CHICAGO’SFREEWEEKLYSINCE | MARCH | MARCH CHICAGO’SFREEWEEKLYSINCE Welcome to Chicago Capital of the Midwest Is the city an island of cosmopolitanism in a sea of rural, inexpensive, stultifying friendliness? Not exactly. By Pete Saunders 12 THIS WEEK CHICAGOREADER | MARCH | VOLUME NUMBER IN THIS ISSUE T R - 16 ComedyComedianCaleb FILM ParkerTheMakeUpandmore @ Hearononhisstyleinspirationand 26 PreviewWiththemmFilm 42 EarlyWarningsYemiAlade Chicago’sscene FestivaltheMusicBoxonceagain NewOrderDonnieVieandmore PTB 19 LitSubmarinekangaroosand introducesmodernaudiencesto justannouncedconcerts ECS K KH spacepiratebirthdaypartiesAn the“roadshow”experience 42 GossipWolfFansandfriends CLRH MEP M a ernoonwithPoemsWhileYou helpbelovedDJTeriBristolpay TDKR Wait herhospitalbillsImpulsiveHearts CEBW 20 VisualArtNearlyfi vedecades celebrateanewalbumbenefi ting AEJL SWMD L G a erhercareerbeganVaginal GirlsRock!Chicagoandmore DIBJ MS Davisisnowapermanentfi xtureat EAS N L theArtInstitute GD AH CITYLIFE OPINION L CSC -J 03 StreetViewADJandradio 22 ListingsTheChicagoSex 44 SavageLoveDanSavageoff ers CE BN B hosttakesaconsideredapproach WorkersArtShowaliverecording advicetoamanwhowantstotreat L C MDLC M tostyle ofLumpenRadio’snewgame histhroatlikeaFleshlight C J F SF J H IH C MJ showandmoreartsandculture M K S K FOOD&DRINK happenings N DLJL 04 RestaurantReviewAchef 27 MoviesofnoteTheInvisible MMA M-K JRN JN M fromacelebratedLAchainthrows THEATER Manmakesforapaceyif O M S C S downaramengauntletinthenorth predictablereimaginingofa ---------------------------------------------------------------- suburbs classicTheBankerovercomes DD J D madeforTVdialoguewitha D AC W rivetingplotandGreedisclunky SMCJ G NEWS&POLITICS MPC 06 Joravsky|PoliticsCentrist confusingandunnecessary YD Demsareusingtheelection SSP toscarevotersawayfromBernie ATA MUSIC& SECK K 08 Isaacs|CultureAsthethreat ofpandemicloomsPaulKrugman NIGHTLIFE CLASSIFIEDS ADVERTISING dissectsGOPtalkingpointsthat 29 Galil|FeatureLocallabel 46 Jobs -- @ C refusetodie ChicagoResearchhasbuilta 46 Apartments&Spaces - @ 23 ReviewCongoSquare’sDayof powerfultightknitcollective 46 Marketplace Absencemeritshistoricinterest ofdarkundergroundrockand 46 ReaderMatches SDP F FEATURE VPSA M 12 MidwesternIsChicagoanisland butneedssharpersatiricalchops electronicartists CRM T P ofcosmopolitanisminaseaofrural KillMoveParadiseimaginesan 34 InRotationCurrentmusical SAR inexpensivestultifyingfriendliness? a erlifeforvictimsofpolicekillings obsessionsofnoisemusicianJason L M-H L S O I AR 25 PlaysofnoteLuckynumberall SolidaysoundartistJeff Kolarand B SF S’ G MFNS sevennewshowsarerecommended ReadermusiceditorPhilipMontoro CSM WR byourcriticsthisweek 36 ShowsofnoteLowerDensJeff ARTS&CULTURE NA V M G - - - ­­ J L SB THIS WEEK ON CHICAGOREADER.COM ---------------------------------------------------------------- DC [email protected] -- CHICAGO READER L C BPD R L TE R SJ S A- S V CC E B ---------------------------------------------------------------- R ISSN­-­ R LC SM S C IL­­­ -- C ©C R P C IL Beyond Smollettgate ‘Allure of Matter’ Reclaiming our resettlement A C R R On the Back Room Deal podcast, Smart Museum’s exhibit features Syrian Community Network’s RR T ® Ben Joravsky and Maya Dukmasova pieces made of hair, human fat, a erschool art program helps discuss the Cook County State’s cigarettes, plastics, and 127 tons of refugee children stay connected to Attorney’s race. boiled-down Coca-Cola. home. 2 CHICAOREADER - MARCH ll CITY LIFE presents: e A SpringSpring Fling Flower & Garden Show after-party Kevin Hsia ISAGIALLORENZO $25 tickets at chicagoreader.com/flowerpower STREET VIEW Form and function A DJ and radio host takes a considered approach to style. By IG evin Hsia’s attention to detail is evident in Marlon Brando, and Clark Gable. He also turns the way he’s cu ed his military trousers, to street style sites like The Sartorialist, old Kbuttoned his denim shearling jacket, and fashion ads, and Esquire magazine. Fashion for sprinkled subtle pops of color all over his outfi t. him is “the intersection of form and function.” The 30-year-old DJ, radio host, and digital mar- “It’s about self-expression, of course, but it’s keter describes his style as “modern-classic, also something utilitarian for me. I often have through a playful lens that combines vintage, long days and nights, so it’s a considered ap- workwear, and at times, tailoring.” proach for me to anticipate my day’s activities. “I heard somewhere that a new piece of I try to respect the company I’m with and the clothing that feels foreign at first becomes venue and occasion.” part of ‘you’ after three wears,” he says. “I’ve You can hear Hsia every third Sunday on stuck with that practice.” Sunday Record Club, a vinyl-focused radio For inspiration, he looks to iconic actors show on Lumpen Radio (105.5 FM or lumpenra- who “embody a timelessness and confi dence in dio.com), where he interviews local DJs, vinyl dressing,” such as James Dean, Don Johnson, enthusiasts, and collectors. v ll MARCH - CHICAOREADER 3 Search the Reader’s online database of thousands of Chicago-area restaurants FOOD & DRINK at chicagoreader.com/food. at Ramen Misoya in Mount Prospect. But in the city, chains and individual operators sub- sequently rode the tide of the national ramen obsession, and though some have distinguished themselves, it is still a bit of a challenge to fi nd a well-constructed bowl among the generalists and dilettantes—or anything unique in the ocean of tonkotsu broth. Last January, Ikehata broke away from the Tsujita group to open Tokyo Shokudo at Mitsu- wa, serving homey dishes like dry maze-soba noodles, fried cutlets, and curry. Last month he struck again, opening Chicago Ramen, the fi rst of what he says will be multiple north suburban outposts specializing in heretofore uncommon (in the midwest) ramen varieties. Here that means his own version of tsuke- men, the sauce based not on tonkotsu, but a chicken, vegetable, and pork broth emulsifi ed with a blend of Ikehata’s red and white miso pastes. There is a three-stage protocol to eating these noodles (sourced from the gold standard Sun Noodle). You’re first meant to squeeze a lime wedge over them, then mop them in the sauce and slurp them noisily in a manner that will make those sensitive to certain aural triggers see a conspiracy in the root word of misophonia. Next, alter the profi le of the broth as you go along by adding dried chili (onikasu) and raw minced garlic. When your noodles are depleted, you can always order more, but the Groundbreaking white mapo tofu ANJALIPINTOFORCHICAGOREADER dense, nutty broth, dotted with tiny amorphous blobs of molten backfat, is as rich and sedating as any tonkotsu. You’re better o requesting a RESTAURANT REVIEW “soup wari,” and your bowl will be diluted with a dose of hot chicken broth. There’s little left to do after this but fi nd a comfortable place to Chicago Ramen takes its place among the kings sleep it o . Ikehata also o ers red and white miso ramen, A chef from a celebrated LA chain throws down a gauntlet in the north suburbs. based on his individual pastes (which seem like a gauntlet thrown in front of nearby Ramen By MS Misoya), in addition to a vegetable ramen and a limpid chicken ramen. But it’s a sixth variety that truly breaks ground here. White mapo tofu ramen was born at Tsujita in sickness had descended upon my home. create a sensation in Los Angeles in 2011 with dipping sauce porkier than pork itself.” Gold LA, and it’s the White Walker of ramen varieties. The walls echoed with wheezes, hacks, the opening of the first outpost of the lauded continued to heap praise on the various Tsujita A ri on the lava-colored Sichuan mapo tofu, it Aand croaks like a chorus of spitting co ee Tokyo-based Tsujita chain. For eight years prior satellites that opened over the years, and it be- features a relatively light chicken broth, a thin- makers, while a malevolent fog of viral par- to that, Kenta Ikehata, who attended the same came a powerhouse in the ramen capital of the ner-bore Sun noodle, and a pile of soft, silky tofu ticulates hung in the air. I could feel it making Nagasaki junior high school as founder Takehiro western hemisphere. nestled within. It looks as midwestern as hot- a home in my lungs. What started as a wispy, Tsujita, had worked up from the bottom in the Meanwhile, to a less satisfying degree, Chi- dish, but for the blanket of black pepper on top scratchy tickle began to sound more like an group and joined his senior classmate in intro- cago began to experience its own ramen deluge. and the Thai chilis lurking in its depths. You can open chest wound. ducing Angelenos to tsukemen (“skee-men”), a There was a time when the only game in town customize the spice level, and if you’re battling I fl ed to the suburbs for relief, to a strip mall particular ramen variant of thick, cold noodles was in the northern suburbs, meaning the milky a viral invader I recommend you push yourself in Des Plaines where, between a vape shop and a meant to be swabbed in a side bowl fi lled with bowls of tonkotsu ramen at Santouka in the to the limit. nail salon, a new ramen-ya had opened. Chicago an ultra-concentrated broth that the late critic Mitsuwa Marketplace food court in Arlington Chicago Ramen is audaciously named for an Ramen comes from a veteran chef who’d helped Jonathan Gold described as a “syrup-dense Heights, and later the miso-based noodle