CHICAGO’S FREE WEEKLY SINCE | APRIL THIS WEEK CHICAGO READER | APRIL | VOLUME NUMBER
IN THIS ISSUE T R 08 News Does the mayor’s astonishing images of humanity’s - OPINION COVID executive order put her impact on the planet’s topography 30 Identity and Culture Seeking @ on light footing? Roar is a case against disrupting safety isn’t so easy if you’re battling 09 Dukmasova | Pets Animal the animal kingdom on a whim COVID while Black P T B shelters have been overwhelmed 31 ‘American ness’ On rejecting E C S K K H C L R H with adoption applications during antiAsian American rhetoric and M E P M standing up to hate TD K R C E B W A E J L S W M D L G D I B J M S E A S N L G D A H CITY LIFE L C S C -J 03 Public Service C E B N B Announcement Zoom over to L C M D L C M C J F S F J H I these online classes H C M J MUSIC & NIGHTLIFE M K S K FOOD & DRINK 21 Galil | Feature Christen Thomas N D L J L M M A M -K 04 Key Ingredient Introducing the pandemic booked shows for a decade with J R N J N M O the fi rst installment of Pandemic 10 Immigration Coronavirus leaves the Empty Bottle and Metro but 32 Savage Love Dan Savage off ers M S C S Pantry in which Funkenhausen’s immigrants trapped in a byzantine that work was just the beginning advice to a man who has an anxiety ------Mark Steuer makes a miracle out of court system without lawyers and of the love joy and support she attack when he sees his wife naked D D J D mushy pasta more frightened than ever showered on the scene D D C W S M C J G 24 Records of Note A pandemic CLASSIFIEDS M P C ARTS & CULTURE can’t stop the fl ow of great music 34 Jobs Y D 13 Profi le Before there was Joe Our critics review releases that you 34 Apartments & Spaces SS P A T A Exotic there was Roy Boy Cooper can enjoy at home 34 Marketplace S EC K K 15 Sex How to quarantine while 28 The Secret History of dating multiple folks Chicago Music The Ashby ADVERTISING -- @ Ostermann Alliance have a second O I C THEATER album a er years A J B F B ’ - @ 17 Feature Theatre Y gives viewers 29 Early Warnings Rescheduled S D P F a virtual anthology of András concerts and other updated listings V P S A M Visky’s work 29 Gossip Wolf Disappears White/ C R M T P Light and Steve Shelley drop a S A R L M -H L S NEWS & POLITICS FILM collaboration recorded years A R 06 Joravsky | Politics Why 19 Movies of Note Love Wedding ago twothirds of Weatherman G M F N S Chicago’s most loyal Bulls fan missed Repeat goes beyond just being a share their fi rst music since moving to C S M W R the opening of The Last Dance mindless romance Earth contains a medieval French village and more N A V M G -- - J L S B THIS WEEK ON CHICAGOREADER.COM ------D C [email protected] -- CHICAGO READER L C BP D R L T E R SJ S A- S V
C C E B ------R ISSN - R LC S M S C IL --
C © C R P C IL
The saga of Punkin’ Donuts When online drama is good The stay-at-home chronicles A C R R Leor Galil on how a doughnut-shop What we’re reading, watching, R R T ® parking lot became a confl uence of for kids listening to, etc., to pass the time. youth subcultures. Kerry Reid on how virtual classes keep theater alive for young artists.
2 CHICA O READER - APRIL ll #TVKUV9TKVGT CITY LIFE 2GTHQTOGT! %4'#6+8' 51.76+105 (14 TUMISU / PIXABAY %4'#6+8' 2'12.' 5WRRQTVKXG #HHKTOKPI CPF )QCN point people to Owl Labs’s website. They’re a Massachusetts-based company that makes &KTGEVGF 2U[EJQVJGTCR[ CPF remote-meeting hardware, and in March they *[RPQVJGTCR[ HQT #FWNVU created a great one-sheet how-to on Zoom for their blog. /#: - 5*#2'; .%59 .QECVGF KP &QYPVQYP 'XCPUVQP All right you MOOCs Massive open online courses, or MOOCs, are YYYOCZUJCRG[EQO classes created specifi cally with an unlimited OCZUJCRG["CQNEQO number of students and participation across NWG TQUU NWG 5JKGNF 2TGHGTTGF 2TQXKFGT KIPC 2TGHGTTGF 2TQXKFGT the web in mind. While the origins of MOOCs come from the open web movement (to keep source material open and available for anyone to use and redistribute in the original spirit of the Internet), many colleges and universities Chicago's Free Weekly have adopted the model as a way to have the Since 1971 public interact with their creative material. Keep in mind that most of the universities of- fering these free versions of past courses will not offer you credit unless you’re currently enrolled as a tuition-paying student. Several classes that are perennially available are public service announcement listed at the Open Culture website (an online resource for web learners), including a class Zoom over to these online classes in organizational leadership originally taught So you can stop hearing “Yeah, no, you’re still on mute” once and for all through Northwestern University, and audio versions of many of Leo Strauss’s University of By S C -J Chicago lectures on philosophy.
Plants, masks, and belly dancers
t’s a brave new world during these days of tutorials available in several languages that Some local nonprofi ts have also started cre- quarantine, and for the technology-chal- are hard to find through other free resourc- ating online learning content. Most of these Ilenged among us, it can be daunting to es, including Arabic and Dutch. The Chicago classes are available for a small fee that ben- keep up. If you’re willing to learn a few basics, branch’s website includes local fi nancial help efi ts the teachers and the organization. Plant there’s a world of free and low-cost workshops information and was recently updated with a Chicago in Back of the Yards is o ering a few on the cyberweb that can help you exercise list of COVID-19 resource links. onetime workshops dedicated to gardening at your brain and give you new skills. home: Build an Earth Bucket (also known as a Who’s Zoomin’ whom? container garden) on Saturday, April 25, and (More than) the basics at Goodwill Commu- Growing Microgreens at Home on Sunday, May nity Foundation Zoom is just one of the many video confer- 17. Edgewater’s art space 6018 North has made encing platforms that are free to use (whith- online space for the artists from its “In Flux: The Goodwill Community Foundation and er WebEx?), but it’s quickly become a go-to Chicago Artists and Immigration” exhibition Goodwill Industries of Eastern North Carolina for a lot of personal and professional meet- that was supposed to be on view at the Chica- originally created this series of tutorials and ings. As with almost every piece of machin- go Cultural Center until May. Artist Aram Han classes for the patrons of Goodwill’s rehabili- ery or software ever created, most people’s Sifuentes will be conducting a mask-making tation and ready-to-work programs, but they problems with and questions about using workshop and work session via Zoom on Sat- are also free for general public use. It’s a Com- Zoom would be answered if they just read the urday, April 25. And the venerable Old Town puters 101 group of tutorials covering things support documents, which include how-to- School of Folk Music continues its well-loved like the basics of Skype and quick design tips get-started tutorials. What does this button music classes and dance workshops on the that can be helpful for those new to programs do? How do I see all the people on this con- Web. Some unique upcoming classes include chicagoreader.com/donate like Photoshop. The tutorials can help peo- ference? Read the support documents! Zoom Introduction to Slide Guitar and Egyptian ple who might be overwhelmed with having actually rewrote theirs in the last month to Belly Dancing. v We Couldn't Be Free Without You— to use new-to-them software to make their make an even easier “this is how we do this” Support Community Journalism newly remote working world work. There are explainer for all their new users. I also like to @hollo ll APRIL - CHICAOREADER 3 FOOD & DRINK
Overcooked pasta okonomiyaki MARK STEUER
FOOD FEATURE Key Ingredient: Pandemic Pantry Funkenhausen’s Mark Steuer makes a miracle out of mushy pasta. By M S
ark Steuer called me a jackass. the Reader’s acclaimed Key Ingredient series. Chefs do curse me every now and OK, I decided. But I’ll make you regret it. Mthen, but usually it’s the result of some- Key Ingredient was a cooking show pro- thing unfl attering I’ve written in a restaurant duced by then-Reader sta er Julia Thiel and review. If memory serves, I’ve written nothing food writer/filmmaker Michael Gebert, in but nice things about Steuer throughout his which Chicago’s baddest chefs challenged career at restaurants such as Hot Chocolate, their colleagues to redeem unusual, underap- Carriage House, El Che Bar, and most recent- preciated, or often abhorrent ingredients by ly—and currently—Funkenhausen. showcasing them in beautiful plated dishes But I never ordered a dish of mushy spa- that might or might not have been edible. ghetti from any of his kitchens before. It all started in 2010 when I challenged A few weeks ago as underworked or out-of- Grant Achatz with Indonesian kluwak work chefs across the land continued to fl ood kupas—the seeds of the kepayang tree—and social media with self-isolation home-cooking he produced a Tom & Jerry cocktail with videos shot on their phones, Steuer suggested them. Achatz threw Chinese black beans at to me that the time might be right to reboot Curtis Du y, who then punked John des Ros- 4 CHICA O READER - APRIL ll Search the Reader’s online database of thousands of Chicago-area restaurants at chicagoreader.com/food. FOOD & DRINK
iers with geraniums. Thiel and Gebert won a left in the bottom of the pot overnight after Who’s next: sweat all vegetables until soft, then deglaze James Beard Award for their work that year, you drank all the hand sanitizer and passed ERICK WILLIAMS of Hyde Park’s VIRTUE, with rice wine and soy. Reduce. In a bowl, and they went on to produce a total of 177 ep- out on the kitchen fl oor. cooking with pickled eggs. “Because I love pour over noodles and stir to combine. Set isodes, featuring the city’s most talented and Steuer has kept the lights on at Funkenhau- pickles,” said Steuer. “And I love eggs. But I aside. disgruntled chefs, cooking with everything sen in Ukrainian Village by o ering delivery don’t know why anyone would do that to an Clean the pan, and over medium high heat, from Malort to natto to balut to whale vomit, or curbside pickup through a contactless egg.” v pour about 1 cup of the batter and swirl the before gracefully retiring Key Ingredient in window from a relatively broad menu that in- pan to evenly distribute. While the batter 2018. cludes a version of the kick-ass smoked Amish Overcooked Pasta Okonomiyaki is still wet, add the noodle and vegetable Steuer took his turn in 2011, when he was chicken I loved so much when I reviewed it. Chef Mark Steuer, Funkenhausen mixtures to evenly cover the batter. Once the the chef at the Bedford, making a jibarito with The restaurant’s also sponsoring a GoFund- batter starts to set, press down on the noodles bananas because his old boss Mindy Segal Me and selling gift cards in support of its 1 cup all-purpose fl our lightly to make sure they adhere. Cook for (sorghum syrup) knew he hated them. They’re sta , which would certainly benefi t from your ¼ teaspoon baking soda about four minutes on medium, then fl ip the “reminiscent of old lobster, like when it gets attention. ½ teaspoon salt pancake (use two spatulas if you need to). overcooked,” he said. Still, the chef found time to shoot his video, 1 cup water Add a little more oil to the pan and cook for That gave me an idea. which you can watch online after a brief in- 1 cup overcooked spaghetti (or whatever about fi ve more minutes. This time around the chefs will be their troduction to the reboot—from me. In it, I’m you overcooked) Invert onto a cutting board and cut into own videographers, and it seemed natural sheltering in a secret location that is in no 2 tablespoons minced garlic quarters, then transfer to a plate and garnish that Steuer would take the fi rst challenge in way an illegal speakeasy, wearing one of the 2 tablespoons diced Fresno pepper with any or all of the following: what we’re calling Key Ingredient: Pandemic elaborate disguises I used to adopt whenever ½ cup sliced mushrooms • Fried egg Pantry. So I rewarded his initiative with I’d go out on a restaurant review. Haven’t been ½ cup shredded cabbage or brussels • Scallions mushy overcooked pasta, something I fi gured doing much of that lately. (Thanks, COVID-19 sprouts • Okonomiyaki sauce he rarely confronted but that lots of isolated . . . Thanks, Trump.) 2 tablespoons diced onions • Hot sauce home cooks might be contending with a lot Will Steuer be putting the pasta okonomi- 2 tablespoons rice wine • Mayo lately. yaki on his carryout menu? “We will not,” he 1 tablespoon soy sauce • Fried garlic And then he called me a jackass, and got to says. But check out his recipe for the next time • Fried shallots work. you forget that there’s spaghetti boiling on For the batter, whisk together fl our, bak- • Sesame seeds His dish? A version of the savory Japanese the stove. ing soda, and salt, then whisk in water until • Bonito fl akes pancake okonomiyaki, which cleans out the And don’t worry: you won’t be seeing me smooth. Allow to sit for 20 minutes. fridge and crisps up those soggy noodles you again. For the noodles, in an oiled nonstick pan, @MikeSula Chicago's Free Weekly Since 1971
We Couldn't Be Free Without You— Support Community Journalism
ll APRIL - CHICAOREADER 5 NEWS & POLITICS
POLITICS Benny, the Bulls fan Why Chicago’s most loyal Bulls fan missed the opening of The Last Dance By B J
n Sunday, millions of Bulls fans across Reader writer—who could a ord it? the world gathered around their TVs to So, it’s altogether fi tting that I not be able to Owatch the first installment of The Last watch this ESPN miniseries as I couldn’t watch Dance—Jason Hehir’s much-heralded ten-part the events unfolding in real time—at least documentary miniseries about Michael Jor- from the comfort of my home. dan and my beloved Bulls. But don’t think I didn’t watch them at Alas, I was not one of them. all. Oh, no, I long ago learned to adapt to my I know what you’re thinking: Benny Jay, how cablelessness, watching Bulls games in bars, could you, the most dedicated of Bulls fans, restaurants, and bowling alleys. not watch this tribute to your favorite team’s Mostly, I got by with a little help from my greatest achievement? friends, particularly my dear friend Cap, who And the answer is . . . shares my love for the Bulls. Though during I don’t have cable. I’ve never had cable— blowouts, Cap reserves the right to turn to The even in the glory years. I was a broke-ass Big Bang Theory—the man loves The Big Bang 6 CHICA O READER - APRIL ll NEWS & POLITICS Important
Raise ’em up if you have cable! TONY THE TIGER about the trials and tribulations of Reader writers! Theory, people—which always seems to be By the time I broke away from that reunion, playing somewhere on cable. the fourth quarter had started. With no time Not having seen the Bulls documentary does to drive home, I dashed to a nearby apartment Reader News not, however, prevent me from commenting where my wife was visiting a friend, and I about it. In fact, I fi nd myself constantly giving arrived just in time to catch the fi nal play. And editing advice to Hehir, a man I don’t know, we all know what happened—come on, Chica- Due to business closings and for safety purposes, the about a documentary I’ve never seen. To cite go, all together now . . . Chicago Reader is going biweekly with a print run to one example . . . Bulls’s ball. Down one. Three seconds left . . . Hey, Hehir—make sure you mention Norm Brad Sellers—who never gets the credit he 600+ locations, including our box route. On the o Van Lier! You cannot produce a documentary deserves for his inbounding pass—gets the weeks (April 9, 23, May 7) the Reader is just being about the Bulls without mentioning my all- ball to Jordan. And Jordan drives left, jumps, distributed as a free PDF, with a small press run to time favorite Bull! hangs for what seems like forever, and shoots The thing about me and my Bulls obsession at the buzzer . . . ful ll subscriber and library mailings. is that I have a bizarre, almost Rain Man–like Bulls win! ability to instantly tell you where I was and Man, when Jordan hit that shot, I started We are also making a limited number of copies what I was doing at any great, or even not-so- jumping up and down like a pogo stick, bellow- available for special short-term subscriptions, 12 great, moment of the Jordan run. ing, “Yeah, yeah, yeah!” As in the day when Jordan forever As I bellowed, I looked down to see my in- weeks for $50, and every week’s issue will be mailed changed—with one shot—the attitude Bulls fant daughter sitting on the fl oor, staring up to your home. fans had toward their team. Before that, the at me in quizzical disbelief, as if to say: “What best Bulls teams were fi lled with inspirational the f . . .” overachievers who were just good enough to It was just my way of telling her—welcome Just a few hundred copies will be sold of these very break your heart by losing in the playo s be- to the dance, kid. limited souvenir editions of the Reader: cause they didn’t have a superstar closer. Two years later, the Bulls broke through and secure.actblue.com/donate/chicago-reader-print-12 All of that changed, of course, on May 7, won their fi rst championship, and all of Chica- 1989, when . . . well, let me set the scene. go celebrated—by then, even the artsy-fartsy Mayor Daley had just been elected to the crowd had learned to bask in the greatness of fi rst of six terms. Not sure how that’s germane, Michael Je rey Jordan. Some of them anyway. Find the full curated PDF download of the Reader at but I thought I’d mention it—’cause, you know, If this column was a documentary, the chicagoreader.com/issues I am a political writer. screen would now fade to black as updates The best-of-fi ve, fi rst-round series against scrolled by: by Wednesday each week. Cleveland was tied at two. The Bulls should In 2011, Daley left o ce—probably looking have eliminated the Cavs in game four, except to go out on top before someone beat him. Just Jordan missed a clutch free throw. like Jordan’s Bulls. That’s correct. Jordan missed a free throw. For the last few years, the building that Naturally, I can tell you where I was when he housed Alvernia has been a CPS magnet high missed it . . . school. I was at a dinner party with a bunch of art- And my infant daughter is grown up and liv- sy-fartsy types. Not a TV in sight, much less ing in LA. But she’s no Lakers fan. Don’t even one with cable. This bunch didn’t even know think that. Man, that girl’s a Bulls fan for life. the Bulls were playing. I snuck out of the din- And me? I’m as faithful as ever to my be- ing room to listen on a portable radio in the loved Bulls. As bad as they are. And they’re kitchen. bad. In fact, the only good thing you can say Game fi ve was on a Sunday afternoon on na- about the coronavirus pandemic is that it tional TV, meaning even I would get to watch. prematurely ended another wretched Bulls But—get ready for this—I had to work. season. Yes, work. On a Sunday. The Reader had I know I’ll get around to watching The Last assigned me to write a story about an all-class Dance. I just don’t know when or how. Maybe reunion at Alvernia, a Catholic high school I’ll sneak over to Cap’s house—though he’ll that was closing because of falling enrollment. probably make me wear a hazmat suit. In the As any freelancer can understand, I was in no meantime . . . Thank you, position to turn down a paying assignment— Hey, Hehir, don’t forget to give Brad Sellers even for one of the greatest Bulls games in credit for that pass! v history. The Reader team Hey, Hehir, you should do a documentary @joravben ll APRIL - CHICAOREADER 7 NEWS & POLITICS
Who granted Mayor Lightfoot sweeping executive or a major expenditure” might mean that the powers regarding the city’s budget? She did. mayor can’t wait for council approval. CHICAGO MAYOR’S OFFICE FACEBOOK PAGE But the need for a nimble pandemic re- council last year states, “To the extent that sponse doesn’t justify freezing out the City any ordinance, resolution, rule, order or pro- Council, says Ralph Martire, who heads the vision of the Municipal Code, or part thereof Chicago-based Center for Tax and Budget is in confl ict with the provisions of this ordi- Accountability. nance, the provisions of this ordinance shall While Chicagoans should “want [their] be controlling.” chief executive to have a greater authority But now, the mayor’s in control. during times like this, to meet unexpected Not only can she change the budget at will, needs,” Martire says, “I think it would have she doesn’t have to tell aldermen until . . . been better for the mayor to have gone to well, later. the City Council”—and gotten legislation That is, the budget director must report that spells out exactly how much money the budget changes to the council’s Committee mayor can shift, and where. on Budget and Government Operations “as For example, Martire says, the mayor’s soon as feasible” after the fact. executive order could have limited itself to “I’m not OK with that,” says budget com- “the time period of the governor’s declared mittee member Jason Ervin of the 28th emergency . . . Or limiting the amount of Ward, the only alderman contacted for this money, even by percentages, that can be story who voiced opposition. moved across budget line items.” In the text of the order, the Lightfoot ad- Even in an emergency, Martire says, ministration justifies the outsized budget “that’s rational. That’s actually good CITY GOVERNMENT power by invoking a single paragraph in the government.” municipal code. Instead, the mayor’s self-imposed emer- Section 2-4-110 of the code designates gency budget power has no dollar limit and A viral budget grab the mayor as the “ex officio coordinator of an indefi nite sunset: the order states that it activities in cases of emergency.” It also says becomes void only when public health com- Does the mayor’s COVID-19 executive order put her on light footing? that the mayor, as emergency coordinator, missioner Allison Arwady “makes a written “shall formulate, and . . . execute plans for determination that the threat to public By D G the prevention of such emergencies so far as health posed by the Emergency has [suffi- possible and for meeting them e¡ ectively.” ciently] diminished.” When it comes to the city’s nearly $12 So, was the mayor’s power grab legal? billion budget, however, the code doesn’t “I, frankly, would like to see any legal uried in an April 9 Chicago Sun-Times incurred in the response to the spread of explicitly give the mayor power to override opinion that supports giving her the authori- editorial was this line: “[Mayor Lori] COVID-19.” the City Council. ty,” Martire says. BLightfoot is free to move large sums What the release did not say: the mayor Why, then, did the mayor take such a bold Reached via e-mail, a spokesperson for between departments, without City Council would issue an edict that would let her step? the city’s law department said: “We believe approval, under executive powers granted to repurpose monies already allocated by law According to political sage Dick Simpson, the budgetary authorization falls within the her last month.” within the city’s budget. “The mayor wanted to get maximum flexi- general scope of the power conferred on the Which invites the question: Who grant- The next day, March 18, the mayor’s o ce bility to handle” large, pandemic-related ex- Mayor as coordinator of emergency activi- ed Lightfoot such sweeping “executive issued Executive Order No. 2020-1. penses—such as, he says, “McCormick Place ties under section 2-4-110.” When asked for powers”? The order did a number of things, such as being converted to a hospital.” a copy of the fi nding, the spokesperson said, She did. authorizing “emergency supplies” contracts “Maybe we’ll get reimbursed” by the fed- “The Law Department did not give a formal On March 17, a mayoral press release had for up to $1 million. eral government, Simpson says. But “maybe opinion.” set the table: But in the most potent move, the order not.” At press time, news reports indicated the “During these unprecedented times we gave the mayor’s budget director the power Simpson, a former Chicago alderman and mayor intended to convert the executive cannot proceed with business as usual when to revamp the city’s budget “as needed to longtime professor of political science at the order into a council-approved ordinance as the health and welfare of our residents and maximize e¡ ectiveness of the City response” University of Illinois at Chicago, says the early as Wednesday’s council meeting. Check communities are at risk,” the mayor was to the pandemic. city routinely shifts funds within its budget chicagoreader.com for updates. quoted as saying. The city’s budget is technically a law. As multiple times per year—as revenue and cost For the mayor to get “a little more fl exibil- “Mayor Lightfoot will take several emer- such, the budget may be enacted or changed projections butt up against reality. ity” during the pandemic “would be a good gency executive actions over the next few only by the City Council. Normally, any “We move money every year from some de- thing, not a bad thing,” Martire says. “But, days to allow for the continuance of govern- mayoral move to “transfer or otherwise partments to other departments—and a fair- as opposed to the way our president looks ment,” the release continued. “These actions reallocate currently appropriated funds,” as ly signifi cant sum of money,” Simpson says. at things, checks and balances are always will increase procurement authority . . . the executive order allows, would need prior “And the City Council does approve those. So appropriate.” v and allow for the City to appropriate money approval by the City Council. that’s the standard procedure.” But during from the federal government to pay for costs In fact, the budget ordinance passed by the the pandemic emergency, “a major shortfall @chigovt 8 CHICA O READER - APRIL ll NEWS & POLITICS
Applications to adopt not just cats and dogs, but and adoptions, and is continuing to operate rabbits like Bobo, reptiles, and roosters have an emergency pet care program, providing overwhelmed local animal shelters. free shelter to pets for up to 30 days if their COURTESY ANTI CRUELTY SOCIETY owners are displaced from their homes or hospitalized. day. Cat adoptions are by appointment with “We’re in a position where we don’t have the shelter, so they can arrange for people as many animals at the shelter as we nor- to come one at a time to comply with social mally do, so we’re able to focus more on distancing protocols. being a resource and safety net for people Smith says her organization is taking who have been hospitalized,” Krupinski “painstaking care” in matching animals says. ACS has also expanded its free pet with adopters to reduce the likelihood of supply delivery program, which is typically returns. She says many of the interested designed to help low-income senior citizens, adopters say they’d been considering get- to anyone in Chicago who needs help caring ting a pet for a while but couldn’t fi nd a good for their pets. It paused applications after time to engage with the process until now. receiving more than 4,000 requests in 72 “We’re pretty confi dent that our people are hours, but Krupinski says they plan to open solidly making this decision now,” she says. the program to more applicants soon. “If “Of the 63 dogs we’ve placed in the last three people can provide for their pets they won’t weeks only two were not good fi ts.” No cats have to give them to us. So the ultimate goal have been returned to the shelter since the is to keep the human-animal bond intact.” lockdown started. Animals who’ve been abandoned or Larger shelters are experiencing a similar rescued from dangerous conditions are influx of interest in fostering pets tempo- typically taken into the city’s animal shelter, rarily as well as permanent adoptions. “We run by the Department of Animal Care and NEWS were able to place hundreds of animals in Control. Private shelters like ACS serve in foster homes prior to the shelter-in-place a backup capacity to handle overflow. But order,” says Julia Poukatch, a spokeswoman the city’s shelter, too, has hit an all-time Furry friends for lonely hearts for PAWS Chicago, which has also created low of pets available for adoption since the a virtual adoption process and only allows shelter-in-place order. During the second Animal shelters have been overwhelmed with adoption applications during scheduled in-person meetings with animals week of April, the city shelter (which also the coronavirus pandemic. now. “Last I heard we had 6,000 people who provides free food and veterinary referrals were interested in becoming foster par- to people in need) ran out of adoptable pets By M D ents.” Poukatch notes that PAWS has been completely. On April 15, the city shelter had able to even place pets with complex health just 55 animals—47 dogs, six cats, and two needs who generally appeal less to adopters. birds—according to spokeswoman Jenny s the novel coronavirus pandemic rages now and they have the time and they’re In response to the pandemic, and in antic- Schlueter. On the same day last year, the on, homeless people may be facing lonely.” ipation of some people needing to relinquish shelter had 268 animals. Ableak prospects in Chicago, but not Since the shelter-in-place order, Smith their pets because of illness, PAWS launched “I think all the pets are so spoiled, our dog homeless pets. In the days before Governor has had to lay o£ three part-time sta£ ers in a crisis foster care service. Like its smaller just thinks this is the greatest thing ever,” J.B. Pritzker issued his stay-at-home order her 30-worker organization and restructure counterparts, however, PAWS has seen a de- says Marcia Coburn of life under lockdown. and in the weeks since, local animal shelters operations to handle the unprecedented vol- cline in fi nancial donations, with fundrais- She runs the nonprofit Red Door Animal have been inundated with demand to foster ume of applications to adopt cats and dogs. ing down by 40 percent in March. Poukatch Shelter in Rogers Park, which specializes and adopt dogs, cats, rabbits, lizards, roost- Most of the shelter’s animals are rescues says the organization is concerned about its in rabbits as well as cats and dogs and has ers, and every other available critter. The from Alabama that are brought to Chicago long-term fi nancial stability. also switched to an online adoption pro- number of available pets has dwindled to his- once a week. Like PAWS, the Anti-Cruelty Society has cess. “We’re getting like 100 percent more toric lows even as animal shelters (deemed “We post [information about the dogs] on had to cancel its major annual fundraising applications for cats and rabbits,” Coburn by the state to be an essential service) have our Facebook page on Saturday,” Smith ex- event and move its outreach to donors says. “We have maybe 25 rabbits that are continued to take in new animals. However, plains. “For every 20 dogs we post we’ll get online. While adoption fees are a source of adoptable now. That is really low. We have animal rescues have also seen a decline in the about 115 applications. And then on Sunday revenue for these organizations, most of the up to 70 at a time usually . . . This [pandemic] charitable donations that keep their opera- we review applications. Monday we do a operating funds come from charitable con- has heightened people’s interest in having tions afl oat. phone interview. And then Wednesday and tributions. ACS chief program o¦ cer Lydia animal companionship.” Like all the other “Adoptions are crazy through the roof and and Thursday people pick up the animals Krupinski says it’s been a relief to see avail- shelters interviewed for this story, Red Door donations have stopped, they’ve basically and start a weeklong foster-to-adopt. At the able animals dwindle. “We were expecting takes any of its animals back if an adopter come to a screeching halt,” says Abby Smith, end of the week they fi nalize the adoption.” to get a pretty intense wave of animals com- changes their mind, but they haven’t had a director of the Edgewater-based Felines and On Wednesday, Smith expected 30 dogs and ing into the system during the pandemic . . . single pet returned since the lockdown. v Canines. “The demand for animals is higher eight cats to arrive from Alabama. All the Thankfully that hasn’t happened.” ACS, too, than it’s ever been because people are home dogs were placed in new homes within a has seen an uptick of interest in fostering @mdoukmas ll APRIL - CHICAOREADER 9 sure that no one in Honduras knew he was nationally. The closing was only a temporary and made it much harder to obtain asylum. returning. move—after a visitor came down with the On April 20 Trump used the pandemic to Cole sighed and explained that was not virus, according to sources—and the court justify the unprecedented step of banning in his power. He ordered the man deported, reopened on Tuesday. all immigration into the U.S. for an indefi nite wished him luck as he always does, and Before the Chicago court shuttered, Cole period, saying that domestic jobs need to be moved on to the next case. had complained about officials’ late-night protected from foreign workers. A mix of empathy and frustration is often tweets about closings at immigration courts Even before the coronavirus hit, the immi- evident in the demeanor and words of Cole, nationally, calling it a problem for “people gration court system was reeling under un- one of hundreds of immigration judges na- showing up from across the country [only] to precedented backlogs, delays, and public out- tionwide who every day face an onslaught fi nd out that the courts are closed.” cry from lawyers and NAIJ, which represents of desperation and confusion in their court- Nationwide all immigration court hearings over 400 of the judges at the nation’s 63 rooms. Many immigrants going through for those not detained were postponed until courts. Immigration courts now face over 1.1 May 15. The judges’ association has called for million backlogged cases, a number that has all hearings to be closed until courtroom safe- ty is assured and wants updates delivered in a comprehensive and clear way—not through tweets. They also want hearings held over the phone to set bond for detained immigrants nationally. If immigrants are granted and can pay bond, then they will be released from de- tention while their case proceeds. But court officials have pushed back at pleas from the judges, prosecutors, and immi- gration lawyers to cancel all in-person hear- ings. “Most federal courts have continued to receive fi lings and to hold critical hearings for S detained individuals as they have postponed Coronavirus leaves immigrants trapped in a byzantine court system, without lawyers and more frightened and confused deportation proceedings don’t have lawyers, than ever. putting judges like Cole in the position of trying to explain an obtuse system, comfort skyrocketed under the Trump administration. By S F terrifiT ed immigrants, and deliver a just deci- And those immigrants are increasingly C KA sion, all under intense time pressure. unableA to find lawyers to represent them, S S B Add the novel coronavirus pandemic, and a challenge made exponentially harder by LT HW the situation becomes untenable. Even as the pandemic and the economic tailspin it Z KL much of the country has shut down and many has triggered. Data shows an immigrant’s civil and criminal proceedings are on hold, chances of obtaining asylum or otherwise immigration courts hearing cases for immi- avoiding deportation are much greater with grants held in detention are still operating. an attorney. n a small courtroom on the third fl oor of This makes Cole and many of his colleagues Nearly three-fourths of immigrants who a nondescript building in downtown Chi- furious. Even after Governor J.B. Pritzker came to the nation’s immigration courts cago on February 5, Judge Samuel B. Cole issued a stay-at-home order, hearings pro- without lawyers between 2001 and 2020 were called case 849. ceeded as usual in Cole’s courtroom. Judges, ordered to be deported, according to fi gures On the video monitor, a young Hondu- lawyers, clerks, security staff, and family compiled by the Transactional Access Re- Iran man with unruly curly hair appeared from members of detainees were all risking expo- other hearings,” said a statement from the cords Clearinghouse (TRAC) database at Syr- the detention center where he was being held. sure to the virus. Executive Office for Immigration Review acuse University. But only 20 percent of those He was hoping to fi le for asylum, but had no “We need to pause the detained hearings (EOIR),r which added it was “committed” to with lawyers were deported. Immigrants in attorney and little clue how to proceed, espe- right now,” said Cole in early April, speaking protecting all of those in immigration court Illinois with lawyers were deported in only 14 cially with gathering the evidence necessary on behalf of the National Association of Im- from coronavirus. percent of the cases over those years. to show he’d be persecuted if he returned to migration Judges (NAIJ). While the country’s immigration court The government says immigrants have a Honduras. After a short, confusing conver- Then suddenly on April 15, a tweet from system has long been troubled, the situation right to an attorney in immigration court, but sation with the judge, he gave up and said he court officials at 10:14 PM said the court has gotten worse under the Trump admin- it won’t pay for one. That applies to all except wanted to be deported. But clearly worried would be closed the next day. On its website, istration, which has notoriously separated those with mental or developmental dis- for his safety, he pleaded with Cole to make the court was listed as one of a handful closed children from parents and kept them in cages, abilities. Juveniles, the elderly, non-English 10 CHICA O READER - APRIL ll speakers, recent arrivals still dealing with attorneys say. Bonds for clients are higher clients. And given restrictions on movement grant detainees that in March they asked ICE the trauma they fl ed, immigrants in detention and more immigrants don’t get o ered bond within jails and the fact that some have to stop sending them immigrants. Kenosha with little access to the outside world—they at all; new rules delay cases and cost pro bono reduced staff because of illness, it may be County sheriff David Beth told the Kenosha all need to find a lawyer, which can cost attorneys time and money. harder than ever for detainees to even receive News that ICE had used the detention facility hundreds or thousands of dollars, or go it on “Because it is so overwhelming, we don’t phone calls. as a “dumping ground,” sometimes bringing their own through a byzantine, arbitrary, and [even] have a waiting list,” said Mary Meg “I’ve been calling for two or three days to opaque system. McCarthy, head of the Chicago-based Nation- one [detention] center and finally a person “Even if you have a PhD it’s hard to navi- al Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC). “We can’t answered,” said attorney Brian Seyfried. Now gate if you aren’t trained in what to do,” said even find enough immigration attorneys to along with helping immigrants make their Lauren Aronson, director of the University do the work. Even if you have all the money in cases, attorneys also fi nd themselves trying of Illinois’s Immigration Law Clinic. “There’s the world, there’s not enough attorneys.” to protect clients from the risk of coronavirus just so many procedural or bureaucratic re- and the changes the federal government is quirements . . . It’s just a minefi eld.” making because of it. Many immigrants have lost their jobs in NIJC in late March documented reports restaurants, hotels, factories, and domestic from detainees at regional jails who said they work because of the pandemic, and those who had not been told about the virus, that they are undocumented can’t file for unemploy- lacked basic hygiene supplies, and that they ment or get the stimulus checks being distrib- were being kept in crowded facilities with uted as part of the coronavirus relief bill. So no social distancing. In response to the virus, impoverished immigrants fi nd it even more ICE has limited detainee intake, released a difficult than before—often impossible—to small number of potentially vulnerable immi- pay a lawyer, and the relatively few lawyers grants, reduced the population at all facilities and organizations able to work for free have to improve social distancing, and provided no way to serve the vast tide of need. needed health and safety products, according For example, the Immigration Project in to an ICE official and statements from the downstate Normal, which offers pro bono agency. But o cials and advocates alike say help to immigrants in 86 counties, has only
immigrants directly from Chicago’s O’Hare airport. “It’s a petri dish of potential germs insideD our jail,” he told the newspaper. In response, ICE moved the 170 detainees already in Kenosha to detention centers in Texas and Illinois. That move has deeply unsettled families of the detainees, who say they weren’t told about the changes and he virus only made the situation worse worry that sending someone to a Texas jail for immigrants suddenly out of work. is just a step to deporting them, said Laura DAttorney Muhammed Ibrahim, an Iraqi Mendoza, who works with immigrants at the T immigrant himself, has been telling his immi- Resurrection Project in Chicago. Attorney gration court clients not to worry and to pay Omar Abuzir said families of his clients who him when they can. “I need the money, but I were shipped to Texas “have this fear that it understand the situation,” he said. Ibrahim is a short way to remove someone.” opened his own office a few months before One immigrant recently released from a the outbreak. “Right now we have no income detention center in Kankakee told of a man so we are using our credit cards and savings.” shipped there from Kenosha, who appeared “I’ve gone pro bono,” explained immigra- to have the virus, but was placed among other tion attorney Michael Ibrahim (no relation detainees, according to a statement released to Muhammed), whose wife is a nurse on the by the NIJC. “There’s no way you can have front lines of the pandemic at the University social distance from everyone,” said anoth- three lawyers and three other employees of Chicago hospital. He has suspended billing it’s not enough. er immigrant recently released from the qualified to appear in court. Indeed immi- and told clients they can deal with any costs Pointing to a recent outbreak of corona- McHenry County detention center, quoted in grantsN in rural areas are confronted by “few down the road. But other attorneys said they viruse at a Chicago-area shelter for youth in the same NIJC release. qualifi ed immigration attorneys, longer trav- are not taking new clients who are unable to immigration proceedings, the NIJC has called el times to court and high rates of poverty,” pay them. on the government to nationally speed up the hicago’s immigration court handles the according to the TRAC database. And the increasing numbers of immigrants release of immigrant children under its care cases of immigrants living in Kentucky, And attorneys complain that representing being held in detention before their hearings to their families or sponsors. CIndiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin. People clients has become more di cult under the makes attorneys’ jobs even harder. Many jails At a detention facility near Kenosha, Wis- end up there for various reasons: some are Trump administration. The government’s at- are on lockdown, not allowing visitors, so it consin, o cials were so concerned about the undocumented immigrants who were picked torneys have become less willing to bargain, may be impossible for lawyers to visit their spread of the virus from newly arriving immi- up in workplace raids or after random en- ll APRIL - CHICAOREADER 11 continued from 11 provide proof that he would likely face per- than the government, that are generally the than a million cases nationwide. In Chicago’s counters with law enforcement; others are secution if deported. Khu appeared confused threat. If it’s not the government or a govern- immigration court it takes, on average, more people who had been in the country legally and desperate. ment entity like the police or military posing than three years for a case to be completed, but lost their status, often because of a crim- “The paperwork is not easy, I need help,” the threat, then one must prove the govern- according to TRAC figures, which don’t ac- inal charge like drunk driving, drug posses- he told Cole through an interpreter. He added ment can’t or won’t protect them. count for the increased backlog due to the sion, or domestic violence. Under the Trump that his two children grew up in the U.S., and “So one of the big issues coming down for pandemic. administration there’s been an increase in the wouldn’t know how to collect the necessary Central American cases is that a lot of judg- And coronavirus is taking a particularly number of immigrants with no criminal his- evidence from Laos. Cole sighed, and as he es operate from the assumption that these devastating toll on service sector jobs like tory put in removal proceedings, according does with everyone who appears before him, gangs, who are not government actors, their restaurants, hotels, and domestic work, plus to TRAC. For example, in Chicago’s court last wished the man luck. motivation for harming these people is on an jobs like meatpacking, which employ many year, only 397 of 20,082 immigrants facing In the last few years, Chicago’s immigration economic basis,” said Megan Davis, a lawyer undocumented immigrants. That means it new deportation proceedings had criminal court saw a drastic rise in asylum-seeking mi- at the nonprofit Erie Neighborhood House. will be even harder for immigrants in the sys- charges. grants from Central American countries hard- Economic motivations are not a grounds for tem to a¥ ord lawyers or even bond payments. Once immigrants are in removal proceed- hit by gang violence and poverty: Guatemala, asylum. “People have to come up with fi ve or Unlike criminal courts, where a defendant ings, they have several options, including Honduras, and El Salvador. Guatemalans six di¥ erent options and hope that the judge pays a percentage of the amount, often 10 requesting a stay of removal, which can be will agree that one of them fi ts.” percent, detainees must pay 100 percent of done for a limited number of reasons, and Negotiating such nuances, in English, may the bond in immigration court. applying for asylum on the basis of fearing be almost impossible without a lawyer. Mean- Judge Cole is worried that the new reality persecution or torture in their home country. while Central Americans may be especially will make his already resource-strapped Asylum was created to provide protection vulnerable to another problem with the sys- courtroom an even more stressful place. “It’s from persecution and abuse generally at the “Even if you have a PhD tem: unscrupulous or ine¥ ective lawyers who so important to have attorneys,” he said. “It hands of the government, based on one’s race, prey on immigrants’ desperation, taking their makes our jobs as judges much easier when religion, national origin, membership in a it’s hard to navigate money without providing adequate counsel. there is an attorney.” particular social group, sexual orientation, Two years ago the Guatemalan consulate New funding in Chicago and Illinois to pro- gender identity, or political opinion. To be if you aren’t trained set up a service to help immigrants in court, vide legal representation for immigrants may granted asylum, an immigrant has to show because of the difficulty Guatemalans have make a small difference, and advocates are proof that they are being persecuted or have in what to do. There’s in fi nding lawyers and also widespread com- clamoring for such aid to continue despite the a well-founded fear of persecution, including plaints about inadequate attorneys. “I heard fi nancial challenges the city and state are now physical harm or the possibility of being tor- just so many proce- thousands of stories of lawyers who took facing from the pandemic. The state has esti- tured, abducted, or killed. While there’s been their money” and did little for their clients, mated the pandemic could mean a loss of $8 a surge of migrants seeking asylum at the dural or bureaucratic said Guatemalan consul general Billy Adolfo billion in tax revenue, even as it was already southern border in recent years, many of the José Muñoz Miranda, recalling his contacts facing a budget crisis. asylum seekers in the Chicago court are im- requirements. It’s just with immigrants facing deportation in Los The city of Chicago budgeted just over $1.5 migrants who’ve been here legally for years. Angeles, where he previously served. million this year for agencies that o¥ er legal Abdoulaye Beye, a 32-year-old from Dakar, a minefi eld.” Attorney Cynthia Mazariegos, the child help to immigrants, and the Illinois legisla- Senegal, lost his legal “permanent residency” of Guatemalan parents, began volunteering ture agreed to spend $5 million this year on when it expired after he and his American to o¥ er legal help through Centro Romero, a immigrant legal aid, the fi rst such grant made spouse divorced. Without a green card, he north-side advocacy group, in part because by the state. Courts in New York, where there couldn’t renew his driver’s license, which is —Lauren Aronson she was upset about the way lawyers were are signifi cant legal aid funds for immigrants, why he was in immigration court after facing taking advantage of immigrants. “[Immi- have the lowest rate of denying asylum. charges of driving without one. Beye tried— grants] don’t know about the lawyers or how “It is imperative that [Chicago and Illinois and failed—to make the case for himself to to find a lawyer,” she said. “I had a woman aid programs] continue,” said Eréndira stay in the U.S. because of his four-year-old who paid $10,000 for a lawyer, but the lawyer Rendón, who heads the legal program at Chi- child. He had no lawyer, and the judge gave never fi led an asylum petition and the judge cago’s Resurrection Project and is one of the him more time to try to fi nd one. But that will ordered her deported.” leaders of the new state effort. Rendon is a be a di cult mission, since Beye lost his job “There are a lot of bad attorneys out there recipient of DACA, the Obama administration as a welder before the pandemic, and has no in proceedings before the court rose from who will leave their clients high and dry,” program providing protection from deporta- legal authorization to work. 2,040 to 5,301 from 2018 to 2019; Hondurans added NIJC attorney Paula Roa. “People say, tion to people who were brought to the U.S. il- Vang Khu’s parents were among the Hmong from 1,941 to 4,893; and Salvadorans from ‘Oh, I paid the attorney $5,000 or $6,000 legally as children; the Trump administration people from Laos who helped the U.S. in 436 to 905. A large portion of these migrants and then he wanted more money and said he has been trying to overturn the protections. the Vietnam war in the 1960s, he told Judge are women, children, and unaccompanied wouldn’t show [if not paid more].’ And it’s a Troubled by the money problems that sud- Cole one day in February. Khu was on a video minors. week before the merit hearing. What are they denly overcame undocumented immigrants screen from a detention center trying his The percentage of Guatemalans without going to do?” because of the spread of the virus, attorney best, without a lawyer, to convince Cole not to lawyers in Chicago’s immigration court Michael Ibrahim helped start a fund-raising order him deported to Laos, where he says he jumped from 41 percent to 67 percent from he country’s immigration courts will campaign to provide a onetime financial fears harm or death. 2018 to 2019; Hondurans from 54 percent to suffer the impacts of the coronavirus boost for them and their families. In his Khu knows very little English and he does 76 percent; and Salvadorans from 27 percent Tpandemic long after infection rates have fund-raising appeal he wrote: “America’s not have access to any legal aid. Cole ex- to 64 percent. dropped. Hearings for immigrants not held time-honored tradition is to answer the call plained that by his next hearing date in four For Central Americans, asylum cases can be in detention have been stalled, adding to of duty and compassion and help the margin- weeks, Khu must fill out an application and particularly di cult since it is gangs, rather the already insurmountable backlog of more alized and forgotten.” v 12 CHICA O READER - APRIL ll ARTS & CULTURE
Roy Boy Cooper in one of his videos, Exotic Expression.
eager to be his own boss. After his release, one of the first calls he made was to Cliff Raven, a man who’s made so many contributions to tattoo history, it’s difficult to summarize. Raven might be best remembered locally for running the only shop to resist closing after Chicago raised its legal tattoo age to 21, making him a lighthouse for would-be tattooers. That shop continues today as Chicago Tattoo Company. Local lore persists that Cooper was apprenticed by Raven, but Dale Grande, the current owner, who worked with Raven then, says di erently. “They really didn’t get together that much,” Grande explains. “I don’t know where he got his machines or his practice or who taught him.” It’s a question even many closest to Coo- per can’t answer, but the Raven myth survives as one of many Cooper crafted to project a lucrative, memorable image. He was a man de- termined to be important—and would borrow from others’ mythology until he had his own.
ooper was married to a woman named Diana for roughly five years before PROFILE going to prison. In 1978, he met his Csecond wife, Jeanne Fritch, which kicked off his tattoo empire. Fritch was visiting Indiana from Michigan, a curious coed two weeks shy Tiger King of the midwest of graduating from a private university. She’d Before there was Joe Exotic, there was Roy Boy Cooper. double-majored in history and English and interned for a congressperson, but she’d never By M C seen a tattoo before. Cooper’s arms were cov- ered in them. A chance encounter with him as a bar bouncer proved so thrilling, it changed the course of both their lives. is forehead studded with perox- was an underground operation, he was free to divorced in his early teens, his mom relocated The couple became the perfect pairing of ide-blond stubble, the back of his neck run the shop as he wanted—a pool table beside to Kentucky, leaving Cooper and his younger book smart and street smart—two sides of cloaked by a shock of matching curls. the tattoo chairs, a weightlifting gym in the sister to be raised by his father. According to a coin forged from a primal need for life on HGold chains. Gold rings. Tattoos strangling basement, and two fl oor-to-ceiling chain link friends, he forged paperwork to secure a driv- their own terms. Fritch, who now owns the his throat. He collects exotic cats and machine cages for prowling Bengal tigers. When pow- er’s license at age 14, then began driving dump tattoo shop Personal Art, Inc., was apprenticed guns, and even at a distance, the size of his erful people visited Chicago or played shows trucks to bring in extra money. By 16, he had by Cooper and encouraged him to consult a personality looms large. This might read like in Merrillville, Indiana, they’d make detours to his own truck emblazoned with “Roy Boy.” lawyer so they could open a shop together. In a description of Joe Exotic—it’s actually Roy Badlands just to take photos. Cooper tattooed Tattooing didn’t become appealing until he Indiana, only licensed medical professionals Boy Cooper, a tattooer from Gary, Indiana, the likes of Lenny Kravitz, Gregg Allman, and went to prison around 1971. Cooper had been could “pierce the skin with a needle.” The who’s left an indelible mark on the region since Georgette Mosbacher, the current U.S. ambas- part of the Invaders, a local motorcycle gang, spirit of the law was to discourage unlicensed the 1970s. sador to Poland. Wild cats were essential to and was heavy into drinking and drugs, which medical practice, but in application—especial- When Tiger King dropped on Netflix on the image he built. left him with a contempt for authority and an ly as tattooing grew in popularity because of March 20, those familiar with the tattooer Cooper’s interest in exotic animals came unchecked temper. He worked at Bethlehem people like Raven and Cooper—towns would were quick to see the parallels. Tattoo enthu- later in life, though it seems almost inevitable Steel, and once, expecting a helicopter visit selectively enforce it attempting to curb “un- siasts even circulated memes declaring, “Roy for a larger-than-life man who’s always insist- from corporate, painted the roof with six-foot- desirable” people, such as bikers, who were Boy was the first tiger king!” Cooper died in ed on making his own rules. He was born Roy tall letters that screamed “Fuck off.” Cooper associated with tattooing. 2010, but he was famous for his shop the Bad- Craig Cooper in the outskirts of Gary on No- landed in jail for punching his foreman so hard, According to Fritch, the lawyer advised lands, a studio opened in the early 80s while vember 19, 1945. His mother was a beautician, it knocked the man’s teeth out. But a year later, them that Gary was a great place for a shop. tattooing was still illegal in Indiana. Because it his dad a newspaper printer. When his parents he emerged a new person: driven, sober, and Because the city had been steadily declining ll APRIL - CHICAOREADER 13 ARTS & CULTURE since the 1960s, residents and local law en- jaguars, and panthers. At times, he had other outfi ts in a range of fringe, leather, and animal Roy.’” forcement had better things to fuss about than animals, too, including monkeys, bears, and prints. Chins out, they’d walk tigers on leashes Nick Colella, owner of Great Lakes Tattoo, a tax-paying tattoo studio that kept to itself. alligators, but his passion was always big cats. down Broadway together, Gary royalty ready recalls Cooper aggressively e-mailing him If they registered as a retail business, no one To this day, he’s haunted by rumors of to greet their court. graphic suicide photos shortly after meeting would care. Less than six months after meet- breeding and selling them, but those closest When Cooper and Fritch separated, he left in the mid-aughts. To him, it felt like a test ing, the couple debuted Roy Boy’s Place. to him insist this never happened. He was his cats with her and moved into the second of what he would put up with. These kinds of The original sign featured a lone Ameri- also not licensed for it. He’d tell reporters he fl oor of Badlands with Debra. He adopted new antics were common for Cooper—sometimes cana-style eagle and the description “Items had anywhere from 15 to 20 cats, the ones out cats, moving them into the shop and beginning useful experiments in an industry where it of unusual taste”—clues of what awaited of view forever “on loan” to others. In truth, to photograph and video himself and clients could be hard to identify who was trustworthy. visitors that only those in the know would the most he ever had at a time was six. These with them. Over the course of ten years, he and But they also drove many people away, includ- recognize. Inside were things like bongs and rumors let people believe that not only was Debra released one video a year that blended ing some very dear to him. Fritch, Debra, and motorcycle saddlebags. Just out of view were he a man who could tame a small army of footage of playing with tigers, getting tattoos Cooper’s fourth wife, Katie, remember him two cramped offices for tattooing. And even dangerous animals, but he could also a ord it. and piercings, shooting machine guns, riding extremely fondly. But they also confess their further back was the living area Cooper and And even if he wasn’t breeding or selling cats, motorcycles, and being naked. There were truths and desires were not always compatible Fritch called home. didn’t people realize he just as easily could? He skits and heavy metal songs, many of which with their marriages. It wasn’t until the shop was successful was Roy Boy, after all. He could do anything! Cooper wrote and played himself. In tattooing “I could be looking at a beige wall, and he enough for them to move to a farm that Cooper During this time, he also taught himself circles, the videos are highly sought-after would have me convinced it was blue,” Fritch expressed an interest in big cats. Fritch doesn’t how to take photos and began selling images memorabilia that capture a bygone era. (Debra says. But she also cautions that, unlike Joe recall what prompted it, just that Cooper pored of his work to biker and nudie magazines. still sells them at her shop.) Exotic, Cooper could rein himself in before over studying how to prepare and what to This built a desirability for tattoos and, by They also cemented an idea of Cooper, not things went too far. expect while raising them. Cooper registered extension, himself. Fritch and he discussed as a person, but an experience. He wouldn’t When tattooing was legalized in 1997, it was for an exhibitor license with the USDA, though expanding into videos. Though she pictured come to you. If you wanted that thrill, you had one of Cooper’s biggest fears. (Interestingly, he didn’t initially intend for his animals to be them di erently than what they became, they to come to him, in this town everyone else had Frey was essential to this legislative change.) public. He built an area for the cats on his roll- agreed tattoo culture needed recording. By written o . He anticipated it as a sign tattoos would ing property, eventually adopting tigers, lions, some estimates, his aggressive visual archives become ubiquitous to the point of banal—no of early tattooing helped open the market for ooper may have struggled to finish longer a visual language for people who, by tattoo magazines. high school, but when he was interest- necessity or choice, colored outside the lines. In the early 80s, the couple opened the Bad- ed in something, he learned it quickly, But this change allowed shops to build niches lands on Broadway, the main street of Gary. At Cthen exhausted it. For instance, Cooper taught for di erent approaches—essential to artists the time, Gary had one of the highest murder himself to fl y and got his pilot’s license, grad- like Fritch and Frey, who have built careers rates in the country, and Broadway was lit- ually buying larger planes that were harder on tattooing as an art form. And it mandated tered with abandoned storefronts and decay- to fl y including one that read “Larry Flynt for safety standards everyone was required to ing buildings. When the shop appeared—even- President.” He’d only fly locally, but Debra meet. Exotic animals, on the other hand, are tually adopting a yellow facade with murals of recalls frequent Chicago fl ights where they’d still loosely regulated and fringe enough to tigers and skulls and a sign reading “Welcome get so close to the Sears Tower, she could see be appealing to anyone who wants to say both to the BADLANDS,” then smaller, “The Land of the expressions on visitors’ faces. When he got “I’m wild” and “I’m the boss.” Shoot ‘Em Up”—it was a tantalizing change, bored of fl ying, he abandoned it, but it’s easy In 1996, Cooper was hospitalized after rac- one that positioned the city’s shortcomings as to see why a person with this kind of drive and ing and crashing a dragster outfitted with a strengths. exuberance fascinates people. Simultaneous- jet engine. It left him with a permanent limp Not long after, Fritch and Cooper parted ly, this quality could be as draining as it was and chronic pain later exacerbated by a severe ways. He had taken up with Debra Cooper, who exciting. tiger bite. Cooper, who’d avoided all drugs began working in the shop at 16 and became “He needed to push life as far as he could and alcohol since his time in prison, was pre- his apprentice, tiger handler, and live-in nanny to see what its limits were,” Fritch says. “Not scribed painkillers and began self-medicating by 17. At this time, Cooper was nearly twice her what his limits were, what its limits were. He with other things to manage his discomfort. age, but to this day, she warmly describes him liked to mess with the game.” His health declined, and his behavior became as her best friend and soulmate—kindred spir- Sometimes this included messing with erratic. Every year, taking care of his cats its who, over their 15-year marriage, became people, too. Don Frey, owner of Bugaboo Tat- proved more di¨ cult, and in 2010, the USDA known as King and Queen of the Badlands. too, apprenticed under Cooper and worked at rehoused his four remaining tigers, including When Debra met Roy, she was a hard-par- Badlands in the early 90s. He recalls regularly one he’d adopted from Mike Tyson. Three Providing arts coverage tying teen. “I was doing bad in school,” she arriving at ten till nine to open the shop, and months later, Cooper died. While it was a says. “But when I met Roy, my grades raised. every so often, Cooper would arrive around confl uence of ailments (liver failure, tiger bite, in Chicago since 1971. I quit drinking and partying. I was a whole 8:30 to turn the clocks forward. skin cancer), everyone agrees losing his cats new person.” She’s remained that person “I’d walk in, and he’d start yelling and cuss- contributed. since, now the owner of the couple’s late son’s ing at me,” Frey recalls. “‘Shop opens at nine “He loved his animals,” Debra says. “He real- shop, also called Roy Boy’s Place. During their o’clock! Where have you been!’ [It became so ly, truly loved them.” And for better or worse, romance, Debra and Cooper expressed their routine] I’d say, ‘You know what? I only go by admirers loved him just as much for them. v www.chicagoreader.com inextricable bond through matching blond this clock on my wrist, and I’m ten minutes mullets, head-to-toe tattoos, and eye-catching early. I don’t care about your damn clock, @miccoslays 14 CHICA O READER - APRIL ll ARTS & CULTURE
SEX Polyamory during a pandemic How to quarantine while dating multiple folks By S N L
t’s no surprise that COVID-19 has disrupted Hinge has reported a 30 percent increase our typical dating routines. Forced into iso- in messages from March and Tinder stated Ilation with roommates or partners, or on that they had the highest number of recorded our own, cruising for a fl ing just isn’t as easy swipes—more than three billion—on March (or recommended) as it once was. On top of 29. Being cooped up and isolated is making casual dating, maintaining nonmonogamous people horny (or wanting conversation, con- relationships presents challenges for those nection, and intimacy) more than ever. Bio- trying to proceed with their romantic lives. logical anthropologist Helen Fisher told Time, For many folks, their partnerships are evolv- “Romantic love will never die.” With Zoom, ing day by day as social distancing shifts to the FaceTime, text messaging, and other creative new normal and shelter-in-place circumstanc- outlets, intimacy in a peculiar time will still be es disrupt poly formations. Polycules, constel- rampant and possible. Apps like Hinge have lations, and networks are all navigating the launched “date-from-home” features, which pandemic in various ways, and each has their have made it possible for people to video chat own unique set of boundaries. or hop on a phone call instead of meeting IRL. Navigating a partnership shift this invasive For poly folks looking to seek out new crushes, (and global) requires incessant communi- this is a cute and accessible way to continue cation. Starting a healthy conversation of dating (and still stay isolated). However, for limitations, needs, wants, and concerns is folks in long-term partnerships, the pandemic imperative when several people are involved. has introduced considerable circumstantial Everyone’s health is at risk when a global changes. pandemic throws a wrench in your dating “I haven’t seen any of my other partners for life. For some polycules, physical touch and like four weeks now. We’ve been experiment- intimacy may have to take a back seat for the ing with remote dating,” says Dee*, a Skokie foreseeable future. This is, of course, a strain resident who has been in polyamorous part- on any relationship. Developing a plan is es- nerships on and o for the past seven years. sential when sketching out an idea of what a Dating while isolating consists of calls, voice pandemic polycule will look like. Technology, chats (using a program called Discord), movie virtual dates, social media, and video chats are nights through Netfl ix Party, and a few dates all ways to stay connected and intimate. through Animal Crossing. Dee is currently ll APRIL - CHICAOREADER 15 ARTS & CULTURE
living with her spouse, who is immunocom- advice for folks not to see their partners if the pandemic will likely strain partnerships. promised, and because Dee is seeing three they don’t live with them, Sylvia’s views on “Being forced to isolate from communities other partners, she fi nds that strictly quaran- things shifted. Sylvia went from seeing both of of friends and lovers alike can be extremely tining themselves has been the best decision. her partners regularly, and spending at least di cult when community is a main source of Dee and her partners practice kitchen-table two nights a week with each of them, to really connection, meaning, and a feeling of belong- polyamory, which is when all people know limiting her time. Recently, her concern about ing,” they explain. one another and are friends with one another. the situation has begun to increase. “The big- Separation from other partners can create Metamours—a term that refers to your part- gest di culty I have been facing lately is that I immense sadness. McDaniel says that sitting ner’s partner—are all friends when practicing am still required to work on-site at my o ce,” with that emotion “while also trying to build @ Online, Make & Muddle kitchen-table polyamory (the term is inspired she says. “Although we have less than ten [a] connection with the partner in front of SAT APR. 25 Stir Crazy: The art of the stirred cocktail by the idea that everyone in the polycule is people currently working in our o ce, and we you (that you can’t get signifi cant space from seated together at a kitchen table). For Dee, are doing everything in our power to keep our for the time being) can put a unique strain on this type of practice has been helpful while workspace and our protocols as safe and clean relationships.” @ Online, Literacy Chicago quarantined. “It’s been nice having my whole as possible, I still feel that I act as the biggest So, what can poly folks do during a pandem- THU APR. 30 Literacy & Libations polycule as a support network. We’ve all been threat to my partners’ health as they both ic? Although McDaniel isn’t a doctor, they do able to look out for each other and those of us work from where they have been sheltering in advise that people try and have a “poly-fi del- who are healthier/lower risk can shop for each place for nearly a month.” ity” arrangement, which is where poly folks @ Online, Make & Muddle other.” For Sylvia, her biggest concern is for others close the loop to their relationship, for the SAT MAY 2 Shake it Up: The art of the shaken cocktail The New York City Health Department re- in the polycule who may be affected by the time being. “In the COVID-19 context, I would leased guidelines on safe sex practices during transmission of the virus. “After having many take this a step further and say to have a closed COVID-19 and recommended that people only lengthy conversations and despite knowing ‘pandemic polycule,’ where each member of MAY 9 @ Online, Make & Muddle have sex with the person that they live with the risk, both of my partners, in addition to the polycule, including metamours, is only in SAT Porch Pounders cocktail class and advised that “you are your safest partner,” my partner’s live-in partner, have all been signifi cant contact with other members of the which encourages safety and satisfaction adamant that they would still like to see me,” polycule.” through masturbation. With coronavirus she says. Conversations focused on health, For folks who can’t isolate together, have MAY 9 @ Laugh Factory spreading through droplets of saliva, poly safety, boundaries, desires, and needs have no fear. We live in the age of technology. We SAT Head Talks with Shane Mauss couples have had to make tough decisions on all come to the forefront for Sylvia and her are devoured by it, and now is the time to take & Sophia Rokhlin how to continue their partnerships. For folks newest partner. To feel more comfortable with advantage of its resources. “Video calls are a who have multiple partners, choosing which the situation, she has decided to reduce the great way to connect, as we’ve all discovered partner to quarantine with may be a bit dif- number of days she sees each of her partners in recent weeks,” says McDaniel. “Socially dis- @ North Bar SAT MAY 9 ficult. Balancing emotions, desires, and safe and stays on top of handwashing and other tant walks can be a nice way to connect and get Marcella Arguello - Early Show sex during a pandemic can create a fi ssure in a safety precautions. For now, Sylvia says she some fresh air at the same time. There’s also stable polycule. However, most of the couples will continue to see her partners until it is no the old-school love letter.” This time can also I talked with have found that discussing the longer possible. be used to become more creative in expressing @ North Bar SAT MAY 9 pandemic as well as safety measures is quite Having lost 75 percent of her income, her emotions and experimenting sexually. McDan- Marcella Arguello - Late Show assuring and comforting. mental health has suffered. “My long-term iel suggests sexting, sexy pandemic selfies, Steven* and Sylvia* have been together for partner has stepped up immensely and has and sex toys that can be controlled by remote. three years and are navigating the pandemic been there for me when I have needed reas- “Filling out a Yes/No/Maybe list together can MAY 16 @ Online, Make & Muddle SAT one day at a time. Steven has been with his surance and emotional support; both he and increase the anticipation of a reunion.” Summer Slushies: Frozen boozy slushies nesting partner for ten years, and Sylvia, being his live-in partner have been like family to me Isolation can be the time for experimen- a solo poly, has been dating a new partner for through this experience, which has brought tation. Whether that means picking up a four months. “When the stay-at-home order us all closer together as a network and as paintbrush, starting a new recipe, or finally MAY 23 @ Online, Make & Muddle came in, my nesting partner and I had a brief friends,” she says. Since the start of the pan- purchasing that remote sex toy (I personally SAT Tiki Talk discussion that we would still see each other’s demic, Sylvia has deleted OkCupid and has recommend the Lush 2). While the pandemic partners as long as everyone was comfortable decided to halt all communication with new creates a difficult constriction for folks who with it and ensure that we would limit as much folks on any dating apps. date multiple people, it can also be a time to JUNE 6 @ Naperville Settlement as possible interactions outside of our ‘pod’ Rae McDaniel, a certifi ed sex therapist and intimately and emotionally flourish. While SAT Naperville Soulfest 2020 and be safe when doing so,” says Steven. founder of Practical Audacity, says that con- every polycule will have a different set of Steven, his nesting partner, and their meta- necting with our loved ones may look di¥ erent considerations, safety should be pushed to the mours are all able to work from home during during the pandemic, and these “alternative forefront. “Not seeing a partner is hard, but isolation, but Sylvia is still working some ways of connecting simply may not complete- we all are having to do hard things right now reduced hours. At first, Steven says he had ly meet your needs. And that’s OK.” They say and the reward is not worth the risk to those
in partnership with few concerns about seeing Sylvia because she there should be an acknowledgment “that we at high risk of complications from COVID-19,” was taking the proper precautions to protect are going through collective withdrawal and says McDaniel. As long as doors are open for herself. However, after Sylvia listened to a grief about not being able to be with every- communication, check-ins, and honesty, this Dan Savage podcast that discussed the topic one that we love.” McDaniel says we should too shall (eventually) pass. v to add your event to TIXREADER COM, email [email protected] of dating during a pandemic, she became in- acknowledge that we miss someone in this creasingly concerned. After hearing Savage’s “abnormal time.” McDaniel does note that @snicolelane 16 CHICA O READER - APRIL ll R READER RECOMMENDED b ALL AGES F THEATER
Still from A Piece for Four Hands with Samuel project that let him exercise his performance Beckett COURTESY THEATRE Y chops. and captivate the audience through modern Raik, who enjoys reading poetry out loud, theater that includes sociopolitical global says he wrote his own version of the text so perspectives, as described in the 2014 book he could better resonate with it. He says that The Routledge Companion to Dramaturgy by the poem speaks to aging, getting older, and theater professor Magda Romanska. wanting to leave a mark on society, which he “Now that we are in this period of isolation, interprets to mean that Visky wants to be choosing from his body of work and sending remembered for his work, similar to Beckett. something out weekly felt even more appro- “I, in the poem, felt that I want to leave some- priate because András has a great deal of ex- thing behind like those words on the page,” perience with a crisis of this scale, which most Raik says. Americans are not professionals at,” Lorraine The video purposely creates dissonance says. between the visual and auditory, which Raik Visky’s nearly four and a half years in a and Lorraine arranged so the audience can prison camp from 1960 to 1964 largely shaped think about the work and its multiple inter- his theater work and perception of life. Grow- pretations. Lorraine says working with Visky’s ing up in eastern Europe in a system of labor words is freeing because of the permission he camps, his plays center around what it means gives to manipulate this work, which is why FEATURE to be a prisoner and the problem of being set Theatre Y keeps circling back to his pieces. She free. He views the current pandemic as a time calls his writing naked and vulnerable, while to refl ect on the concept of freedom and how at the same time setting the bar high to pro- Quarantine insights art and culture can help. “This is a very special duce meaningful work from it. type of solitary confi nement. For me, it’s not “There is so much space between his lines, Theatre Y gives viewers a virtual anthology of András Visky’s work. that traumatic because I know that all of us space for you to insert yourself between his will build value and we’ll reconsider the idea words, and that’s why it’s possible to take By A P -A of freedom,” Visky says. them out of context and reconfi gure meanings As art around the world looks to virtual inside of little excerpts that maybe are miles connections to reinvent itself and stay promi- away from where they originated, which is nent, he says these challenges present an even fi ne,” she says. t the beginning of the year, Theatre Y anniversary celebrations in the fall, which greater need to create and fi nd new answers to For Visky, theater is not about the play- had big plans to celebrate its upcoming might be virtual but will honor award-winning the new reality we live in. That’s why he was wright; it is about the actors who reconstruct A15-year anniversary. But once the real- Hungarian-Romanian playwright and poet honored to help bring Theatre Y’s new video the unknown from a text, he says. And seeing ities of the pandemic set in and shows, tours, András Visky and the release of his directorial series to life. While Lorraine is very clear that an anthology of his work produced is a fas- and theater festivals were canceled, the com- fi lm debut, Performing Juliet. Visky’s play Ju- the series is not theater, Visky looks to it as an cinating experiment that makes him forget pany had a clean slate of time and still wanted liet, based on the story of his mother raising experimental minimalist type of theater, an about the original words he wrote. “I am to celebrate its birthday. him and his siblings in a prison camp, was the attempt to connect with its community in the thrilled to be part of this, watch the videos, first produced by Theatre Y, which formed best of circumstances. and realize that I am getting back a di¢ erent specifi cally to stage his work; they revived it The retrospective project also came out of type of text,” he says. M B ’ I D in fall of 2019. With the help of Lorraine and an innate need to give purpose to the ensem- True to Theatre Y’s mission to build com- Through / : new videos released every Friday at PM, theatre-y.com, F Visky himself, each episode in the series will ble members and task them with creativity munity, the company will hold monthly virtual feature translated poems by the playwright in a time when many lost their jobs and are talkbacks as each video is released for the that fit into the themes of introspection, just sitting at home. “I did feel a tremendous audience to engage with Visky and the ensem- With that time, a new video project was un- self-interrogation, freedom, and what success amount of pressure in this moment to give ble, ask questions, and continue the birthday veiled on April 17 called My Body’s Image, De- means. something to every ensemble member to work celebration. layed, responding to the isolation of the cur- Visky is known as a longtime dramaturg, on because most of them are in the hospitality Visky credits Theatre Y for exposing his rent time through experimental movement, lecturer, playwright, and artistic director, industry,” Lorraine says. “And so they are nei- work to American audiences and theaters. poetry, and bathroom mirrors. A new episode and his plays have been produced in Europe ther doing theater nor bartending or waiting Now he doesn’t feel like an orphaned play- by each member will be released every Friday and the U.S. His upbringing also felt timely to tables, so they’re starving [to create].” wright, he says. In turn, Lorraine feels it is a night for the next 15 weeks, directed and pro- highlight: his childhood in a prison camp, his Howard Raik, an ensemble member of al- gift to be working with a living playwright duced at a distance by cofounder and artistic ongoing persecution under the communist most a year, was the subject of the prologue and is confident in her company’s 15-year director Melissa Lorraine. “We’ve been asked dictatorships of Romania and his “Barrack episode called A Piece for Four Hands with work. “The task for the company now is to to enter a new kind of silence with ourselves, dramaturgy” make him strangely qualifi ed to Samuel Beckett by Visky that features quotes fi nd the Viskys of the rest of the world,” she a kind of cloister,” Lorraine says. “So each epi- orient us through the present moment of pro- from the renowned Irish writer’s plays. It was says. “I am sure they are abundant and grossly sode is going to be a meditation on identity, on found grief and loss of control, Lorraine says. released April 13, intentionally coinciding underknown.” v mortality, on solitude, on loss, on nonsense.” Barrack dramaturgy “was born out of the need with Visky and Beckett’s birthday. Chosen by The series is the preface to the company’s to make imprisonment a common experience” Lorraine, Raik says the poem was a welcomed @ArielParrella ll APRIL - CHICAOREADER 17 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.
Your donation keeps the presses rolling.
CHIP IN HERE: www.chicagoreader.com/members
WANT TO DONATE VIA CHECK? Make checks payable to “Chicago Reader” and mail to Chicago Reader, Suite 102, 2930 S. Michigan Avenue, Chicago, IL 60616. Include your mailing address, phone, and email—and please indicate if you are okay with us thanking you by name in the paper.
18 CHICA O READER - APRIL ll FILM
Earth out the concepts uses the word “shitter” in the fi rst fi ve minutes of the fi lm. But it still manages to go beyond just on the earth’s topography; Geyrhalter and his crew being a frothy, mindless romance, thanks in large part delve into the nuances of each worksite, where colossal to the exceptionally charming and emotionally adept machinery eats away at the land. The fi lmmakers inter- ensemble—in particular Joel Fry and Aisling Bea as the view laborers at each location about their work and how main sources of comedic relief. The fi lm focuses on Jack they feel about what they’re doing to the planet. These (Sam Clafl in) who blows his chance to tell Dina (Olivia segments are honest and illuminating, specifi cally with Munn) how he feels about her. Years later they are regards to the intersection between labor, capitalism, reunited at his sister Hayley’s (Eleanor Tomlinson) wed- and environmental concerns. I can’t help but feel there ding, but a simple mix-up of the seating chart sends fate are no easy answers to the complex issues the fi lm spinning in diff erent directions. We get quick glimpses raises; if anything, I came away from it with even more into the other timelines in a particularly delightful mon- questions. In various languages with English subtitles tage zooming through how each seating arrangement —K S 116 min. Facets Virtual Cinema, might end. In a refreshing twist, the fi nal outcome isn’t Gene Siskel Film Center from Your Sofa quite the picture-perfect, predictable rom-com ending. —B W 100 min. Netflix Love Wedding Repeat R In the latest Netfl ix rom-com, a genre the Roar NOW STREAMING our contemporary existential crisis, ranging from indus- streaming service is starting to become an expert in, R If there’s one thing to thank Netfl ix’s Tiger King trial food production, the rise of nationalism, and, now, writer-director Dean Craig (Death at a Funeral, Carrie for, it’s reviving interest in 1981’s Roar. Both so messy Earth the large-scale desecration of the earth through mining Pilby) explores how the chaotic randomness of the as to be compelling, the former is a backstage pass to It would seem that Austrian documentary fi lmmaker and other disruptive practices. Shot in seven locations universe aff ects the chances of you ending up with the bizarre, while the latter is a cult classic with claws. Nikolaus Geyrhalter (Our Daily Bread, Homo Sapiens) across North America and Europe, the fi lm contains the love of your life. It’s not as deep as it sounds—the Roar was meant to be the magnum opus of director has made a career of honing in on subjects at the core of astonishing widescreen images of humanity’s impact disembodied voice of the all-knowing Oracle laying Noel Marshall (producer of The Exorcist), and to raise
SCHOOL GIRLS; NOW ONLINE! OR, THE AFRICAN Through April 26 only
MEAN GIRLS PLAY Stream this “nasty-teen comedy, wonderfully refreshed and By Jocelyn Bioh, Directed by Lili-Anne Brown deepened” (The New York Times) from the comfort of your home!
Major Corporate Sponsor Corporate Sponsor Partners GoodmanTheatre.org/StreamSchoolGirls ll APRIL - CHICAOREADER 19 FILM
TO ALL ESSENTIAL WORKERS, THE HEROES OF OUR TIME THANK YOU
You Inspire Us.
Sorry We Missed You
continued from 19 awareness about big cat poaching. Ostensibly a fi lm Sorry We Missed You about a Chicago family venturing to East Africa to visit R An urgent and heart-rending drama, Ken Loach’s their naturalist father who’s living among a hoard of wild 2019 fi lm follows Ricky (Kris Hitchen), a stoic delivery driv- big cats, Roar is actually a clear case against disrupting er and Abbie (Debbie Honeywood), a home care nurse. the animal kingdom on a whim. It notably stars Marshall’s Together, they struggle to make ends meet while trying own family, which includes then-wife Tippi Hedren to hold their family together, caring for their sensitive (The Birds) and her teenage daughter Melanie Griffi th young daughter Liza (Katie Proctor) and rebellious, but (Working Girl), both of whom were seriously injured by ultimately goodhearted, son Seb (Rhys Stone). Unfl inch- various wildlife on set. Made for a cool 17 million dollars ingly frank, this British-French-Belgian fi lm can feel (only two million of which was earned back), Roar is an stifl ing at times because of the many injustices Ricky and inimitable relic, a must-see. —B J PG, 102 his family face. Still, Loach manages to de ly render a min. Music Box Theater Virtual Cinema tender and complex portrait of the modern working-class family, dealing honestly with the cruelties of the gig Saint Frances economy while still managing to fi nd moments of warmth R At 34, Bridget (Kelly O’Sullivan) was not expect- and laughter in the family’s love for each other. —N L ing to be working minimum wage and sleeping with C 101 min. Music Box Theatre Virtual Cinema a man nearly ten years her junior. But sometimes life doesn’t work out like you imagined it. A er landing a True History of the Kelly Gang much more lucrative job as a nanny to six-year-old Fran- Based on Peter Carey’s novel of the same name, ces (Ramona Edith-Williams), she might fi nally be on the True History of the Kelly Gang animates the story of upswing that gets her life back on track—that is, until an Australian bushranger Ned Kelly (George MacKay) unwanted pregnancy gets in the mix. Bridget carries the and his team of ragtag bandits during the 1870s. It’s a weight of her choices while getting closer with Frances— punk-tinged take on the life of a historical fi gure that is imparting wisdom onto her about the patriarchy and perhaps more about a myth than a man. With director how to rock like Joan Jett—and attempting to impress Justin Kurzel’s (Assassin’s Creed) familiar grime-glazed Frances’s moms when her life feels like a trainwreck. visuals on full display, the movie is a brutal portrayal of Alex Thompson and O’Sullivan’s Chicago-shot feature a hard-earned life, bare-knuckle brawls and all. Raised Saint Frances examines the intricate, annoying, and by his mother (Essie Davis), who exudes a feral formi- less-than-glamorous parts of life with tenderness but dability, before being sold to the notorious bushranger never with shame. It champions hard conversations Harry Power (Russell Crowe), Kelly is remembered for about abortion, postpartum depression, and the all-con- challenging an oppressive regime with an unapologetic suming fear that you messed your life up, and it’s too killing spree. Long shots of barren land and surreal late to fi x it. It asks its characters and its audience to sequences give this dark western a transportive quality, redefi ne not just what family means, but what it means taking viewers back in time—but it also feels like some- to have a life worth living, even if you’re not quite there where uniquely imagined as it blurs fact and fi ction in Joffrey Artists Jeraldine Mendoza and Dylan Gutierrez. Photo by Cheryl Mann. yet. —C C 106 min. Music Box Theatre one heady experience. —B J 124 min. In wide Virtual Cinema release on VOD v
20 CHICA O READER - APRIL ll MUSIC
Christen Thomas at Parson’s Community Block she quickly ingratiated herself into the small and Lawn Party in June 2017. Her friend Alison group of marketers who worked with up-and- Green took this photo, and she’s holding Green’s dog Lil Mama. ALISON GREEN coming bands. “I always kind of thought that if she worked at a bank, she probably would still This past November, Thomas traveled to Austin be at shows every night,” Wirtz says. “It just with Richard Vain to perform at the Levitation happened to be that she was able to make a liv- festival. That set would be her last. She died of ing o£ of this world too.” Many of her former cardiac arrest on Monday, April 6, at age 38. Cornerstone colleagues have long since moved into other fi elds, but Thomas would continue homas grew up in Groveland, Massachu- to work in music for the rest of her life. setts, a suburb roughly 35 minutes north In fall 2005, Thomas started at Vice Re- Tof Boston. She learned to play piano cords, where she helped sign Atlanta garage because her parents had one in the house— hotshots the Black Lips. As Vice courted the even though neither of them could play, they’d band in 2006, the label booked a handful of bought it at a yard sale before Thomas was shows for them in New York City and flew in born, hoping their kids would make music. Chicago-based garage rockers the Tyrades to Thomas, the fi rst of their two children, turned open. The two bands were friends, but after out to excel at it. She also studied flute, and Tyrades guitarist Jim “Hollywood” McCann after a family trip to the UK, she fell in love met Thomas, he spent much of the rest of the with pennywhistles. “It became her mission to trip hanging out with her. “She’s super easy to collect pennywhistles in every key,” says her become friends with—it just seemed like she younger sister, Cathy Shenoy. wanted the best for everyone,” McCann says. Shenoy remembers that when Thomas took “You can sense that almost immediately after music classes in high school, her teacher no- meeting her.” McCann soon got into the habit of ticed her knack for picking up new instruments. calling Thomas’s o§ ce after late-night bartend- “Her band director, he was like, ‘Oh, I want to ing shifts at Delilah’s and leaving silly phone do this song that has French horn,’” she says. messages in mixed-up Spanish and Italian. She “‘Christen, can you learn French horn?’ She always called back the next day, laughing. would come home from school with a French In summer 2006, Vice curated the second horn and be like, ‘I’m gonna learn to play this.’” and last Intonation Festival, which had split Thomas went on to teach herself oboe, and after o£ from the Pitchfork festival that year. The Rememberin Chicao she left Groveland in 1999 to attend Adelphi Uni- Tyrades’ set at Intonation would be their last versity on Long Island, she gave cello a shot too. show, and Thomas fl ew out for it. “I think the At Adelphi, Thomas double-majored in Chicago community really spoke to her in a music champion English and music—she aspired to become meaningful way,” Shenoy says. a conductor of Broadway musicals. “There When Thomas left Vice in late 2007, she felt weren’t very many female conductors working Chicago calling. “In the middle of shooting Christen Thomas on Broadway, and it was her goal to break into the shit on the phone, she was like, ‘Maybe I’ll that,” Shenoy says. Before she graduated in just move to Chicago,’” McCann says. “I was She booked shows for a decade with the Empty Bottle and Metro teams, but 2003, Thomas got a taste of that dream career— like, ‘Oh, you 100 percent need to do that right that work was just the beginning of the love, joy, and support she showered she apprenticed as a conductor for The Lion now.’ She’s like, ‘Really?’ I’m like, ‘Yeah, it’ll be on the local scene. King on Broadway. But by then she’d already great.’” And he was right. found another path, while studying abroad in After Thomas settled in Chicago, she briefl y By L G London her junior year. “Her friends she made worked as a publicist for Pitchfork TV (which over there, they went to a lot of live shows— launched in April 2008) before being hired by hristen Thomas’s boisterous laugh could Chicago’s nightlife, booking top-tier touring that’s where she got more into punk and rock,” the Empty Bottle. As Wirtz points out, she’d charm everyone in the room—and be- acts and local talent at the Bottle and bringing Shenoy says. “That’s when things start to shift already been part of three outlets that shaped Ccause she worked in the music industry, eclectic live music, RuPaul’s Drag Race watch more for her, like, ‘OK, well, I know all this stu£ the era’s musical zeitgeist: Vice, Pitchfork, and she was in a lot of crowded rooms. She made parties, and much more to GMan Tavern. about music, and I’ve also got this degree in En- by extension the Fader. “I don’t think she was too many friends to count, not just in Chicago Thomas worked in a fi eld dominated by men, glish. Maybe I can work writing about music.’” defined by those places,” he says. “She con- but around the world. Within a few months of and she tirelessly advocated for marginalized Shortly after graduation, Thomas got a job tributed to those places, but Christen Thomas moving here in 2007 from New York City, where voices in the arts—she knew fi rsthand what it with Cornerstone, an entertainment promo- was Christen Thomas.” she’d worked for Cornerstone Promotions felt like to be the only woman in the room. She tion company that shares ownership with and Vice Records, she landed a gig in media also made herself at home in the boys’ club of tastemaking music publication the Fader. n early April 2008, Daylight Robbery drum- relations at the Empty Bottle. A few years later rock ’n’ roll, and played in three bands during She worked in the marketing department, mer Jeff Rice met Thomas at a Headache she transitioned into the role of talent buyer, her years in Chicago: Circles, Storm Clouds, and where she met Danny Wirtz, who’s now vice ICity show at Cobra Lounge, and afterward and in 2016 she took a similar job with the team Richard Vain, which had begun as the solo proj- chairman of the Breakthru Beverage Group they went to the Burlington with a couple at Metro. For a decade, Thomas helped shape ect of former Ponys front man Jered Gummere. in Chicago; with her passion for new music, friends from the gig. Thomas and Rice spent ll APRIL - CHICAOREADER 21 MUSIC
Christen Thomas at Riot Fest 2017 with Metro by men helped motivate her in her role as a social media director Brett Crawford (left) and creative programmer. “Christen was fi rst and Bloodiest guitarist Tony Lazzara, who’s also head engineer at the Burlington and co-owns Versus foremost a really great feminist and advocator Guitars and Audio ALISON GREEN for women, through the Bottle, the Metro, through her social media,” she says. “She con- gave lots of locals a leg up that way: Lukas says stantly supported female-driven projects, no she booked Pink Frost to open shows for A Place matter what.” to Bury Strangers and Wild Nothing, and she constantly brought in acts that had members hortly after Thomas moved to Chicago, working at Handlebar, among them Radar Eyes McCann was bartending a slow Wednes- and the Runnies. She was fond of garage group Sday night at Delilah’s when an obnoxious Outer Minds, thrash deviants Oozing Wound, patron walked in and, without ending his phone and psych misfi ts Rabble Rabble (whose bassist, call, leaned over the bar to deliver a one-word Matt Ciarleglio, was a Bottle sta er). Thomas order: “Carbomb.” When McCann told Thomas loved rock ’n’ roll, especially garage rock, but the story, he joked that he’d start calling one of she knew she couldn’t do her job well by color- his friends “Carbomb.” ing inside those lines—she also liked to bring in “She goes, ‘Ooooh,’ which was a thing she New Orleans bounce queen Big Freedia. does,” McCann says. “She’s like, ‘I want to be Brent Heyl started at the Bottle in 2012, Carbomb!’” The nickname caught on as easily working in tandem with Thomas as a booker. as Thomas made friends. By 2010, a friend of They frequently took work trips to South by Thomas and McCann’s from Austin performing the night and the entire next day together. outside the Bottle. She’d often write band bios Southwest and CMJ, and at the office they as Butcher Bear (his real name is Ben Webster) “We never were not an item after that,” Rice and press releases for local musicians—she spent hours together dealing with the bureau- had released a synth-pop EP called Carbomb. says. “We kept it casual for about a week.” By helped Adam Lukas of Pink Frost through two cratic grind of a business where frustrating Thomas inspired the title track. the end of the year, Rice had moved in with of the band’s album cycles. He and Thomas last-minute cancellations and crises are the “She had a way of making you feel twice as Thomas; they married in October 2013. became friends, and she became a fixture at norm. “In working with her, the thing that I funny or cool as you actually were,” says Sean Shortly after Rice and Thomas started Handlebar, where he was working. Every Friday appreciated the most is she would help remind Tillmann, better known as Har Mar Super- dating, she ran into Pete Toalson at a friend’s for a decade, Thomas and Rice would convene at me of why I got into it in the fi rst place, and star. Because he’s based in Minnesota, he saw backyard barbecue. At the time, he was the Handlebar, usually sitting at the bar; sometimes what the point of us being here is,” Heyl says. Thomas less frequently than her Chicago crowd Bottle’s program coordinator. “We met, she they’d join Metro talent buyer Joe Carsello “She was a really big supporter of LGBT rights did—they’d hang out when he’d play the Bottle talked a little bit about her background—she and his wife, Casey, who maintained a similar and community. Her approach to activism and on tour, and she’d usually gather their mutual had been working at Vice in New York and was weekly ritual. “It kind of became a weird, like, groups was really encouraging.” friends to see him. In November 2019, Thomas freelance writing,” Toalson says. “At the time, I booking-agent-slash-Friday-night Handlebar At the Bottle, Thomas advocated for and Rice watched as Tillmann served as the of- was looking for some copywriting PR support, thing. It was awesome,” Lukas says. “Just pick- queer-friendly programming such as Glitter fi ciant at the wedding of two of their friends. “I so we talked it out a little bit.” Thomas formal- ing out the jams and having fun doing shots.” Creeps, an LGBTQ+ monthly curated by Don- fl ew in after having no sleep, straight o of tour, ly interviewed at the Bottle within a couple Of course, Thomas also kept going to lots of nie and Madison Moore of Absolutely Not. And and was very nervous about this large role,” he weeks, and she got the job right away. shows around the city, often seeking out local after she started at the GMan in early 2016, she says. “Something about Carbomb being there, Toalson and Thomas worked together closely acts—and not just musicians. Jane Beachy, turned her activism up a notch. She became a just being like, ‘You’re gonna do great, don’t for about five years. “She quickly became an who founded inclusive, queer-friendly weekly moderator for the Chicago chapter of Shout even think about it,’ set me so much ease that asset that I couldn’t fathom being without,” performance series Salonathon in 2011, says she Your Abortion, and she helped connect local I nailed it. I don’t think I would have been that Toalson says. “She started helping me doing met Thomas at a drag show that Salonathon cu- venues with grassroots organization Good relaxed if I didn’t have her spirit there.” some of the programming. We both wrote a lot rated for Illinois Humanities (though she’s not Night Out, which trains sta to respond to and Thomas had a knack for energizing her for the website. She would help out anywhere, in sure if they’d already run into each other at the prevent sexual harassment. Her sudden depar- friends in their creative pursuits. “One of the any capacity, with anyone on the entire team.” Bottle). Thomas helped out with Salonathon as ture from the Bottle—Rice suspects it was re- things that was really powerful for me was, Thomas also became tight with the Bottle’s it grew, and Beachy came to admire her for her lated to friction with male managers—was one when I was working for the Reader and trying fl oor sta . “She knew that the people actually down-to-earth spirit and personable approach of a series of developments that encouraged to figure out if I was a real photographer or working on the ground were the ones who to her work. “She wanted to know how you were her to think di erently about how to advocate not, Christen was always unquestionably like, made the events happen and who made them just as much as she wanted to know if you want- for women in music. As she wrote in an essay ‘Oh yeah, you’re killing it,’” says photographer enjoyable for the people who go to the Bottle,” ed to work on a particular project,” Beachy says. for the 2016 book Feminist Advice From the Alison Green. “That’s really powerful coming Rice says. “It’s the folks who actually check “That made working with her, and being around City of Broad Shoulders, “I didn’t need to be from her, because she’s not a bullshitter. She’s your IDs at the door, pick up the drinks, make her, and being friends with her just very easy.” and I couldn’t continue being the only girl in extremely kind, but part of that kindness is a sure the bands go on at reasonable times, and Beachy also managed gay synth-pop group the room. There’s more than enough room up truly authentic connection—she’ll love you that everybody’s safe and taken care of. Those Baathhaus, then still called Daan. When they here for us.” despite your fl aws.” are the important people.” Thomas even opened for Diamond Rings at the Bottle in the But even before she wrote those words, Though she could be relied on to stick up for helped her future bandmate Jered Gummere early 2010s, they won Thomas over, and after Thomas had been leading by example and in- underdogs and support the people she loved, get a job behind the bar. she formally transitioned into Toalson’s role spiring women in Chicago’s arts communities. in her own bands Thomas shied away from Thomas also found ways to act on her love as the Bottle’s talent buyer in 2011, she’d some- Johalla Projects founder Anna Cerniglia says the spotlight. “I think Christen was just so for music, and for Chicago’s scene specifi cally, times tap them to open for touring acts. She that seeing Thomas work in a fi eld dominated immersed in her role as a music promoter, and 22 CHICA O READER - APRIL ll MUSIC
also had severe anxiety—being onstage playing Thomas pursued a sprawling variety of keyboards was hugely stressful,” Rice says. “But interests and obsessions. She loved drag, and once she got past that, she was very good at it.” after joining the staff at Metro she became a In the early 2010s, guitarist Srini Radha- regular at Smart Bar’s Queen! series. She read krishna asked Thomas to join his garage-pop voraciously, sometimes fi nishing a book every group Circles, which gigged around town and day; she’d often visit Wettstein at the restaurant toured the west coast. A couple years later, she where he works, sit at the bar, read a book for a started playing with her friends Justin “Lugs” few hours, and chat with him when he had some Wettstein and James Deia, who’d been jamming downtime. When her great-aunt Jan died in late as an outlet for their shared love of punk and 2015 and her family discovered a cache of letters posthardcore. “The loose construction of that from a friend dating back to the 1940s, Thomas band was like, ‘Let’s just bring friends in, and transcribed every one and tracked down the it can take whatever shape it will,’” Deia says. sender’s family in Vermont. She had a soft spot Rice had recommended Thomas to Wettstein. for Neil Diamond, and managed to convert Rice “It felt really good, and it was hitting some too. When Diamond played the United Center a touchstones for her as well—we bonded over few years ago, Wirtz got Thomas and Rice tick- the Anniversary,” Deia says. “It went from ets (the Wirtz Corporation is part owner of the being a one-o collaborative thing to she felt arena). “I talked to Je a little about this—for very much at home.” Thomas soon joined the her and Jeff, it was like one of those top-ten band, which developed a stable fi ve-piece line- moments as a couple,” Wirtz says. up and took the name Storm Clouds. A couple years ago, Thomas began nannying, “It was really ridiculously easy to be in a band mostly for friends. Her easy sociability wasn’t with her, the same as it was to be around her,” confined to people her own age—Green says Wettstein says. “She was a master of relating to she could charm old men instantly, and children people—like, gauging people, fi guring them out, adored her. Thomas and Rice didn’t plan on hav- and figuring out how she was going to relate ing children of their own, but she loved spend- to them and build a relationship. So being in a ing time with her friends’ kids, Wirtz’s among band was no di erent.” them. “It wasn’t babysitting—she always said, ‘I Because of the pandemic, our doors Wettstein and Thomas would continue to want to hang out with your kids,’” Wirtz says. “I play together in Richard Vain, led by Jered couldn’t think of a better role model—and just were forced to close until May. The Gummere—one of Thomas’s favorite musi- an awesome person—to spend time with our cians and by then a close friend as well. “I’d two daughters.” livelihoods of our box office been working on songs for a while at home, got Thomas got especially close to Gummere and bored, and ended up talking to Christen—I was Melissa Elias’s seven-year-old daughter, Eloise. like, ‘I want to add friends, I’m lonely,’” Gum- “She’s pretty much like family to us,” Gummere workers, security, stagehands, techs, mere says. “We practiced and that was it.” The says. Thomas relished her role as “cool aunt,” group had great chemistry, even when they had and she’d recently bought Whitney and War- and bar servers have been directly trouble fi nding the time to rehearse. Gummere paint records for Eloise. “Starting her out right says Thomas was the group’s rock. with a good record collection,” Gummere says. affected by this decision. In late 2018, Richard Vain dropped an album Thomas’s enthusiasm could turn just about called Night Jammer. “She was super proud of anyone on to something new. Shenoy remem- it,” Rice says. “She listened to the mixes over bers that when Thomas was in high school, the We want them to know how much and over again. That was probably the most two of them went with their mom to see the fulfi lling thing for her musically.” White Stripes in Providence—and their mom we appreciate their hard work got hooked. n 2015, Rice and Thomas took their fi rst of A couple days before Thomas died, when and help support them three trips to Talkeetna, an inland Alaskan she was hospitalized with a dire prognosis, her Itown a couple hours north of Anchorage mother was talking on the phone with Shenoy during this trying time. with a population under 1,000—it may have and brought up the White Stripes. “She was inspired the fictional Cicely, the setting of like, ‘I keep thinking of that Jack White song, 1990s CBS series Northern Exposure. They’d “I Just Don’t Know What to Do With Myself,”’” go hiking during the day and spend their Shenoy says. “I thought, ‘The fact that my evenings at the Fairview Inn. They made their mother is calling on the power of Jack White PLEASE DONATE: visits outside the usual tourist season, so they right now, as we’re grieving and being sad, mostly ran into townies with blue-collar jobs. just speaks volumes to how powerful Chris- jamusa.com/helpourstaff “She loved going to a place where it was only ten’s love of music was.’” v industry people,” Rice says. “That entire state is like the fi rst fl oor of the Empty Bottle.” @imLeor ll APRIL - CHICAOREADER 23 Recommended and notable releases and MUSIC critics’ insights for the week of April 23 Rattleback RECORDS PICK OF THE WEEK ANDERSONVILLE'S FULL Chicago rapper and cult legend Sharkula SERVICE RECORD STORE focuses his flow on BBQ Fingaprints WE WANT TO WISH YOU ALL HEALTH & PEACE DURING THESE CHALLENGING TIMES
WHILE OUR SHOP IS TEMPORARILY CLOSED WE’RE HAPPY TO SHIP YOU ANY See you on the MUSIC YOU’RE other side, Chicago. LOOKING FOR!
www.rattlebackrecords.com chicagodancesupply.com
VICTOR GRIGAS
Sharkula, BBQ Fingaprints Static Switch staticswitchrecords.bandcamp.com/album/bbq-fingaprints
IF YOU’VE SPENT MUCH TIME in Chicago’s artsier north-side enclaves, you’ve likely crossed paths with Chicago rapper Brian Wharton—he goes by Sharkula, but he’s also sometimes known as Thigahmahjiggee. And if you’ve ever talked to him, he’s inevitably tried to sell you something: a homemade CD-R, a T-shirt he’s drawn on with Sharpie markers, or (more frequently these days) a gra ti-indebted painting on canvas or a piece of cardboard. And if like me you devour old-school hip-hop, fringe music of any genre, and artwork by iconoclasts, chances are you at least own a few of those CD-Rs, bought from Sharkula on the sidewalk, on the Blue Line, or in a bar he’s wandered into, selling his wares out of a bag like the Tamale Guy. Sharkula has become such a frequent presence in my everyday life that he defi nes my picture of Chicago as much as our stalagmite skyline, even as we’re sheltering in place; a couple weeks ago, I ran into him outside the Dill Pickle in Logan Square, where he’d brought his art to sell to the few pedestrians in sight. Thankfully his music is also accessible online, which is all the more important now that the social interactions that typically fuel his sales have temporarily vanished. (On Tuesday, April 14, Natalie Figueroa and Mike “Shazam” Bangles launched a GoFundMe to help Sharkula during the pandemic.) At the end of March, Sharkula released a new full-length, BBQ Fingaprints, on local label Static Switch. Sharkula famously colors outside the lines in his songs, with non sequiturs that sometimes clash with his beats and a fl ow that sometimes departs from logic, but on BBQ Fingaprints his free- associative raps are a little easier to follow than usual—and as charming as ever. —L G
24 CHICA O READER - APRIL ll b ALL AGES F MUSIC
pandemic-slash-shitstorm, her atmospheric black- Gerald Cleaver, Signs metal band would release their first full-length, 577 Records No Dawn for Men, ahead of schedule and make it 577records.bandcamp.com/album/signs available for purchase on a pay-what-you-can basis. Killjoy, a trans woman, also writes queer anarchist Drummer Gerald Cleaver has explored the edges steampunk and folk horror, which helped Femi- of jazz in a career that’s already stretched over nazgûl’s debut EP, 2018’s The Age of Men Is Over, more than four decades. On last year’s What Is to make big ripples in subcultures beyond the metal Be Done (Clean Feed) he joined saxophonist Larry scene. The themes she explores in her prose o en Ochs and Wilco guitarist Nels Cline for a set that bleed into her songs; the new album’s monumental swayed and jerked about in the space between “Bury the Antlers With the Stag” reminds me of her free playing, ambience, and balladry. But his latest 2017 novella, The Lamb Will Slaughter the Lion, in album, Signs (577 Records), is probably his most which a rural squatters’ commune is terrorized by adventurous to date, as he abandons drums alto- a vengeful spirit in the shape of a stag with three gether and turns instead to electronic composi- antlers. Though Killjoy made The Age of Men as a tion. The record is inspired in part by the Detroit solo endeavor, on No Dawn for Men the Feminazgûl techno and electronica Cleaver heard in his home- lineup includes lead vocalist Laura Beach and Cal- town during the 80s and 90s, but you can hear ifornia-based violinist and theremin player Mere- fusions that echo electric-era Miles Davis or third- dith Yayanos—and the fl eshed-out instrumentation stream music in the spaced-out ambience and Her- lends an ethereal dimension to the hair-raisingly bie Hancock-like keyboards of “Tomasz.” Parallels shamanic “The Rot in the Fields Is Holy.” Killjoy with brainy glitchtronica artists such as Square- enjoys playfully appropriating quotes and imagery pusher and Aphex Twin emerge as Cleaver turns from mythology and classic fantasy to flavor her wind-chime sounds into ear-piercing spikes on anti-patriarchal, anarchist message—both of her “Blown” or layers pristine blips over squeaky door- album titles are quotes from The Lord of the Rings, opening sounds and spliced funk to create the and the band name of course riff s on the word for lurching beats of “Jackie’s Smiles.” Cleaver has an the Ringwraiths in the Black Speech. On No Dawn idiosyncratic sense of structure and fun, and while for Men she deals with vengeance, defiance, the Signs isn’t jazz, it’s filled with an improviser’s joy ascension of nature, and the acceptance of death: at discovering new sounds and new possibilities. opening track “Ill, Mother of Death” begins with a —N B https://www.gofundme.com/f/chop-shop-virtual-beats-amp-eats pastoral idyll and turns into a Maenad-mad invo- cation of a death goddess. Lovely instrumental “Look Not to Erebor” provides an eerie and mel- Dua Lipa, Future Nostalgia ancholy respite a er the renouncing fury of “For- Warner giver, I Am Not Yours.” This is a rich and unsettling dualipa.com album, full of horror and beauty, and I’m going to be revisiting it a lot. Killjoy also expresses her world- British singer Dua Lipa released her second album, view through other musical endeavors, making neo- Future Nostalgia, on March 27—a week earlier than folk as Alsarath (the EP Come to Daggers dropped she originally planned, but right on schedule to give the world a much-needed dose of bubblegum pop- in January), blackened doom as Vulgarite (the EP timism. The title track opens with a promise: “You Fear Not the Dark nor the Sun’s Return came out want a timeless track, I want to change the game.” the same month), and electronica as Nomadic War From there, the album’s 11 songs blend disco beats Machine (the track “The Flood Came Over Me” and 80s synths in a throwback sound that channels arrived in March). Killjoy has a methodical bent late-night dance clubs and Jazzercise classes. Lipa to her prolifi cacy; she sorts and organizes the dif- intended Future Nostalgia to soundtrack a spring- ferent aspects of her creativity into categories, time when people could bop with friends at clubs and uses varying sounds to conjure varying ener- and house parties, instead of alone in their living gies. As in her work as an author, she tailors the rooms—but while these dance tracks feel a little dis- style of her prose to the vibe of the story at hand. cordant with our cooped-up reality, the album’s title —M K feels almost prophetic. Who knows what we’ll feel nostalgic for in the coming days? Throughout Lipa’s career, she’s displayed an eff ortless cool, and with Jackie Lynne, Jacqueline Future Nostalgia she takes another step toward Drag City becoming a top- tier pop star. “Don’t show up, jackielynn.bandcamp.com/album/jacqueline don’t come out, don’t start caring about me now,” she sings to a salty ex-lover on nu-disco lead sin- A few years ago, Haley Fohr, who makes experimen- gle “Don’t Start Now,” which dropped last fall and tal rock music under the name Circuit des Yeux, peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100. introduced a new project where she inhabited a Six months a er its release, the lyrics seem to be dri er-turned-drug-pusher alter ego named Jack- directed at all of us. —M K ie Lynn. Her 2016 album under that name mixed dejected pop and stripped-down electronics with off-kilter alt-country; its second half in particular Feminazgûl, No Dawn for Men had a mysterious, dangerous vibe, and listening to it Birds Before the Storm felt like picking up a hitchhiker on a deserted high- feminazgul.bandcamp.com/album/no-dawn-for- way not knowing whether they were harmless or a men serial killer. So when I heard that Fohr was releas- BIT.LY/GOOSEDELIVERS ing a second Jackie Lynn album, I imagined that her Margaret Killjoy, the self-described “mistressmind” musical antiheroine’s latest adventures would have of North Carolina–based Feminazgûl, announced taken her further down the rabbit hole of darkness. on March 16 via Facebook that due to the Instead, the record feels brighter than its prede- ll APRIL - CHICAOREADER 25 Find more music reviews at MUSIC chicagoreader.com/soundboard.
Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs COURTESYTHEARTIST
Instagram: @soberrabbit • Twitter: @boozetornado • Website: thewhitneywasson.com 22 Whitney Wasson continued from 25 you can practically smell the grimy clubs and base- Chicago Reader Coloring Book cessor, even a little glamorous—an about-face that’s ments that normally host this sort of band, and its even implied in the more genteel spelling of her sky-high energy level can make the walls of wherev- name, Jacqueline. Much of this has to do with the er you’re self-quarantining feel infi nitely more con- fact that Fohr has expanded the project into a full fi ning—and here, that’s a good problem to have. The Proceeds will be split band with help from Bitchin Bajas members Coo- hard-rock chorus of the anthemic “Crazy in Blood” per Crain, Rob Frye, and Dan Quinlivan. Opening practically demands cheap beer and a cheesy music between the Reader track “Casino Queen” immediately plucks the Jack- video, but the punk-addled vision of Pigs x 7 makes and the more than 50 ie Lynn of yesterday from her smoky backroom it feel like a deliberate goof rather than self-satire. artists poker games and drops her among the red-velvet Things also get a little absurd on “Blood and But- who contributed ropes and twinkling lights of Vegas, while other ter,” a horror story of social anxiety and well-man- illustrations. songs lack any tinge of society’s underbelly: the nered poisoning that’s mostly spoken word, drums, orchestral “Dream St.” feels more like fl oating down and reverberating rumbles. The album isn’t all over- a river than fl irting with trouble, and the hook-lad- the-top silliness, though: Pigs x 7 get more complex $30 for PDF download en “Shugar Water” is practically upli ing. Fohr has on long-form burner “Halloween Bolson.” So what described Jackie Lynn as a long-haul truck driver in if you can’t go out? Crank up Viscerals (on head- this chapter of her story, and each song is a snap- phones if necessary), and try not to bash your head $45 for limited edition shot of a day in her life. So while the darkness may against the ceiling as you let off some pent-up ener- return down the line, this independence and free- gy. —J L printed book and PDF dom suit her well. —J L download Lido Pimienta, Miss Colombia Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs, Anti- For copies of this book, either in PDF Viscerals lidopimienta.bandcamp.com/album/miss- form or as a printed book, see: Rocket Recordings colombia pigspigspigspigspigspigspigs.bandcamp.com/ chicagoreader.com/coloringbook album/viscerals Contemporary music informed by cultural traditions that have withstood the test of centuries upli s my It may be a while before the sort of all-out raging spirits like nothing else; in these times, it seems to Or send checks to: rock show that’s so hot and packed you leave smell- hold a magic that can help us all withstand adver- ing like other people’s sweat is once again part of sity. Lido Pimienta’s new third album, Miss Colom- Chicago Reader Suite 102 human existence, but Newcastle Upon Tyne five- bia, is the highly anticipated follow-up to her Polar- 2930 S. Michigan Avenue piece Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs (or, more is Prize–winning La Papessa. The Barranquilla- born, Chicago, Illinois 60616 concisely, Pigs x 7) won’t let that feeling fade into Toronto-based Afro-Indigenous multimedia artist memory without a fi ght. Formed in 2013, they mix recorded the album in her home studio as well as in heavy rock, metallic riff s, and a little spacey psych San Basilio de Palenque, a Colombian village found- with ample amounts of weirdness and fun—they’re ed in the 17th century by escaped enslaved per- Provide your name and mailing address the sort of band you wish were a regular presence sons. On Miss Colombia Pimienta further evolves and say this is for a coloring book on the on your local circuit, whether you ordinarily listen to the hybrid electronic and Afro-Indigenous sound memo line. their style of music or not. The title of Pigs x 7’s new she established on La Papessa and 2010’s Color, third album, Viscerals, feels like the perfect choice. but she takes a more organic and sensual approach Right from the opening track, “Reducer,” which is to electronics, surrounding her vocals with lush, anchored by a blistering, Stooges- worthy groove rounded effects and beats. Her soaring vocals, and searing lead guitar, the record sounds so raw which are front and center here, are grounded in 26 CHICA O READER - APRIL ll MUSIC Stay Home. Stay Positive. Stay Connected.
Lido Pimienta DANIELLA MURILLO
the ecstatic chanting of Afro-Colombian spiritual Homefront by Kenny’s golden-age group, Tha We can’t wait to get back to making music and music as well as references to Caribbean Colom- Grimm Teachaz, who were supposedly all set to dancing together at the Old Town School! bia’s musical traditions, including horn-rich cum- release music on Jive during their early-90s hey- bia subgenre porro and the percussion-centered day, only to have their recordings shelved after bullerengue—a precursor to cumbia born in San they beefed with Shaq at a label showcase. Thank- Basilio de Palenque and traditionally danced only fully, Kenny’s younger brother, Tanya, rediscovered In the meantime, many of our classes are by women. To perform her compositions, Pimien- the Homefront tapes nearly two decades later. ta has enlisted Cuban- Colombian jazz band Okan, Chopped Herring, a very real UK archival label that currently running online, and we are actively members of San Basilio de Palenque’s famed Sex- specializes in reissuing obscure hip-hop, is one of teto Tabala, female singers from Cantaoras Grupo several imprints that played along with Serengeti to working on more ways to keep you making Raíces de Palenque, the Road to Avonlea Choir, and release Tha Grimm Teachaz material as a “reissue” music and learning new things with us, from front woman Li Saumet of punk cumbia act Bomba in the 2010s, which demonstrates the lengths to Estereo. “Eso que Tú Haces” (“That Thing You Do”) which he’s gone to make Kenny’s world feel as home, in the near future. features porro- infused beats that swell majestical- genuine as our own. In 2018, Serengeti decided to ly amid swirling, lush, orchestral horns. “Pelo Cucu” wrap up Kenny’s story with 6e, in which the every- is a slow, mournful bullerengue that celebrates the man Chicagoan mourned the loss of his wife, Jueles African texture of the singer’s hair and defends it (she has an album too: 2017’s Butterfl ies). But Kenny We are so thankful to be part of the wonderful against unwanted touching. Pimienta makes music wasn’t done with Serengeti. Last fall the Bulls com- and supportive arts community in Chicago and that offers the promise of overcoming struggle. missioned Serengeti to make a remix of “Denne- The lyrics to “Resisto y Ya” make me feel especially hy,” and just before Governor Pritzker issued the are especially thankful for all our dedicated hopeful: the lines “Nunca se acaba la luz de lo que shelter-in-place order in March, Serengeti per- vuelve . . . en la luz, resisto, y ya” translate to “The formed the song during halftime at a Bulls home students and teaching artists persevering with light of what returns never ends . . . in the light, I game. Then one week into self-isolation, Serenge- resist, and that’s it.” I’ve had that track on repeat, ti wrote and recorded an epilogue to Kenny’s story, us during this time. so I can savor how its chants and percussion seam- Ajai (released on his own Cohn Corporation label). lessly veer into an electro-bullerengue pop bop Produced entirely by Los Angeles beat maker blessed with a sunny, supremely danceable groove. Kenny Segal, the album is front-loaded with dense- For updates, rescheduled concert info, ways to —C M J ly detailed tales about a new character, the titular Ajai, a maladjusted hypebeast whose single-minded help support our staff & more please visit fashion addiction colors every facet of his life. Serengeti, Ajai Serengeti’s refl ective performances and comforting oldtownschool.org/alert Cohn Corporation vocals lend his immersive storytelling real-life gravi- kennydennis.bandcamp.com/album/ajai tas and impart nuance to scenarios that otherwise might just feel sad. Though Ajai and Kenny Dennis Stay safe, sane, and keep on playing from all of In the mid-2000s, local rapper Serengeti imag- are basically strangers, they exist in a world Seren- ined rapping as a character named Kenny Dennis, geti has spent nearly 15 years animating down to us at Old Town School of Folk Music! a 50-something with a thick mustache and an even the last particular. Near the end of the album, when thicker Chicago accent. Ever since Kenny made his Kenny receives some clothes from Ajai, the ges- debut on the 2006 single “Dennehy,” he’s become ture carries the weight of Serengeti’s long song- the protagonist of a sprawling universe spread writing journey—practically a lifetime—even though out among a panoply of albums, some credited to the fleeting moment is mostly transactional. Ajai oldtownschool.org Serengeti and others supposedly made by fi gures makes me even more excited to see where Seren- in Kenny’s fictitious universe. In 2010, for exam- geti goes next with his idiosyncratic narrative raps. ple, Serengeti dropped There’s a Situation on the —LG v ll APRIL - CHICAOREADER 27 MUSIC
1977 with a jam session in that barn in Charles- with Tito Puente). They also hit Summerfest in ton that included Ashby, Ostermann, bassist 1982 and ’83, Waukegan Fest in ’82 and ’83, and John D’Arco, and drummer Bubba Bryant (who the Festival of Lights in Aurora in ’82. left before the group started gigging). The The AOA recorded the 1979 demo at a stu- tunes “Nightstorm” and “Universal Melody” dio in Lombard whose name they no longer began to take shape there, and late that year remember, and on December 8, 1980—the Ashby moved to Chicago to pursue the group. day John Lennon was shot and killed—they Cicero native Jim Massoth, who’d been play- started sessions for what till recently was ing saxophone with pianist Marshall Vente, their only album. They tracked the self-titled was also in Ostermann’s group Jazmin, and LP (released on their own Divide label, whose Ostermann introduced him to Ashby. Musi- name combined letters of Ashby, Ostermann, cally the band began to jell, but the lineup was and Daniel’s first names) in three days for still unstable. D’Arco played only a couple gigs around $1,800 at Hedden West in Schaumburg before moving on—they had to audition sever- with legendary producer Iain Burgess. At that al bassists before fi nding Indianapolis native point, their drummer was Ty von Jenef, who’s J.T. Bromley in late ’78. since passed away. Ashby, Ostermann, Massoth, and Bromley Both the demo I have and the self-titled became the core of the AOA, which went 1981 LP feature versions of the the spacey, through drummers the way Spinal Tap went near-psychedelic “Mongol Sunrise” and the through keyboardists (and drummers, come complex pieces “Nightstorm” and “Tidebreak- to think of it). Eventually Ostermann found er”—which show off Ashby’s sick tone and the bright side in the situation, deciding that virtuosic playing and Ostermann’s serious the constant turnover “kept things fresh”—he jazz chops. The Windy City had a vibrant didn’t have much choice, since in their seven- jazz-fusion scene in the 70s and early 80s, year original run AOA had at least a dozen with the likes of Streetdancer and Proteus different drummers (including acclaimed (the AOA gigged with the latter, and both have The Ashby Ostermann jazzman Paul Wertico, before his 17-year stint been SHoCM subjects over the years). The in the Pat Metheny Group). Their fi rst proper Ashby Ostermann Alliance led the pack, in this gig was in a coffeehouse at the College of writer’s opinion, but by 1984 the group were Alliance have a second album DuPage, where they shared the bill with Jim all but done. “Things began to die down, lives Belushi. Early in their history, they also played change,” says Ostermann. The members soon other universities, including Morton College in “decided to pursue other interests.” after 37 years Cicero and Trine University in Angola, Indiana, Massoth now produces and engineers at One of the hardest-gigging groups in the city’s early-80s jazz-fusion scene as well as more conventional music venues Crystall Recorders Studios in Lombard, and reunited in 2016. such as B’Ginnings (in Schaumburg), Kimball he’s still active on the Windy City music scene. Street Bridge Club (in Elgin), and famous Chi- Ostermann went on to perform with Juggular, By S K cago reggae hotspot the Wild Hare & Singing and in 2013 he produced a CD with his band Armadillo Frog Sanctuary. (I’d never known the Brailledog in 2013 (Bromley appears on the y favorite way to discover an obscure namesake, guitarist Vince Ashby, was born Wild Hare’s whole handle till now, and it might album, as does present-day AOA drummer Chicago band is to stumble upon a in Charleston, Illinois, in 1957. Ostermann be the best venue name I’ve ever heard.) Scott Kohler). Currently he’s mostly a church Mrelease I hadn’t known existed at a started on piano at ten, though at that age he In 1980 the AOA secured management from musician and records with his group the thrift shop or record store, then research was mostly studying French horn, and Ashby Diane Daniel, and they started gigging much Gojo Ensemble. In 1985 Ashby produced an the artist—and if I can, I contact them to get began piano lessons at fi ve, switching to guitar more frequently, at Chicago clubs (Tuts, Wise EP called Hollywood Remains, and in 2009 the full story. I did all three to learn about at 13. Between them they loved classical music, Fools Pub, On Broadway, Biddy Mulligan’s) and he released the country-rock CD Kinda Sorta uber-musicianly jazz-fusion group the Ashby complex rock (Deep Purple, Brian Auger, Keith all over the suburbs and beyond (Harry Hope’s Maybe under the name Buck Buick & the Wild- Ostermann Alliance, whose 1979 demo cassette Emerson’s bands), and jazz-infl ected crossover in Cary, the Uprising in Dekalb, Durty Nellie’s cats. In 2016, with the 40th anniversary of the I found at the Village Discount on Western and groups (Return to Forever, the Mahavishnu in Palatine, the Great Escape in Carbondale, AOA’s formation coming up, he was inspired to Milwaukee. (It’s my most-visited thrift store Orchestra). They met through Ashby’s brother Crows Mill School in Springfield, Charlotte’s get the group back together for a reunion, and in the city, since it’s closest to my pad of many Kevin while Ostermann was attending Eastern Web in Rockford, and many more). The AOA after the four original core members recruited years—I’ve missed it during the stay-at-home Illinois University in Charleston and perform- never strayed far from their home base in Kohler to drum, they recorded new and previ- order!) Upon investigation, I was happy to ing with his group MotherFox. “I remember the Chicago, but they pummeled the local college ously unreleased tunes from their heyday at fi nd that the boys had recently re-formed, cut fi rst time I met Vince—he had a Sunn Sceptre circuit too, playing the likes of Northwestern Ostermann’s studio in Batavia. That material a reunion album, and put up a website—and I with a sunburst Les Paul in an old dirty barn University, McHenry Junior College, Harper is collected on the 2018 album Unfinished Busi- was bemused to hear that they barely recall the pointing west, blowing out decibels that were Community College, UIUC, and Northern Illi- ness, released on the band’s own And Conquer existence of this demo. entertaining to the neighbors two or three nois University. They got booked twice for Chi- label, the successor to Divide (get it?). The Keyboardist and horn player Dennis Oster- miles away,” says Ostermann. “I thought it was cagoFest, fi rst in 1981 (Ashby says they almost AOA sound like they’ve picked right up where mann was born in Chicago in 1951 and raised going to be something interesting, and it was.” got cited for inciting a riot when they attempt- their debut record left oª 37 years ago, so this in Brookfield and Lombard. The band’s other The Ashby Ostermann Alliance began in ed an encore) and again in ’82 (sharing the bill SHoCM tale has a happy ending! v 28 CHICA O READER - APRIL ll CHICAGO SHOWS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT IN THE WEEKS TO COME
b ALL AGES F EARLY WARNINGS WOLF BY KEITH HERZIK Never miss Denise Thimes Quartet 7/30- a show again. 8/1, 8 and 10 PM; 8/2, 4, 8 and 10 PM, Jazz Showcase b Sign up for the .38 Special 9/25, 8 PM, Arcada newsletter at Theatre, Saint Charles b chicagoreader. GOSSIP Three Bad Jacks, Bama Lamas 6/27, 7 PM, Reggies’ Music com/early Joint WOLF Toubab Krewe, Afrozep 10/24, 9 PM, Martyrs’ Furr 8/7, 10 PM, Schubas, A furry ear to the ground of Tribute to Donald Byrd with rescheduled; tickets pur- Kevin Toney, Azar Lawrence, chased for original date will the local music scene Dominique Toney, Johnny be honored, 18+ Britt 9/18, 7 and 9:30 PM, the Tigran Hamasyan featuring INGOSSIPWOLF reported on a Promontory b Arthur Hnatek, Evan Marien TV Girl, Jordana 7/11, 9 PM, 9/7, 8 PM, Lincoln Hall, 2009 supersession involving Chicago cos- Lincoln Hall, 18+ rescheduled, 18+ mic garage band Disappears (at the time 24-7 Spyz, Sweet Diezel Inhaler, Junior Mesa 9/16, singer- guitarist Brian Case, guitarist Jon- Jenkins, Pipe 7/23, 7:30 PM, 7:30 PM, Lincoln Hall, athan van Herik, bassist Damon Carrues- Reggies’ Music Joint rescheduled; tickets pur- Frankie Valli & the Four Sea- chased for the original date co, and drummer Graeme Gibson), noisy sons 10/24, 8 PM, Rosemont will be honored b drone duo White/Light (guitarist Matt Theatre, Rosemont b José James, Taali 9/20, 8 PM, Clark and electronicist Jeremy Lemos), Aether Realm BRYCE CHAPMAN Vile Creature, Staghorn, SPACE, Evanston, resched- and Sonic Youth drummer Steve Shelley. Ikaray 6/11, 8 PM, Reggies’ uled b Music Joint Kaytranada, Stwo 5/16, 9 PM; The resulting recording was tentatively Fauvely, Superknova, Engine Theatre, Rosemont b Mars Williams/Tollef Østvang, 5/17, 8 PM, Aragon Ballroom, scheduled for release on Shelley’s Vam- NEW Summer 5/28, 9 PM, Empori- Mucca Pazza 5/15, 7:30 PM, Tommaso Moretti Quartet 5/16 sold out, 18+ pire Blues label in fall 2012—which turned um Wicker Park F Wire, Berwyn, 18+ 6/15, 9 PM, Elastic b Luttrell 8/14, 10 PM, Concord out to be off by about eight years. This Peter Bradley Adams 8/21, Fleetmac Wood presents Peter Mulvey, Anna Vogelzang Katherine Young & Linda Jan- Music Hall, rescheduled; tick- 7 PM, SPACE, Evanston b Rumours Rave with DJ Rox- 9/13, 8 PM, SPACE, Evanston kowska 6/5 and 6/12, 8 PM, ets purchased for the original week, Vampire Blues fi nally dropped the Aether Realm, Paladin, Axxios, anne Roll, DJ Smooth Sailing b 6018 North b date will be honored, 18+ self- titled album, mixed by John Congle- Munition 7/13, 7 PM, Reggies’ 6/13, 9 PM, Chop Shop NB Ridaz, Lil Rob, MC Magic, Oston, Saint Nomad, Leland ton, via Bandcamp. Its double- drummer Music Joint Sonny Fodera, Dom Dolla 11/5, Karlaaa 8/28, 7 PM, the Vic b UPDATED Blue 8/27, 7:30 PM, Beat drone improvisations and thumping space Backseat Lovers 8/25, 7:30 PM, 8:30 PM, Concord Music Nella 10/7, 8 PM, City Winery Kitchen, rescheduled, 17+ Schubas b Hall, 18+ b NOTE: This is a selection of Parsonsfi eld, Oshima Brothers punk a la Spacemen 3 o en swing with a Born Under Punchlines: a Steve Forbert 6/5, 8:30 PM, 99 Neighbors 6/26, 8 PM, the many concerts have been 3/30/21, 7 PM, SPACE, Evan- heavy dub sound that foreshadows Disap- Musical Comedy Showcase FitzGerald’s, Berwyn Schubas b canceled, postponed in ston, rescheduled; tickets pears’ evolution into Facs. featuring Amber Autry, Freddy Jones Band 9/17, 8 PM, Nowhere FM, Lotus Kid, Blind light of ongoing concerns purchased for the original Gossip Wolf last heard from electronic- BJ Party, Springbo, John SPACE, Evanston b Adam & the Federal League, about COVID-19. We suggest date will be honored b Randall 9/7, 8:30 PM, GMan Frights, Happy Fits 7/25, Butchered 9/26, 8 PM, GMan that you contact the point of Rina Sawayama 11/8, 7 PM, pop trio Weatherman when they released Tavern 7:30 PM, Bottom Lounge b Tavern purchase if you need more Bottom Lounge, rescheduled; a charmingly intimate self-titled EP in 2017 . Brook & the Bluff 5/29, 9 PM, Gogo Penguin 2/12-2/13/21, Ocean Alley 6/25, 8 PM, Lin- information regarding refunds tickets purchased for the Drummer Jason Toth says that two and a Lincoln Hall, 18+ 8:30 PM, Constellation, 18+ coln Hall, 18+ or ticket exchanges. original date will be honored half years ago, he and singer- keyboardist Cash & Maverick, Alli Haber, Good Life 7/5, 9 PM, Sleeping Oso Oso, Prince Daddy & the b Savannah Maddison 6/28, Village Hyena, Just Friends 6/10, Agnostic Front, Sick of it All, Southside Johnny & the Annie Higgins left Chicago for a “tiny 7 PM, Wire, Berwyn b Joe Hertler & the Rainbow 7 PM, Bottom Lounge, 17+ Crown of Thornz 8/23, 8 PM, Asbury Jukes 9/14-9/16, 8 PM, medieval village” in France, where they’re Roger Clyne & the Peacemak- Seekers, Alabaster 7/10, Passafi re, Roger This, Piece Subterranean, rescheduled, City Winery, rescheduled b “recording and releasing new music under ers 6/28, 8 PM, Lincoln Hall 8 PM, Cubby Bear of Cake 6/19, 8 PM, Subterra- 17+ TALsounds, Sam Prekop 5/22, Annie’s name as AM Higgins.” Last week, Coronas 11/14, 8 PM, Beat Homesick 8/16, 8 PM, Beat nean, 17+ . . . And You Will Know Us by 8:30 PM, Constellation, Kitchen, 17+ Kitchen Rahsaan Patterson 10/2, 7 and the Trail of Dead, Green- canceled they dropped the ruminative “Who Can Cowboy Mouth 7/25, 8:30 PM, Jenny Hval 9/10, 8 and 10 PM, City Winery b beard 7/11, 9:30 PM, Empty Wavves, Juiceboxxx 11/5, Say?” on Soundcloud—it features former SPACE, Evanston b 10:30 PM, Constellation, 18+ Jeff Pianki, 1815, Jessica Min- Bottle, rescheduled 7 PM, Schubas, rescheduled Weatherman bandmate Joshua Dumas Cub Sport 6/13, 8 PM, Schubas I_o 8/15, 9 PM, Concord Music drum 7/24, 8 PM, Schubas Eva Ayllón 4/14/21, 8 PM, Maur- and venue changed; tickets on keyboards plus bass and vibraphone b Hall, 18+ Polaris 8/7, 9 PM, Lincoln Hall er Hall, Old Town School of purchased for original date Dog Fashion Disco, Ideamen, Elton John 6/19-6/20, 8 PM, Polonia Top Star Disco Festival Folk Music, rescheduled b will be honored, 18+ from Casey Foubert, who’s recorded with Beneath the Hollow 10/21, United Center b featuring Milypan, Daj To Banda MS 9/25-9/26, 8 PM, We Were Promised Jetpacks Pedro the Lion and Su an Stevens. 8 PM, Beat Kitchen Juice 8/13, 8 PM, Subterranean, Głośniej, Łobuzy, Ronnie Fer- Allstate Arena, Rosemont, 5/28, 9:15 PM, Empty Bottle, Chicago electronic producer Sam Bik Dwayne Dopsie & the Zydeco 18+ rari 10/23, 8 PM, Copernicus rescheduled b canceled charmed Gossip Wolf last year with his Hellraisers 8/19, 6 PM, Harris Loose Ends 9/7, 5 and 8 PM, Center b Beach Fossils, Wild Nothing Weathers, Moby Rich, Kenzo Theater b City Winery b John Primer & the Real Deal 12/6-12/7, 8:30 PM, Thalia Hall, Cregan 8/8, 8 PM, Schubas, debut 12-inch as Ahero, Ultima Flux, on Dreary North Fest featuring Luh Kel 7/24, 7 PM, Avondale Blues Band 6/5-6/6, 9:30 PM, rescheduled; 12/6 sold out, 17+ rescheduled; tickets pur- his own Faceway label—its lively, cinemat- Bastard Noise, Midwestlust, Music Hall b Rosa’s Lounge Brent Faiyaz 9/16, 9 PM, Con- chased for original date will ic sound blends ghostly vaporwave sonics Sea of Shit, Deathrun, Pat Jessica Lynn 10/9, 7 PM, Avon- R.A.P. Ferreira 6/13, 8 PM, cord Music Hall, rescheduled; be honored b and go-for-broke synth-pop hooks. Since Peltier, Dipt, Sarin, Rush dale Music Hall b Subterranean, 17+ tickets purchased for the The Weight Band 11/6, 8 PM, Falknor, Shrivel Up, Magical Bruno Major 10/5, 6 PM, Con- Jon Rarick’s Nova Continuum, original date will be honored, Maurer Hall, Old Town School then he’s dropped another Ahero album Mind, Livid, Democide 8/22, cord Music Hall b Gome’s Dome 6/1, 9 PM, 17+ of Folk Music, rescheduled b (February’s Spirit) and used the alias Talk 3 PM, Subterranean, 17+ Matis Trio featuring Matisyahu Elastic b Chicago Blues Festival 6/5- Wingtips, Panic Priest, None to Me to release relatively straightfor- Eddie From Ohio 9/20, 8 PM, 8/2-8/4, 8 PM, City Winery b Ike Reilly 11/28, 8 PM, SPACE, 6/7, Millennium Park, canceled of Your Concern 10/9, ward retro-pop songs. On Monday, Talk to City Winery b Michael McDermott 6/5, 8 PM, Evanston b Marshall Crenshaw & the 9:30 PM, Sleeping Village, Linda Eder 10/16, 8 PM, North City Winery b Rico 6/4, 10:30 PM, Wild Hare Bottle Rockets 5/29, 8 PM, rescheduled Me put out the dazzling full-length Drop Shore Center for the Per- Memba 10/17, 9 PM, Chop San Cisco 7/1, 8:30 PM, Lincoln SPACE, Evanston, postponed Jai Wolf 5/2, 9 PM, Aragon Shadows, whose exultant single “Kingdom forming Arts, Skokie b Shop, 18+ Hall, 18+ until a date to be determined Ballroom, canceled Come” should be on everybody’s playlists. John Elefante, Fran Cosmo Mewithoutyou, Slow Mass 7/21, Satsang 9/12, 8 PM, Martyrs’ b Thom Yorke’s Tomorrow’s —JRN L G 8/21, 8 PM, Arcada Theatre, 8 PM, Subterranean, 17+ Shoff y, Ryann 7/22, 8 PM, Ekali 10/3, 8 PM, Concord Modern Boxes 10/6, 7:30 PM, Saint Charles b Mighty Mystic 6/4, 8 PM, Wild Schubas, 18+ Music Hall, rescheduled; tick- Auditorium Theatre, resched- Rick Estrin & the Nightcats Hare Cassidy Stirtz, Lunar Ticks, ets purchased for the original uled and venue changed; new Got a tip? Tweet @Gossip_Wolf or e-mail 8/7, 8 PM, SPACE, Evanston Amanda Miguel & Diego Ver- Winchesters 7/13, 8 PM, date will be honored, 18+ on sale Fri 4/24, 10 AM b v [email protected]. b daguer 11/7, 8 PM, Rosemont Martyrs’ Flesh Panthers, Bobby Lees, ll APRIL - CHICAOREADER 29 Chicago's Free Weekly Since 1971 For Black people, this battle has two fronts: against COVID-19 and racism. COURTESY DERRICK CLIFTON
accused of littering and was only released after yelling for his wife to come outside and present his identifi cation. And in Kentucky, a white doctor was caught on video and arrested for strangling a Black teenager and pushing others to the ground, reportedly out of anger that the teen and her friends weren’t social distancing enough from each other in public. You’re damned if you do, and damned if you don’t. When white people catch a cold, Black peo- We Couldn't Be Free Without You— ple get the fl u. Decades of racial disparities Support Community Journalism in health-care access have already created a precarious situation in Chicago and in major cities across the country, where African Americans are disproportionately contract- CHICAGO-STYLE ing and dying from the coronavirus. IDENTITY & CULTURE It’s all the harder to follow stay-at-home orders when economic disparities and a MAGIC legacy of racist housing policies mean Black Breathing while Black people are more likely to live in crowded neighborhoods and overcrowded homes, Seeking safety isn’t so easy if you’re battling COVID-19 while Black. or are more likely to be homeless. Space to breathe, let alone exist, is already more of a By D C commodity than it should be. Before the coronavirus, Black people already knew what it meant to be socially Derrick Clifton is a writer and commentator of COVID-19. I drive just a little farther away distanced from some of their peers—like focusing on the intersections of identity, cul- for groceries, opting for stores that are less when white people clutch their belongings ture, and social justice issues. Clifton wrote the crowded. and walk to the opposite end of the street Reader’s award-winning Identity and Culture But that means driving past businesses to impose more than six feet of space from column during the 2016 election season. brandishing Blue Lives Matter fl ags outside, a Black person approaching, or when they and entering stores and suburbs where there fl ee a neighborhood once Black people start have a history of asthma. I also exist in are fewer Black people around, all while moving in. And now that unemployment runs this country as a tall, brawny, and Black wearing a mask. Coronavirus is already rampant, as the trend usually goes, Black Iindividual who was assigned male at birth. stealing the breath out of Black bodies, and people may have a much harder time reenter- Having space to breathe is hard enough as it is overzealous police o cers and vigilantes are ing the workforce and are out of jobs at a rate without a pandemic that threatens to corrupt making matters worse. that’s at least twice that of white workers. JUST WENT my air. In late March, a police officer forced two Black people already know that we can do A mask covered my face just as COVID-19 Black men out of a Walmart in Wood River, everything right, in any realm, and still end began dominating the news cycle, and well Illinois, as they were shopping for materials up with the short end of the stick. Wearing a DIGITAL before officials advised the public to wear while wearing masks. “[This o cer] followed mask and gloves may o er some semblance of Join us on Wednesday and them. I knew I’d be in a higher-risk category us from outside and told us we cannot wear protection from a deadly virus, but that mask Friday nights for our given my underlying health condition. But masks . . . We’re being asked to leave for being won’t hide the very Blackness that subjects safe,” Jermon Best said in a video he uploaded us to the surveillance, bodily harm, and CML (virtual) Cocktail Hour. right now, I’m also caring for elders who are even more vulnerable. That means going out- to YouTube as the officer trailed a few feet destitution we’ve constantly tried to evade side and confronting the unknown elements behind him and Diangelo Jackson. because of racial bigotry. Visit chicagomagiclounge.com despite any trepidation. “I don’t know if he was having a bad day. If anything, the coronavirus should be for more information. One of those fears? Being targeted or at- I’ve never said that the guy was racist,” Best a wake-up call that it’ll take more than lip tacked for wearing a mask while Black. told the Telegraph. “All I’m saying is that his service and platitudes to bridge the gaps in The loved ones I’m sheltering with live actions were suspect.” access to life opportunities that Black people in a food desert, so I journey at least four Weeks later, a Miami police o cer placed deserve but have been routinely denied. to five miles away to the south suburbs to a Black doctor in handcuffs while he was It’d be nice to shop with a protective mask gather groceries and supplies. That includes wearing a mask outside of his apartment and without fear. It’d be even nicer to feel much venturing for paper products at the Walmart preparing for a volunteer shift to test the more empowered to exhale. v superstore in Evergreen Park where two homeless for coronavirus. Dr. Armen Hender- employees recently died from complications son, an organizer with Dream Defenders, was @DerrickClifton 30 CHICA O READER - APRIL ll OPINION
The author (le ) with his brother Michael and his a Burmese American family, including a child, late parents Dr. Minjah Kang and Kiwon Kang was stabbed while grocery shopping because ANDY KANG the attacker believed they were Chinese and 1871 in Los Angeles and the Chinese Exclusion spreading the virus; in the Bronx, a group Act of 1882, the first federal law ever to ban of teenagers assaulted a 51-year-old woman immigration by all members of one ethnicity at a bus stop after saying she caused the or nationality. In the 1980s, the American auto coronavirus. industry was severely struggling and many Racist rhetoric is putting Asian Americans politicians and business leaders aggressively at risk, and in order to combat this, we must blamed Japan, publicly saying things like “lit- hold political leaders accountable who demon- tle yellow men” were “taking over the country” ize and scapegoat Asians. Call your member and engaging in nothing less than an “econom- of Congress and urge them to support House ic Pearl Harbor.” This sort of rhetoric resulted Resolution 908 filed by U.S. representative in the brutal murder of Vincent Chin, a Chinese Grace Meng that calls on all political o cials American who was celebrating his upcoming to condemn anti-Asian racism during this pan- wedding in Detroit before he was chased down demic. Report hate incidents to our hate track- and bludgeoned by two white men who claimed er, StandAgainstHatred.org, to aid our e orts that Americans were losing their jobs because to monitor hate incidents across the country HATE SPEECH of people like him. Most recently, we have and help strengthen advocacy e orts for hate witnessed nearly two decades of anti-Muslim crimes response and prevention. We will con- political rhetoric post-9/11, with an accompa- tinue to engage our community partners and nying rise in hate crimes and heavy law en- our governor and mayor on exploring ways to We don’t have to prove our forcement surveillance and spying on Muslim better respond to incidents together. Americans, which includes South Asian and We need to fi ght for longer-term structural other Asian American Muslim communities. solutions that undo dangerous myths and ste- ‘American-ness’ This is the exact same pattern we’re now reotypes about Asian Americans, which is why On rejecting anti–Asian American rhetoric and standing up to hate seeing unfold. Politicians have been ratcheting Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Chicago up anti-Chinese rhetoric around COVID-19 for is launching a Teaching Equitable Asian Amer- By A K months, with President Donald Trump himself ican Community History (TEAACH) campaign repeatedly referring to the outbreak as the to implement a mandatory Asian American Andy Kang is the executive director of Asian every fiber of our being as this version of the “Chinese virus.” He set the tone for the an- history curriculum in Illinois public schools. It Americans Advancing Justice-Chicago, a toxic “respectability” politics has implications ti-Asian racism as the virus spread, has shown is clear to me that what America’s future gen- nonprofit organization committed to building for our country’s pursuit of racial justice for all no remorse for his xenophobic statements, erations need is a deeper understanding that power through collective advocacy and organiz- Americans. and has done nothing to condemn anti-Asian Asian Americans have been, and will continue ing to achieve racial equity. In fact, “proving our American-ness” has rhetoric being used by his administration to be, an important part of the American story, historically never worked. During World War and other politicians. U.S. secretary of state and that story includes our own connection to ndrew Yang penned an op-ed in the II, many Japanese Americans served in the Mike Pompeo continued calling COVID-19 the racial oppression. Washington Post about the rise of an- U.S. military, with the Japanese American “Wuhan virus” for weeks, and even demanded The COVID-19 pandemic has created many Ati-Asian racism surrounding COVID-19. 442nd regiment being the most decorated unit that the G7 countries follow suit. U.S. senator more opportunities for us to tackle racial The ex–presidential candidate suggested that with the highest number of casualties. Their John Cornyn falsely blamed China for MERS injustice. What is happening now has high- Asian Americans should “embrace and show sacrifice still did not lead to the immediate and swine fl u, and even fell back on racist and lighted the deadly consequences of centuries our American-ness in ways we never have be- release of their families from incarceration derogatory stereotypes, saying COVID-19 of anti-Blackness and unaddressed health and fore” and “show without a shadow of a doubt camps back at home. Even after the war ended, was caused by China’s “culture where people economic disparities for the African American that we are Americans who will do our part Japanese American families (thousands of eat bats and snakes and dogs and things like community, while at the same time flushing for our country in this time of need.” Reading whom resettled in Chicago) had to wait until that.” Illinois Republican congressman Adam out the dormant anti-Asian xenophobia in our these lines instantly made me disappointed, 1988 for an official apology from the federal Kinzinger repeatedly points blame at China society. This is a moment for Asian Americans angry, and sad—as it likely did for many Asian government. with tweets like, “Daily reminder: you are in to actively build solidarity with Black commu- Americans—because it reminded me of my own What history does show is that when hateful your home now because #Chinahidthevirus.” nities to confront two sides of the same prob- personal experiences growing up in a white political rhetoric goes unchallenged, it always Fox News’s Tucker Carlson stated that “China lem: the legacies of white supremacy that are neighborhood in Lake Zurich, Illinois. This leads to violence and harmful policies rooted is an imminent threat to the United States,” hurting our communities. “American-ness” strategy consistently failed in racism. It was racist rhetoric and outright and NRA board member Ted Nugent declared Instead of showing our “American-ness” in to reduce the countless instances of anti-Asian lies and misinformation from the U.S. military that “Asian culture” was “evil.” the face of racism, Asian Americans, and all racism I endured. Yang’s central idea, which he that caused politicians to lobby for the mass Contemporaneously with this rhetoric, Americans, need to step up and unite around now alleges was miscommunicated, reinforces incarceration of Japanese Americans during the violence and hate incidents against Asian an undying commitment to achieving real the painful and counterproductive idea that as World War II. In the late 1800s politicians Americans have already begun to rise across racial justice in our country. I pray Chicagoans perceived “perpetual foreigners,” Asian Amer- blamed Chinese immigrants for the low wages the country. Here in Chicago, a man yelled will lead the way. v icans bear the primary responsibility for the and economic woes of white workers, which led “F--- China!” and spat on a Vietnamese-Fili- racism of others. We must reject this idea with to the mass violence of the Chinese Massacre of pino man as he left a movie theater; in Texas, @andykangjustice ll APRIL - CHICAOREADER 31 OPINION
Thrive in Challenging Times SAVAGE LOVE Seeing my wife naked gives me an anxiety attack LIfe coaching What’s on the inside does count. By D S
Powerful one-on-one coaching to : I was raised in a to, her family and friends.) your virginity in a one-night help you deepen your relationships, religious home and didn’t I should also mention that stand—if you hadn’t already lose my virginity until the she has no interest in hav- rejected nearly everything excel in your career, and reach your embarrassing age of 26. I ing an open relationship you’d been taught about sex. was told by the church to or threesome because she If you were capable of hav- save it for marriage and I prefers having me “all to ing premarital sex, you were full potential! was a virgin until I met the herself.” I don’t want to ask capable of refraining from woman who would become her to change because she’s marrying the first person my wife at a party. I said to perfectly happy with herself you slept with. hell with it, we had a one- but I’m becoming increas- Your wife is gonna want night stand, and we’ve been ingly resentful. What do I to know why you’re leaving wrightfoundation.org/coaching together now for eight do? How do I tell her? And her—of course she is—but years. I’m tall and slim and is there any way I can come you’re not going to tell her my wife is short and heavy. out of this a good husband? the real reason. You’re going Like an idiot I believed it’s —I T S to make something up. You what’s on the inside that want kids and she doesn’t matters. My wife is the A: I was so relieved to get (or vice versa), you married sweetest, most thoughtful all the way to the end of too young (which is true), person I’ve ever met, I love your letter without learning you have unresolved child- spending time with her, but you had kids. Because that hood issues (and don’t we ANDERSONVILLE UPDATES I have absolutely no sexual means I can advise you— all). While you won’t be able attraction to her. As a result, with a clear conscience—to to spare your wife the pain SUPPORTING OUR BUSINESS COMMUNITY I’ve all but stopped initiating fi le for divorce and move of a breakup, ITS, you can IN THE WEEKS TO COME sex and on the rare occasion the fuck out just as soon as spare her the pain of learn- when we do make love I it’s possible to do so. Not ing the person she’s been andersonville.org/updates make her come twice while for your own sake, ITS, but sleeping with for eight years I’m struggling just to get off . for your wife’s sake. She is repulsed by her body. You I know it’s shallow and deserves better. can’t be a good husband to I know beauty is only skin You say you’re growing her, ITS, but you can be a deep but what am I sup- increasingly resentful. I hope decent ex-husband. And to posed to do when seeing my your resentment is directed do that—to be her decent wife naked sends me into at all of the people who vic- and loving and supportive an anxiety attack? When timized you. Your wife isn’t ex—you can’t set her self-es- I’m helping out with laun- one of them. It’s your par- teem on fire on your way out dry, I get bummed because ents you should resent, ITS, the door. there’s nothing in her ward- as well as all the sex-pho- And your wife’s body isn’t robe I find attractive on bic bullshit artists out there repulsive. She’s not some- her. Even when I look at old masquerading as “faith one you’re attracted to, pictures of us together I leaders.” ITS, and you’re not obligat- get extremely depressed You should be angry with ed to find short and round because I know this is the yourself too. While I know women sexually appealing. best she’s ever going to from personal experience But while “tall and slim” are look. It doesn’t help that she how a religious upbringing more closely associated finds me handsome and reg- can put the zap on a kid’s with conventional concepts ularly tells me so. head, you were a grown-ass of attractiveness, ITS, not It’s gotten to the point man when you met your wife everyone’s into tall and slim. where I find any woman at that party. You couldn’t There are people who are who isn’t my wife desirable. have slept with her that into short and round and (Including, but not limited night—you couldn’t have lost people out there who are
32 CHICA O READER - APRIL ll OPINION please recycle this paper
attracted to all body types for advice. I’m a med amount of things you have H C R A M | E C N I S LY K E E W E E R F S ’ O AG C I H C and people who are utterly student, I came to the U.S. to keep from them grows. indifferent to bodies. Your when I was 18 in order to go Lies pile up on top of lies wife deserves the chance to college, and I’m still in and the distance between to find someone who’s sin- the U.S. I’m 25 now and I’ve you and your family grows. Don’t cerely attracted to her. Even been dating my boyfriend Before you know it, they being alone would be better for about three years. We’re don’t know you at all any- than spending decades with somewhat monogamous and more and you don’t know someone who recoils from have been living together them. Because you can’t risk her touch. for two years. I’m out as a letting them know you. So For the record: What’s gay man where we live but to avoid their possible rejec- miss on the inside does count. It my parents and family back tion, you will have rejected matters. If you met a woman in Brazil have zero idea. As them. You will have lost your who was more convention- you may know, Brazil has family. I know, I know: It’s ally attractive—if you were a weird relationship with scary. I came out to my very STAY AT HOME with someone who was your sexuality. Gay men are seen Catholic family when I was idea of hot—and over time and for the most part very a teenager. I was scared to an she revealed herself to be open but our culture is also death. But if they couldn’t an asshole (if she was rude very homophobic. My BF accept me for who I am—if to waiters, if she was emo- has been pressuring me I couldn’t rely on their love tionally abusive, if she was a to come out but I’ve been and support—what was the Trump supporter, etc.), your apprehensive considering point of having them in my attraction to her would with- how important family is to life at all? issue er away. What you want— me. —F AM P.S. No one likes being not what you’ll get, ITS, I L Y someone’s dirty little secret. but the best you can hope It hurts your boyfriend to Get the Next 12 Weeks of the Chicago Reader for—is some combo of hot A: Gay men don’t come see the person who claims Delivered to Your Home on the outside (subjective out to our families because to love him prioritize his and personal) and good on they’re unimportant to us. family’s presumed bigotry the inside. And the longer We come out to our families (it’s possible they’ll react you’re with someone, ITS, because they are important more positively than you chicagoreader.com/support the more important good on to us. think) over his feelings and the inside becomes. Time is Family is important to dignity. By not coming out, a motherfucking meat grind- you and you’re worried you FAM, you will lose the fam- er and it makes hamburgers might lose yours if you come ily you were born into and out of us all. If you priori- out to them. But you’re defi- the one you’ve created with tize your idea of hot over all nitely gonna lose them if you your boyfriend too. v other qualities, you run the don’t. Because to keep your very real risk of spending life a secret from them—to Send letters to mail@ decades with a person who hide your boyfriend from savagelove.net. Download has aged out of hot and was them—you’re going to have the Savage Lovecast at never nice. to cut them out of your life. savagelovecast.com. It’ll be little things at first, @fakedansavage : Long time reader asking FAM, but over time the We are still here for your sex toy needs... Order online for shipping or pick up
Early to Bed • 5044 N Clark St early2bed.com • 773-271-1219 ll APRIL - CHICAOREADER 33 JOBS MARKETPLACE the cannabis platform ADMINISTRATIVE ADULT SERVICES SALES & Danielle’s Lip Service, a Reader resource for the canna curious MARKETING Erotic Phone Chat. 24/7. FOOD & DRINK Must be 21+. Credit/ Debit Cards Accepted. All Go to chicagoreader.com/ SPAS & SALONS Fetishes and Fantasies matches to submit yours today. Are Welcomed. Personal, Thursdays on BIKE JOBS Private and Discrete. Free Matches ads are not 773-935-4995 guaranteed and will run in print GENERAL and online on a space-available Cannabis basis. Chicago’s friendliest Conversations cannabis shop chicagoreader.com/joravsky REAL ESTATE RENTALS Cannabis FOR SALE NON-RESIDENTIAL Conversations ROOMATES
chicagoreader.com/ nuMed.com | 1308 W. North Ave joravsky MARKET- PLACE GOODS
Your partners in health and wellness. SERVICES Find out today if medical cannabis or infusion therapy is HEALTH & right for you. Telemed available! WELLNESS
Serving medical cannabis patients since 2015. CLASSIFIEDS www.neuromedici.com 312-772-2313 INSTRUCTION MUSIC & ARTS NOTICES WANT TO ADD A LISTING MESSAGES TO OUR CLASSIFIEDS? LEGAL NOTICES E-mail classifi [email protected] ADULT SERVICES with details or call (312) 392-2970 ATTENTION
If you are a former 10/1/99 CHA leaseholder who has an interest in exercising your right to return, please read the information listed below.
The Draft Tenant Selection Plan (TSP), Lease, and other documents that will apply to resident occupancy at Levy House are available for review and comment.
Levy House is a senior property located in the Rogers Park community area, Chicago, IL. Units within The Reader 420 Companion is this development will be available for eligible 10/1/1999 leaseholders who have yet to satisfy their right fi lled with great , recipes activities of return under the Relocation Rights Contract and eligible Project Based Voucher (PBV) applicants. The and . coloring pages Chicago Housing Authority (CHA), to bring additional affordable housing opportunities to Rogers Park has worked in consultation with the developer to draft a TSP and Lease for use at Levy House. Your purchase supports the Reader.
15% of the proceeds will be donated to The 30-day public comment period will be held for CHA to receive oral and written comments GET INVOLVED! the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless. on April 16 through May 15, 2020. Due to Covid 19, Chicago Housing Authority has suspended all public meetings. In lieu of the public comment hearing, we ask that comments be submitted electroni- cally to [email protected]. All comments must be received by May 15, 2020. chicagoreader.com/420book Levy House TSP, Lease, & other documents will be available on CHA’s website beginning April 16 through May 15, 2020 at:
An Essential Calm. https://www.thecha.org/about/plans-reports-and-policies/proposed-policies-out-public-comment Day or Night.
Mail, E-mail or Fax comments to: Whole-plant hemp Chicago Housing Authority formulations for peace Attention: Levy House Draft TSP & Lease 60 E. Van Buren Street, 12th Floor of mind and body. Chicago, IL 60605 [email protected] Fax 312. 913.7837
If you have a question about this notice, please call the CHA at 312.913-7300. mineralhealth.co To request a reasonable accommodation, please call 312.913.7062. TTY 866.331.3603 To advertise, call 312-392-2934 or email [email protected] advertise, call 312-392-2934 To
34 CHICA O READER - APRIL ll the platform The Chicago Reader Guide to Business and Professional Services travel entertainment home improvement
SAVE BIG ON A NEW HVAC SYSTEM Up to $2,500 savings for a limited time! -Energy Efficient -Innovative comfort features -Great maintenance contracts psychic real estate -24-Hr Emergency Service
Psychic Readings Palm and Tarot If you are worried, troubled, sick or unhappy through love, business, Call today for a free estimate! American Owned marriage, luck or whatever your 773-895-2797 | www.MironHVAC.com
problem may be, I have reunited the American Made separated, healed the sick and help many people with money problems. Where others have failed. I have succeeded. advertising I will not ask what you came in for. I will WANT TO ADD A LISTING tell you. TO OUR CLASSIFIEDS? She guarantees to help you. E-mail classifi [email protected] No problem is too big for her. with details or call (312) 392-2970 (773)-540-5037 1222 E 47th St
books romance ROOFING BRICKWORK DISCOVER www.herreralandscapeschicago.com GARAGES YOUR BLISS For 40 years, 30,000+ satisfied customers have trusted Second City.
SHINGLE ROOFS FLAT ROOFS NEW GARAGES FINANCING AVAILABLE Licensed, Bonded & Insured—IL Roofing Lic. #104.013526 ROOFING, GUTTERS & MORE www.intimate-bliss.com *WARNING: Must be 18 years or older to visit website funeral services legal and/or place order. COLLABO TIVE PREMARITAL Brigi e FAMILY Schmidt DIVORCE MEDIATION Bell, P.C. Serving Chicagoland and NW Indiana Phone and Video Consultations. Call today. To advertise, We Offer Quality Affordable rigitte ell. o • At Need Funeral Services a ers s p . o • Pre-Planned Funeral Services • Traditional Funeral/Cremation Services call 312-392-2934 • Direct Cremation/Direct Burial • Memorial Services YOUR • Specializing in Veterans Services 773-956-4000 or email [email protected] 5112 S. Western Ave | Chicago, IL 60609 AD www.GraceAndMercyFS.biz “Let all that you do be done in love” - 1 Cor 16:14 HERE
ll APRIL - CHICAOREADER 35 Chicago Reader
The Reader 420 Companion is filled with great recipes, activities and coloring pages.
Details may be found at chicagoreader.com/420book chicagoreader.com/puzzle
$24.20: Printed, bound copy, includes a digital download (+ $4.20 shipping & handling) Order your printed copy by 423 to be guaranteed a book from the 1st print run.
Do Not Touch Puzzle Digital download Piece together the first of our iconic $14.20: Stay Home cover series. Your purchase supports the Reader This is a 432-piece, 18” x 24” puzzle. The cost of this puzzle is $60 + $10 for shipping. 15% of the proceeds will be donated to the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless (U.S. orders only)
21+ only