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IN THIS ISSUE THEATER you can enjoy at home T R 17 Streaming Reviews Three 27 Early Warnings Rescheduled - FOOD & DRINK streaming productions to ponder concerts and other updated @ 03 Feature A supper club and a for pandemic and protest listings caterer turned on a dime during 19 Pivot A multidisciplinary arts fest P T B quarantine lives up to its name E C S K K H C L R H M E P M NEWS & POLITICS TD K R 06 Joravsky | Politics Sarah C E B W Cooper demonstrates how in A E J L times like this it sort of helps to S W M D L G D I B J M S bash Donald Trump E A S N L 08 Dukmasova | News Police G D A H abolitionists fi nd fuel in the L C S C -J C E B N B protests L C M D L C M C 10 Essays How are Black writers 27 Gossip Wolf DJ and producer J F S F J H I coping right now? We’re chanting Jordan Zawideh drops an homage H C M J M K S K factchecking history and to oddball oldschool house N D LJ L envisioning a tiny future FILM sheetmusic institution Performers M M A M -K 20 Movies of note Lulu Wilson needs help to survive the J R N J N M O M S C S remains a force to be reckoned pandemic and Tenci celebrates ------with in Becky director Abel the reissue of her debut with an D D J D Ferrara once again teams up online Hideout set S M C J G with Willem Dafoe for the semi SS P autobiographical Tommaso the OPINION A T A formal trickery in the mistaken 28 Savage Love Dan Savage S I D M N identity fi lm Yourself and Yours is off ers advice on what to do when D D C W absorbing your sex life just isn’t hot enough M P C Y D E A S L K MUSIC & CLASSIFIEDS S EC K K 30 Jobs ADVERTISING NIGHTLIFE 30 Apartments & Spaces -- @ 21 ChiMusic Veteran rapper 30 Marketplace C ARTS & CULTURE and activist Rhymefest remembers - @ 14 Design Inside the intricate world an allstar festival by and for the V P S A M of Polly Pocket community O P S C R M T P 16 Lit Poets come together to share 22 Records of note A pandemic B F B’ S A R L M -H L S the joy pain and hope from the can’t stop the fl ow of great music A R pandemic in a new video project Our critics review releases that G M F N S C S M W R
N A V M G -- - FROM THE ARCHIVES J L S B ------D C Abolish the police? [email protected] -- CHICAGO READER LC Organizers say it’s less BP D R L crazy than it sounds. In an T E R SJ S August 25, 2016, cover story, A- S V
Maya Dukmasova profiled C C E B the grassroots movement ------already putting abolitionist R ISSN - R LC ideas into practice. S M S C IL --
C © C R P C IL
A C R R R R T ®
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FORESTER OUTBACK ASCENT IMPREZA Cholent, a slow-simmered stew of brisket AM PM AM PM 9:00 -6:00 with pearl barley and potatoes EVE STUDNICKA 9:00 -8:00 Monday-Friday APPOINTMENTNO REQUIRED Saturday FOOD FEATURE Social Distancing & Face Masks will be Required for all Customers and Employees Voted “Best Auto DeAlership” Dinner at the Grotto and By CHICAGO Voters’ Poll 2019 TOP-QUALITY INSPECTED USED CARS & SUV’ S Black Cat Kitchen make IMPORTS & DOMESTICS SUBARU FORESTERS ‘17 Honda CR-V LX AWD ...... Automatic, Full Power, White, 24205A ....$17,995 ‘16 Forester Touring ...... Automatic Sunroof, Leather, Silver, 23651A ....$18,995 ‘17 VW Passat 1.8T SE AWD...... Auto., Leather Sunroof, Grey, 6485A ....$14,995 ‘17 Forester Ltd...... Automatic Sunroof, Leather, Silver, 24102A ....$17,995 staying home deliciously weird ‘16 Honda Fit EX ...... Automatic, Moonroof, 13K, Black, 24485A ....$13,995 ‘16 Forester Prem...... Automatic, Sunroof, Heated Seats, Red, 24456A ....$16,995 ‘14 Forester Prem. ..Automatic, Sunroof, Heated Seats, White, 24116A ....$13,995 A supper club and a caterer turned on a dime during quarantine. ‘17 Hyundai Elantra Value Ed...... Automatic, Blind Spot, Black, 24367A ....$12,995 ‘12 Acura TL w/Tech/Navi/ ...... Leather, Moonroof, Black, 24284A ....$11,995 SUBARU OUTBACKS / ASCENT / CROSSTREK By M S ‘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 ‘14 Buick Encore...... Automatic, 1-Owner, 42K, Ruby Red, 23690A ....$10,995 ‘16 Outback Prem...... Automatic, All Weather, Alloys, Black, 24117A ....$17,995 ‘11 Honda CRV EX AWD ...... Automatic, Sunroof, Silver, 24311A ...... $9,995 ‘16 Legacy 3.6R Ltd./Navi...... Automatic, Full Power, Blue, 24428A ....$15,995 ‘15 Kia Soul ...... Manual, Full Power, Alien2, 21917A ...... $7,995 ‘17 Crosstrek Ltd...... Automatic, Leather, Sunroof, White, 34321A ....$19,995 ome of the rare bright moments in this central Illinois by someone I’d never met before ‘13 Hyundai Tucson GLS ...... Automatic, Full Power, Bronze, 24460A ...... $6,995 ‘16 Crosstrek Prem...... Automatic, All-Weather, Hyper Blue, 24275A9 ....$15,995 slow terror are the random porch presents but had been curious about for a long time. A+ Sfrom masked bandits bearing treasures. Last week, the forager herself showed RATED Last month, prompted by a text, I leapt from up on the porch with a hefty serving of ev- EvanstonSubaru.com my desk (couch) and found a bag of perfect erything-bagel-seasoned mac and cheese, 3340 OAKTON - SKOKIE • 847-869-5700 morel mushrooms at the door, purchased by another of cholent—a slow-simmered stew of *Add tax, title license and $300 doc fee. 0%financing for 63 months. Monthly payment of $15.87 per $1,000 borrowed. one friend, delivered by another, and foraged in brisket with pearl barley and potatoes, cooked Finance on approved credit score Subject to vehicle insurance and availability. Ends 7/3/2020 ll JUNE - CHICAOREADER 3 FOOD & DRINK 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.
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by Wednesday each week. continued from page 3 sad day,” says Thomas. “Is my business even a down and enriched overnight with bone mar- business anymore?” But within a week the pair row—and a deli container of raspberry-rose- had joined forces and pivoted to a weekly mid- water jam. western-forward and wonderfully weird meal The food was prepared in a Logan Square delivery system that’s sold out within a day for shared kitchen and delivered via a beat-up 12 straight weeks. 2005 green Chrysler Town and Country by Eve Thomas, 27, grew up in small-town Byron, Studnicka of the long-running underground near Rockford, the daughter of police o cers. supper club Dinner at the Grotto and her busi- “My mom cooked out of function, not out of any ness partner of three months, Alexis Thomas joy,” she says. “I was never allowed to cook, so of Black Cat Kitchen, a bespoke caterer I’d also I would steal cookbooks out of the library. I had just realized I’d been eyeing with curiosity all a fi ne of like $16 that I couldn’t/wouldn’t pay, season at last year’s Lincoln Square Farmers so I would put cookbooks in my backpack, take Market but somehow failed to check out. them home, copy them down into notebooks, Sometimes you have to stay inside to get out. and then return them in the book chute. I didn’t Separately, in early March, Studnicka and start cooking until I moved out on my own in Thomas were gearing up for a busy spring. my early 20s. I grew a real love for it.” But on March 10, the day Governor Pritzker Similarly, Studnicka, who’s 25, grew up declared a state of emergency, Studnicka had in the rural Driftless Region in southwest- to postpone (and later cancel) an almost-sold- ern Wisconsin. As a young, homeschooled Thank you, out April 1 “Soviet Soul Food” dinner, and was then-vegetarian, cooking her own food be- later furloughed from her job at Finom Co ee. came part of the curriculum. “Neither of my On the same day, all four of Thomas’s upcoming parents love cooking, so instead of making The Reader team catering gigs canceled, including a Friday the me a separate meal they kind of assigned me 13th dinner party at Helix Café. “I had a big with that task.” As a freshman studying fi lm at 4 CHICA O READER - JUNE ll Search the Reader’s online database of thousands of Chicago-area restaurants at chicagoreader.com/food. FOOD & DRINK
Columbia College, she started Pancakes at the They sold out the next day, and the next Grotto, a LGBTQ-friendly breakfast series, out week, and the next, and the next. As conven- of her apartment “in the purgatory” between tional supply chains weakened, they increas- Logan Square and Avondale. “All of the parties ingly sourced more from their farmer friends, sucked, and I wanted to be able to gather with and the menus became progressively more ap- friends and not have to play beer pong,” she pealing and wonderfully midwestern-strange: says. pork belly potpie with Publican oat porridge; Studnicka and Thomas met two years ago Chicago mix popcorn-infused drinking choco- while working at Katherine Anne Confections. late; venison summer sausage and duck heart Thomas had just quit her special-ed social work cassoulet; ramp potato chowder. job, burnt out on compassion fatigue. “I had no One week Studnicka made a surplus of bee- formal training but really loved food,” she says. pollen-and-smoked-salt bagels for herself “I had a lot of knowledge and not a lot of actual and ended up giving them away to a randomly practice, but that’s when I decided I really selected customer. That instituted weekly give- wanted to open my own business.” As for Stud- aways to customers who donate to a di erent nicka, Pancakes at the Grotto had evolved into charity, such as water rights advocates We the an all-consuming passion project, sometimes People Detroit, or Youth Act Chicago, which hosting up to 45 people for the redubbed Din- raises money for homeless kids. ner at the Grotto. She fi gures she’s served some Studnicka and Thomas agree that the day 3,000 guests during her six-year run—last year they announced their first menu was “the they voted her best up-and-coming chef in the worst day of our lives.” Reader’s Best of Chicago poll. Dinner at the “By the time we landed on what we wanted Grotto won best underground dining. to make, to the time we put the last lid on the They both struck out on their own a year ago, last dish, it was 14 hours, and that included Thomas going full steam with Black Cat, and shopping, packaging, figuring out finances, Studnicka supplementing Dinner at the Grotto and how the ordering system would work,” by working as Rafael Esparza’s chef de cuisine says Studnicka. “We’d never done deliveries. at Finom. But they collaborated, too, notably on We didn’t know how to do spreadsheets. It was a Nordic-inspired dinner in the winter of 2019, excruciating.” and in January for a cannabis-infused dinner They’ve since streamlined and gotten nim- party to celebrate the state’s new recreational ble. Each week’s menu is announced Sunday at marijuana law. 3 PM. By Monday they’re sold out of 50 orders The pair had learned they had a lot of op- for each of fi ve items. Tuesdays and Wednes- posing but complimentary culinary traits. days they shop and cook. Thursday and Friday “Being around a lot of wild game and foraged they deliver. They don’t communicate at all on ingredients, and bar food, and corn and cheese Saturday until the evening, when they start growing up, that was what I was familiar with texting ideas back and forth. There’s a Sunday and what I was most connected to, so it’s what phone call to fi nalize the next menu. It’s posted, I naturally gravitated toward in the cooking I then they start all over again. do,” says Studnicka. But with the governor and mayor phasing “Eve loves meat,” says Thomas. “She cooks normalcy back into the economy, what’s next a lot of nose to tail. It’s indulgent. It’s comfort for an on-the-fl y partnership dependent on a food to the max. I live with a vegetarian, and stay-at-home customer base in need of comfort though I’m not one, most of my food is super and delight? veggie heavy.” “That’s something we talk about every week, When all plans were canceled, the pair and we don’t have any answer for it,” says decided to collaborate and pivot to a weekly Studnicka, adding that a brick-and-mortar pay-what-you-can meal delivery service. cafe is a topic of discussion. “She is the best Within a week they announced their first collaborator I’ve ever worked with. She’s made menu on Instagram, straddling the realms of so many facets of this possible and not scary. indulgent midwestern comfort food and immu- It’s the best part of working with a teammate nity-boosting health trends: a wellness soup in an uncertain time. Everything feels less kit, building on a 30-hour roasted duck bone daunting.” stock enriched with lemongrass, ginger, star “I wouldn’t be doing this without Eve,” says anise, shiitake, and turmeric; creamy polenta Thomas. “I know she wouldn’t be doing it with- with mushrooms, greens, and farmers cheese; out me. We would both be stuck at home.” v blackberry ginger co ee cake; pine-smoked-tea drinking chocolate. @MikeSula ll JUNE - CHICAOREADER 5 NEWS & POLITICS
“MAGA loves the Black people.” YOUTUBE giving me grief about political correctness and freedom of speech—a favorite MAGA talking lection of people, while turning a collection of point when they’re feeling aggrieved, which is people into a thing (“the Black people”). pretty much all the time. As you can see, I’m making a pitch to vote MAGA has a curious attitude about freedom against Trump. But it’s not really a good time of speech—they want it for themselves but no to make a campaign pitch, as everyone’s upset, one else. though for vastly di erent reasons. They certainly didn’t want it for Colin Black people are justifiably enraged that Kaepernick. I can’t recall MAGA protesting Derek Chauvin, a white Minneapolis cop, when the NFL banished Kaepernick for protest- thought he could get away with killing George ing police brutality by taking a knee during the Floyd, a Black man, while being filmed. As if national anthem. white people really don’t care what you do to Instead the reaction of MAGA was much Black people, even if they see it with their own like Jerry Jones, owner of the Dallas Cowboys, eyes. who commanded his players to “stand at the And white people are unjustifi ably upset that anthem, toe on the line.” Or else. Black people are so enraged over a white cop While I’m on the subject, want to know how murdering a Black man. much hatred white people had for Kaepernick Well, not all white people. Just many of the for taking that knee? aforementioned MAGA species of white people. In 2017, the Bears shunned Kaepernick—even For instance, when Chance the Rapper was though they desperately needed a quarter- pictured in the Tribune protesting George back—and instead spent over $18 million on Floyd’s murder, some white guy from the Mike Glennon. suburbs felt compelled to write a letter to the Not to pick on Mike Glennon—but he sucks! A editor saying something along the lines of: Hey, team signing Mike Glennon over Colin Kaeper- Chance, why don’t you protest when Black peo- nick tells you everything you need to know ple kill Black people on the south side? about the depths to which white people will go Then he threw criticism of Father Pfleger to avoid doing the right thing when it comes to into the mix—just ’cause, well, why not? fi ghting racism. POLITICS So predictable. It’s the knee-jerk reaction Hold on, just thinking about the Bears’s quar- MAGA has when they see Black people protest- terback situation has gotten me so upset, I’ve ing racism. got to watch that Sarah Cooper video again. Thank you, Sarah Cooper It reminds me of the time Troy LaRaviere— OK, back to my mission of rallying people to president of the Chicago Principals and Ad- vote against Trump and for Joe Biden. Presi- At times like this, it sort of helps to bash Donald Trump. ministrators Association—was on my old radio dent Obama agrees with me on this. show. He mentioned a Tribune story about the Of course, I remember Obama urging us to By B J fact that police write more bike-riding citations reelect Mayor Rahm. Which Chicago did. Only in Black neighborhoods than they do where to discover that Rahm was concealing evidence white people live. of the murder of Laquan McDonald. The phone rang, and a caller said: “I didn’t It was all on a videotape that Rahm fought hen I need distraction from the mad- about “the Black people.” It takes place at one vote for Trump, but . . . ” like hell to keep from being released. Remem- ness of our times, I turn to a particular of those impromptu press conferences that I was like—uh-oh. Starting a comment with ber that? Wbit by a comedian named Sarah Cooper. Trump frequently holds as he’s about to board “I didn’t vote for Trump” is a little like starting Rahm had a chance to take a strong stand And thank you, Mick Dumke, for sending that a helicopter whose engines are running, so it’s one with: “Say what you will about Hitler . . .” against a serious problem of police brutality. bit to me. like he’s yelling to be heard above a vacuum You know that what follows can’t be good. And instead, he buried it. Because he had to Cooper has been doing perfect lip syncs of cleaner. This gives him the opportunity to say And sure enough, the caller said something make sure he could get reelected so he could the latest idiocy from our president. It’s really what he wants while having an excuse not to like: Hey, Troy, stop complaining about bike dole out more TIF handouts to his pals. funny to watch Donald Trump’s words come take questions from reporters. citations and start doing something about Now I see in the newspaper that Rahm is out of Cooper’s mouth. I urge you to watch her In this case, Trump said: “MAGA is make Black-on-Black crime. whispering advice to Joe Biden. Hey, Joe, do videos—I’m sure they will help you, too. America great again. By the way, they love Af- So I suggested that white people try really everyone a favor—don’t listen to what Rahm Trump is, of course, a horrible human being rican American people. They love Black people. hard not to respond to Black people protesting tells you! with no redeeming qualities, and the faster we MAGA loves the Black people.” racism by telling Black people to do something Especially if he’s telling you to take Amy get him out of o ce, the better we will all be. Don’t blame me, folks. I’m just quoting the about Black-on-Black crime. Klobuchar as a running mate. Oh, Lord, it will But on occasion, he says something so batshit guy. In other words, stop trying to divert atten- take more than a Sarah Cooper comedy bit to crazy that it’s sort of funny—in a dark and de- It’s that last line that gets me—“MAGA loves tion away from your unwillingness to take a get over that. v praved way. the Black people.” In one sentence, Trump stand against racism. Like the recent riff that Cooper satirizes turned a thing (the acronym MAGA) into a col- As soon as I said that, man, callers started @bennyjshow 6 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 7 NEWS & POLITICS
The city li ed bridges and shut down the CTA as demic pathologies like pedophilia, or mental cops fl ooded the streets. SAMANTHA BAILEY illnesses that drive people to behave in socially frowned-upon ways, or made people less poor. thing else that’s unfolded as people took to Indeed, as abolitionist educator and organizer the streets in protest over the police killings of Mariame Kaba often argues, police abolition George Floyd in Minnesota, Breonna Taylor in already exists for the wealthy. In communities Kentucky, Tony McDade in Florida, and count- with well-funded schools, food security, ample less others, will depend on one’s life experi- jobs, reliable transportation, and access to ences, political persuasions, and where one health care—communities where people’s gets information. Narratives of the nationwide needs are met—police are mostly invisible. protests range from “the peaceful demon- “People in Naperville are living abolition right strations were disrupted by unhinged cops now,” Kaba told me in 2016. “The cops are not who want to sow chaos to discredit the Black in their schools, they’re not on every street Lives Matter movement,” to “outside agitators corner.” The abolitionist proposal is to redirect and antifa are instigating riots and looting to the resources the state has allocated toward destroy America.” Amid the chaos of millions prisons and police for decades toward com- of simultaneous events fl ashing across screens munity-directed and community-endorsed and streets, how might one understand the call education, health care, food, jobs, and housing. to abolish the police? “We have this abolitionist framework Police and prison abolitionists, as we’ve ex- where we want to see the policing institution NEWS plained over the years, do not subscribe to the dismantled and we want to see it transformed idea that policing is somehow “broken” and in into something that centers community and need of reforms. They do not see an idyllic past restorative justice,” said organizer Kofi Ade- Police abolitionists fi nd fuel in which policing “worked” for communities mola, an adult mentor with GoodKids MadCity, of Black, poor, or queer people, for people as he prepared to march in the demonstrations experiencing domestic violence, housing on Saturday. “The minimum [police officer in the protests discrimination, and other forms of state and salary] is a good salary to start on. If you gave interpersonal oppression. Instead, aboli- folks in a community $65,000 a year to keep As more people lose faith in the state, organizers off er alternatives. tionists propose—and indeed demonstrate their communities safe you’d see communities through their work—that community order transformed.” By M D can be maintained without the intervention But, Ademola said, abolitionist work is grad- of an armed representative of the government ual and long-term; changing a society that took and that justice can be accomplished without hundreds of years to reach its current form punishment. takes time. “As we reach towards that goal we ere’s what’s true no matter how you look ment (through a program that began under the Abolition can be challenging to imagine still have to think about harm reduction,” he at the events of the last week: Clinton administration in the 1990s). because many assume that the absence of said. “We don’t believe abolition will happen H Cops and vigilantes are continuing the Hundreds of thousands of people are willing harsh punishment for behavior considered overnight.” disproportionate extrajudicial killing of Black to gather en masse despite a global pandemic. to be socially harmful or unacceptable will Harm reduction usually marshals commu- people in America. This country is experiencing an econom- lead to increased disorder and violence. But nity resources to fill in gaps left (or created) Police departments around the country are ic crisis on a scale unseen since the Great abolitionists tend to point out that America’s by the state and the private sector. It takes armed with state-of-the art riot gear, and even Depression. prison-industrial complex and the increasing the form of mutual aid networks that collect supplied with decommissioned military equip- One’s interpretation of just about every- militarization of police hasn’t rooted out en- money and essential items and redistribute
8 CHICA O READER - JUNE ll NEWS & POLITICS
them to people in need, or bail funds that get bare how terrible our world actually is,” said people accused of crimes out of pretrial de- Black Lives Matter Chicago organizer Ariel tention in dangerous jails, or collectives that Atkins. “More and more people are being o er child care, transportation, and medical touched by what’s happening personally and services, or reclaiming abandoned land to feed are way more awake than they have been in a the neighborhood. It may look like charity, but long time . . . watching [the government] save abolitionist organizations tend to eschew the corporations and banks, watching Je Bezos private philanthropic models of large nonprof- become a trillionaire while the people working its which they see as self-serving and out-of- for him are dying and being overworked and touch with community needs. underpaid.” On Saturday night, in a move that echoed From the vantage point of abolitionists, the Mayor Richard J. Daley’s cordoning o of Black disease has also shown that the police, rather neighborhoods to confine riots within them than being an institution that promotes safety, after the assassination of Martin Luther King, is one that’s a threat to public health. “It’s not Mayor Lori Lightfoot decided to kettle thou- insignifi cant that we had, in recent memory, sands of angry people in the Loop. The city lift- two Black men whose last words were ‘I can’t ed bridges, shut down the CTA, and imposed a breathe,’” said Page May, cofounder of Assata’s sudden curfew, as cops brandishing weapons, Daughters, a youth political education group tear gas, and handcuffs flooded the streets. that runs a community garden to provide free Abolitionists at the Chicago Freedom School, produce to Washington Parkers, among other meanwhile, opened their downtown o ce to initiatives. “In a moment where everyone o er shelter, food, and water to stranded pro- in the world is afraid of a respiratory illness testers. As arrests surged (the city still hasn’t that takes away our breath, it’s a metaphor A virtual event streaming live on Facebook been clear on how many people were detained for how we’ve been living: We can’t breathe. and welcoming Midsommarfest favorites over the weekend, but estimates range from There’s people on our necks literally and 240 to 1,000), the Chicago Community Bond metaphorically.” 16 Candles, Dancing Queen: An ABBA Salute, Fund was raising so much money to bail people As protests continue around the country, out that their website crashed. On Monday and the pandemic shows no signs of abate- CATFIGHT and more! morning, as Chicago Public Schools suspended ment, abolitionist organizers are expecting its food distribution program for kids, commu- interest in their vision to increase. “There are nity groups throughout the city mobilized to more and more people every day that want to make and deliver meals. get plugged in and that makes the work more MORE INFO AT: “There were all these narratives in the possible,” said May. “I think people are seeing media that Mayor Lightfoot has criticized that no one is coming to save us and that it’s up Minneapolis PD and so I think a lot of people to us and we’re all we got.” v andersonville.org/midsommarfest went down with the assumption that our police wouldn’t mirror some of the activities @mdoukmas DONATE IN ADVANCE: we saw in Minnesota,” said Richard Wallace, founder of the community organization Equity Venmo: @AvilleChamber and Transformation, who participated in the #TVKUV9TKVGT demonstrations. “There are people who might have come to the protests who weren’t radical 2GTHQTOGT! but that left radical, or left abolitionist because 4'#6+8' 1.76+105 (14 of the way the city of Chicago handled that.” % 5 The organizers interviewed for this story %4'#6+8' 2'12.' all said that while the killing of George Floyd 5WRRQTVKXG #HHKTOKPI CPF )QCN may have catalyzed the mass protests, people’s &KTGEVGF 2U[EJQVJGTCR[ CPF rage has deeper roots. The structural, institu- tional inequities that lead to disproportionate *[RPQVJGTCR[ HQT #FWNVU police violence leveled against Black people is /#: - 5*#2'; .%59 Thank you to our also fueling the grim statistics of the COVID-19 .QECVGF KP &QYPVQYP 'XCPUVQP pandemic, which is disproportionately claim- Media Sponsor ing Black and Latinx lives. (As Block Club Chi- cago recently reported, it’s also led to dispro- YYYOCZUJCRG[EQO portionate police enforcement of quarantine OCZUJCRG["CQNEQO rules in Black neighborhoods.) NWG TQUU NWG 5JKGNF 2TGHGTTGF 2TQXKFGT The pandemic “is laying bare how di erent KIPC 2TGHGTTGF 2TQXKFGT our world could be and even more it’s laying ll JUNE - CHICAOREADER 9 RACHEL HAWLEY
How are Black writers coping? We’re chanting, fact-checking history, and envisioning a tiny future.
10 CHICA O READER - JUNE ll all of the stages of grief. I laughed and cried, at the news of Amy Cooper weaponizing her Black people can’t even take out their frus- Karen Hawkins felt hopeless and despondent, dug in on my white womanhood to lie to New York police all trations on a gym’s punching bag. We may commitment to making Chicago a better city, because a Black man, Christian Cooper, asked be even bobbing and weaving through social THE DIFFERENCE IN the texts I got and fantasized about moving into a custom her to leash her dog in Central Park. media and TV stations trying to avoid seeing over the weekend from Black friends and tricked-out van down by some distant river. But then I checked my Instagram. After see- footage of a white police o cer fatally kneel- other folks of color versus the ones I got from We’ve arranged these essays to reflect this ing news that an Afro-Latinx CNN journalist ing on a Black man’s neck. white friends is a good place to start for why I emotional journey, and I hope you read this was unjustly arrested by the Minnesota state So, then, what would compel any white reached out to this particular group of writers package from start to finish, from Derrick’s police, I came across a message in my inbox person to think that Black people—especially for essays. palpable anger and delete-button self-care to from a white man who demanded I educate people they do not know—owe them the time White friends: OMG, are you OK? I can’t Terrence’s Buddhist chants as a way to chan- him about how race and privilege operate in and energy of explaining how race and privi- imagine what you’re going through, I’m sure nel the rage we all feel. America. lege operate? this is hard for you, the world is burning, let The only author missing is Energizer bunny “The way you talk about white people is It’s called entitlement. me know how I can help, I’m so sorry, white Matt Harvey, who started his new gig with our counterintuitive,” he wrote, referencing work It’s the literal defi nition of pulling a “Karen” people are the worst. friends at the TRiiBe by providing the city’s of mine he encountered from six years ago: a and demanding to speak to the manager. It’s Black friends: I’m not going to ask if you’re best on-the-ground coverage of the protests crash course on simple yet meaningful ways an act of privilege in itself to demand free OK ’cause I’m not OK. We’re all not OK. with nonstop reporting from midday Satur- that white people can challenge everyday labor from people whose ancestors were I get it, white friends. I know you’re trying day into late Sunday. I really hope he’s still racism in themselves or in their environment. ripped from their homeland and forced to to help, and I know that you care. But some- asleep somewhere. If you, like me, hung on One of the ten main points from the listicle build the nation’s economy on their backs, times, I just can’t. I can’t spend any more time his every word and image over the weekend, asked white folks to “educate yourself about with no reparations yet to be given to their easing your white guilt, I can’t keep explaining consider this: coverage from a young Black racism as much as possible before asking peo- descendants. why proclaiming #BlackLivesMatter while reporter working for an independent Black ple of color for help.” Pay us our respect by, at the very least, you do nothing to address your own biases media outlet is something many of you have But he didn’t want to do his own work. In- respecting our space to grieve and process is meaningless and o ensive, and I can’t pre- never witnessed in your lifetime. His passion stead, he wrote to demand I “explain myself” without having to assume the responsibility tend that I don’t resent that after this is all and perspective are what’s possible when to him, questioning the validity of a 1,500- of entangling white thoughts and feelings over—whatever “this” means to you—your people of color have the power to tell our own word article that had already explained quite about racism. whiteness will continue to protect you in ways stories in our own way. a bit. He couldn’t be bothered to even politely As the Menominee poet Chrystos wrote you don’t even realize. I am so grateful for the voices of these ask for further reading, which I might have about the tears of white women, like those of Last Friday feels like a year ago. In the writers and their willingness to share their obliged, even though I’m not obligated to o er Amy Cooper, “Give us our inch & we’ll hand e-mail I sent that morning asking for these thoughts. I hope they bring you as much so- titles that could be found within a few Google you a hanky.” essays, I put it this way: lace and insight as they’ve brought me. searches. You’re getting this e-mail because when I As for how I’m coping, I’m taking things I was already exhausted by the week’s news. made the mistake of doomscrolling Twitter at one day at a time while trying to plan for the His message drained me of anything that was Princess McDowell 5 AM today, I found myself wondering what future. I spent Saturday watching and listen- left from the little bit of joy I woke up with. you’re all thinking about this awful effing ing to crowds break windows up and down But then I decided to reclaim my time and TINY HOMES. I’M coping with our moment in time. Yes, I’m enlisting you to be my my street, setting things on fire—including my humanity. I hit “decline” on his message current darkest timeline by researching group therapists. a police SUV less than a block away—and request, rendering the message automatically absolutely everything tiny homes. Shipping The request: we’re looking for essays fearing for both my own safety and everyone trashed without Instagram notifying him that container homes, tiny homes on trailers, (you’re all Black folks, btw) about how you’re else’s. The streets momentarily felt lawless, I’d interacted with it. skoolies, converted vans, sprinter vans, adult coping. You can write about COVID-19, police but I knew the law was never very far away. Black people, and other people of color, treehouses! O -grid living, homesteads, con- brutality, the exhaustion of white supremacy, While the heavily armed police may have been encounter enough exhaustion from having to vertible furniture that turns walls into tables, how much the mainstream media absolutely outnumbered at times, they were never out- fortify against white supremacy and racism and couches into beds and storage. I’ve fallen gets things wrong sometimes—or not. Write gunned. The image on this week’s cover was on any given day, in addition to the usual ups down so many YouTube rabbit holes of TV about what music is getting you through, how taken from my balcony. It’s one instant in a and downs of life. When news about racist po- shows and DIY builders that I’m determined Zoom therapy is going, how much you miss confrontation that felt like it went on forever, licing and vigilantism dominates social media, to buy a school bus and “start my build pro- your mama’s mac and cheese (omg I miss my that is going on forever. trust and believe that Black folks are checking cess” soon, even though I haven’t seen one mama’s mac and cheese). I’m really just trying I don’t know where we go from here, Chica- in on each other, processing their anger and builder of color. to put together a package that captures voic- go. But I do know who I want to lead the way. disappointment at yet another act of injustice, Exploring the tiny living lifestyle started as es we frankly don’t hear enough from in the And who I hope will document it. or simply trying to give each other moments a fun way for me and my partner to imagine Reader. of levity. ourselves somewhere else, surrounded by I will admit that this request was as much When struck with grief, if not terror, the trees or water or mountains, instead of inside about journalism as it was about my personal Derrick Clifton sadness and exasperation may take hold, but our 800-square-foot apartment. Tucked under sanity. I wanted these thoughtful and witty Black people are often left with little choice trees or poised on a cliffside, we wouldn’t Black writers to tell me how to feel. I wanted I WOKE UP lighter. but to either numb themselves or fi nd a way need anything because everything we owned to know how they’re coping, both as an editor The early evening before, in my own little to choke it up while continuing with work and would always be right within reach, in a home and as a Black lesbian journalist who’s been act of calm resistance, I took a stroll at a for- other daily obligations. We may not even get that’s paid for, that we designed and built cus- in this unforgiving business for way too long. est preserve, marveling at nature within the as much as a moment to cry, even though we tom. With the next big economic depression I wanted to compare notes on how we’re get- cityscape to clear my own mind, if only for a feel like it. Some of us don’t have the health barreling toward us, I suspect more people ting through this. moment. I’d been exhausted while processing care and money to take our troubles to a ther- will try to “go tiny” when they can’t pay rent. And they didn’t disappoint. the brutal killing of George Floyd by the Min- apist, either. And with stay-at-home orders I’ve seen some pretty beautiful spaces that, by As I edited these essays, I cycled through neapolis police department, and frustrated still in e ect, even with a partial reopening, house standards, are cheap as hell. ll JUNE - CHICAOREADER 11 Be clear: I’ve been talking about tiny homes Make no mistake, I do not cosign protests saturation of police brutality, villainization, nonstop for three months. If I’m sitting too “Rage taught that turn violent and stray from the message and senseless violence. long, I start designing rooms around the furni- at hand. However, if there were less police bru- The murder of Ahmaud Arbery unnerved ture I own or think through how I can convert tality, there would be no riots—except when my spirit. Since shelter-in-place, I’ve taken up shelves into tables. I take inventory of all my me to deal with your favorite ball club wins a championship. jogging outside as a healthy escape. Ahmaud stu in my mind and decide what I’ll sell or The protests to reopen the country amid the wasn’t granted this escape solely because of attempt to downsize. I look for perfect storage COVID-19 pandemic don’t pass the smell test. the color of his skin. When I jogged that day for the things I plan to keep. my problems And at that moment, “Blue Lives” didn’t in honor of what would’ve been his 26th birth- When the virus hit, we were fi nally settling matter and any and all talk of “We’re in this day, I felt a very familiar feeling—rage. on our plans for 2020, and savings meant we together” was discarded by white people who I went to a dark space and almost forgot could actually follow through with them. I because when foolishly believe that their rights are being about my own humanity. But that’s not who I used to tell people we were lowkey prepared infringed upon. am. Just because there are people who have when coronavirus grinded life as we knew it This is America; it’s what we do when all no sense of humanity doesn’t mean I forget to a halt because our routine didn’t need to I didn’t, my other means of communication fall on deaf mine. I refuse to let this world change me, and drastically change, and our plans for fi nances ears. I attribute this relentless sense of self to my were still pretty solid. But the past four days, What took place in Minnesota, Chicago, and parents and Buddhist practice. as cities across the nation have burned, my problems dealt other cities last week isn’t a surprise to those Similar to millions of other Black families, friends have been shot with rubber bullets who’ve been paying attention. my parents prepared my sister and I for a and have needed to seek shelter from police Why don’t we call the colonists “social jus- world that isn’t prepared for us. They laid a dogs and canine units. More people have been with me. Right tice warriors”? foundation of awareness and resiliency that murdered by police o cers, and I’m terrifi ed After all, history is often written by the vic- continue to serve and course me out of set- to join the rebellions in the streets because tors, which means they have the money and backs, challenges, and at times a toxic culture. I don’t want to die from the virus. My moms now, racism is the power to curate history in the way they I also practice Nichiren Daishonin Buddhism. called me to tell me not to go to a scheduled see fit. For further clarification, look up the As a member of Soka Gakkai International, protest I hadn’t even heard about yet. Because white conservative backlash against the New the lay organization of Nichiren Daishonin I was watching tiny home videos. dealing with York Times Magazine’s Pulitzer Prize-win- Buddhism, I chant nam-myoho-renge-kyo Thinking about life on a piece of land, ning “The 1619 Project.” daily. I chant for human revolution, which is building community with my partner and our See how they cut up when Black folks run what Soka Gakkai describes as a “never-end- friends and chosen family (who I’m slowly America.” point on our own stories? ing process of continual self-improvement. It convincing to go tiny too) is how I survive. It’s The people in Minnesota are running point describes a Buddhist way of life that eternally my escape from a world that rejoices in telling on their freedom. seeks growth and personal development. It Black people that our pain and death and lives Three years earlier, in 1770, British soldiers It’s the American way. is about how much we are growing and im- don’t matter, that we are so small and insignif- murdered Crispus Attucks, a Black man, proving right now rather than what we have icant, even when we say every name and lay it during the Boston Massacre, which was one of achieved in the past.” alongside 400 years of racial injustice. the events that led to the Revolutionary War. Terrence F. Chappell Chanting has enabled me to center my en- When I’m scrolling through Craigslist Attucks’s killers never spent a day in prison. ergy and prevent it from going to extremes. looking for short buses, or watching videos of And let me know if you’ve heard this scenar- THE DAMAGING EFFECTS of COVID- Saying nam-myoho-renge-kyo rhythmically clever design tricks in small spaces, I’m trans- io before: A Black man was gunned down by 19 are symptoms of a much larger pandemic in formulates a personal awareness that tran- porting myself to a future where I can live law enforcement. The men who murdered him America—racism. But because it’s much easi- scends what it is aware of. free. How ironic it is that I desperately want to were acquitted on the grounds of self-defense, er for me to talk about it, let’s discuss my rage. I’m grateful for the most basic necessities. go tiny, to shrink the footprint of everything and their defense attorney went on to bigger James Baldwin’s quote, “To be a Negro in My family and friends are safe and healthy. I’ve been working toward, in a country that and better things—he’s the second president this country and to be relatively conscious is I’m still working; I have clean water and food. already makes me feel so small. of the United States, John Adams. to be in a rage almost all the time,” cuts par- I take breaks from the daily news cycle be- This is a train that is never late. ticularly deep today. Rage is an emotion that I cause, frankly, it’s depressing and repetitive. I Black bodies are discarded, and the people have worked, and worked, and worked to con- just fi nished an amazing book, The Untethered Evan F. Moore responsible get to go home—sometimes, they trol. While it has gotten me into a great deal of Soul by Michael A. Singer, which guides read- build a career o of it. trouble in the past, my rage has evolved over ers on sustaining an inner peace. IN 1773, FRUSTRATED at the British The colonists are often described in Amer- time to inform my coping mechanisms. I chant for this country every day. I chant crown’s taxation and tyranny, American ican history as patriots, while modern-day When I’m self-assessing and optimizing, for compassionate leadership that will unite, colonists—disguised as Mohawk Indians— patriots are pilloried by right-wing media at I’m really redirecting my rage in a way that not polarize. I chant that America will uproot boarded docked British ships and dumped the behest of President Donald Trump. acknowledges it, is sustainable, and moves me systemic racism and prioritize our nation’s 342 chests of tea imported by the British East Let me give whoever reads this essay a deep forward. I don’t care to navigate life enraged; most resilient communities. India Company into Boston Harbor. cut on American history. that’s a life not worth living. Racism will kill Rage taught me to deal with my problems One of the colonists who participated in The same people we’re seeing in the streets you, but so can rage. because when I didn’t, my problems dealt the Boston Tea Party, George Hewes, said of Minneapolis and other cities who are out- Black Americans were already in a state of with me. Right now, racism is dealing with this about the British reaction to their civil raged at law enforcement for once again snu - emergency before COVID-19, the crisis just America. And speaking from personal experi- disobedience, which took nearly three hours ing out a Black life have the same demand the amplifi ed underlying issues. I won’t list all the ence and the current state of our culture, rac- to accomplish: “We were surrounded by Brit- colonists had for the British crown: freedom. conditions we over-index in, because I think ism will continue to terrorize America until ish armed ships, but no attempt was made to The colonists, like modern-day protesters, we could all use less bad news. I’m balancing the country deals with it on an institutional resist us.” were at their wit’s end. being desensitized versus internalizing this level. v 12 CHICA O READER - JUNE ll The Chicago Reader is community-centered and community-supported. CHICAGO FOR CHICAGOANS You are at the heart of this newspaper. Founded in 1971, we have always been free, and have always centered Chicago. Help us to continue to curate coverage of the diverse and creative communities of this fabulous city.
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Interiors from Julia Carusillo’s collection JULIA CARUSILLO
et clamshell she’d recommend for sheltering in place. What draws you to the clamshell structures?
Megan Kirby: Where do you get your Polly I’m a set and exhibit designer. The world of Pockets? miniatures has always been super interesting to me. In school and in my professional life, I Julia Carusillo: My biggest haul that I’ve ever make tactile and digital models. So, I love the DESIGN gotten was a woman on Craigslist who was intricacy of the architecture of the sets. They’re selling about 15 of the clamshells. That’s where I so complex and detailed. It’s amazing that they got the bulk of mine, right when I began collect- can get that level of detail with the size of these Inside the intricate worlds of ing again [about fi ve years ago]. I also get them things. on eBay. I’ve only found them in a thrift store a few times. Those are the golden moments, How do Polly Pockets fi t into art history? Polly Pocket when you fi nd them out in the wild. That’s only happened to me twice. I have notifi cations for I love the Venus of Willendorf and all of the An interview with collector and Instagrammer Julia Carusillo this estate sale website, and sometimes people miniature statuettes throughout art history. will be selling them. But somehow people know They’re so cute. When you go to the Asian wing By M K that they’re valuable, and so often when I get to in the Art Institute and see all of the tiny little the estate sale they’re already gone or they’re pieces there that are carved out of jade. I just super overpriced. love that. h, to quarantine inside a Polly Pocket, safe against the clamshells. The cases open to reveal and enclosed, all the comforts of home tiny, interactive worlds inside: an 80s-kitsch How do you fit into the wider Polly Pocket It makes me think of the Thorne Miniature Osculpted in colorful plastic. Browsing the surf shack, a pastel fairy cave, a water park with social media world? Rooms at the Art Institute, too. Instagram account @polly_pick_pocket might a winding pink slide, a hair salon with a tiny be the next best thing. Logan Square–based art- checkerboard fl oor. The account’s tagline is “I Well, I’m friends on Instagram with all of these That was always a major destination for me. I ist Julia Carusillo works as a set and exhibit de- bet you had the same one!” accounts. I think my account is different be- grew up in the suburbs, and we would go and signer, creating sets and displays for theaters, With a shout-out from Jezebel and 21,500 cause I don’t collect the dolls at all. I only collect visit those all the time. My mom loves minia- nature centers, and aquariums—which gives Instagram followers (and counting), Carusillo the clamshells. I have probably a hundred dolls tures too, and so does my sister. The Thorne her a particular appreciation for miniature has tapped into an online world of 90s nostal- that have come with some of the kits. But I don’t Rooms are the best. I went a month ago—well, worlds. On the popular Instagram, she posts gia, toy collectors, and design bu s. She talked seek out complete sets the way that other ac- I guess it’s quarantine so it was more like three soothing ASMR “tours” of Polly Pocket interiors to us about the appeal of miniatures, the toys’ counts do. I care a lot more about the architec- months ago. I went and visited them, and from her collection. Her manicured nails click infl uence on her own art, and which Polly Pock- ture of the actual toy than I do about the dolls. they’re just so beautiful. 14 CHICA O READER - JUNE ll The Virtual Beach Ball Online Auction bac.givesmart.com
The Virtual
Julia Carusillo and one of her clamshells JULIA CARUSILLO
I love that. How do Polly Pockets infl uence your design This one is probably the most popular Polly work? that I see for sale online, which is a really big pink star—it’s bigger than most of the other My dream job would honestly be to design Polly compacts—and it’s really special. The part that Pocket worlds. I do embroidery, and I’ve done opens up that is perpendicular to your desk is really complex embroidery of different Polly the night sky. And it has hot air balloons and a Pockets. And I guess that seeing the level of de- Ferris wheel, and the stars behind them light tail you can get out of molded plastic has made up, and the little compartments for people it clear to me that I can get that level of detail move in a circle. When they have so many from the things that I make. moving parts, it’s just like, how on earth did you design this? They amaze me. How would you describe the Polly Pocket aesthetic? If you had to quarantine in one Polly Pocket set, which one would you choose? Super 80s, early 90s. Polly iconically has a short perm, which I love. The molded plastic is just so I was thinking about this a lot. Defi nitely the ski iconic to me. Not only is there molded plastic, chalet. There are a few ski chalets, and there’s a but there are stickers for the even-more-tiny Pollyville one that’s like a little house. There are details like what you’d see out of Polly’s win- icicles dripping o of it. Little pine trees. Stu dow. They have a ski chalet where you can see like that. But there’s also one I have that has a the mountains, things like that. They’re their little ski slope built into it, and it comes with own little worlds, and I think that’s what makes a sled. It’s a gorgeous little world, so cozy and them so special, aesthetically. warm. LOGAN THEATRE’S Then, my all-time favorite Polly Pocket is this POPCORN + CANDY! What are your favorite specifi c details? little pink suitcase—it’s called Polly in Paris. BEER + WINE! And it has a view of the Ei el Tower, it has the One of my favorite details that’s in a couple dif- little statue I was talking about. It has an eleva- ferent compacts are these little marble statues, tor, a fainting couch, a little courtyard. It’s like, but they’re done in the style of what the Polly this is the place to be, for sure. v Follow for info on upcoming dolls look like. So it’ll be a classical statue but it pickup dates: @thelogantheatre fil has the same facial features as one of the dolls. @megankirb ll JUNE - CHICAOREADER 15 G ’H ARTS & CULTURE instagram.com/grandmashouse.poetry
Poet Caroline Watson brings the open mike Grandma’s House to everyone’s house. RUDY SCHIEDER
LIT who lives in Park Manor in Greater Grand episode fi ve and shared her poem about the Crossing. Also a teaching and performance heaviness the pandemic has brought to the artist, Tuggle shared his untitled poem for west and south sides, highlighting longtime Poetry at a distance his daughter Carmendy on the fourth episode racial injustices. While she says she initially of the video series. Carmendy, whom her felt vulnerable reading on her porch and Poets come together to share the joy, pain, and hope from the pandemic in a father calls “a performance kid” and who is sharing her intimate space with the camera, new video project. on a competitive dance team, is in the video, Watson’s project reminded Townsend Riley sitting at the window listening to the poem. that her neighborhood is just as important as By A P -A Tuggle’s poem, which he wrote the fi rst day more popular neighborhoods. that Chicago Public Schools closed in March, “I felt proud of where I come from,” the is a response to the current moment and how poet says. “Roseland is beautiful if you take it has a ected him and his daughter. She is the time to actually see it.” pen mikes have gone dark amid the space and serves the community in a time fi nishing fi rst grade and coming to grips with Being part of this series has encouraged pandemic, but creativity has taken to when artists are struggling and can’t perform not seeing her friends, not performing, and Townsend Riley to be creative without feel- Oa virtual stage. For local poet Caroline in public. It’s transformed Grandma’s House not going to the Disney store. ing guilty if she can’t produce as much. The Watson, who runs the monthly poetry open into each poet’s house, giving them the stage “To look at family, to look at community, poet, author, and speaker had a big lineup of mike Grandma’s House at the Martin, sharing to share their work, much like the physical and to look at the person first—because events ready until the pandemic cut it down; work from the poetry community feels essen- open mike would. In a time when creatives everything is happening to the person fi rst— now, she’s leaning into balancing creation tial to this moment. are taking to social media and Zoom calls was the most appropriate piece to read,” says with refl ection. “Caroline gave me a visual to Since late March, Watson has visited var- to host virtual shows, she wanted to make Tuggle, who has been in creation mode since refl ect on for years to come, and I am honored ious Chicago neighborhoods to record poets sure her project didn’t add chaos to digital the shutdown, writing 63 poems over 35 con- to have that,” she says. reading new material from their porch for her quarantine-related content but instead be in secutive days. Watson says the poets represent the resil- new Grandma’s House video series that de- person as much as possible to maintain the He calls Watson’s project a great creative ience that lives in the community and their buted in April. With help from her boyfriend, spirit of her open mike. distraction that helps people stay balanced, individual beauty. “I am just a piece of the Watson has recorded, edited, and produced The poets in the series have been featured as well as a display of pandemic thoughts puzzle in the Chicago poetry community, and six episodes so far, honoring the six-foot-dis- at Watson’s shows in the past, but she says percolating from all over the city that go be- I am grateful to be part of the puzzle,” she tance rule by way of a large boom mike that getting to see where they live has been a spe- yond health and money. “This is a rare time in says. separates them to catch the outside sound. cial experience. “Getting to go to their homes society, in my almost 50 years on this planet, Episodes are released on the Grandma’s “The idea of me with this giant boom mike, and seeing a little slice of their lives, in a way where we are in this together, and here is the House Instagram, and Watson plans to pub- which visually shows the distance, was the that I would otherwise not have done, has chance for people to acknowledge it,” he says. lish at least six more between now and July. best option,” Watson laughs. “It’s been fun been a warm and joyful spot in all of this non- Creating space for diversity and these She asks for donations via Venmo to keep the to be my little one-man sound crew, and I’m sense and madness,” she says. feelings is why Kwyn Townsend Riley was videos going and to support the poets in the learning I do not have the arm strength to be Watson, who lives in Uptown, has traveled privileged to be part of Watson’s project. series. v a boom-mike operator.” to the west, south, and north sides of the Townsend Riley, who performs as Kwynol- Watson says her project provides a creative city to spotlight poets such as Billy Tuggle, ogy and lives in Roseland, was featured in @ArielParrella 16 CHICA O READER - JUNE ll R READER RECOMMENDED b ALL AGES F THEATER
Free Street Theater’s Still/Here COURTESY FREE STREET
one, and the people remaining try to fi gure out how to all fi t into the space that is left. But somehow, this show from pre-COVID days and created long before the current wave of nationwide protests in the wake of the police slaying of George Floyd hit me as an even more vibrant and vital call to action now. Can this pandemic help us begin to ad- dress historic inequities in Chicago and be- yond in health care, housing, education, and criminal justice? “Fear is what gentrifi cation looks like. Death is what erasure looks like,” one ensemble member tells us. With both death rates from the coronavirus and arrests for violating social distancing restrictions hitting communities of color harder than primarily white neighborhoods, that obser- vation straddles the line between epigram and epitaph, even as the show (based on in- terviews with 400 residents from all over the city) straddles the line between documenta- ry theater and agitprop, with warmhearted doses of personal anecdote tossed in. I saw Maher’s play four separate times in three different productions with Theater Oobleck, beginning with its fi rst production in 2011 at the now-gone Storefront Theater downtown. So it’s safe to say it’s one of my STREAMING REVIEWS about how segregation and discrimination favorite pieces to emerge from Chicago have shaped Chicago’s history. in the last ten years. One of the upsides of Just seeing a crowd of people gathering being quarantined and watching streaming A trifecta for times of terror on a sunny day in West Town’s Walsh Park productions is that I can catch up with work is enough to trigger nostalgia in a time of from around the country and the world, and Three streaming productions to ponder for pandemic and protest pandemic. But the show also begins with it was delightful to revisit Maher’s piece, the cast giving a rapid-fi re rundown of “ev- available free through Catastrophic’s You- By K R erything we remember that we love about Tube channel, in the hands of a company Chicago.” The list includes outdoor water wholly unknown to me. parks, Chinatown, roller skating on the south As has been the case with Maher’s work he world of quarantine is paradoxical, Child might not seem to have much in com- side, SummerDance at Michigan and Balbo, now for several years, through such shows with our immediate environments mon. But Free Street Theater’s Still/Here, the smell of chocolate downtown, and music. as The Hunchback Variations and The Stran- Tsmaller and more constrained even as Catastrophic Theatre of Houston’s There Is Music everywhere. gerer, There Is a Happiness That Morning the big existential issues grow ever more a Happiness That Morning Is (written by The opening vignette’s premise is that Is uses a sterile institutional background ominous. What does it mean to live, to love, Chicago playwright and Theater Oobleck co- we’re hearing “final logs” from a city on environment (and one dedicated to carefully to dream in such circumstances? founder Mickle Maher), and TimeLine The- the brink of apocalypse. But for most of its structured public discourse) as a way to A trifecta of plays I watched online atre’s To Master the Art all created an inter- hour-plus running time, Still/Here, as the explode that environment and expose the recently, all with Chicago roots and all esting conversation inside my head—which name suggests, is about being in the present, rotting beams holding it up. recorded from the Time Before COVID-19, is where I, like too many of us, am spending even as the forces of gentrifi cation push the Two academics and longtime lovers, Ber- address those questions in dramaturgically entirely too much time lately. ensemble around. nard and Ellen, are delivering intertwined divergent but compelling ways. Collectively, Still/Here’s subtitle—Manifestos for Joy Literally. In one of the most engaging seg- lectures on William Blake’s Songs of Inno- they’ve probably a ected me more than any and Survival—provides the roadmap for this ments, the troupe enacts a game of musical cence and Experience in the aftermath of of the other streaming work I’ve seen so far 2019 show, fi lmed in August of last year and chairs using a collection of milk crates repre- having been caught in fl agrante on the lawn in quarantine, even if they don’t boast the available for free through Vimeo. Created senting public investment. As new “improve- of their small decaying liberal arts college. slick recording quality of, say, the National by the ensemble and directed by Free Street ments” arrive—a school that is actually a Their lectures are supposed to take the form Theatre. artistic director Coya Paz, the show is a se- cop academy, “affordable” housing that is of apology for having sex in public, on orders Gentrification, William Blake, and Julia ries of vignettes raising evergreen questions anything but—the crates disappear one by from the dean. But though Bernard, awash in ll JUNE - CHICAOREADER 17 “THE THEATRICAL EQUIVALENT OF COMFORT FOOD” THEATER – BROADWAY WORLD continued from 17 ment to moment and as best as we can, has midlife afterglow (“I happy am,” he burbles, never felt more noble. quoting Blake’s “Infant Joy”) and fresh from TimeLine’s To Master the Art, now avail- a night in the woods, is more than willing able on a ticketed paid basis for remote to appease the powers that be to get things viewing through June 7, also celebrates the back to normal, Ellen is not. love of a couple of a certain age. Here, it’s We soon learn that she’s dying of an ab- Julia and Paul Child, as seen through the dominal tumor, which makes her choice of eyes of playwrights William Brown, who also poem for the day, “The Sick Rose,” even more directs, and Doug Frew, and endearingly em- achingly ironic. And of course, even more of bodied by Karen Janes Woditsch and Craig a gut punch for us now, as we try to hide from Spidle. Originally produced at TimeLine’s virulence. “The invisible worm, That fl ies in home space in Lakeview ten years ago, this the night,” indeed. And while their escapade recording is from the encore presentation in on the quad has reinvigorated Bernard, Ellen fall of 2013 at the Broadway Playhouse. I saw thinks the ensuing public humiliation fi nally the fi rst outing, but not this revival. But to killed her love for him. my eyes, the proscenium staging loses little Catastrophic’s production, recorded in of the inaugural production’s intimacy in May of 2013 and directed by Jason Nodler, translation, and with the original cast all on marks the first time I’ve seen any Oobleck board, it’s, well, a feast. show performed by a di erent troupe. I feel Woditsch’s Julia is initially an awkward in many ways as if I’ve grown up alongside fish-out-of-water in Paris, where Spidle’s this company. The first Oobleck show I Paul has been stationed, courtesy of the ever saw was in the winter of 1988—Je rey United States Information Agency, to bring Dorchen’s The Slow and Painful Death of Sam the best of American culture to postwar Eu- Shepard, written long before any of us had an rope. If you’ve seen Julie & Julia, the story inkling that the American playwright would will be familiar, though Woditsch, like Meryl indeed have a slow death from ALS in 2017. Streep, is far too gifted an actor to indulge I mourned with them last year as Oobleck in mere mimicry of Child’s famously flutey founding member and my old friend Danny voice. But the play feels poignant now for by WILLIAM BROWN and DOUG FREW directed by WILLIAM BROWN Thompson succumbed to a rare genetic dis- di erent reasons, and not just because some order. If I have any yardstick for what truly of us (though not me, sadly) are using time original dramaturgy looks like, it began with at home to beef up our own culinary skills, THE HIT SHOW ABOUT CULINARY ICON JULIA CHILD Oobleck’s mash-up of the high- and lowbrow, or wondering how to reinvent ourselves in a the political and the personal, the epic and strange new world. WATCH FROM HOME! the ridiculous. Paul especially is hounded by the Mc- NOW STREAMING FOR A LIMITED TIME Happiness, written in rhyming couplets, Carthyites in the State Department who NOW – JUNE 7 arose out of what Maher described in a re- are bent on sni¢ ng out the merest whi of cent YouTube discussion with Catastrophic communism, and Spidle’s layered take as a as “a real desire to write something with man increasingly frustrated by the confl ict more humor and more sex in it.” And it is between his high-minded aspirations and “EXCELLENT, INTIMATE ... funny—at least, as funny as anything about the dull-witted (if not outright malicious) death, love, and trying to fi nd room for one limitations imposed by bureaucrats feels RESONANT WITH ATMOSPHERE” last chance at honest self-revelation can be. bang on the nose; it also paired nicely with – CHICAGO TRIBUNE In other words, it’s howlingly, horribly hi- Ellen and Bernard’s dean dilemma in Happi- larious. And also bittersweet and wise. Amy ness. And like the Blake scholars, Julia and Bruce and Troy Schulze as Ellen and Bernard Paul also fi nd salvation in their love for each “A TOTAL DELIGHT bring out all the nuances of nostalgia, rage, other and other pleasures of the mind and and finally desperate need for connection palate. FUNNY, TOUCHING, CHARMING AND driving the lovers, staring down the twin ex- “Here’s to mastering the art of living life to istential terrors of unemployment and death. its fullest and enjoying every damn minute AS ENJOYABLE AS AN EXQUISITE MEAL” That’s as relatable a set of circumstances as of it,” Spidle’s Paul proposes near the end of – TALKIN’ BROADWAY we’ll ever fi nd these days. the enchanting TimeLine production. I didn’t “Hearts can’t say what’s in their now when cry the fi rst time I heard that line onstage. dizzied by their future,” Ellen says late in the But watching on my laptop at home, the tears play. As we stay stuck in our now, dizzied and sprang to my eyes. v 773.281.8463 TIMELINETHEATRE.COM terrifi ed by the future, the idea that perhaps salvation lies in choosing joy over fear, mo- @kerryreid 18 CHICA O READER - JUNE ll THEATER
The Rosina Project VIN REED ble and transparent. Letting people see your home space—that’s a very sacred space.” several multigenre performers (including And yet, as Sanders-Ward points out, the dancer and Reader contributor Irene Hsiao) police slaying of Breonna Taylor in her Lou- to create short video performances refl ect- isville home shows how easily that sacred ing on “both the absence and impossibility of space can be violated for Black citizens. touch and moments of connection during the While the pieces the dancers perform in the quarantine.” festival may not explicitly refl ect on Taylor’s One of the rescheduled artists is Alex death, Sanders-Ward says, “It’s just a part of Alpharaoh, a solo performer and writer our lived experience that I’m sure the danc- from Los Angeles whose work reflects the ers carry with them and it will appear as it experiences of undocumented Americans. makes sense in their ideas about resilience But though he isn’t presenting new work and space.” The festival will also feature a this year, the festival kicks off on Friday recording of the DuSable performance, so with a screening at 6 PM of Lidieth Arevalo’s viewers can see the new pieces (which debut documentary Alpharaoh, which captures on Saturday) in conversation with the earlier the national tour of the artist’s solo piece performance. WET: A DACAmented Journey . Alpharaoh Director Seth Bockley and writer Drew will participate in a Zoom meet-and-greet as Paryzer’s Superfl uxus, originally intended as part of a fundraiser for Pivot. Tickets for that an immersive installation and performance event are $25, but all other festival o¡ erings (inspired in part by escape rooms) taking are free, though of course donations are place throughout the Edge Theater building welcome. on Broadway, transformed into a choose- Friday also features a livestream dance your-own-adventure virtual experience, set party led by artists from The Rosina Project, in a “surreal and sinister lunar landscape in FESTIVALS a collaboration between Chicago Fringe the year 2120.” Opera and BraveSoul Movement street dance “This is not a work that is a commentary troupe that premiered in last year’s festival on the present pandemic or situation,” says Pivot in the pandemic and that recasts Rossini’s The Barber of Se- Bockley. “But it does inevitably refl ect some ville as “a story of female empowerment and of the preoccupations that we all have around A multidisciplinary arts fest lives up to its name. interracial friendship.” The livestream will isolation.” With the help of a tech team that include songs and dances from that piece includes video designer Tony Churchill and By K R and an invitation to audiences watching from games designer Melissa Schlesinger, who home to join in. has also designed escape rooms, Bockley and For Vershawn Sanders-Ward, founding Paryzer were able to translate their original artistic director of Red Clay Dance Company, concept in a way that Bockley hopes will the festival going online provided an oppor- “plant the seeds for that future live version.” ivot Arts has been an incubator for mul- possible in performance.” And though some tunity for her company to revisit a piece she For Ehre, the virtual festival can’t fully fi ll tidisciplinary performance for nearly a of the festival’s previously scheduled work originally created in 2017, Art of Resilience, the gap left by the shutdown of museums and Pdecade, and its annual festival, which “made no sense to be online,” Ehre says that which was further reimagined last year as a theaters, which is why many of the artists usually takes over several venues in Edge- they will be rescheduled for next year. Mean- site-specifi c piece, Art of Resilience 2.0, for scheduled online this year will be returning water and Uptown, is the public culmination time, the artists who are going forward with the DuSable Museum’s Roundhouse venue. live when it’s safe to do so. But she says, “The of those development efforts. But with the the current incarnation will be paid the same That version reflected on the strength and idea that access to the arts is no longer in ex- COVID-19 shutdown, the company knew they as they would have been for the live version. vibrancy of Black communities in Chicago, as istence is a complete tragedy for me. I want had to, well, pivot. And so this year’s festival, One of the “silver linings” of the reimag- well as the role of segregation and violence to make sure that people still have some ac- running June 5-30, is a virtual feast of dance, ined Pivot Festival for Ehre is the ability to against them. In Resilience Reimagined, Red cess to art. And not just archival work, but to theater, music, and solo performance. bring in artists from outside Chicago, includ- Clay dancers embody the work they did last things that are being created right now.” v Though the recorded pieces in the festival ing New York-based Obie Award-winning year from their homes and other site-specifi c will go “live” on the site at specifi c dates and solo performer David Cale, who has been places. @kerryreid times from June 5-11, the content will remain performing at the Goodman for decades. Says Sanders-Ward, “The piece is about available through the end of the month. He’s appearing as part of the (Un)touched claiming space, particularly for Black and For Pivot’s founder and director Julieanne series of short video performances, debuting Brown bodies. So my fi rst thought was about Ehre, moving online made sense. “We pro- on June 8 and curated by Ehre and Tanya how we are relating to our home spaces, duce and present adventurous and contem- Palmer, the former director of play develop- being kind of confi ned to spaces that are our porary performance. So we are not a tradi- ment at the Goodman who currently heads own, that we created, but that we may or please recycle tional theater company or dance company. the MFA program in dramaturgy at Indiana may not spend that much time in.” this paper Our whole purpose is to reimagine what’s University. Palmer and Ehre asked Cale and She adds, “I’m asking them to be vulnera- ll JUNE - CHICAOREADER 19 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 Grey Fox 1995 fi lm itself, the documentary off ers no clear- cut conclusions as it details Showgirls’s divisiveness. up stagecoaches; inspired by Edwin S. Porter’s 1903 Instead, You Don’t Nomi compiles a set of smart and silent fi lm The Great Train Robbery, he decides to start impassioned contributors’ wide-ranging thoughts on robbing trains. Miner settles in the small town of Kam- everything from the extensive use of mirrors to explore loops, British Columbia, where he wins the hearts of the ideas of refl ection and doubling to the shared through- locals, including feminist photographer Kate Flynn (Jackie line of Elizabeth Berkley’s Saved by the Bell character Burroughs)—eventually, however, the dreaded Pinkertons Jessie Spano and her role as Showgirls’s protagonist catch up with him. Between Miner’s refi ned nature, a Nomi Malone. And while many of the opinions are refreshing love story, and picturesque cinematography contrary to one another, each is as considered and by Frank Tidy, this goes down pretty easy. —K engaging as the next, making for an enlightening and S 92 min. Streaming on Music Box Virtual Cin- entertaining experience. An exercise in thoughtful ema starting 6/5 fandom, You Don’t Nomi stokes Showgirls’s fi re in a way that will leave viewers craving even more discourse Tommaso about a fi lm that has captivated audiences for the past R If you made a fi lm about your life, would you 15 years. —B J 92 min. In wide release on be kind to your past self? Abel Ferrara’s answer to that VOD starting 6/9 question, Tommaso, is complicated. A previous collabo- rator with Ferrara in Pasolini, Willem Dafoe embodies a Yourself and Yours fi ctionalized version of the provocative fi lmmaker—he’s R This 2016 feature by prolifi c South Korean six years sober, a recent transplant to Rome with a much auteur Hong Sang-soo (his 18th overall) revolves younger wife and their daughter (played by Ferrara’s around a case of mistaken identity—or does it? A actual wife and daughter), and is trying to forgive himself young man (Kim Ju-hyuk) learns from his friends that for his past so he can fi nally move on and be the family his girlfriend (the beguiling Lee Yoo-young) has been man he never could be. Dafoe is a dynamo in an otherwise seen out drinking with other men. He confronts her NOW PLAYING exceedingly clever and increasingly cruel ways to fi ght muted and low-budget production, carrying the narrative and she denies it, kicking into eff ect a confusing, back. Watching Wilson doing so from the start and with a with a cocktail of frantic and isolated neuroticism that albeit lighthearted, quasi-farce centered on the per- Becky bit of a smirk is wholly compelling. —B J R, 100 feels like it will explode at any moment. The fi lm’s swirl- ception of this woman—as well as her supposed twin, R Lulu Wilson remains a force to be reckoned with. min. In wide release on VOD and in drive-ins ing camerawork, fantastical hallucinations, and largely and maybe even another woman altogether—by her A er an unforgettable performance in 2016’s Ouija: Origin improvised framework make watching Tommaso feels like boyfriend and a couple other men (played by Hong of Evil, Wilson has continued applying her powerhouse The Grey Fox you’re watching a man unravel in real time. It would be regulars Kwon Hae-hyo and Yoo Jun-sang) she encoun- acting skills and a noted interest in genre work to dark R Bill Miner—sometimes called the Gentleman Rob- easy for Tommaso to feel self-indulgent—but it never asks ters throughout. Something of an upturned riff on Luis projects, making Becky her perfect match for now. A gore- ber or the Grey Fox—was an American outlaw in the late for your pity. Instead, Tommaso embodies the sometimes Buñuel’s That Obscure Object of Desire (1977), in which fi lled home invasion thriller, the movie follows Becky’s 19th and early 20th centuries who became something poetic, sometimes unforgiving parts of being human and two actresses famously played the same character, the weekend at a lake house with her father (Joel McHale), of a folk hero due to how well he was said to behave the challenges of grappling with one’s complicated legacy. fi lm’s formal trickery is both absorbing and inscrutable. his new girlfriend (Amanda Brugel), and the girlfriend’s while committing his crimes. Refl ecting its benevolent —C C 6/5-6/11, Gene Siskel Film Center Hong’s fi lms o en give the impression of an intricate son (Isaiah Rockcliff e). Things deteriorate when a group of protagonist, this 1982 revisionist western about Miner by From Your Sofa simplicity, his intentions laid bare but sometimes diffi - convicts (led by Kevin James) arrives to wreak havoc. It’s Australian-born Canadian director Philip Borsos (working cult to interpret. I recommend watching this more than easy to expect one of the adults in the room will assume from a script by John Hunter) is considerably humane. You Don’t Nomi once, but to what end, I’m still not sure. In Korean with the hero role—most would put their money on Brugel over The fi lm follows Miner (played by Richard Farnsworth) R Showgirls’s legacy lives on in Jeff rey McHale’s subtitles. —K S 86 min. 6/5-6/11, Gene McHale—but it’s Becky who channels her teen angst into a er he fi nishes a 30-year prison sentence for holding fascinating documentary You Don’t Nomi. Much like the Siskel Film Center From Your Couch v CHICAGO READER MASKS
CHICAGOREADER.THREADLESS.COM
20 CHICA O READER - JUNE ll Never MUSIC miss a show COURTESY THE ARTIST again. nonprofit organization that myself and my then wife ran. The first day was Community Day, where vendors got to come out and give information and resources to the community. The first day was free for all the young peo- ple in the city to attend. Diggy Simmons per- EARLY formed with myself and Common. But the second day you had Jennifer Hud- WARNINGS son performing. You had Common. You had Kanye West. You had Twista. You had Lupe chicagoreader.com/early Fiasco. You had Crucial Confl ict. The city had never seen most of its greatest hip-hop artists on one stage in one night. When Kanye came out and performed, he ran through his whole catalog with simply a guy with a keyboard and a guitar. It was a beautiful Chicago evening. What we were able to all come together and do just showed a kind of unity, and the ful- fi llment of that type of promise. When I look and see what the Roots do in Philadelphia— they have a Roots Picnic that they do every year. Chicago hasn’t had anything like that #CHIMUSIC35 before it or anything like it since. No one real- ly knows who throws Riot Fest. No one really knows who does Lollapalooza. I’ll be damned Rhymefest’s greatest moment in if any of them give back to the community or gave back to the community. This was something that was done for the Chicago music history community, by the community, and people who came from it. Aahh! Fest was one of the The veteran rapper and activist remembers an all-star festival by and for the greatest two-day festival concerts that Chi- community. cago has seen in recent years. The only thing that can compare to it would be the Silver By C “R ” S A C Room Block Party. Find hundreds You named a who’s who of Chicago artists ot only is 2020 the Year of Chicago and creative director of the nonprofi t Art of who’ve achieved worldwide stardom. What of Reader- Music, it’s also the 35th year for the non- Culture (formerly Donda’s House). A fixture do you think it is about Chicago that creates recommended Nprofi t Arts & Business Council of Chicago in the Chicago hip-hop scene for decades, he’s these people, these artists, this thing that (A&BC), which provides business expertise and currently working on a new album as well as the world sees as being special? restaurants, training to creatives and their organizations his memoir: both are titled Love Lessons. exclusive video citywide. To celebrate, the A&BC has launched This interview was conducted by Ayana Well, I’m going to say this, but this extends to the #ChiMusic35 campaign at ChiMusic35. Contreras, who’s a DJ, a host and producer at other genres of music. The people that migrat- features, and sign up com, which includes a public poll to determine WBEZ radio, and a columnist for DownBeat ed to Chicago from the south and brought the consensus 35 greatest moments in Chicago magazine. gospel, that evolved into the way we do blues, for weekly news at music history as well as a ra e to benefi t the that turned into the way that we express our- chicagoreader.com/ A&BC’s work supporting creative communities Ayana Contreras: What’s one of your favorite selves, the Africana way that we do house struggling with the impact of COVID-19 in the Chicago music moments? music—[we’re the home] of house music, the food. city’s disinvested neighborhoods. home of the blues, the evolution of gospel, Another part of the campaign is this Reader Rhymefest: One of the most powerful, under- and the consciousness of hip-hop. That’s what collaboration: a series spotlighting import- stated moments in Chicago music history of we are, especially when you look at the ones ant fi gures in Chicago music serving as #Chi- the last fi ve years—and Kanye and I were just who truly have made it in hip-hop from Chica- Music35 ambassadors. This week, we hear speaking about this a day ago—was an event go. It is the consciousness of the genre. v from Oscar- and Grammy-winning rapper and called Aahh! Fest. It was created [in 2014] by activist Che “Rhymefest” Smith, cofounder Common and Donda’s House, which was a @RHYMEFEST ll JUNE - CHICAOREADER 21 Recommended and notable releases and critics’ insights for the week of June 4
MUSIC b ALL AGES F
Steve Earle, Ghosts of West Virginia PICK OF THE WEEK Columbia store.newwestrecords.com/products/steve-earle- Chicago rap star Polo G stands firm on the-dukes-ghosts-of-west-virginia-cd SAT JUNE 6 On April 5, 2010, a coal-dust explosion at Massey @ Online his peak with The Goat Energy’s Upper Big Branch Mine in Raleigh Coun- Sophia Lucia’s Freak Show Cabaret ty, West Virginia, killed 29 miners. Though subse- (EVENT REPEATS WEEKLY) quent investigations found that a pervasive pattern of negligence and safety violations had led to the JUNE 6 entirely preventable tragedy, in 2015 Massey Ener- SAT @ Naperville Settlement gy CEO Don Blankenship got off with a slap on the wrist: a single misdemeanor conviction for conspir- Naperville Soulfest 2020 ing to violate mine safety and health standards and a one-year prison sentence. In 2018 he unsuccess- JUNE 6 fully ran for Senate as a Republican and—lest any- SAT one think he’s the least bit repentant for his role in @ Online, Eboni Montsho Ignites such a massive loss of life—he’s currently running Purpose & Passion Tour 2020 for president with the far-right-wing Constitution Party. The Upper Big Branch Mine disaster brief- ly cast a national light on Appalachia, including the big-business exploitation of local workers and natu- to add your event to ral resources, the bitter class divides among its com- TIXREADER COM munities, and the love-hate relationship its residents and see it listed here weekly, have with a fading industry that’s shaped so much of please send an email to the region’s economy and cultural life. These conver- [email protected] sations coalesce on Steve Earle’s 20th studio album, Ghosts of West Virginia. He wrote seven of the ten songs on Ghosts for Coal Country, a play by “doc- umentary theater” playwrights Erik Jensen and Jes- sica Blank that premiered at New York’s Public The- ater in early March. Earle adapted gospel, country, bluegrass, and blues to a narrative-song style, and while he played the material solo onstage during the Chicago's Free Weekly play’s run, on the album he’s backed by his band, the Dukes. While some of his compositions, including Since 1971 “Heaven Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere” and “If I Could See Your Face Again,” sound ancient, he makes the tra- ditional “John Henry” his own (John Henry is also the THE name of one of Earle’s sons, so I bet he’s wanted to put his spin on that tune for a long time). Earle, who u is well-known for his leftist leanings, has said that he wants to engage with people who aren’t on his side of the political spectrum; in West Virginia, le - right divisions also play out in a decades-long strug- PHIL KNOTT gle between those devoted to coal as a traditional way of life and those who have turned toward envi- ronmental activism and a postcoal economy. “Union, God and Country” is Earle’s stab at creating dialog Polo G, The Goat by fi nding shared ground in West Virginia’s history Columbia of fi erce labor battles, which is a source of pride for many locals. “Devil Put the Coal in the Ground” is a polocapalot.com country-blues stomper that puts a dead-on folkloric spin on the contradiction of loving coal and hating it. The album’s heart is probably the brooding, furious “It’s About Blood,” which ends with a spoken-word CHICAGORAPPERTAURUSBARTLETT, better known as Polo G, rose to national prominence vigil: a recitation of the names of all 29 men who perished in the mine explosion. But Earle prevents so quickly that new listeners could be forgiven for assuming he’s been a star for at least a few the record from wallowing in despair—and helps years. He broke out in January 2019 with “Pop Out,” a collaboration with New York MC Lil protect it from accusations that it’s the sort of pov- Tjay, where Bartlett mixes irrepressible joy and gut-wrenching sorrow in prismatic pop. Bart- erty porn rightly criticized in the region—by lighten- ing the mood with “Fastest Man Alive,” which cele- lett maintained that single’s narrative gravitas and melodic sweetness for the entirety of his brates one of West Virginia’s favorite sons, ace pilot debut album, June 2019’s Die a Legend. In early May, he announced his follow-up, The Goat Chuck Yeager. —M K chicagoreader.com/donate (Columbia), on which he displays more fl exibility as a rapper. On “Go Stupid,” producer Mike Will Made-It concocts an antagonistic vibe with metallic drums and austere keys, a mood Indigo Girls, Look Long We Couldn't Be Free Without You— that jibes better with the guests on the track, Stunna 4 Vegas and NLE Choppa, than it does Rounder Support Community Journalism with Barlett himself. He sprays compact, burly lines tinged with a bit of his old melodic bliss, indigogirls.com performing with the vigor of an artist already hungry for the next challenge. —L G Singer-songwriters Amy Ray and Emily Saliers have 22 CHICA O READER - JUNE ll MUSIC
Gia Margaret COURTESY THE ARTIST
been playing folk-rock guitar and singing harmo- Gia Margaret, mia Gargaret nies together since the early 80s, when they were Orindal high school students in Decatur, Georgia. In 1985, giamargaret.bandcamp.com/album/mia-gargaret they began performing as the Indigo Girls, and their earnest lyrics and dual guitars earned them a Chicago singer-songwriter Gia Margaret makes loyal and dedicated fan base that grew exponen- what she calls “sleep rock.” Its mellow vibes make it tially a er the 1988 release of their self-titled sec- well-suited for early-morning or late-night listening, ond album (which was also their major-label debut). while its catchy melodies and driving beats can get An Indigo Girls concert can feel like a fun night at heads nodding—albeit gently. Margaret’s 2018 debut summer camp: nearly everyone sings along to their full-length, There’s Always Glimmer, creates invit- songs. Their new 15th studio album, Look Long, ing atmospheres with crisp production and varied doesn’t stray too far from the template that the duo instrumentation: Margaret’s double-tracked vocals has established, but why mess with a formula that’s glow amid a calming mix of electronic drums, piano, worked for so long? Most of the songs on Look Long and guitar. She builds upon that foundation on her highlight the perspectives of middle-aged people new second album, Mia Gargaret (Orindal), though reviewing their pasts with wistful aff ection: “When unlike its predecessor, it’s largely an instrumental We Were Writers,” for instance, is a heavy-handed, record—she sings only on the closing track, “Les- nostalgic ode to being young, creative, and “pull- son,” and occasionally samples voices, including a ing all- nighters.” I’m especially taken with the bitter- lecture by British philosopher Alan Watts. Margaret sweet ballad “Country Radio,” where Saliers draws made it while recovering from an illness that robbed on her experience growing up gay in 1970s Georgia. her of her singing voice for about half of 2019; rath- The protagonist (whose gender is carefully unspec- er than put music aside, she adapted in order to ifi ed) says that every night a er a shi at the food move forward. Opening track “Apathy,” released as court of the local mall, they listen to country songs an early single, channels Mort Garson’s Plantasia, about idyllic boy-girl romances and get swept away with a hypnotic looped arpeggio of synth and piano in their stories—even though the songs are selling a that evokes stillness as well as growth. Near the heterosexual fantasy that isn’t for them. “I want to end, Margaret introduces a sample from one of her know what it’s like to fall in love / Like most of the vocal-therapy sessions, where she’s dealing with the rest of the world,” Saliers sings. “I’m just a gay kid loss of her primary instrument but staying deter- in a small town / Who loves country radio.” Look mined and optimistic. Elsewhere she translates Long is fi lled with the sort of didactic lyrics that folk her compositional voice to other instruments: on rockers who wear their hearts on their sleeves can’t “Lakes,” a fi eld recording of waves ushers in acous- resist (and for which they’re o en derided). But I’m tic and effected guitars. No matter the tools she grateful that the Indigo Girls are still laying it all out uses, these songs convey patience and a thoughtful there—there’s always a small-town kid who needs to way of developing ideas. Margaret’s choice to con- hear it. —S C -J clude the album with “Lesson” suggests that she’ll eventually return to the singer-songwriter style of There’s Always Glimmer, but I hope she also con- tinues to explore the approaches here. Necessity is ll JUNE - CHICAOREADER 23 MUSIC
is like a world unto itself, one that sparkles like sil- ver and where a night’s mistakes can be washed away with a torrent of rain—and that’s exactly the type of utopia any dance-fl oor disciple would ache for. —S N S
No Age, Goons Be Gone Drag City noage.bandcamp.com/album/goons-be-gone
No Age have always been great at making very lit- tle sound like a whole lot. Since they began blending infl uences from hardcore punk and noise rock with indie-rock catchiness 15 years ago, the Los Angeles- based duo have been on the cutting edge of cool— they’ve always seemed a step ahead of their peers in the guitar-rock world. On the brand-new Goons Be Gone, No Age’s second full-length for Drag City, guitarist and singer Randy Randall and drummer and singer Dean Spunt have created their most lush and thoughtful music yet, proving that their well of greatness isn’t going to dry up anytime soon. This time around the band dive into psychedelic rock, layering dreamy guitars to create spacey textures and soundscapes; meanwhile their vocal melodies lean into mod textures, with equal parts attitude and smooth hooks. No Age have always fl eshed out the two-member dynamic so well, and they’ve upped their game even further on Goons Be Gone—some- times they break away from their minimalism, and they sound like a six-piece band cutting loose. When Mother Nature NICCIBRIANN they pair their new sense of pop grandeur with the inventive guitar leads, pushy drums, and unstoppa- continued from 23 feel of a lackadaisical instrumental: they enliven the ble energy of their signature sound, No Age are big- the mother of invention, and Mia Gargaret makes it indolent melody of “Antidote” with a few blustery ger and better than ever. —L C clear that it’s necessary for her to make music any bars that burst like fi reworks. —L G way she can. —I Y Options, Wind’s Gonna Blow Nation of Language, Introduction, Self-released Mother Nature, Portalz Presence optionsmusic.bandcamp.com/album/winds- Closed Sessions Self-released gonna-blow mothernaturebarz.bandcamp.com/album/portalz nationofl anguage.bandcamp.com/ albumintroduction-presence Chicago punk multi-instrumentalist Seth Engel can Over the past few years, Chicago hip-hop duo deliver a sweet, melancholy riff so gracefully that Mother Nature have become so thoroughly embed- When the present is a slog at best and the future you’d think he lives inside the guitar chords from ded in several overlapping scenes that it could feel seems aimed off the edge of a cliff , a pair of rose- Jawbreaker’s Dear You. Engel, who records solo like they were always playing a show. And when the colored glasses turned toward the past can be irre- material under the name Options, is a busy young weather heated up, they sometimes got gigs bigger sistible—at any rate, that’s how Brooklyn trio Nation man about town. He drums with mathy progres- than any one scene: Subterranean booked them for of Language approached their debut album, Intro- sive trio Pyramid Scheme as well as heavy indie- Wicker Park Fest twice in a row, they won a spot on duction, Presence. Powered by chockablock synths, rockers Great Deceivers, and he’s a member of sev- North Coast Music Festival’s 2018 lineup, and last hypnotic bass grooves, and the shadowy croon eral groups that are on pause, including Li ed Bells year they played an unofficial Pitchfork afterpar- of bandleader Ian Devaney (imagine Frank Sina- and Anthony Fremont’s Garden Solutions. He also ty organized by multimedia outlet AMFM. This sea- tra at golden-era Neo), the record exhumes all the gets called up to play auxiliary roles on album ses- son, of course, nearly every musical gathering that 80s new-wave hallmarks worth reviving. The group sions by local emo and punk acts; his recent cred- helps fl avor Chicago’s summers has been postponed cobbled the album together over two years, pop- its include Retirement Party and Nature’s Neighbor. or canceled, but Mother Nature have nonetheless ping in and out of the studio with no clear agenda On the other side of the board, he’s a studio wiz who found a way to remind us that they’re part of what besides quelling their nostalgia; they tinkered with engineers, mixes, and masters music for a laundry makes bearing the city’s tundra-like conditions for unfamiliar instruments until melodies emerged in list of Chicago DIY artists at his Bridgeport head- the other nine months so rewarding. On the new revelatory fl ares. While Nation of Language’s glossy quarters, Pallet Sound. Since debuting Options with Providing arts coverage Portalz EP (their debut for Closed Sessions), rappers synth patches and splintered drumbeats bow to 2014’s What You Want, Engel has been cranking Klevah Knox and TRUTH navigate languid melodies postpunk progenitors, their lyrical subject matter out emo-laden rock songs whose clean power-pop in Chicago since 1971. in tracks built from sweltering synths, swaggering is timeless: city streets peppered with emotional hooks bind together joy and woe, and he pulls it off percussion, and nimble but understated bass lines. landmines (“On Division St.”), the lifelong tug-of- with surgical precision. Options’ sixth album, Wind’s The record has an easygoing vibe, and Klevah and war between self-improvement and self-sabotage Gonna Blow, continues this strange, intoxicating TRUTH frequently lean into it, unfurling half-sung (“Indignities”), and love so sweet it can melt your balance of blissful euphoria and vague gloom. On vocals that stretch on like a summer day. They sound teeth away (“Rush & Fever”). In a March interview “Blue,” Engel transforms mundane sadness into an perfectly laid-back, but they rap with such precision with Boston-based online magazine Vanyaland, Dev- existential wound, oozing with fuzzy riff s and sullen www.chicagoreader.com that you can easily imagine them pivoting instantly aney said, “I hoped in making this album to create singing, and cauterizes it with sharp guitar stabs and into aggressive, fi red-up verses. And even when they the space to openly ache for something.” The space drum bursts—the music makes it feel possible to heal stick to a relaxed lilt, their voices can transform the where Nation of Language have staked their claim even when everyday grief won’t stop. —L G 24 CHICA O READER - JUNE ll Find more music reviews at chicagoreader.com/soundboard. MUSIC
No Age BETHHOUFEK BIT.LY/GOOSEDELIVERS
Oumou Sangaré, Acoustic contributor. The intensity of the call-and-response Nø Førmat vocals, hand claps, and soaring vocals on “Bena noformat.net Bena” (“Ingratitude”) gets ratcheted up even further on the following track, “Kounkoun” (“Bad Seeds”), In 2017, celebrated Malian Wassalou singer and with its grooving, dueling strings. While many Amer- activist Oumou Sangaré released Mogoya, her fi rst icans are enduring intense isolation, Acoustic’s new album since 2009. During the intervening eight warm, rich textures and Sangaré’s incomparable years, she’d largely stepped away from the spotlight voice offer a sense of connection—and the feel of to pursue a variety of business ventures, including live music—from half a world away. —J L establishing agricultural projects, opening a hotel, and launching a new car, the Oum Sang. For San- Lucinda Williams, Good Souls Better garé each of them has off ered the chance to support Angels and empower the Malian people—proceeds from the Highway 20 Oum Sang, for example, benefi t a scholarship fund. lucindawilliams.com Wassoulou music, which arose in a part of West Afri- ca that includes southwestern Mali, is widely consid- Lucinda Williams writes raw, visceral songs filled ered a precursor to American blues; it’s traditionally with beaten-down people liberating themselves sung by women, and since the late 80s Sangaré has from bullies. “I changed the name of this town / So approached its soulful sounds with a modern femi- you can’t follow me down,” she sings on “Changed nist spirit, tackling subjects such as female auton- the Locks,” from her 1988 self-titled album. Her new omy and the pitfalls of arranged and polygamous record, Good Souls Better Angels, takes on similar marriages. (Sangare began working at age ten to demons, though its antagonists don’t just pick on MONEY + help support her family a er her father abandoned individuals but seek out victims on a global scale. her mother, who was his second wife.) On Mogoya Williams snarls truth to power on “Man Without (which translates to “Human Relations”), she updat- a Soul,” a protest song that recalls Phil Ochs: “All ed her sound by collaborating with producers in the money in the world will never fi ll that hole,” she POWER Sweden and France and incorporating elements sings to an unidentifi ed man (she recently told NPR of rock and funk; the album’s sleek, eclectic tracks that she thinks of her target as Donald Trump, but sparkle with robust energy, even when tackling com- he could just as easily be Mitch McConnell or any- plicated topics such as mental health, as she does one else who uses their power to abuse others). On on “Yera Faga” (“Suicide”), which features legendary Good Souls Better Angels, Williams sounds like a Afrobeat drummer Tony Allen. In 2018, Mogoya got cowpunk roadhouse version of a singer-songwriter— a club-ready makeover when its songs were remixed more than four decades into her career, she’s more by Sampha and Aunti Flo. Acoustic takes the oppo- powerful than ever. Williams pushes her country- site approach: recorded live in two days with no sec- rock alto into the microphone on “Big Black Train” ond takes or overdubs, the album strips down songs as she repeats “I don’t want to get on board,” as if from Mogoya to nothing but vocals, guitar, and a to shut up anyone who wasn’t convinced. And her traditional Malian stringed instrument called the longtime backing band, Buick 6, enhances her bril- kamele ngoni, similar in appearance to the harp like liant songwriting and forceful performances: on kora and usually tuned pentatonically. These don’t “Wakin’ Up,” which tells a startling story of escap- feel like laid-back tunes to sing around a campfi re, ing an abusive relationship with an addict, Stuart though—the bare-bones approach enhances the Mathis’s jagged guitar riffs match the emotion in Visit ChiUL.org/moneyandpower emotion of each song and the stunning skill of each Williams’s voice. —S C-J v ll JUNE - CHICAOREADER 25 MUSIC
ies, but lost them several years ago during a move,” he says. “So I had to buy them back on eBay, and it took me a while, because they rarely came up for sale and sellers were ask- ing ridiculous prices for them.” Salvatori never even got around to gigging as a solo artist, because another opportunity came knocking shortly after the release of Waiting for Autumn: his college friend Martin O’Donnell, who knew Salvatori had his own studio, proposed a fi lm-soundtrack collabo- ration. The two of them soon started working on music for TV commercials, and struck gold with a 1985 campaign for Flintstones vita- mins. If you’re around my age, you probably remember it: “We are Flintstones kids / Ten million strong and growing” (Salvatori’s two young daughters sang on the fi rst version). This success led to a full-time jingle- writing partnership, and O’Donnell and Salvatori moved out of his Wheaton base- ment and formed their own downtown Chi- cago agency. By the mid-90s, O’Donnell was starting to get tired of writing jingles and approached video-game developer Bungie, whose offices were located close to their studio, about writing music for its games. The first Bungie project for which the duo composed was the beloved 1997 fantasy- strategy game Myth: The Fallen Lords, and for a few years they continued splitting their time between games and jingles. But scoring the massive hit Halo in 2001 changed every- thing—Microsoft had just bought Bungie, horn-rock band that did originals plus covers and positioned Halo as the game that would of Chicago and the Ides of March). launch its new Xbox console that year. It sold Michael Salvatori’s long, After graduation Salvatori married his a million copies in its fi rst fi ve months, and is high school sweetheart, Gail, and started now considered a genre-defi ning classic. a short-lived prog band with her on key- Over the next nine years, O’Donnell and strange trip boards and his brother Tom on bass. They Salvatori worked on four more Halo games, only played a couple gigs, mostly for friends including two that broke sales records (the In 1982 he recorded a sought-a er private-press folk LP, and 19 years later and family, while Salvatori was working at a last was 2010’s Halo: Reach). In 2011 Salvato- he cowrote the score for genre-defi ning video game Halo. print shop to put Gail through college. Soon ri took a sta¡ job with Bungie, which had by he and Gail had a mortgage and a family, and then moved to Washington State (O’Donnell By S K as that reality sank in, Salvatori restricted had been hired years earlier), in order to his musical activity to relatively manageable work on music for the 2014 game Destiny. solo work. Luckily he was able to secure a O’Donnell eventually left Bungie, but Salva- discovered the music of Michael Salvatori 1954, and attended Visitation Catholic School bank loan to build a basement studio in his tori is still composing for the company today. through his 1980s private-press loner-folk till eighth grade. Inspired by West Side Story Wheaton home, where he recorded local mu- Salvatori’s years at Bungie have taken him I LP—it’s a sought-after item among fans of and the Beatles (and playing a guitar he’d sicians on evenings and weekends. When the to some unexpected places. “In 2012 and ’13 such obscurities—but most people who know gotten for Christmas), he joined his fi rst band studio wasn’t booked, he picked away at his we got to collaborate with Paul McCartney, his name have probably heard about him at age 12, covering pop favorites in the 13th own music. It took him a few years to record who cowrote some of the music on the fi rst because he’s a composer for hit video games. Hour with longtime friend Gary Polkow on his only solo album, but at age 28, Salvatori Destiny release,” he remembers. “That was Salvatori’s career has taken a few twists keyboards. At York High School in the early self-released the sublime 1982 LP Waiting for one of those ‘full circle’ moments for me— and turns I never would’ve anticipated, but 70s, the two of them moved on to heavier Autumn. seeing him on TV in 1964 was what caused Secret History finally has the story on this sounds with Psychlotron (who were inspired He pressed the album in a run of 500, and me to gravitate toward music as a career.” underappreciated music maker. by the Doors and Iron Butterfl y and opened it’s now very rare. Salvatori kept only a few. Now that, my friends, is what they call a Salvatori was born in Elmhurst, Illinois, in for the Cryan’ Shames) and Strapperjak (a “I still had about half a dozen unopened cop- journey! v 26 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 101WKQX Piqniq featuring Never miss Foster the People, Neon a show again. Trees, Phantogram, Love- lytheband, Yelawolf, Meg Sign up for the Myers, Dreamers, Bones newsletter at UK, Blue Stones, Kitten chicagoreader. GOSSIP 6/13, 1 PM, Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre, Tinley Park, com/early canceled WOLF OTR 6/26, 8 PM, Beat Kitchen, canceled Flesh Panthers, Bobby Lees, A furry ear to the ground of Over the Rhine 6/26/21, 8 PM, Furr 8/7, 10 PM, Schubas, 18+ SPACE, Evanston, resched- Flor de Toloache 11/12, 9 PM, the local music scene uled b Sleeping Village Reagan Youth 6/19, 8 PM, Reg- Noah Gundersen 10/9-10/10, CHICAGO DJ and producer Jordan Zaw- gies’ Music Joint, canceled 9:30 PM, Hideout Rod Tuff curls & the Bench Trevor Hall, Brett Dennen 9 /4 , ideh has house music in his blood. Since Press 7/4, 9 PM, House of 7:30 PM, the Vic, 18+ moving here from Detroit in 1998, he’s Blues, canceled Halsey 6/26/21, 7 PM, Holly- introduced countless dance heads to Tina Schlieske 7/30, 7:30 PM, wood Casino Amphitheatre, top-shelf tracks—not just from behind the SPACE, Evanston, canceled Tinley Park b Chris Smither 4/1/21, 8 PM, Hammerfall, Beast in Black, register at beloved record stores such as SPACE, Evanston, resched- Edge of Paradise 10/7, 7 PM, Weekend Records & Soap and KStarke uled b Concord Music Hall, 17+ but also from behind the decks at count- Stand Atlantic, Trash Boat, Jason Hawk Harris 6/25, 8 PM, less local nightspots, including Dan- IDK MIKE MILLER Super Whatevr, Jetty Bones FitzGerald’s, Berwyn 6/27, 7 PM, Reggies’ Rock Hrvy 9/23, 6 PM, Chop Shop b ny’s and Berlin. He hasn’t released many Club, canceled Hunny 8/28, 8 PM, Subterra- jams of his own, but on Friday, May 1, he NEW featuring Molly Jones 6/15, Hollywood Casino Amphithe- Tribute to Donald Byrd with nean, 17+ dropped the double 12-inch Ce Es Music 8 PM, livestream at twitch.tv/ atre, Tinley Park, canceled Kevin Toney, Azar Lawrence, Jenny Hval 9/10, 8 and 10:30 (via Dutch label No “Label”). A couple Boosie Badazz 6/12, 9:30 PM, experimental_sound_studio Jimmy Buff ett 7/18, 8 PM, Unit- Dominique Toney, Johnny PM, Constellation, 18+ the Forge, Joliet, 17+ F ed Center, canceled Britt 9/18, 7 and 9:30 PM, the I Am Fest 8/15, 2:30 PM, House years back, Zawideh says, “I had a crate of Rodney Crowell 3/27/21, 8 PM, The Quarantine Concerts Brent Cobb, Maddie Medley Promontory, 9:30 PM show of Blues b some pretty rare sentimental records sto- City Winery b presents Million Tongues 11/17, 8 PM, SPACE, Evanston, sold out b Enrique Iglesias, Ricky Martin, len.” He created these tracks in the weeks Cryfest: the Cure vs. the curated by Galatic Zoo & Sin- rescheduled b Whitney 6/11, 7 PM, resched- Sebastián Yatra 10/1-10/2, 7:30 after the theft, and like many of the lost Smiths Dance Party 6/20, gleman Aff air featuring Chris Alice Cooper, Tesla, Lita Ford uled; livestream at nooncho- PM, Allstate Arena, Rosemont 9 PM, Subterranean, 17+ Thompson, Peter Walker, 6/13, 7 PM, Rosemont Theatre, rus.com/whitney b classics in that crate, they’re laced with Dawg Trio 4/4/21, 5 and 8 PM, Ruthann Friedman, Single- Rosemont, canceled Dar Williams 2/14/21, 7 PM, Inhaler, Junior Mesa 9/16, the delightfully rude samples and oddly City Winery b man Aff air, Mark Fry, Alisha Decemberists 8/10, 7:30 PM, Maurer Hall, Old Town School 7:30 PM, Lincoln Hall b syncopated rhythms of old-school house. FitzGerald’s Drive-In Concert Sufi t, Nick Garrie 6/14, 2 PM, Auditorium Theatre, resched- of Folk Music, rescheduled b i_o 8/15, 9 PM, Concord Music Gossip Wolf can’t wait to hear the acid- featuring Waco Brothers, livestream at twitch.tv/experi- uled b Yam Haus 6/5/21, 8 PM, Beat Hall, 18+ School of Rock 7/3, 7 PM, mental_sound_studio F Foreigner, Kansas, Europe Kitchen, rescheduled, 17+ Janet Jackson 7/27, 8 PM, Unit- dipped “Work Delay” and the dubbed-out, on sale Fri 6/12; location to Peter Rowan’s Free Mexican 7/31, 7 PM, Hollywood Casino ed Center b juddering “In a Dream” on a packed dance be announced before the Airforce, Los Texmaniacs Amphitheatre, Tinley Park, José James, Taali 9/20, 8 PM, fl oor, instead of just on headphones! show b 9/18, 7:30 PM, SPACE, Evan- canceled UPCOMING SPACE, Evanston b Talented musicians from around the Robbie Fulks 6/21, 8 PM, lives- ston b Lilly Hiatt, Harmaleighs 4/7/21, Sleaford Mods 10/7, 8:30 PM, tream at twitch.tv/hideoutchi- San Fermin 6/4/21, 8 PM, Maur- 8 PM, Schubas, rescheduled; Peter Bradley Adams 8/21, Lincoln Hall, 18+ world have been buying scores from cago F er Hall, Old Town School of previously purchased tickets 7 PM, SPACE, Evanston A Kenny White 6/19, 8 PM, Szold sheet-music emporium Performers Music IDK 6/12, 7 PM, livestream at Folk Music b will be honored, 18+ Algiers, Ganser, Pirate Twin Hall, Old Town School of Folk since 1981, when it was opened by vio- youtube.com/monsterenergy Smile Empty Soul, Talia 7/15, Hollies 7/18, 8 PM, Chicago DJs 12/4, 10 PM, Empty Bottle Music b list and violinist Lee Newcomer. New- F 7 PM, the Forge, Joliet b Theatre, canceled Eva Ayllón 4/14/21, 8 PM, Maur- Widespread Panic 8/20-8/22, 8 James Hunter Six 3/12/21, Split Single 1/2/21, 8 PM, Greg Howe, Bodhi 8/28/21, er Hall, Old Town School of PM, Chicago Theatre b comer says sales have plunged due to 8 PM, City Winery b SPACE, Evanston b 7 PM, Reggies’ Rock Club, Folk Music b Wilco, Sleater-Kinney, Nnamdï COVID-19, putting the store’s future in Juneteenth: Liberatory Prac- Waxahatchee 6/15, 8 PM, lives- rescheduled, 17+ Camelphat 11/13, 10 PM, Radius 8/29, 6 PM, Pritzker Pavilion, doubt. Performers (now located in the tices with Seed Lynn & DJ tream at noonchorus.com/ Sam Hunt, Kip Moore, Travis Chicago, 18+ Millennium Park A Fine Arts Building on Michigan) has set Sadie Woods 6/19, livestream waxahatchee Denning, Ernest 6/20, 7 PM, Camilo Sé ptimo 8/26, 8 PM, David Wilcox 10/24, 8 PM, at facebook.com/artspubliclife Zucchero 3/10/21, 7:30 PM, the Hollywood Casino Amphithe- Martyrs’ Szold Hall, Old Town School up a GoFundMe, and Gossip Wolf recom- F Vic, 18+ atre, Tinley Park, canceled Cannonball 6/26, 9 PM, Fitz- of Folk Music b mends donating—so much of the music Lucy Kaplansky 11/20, 8 PM, Kevin Krauter, Sports Boy- Gerald’s, Berwyn Wild Earp & the Free for Alls, ecosystem is now in crisis that it’s easy to Szold Hall, Old Town School friend, Deals 11/6, 10 PM, Caribou, Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith Michelle Billingsley 8/21, overlook this kind of niche institution! of Folk Music b UPDATED Schubas, rescheduled; previ- 10/22, 7:30 PM, Riviera The- 9 PM, GMan Tavern Zoë Keating 5/19/21, 8 PM, ously purchased tickets will be atre, 18+ Wild Rivers, Allman Brown 8/9, Last year, Chicago bedroom folkie Jess Thalia Hall, 17+ NOTE: many concerts have honored, 18+ Aaron Carter 8/28, 8:30 PM, 8 PM, Lincoln Hall, 18+ Shoman released her fi rst album as Tenci, The Quarantine Concerts been canceled, rescheduled, Jonny Lang 7/10, 8 PM, House Wire, Berwyn Webb Wilder & the Beatnecks My Heart Is an Open Field . Its tender curated by Zebulon Cafe or postponed in light of ongo- of Blues, canceled Leo Dan 8/21, 8 PM, Thalia 6/20, 8 PM, FitzGerald’s, songwriting and fragile, windswept melo- (Los Angeles) 6/12, livestream ing concerns about COVID-19. Methadones, Direct Hit!, Dan Hall, 17+ Berwyn at twitch.tv/experimen- We suggest that you contact Vapid & the Cheats, Capgun Dead Can Dance, Agnes Obel Hayley Williams, Arlo Parks dies won over this wolf, and they’ve since tal_sound_studio F the point of purchase if you Heroes 6/27, 8 PM, Chop 4/28/21, 6:30 PM, Chicago 6/26, 8 PM, House of Blues b earned her lots more fans—including the The Quarantine Concerts need information about tick- Shop, canceled Theatre b Wingtips, Panic Priest, None folks who run Austin label Keeled Scales, presents Heavy Trip curated et exchanges or refunds. Naked and Famous, Circa Flamenco from Extremadura of Your Concern 10/9, 9:30 which will reissue My Heart Is an Open by Michael Bardier featuring Waves, Luna Shadows featuring Esther Merino with PM, Sleeping Village Jessica Moss, Jerusalem in Alice Bag, Bacchae 7/15, 8 PM, 6/23, 7:30 PM, Lincoln Hall, Fuensanta Blanco/Manual Winnetka Bowling League Field on Friday, June 5. Shoman will cele- my Heart, Charles-Andre Beat Kitchen, canceled canceled Valencia/Sergio García 11/13- 10/3, 8 PM, Subterranean b brate with a Hideout Online set at 8 PM Coderre, Devin Brahja American Music Festival The Necks 8/4-8/5, 8:30 PM, 11/14, 7 PM, Instituto Cer- Xoe Wise, Tim Fite 7/9, 8 PM, the same day; there’s a $5 suggested tip. Waldman, Ami Dang, Alex 7/2-7/5, FitzGerald’s, Berwyn, Constellation, canceled vantes, part of the Chicago Schubas, 18+ —J R NLG Zhang Hungtai 6/11, 7:30 PM, canceled Carrie Newcomer 5/7/21, 8 PM, Flamenco Festival b Jody Wisternoff 6/27, 10 PM, livestream at twitch.tv/experi- Tab Benoit 6/6/21, 8 PM, City Maurer Hall, Old Town School Fleetmac Wood presents Sound-Bar mental_sound_studio F Winery, rescheduled b of Folk Music, rescheduled b Rumours Rave with DJ Rox- Witch Mountain, Reivers, Got a tip? Tweet @Gossip_Wolf or e-mail The Quarantine Concerts Black Keys, Gary Clark Jr., NF 8/4, 8 PM, Aragon Ballroom, anne Roll, DJ Smooth Sailing Psychic Nurse 6/12, 9 PM, [email protected]. presents Option series Marcus King Band 7/25, 7 PM, canceled 12/12, 9 PM, Chop Shop Sleeping Village v ll JUNE - CHICAOREADER 27 OPINION
SAVAGE LOVE Blindfold that boy What to do when your sex life just isn’t hot enough By D S
: Here goes: I’m a 32-year- want someone so much. Or are therapists who specialize old gay male and I have something? It’s frustrating in helping people work trouble staying out of my because I would love nothing through their issues around head during sex. I feel more than to fuck like rabbits sex and they’re usually pretty like there may be many until we were both exhaust- good at setting nervous new issues. The one nonissue is ed. I love him and I want to be clients at ease. They have to everything works fi ne on able to please him sexually! be. So I would encourage you my own. When I’m single or Our intimacy, our conversa- to have a few sessions with “available,” I am OK. Let’s tion, our connection—every- a sex-positive queer shrink. be honest: I’m a slut and I thing else is so strong. But Talking about your dick with enjoy it. But when I invest in I feel like my problem will a stranger will be awkward someone, when I’m trying to kill any future I might have at fi rst, of course, but just have an actual relationship, with him. He hasn’t really like eating ass, DIL, the more the sex suff ers. With a expressed a concern but I you do it, the less awkward it partner I care about I feel worry. I have considered the gets—and a er a few sessions, nervous. I feel small both idea of therapy but the idea your therapist won’t be a mentally and physically. And of talking to some stranger stranger anymore. (To fi nd I worry my dick is small. I’ve about my sex life face-to-face a sex-positive/poly-positive measured and photographed is just daunting. So what do sex therapist, head over to it, so I know better, but I do? My other thought is to the website of the American something in me is always just blindfold him and say bot- Association of Sexuality asking . . . are you really toms up. —D IL Educators, Counselors and enough? Therapists: aasect.org.) I’m currently in an open A: So you don’t wanna talk In the meantime, DIL, go relationship with a guy I’ve with a therapist about your ahead and blindfold your known for a decade. He’s issues—which touch on more boyfriend—if he’s game, of amazing. Often I’m hard AF than just sex—but you’re course, and I can’t imagine just sitting there relaxing with willing to talk to me and all he wouldn’t be. You seem to him. But the closer we get to of my readers about them. have an irrational fear of being actually having sex, the more I realize it’s a little diff erent, seen. If your boyfriend were to nervous I become. I even stop DIL, as you don’t have to get a good look at you naked, breathing consistently. It’s look me in the eye while we DIL, especially if he got a almost like I feel ashamed to discuss your dick. But there good look at your dick, you’re
28 CHICA O READER - JUNE ll OPINION
RYOJI IWATA / UNSPLASH tionship and can get sex else- I have what I need, whether where, well, then you can have it’s a meal, a TV show, a convinced he would suddenly love and intimacy and pretty record to play. He is stable conclude—even though he’s good sex with your partner and aff ectionate; most of all, known you for a decade and is and adventures and novelty he wanted to be with me. But obviously into you—that you’re and crazy hot sex with other he’s boring. When I talk to not “enough” for him. So don’t people. him, I want to be somewhere, let him get a good look. Blind- Ideally, of course, a per- anywhere else. The more I fold that boy. son in an open relationship tried to engage with him, the Don’t lie to him about why wants—and it is possible for a more obvious our lack of any you want to blindfold him—tell person in an open relationship deep connection seemed. GetYour Swag! him you feel a little insecure— to have—hot sex with their He is stoic and unemotional www.chicagoreader.com/shop but bringing in a blindfold committed partner as well as whereas I cry during car makes working through your their other partners. But some commercials. I’m desperately insecurities into a sexy game. people can’t make it work, DIL. seeking an emotional equal. Being able to have sex with However hard they try, some Every day I go back and forth the boyfriend without hav- people can’t have uninhibited between loving where we ing to worry about him sizing or unselfconscious sex with a are and wanting to run the up your cock will free you to long-term partner. The more fuck away. I have a tendency enjoy sex. And who knows, invested they are in someone, to do the latter—with guys, after a few hot sex sessions the higher the stakes are, the friends, jobs—so I don’t know with your sensory-deprived longer they’re together, etc., what I REALLY want. But I boyfriend (or a few dozen hot the less arousing sex is for feel so incredibly unfulfi lled. sessions), your confidence them. Most of the people with We have a lackluster sex life may get the boost it needs this problem—people who and I’ve felt more like his and you won’t feel so insecure aren’t capable of having great roommate the past year than about your cock or anything sex with a long-long-long-term his girlfriend. I want to be else. partner—are in monogamous inspired by my partner. My And even if your dick was relationships and, judging question is . . . actually, I’m not small—which it isn’t, DIL, and from the jokes on sitcoms, really sure I have a question. you’ve got the measurements they’re utterly (but hilarious- —F R F and photos to prove it—you ly) miserable. You’re not in a could still have great sex with monogamous relationship, A: Since you didn’t ask a your boyfriend. Guys with DIL, so if it turns out you’re question, FRF, I guess you dicks of all sizes, even guys incapable of having great sex don’t require an answer. without dicks, can have great with a committed partner—if So I’ll make an observation sex. And if you’re still ner- you can’t manage to integrate instead: you repeatedly refer vous after blindfolding the those things—you don’t have to this relationship in the past boyfriend and worried you’ll to go without great sex. You tense. (“. . . this was my fi rst go soft, DIL, you can take can have intimacy at home and ‘real’ relationship,” “. . . our the pressure off by enjoying great sex elsewhere. relationship seemed great,” sex acts and play that don’t But it’s a double-edged “. . . the more I tried.”) So you LAKEVIEW require you to be hard. You sword, DIL, because if you can obviously know what you can bottom for him, you can get hot sex elsewhere, you need to do. Your soon-to-be- blow him, you can use toys on may not be motivated to do ex-boyfriend sounds like a his ass, you can sit on his face the work required—to talk to good guy, FRF, and you don’t while he jacks off, etc. There’s that shrink, to get that blind- want to hurt him, which makes a lot you can do without your fold, to work through those dumping him harder. But if he’s dick. issues—that would make it not the right guy for you, FRF, Zooming out, DIL, intimacy possible for you to have great you’re not the right woman for and hot sex are often nega- sex with your partner and him. Go back to fl itting—and tively correlated—meaning, others. who knows? Maybe one day the more intimate a relation- you’ll jump on a dick that’s ship becomes, the less hot : I’ve been with my attached to a guy who inspires the sex gets. Anyone who’s boyfriend for three years. you. Or maybe you don’t want watched more than one Amer- I’m a 27-year-old woman one guy—forever or for long. (242-8669) ican sitcom has heard a million and this was my fi rst “real” Some people are happier jokes about this sad fact. Peo- relationship. Before I met fl itting than settling. v 726-8437(726-8437) LD Rates Apply 18+ ple in sexually exclusive rela- my boyfriend, I would have tionships who still want hot considered myself a steady Send letters to mail@ sex to be a part of their lives dick-jumper. I went fl itting savagelove.net. Download have to work at solving this from guy to guy. On paper, the Savage Lovecast at 242-8669 problem with their partners. our relationship seemed savagelovecast.com. But if you’re in an open rela- great. He tries to make sure @fakedansavage 224-661-1510 ll JUNE - CHICAOREADER 29 This letter is to notify JOBS that on June 25, 2020 at 9:30 a.m. an auction Mirage Software will be held at 83rd & the cannabis platform Inc. D/B/A Bourntec Halsted Self Storage, Solutions, Inc. is Inc., located at 8316 S. a Reader resource for the canna curious seek’g Systems Birkhoff Ave, Chicago, Analysts to dvlp high- IL 60620, to sell the quality sftwr solt’ns in following articles held collab w/ several existing within said storage units The 63rd Street Heist products used w/in the to enforce a lien existing I am a fi rst time novelist. Thursdays on orgnzt’n. No trvl; no under the laws of the I am writing a fiction telecomm. Job duties state of Illinois. novel that will illustrate are proj-based @ various the relation of econo- Cannabis unanticipated sites w/in 303 Emma Brown mic depression and its U.S. Relo may be req’d eff ects on violent crime. Chicago’s friendliest Conversations @ proj end. Mail resumes The break down of one cannabis shop to: Mirage Software, Inc. 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