ll just add . . . reconnect? (and wants to watch), you’re grief isn’t something we “deal gonna be way better off with with” and then we’re done. A: You can’t reconnect the droolers. It’s something we carry with if she isn’t interested in us. And in my experience reconnecting. I know that : Cis poly woman here. time doesn’t lighten the load. sucks, but you’ve already My quarantine sexpod Still, the longer we walk with done everything you can— contains me and my two it, the stronger we get, and you texted, you called. She male partners. We’ll call the lighter it feels. My heart knows you’re still interested them A and B. My partner B goes out to you. and you have to accept that has another female partner you’ll hear only if she wants (242-8669) that we’ll call C. Since we’re : Longtime listener and to reconnect. Hopefully already “connected” anyway, magnum subscriber! We will nothing’s wrong and she’s 726-8437(726-8437) LD Rates Apply 18+ would it change anything for keep this short: We are in a safe. I don’t think ghosting is Find hundreds me to have a threesome with happy monogamish marriage ever nice but a lot of people of Reader-recommended B and C? and have heard one is not are struggling right now and at supposed to share toys some people who wouldn’t restaurants A: If B is fucking C and then under any circumstances. normally ghost are ghosting. chicagoreader.com/food. 242-8669 coming home and fucking What are your thoughts on If she off ers you an apology you and then you’re running this? when she reaches out to you down the hall to A, then again—if she reaches out to C is essentially already in A: One shouldn’t share a you again—don’t hold the your sexpod. The bigger toy one hasn’t cleaned—and ghosting against her. If you your sexpod, the more one should make sure one’s never hear from her again, people you’re in contact toys aren’t made of porous well, then she wasn’t who you with, the greater your risk of materials that are hard or hoped she was. v contracting and/or spreading impossible to clean. But if COVID-19. Ideally C would one has, say, a silicone toy Send letters to mail@ move in with you and A and that can be run through a savagelove.net. Download B if you’re all going to be dishwasher, well, one can the Savage Lovecast at fucking each other. But not share that toy. A fl uid-bonded savagelovecast.com. having a threesome with B couple can safely share toys @fakedansavage ll JUNE - CHICAOREADER 37 maintenance & Linux, Weblogic, Wildfly, skills gained thro exp or terminations, access signif stmnts & assist w/ processes, and delivery JOBS education regarding design patterns, CI/ crsewrk/certifin:- Object requests, approvals, preserv & conserv plans; management for the GENERAL assistive technology. CD, Maven, Node, Gulp, Oriented programming attestations/certifi cations, & Complet of Ind Laser development and support Conduct presentations NPM, Jenkins, Nexus, C++; -Agile sft dev beanshell scripting), Safety Trng. Freq dom trvl of Hyatt.com, mobile The University of Illinois at & demonstrations to Docker, Agile (Scrum, framework scrum; -Proj PAM (BeyondTrust reqd. Apply to HR, 900 S. apps, and new apps Urbana-Champaign seeks educate individuals with SAFe), Jira, UML, BPMN, Mngt Tools (specif Trello PPM, CyberArk), Active Des Plaines Ave, Forest created in an internal a Management Engineer disabilities on topics Oracle, Junit, SVN, & Git); -Prod Mngt, Prod Directory, LDAP, JAVA, Park, IL 60130 startup environment BS & in the Utilities and Energy such as maintenance CVS, RSA encryption/ Owner Training or Sft Prod Python, REST Web 5 yrs or MS &3 yrs. For full Services Division of of assistive technology decryption, public- Mngt Cert; - SAFe Prod services, PowerShell, (Rosemont, IL) Metal req’s and to apply: Submit University Facilities and equipment, access private key, HTTPS, SSL, Owner or Prod Mangr beanshell, C#; cloud One America, Inc. seeks cover letter and resume Services in Champaign, methods, assistive TLS, AbInitio, Grafana, Cert or similar. **Will environments (IaaS, Steel Trade Purchasing to: Hyatt Corporation, Illinois. Duties: Provide technology funding Google Analytics, accept suitable combo of PaaS, SaaS), Azure Specialist w/ Bach or Attn: Jin Ivacic 150 N engineering management policies, costs, & options Spotfire, Splunk, IntelliJ edu, training, & exp. ***Intl AD integrations, for deg equiv in Bus, Riverside Plaza, Floor for the safe, reliable and of assistive technology Idea, DbVisualizer. 20% & dom travel req 5-10%. microservices Econ or rltd fld & 3 yrs 14, Chicago, IL 60606 cost-efficient operation that are available to telecommuting permitted. Send resumes careers@ architectures, Agile. exp in position off ered or Job Reference Number: of the utility production maximize independence. Send resume to: R. wi-tronix.Com, Attn: M. Willing to be on call in intl commod trad incl CHI010501 and distribution systems. Assess the abilities of Harvey, REF: RB, 555 Oster-Polen, Wi-Tronix, 24x7 rotation. 100% exp in trade negot for Major duties and these individuals in their W Adams, Chicago, IL LLC, 631 E Boughton Rd, telecommuting permitted. commod; selling & purch responsibilities include: home, school, or work 60661 Suite 240, Bolingbrook, Send resume to: R. commod in intl mrkts; MARKETPLACE perform consistently environment to determine IL, 60440. No calls. Harvey, REF: SB, 555 coord commod mater ADULT SERVICES with the vision, mission, the most appropriate Zurich (Chicago, IL) W Adams, Chicago, IL flows from intl suppliers; values, and guiding equipment options to seeks Manager Field Business Analyst 60661 know of incoterms; principles established overcome barriers to Operations (Risk Encore Consulting commod mrkt & stat Danielle’s Lip Service, by facilities & services; their independence goals, Engineering) to manage Services, Inc. IL-based TransUnion, LLC seeks anal; & commod mrkt res. Erotic Phone Chat. 24/7. supervise personnel specifi cally with computer a team of professional IT Solutions company, Vice Presidents-Market Apply to S. Wilson, 6250 Must be 21+. Credit/ including crafts and access technology. Risk Engineers/ has multiple openings Strategy for Chicago, N. River Road, Ste 2055, Debit Cards Accepted. trades, establishing work Evaluate for the most Consultants in provision for Business Analyst (for IL location to manage Rosemont, IL 60018 All Fetishes and Fantasies priorities, recommending appropriate combination of risk assessment & risk locations nationwide): team to create & execute Are Welcomed. Personal, budget priorities, and of assistive technology. improvement services for Recommend, plan, and strategic plan, identify TransUnion, LLC Private and Discrete. adherence to established Maintain knowledge of customers & business execute integrated system & dev growth initiatives seeks Consultants for 773-935-4995 budget. Supervision computers, adaptive partners. Must be willing solutions for complex validated through market Chicago, IL location to duties include supervising hardware and software, to travel w/in the U.S., projects. Responsibilities intelligence. MBA+2yrs develop & evaluate credit LEGAL NOTICE electrician shop 25 tablets, smartphones, including headquarters in include: Be engaged exp OR BBA+ 5yrs exp risk management analytic foreman. Develop and applications Schaumburg, IL, & work in all stages of the req’d. Skills Req’d: solutions. Master’s in and maintain effective for individuals with extended hours during software development life design & conduct market Operations Research/ This letter is to notify that working relationships with disabilities. Develop peak periods. Option to cycle (SDLC) to ensure research, incl primary Industrial & Systems Eng./ on June 25, 2020 at 9:30 university, campus, and custom devices or design work remotely. Apply at compliance to Project research on products related Quantitative field a.m. an auction will be departmental officials/ modifications to existing Zurichna.com/en/careers, Specifi cations. Req: U.S. & companies identify + 2yrs exp. or Bachelor’s held at 83rd & Halsted staff to promote the equipment, obtain prior Job ID: 20000397 Master’s dgr in C.Sci, market opportunities; in Operations Research/ Self Storage, Inc., located success of established approval from appropriate CIS, IT or rltd +2 yrs exp. dev strategy projects, Industrial & Systems at 8316 S. Birkhoff Ave, funding agencies, provide Loyola University Mail resume to Encore Eng./related Quantitative Chicago, IL 60620, to sell CLASSIFIEDS university and facilities dev & apply quantitative and services objectives any necessary follow-up Chicago is seeking a Consulting Services, methodologies to dev field + 5yrs exp. req’d. the following articles held and goals; other related services. Regular travel Professor of Philosophy Inc., Attn HR, 1701 E market sizing, customer Req’d skills: statistical within said storage units duties or projects to client home, school, & in Chicago, IL to Teach Woodfi eld Road, STE 910, segmentation; dev & modeling & data analysis to enforce a lien existing as assigned by the work locations required. seminars for grad Schaumburg, IL 60173. present compelling in financial services, under the laws of the director of Utilities and Travel to conferences & students in Ph.D. Travel and relocation client-facing strategy R, SAS, SQL, Hive, state of Illinois. Energy Services. Full- professional development Program. Plse send possible to various concepts in an easy Python, C, C++, VBA, 303 Emma Brown time. Requirements: opportunities may also resume to Mwaymac@luc. unanticipated client to understand way, HUE, feature eng., data JOBS Bachelor’s degree in be required. Requires edu & ref job 052866. locations throughout the incl building storylines visualization; performing This letter is to notify that Mechanical Engineering, a bachelor’s degree U.S. & communicating data sampling, data on June 25, 2020 at 9:30 ADMINISTRATIVE Electrical Engineering, in Bioengineering, Arthur J. Gallagher presentations through cleaning & preparation; a.m. an auction will be or related. Three (3) Occupational Therapy, or Service Company, LLC Vertex Consulting PPT, to both internal Hadoop, Command Line held at Hyde Park Self SALES & years’ experience as related fi eld, or its foreign in Chicago, IL seeks an Services Inc. in & external customers, Interface, Predictive Storage, Inc., located at MARKETING a project engineer, equivalent. For fullest ETL Architect to design Schaumburg, IL is seek’g as well as to business modelling, machine 5155 S. Cottage Grove associate engineer or consideration, submit a & develop solutions A) Network Administrators partners; exp w/business learning; Gurobi; linear & Ave, Chicago, IL 60615, FOOD & DRINK related. Experience CV, cover letter, and 3 to support reporting, to instl, config., support fi nancials and P&L; dev & non-linear optimization. to sell the following arti- must include: working references to the attention analytic, & warehouse orgztn’s LAN, WAN, & execute pricing strategies 5% telecommuting cles held within said stor- SPAS & SALONS in a utility industry; of the Search Coordinator needs. Reqs. MS+2 Internet systems. B) for products & solutions; permitted. Send resume age units to enforce a lien managing & supporting via email at khaasen@ or BS+5yrs exp.; Mail Appian Developers to competitive analysis to: R. Harvey, REF: RRH, existing under the laws of BIKE JOBS electrical utility projects, uic.edu. The University resume to: Attn: HR transl. biz process sftwre of products & services 555 W Adams, Chicago, the state of Illinois. working with electrical of Illinois is an Equal (000247), 2850 Golf Rd., reqs specs into Appian of current & potential IL 60661 GENERAL systems, transmission Opportunity, Affirmative Rolling Meadows, IL process model prototypes competitors & partners; 519 Shelley H. Anderson and distribution Action employer. 60008. Must Ref Job Title: & solut’ns. C) Sr Database conduct due diligence, QuesTek Innovations 208A Michael Hicks systems, transmission Minorities, women, ETL Architect. EOE. Administrators to anlyze, valuation of companies, & LLC seeks Sr. Materials 470 Diane Silverman and distribution veterans and individuals dvlp & maintain database eval of M&A opportunities; Design Engineers 10174 Alexis Brown REAL engineering projects, with disabilities are Wi-Tronix LLC- Product infra., systms & progs. manage & execute for Evanston, IL to 482 Shelley H. Anderson working with electrical encouraged to apply. Owner (Arch & Eng No trvl; No telecom. Job complex cross-functional independently design 450 Shelley H. Anderson ESTATE one line diagrams The University of Mangr) – Bolingbrook, duties are proj-based @ projects; manage client & invent new materials. 524 Maavi Norman and documentations. Illinois may conduct IL - Resp to codify vision unanticipated sites w/in relationships; build Master’s in Materials 010 Chisato Hotta RENTALS Registration or eligibility background checks for cust-centric prod, U.S. Relo may be req’d complex & dynamic Sci/Materials Eng/ 339 Daniela Comprindo for registration as a on all job candidates defing customized prod @ proj end. Mail resumes company valuation related field+2yrs exp 456 Shelley H. Anderson FOR SALE professional engineer in upon acceptance of req. & prioritizing the to: Vertex Consulting models with Excel; work req’d. Req’d Skills: 534 Shelley H. Anderson Illinois. To apply: Send a contingent offer. backlog to ensure high- Services, Inc., Attn: HR, w/Business & IT teams materials engineer & 447 Diane Silverman NON-RESIDENTIAL letter of application and Background checks value prod features are 935 N. Plum Grove Rd., to design & implement design exp w/ ICME 26 Narzell Richardson Jr. resume to: Keri Frederick, will be performed in delvrd to cust. Customer Ste. D, Schaumburg, IL Agile dev methodologies. design tools; CALPHAD- 408A Ronald Scruggs ROOMATES University of Illinois at compliance with the Fair Prod Mngt 35% - Initiate 60173. Travel to client sites as based thermodynamic Urbana-Champaign, Credit Reporting Act. coll inno w/& thrgh cust needed. Send resume to: & kinetic software This letter is to notify that Facilities and Services, input; Lead & facilte elect TransUnion, LLC R. Harvey, REF: SG, 555 (ThermoCalc; DICTRA; on June 25, 2020 at 9:30 1501 S. Oak Street, TransUnion, Interactive prod inno meetgs w/cust seeks Sr. Engineers for W Adams, Chicago, IL PRISMA software); a.m. an auction will be MARKET- Champaign, IL 61820. Inc., a wholly owned advotes. Prod Req Mngt various & unanticipated 60661 Linux, Unix, BASH, C++, held at South Shore Self The University of Illinois at subsidiary of TransUnion 35% Wrk to scope & worksites throughout Python; legacy code/ Storage, Inc., located at PLACE Urbana-Champaign is an LLC seeks Lead defi ne prod reqs, ensuring the U.S. (HQ: Chicago, (Forest Park, IL) scripts; Minitab; iSight; 7843 S. Exchange Ave, affirmative action/equal Engineers for Chicago, reqs prov high value & IL) to support the overall Conservation of PrecipiCalc; MATLAB; Chicago, IL 60649, to sell opportunity employer. IL location to create web meet cust & indtry inno design, strategy, & Sculpture & Objects ABAQUS; ANOVA; VASP; the following articles held GOODS enabled sw solutions. needs; Backlog Mngt delivery of info security Studio, Inc. seeks PWSCF; FEM simulations. within said storage units SERVICES The Department of Master’s in Comp Sci/ 30% - Res for optimizing infrastructure & Privileged Conservation Technician 10% travel req’d. Send to enforce a lien existing Disability & Human Comp Apps/Comp Eng/ Agile team’s efftivness; Access Mgmt. Master’s w/ Bach or for deg resume to: P. Kotaru under the laws of the HEALTH & Development at the any Eng field+7yrs exp Defne & prioritize prod in Info Tech/Comp Eng/ equiv in Conserv, Archit, Ref: AS 1820 Ridge Ave. state of Illinois. University of Illinois at OR Bachelor’s in Comp backlog. REQS: BS related field+2yrs exp Historic Preserv, Preserv Evanston, IL 60201. WELLNESS Chicago, located in a Sci/ Comp Apps/Comp deg in Elec Eng, Comp OR Bachelor’s in Info Plan or rltd fl d & 2 yrs exp 580 Albert Cameron large metropolitan area, Eng/any Eng fi eld + 10yrs Eng or similar reltd field Tech/Comp Eng/related in job offered or as Proj Hyatt Corporation 452 Jalisa Dawson INSTRUCTION is seeking a full-time exp req’d. Req’d Skills: w/5 yrs prog exp. In field+5yrs exp req’d. Mngr incl 1 yr w/ assess, seeks a Senior Full 317 Breanne Faber MUSIC & ARTS Assistive Technology sw design exp w/Java lieu of BS+5 yrs exp will Req’d Skills: Info security conserv & restor of histor Stack Developer in 328 Jess Gill Specialist to assist (upgrade & security), accept MS in same fi elds exp focusing in Identity & bldgs or mater, objec Chicago, IL responsible N022 Kenyatte Morgan NOTICES department with J2EE, Web Services, XML, +3 yrs progexp. Skills: Access Mgmt (Sailpoint or struct; writing prop for architecture, 339 Robert Johnson MESSAGES research, development, XSD, SAML, EJB, JPA, Must have the following Identity IQ, on-boarding, descrip, histor narrat, methodology, tools, and LEGAL NOTICES WANT TO ADD A LISTING TO OUR CLASSIFIEDS? ADULT SERVICES E-mail classifi [email protected] with details or call (312) 392-2970 38 CHICA O READER - JUNE ll the platform The Chicago Reader Guide to Business and Professional Services travel entertainment home improvement
SAVE BIG ON A NEW HVAC SYSTEM Up to $2,500 savings for a limited time! -Energy Efficient FINANCING -Innovative comfort features AVAILABLE -Great maintenance contracts psychic real estate -24-Hr Emergency Service Custom cut Acrylic desk or table tops Instead of glass, we can Laser cut beautifully protective Acrylic tops Psychic Readings CREDIT Palm and Tarot CARS [email protected] ACCEPTED Alpina Manufacturing, Chicago, IL If you are worried, troubled, sick or 1-800-915-2828 unhappy through love, business, Call today for a free estimate! American Owned marriage, luck or whatever your 773-895-2797 | www.MironHVAC.com 773-202-8887
problem may be, I have reunited the Visit our website or call us for info: desktoppers.com American Made separated, healed the sick and help many people with money problems. Where others have failed. I have succeeded. I will not ask what you came in for. I will advertising tell you. She guarantees to help you. No problem is too big for her. (773)-540-5037 1222 E 47th St books We bring your outdoor vision to life! llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll ROOFING romance BRICKWORK DISCOVER www.herreralandscapes.com GARAGES YOUR BLISS For 40 years, 30,000+ satisfied customers have trusted Second City.
SHINGLE ROOFS FLAT ROOFS NEW GARAGES FINANCING AVAILABLE Licensed, Bonded & Insured—IL Roofing Lic. #104.013526 ROOFING, GUTTERS & MORE
www.intimate-bliss.com funeral services legal *WARNING: Must be 18 years or older to visit website and/or place order. COLLABO TIVE LGBTQ Horror PREMARITAL Brigi e FAMILY Schmidt BY LOCAL AUTHOR DAVID JAY COLLINS DIVORCE MEDIATION Bell, P.C. Serving Chicagoland and NW Indiana Phone and Video Consultations. Call today. SUMMERDALE We Offer Quality Affordable BrigitteBell.com • At Need Funeral Services [email protected] | 312-360-1124 Set in • Pre-Planned Funeral Services • Traditional Funeral/Cremation Services Andersonville • Direct Cremation/Direct Burial To advertise, • Memorial Services YOUR • Paperback • Specializing in Veterans Services • ebook 773-956-4000 call 312-392-2934 or email 5112 S. Western Ave | Chicago, IL 60609 AD www.GraceAndMercyFS.biz [email protected] “Let all that you do be done in love” - 1 Cor 16:14 HERE
ll JUNE - CHICAOREADER 39 GraceMercyFS_Reader_033120.indd 1 4/2/20 10:10 AM :
and drinks! Chicago Cooks at Home ^ K>
$30 PDF download I $55 printed copy + PDF chicagoreader.com/recipebook The Chicago Reader, like so many food and beverage professionals, is facing a devastating blow to our fi nances during this COVID-19 crisis. In response, we teamed up with the city’s best chefs and bartenders to give you their stay-at-home staples. Fi een percent of the profi ts will go to the Comp Tab Relief Fund, a project created to provide fi nancial assistance to any and all service workers who need it.