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By T W that shook the world shook the that Jamila Woods Jamila builds on legacies 9 Isaacs Deanna theater critics like like critics theater State of State Seven thumbs up thumbs Seven A historic event: our event: A historic the unions everythin !
CHICAGO’S FREE WEEKLY SINCE | MAY 2 CHICA O READER - MAY ll CHICAGO READER | MAY | VOLUME NUMBER THIS WEEK
IN THIS ISSUE T R - fi ghts to expose the truth while 34 Gossip Wolf The Co Prosperity @ Rahm tries to hide it Sphere devotes a concert and 09 Isaacs | Culture Chicago exhibit to s Chicago no wave Symphony Orchestra musicians and and the CHIRP Record Fair returns P Columbia College part time faculty T B I E C unions solidarity forever OPINION S K K H 35 Savage Love Dan Savage off ers D E K S advice on scratching that open C L SK D P J R of city life and I’m Gonna Pray relationship itch CE AL For You So Hard shows the apple M E P M doesn’t fall far from the tree A E J L CLASSIFIEDS S W D I CITY LIFE 37 Jobs BJ MS 04 Street View A cheerleading FILM 37 Apartments & Spaces S W M D L G coach on how to dress for the win 16 Review Can the two crazy kids in 37 Marketplace G D D C S M E B W 05 Public Service Long Shot fi nd happiness? M L C Announcement Bam! Boom! 17 Movies of note Ask Dr Ruth is S C -J Pow! Free Comic Book Day returns an aff ectionate tribute to the sex F L C P F T A E C S therapist Black Mother presents C N B FOOD & DRINK highly sensuous fi lmmaking and D C L C I 10 Restaurant Review Arigato The White Crow simulates the G A G KT H R H JH Market slings tacos with a side of connective tissue of memory J H I H D J M beef in West Town K S K M M B M JRN L P MUSIC & NIGHTLIFE K R BS D ARTS & CULTURE 22 Feature On Legacy! Legacy! S A W 12 Lit In How to Hide an Empire singer and poet Jamila Woods ------Daniel Immerwahr pulls back the details how art can learn from the D D J D curtain on American imperialism past as it shapes the future COMICS SERIALS D P E &P K K 30 In Rotation DJ King Hippo on 38 The last installments of Prairie O M SN L FEATURE THEATER the holy grail of Chicago spiritual Pothole Violet Private Eye and 06 Comics Sunshine? Snow? The 13 Review An Egyptian American jazz and more musical obsessions P L Dermes for now ADVERTISING -- - @ Chicago shorts thermometer interrogator struggles to prove his 31 Shows of note Knife Knights C @ is here to help you dress for loyalty in Language Rooms Santigold Cursive and more shows unpredictable weather 14 Plays of note Hamlet puts the this week S D P F V P S prince of Denmark in a context 34 Early Warnings Raja Kumari O P L AM familiar to Chicago Reverse Maître Gims Speedy Ortiz and A F A ’ NEWS & POLITICS S A R 08 Joravsky | Politics Robert Caro Gossip is a polyphonous portrait more just announced concerts J L A R LM -H C R M T P
N A V M G --- THIS WEEK ON CHICAGOREADER.COM J L SB ------D C [email protected] Legacy! Legacy! -- STM READER LLC private listening B P D RL Movie Tuesday: T E R party S J S Four hours or bust! A- S V Hosted by the Reader. C C EB Ben Sachs introduces fi ve Jamila Woods will be ------capsule reviews from the interviewed by Tiff any R ISSN - Reader archives of movies Walden before the STMR LLC SM SC IL that are more than epic. album plays. Enter -- to win tickets at C ©C R chicagoreader.com/ P C IL
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ll MAY - CHICA O READER 3 CITY LIFE
Street View For the win Clean style, full heart, can’t lose
“NO MATTER IF you’re stunting, tumbling, jumping, or sitting on the sidelines, you always need to look clean, tight, and confi dent,” says Charles McDavid Jr. The 26-year-old cheerleading coach is speaking about “perfect posture,” but he might as well be describing his style. McDavid, who works for the Keeping Adolescents Off the Street (KAOS) Bull- dogs, is calm and self-assured in his rainbow puff er jacket on his way to a job interview in Lincoln Park. He says he chose to build his outfi t around burnt- red suspenders because his spirit was screaming Family Matters. “Clothes aren’t alive,” he says. “You wear them. They don’t wear you. You want them to look good. Own it.” McDavid says he pushes his athletes to strive for more than just trophies. “Be the best you for tomorrow and not today,” he says. —I G Three cheers for perfect posture. ISA GIALLORENZO
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4 CHICA O READER - MAY ll CITY LIFE ONE AND A HALF FLOORS. MORE STORIES THAN YOU CAN COUNT.
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Quimby’s participates in Free Comic Book Day. PAT LOIKA/FLICKR
PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT Bam! Boom! Pow! Marvel at the super off erings on Free Comic Book Day.
FREE COMIC BOOK DAY is upon us again! The Western, will have a day full of in-store appearanc- 17th annual celebration of independent comic book es by local artists and illustrators. And parents who stores happens on Saturday, May 4, and promises are interested in teaching their children the value of plenty of local programming (and, more important- the disco nap can haul out the family at midnight to ly, free issues of select comic books). The official be fi rst in line when Chimera’s in Oak Lawn opens. website at freecomicbookday.com/catalog lists all Some of the following stores will be open but not the titles that may be available for free. Individual necessarily participating in the offi cial Free Comic stores are free to make their own rules, so don’t go Book Day proceedings, so be sure to call ahead or in thinking you’re going to walk out with a wheelbar- check out the store’s websites to see what they are row full of titles. Some stores, like Challengers on planning. —S C-J
F A C C D TC E. TH N. Western N. Western -- -- -- firstaidcomics.com challengerscomics.com darktowercomics.com
G C C C C A R E. Madison N. Clark W. th -- -- -- grahamcrackers.com/chstore. chicagocomics.com myalternatereality.com htm G-M C C ’C Q ’ N. Kedzie W. th, Oak Lawn W. North -- -- -- g-mart.com/chicago.html chimerascomics.com quimbys.com ll MAY - CHICA O READER 5 MADELINE HESTER
6 CHICA O READER - MAY ll EXPLORE
Arts & Culture Health & Wellness Shopping Gus Giordano Dance School RE: chiropractic + wellness Alley Cat Comics 5230 N. Clark 5347 N. Clark St., #2 5304 N. Clark St., Suite Rear (773) 275-5230 (773) 334-5300 (773) 907-3404 gusgiordanodance.com www.rechiropractic.com www.alleycatcomics.com
Whole Body Kinetics Chicago Dance Supply Beauty 5301 N. Clark St., Floor 2 5301 N. Clark St., Fl. 2 Salon 10 (773) 963-2358 (773) 728-5344 5245 N. Clark https://wholebodykinetics.com/ www.chicagodancesupply.com (773) 728-4055 https://www.salon10chicago.com/ Dearborn Denim & Apparel Professional Services 5202 N. Clark St. A and N Mortgage Services (773) 293-6451 Drinks & Dining 1945 N. Elston https://dearborndenim.us/ Jerry’s Sandwiches (773) 305-7010 5419 N. Clark St. http://www.kikicalumet.com/ Early to Bed (773) 796-3777 5044 N. Clark www.jerryssandwiches.com Iloilo Custom Framing (773) 271-1219 1478 W. Berwyn Ave. early2bed.com Ranalli’s of Andersonville (773) 784-3962 1512 W. Berwyn Ave. Rattleback Records (773) 334-1300 Urban Pooch 5405 N. Clark St. www.ranallispizza.com 5400 N. Damen Ave. (773) 944-0188 (773) 942-6445 http://rattlebackrecords.com/ Vincent Restaurant www.urbanpooch.com 1475 W. Balmoral Women & Children First (773) 334-7168 5233 N. Clark St. www.vincentchicago.com Shared Workspace (773) 769-9299 The Writers WorkSpace www.womenandchildrenfirst.com 5443 N. Broadway (by appt only) (773) 907-0336 www.writersworkspace.com
VISIT ANDERSONVILLE FOR THESE UPCOMING EVENTS! - Andersonville Farmers Market: Wednesdays from 3-8PM starting May 8. Located on Berwyn between Clark & Ashland - Andersonville Wine Walk: Sunday, May 19 from 3-6PM: Tickets on sale now for two wine walk routes, each featuring 14 wine tasting destinations. andersonville.org - Andersonville Midsommarfest: June 7 - 9 #AlwaysAndersonville Summer Starts Here. Join us in celebrating our 54th Midsommarfest on Clark Street between Foster & Catalpa. ll MAY - CHICA O READER 7 NEWS & POLITICS
Le : Author Robert Caro JAY GODWIN/FLICKR Right: Mayor Rahm Emanuel DANIEL X O’NEIL/FLICKR
Bending over backward to be fair, Mick religious beliefs and his military service—are says there’s no proof that Rahm didn’t write part of a larger narrative about Mayor Pete’s them—which, of course, is not quite the same life that Mayor Pete’s campaign has carefully thing as saying he did. constructed to divert us from the fact that I, on the other hand, insist that the real Mayor Pete’s barely taken a stance on any of issue is whether he even reads them. the major issues of the day. To be continued—right, Mick? Concentrating on any piece of the narra- In his latest essay in the Atlantic—“What tive—military, religion, or sexual orienta- the Press Is Missing About Pete Buttigieg”— tion—helps Mayor Pete dazzle voters into Rahm criticizes journalists for being too shal- supporting him, even if they have no clue as to low in their coverage of the 37-year-old mayor what he stands for. of South Bend, Indiana, who’s among the In any event, I hope there are no aspiring front-runners in the race for the Democratic journalists out there who really think it’s a presidential nomination. good idea to take journalistic advice from “Voters relying on mainstream coverage to Rahm. keep them informed probably know only three Good god, this is the guy who spent the last things about him,” Rahm writes. “He’s a candi- eight years ducking and dodging almost every POLITICS date for the Democratic nomination. He has a question he was asked with clumsy stabs at funny-sounding last name. And he’s gay.” sarcastic humor. Then Rahm chides journalists for not “dig- Rahm’s attitude toward transparency and Rahm v. Caro ging much deeper than his orientation.” truth and government is best symbolized by Then he o ers a theory as to why journalists what Joanna Brown—a Logan Square activ- Robert Caro fi ghts to expose the truth while Rahm tries to hide it. are so obsessed with sex. “In the places where ist—received when she fi led a public records they live—in the pockets of the country that search on a school closing . . . a blank piece of By BJ the Donald Trump minion Stephen Miller has paper. disparagingly labeled ‘cosmopolitan’—sex- Rahm’s flunkies at the Chicago Public uality is a hot topic. Maybe even the hottest Schools might as well have just fl ipped her the topic. Military service? Not so much. Religious bird. s part of a late-in-life effort at latest series—the remaking of Rahm by Rahm, faith? Not at all.” In contrast, Caro has dedicated his life to self-improvement, I’m trying to aka, Rahm’s attempt to convince the rest of Then he o ers an example of a question they finding the truth. He’s finishing up the fifth become a better journalist by the world that he’s not as bad as people in his should ask Mayor Pete. volume of his study of former president Lyn- studying Robert Caro and Rahm hometown say he is. “When lots of his peers at Harvard and Ox- don Johnson. But my favorite Caro book is The Emanuel. In recent columns, I’ve written about how ford grabbed their diploma and headed o to Power Broker, his massive biography of Robert AOK, that’s a joke—at least in regards to Rahm’s changed the record on taxes, police, Wall Street or Silicon Valley, Buttigieg decided Moses, the all-powerful bureaucrat who built Mayor Rahm. and schools. to serve his country in the military. Why?” the expressways, parks, and bridges of New It’s a different story with Caro, the great For the record, this is the second recent And then—oh, god, read the rest of this York City. investigative journalist. I was recently up until series. The fi rst was on the Lincoln Yards TIF drivel, if you dare. “During the decades of his power, [Moses] dawn reading Working, Caro’s latest book. deal—aka, the fleecing of Chicago by Mayor This is Rahm in full spinning glory. As he, used that power to bend the city’s social pol- In gripping detail, Caro explains how he Rahm. one, tries to distinguish himself from the rest icies to his philosophical beliefs, skewing . . . dedicated hours of his life poring over millions I was hoping to convince the City Council to of the “cosmopolitans”—you know, like he’s a the allocation of the city’s resources to the of mind-numbing documents to fi nd the truth vote no on those deals. regular guy. benefi t of its middle, upper-middle, and upper behind the dastardly deeds of powerful men. No chance. The council overwhelmingly And two, tries to promote Buttigieg under classes at the expense of the city’s lower mid- In contrast, Rahm falls into the category of approved the deal. Enjoy your rising property the guise of asking him a tough question. I dle class and its poor,” Caro writes in Working. powerful men committing dastardly deeds. taxes, Chicago. mean, Rahm’s sample question is a textbook Sounds like Rahm’s Chicago. And yet in his latest essay in the Atlantic, he But back to Rahm’s rewriting of Rahm. example of pretending to interrogate someone Someday a journalist will do to Rahm what o ers interview tips to journalists. The recent article in the Atlantic is not the by asking something that highlights their Caro did to Moses—dig deep into the fi les to Word of warning, people—taking advice fi rst essay Rahm has written. Or, should I say, strengths. He might as well have asked: “Hey, find the truths that our mayor fought hard from Rahm on truth-telling is like turning to it’s not the fi rst to go under his name. Mayor Pete, what’s the greatest challenge in to conceal. Let’s hope the Atlantic publishes Donald Trump for lectures on ethics. Mick Dumke—my old pal and colleague— your life, being astoundingly brilliant or ex- that. v Buyer beware. has long debated whether Rahm actually ceedingly good looking?” Welcome to another installment in my writes the columns under his byline. Mayor Pete’s sexual orientation—like his @joravben 8 CHICA O READER - MAY ll NEWS & POLITICS
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra paying dues. Exhibits attached to the report MARK ORDONEZ/FLICKR consisted mostly of e-mails between the fi ve accused members (along with a sixth person, who wasn’t technically a union member at the time). Now some of the expelled members are voicing their own charges against the union: they say their e-mail accounts must have Association to come to an agreement on a plan been hacked in order for the union to access for them; the expectation is that we will work the messages it used as exhibits. A complaint cooperatively to get this done.” about that has been filed with the Chicago Meanwhile, on April 17, after prolonged Police Department. Since a Vallera-led sepa- negotiations and under an imminent strike ration from CFAC’s former state and national threat, Columbia College issued a joint state- a liates—the Illinois Education Association ment with CFAC, its famously independent and the National Education Association—in part-time faculty union , announcing that 2015, union members concerned about what they’d reached a tentative agreement on a they say is a lack of communication and trans- contract. parency haven’t had a higher authority under According to the statement, the college and the union umbrella to go to for help. the union just need a little more time to get the Those most likely to campaign against details down in writing before presenting it to the current leadership in the fall election are the union membership for ratifi cation. the activists who’ve been expelled and can’t Union members I talked with were guarded- participate. But one of them, cinema and ly optimistic about what kind of deal their con- television arts adjunct Carey Friedman, says ON CULTURE troversial longtime president, Diana Vallera, they accomplished what they set out to do. had worked out. “Whatever else you say about “Our intention was always to get back to the [Vallera], she negotiates good contracts,” bargaining table. Our actions last fall forced State of the unions English department adjunct Joseph Fedorko CFAC leadership into at least partially trans- told me. He also thinks a strong contract parent communication with membership and Chicago Symphony Orchestra musicians and Columbia College part-time would give Vallera, who’s been CFAC presi- definitely off the strike train. There’s now a faculty reach agreements with management. dent since 2010, her best chance at getting contract for CFAC members to vote upon.” reelected in the fall. But he’s not betting that At press time, CFAC members were still By D I she’ll win. “She’s made too many enemies,” he waiting for that contract to appear. v said. “She’s alienated a lot of people.” (Vallera did not respond to an e-mailed request for @DeannaIsaacs t’s been a busy few weeks on the labor “defi ned contribution plan,” but will protect comment.) front for both the Chicago Symphony current employees with a backup annuity and Among the alienated: the fi ve union mem- Orchestra and Columbia College. an initial bump in employer contributions bers CFAC put on trial last fall. In November, Last Saturday, one day after meeting based on seniority. No such protection has amid a contested appeal for a strike, CFAC cre- in Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s office and been specifi ed for future orchestra members. ated a mysterious new “Integrity Committee” #TVKUV9TKVGT Iissuing an announcement that they’d come “We would have loved to have kept a defi ned that notifi ed the fi ve that they’d been anony- to a tentative agreement that would end a benefi t plan and we still think it’s the best way mously charged with conduct harmful to the 2GTHQTOGT! seven-week strike , both the musicians of the to go forward,” CSO bassist and negotiating union and summoned them to hearings that %4'#6+8' 51.76+105 (14 CSO and management, known as the Chicago committee chair Stephen Lester said by phone could result in fi nes and/or other punishment. %4'#6+8' 2'12.' Symphony Orchestra Association, ratified a on Sunday. “The Association was absolutely They were instructed not to bring attorneys. fi ve-year contract that sounds very similar to a unwilling to compromise and they basically Not wanting to legitimize the process, they 5WRRQTVKXG #HHKTOKPI CPF )QCN “best and fi nal” o er the CSOA had presented threatened to cancel the rest of the season, told me, they refused to appear. In March, &KTGEVGF 2U[EJQVJGTCR[ CPF to the union nearly three weeks earlier. which would have put Ravinia in doubt and the committee issued a report on its fi ndings, *[RPQVJGTCR[ HQT #FWNVU The musicians managed to squeeze the would have been a catastrophe for everyone. and the five were informed that they’d been CSOA for a fraction of a percent more in salary It’s a scorched-earth, mutual assured destruc- expelled from the union. /#: - 5*#2'; .%59 increases beyond the earlier o er in each of tion strategy, which has no place in trying According to the report, the committee .QECVGF KP &QYPVQYP 'XCPUVQP the contract’s fi nal three years (base salaries to come to an agreement. So we had no real found them guilty of theft of the union’s list will rise 13.25 percent over the fi ve-year peri- choice. of member e-mail addresses, of “undermining od) but were forced to give up on their cam- “But,” Lester added, “we were able to get a the union as collective bargaining represen- YYYOCZUJCRG[EQO paign to retain a traditional “defi ned benefi t” secure guaranteed benefit for the [current] tative” (in part by trying to get rid of its o - OCZUJCRG["CQNEQO pension plan that would guarantee a specifi c members of the orchestra going forward.” cials “other than through regular elections”), NWG TQUU NWG 5JKGNF 2TGHGTTGF 2TQXKFGT income in retirement. They settled for an ar- And he said they’re “studying” what to do and of “conduct threatening the survival of KIPC 2TGHGTTGF 2TQXKFGT rangement that will shift everyone to a riskier about new hires. “We’re working with the the union” by encouraging members to stop ll MAY - CHICA O READER 9 A M | R W. Grand -- FOOD & DRINK arigatomarket.com
Top: Panko pork tonkatsu; spicy poke tuna; Japanese chicken curry; bottom: California kani salad; tomato-meatball risotto; spicy deviled egg MELISSA BLACKMON
RESTAURANT REVIEW rett Suzuki is a purist. He sells He means his tacos are built and garnished pasture-raised beef at Arigato Mar- with things like soy sauce, panko, shichi-mi ket but he will never serve you a tōgarashi powder, and Tamaki Gold rice. Arigato Market slings carne asada taco. When you own the There’s a popular dish in Japan known as only Japanese taco stand/butcher Okinawa taco rice, so Suzuki has some kind of Bshop in town—maybe in the world?—you have footprint to follow. And there is one Mexican tacos with a side of beef to take a stand on cultural appropriation. ingredient he uses at this tiny six-stool West “We’re not Mexican,” he says. “Like—I’m Town storefront that might earn him a pass: The West Town storefront is part butcher shop, part not. And there’s tons of great Mexican fl our tortillas made at the Tortilleria Atotonil- Japanese American taqueria. food right around us as well. So it’s not co in Back of the Yards. really what we’re into. We’re more like White flour tortillas, or something like By M S American-style tacos, with Japanese influ- them, the theories go, were possibly devel- ence. I only use Japanese ingredients.” oped in northern Mexico by Spanish Jews (or 10 CHICA O READER - MAY ll ChicagoStyle-Reader-Print.pdf 1 4/9/19 9:29 AM
Search the Reader’s online database of thousands of Chicago-area restaurants—and add your own review—at chicagoreader.com/food.
Spicy poke tuna MELISSA BLACKMON Tomato-meatball risotto
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Japanese chicken curry
Muslims) during the time of the Inquisition, Suzuki didn’t get this concept from his Magic variants, playing off both his Japanese her- ing up to loaded tacos such as these, but the adapting their own foods to the conditions of 8 Ball. While growing up in Bannockburn, itage (curry) and his American upbringing fl our tortillas tend to overwhelm some of the the colony they were lamming it in. his Japanese father was a silent partner in a (bu alo chicken) that the tacos really took o , more delicate ones, like the spicy poke tuna, Suzuki is adapting them to his own sushi restaurant. After college he worked in an and he started working four nights a week. whose fresh soy-derived brininess is smoth- conditions. He thinks that the flavor of Italian restaurant in Tokyo, then spent a few He also looked for his own space with ered by a double pillow of white rice and white corn tortillas overpowers the flavors of years in China at an import-export restaurant- that same friend, Ethan Wautelet, whose fl our, and which is only relieved with a bit of his fillings. More neutral flour tortillas, equipment company before moving to New father owns a 75-head cattle ranch in surgery around the edges of the flatbread. served just warm, act like cotton blankets York and landing at Morgan Stanley. After the Nappanee, Indiana, just south of South Bend. Others, such as a spicy deviled-egg salad taco, swaddling generously portioned, and fi nancial crisis he attended culinary school and That’s the source of the other half of their the chicken curry, and the crispy pork tonkat- frequently hearty, compositions such as found work exporting pork and eventually beef unlikely-sounding model: selling cuts of cryo- su, command compulsory scarfi ng. Japanese curry, pork tonkatsu, and the to Japan before heading back to the midwest. vacced, antibiotic-free, pasture-raised meat Arigato Market is my favorite kind of busi- quintessential Japanese-American hybrid: There he bounced around various kitchens alongside the tacos. So while you won’t see ness model: a specialist that does one (or a California roll taco with cucumber, avoca- (Next, the Pump Room), and opened a short- any carne asada on his menu, Suzuki is about two) things really well. Most of the tacos are do, aioli, and soy-yuzu dressed crab salad. lived Italian restaurant in the suburbs. to introduce an Italian beef taco made from well-balanced innovations that borrow from There are more overtly American-style tacos Two years ago a friend hooked him up with the same animals. seemingly disparate cultures and cuisines— too, most of which could credibly be placed in an irregular pop-up gig at West Town’s On The ground beef is featured on the afore- the F word, or what people with straight faces the category of stoner food: a cheeseburger Tour Brewing, where he introduced high-end mentioned tomato-meatball risotto taco and used to call fusion. One, in this case, that fol- taco with cheddar-parmesan bechamel and tacos, such as Côtes du Rhônes-braised short the cheeseburger taco too, which behaves a bit lows a few rules. v a tomato-meatball risotto taco invite indis- rib, that didn’t particularly resonate with the like the Akutagawa plate from Wrigleyville’s criminate wolfi ng. swillers. It wasn’t until he adapted simpler Rice’N Bread. I can’t see a corn tortilla stand- @MikeSula ll MAY - CHICA O READER 11 H H E A H G U S By Daniel Immerwahr (Farrar, Straus and Giroux). Discussion and signing Sat /, PM, Centuries & Sleuths Bookstore, W. Madison St., ARTS & CULTURE Forest Park, --, centuriesandsleuths.com . F
shit as a highly valued commodity; an attempt To what extent does the way the United by a former U.S. senator to condense the entire States represents itself—with the U.S. map LIT English language into a series of scribble-like for example—influence the way we think symbols). Most fascinating, perhaps, is Im- about who is a “part” of the United States? merwahr’s exploration of how language, cul- It’s funny, a er the state quarters were issued, The secret ture, and technology serve as tools in a softer representatives from the territories asked and subtler but perhaps equally pervasive that they also get quarters, and they did. And form of American imperialism. This interview this little thing—I mean, how often do you history has been edited and condensed for clarity. actually look at the back of a quarter?—has had a galvanizing effect on people I know. In How to Hide an Empire, Daniel Why do you think the history and current They look at quarters and they think, “Oh my Immerwahr pulls back the curtain reality of U.S. imperialism and territorial gosh, I didn’t realize the Northern Mariana on American imperialism. holdings is such a collective blind spot for Islands were part of the United States!” mainlanders? I think how the country represents itself By R H The truth is that, in a lot of ways, mainlanders to itself matters a lot, whether it’s through have been able to not have to think very hard numismatics, cartography, or through sta- about what happens overseas, and that’s true tistics—for most of its calculations, the cen- even when things that happen in the overseas sus still doesn’t off er statistics that are based eading Daniel Immerwahr’s latest book, parts of the United States have an enormous on the full United States. In so many official How to Hide an Empire: A History of eff ect on the U.S. mainland. ways, it’s hard for mainlanders to see their full Rthe Greater United States, feels like an There are right now fi ve inhabited territo- country. exercise in pulling back a carefully maintained ries of the United States: Puerto Rico, Guam, curtain. Immerwahr, a Chicago-based histo- the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, and The issue of Puerto Rican statehood has rian and Northwestern University professor, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mar- gained a lot of traction and spurred much spares no crucial details in his survey of the iana Islands. In the last two years, four of places, like Guam, that are going to be the debate in recent years. Should the 2020 history of the United States outside the 50 them have faced some kind of existential most exposed as U.S. military alliances fray. So presidential candidates be talking more states. Through a sweeping examination of threat: Hurricanes Maria and Irma to Puerto there’s a lot of reasons to pay attention from about the possibility of making Puerto Rico American colonialism past and present, in- Rico, North Korea’s threatening to surround the perspective of the mainland. the 51st state? cluding now-states Alaska and Hawaii, former Guam “in an enveloping fi re,” and something I think the issue of Puerto Rican statehood is holdings such as the Philippines, and enduring we don’t talk about: Typhoon Yutu, which hit You dedicate a chapter in the book to the changing really quickly. Elizabeth Warren vis- territories like Puerto Rico, Immerwahr paints Saipan and Tinian in the Commonwealth of ways in which English, as a language that ited Puerto Rico on the campaign trail, and a picture of imperialism as an intractable force the Northern Marianas and was the largest is spoken around the world, reinforces I believe it was her third stop when she was in American history from the very beginning. storm to hit the United States since the 1930s. our global power. Might this change in the officially campaigning for president. There’s “The history of the United States,” he con- It’s just another reminder that these plac- future, and if so, what might that look like? a bill right now, I believe, on the fl oor of the cludes, “is the history of empire.” es remain on the front lines of history. Some- That’s one thing that’s so interesting about House for Puerto Rican statehood, and my How to Hide an Empire reads like a secret times they are harbingers of what’s going to linguistic standards, is that they’re sticky. It’s understanding is that senators are preparing history, and in some sense, it is. Vignettes of be happening on the U.S. mainland. That’s not like whoever just became powerful as of a bill of the same kind. It’s a complicated issue, imperial foibles contain both unspeakable vio- certainly been the case in times of war, [and] yesterday suddenly gets to determine the lan- because it’s not just a matter of rights, it’s a lence (more than a million people killed in the it’s probably going to be the case with cli- guage that everyone speaks. O en once a lin- matter of identity. Puerto Ricans have a good Philippines during World War II, bystanders mate change. These are the parts of the Unit- guistic standard is locked in, it just becomes reason to be, for some of them, quite enthusi- shot dead in the street during a Puerto Rican ed States that are going to be hit most quickly standard. And right now, the United States is astic about the prospect of statehood, and for police massacre) and absurd episodes (bird and worst by the storms, and they’re also the not in the position of predominance of power others, quite disturbed by the prospect. that it used to be. It simply doesn’t have the I think it’s something we absolutely should A NUMBER HAS AUDIENCES ON global power that it had in 1945, but it’s been be talking about. Even if this isn’t resolved able to lock in so many of its privileges that through statehood, I think this system where THE EDGE OF THEIR SEATS! are still enduring even in this moment of we have people who, because of where they hegemonic recession. live, cannot meaningfully participate in any of China is obviously gaining power, and what the three branches of government, has got to that’s going to look like is to my mind an open change. We’re talking about millions of peo- question. To what extent will China be willing ple, and we’ve seen what happens when you “PROVOCATIVE [and] to conduct its business using dollars? To what have a part of the country that has no eff ec- INTENSE. An amazing piece!” extent will it be willing to conduct its busi- tive representation at the federal level. I ness in English? Because there’s two ways to would love to see candidates talk about it. “A THOUGHT-PROVOKING BURGER. AND NATE WILLIAM BROWN PICTURED: BY MICHAEL BROSILOW. PHOTO deal with it: one is that everyone learns Man- Historically, all of the decisions about the ter- darin, and the other is that everyone works ritories have been made by mainlanders, peo- NOW PLAYING SCIENCE FICTION THRILLER!” in English. We could be approaching a world ple like me, and I think that’s got to stop. v 847-242-6000 I WRITERSTHEATRE.ORG that’s less monoglot, that is not dependent on a single language in the way that it has been. @boughsofhawley 12 CHICA O READER - MAY ll R READER RECOMMENDED b ALL AGES F THEATER
REVIEW His gift for taking small personal moments L R Proud to be an R Through /: Thu- and enlarging them into bigger cultural Sat : PM, Sun PM; also ruptures comes into sharpest focus in the American Mon / and Wed /, : encounter between Samir and Ahmed. Dardai In Language Rooms, an Egyptian PM, Den Theatre, N. in particular is heartbreaking: proud of hav- Milwaukee Ave, --, American interrogator struggles brokennosetheatre.com , pay ing a son with such an “important job” and to prove his loyalty to the U.S.A. what you can. confused why that son abandoned him years before. “Your Arabic has improved,” he tells
By KR Language Rooms AUSTIN D OIE Ahmed, a sign of how much his son, who was embarrassed by his father’s immigrant ways gyptian American playwright Yussef El ken Nose Theatre under Kaiser Zaki Ahmed’s thetic to the suspect. Now Ahmed has a chance as a child, has assimilated. But in the U.S., Guindi is mostly known to Chicago audi- direction. Set in an “undisclosed location” to redeem himself by interrogating another being Muslim means Ahmed’s patriotism will Eences from several productions with Silk circa 2005, El Guindi’s taut and increasingly prisoner. always be called into question (just ask Ilhan Road Rising, including the world premiere of clammy play focuses on Ahmed (Salar Arde- Samir (Bilal Dardai) is an Egyptian immi- Omar). his 2005 comedy Ten Acrobats in an Amazing bili), an Egyptian American translator and grant and grocery-store owner accused of El Guindi deliberately pushes the answer Leap of Faith , about an Egyptian immigrant interrogator, whose lack of facility with small funneling money to terrorist organizations. to the question of Samir’s guilt or innocence family wrestling with assimilation in America. talk seems to call his abilities—if not his loy- He’s also Ahmed’s father. (This isn’t really a to the side of the narrative. After all, as Samir Back of the Throat, in which an Arab American alties—into question, at least according to his spoiler; the foreshadowing is thick.) tells Ahmed, “Unless your being innocent is man in post-9/11 America faces down gov- coworker, Nasser (Bassam Abdelfattah). “You El Guindi’s blend of menace and absurdity as interesting to them as being guilty, you ernment agents who take over his home in an can’t just be yourself here,” Nasser cautions. recalls Terry Gilliam’s Brazil, not to mention will not be believed.” Broken Nose’s chilling increasingly hostile “investigation,” followed “We have to fi t in.” almost everything Harold Pinter wrote. But production makes the case that what seems a few months later. A meeting with Kevin (Bradford Stevens), El Guindi isn’t imagining dystopia—not when absurd and unthinkable today will be docu- Assimilation and oppression twine together his cunning superior, adds to Ahmed’s unease. images of Abu Ghraib remain in our minds and mentary fodder tomorrow. v in El Guindi’s 2010 dark comedy Language An interrogation he conducted with Nasser daily xenophobic and Islamophobic assaults Rooms, now in a riveting local premiere at Bro- left the impression that Ahmed was sympa- from the White House fi ll the news. @kerryreid
April 27 – July 6
Free tours of the exhibition Fridays and Saturdays at 2 pm
60 West Walton Street
ll MAY - CHICA O READER 13 THEATER Less scrolling.
OPENING Native son R A new Hamlet puts the prince of Denmark in a context all too familiar to Chicago.
Though the Bard wrote Hamlet sometime on the cusp of the 17th century, Chicago Shakespeare Theater’s minimal, grayscale revival has plenty to say about con- temporary masculinity and race. With Black men as both King and Prince Hamlet, this particular production draws upon the concept of a legacy interrupted and destroyed by racialized violence. The show begins with a son singing at his father’s grave while his mother, a woman of color, gets intimate with a white man. Maurice Jones stars as the doomed prince, off ering a performance that feels less like a melancholy Dane and more like Bigger Thomas. As systemic, familial oppression triggers bursts of violence, the production is careful not to excuse Hamlet’s behavior, especially his treatment of Ophelia (Rachel Nicks), another woman of color. Of course, Hamlet is surrounded by well-meaning More strumming. white friends who can’t fully understand why he’s falling apart, but they stick around as long as they believe they
can repair him. It’s also important to note that Claudius, Hamlet LIZ LAUREN the king’s brother and murderer, is played by Tim Decker, who oozes around the stage like a Wall Street villain. If you’re familiar with the plot, you know that Queen Gertrude, played by Karen Aldridge, fell in love with Claudius and the two plotted together to kill off This coproduction between Oak Park Festival The- are a critique of chardonnay and of tirades. By the end Hamlet’s father. In this production, there’s a suggestion atre and Open Door Theater isn’t perfect. At 90 minutes of the show, Kidwell hasn’t so much redeemed himself of internalized racism, as if Gertrude is trying to purge without an intermission, the play feels a little long, as he has participated in a reversal of fortune; Fink her Blackness by offi ng it. though it is hard to tell if the problem is in the script— musters a pigheadedness we had failed to see at fi rst, Director Barbara Gaines gives us the truth of which could be trimmed—or in the performances, which and it looks in an uncanny way like David’s own mean Hamlet in a context all too familiar to Chicago: Here still felt a little rough on opening night. The pace fl ags self. In its study of how people can become the thing is a man ripped from his heritage, plummeting into a about 50 minutes in, but then picks up again. In the end, they hate most, this play is serious business indeed. tragic destiny with sparse options. There’s a method though, Gunderson, Wakefi eld, Bittner, Robinson, et al., It’s also a wild-ass time and not to be missed. —M to the madness indeed. —KT H H win us over, sending us out into the night with these M I’ G P F Y S H Through 6/9: Wed 1 and 7:30 PM, Thu-Fri 7:30 PM, lines from Whitman echoing in our heads: “For every Through 5/18: Thu-Sat 7:30 PM, Sun 3 PM; also Mon Sat 3 and 8 PM, Sun 2 and 6:30 PM, Tue 7:30 PM; atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.” —J 5/13, 7:30 PM, and Sat 5/18, 3 PM, Den Theatre, 1331 no performances Sun 5/12, 5/19, and 5/26, 6:30 PM, H I & Y Through 5/26: Fri 8 PM, Sat 3 and 8 N. Milwaukee, 773-697-3830, firstfloortheater.com, Chicago Shakespeare, 800 E. Grand, 312-595-5600, PM, Sun 3 PM, Open Door Theater, 902 Ridgeland, $25, $20 students. chicagoshakes.com , $58-$88. Oak Park, 708-300-9396, oakparkfestival.com , $35, $28 seniors, $15 students. Here comes a regular They too are untranslatable R One 4 the Road has a rich sense of R The power of Walt Whitman brings two Daddy’s little girl history and humanity. high school students together in I & You. R I’m Gonna Pray For You So Hard shows Give your digital the apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree. It’s 1972 and Haskins’ bar has been a fi xture on the The premise of Lauren Gunderson’s two-hander is south side of Chicago for 30 years, passed down to Ray life a break. remarkably simple: a socially isolated, housebound high Things it would be good to inherit from a famous Haskins (Darren Jones) by his father, Big Ray, who laid school girl receives an unexpected visit from an only- playwright father: deep industry connections, fl awless every brick and installed every pipe in the shop. Malört Connect over slightly-less introverted classmate she barely knows. technique, a broad handle on what being an artist is takes pride of place on the shelf, and the names of those He brings the unwelcome news that the two of them about. Things it would be less good to inherit from a chosen few with a taste for it are carved into the wall— music, dance & have been assigned to collaborate on a class project— famous (belligerent, out of touch) playwright father, but but everyone who comes through the door for the fi rst due tomorrow, OMG!—about Walt Whitman’s “Song of which Ella (Amanda Caryl Fink), his actress daughter, is time gets a shot as a rite of passage. Like every watering more. Myself,” a poem she has barely read and loathes. But irremediably saddled with in Halley Feiff er’s astonishing hole, it has its regulars: retiree Slocum (Donn Carl from this Spartan setup, Gunderson spins a sweet, rich, play: everything else. Love has strings in this taut, sear- Harper) sometimes shows up at 8 AM for a beer, and New group classes forming now. nuanced story in which, over the course of 90 minutes, ing two-hander, directed by Cole von Glahn for First busybody Lizzie (Tina Marie Wright, in a pompadour) we watch two socially awkward adolescents open up Floor Theater. By that I mean Ella is the best little girl sometimes locks the door for an extra pour. When JD oldtownschool.org and become a little less awkward. Gunderson’s gi David (Tim Kidwell) could ever want, only he’d rather Youngblood (Omari Ferrell), a soldier recently returned for writing compelling, realistic dialogue and creating she be cast as Masha and not lowly Nina in The Seagull from Vietnam, wanders in, Ray welcomes him like family. relatable characters serves her well. off Broadway. Ella worships David—his wisdom, his acco- Ray’s bar is his home, and he’s the loving master of it. Under Bryan Wakefi eld’s direction, Erica Bittner lades, his impossibly high standards—until she doesn’t But the world outside isn’t so sweet, and Black and the and Matty Robinson are utterly charming and quite anymore. Then this turns into father-daughter theater in Woodlawn Youth Coalition, as the local gang calls itself, believable as teenagers. They wisely avoid the easy complete tailspin, one generation’s follies T-boning the have an insistent way of demanding “donations.” stereotypes of teen behavior, preferring instead to next’s at full throttle. One 4 the Road, veteran actor and MPAACT com- plumb the richly complicated and contradictory depths Fink turns in one of those performances that diag- pany member Leonard House’s debut play, directed by of adolescent psychology. noses the lifestyle it portrays. Her chardonnay tirades Runako Jahi, draws the specifi city of time, place, and
14 CHICA O READER - MAY ll THEATER
character with remarkable economy in a narrative that’s serves as the debut of a new performance space called love, Stone had sold his soul to Old Scratch ten years heartbreaking and familiar—in other words, the essence Walnut Spaceship Studio housed within the Bridge- before, and now the devil has come to collect his due. of nostalgia. In combination with a pitch-perfect cast port Art Center. Besides Cole’s skillful heightening But the bargain is challenged as unenforceable by that develops each character’s particular sheen in rela- of common speech, it’s an added treat not to have to Stone’s friend, the esteemed New England lawyer and tion to the others, this play is rich in its sense of humans trudge up to Rogers Park to take in a piece of theater. statesman Daniel Webster. A hearing is quickly arranged and history. —IH O R Through This marks the fi rst time in my two-year play-reviewing before a jury of the damned—”twelve great sinners, tried 6/2: Thu-Sat 8 PM, Sun 3 PM, Greenhouse Theater tenure that I could walk to a performance. For a piece and true,” summoned from hell, who end up serving as Center, 2257 N. Lincoln, 773-404-7336, mpaact.org, whose essence is bridging the gap between strangers, a sort of Greek chorus. Though Stone did indeed sign $36-$38, $28 students and seniors. the fact that it’s being presented in a neighborhood that a contract with Scratch—in blood—Webster argues that rarely gets the opportunity to take in theater is no small the ideal of freedom is more important than any wrongs Listening in accomplishment. This is a train any Chicagoan should Stone has committed. R Walnut Spaceship debuts with Reverse count their lucky stars to catch.—D S The program’s second half, Gilbert and Sullivan’s Gossip, a polyphonous portrait of city life. R G Through 5/11: Fri-Sat 8 PM; also 1875 operetta Trial by Jury, concerns a breach-of- Mon 5/6, 8 PM, Walnut Spaceship Studio, 1200 W. promise suit brought by a woman against a rascal who Barrie Cole presents a series of overheard phone calls 35th, reversegossip.brownpapertickets.com , $20 in promised to marry her but then took up with another on the CTA that add up to a beautiful, polyphonous advance or pay what you can at the door. woman. The judge and jurors, all male, can relate to the portrait of city life. Nine performers, sitting among defendant’s wayward conduct, but now, being respect- the audience like fellow riders on a train, occasionally A jury of their peers able gentlemen seated in court, they feel obliged to changing seats—prompted by familiar-sounding station R City Lit presents not one, but Two Days side with the lady plaintiff . It’s vintage G&S, packed arrival announcements—talk into their phones and inad- in Court. with sly digs at hypocrisy and incompetence among the vertently reveal more than they intend to a roomful of powerful and privileged, all couched in whimsical, wittily strangers. The two short, rarely-seen comedies on this engaging rhymed lyrics and genteel melodies. It’s a deceptively simple setup and, on the face of it, bill share a common plot point. In each, a young man Director Terry McCabe’s 17-member ensemble is doesn’t off er much more than the vicarious thrill of hear- is put on trial before a jury of his peers for misdeeds much larger than the casts usually seen on City Lit’s ing something one isn’t supposed to be privy to. But as the jurors themselves could be guilty of, or at least intimate stage, and the choral work, both spoken and the one-sided rants, whispered pleas, and philosophical sympathetic to. sung, is excellent. —A W T D musings accrue, one can’t help but fi ll in the blanks and The Devil and Daniel Webster, Stephen Vincent C A D -H C O identify as either the speaker or the listener. Benét’s 1938 stage version of his 1936 story, is set in A Through 5/26: Fri-Sat 7:30 PM, Sun 3 PM; also Cole and director Jen Moniz fi rst staged this piece Reverse Gossip JEN MONIZ 1841 New Hampshire. It tells of a farmer, Jabez Stone, Mon 5/13 and 5/20, 7:30 PM, City Lit Theater, 1020 as street theater on actual CTA trains, then moved it whose marriage party is interrupted by the arrival of W. Bryn Mawr, 773-293-3682, citylit.org, $32, $27 inside as part of Rhinofest a year or two back. This run Satan. In return for success in business, politics, and seniors, $12 students and military. v
THE CHILDREN By Lucy Kirkwood Directed by Jonathan Berry Three nuclear scientists. A chilling and dangerous plan.
APRIL 18-21 & 25-28
MAJOR PRODUCTION SPONSORS CODE: CHIREADER 312-335-1650 steppenwolf.org ll MAY - CHICA O READER 15 L S ss /s FILM Directed by Jonathan Levine. R. min. In wide release.
Long Shot PHILIPPE BOSSE
The more ordinary half of this movie’s duo she has excelled at dark comedy, evidenced is a Brooklyn-based reporter named Fred by her prickly turns in the Jason Reitman- Flarsky (Seth Rogen, playing the raunchy/ Diablo Cody fi lms Young Adult and Tully , not cuddly version of himself that he honed in to mention her o -kilter guest spot on Arrest- Knocked Up and perfected in This Is the End). ed Development. She’s funny here, but only The object of Fred’s a ection is Charlotte Field when the script gives her some edge to chew (Charlize Theron), who was Fred’s babysitter on, which doesn’t happen enough. when she was 16 and he was 13. Now, Charlotte Many critics have already categorized Long is the U.S. secretary of state—celebrated, of Shot as more like Veep meets Notting Hill than course, for being the youngest and hottest The American President. I, however, longed for person to hold the o ce—and she plans to run Charlotte to be as acerbic, outré, and uproar- for president in 2020. ious as Veep’s Selina Meyer. I also bristled at Like Harry and Sally , Edward and Vivian, Long Shot’s conclusion: that the woman has Joe and Kathleen, and other exalted rom-com to change for her man while he basically stays pairs, Fred and Charlotte represent a case the same. (I guess he learned how to be less of supposed opposites attracting. Fred, who judgmental, or at least that’s what the screen- writes for a local rag that evokes a mash-up of writers want me to think.) In one of several Vice and the Village Voice, is brash, unkempt, explanation-laden scenes, Fred’s best friend judgmental, and uncompromising. Charlotte, (O’Shea Jackson Jr.) tells him that he judges in her ambitious quest to actually save the people too much in the name of white-knight REVIEW world while climbing a slippery political liberalism. Meanwhile, Charlotte jeopardizes ladder, is tactful, chic, open-minded, and per- what she has wanted and worked for her suadable. These two are idealistic humanitar- entire life in the name of integrity, but also to Against all odds ians at heart; they bonded in adolescence over publicly endorse and hold on to her man. It’s a how deeply they cared about issues that most huge sacrifi ce that Fred does not reciprocate; Can the two crazy kids in Long Shot work out their diff erences and fi nd Americans ignored, like recycling and global but they’re cute together, so the outcome is happiness? warming. When they bump into each other as less o ensive than it is disappointing. adults at a Manhattan charity event, one can Still, the movie ticks its post-Trump, By L P almost see their kindred sparks. Obviously, it post-MeToo feminist boxes in other ways, is unlikely that a guy who looks and acts like like showing how Charlotte and her advisers’ Rogen’s character would enchant Theron’s— concern with optics is justifi ed. As a woman in and even more unlikely that she would hire politics, Charlotte knows full well that the gen- n essence, what endears romantic com- song is Robyn’s “Dancing on My Own,” which him to punch up her speeches after watching eral public will view her anger as hysterics, her edies to their most ardent supporters is odd, given that the couple ends up togeth- him pillory a media mogul and then nosedive assertiveness as bitchiness, and any misstep also is what bothers a lot of critics. er. By the way, given the genre, that’s not a down a staircase. But common sense matters as more damning than one made by a man. Rom-coms, on the whole, are formulaic spoiler. little in the pursuit of feel-good, against-all- Cowriters Dan Sterling (The Interview) and fantasies about everyday people who Pedestrian song choices aside, Long Shot odds, shoot-for-the-stars romance. Liz Hannah (The Post) handle this material Ibehave unrealistically in exceptional (and is hit-and-miss. What works about it also is Director Jonathan Levine, who previously and the romantic side of Charlotte and Fred’s exceptionally well-lit) situations. The films what works in all the good rom-coms: funda- teamed with Rogen on 50/50 and The Night relationship best, though neither element is as usually adhere to a simplistic three-act struc- mentally, it’s a story about two likable people Before, works some glimmers of political daring or clever as it could have been. ture that hinges on the viewer’s emotional putting in the time and e ort to understand satire and ribaldry into Long Shot’s cavalcade But here’s the thing: rom-coms, probably catharsis. The lovebirds meet and get to know each other. As critic Wesley Morris wrote in of tropes. Many of the jokes are weak, elic- more than fi lms of any other genre, are sup- each other in a montage scored to an upbeat a recent New York Times Magazine article iting light chuckles if anything; but the few posed to be vehicles for escapism. Rom-com pop song; clash, separate, and miss each other about the dearth of modern rom-coms and knee-slappers that emerge from the film’s fans rely on them for this, too, especially when in a montage scored to a melancholy pop song; why that’s unfortunate: “Romantic comedy is most outrageous situations will likely be the the current climate—both the political and lit- and ultimately reunite, with a coda scored to a the only genre committed to letting relatively moments for which Long Shot is best remem- eral—is infl amed. Ergo, Long Shot accomplish- cathartic pop song. ordinary people—no capes, no spaceships, no bered, like when Charlotte negotiates the es what any decent romantic comedy sets out In Long Shot, the upbeat song is Blondie’s infi nite sequels—fi gure out how to deal mean- release of a hostage while high on MDMA. to do: induce some laughs, awwws, and sighs “One Way or Another,” the melancholy song is ingfully with another human being.” It’s a fair Long Shot’s strongest asset, though— of relief at a tidy, happy ending. v Roxette’s “It Must Have Been Love” from the point, and one that explains why Long Shot which, upon reflection, also exposes the Pretty Woman soundtrack, and the cathartic warrants a fair shake. movie’s greatest flaw—is Theron. For years @leahkpickett ssss EXCELLENT sss GOOD ss AVERAGE s POOR • WORTHLESS
16 CHICA O READER - MAY ll R READER RECOMMENDED b ALL AGES N NEW F
Get showtimes at chicagoreader.com/movies. FILM
plenty of stories of their own to tell. You shouldn’t miss Price. —J R 96 min. Thu 5/9, 9:30 this. In Bengali with subtitles. —D K 124 min. PM. Univ. of Chicago Doc Films 35mm. Wed 5/8, 7 and 9:30 PM. Univ. of Chicago Doc Films Dressed to Kill Brian De Palma plunders Psycho, with incidental grabs Cure from Murder, Spellbound, and Vertigo. Originality has The prolifi c Japanese director Kiyoshi Kurosawa has never been a high value in the genre-bound aesthetic been at work for nearly two decades, sometimes making of fi lmmaking, but De Palma cheapens what he steals, straight-to-video features but more recently receiving draining the Hitchcock moves of their content and some belated international recognition. The engrossing complexity. He’s le with a collection of empty technical Cure (1997) stars Koji Yakusho (Shall We Dance?, The tricks—obtrusive and gimmick-crazed, this fi lm has been Eel) as a troubled detective exploring a series of mur- “directed” within an inch of its life—and he fi lls in the ders committed through hypnotic suggestion (as in The blanks with an o and cruelty toward his characters, Manchurian Candidate), and while its creepy mystery a supreme contempt for his audience (at one point, plot is easy enough to follow even when it turns meta- we’re compared to the drooling voyeurs who inhabit physical, it’s unsatisfying as a story precisely because it his vision of Bellevue), and a curdled, adolescent vision aspires to create a mounting sense of dread by enlarg- of sexuality. The smirking, sarcastic tone is supposed ing questions rather than answering them. Like other to make the sex killings “fun,” but mostly it undermines recent thrillers by this director, it’s fairly grisly, though whatever credibility the enterprise might have had. This Kurosawa’s frequent long shots impart a cool, detached is Brian De Palma’s personal fantasy, and he’s welcome tone to the cruelty and violence. Stylistically it’s the most to it (1980). —D K R, 104 min. 35mm. Fri 5/3-Sat inventive Japanese feature I’ve seen in some time, much 5/4, midnight. Music Box Black Mother more unpredictable than Takeshi Kitano’s recent yaku- za exercises. In Japanese with subtitles. —J Drifting Clouds R 111 min. 35mm. Sun 5/5, 7:30 PM. Univ. of Finnish mannerist Aki Kaurismäki (Ariel, The Match Fac- Chicago Doc Films tory Girl, Leningrad Cowboys Go America) takes on the NOW PLAYING suous fi lmmaking, not only in its vivid close-ups of fl esh, theme of contemporary unemployment in a tender love food, and the natural world, but in the varied textures of Don’t Look Back story that, by his own account, places “Frank Capra’s NAsk Dr. Ruth Allah’s cinematography. —BS 77 min. Fri 5/3, 7 D.A. Pennebaker’s 1967 record of Bob Dylan’s English emotional rescue story It’s a Wonderful Life in one R “When a woman is frigid . . .” begins a male and 9 PM; Sat 5/4, 1, 3, 5, 7, and 9 PM; Sun 5/5, 1, 3, 5, and tour two years earlier is a genuine blast from the past, extreme corner and Vittorio De Sica’s The Bicycle Thief audience member in archival footage from The Dr. Ruth 7 PM; Mon 5/6, 7 and 9 PM; Tue 5/7, 7 and 9 PM; and Thu evoking the 60s like few other documents; Dylan’s in the other, and the Finnish reality in between.” The fi lm Show, a 1980s television talk show hosted by this doc- 5/9, 7 and 9 PM. Facets Cinémathèque relentless heaping of scorn on the mainstream press, was conceived in part for actor Matti Pellonpaa, who umentary’s subject, sex therapist Dr. Ruth Westheimer. before the coercive tentacles of “creative management” died before it went into production; it’s now dedicated “Hold it!” exclaims the four-foot-nine grandmotherly A Bread Factory made such things virtually impossible, is especially tell- to his memory, and a photograph of him as a boy plays fi gure in her German accent. “That word you can’t Patrick Wang’s ambitious two-part feature (2018) sug- ing. But I’m entirely with Andrew Sarris when he writes, a key role in the emotional orchestration. Despite some say on my program.” A feminist icon before the term gests the cinematic equivalent of a David Foster Wallace “Don’t Look Back makes me want to fi ll in on Dylan’s careful color coordination in the sets and some quiet crystallized in popular discourse, Westheimer is per- novel, employing a wealth of formal devices, ranging recordings, but not Pennebaker’s movies”; the raw humor in the mise-en-scène and plot, not to mention haps best known as a media personality who frankly from brilliant to precious, to contemplate what it means cinema verité look bears fruit only when its subject does, a mournful seriousness in the overall treatment of the discussed sexual dynamics, AIDS, and women’s pleasure to live in modern-day America. Set in an idealized but and as with Madonna’s Truth or Dare (1991), the pretense theme, this is arguably one of those instances in the at the height of the Reagan era. But producer-director not implausible everytown, it centers on the longtime of confi dentiality is merely that. But the music is great, fi lmmaker’s touching but reductive minimalist oeuvre Ryan White (The Keepers, The Case Against 8), who director of the local arts center (Tyne Daly) and her and the fi lm would be memorable for its goofy, synco- where less becomes less (1996). In Finnish with subtitles. follows the busy and ebullient Westheimer as she actress wife (Elisabeth Henry); the expansive story also pated opening sequence alone (a quirky illustration of —J R 97 min. 35mm. Showing nears her 90th birthday, provides ample space for the considers members of the town school board (which has “Subterranean Homesick Blues”). With appearances by with Kaurismäki’s 1986 short Rocky VI (9 min., 35mm). luminary to tell her full story. Mostly conveyed through to vote on whether to cut funding to the arts center), the Joan Baez (Dylan’s steady at the time), Donovan, Allen Wed 5/8, 7:30 PM. Northeastern Illinois University voiceover, with resplendent animation to color in her feisty editor of the community newspaper, some visiting Ginsberg, Dylan’s manager Albert Grossman, and Alan B memories, that journey brims with tragedy and triumph. artists, and several kids. In the fi rst and superior part, A self-described “orphan of the Holocaust,” she went Wang builds on the understated long-take style of his on to become an Israeli soldier, a professor in Paris acclaimed In the Family (2011) by introducing brazenly and New York, and the most famous person in America theatrical devices (Albee-like mannered dialogue, actors to ask about sex. Westheimer continues to provide an breaking the fourth wall); in the second part, he heads essential public service, which the fi lm, an aff ectionate full-throttle into theatricality, with musical numbers and tribute to her life and work, continues. —L P a Greek chorus. Throughout Wang demonstrates he’s a 99 min. At Century Centre. Visit landmarktheatres.com gi ed, idiosyncratic director of actors, and his patient for showtimes. aff ection for many of the characters can be disarming, as when one of the main villains of the fi rst part transforms NBlack Mother into a lovable supporting character in the second. —B R Sound and image are never in sync in Khalik S 242 min. Sat 5/4, 12:30 PM. Northwestern Univer- Allah’s experimental documentary about Jamaica, which sity Block Museum of Art F forces viewers to consider the imagery and soundtrack as separate, equally complex entities. The subject mat- Charulata ter is also rich and fragmented, as Allah shi s between a R Also known as The Lonely Wife, this relatively range of themes (the most pronounced are poverty, sex early (1964) fi lm by Satyajit Ray (The World of Apu), work, and womanhood), resulting in a mosaiclike portrait based on a Tagore novel of Victorian India, may be the of Jamaica that makes the country seem at once beauti- fi rst of his features in which he really discovers mise-en- ful and dire. A street photographer before he turned to scène, and it’s an exhilarating encounter. It’s typically fi lmmaking, Allah understands the power of portraiture: rich in the nuances of grief and in extraordinarily allusive he o en has his subjects pose for the camera as the dialogue, though not very much happens in terms of world goes on around them. The camera sometimes plot (a sensitive woman is neglected by her newspaper- regards the men and women as if they were sculptures, publisher husband and drawn to his younger cousin). studying their specifi c physical attributes to gain insight But at every moment, the gorgeous cinematography into corporeal experience as a whole. This is highly sen- and expressive camera movements and dissolves have ll MAY - CHICA O READER 17 R READER RECOMMENDED b ALL AGES N NEW F
FILM Get showtimes at chicagoreader.com/movies. continued from 17 Have and Have Not). Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, infectious, and electrifying as the blues, this docu- and Lionel Barrymore are held in a run-down Florida mentary about the celebrated duo of Black session 70 Acres in Chicago: Cabrini Filming “Othello” resort by hoods Edward G. Robinson, Thomas Gomez, and street guitarist Sterling “Mr. Satan” Magee and The last completed essay fi lm of Orson Welles, and the and Marc Lawrence. The hard-to-take element is Claire Jewish musicologist and harmonica player Adam Gus- Green last of his features to be released during his lifetime Trevor, doing her damaged-goods number (naturally she sow is surprisingly fl at. Too bad, since their story would Every Chicagoan should see this documentary (2015) (1978), this wonderfully candid, rarely screened account won an Oscar). Richard Brooks worked with Huston on seem like a can’t-miss: New York suburbanite Gussow about the history of the Chicago Housing Authority and of the making of his fi rst wholly independent feature the screenplay; the atmospheric cinematography is by was 28 in 1986 when he respectfully approached the the controversial destruction of Cabrini-Green Homes off ers a perfect introduction to that movie and to Karl Freund. —D K 100 min. 35mm. Sun 5/5, 11:30 Mississippi-born Magee, then a 50-year-old one-man- on the north side to make way for a 21st-century model Welles’s “second” manner of moviemaking that was AM. Music Box band dynamo passing the hat on a Harlem sidewalk, and based on mixed-income housing. Filming over 15 years, necessary once he parted company with the studios and asked if he could join him. The two instantly clicked; at director Ronit Bezalel tracks three longtime Cabrini mainstream media. Signifi cantly, the only part of Othello NMary Magdalene a time when America’s Black-white divide was widening, residents as the hellish high-rises come down and new we see and hear in its original form is from the opening This is a peculiar biblical drama in that it communi- they became a fi xture on 125th Street, and a er inclusion town houses go up, lodging an uneasy mix of lower-class sequence; everything else—usually shown silently with cates very little feeling for religious experience. Helen in Phil Joanou’s 1988 documentary U2: Rattle and Hum, Blacks with government subsidies and middle-class Welles’s narration—involves an intricate reediting of the Edmundson and Philippa Goslett’s script portrays Mary graduated to clubs and concert stages, record albums, whites paying market rates. As Bezalel reports, many original material. Whether he’s addressing us beside Magdalene as a headstrong, chaste young woman who and overseas tours. Director and longtime fan V. Scott more of the project’s original residents were screened his Moviola, delivering new versions of Shakespearean joins up with Jesus and the apostles out of personal Balcerek shot this tribute over 23 years; to have stuck out due to negative drug tests and criminal-record speeches, chatting with his old Irish friends and col- spiritual conviction. It comes off as very 21st century— with it indicates enthusiasm, but perhaps the years not checks and shunted off to the south and west sides. laborators Micheál Mac Liammóir (his Iago) and Hilton one always gets a clear sense of how Mary is growing spent actively working on it took a toll. It’s as if he lost “I stay in it, I play in it, I live in it, and it’s home to me,” Edwards, or speaking to college students, Welles is at as an individual, even though the depictions of religious the shape of his narrative while waiting for something declares young Raymond McDonald, one of the voices his spellbinding best. —J R 84 min. ceremony are muted and awkward. Director Garth Davis to happen a er Magee abruptly dropped out of sight in that animate this story of a community in transition. But Former Reader fi lm critic Jonathan Rosenbaum lectures (Lion) adopts a generically arty approach, fi lming much 1998. The circumstances of the guitar man’s resurfacing for those at the bottom of the economic ladder, home at the screening. Tue 5/7, 6 PM. Gene Siskel Film Center of the action handheld and eliciting annoyingly sincere years later are fascinating, but Balcerek doesn’t have the is wherever the city says. —JRJ 56 min. Showing performances from his cast. Neither Rooney Mara (as storytelling chops of Gussow, who launched a successful with the 1968 short Newsreel documentary The Case The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T. Mary) nor Joaquin Phoenix (as Jesus) are especially writing career in 1995 with an essay for Harper’s called Against Lincoln Center (12 min.). Sat 5/4, 3 PM. Stony R One of the most underrated children’s musical compelling; in fact the fi lm contains Phoenix’s fi rst “Winter Blues,” a far more vibrant and insightful account Island Arts Bank fantasies and conceivably the most interesting movie bad performance in over a decade. Phoenix tries to of life with Satan than this one. —A G 80 Stanley Kramer ever produced (1953). Dr. Seuss wrote emphasize Jesus’s human rather than his divine side and min. Balcerek attends the Saturday screening. Fri 5/3, Viva Las Vegas the screenplay (with Allan Scott); his wartime buddy downplays Jesus’s self-doubt and oratorical skills, but 4:30 and 8:15 PM; Sat 5/4, 5 PM; Sun 5/5, 3 PM; and Mon Vulgar, spirited, and neglected director George Sidney Carl Foreman was originally supposed to direct, but the his subtlety results in a dull, dispassionate performance. 5/6, 6 PM. Gene Siskel Film Center (Bye Bye Birdie, The Eddy Duchin Story, Kiss Me Kate) Hollywood witch hunts soon made this impossible, and —BS R, 120 min. Fri 5/3, 2 and 6 PM; Sat 5/4, 2:45 meets his match with this 1964 Elvis Presley vehicle: Roy Rowland took Foreman’s place. The plot basically and 7:45 PM; Sun 5/5, 4:45 PM; Mon 5/6, 7:45 PM; Tue Saturday Night Fever Presley, Ann-Margret, and Las Vegas itself are all ready- consists of the fl orid nightmare of a ten-year-old boy 5/7, 6 PM; Wed 5/8, 7:45 PM; and Thu 5/9, 6 PM. Gene John Travolta found the escape hatch from Welcome made for his talents, which mainly have to do with verve (Tommy Rettig) about his authoritarian, prissy, and Siskel Film Center Back, Kotter with this 1977 update of Rebel Without and trashy kicks. Unfortunately not as many sparks fl y as vaguely foreign piano teacher (Hans Conried), who a Cause; he acquits himself honorably as a teenager one might hope. Still there’s Presley as a race car driver forces 500 boys to play his monotonous exercise on a Millennium Mambo dead-ended in Brooklyn who fi nds his only chance who doubles as a singing waiter, and, as critic Tom Milne continuous keyboard located in his gargantuan palace, My fi rst two looks at this Hou Hsiao-hsien feature to shine at the local disco. Director John Badham, a describes it, “Ann-Margret revs her chassis at him.” while the boy’s mother (Mary Healy) is locked, hypno- (2001), initially announced as the fi rst in a series, led refugee from TV movies, gets a fi rm grip on a slippery There’s also William Demarest and, among the songs, tized, in a gilded cage. A very inventive form of delirium, me to conclude it’s one of the emptiest good-looking Norman Wexler screenplay and turns up some unusual “The Yellow Rose of Texas.” —J R with songs by Frederick Hollander and choreography fi lms by a major director that I can recall—even though New York locations. A small, solid fi lm, made with cra 86 min. Tue 5/7-Thu 5/9, 10:30 PM. Logan F by Eugene Loring; the use of Technicolor is especially it was also the fi rst of his fi lms to get a U.S. release (not if not resonance. —D K PG, 108 min. Fri 5/3-Mon impressive. If you’ve never seen this, prepare to have counting the barely-noticed 1987 Daughter of the Nile). 5/6, 11 PM. Logan your mind blown. —J R 89 min. The characters are terminally familiar zeros, and this 35mm. Fri 5/3, 6:15 PM and Sun 5/5, 5 PM. Gene Siskel Taiwanese master’s gi s as a prescient historian of the Film Center present appear to have deserted him. Visually, he works much closer to his actors than usual and moves them in NHail Satan? and out of focus, defi ning a much more claustrophobic The talented documentarian Penny Lane (Nuts!, The world than he has in the past. But the story—a young bar Pain of Others) directed this portrait of the Satanic hostess (Hong Kong star Shu Qi) shuttles between her Temple, focusing on the religious organization’s eff orts jealous boyfriend and a gangster while taking ecstasy to subvert the presence of Christian ideology in U.S. and throwing tantrums—seems standard issue, apart political life. It’s an upbeat fi lm that depicts members from the somewhat unorthodox voice-over narration, of the Satanic Temple as eloquent, principled people at least until an unexpectedly lyrical fi nale. In Mandarin and the Christian right as power-hungry hypocrites; with subtitles. —J R R, 120 min. the overarching argument is that the Satanists, in their 35mm archival print. Thu 5/9, 7 PM. Univ. of Chicago commitment to exercising their rights of religious liberty Doc Films and free speech, are more patriotic than their Christian counterparts. Lane succeeds in communicating this Rancho Notorious argument early on, making the second half of the movie R A perversely stylized western by Fritz Lang seem somewhat redundant (this may have worked (1952), his last and best. The combination of unrestrained better as a short). Brian McOmber’s cutesy score can Technicolor and painted backdrops removes any sense be grating, and Lane’s tone borders on smug; still, the of reality from the proceedings, which are set in a safe movie provides valuable food for thought about the haven for gunslingers operated by Marlene Dietrich. role of religion in American society. —B S 95 Arthur Kennedy arrives, looking for the man who killed min. At Music Box Theatre. Visit musicboxtheatre.com his fi ancée, as an insistently repeated theme song for showtimes. pounds out a quintessential Lang chorus of “hate, mur- der, and revenge.” —D K 89 min. 35mm. Fri 5/3, Key Largo 7 and 9:30 PM; and Sun 5/5, 1:30 PM. Univ. of Chicago A little windy and rhetorical for my taste, but still one Doc Films of John Huston’s best eff orts (1948), a melodrama of ethics that soundly represses the Maxwell Anderson NSatan & Adam play it was based on (the ending is actually a li from To For a movie full of music as earthy, rambunctious, Satan & Adam 18 CHICA O READER - MAY ll FILM
and 8:30 PM; Sun 5/5, 2:30, 4:30, and 6:30 PM; Mon 5/6, min. Fri 5/3, 4:15 and 8:15 PM; Sat 5/4, 5 PM; Sun 5/5, 3 Wedding in Blood NEl Chicano 6:30 and 8:30 PM; Tue 5/7, 6:30 and 8:30 PM; and Thu PM; Mon 5/6, 6 PM; Tue 5/7, 8:15 PM; Wed 5/8, 6 PM; and Yet another facet of Claude Chabrol’s view of the bour- Ben Hernandez Bray directed this all-Hispanic-cast 5/9, 6:30 and 8:30 PM. Facets Cinémathèque Thu 5/9, 8:15 PM. Gene Siskel Film Center geois life as a facade behind which lurk extravagant, crime fi lm about a Los Angeles cop investigating a gang destructive, and o en totally ridiculous passions (1974). and fi nding clues about his own criminal twin brother’s NLove Blooms NTurkish Ice-Cream Like his idol Alfred Hitchcock, Chabrol loves to work death. He turns to using a mythological/superhero Michaël Dacheux directed this French drama that fol- Can Ulkay directed this period drama about two Turkish variations on the disintegration of an ordered world; fi gure from his youth, the Ghetto Grim Reaper, to aid lows the lives of two 25-year-olds over the course of ice cream vendors in 1915 Australia whose lives are but unlike Hitchcock, who keeps his order and his in his search. R, 107 min. City North IMAX, Roosevelt a year a er their breakup. In French with subtitles. 83 aff ected by World War I. In English and subtitled Turkish. chaos neatly separated, Chabrol concentrates more on Collection min. Dacheux attends the screening. Wed 5/8, 6:30 PM. 123 min. Sat 5/4 and Mon 5/6, 8 PM. Gene Siskel Film character, so that when the bottom drops out, it does so Facets Cinémathèque F Center precisely and inevitably. Stéphane Audran and Michel Future Language: The Piccoli star as adulterous lovers who never manage to Me & Stella / Roberta Flack NUglyDolls realize that there’s an easier way out of their predic- Dimensions of Von LMO A program of two documentaries, Geri Ashur’s Me Kelly Asbury directed this animated fi lm based on the ament than murder. A smashing work from a master Chicago fi lmmaker Lori Felker directed this experi- & Stella (1976, 26 min.), on blues musician and folk popular stuff ed toys. With voices by Kelly Clarkson, Nick cra sman. In French with subtitles. —DD PG, mental documentary about singer, musician, artist, and singer Elizabeth Cotten, and David W. Powell’s Roberta Jonas, Janelle Monáe, Pitbull, Blake Shelton, and Wanda 95 min. 16mm. Mon 5/6, 7 PM. Univ. of Chicago Doc Films maybe space alien Von LMO. 87 min. Felker attends the Flack (1971, 30 min.), about the titular singer. 56 min. Sykes. PG, 87 min. ArcLight, Century 12 and CineArts 6, screenings. Tue 5/7-Wed 5/8, 9:30 PM. Music Box Storyteller, musician, and artist Shanta Nurullah leads Chatham 14, Cicero Showplace 14, City North, Ford City, NThe White Crow a post-screening discussion. Tue 5/7, 7 PM. DuSable Galewood Crossings, River East 21, Roosevelt Collection, R Ralph Fiennes doesn’t shirk from a challenge; NThe Intruder Museum of African American History 600 N. Michigan, Webster Place 11 v a er directing and starring in Coriolanus (2011), about A former owner plans to get his house back a er a Shakespeare’s tragic Roman general, and The Invisible young couple buys it in this horror fi lm directed by Some Films: The Sound of Vision Woman (2013), the story of Charles Dickens and his Deon Taylor. With Meagan Good, Dennis Quaid, and A program of sound-related experimental fi lms: John mistress Nelly Ternan, he here turns to another diffi cult, Michael Ealy. PG-13, 102 min. ArcLight, Block 37, Century Cage and Henning Lohner’s One11 (1992, 90 min.), a Stan uniquely talented fi gure, dancer Rudolf Nureyev, in 12 and CineArts 6, Chatham, City North, Ford City, River Brakhage fi lm, and an excerpt from a Phil Niblock fi lm. a richly textured drama that very nearly reincarnates East 21, Roosevelt Collection, 600 N. Michigan, Webster Curated by sound artist/musician Adam Sonderberg. the legendary artist and the Cold War era from which Place Sonderberg introduces the screening. Sat 5/4, 7 PM. he sprang. Fiennes, who speaks Russian, takes the Filmfront supporting role of Alexander Ivanovich Pushkin, the Lost & Found ballet master of the prestigious Vaganova Academy in Liam O Mochain directed and appears in this 2017 Irish NStockholm Leningrad, where the 17-year-old Nureyev enrolled in comedy drama of seven connecting stories that all tran- Ethan Hawke and Noomi Rapace star in this dramatiza- 1955. The onscreen mentor-student relationship parallels spire in or around the lost and found of a train station. 96 tion of the 1973 bank holdup that originated the term the director-actor one off -screen, because with the min. Fri 5/3, 6:30 and 8:30 PM; Sat 5/4, 2:30, 4:30, 6:30, ‘Stockholm Syndrome.” Robert Budreau directed. R, 92 dazzling Ukrainian Oleg Ivenko, a principal dancer of the Tatar State Academic Opera and Ballet, Fiennes has launched a star. There can never be another Nureyev, but Ivenko comes remarkably close in conveying the ath- leticism and grace of the fi rebrand who revolutionized THIS WEEK AT ballet by appropriating the more dramatic fl ourishes previously associated with female dancers; Nureyev insisted on being much more than the ballerina’s staid prop, injecting his solos with bravura jetés and pirou- ettes, and enthralling audiences with his charisma and THE LOGAN heat. It’s astonishing that this is Ivenko’s fi rst movie role, because he projects Nureyev’s drive, seductive- ness, intellectual curiosity, imperiousness, vulnerability, and mercurial temper with a naturalism that seems eff ortless. Enhanced by the de cutting of fi lm editor Barney Pilling, David Hare’s screenplay (inspired by Julie Kavanagh’s book, Rudolf Nureyev: The Life) continually fl ows back and forth across time periods, simulating the connective tissue of memory: the 1961 defection sequence in a Paris airport plays like a taut thriller, while SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER the scene that follows, from the icon’s childhood, is ach- ingly poignant, illustrating how a dancer’s tumultuous MAY 3-6 AT 11 PM journey toward liberation began with a few baby steps. In English and subtitled Russian and French. —A G R, 127 min. At Century Centre. Visit land- marktheatres.com for showtimes. ALSO PLAYING Branding Broadway William S. Hart directed and stars in this 1918 silent fi lm, which is a comedic variation on his bad-guy-turns-good VIVA LAS VEGAS persona. He plays a rowdy cowhand who fi nds himself in New York City where he becomes the “guardian” of the MAY 7-9 AT 11 PM adult son of a millionaire. 53 min. 35mm. Showing with Hart’s 1915 short Angel of Hell’s Kitchen (10 min., 35mm). Live accompaniment by Dennis Scott. Sat 5/4, 11:30 AM. Music Box For showtimes and advance tickets, visit thelogantheatre.com ll MAY - CHICA O READER 19 20 CHICA O READER - MAY ll ll MAY - CHICA O READER 21 Jamila Woods upstairs at the South Side Community Art Center , 3831 S. Michigan. Opened in 1940, the SSCAC was declared a “national treasure” in 2017 by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. LAWRENCE AGYEI
Jamila Woods builds on legacies that shook the world
The Chicago singer and poet’s new album lovingly details how art can learn from the past as it shapes the future. By T W
22 CHICA O READER - MAY ll N LINCOLN AVENUE, CHICAGO IL s soon as Black Chi- That experience changed Woods enment throughout the 13 songs on OLDTOWNSCHOOL.ORG . . cagoans step foot in ways that shaped her new sec- Legacy! Legacy! On “Eartha,” she outside the crib, we ond album, Legacy! Legacy!, which learns from an old interview with JUST ADDED ON SALE THIS FRIDAY! become de facto drops May 10 via Bloomington Eartha Kitt , who’s asked whether Steve Earle & the Dukes spokespeople for label Jagjaguwar. It helps that she’s she’d compromise her wants and FOR TICKETS, VISIT OLDTOWNSCHOOL.ORG theA city. It’s wild, really, the way it needs if a man came into her life. goes down. It’s not a job we neces- “Compromise?” she replies. “For SATURDAY, MAY : PM sarily aspire to or even apply for. It what?” On “Basquiat,” Woods re- Michael J. Miles just happens, mostly without our sponds to the power she sees in vi- A Pete Seeger Centennial Celebration: consent. Once outsiders catch wind sual artist Jean-Michel Basquiat and Years of Protest! of where we’re from, the question L! L! his smirking refusal to shuck and SUNDAY, MAY PM inevitably arises: jive in an interview of his own—he Why is there so much violence in won’t play into the racially loaded Hosted by the Reader. California Guitar Trio/ Chicago? Jamila Woods will be preconceptions of a journalist who Because we’re Black and from Chi- interviewed by Tiffany asks what makes him angry. Montreal Guitar Trio In Szold Hall cago, obviously we must have seen a Walden before the album So today, when Woods faces jour- plays. Enter to win tickets murder up close, or at least heard a at chicagoreader.com/ nalists—and the inevitable ques- THURSDAY, MAY PM shoot-out around the way. And this jamila. Thu / , PM, tions about Chicago violence—she question almost always rears its location shared with no longer feels her old anxiety. Not Willie Watson ticket holders, free, + presumptuous head whenever a na- only has she taken strength from FRIDAY, MAY & PM tional publication interviews a Black J W the elders, but she’s also developed artist coming out of Chicago. N S answers that allow her to resist and Television Singer, poet, and teaching artist Sun 5/26, 8 PM, Thalia reshape the dangerous narrative Hall, 1807 S. Allport, Jamila Woods did a stint as city $26-$41, 17+ those questions carry. FRIDAY, MAY PM spokesperson during the press run “Yes. There’s so much violence for her 2016 debut, Heavn. She’s an in Chicago. The mayor closed 50 Della Mae In Szold Hall activist herself, and mentoring is her schools. That was super violent,” SATURDAY, MAY & PM method of choice. At Young Chicago Woods says. “All of these structural Authors , a youth literary nonprofi t violences is what I think about when Dale Watson / where she serves as associate artis- almost 30—she has fewer fucks to I think of violence in Chicago.” Kelly Willis tic director, she helps developing give—but she also spent months Legacy! Legacy! demonstrates minds tap into their poetic selves soul- searching with her ancestors, Woods’s connections to some of SUNDAY, MAY PM and use their voices for change. a group of Black and brown cre- the Black and brown artists whose The album itself is also a form of ative trailblazers who’d shaken up legacies have helped guide her, and Ottmar Liebert protest, though: on the Heavn track the world with their artful acts of it points the way toward the legacy “Vry Blk,” for instance, Woods uses resistance. she herself will leave behind. I asked FRIDAY, MAY PM a lullaby-like melody to sing out Poet and activist Nikki Giovan- her to comment on what each track Lucy Kaplansky In Szold Hall against police brutality. Woods ni lit the fuse: while Woods was means to her. stitched Black Lives Matter activ- teaching Giovanni’s 1973 poem “Ego WEDNESDAY, MAY PM ism into the seams of Heavn, and Tripping” to her YCA students, she “Betty” in doing so became the latest artist was inspired by its braggadocious Produced by Chicago’s Oddcou- Soledad (La Sole) pressed by journalists for answers homage to Black women. Then YCA ple, the first track on Legacy! Leg- SATURDAY, JUNE : PM to Chicago’s violence problem. artistic director Kevin Coval asked acy! is inspired by erotic funk pio- “I’ve talked to other musician Woods to write a “cover” of his neer Betty Davis, who was married Reggio "The Hoofer" McLaughlin presents friends about that too. Like, I used to poem about Chicago blues legend to trumpeter Miles Davis for about National Tap Day, come to interviews, like—” Woods Muddy Waters , and she saw light in a year in 1968 and ’69. (Woods hon- pauses and breathes heavily, drama- his guitar work—an electricity so ors Miles on a different song.) Chicago Style! tizing her apprehension. She felt the raw and mighty that white bands Davis’s second studio album, 1974’s weight of having to speak not only as big as the Rolling Stones tried to They Say I’m Diff erent, pushed back ACROSS THE STREET IN SZOLD HALL N LINCOLN AVENUE, CHICAGO IL for herself and her music, but also bottle it for the masses. Woods also against the narrow societal bound- Pete Seeger Birthday Barn Dance for the whole city of Chicago, for remembered that she’d been exper- aries used to define and contain Della Mae Black women, for all Black people. imenting for a while with a song womanhood. She embraced her “It wasn’t even necessarily that called “Baldwin,” inspired by writer sexuality in her dress and lyrics: “I’m WORLD MUSIC WEDNESDAY SERIES journalists were so terrible,” she James Baldwin . gonna move it slow like a mule / FREE WEEKLY CONCERTS, LINCOLN SQUARE explains. “I would have this anxiety. With those three cuts—“Giovan- I’m gonna love him funky free and Two Islands of Gamelan: Chicago Balinese Gamelan Like, I have to get it right. I have to ni,” “Muddy,” and “Baldwin”— foolish.” & Friends of the Gamelan properly represent myself.” Hanging Woods realized she had the makings Woods stays in her comfort zone Che Apalache over everything, she says, was fear of a new album, one that would track here, rather than experimenting that she would be misrepresented or her journey of self-reflection and with funk or soul. Her light, sweet OLDTOWNSCHOOL.ORG misunderstood. self-discovery. She seeks enlight- vocals contrast sharply with J ll MAY - CHICA O READER 23 Jamila Woods in the Dr. Margaret Burroughs Gallery, named a er the SSCAC cofounder who also helped open the DuSable Museum of African American History in 1961. The continued from 23 based off of white people refl ecting gallery currently hosts the group exhibit Davis’s raw, earthy singing, but what they thought Blackness should “Flowers in the Garden: A Tribute to the Struggles and Triumphs of the Black Woods’s lyrics do share Davis’s fem- be. And then going into Black spac- Woman.” LAWRENCE AGYEI inist attitude. es, like church, and feeling like I “I’ve always had this obsession wasn’t fully what people expected with women artists who were in of me.” relationships with men artists who are more prominent than them,” “Giovanni” says Woods. “It’s also this idea of The fi rst single released from Leg- the way she presented herself. No acy! Legacy!, “Giovanni” oozes with one was dressing like that. She was the rhythm of the poet’s iconic 1973 producing a lot of her own music, piece, “Ego Tripping.” Let’s be real: writing songs for other people. She Black excellence has largely been was just very innovative and dif- le out of the white history taught ferent for the time, and I like the in schools. The whole time, though, way she owned that diff erence and Blackness—particularly the Black didn’t try to fit in. So many men woman, who births all Blackness—is closed doors in her face, including the reason for the marvels of this Miles Davis at times. They became world. Giovanni tells it like it is: “I a barrier, instead of letting another designed a pyramid so tough that representation of a woman come to a star / That only glows every one the forefront.” hundred years falls / Into the cen- ter giving divine perfect light / I am “Zora” bad.” Writer and anthropologist Zora Whew, chile! Black women are Neale Hurston didn’t get her due. bad. Woods extended the poem’s She wrote brilliant novels, most praise in the video for “Giovanni,” notably 1937’s Their Eyes Were paying homage to the Black women Watching God, but because her in her own life. work used African-American dialect, “I just love her work in general,” other Black writers (famously Rich- Woods says. “That ‘Ego Tripping’ ard Wright) criticized it for perpet- poem, it’s the perfect way to write uating stereotypes of Black people such a braggadocious-style poem. as uneducated and inferior. Hurston I was trying to think of what are saw beauty in our dialect, and a way all the hyperboles that I can say to to resist assimilation and conformity. write this poem celebrating myself “Zora” feels like Hurston’s writ- and then my grandma. The women ing: the drums demand your atten- that I come from are such a point tion, while the piano creates a quiet, of pride. I think the video speaks to burning desire for freedom. Woods that.” breathes Hurston’s energy into the lyrics: “None of us are free, but “Sonia” some of us are brave / I dare you to Improvisation is an art form. Not shrink my wave, I’m on a new plane.” everyone can move their tongue at Woods was particularly inspired the speed of a creative mind at play. by a piece Hurston published in Poet Sonia Sanchez can—and it’s a 1928. “With Zora, it was really think- privilege to see her do it. ing about her essay, ‘How It Feels Woods got a chance to watch to Be Colored Me,’” she says. “She Sanchez perform live. On Sanchez’s writes this essay about literally how Middle Passage poem “Improvisa- she learned her Blackness and how tion,” first published in 1995, she it felt to be in all-white spaces ver- takes on the voice of an enslaved sus all-Black spaces. She said, ‘I feel Black woman: “It was the raping that most colored when I’m thrown up was bad. It was the silence, th-the against a sharp white background.’ noise, th-the silence, th-the noise.” And I really related to that grow- It made Woods refl ect on intersec- ing up in Beverly, and o en going to tionality and the lived experiences schools where I was the only Black and traumas of Black women. person in my class. That taught Woods takes the phrase “it me an idea of what Blackness was, was bad” as a refrain in “Sonia.” 24 CHICA O READER - MAY ll Afro-Latina rapper Nitty Scott ly works. But if you’ve experienced guests on the track, deepening it Kitt playing Catwoman or sing- with a second perspective—she ing “Santa Baby,” then you already comes in spitting about emptying knew about her fi ery fi erceness and her soul while pouring her all into immaculate confi dence. a man. But the energy of Sanchez’s On the song “Eartha,” though, vivid “Improvisation” dominates the Woods doesn’t try to imitate the song. legend directly, not even by giving “She embodies the spirit of that us the signature Eartha Kitt purr— woman. It’s amazing,” Woods says. instead she taps Kitt’s swagger to “The way people often talk about power the track, produced by fre- slavery—there’s kind of this exhaus- quent Chance the Rapper collabo- tion around talking about it. That rator Peter Cottontale . But Woods’s made me think of other traumas best friend, poet and screenwriter that Black women experience, from Fatimah Asghar , is a big comic book gaslighting in a relationship to sex- fan, and when she directed the ual abuse. Having the power to say video (produced by VAM Studio), ‘this happened and it was bad’ is she couldn’t pass up the opportuni- such a freeing experience.” ty to turn Woods into Catwoman. “‘Eartha’ is inspired by that viral “Frida” video,” Woods says, “where she’s Mexican artist Frida Kahlo imprint- talking about compromise, love, and ed the souls of her ancestors on her relationships. It’s very much me just canvases. Her thought-provoking, trying to apply that to my own life. sometimes surreal paintings, which Writing myself a mantra to encour- marry postcolonial political rigor age myself to take that belief. It’s to a naive folk-art style, critique hard. You’re taught that what you’re oppressions that operate along supposed to do in a relationship lines of gender, class, and race. is compromise. I loved seeing how The inspiration for this up-tempo empowered she seemed in that track, though, was Kahlo’s relation- video, but then me also recogniz- ship with her husband, painter and ing where I’m at, or where I have muralist Diego Riviera—Woods sings been. I used to be afraid of myself, about “doing it like Frida” with a sig- holding my smile on a shelf. Liter- nifi cant other. ally, I used to laugh with my hand “I love Frida Kahlo, and I’ve loved over my mouth because I didn’t like reading her diary and looking at my gap in my teeth. So it’s me going her work. I think reading about her from linking insecurities and how love for Diego has always been just that makes you feel like you have very fascinating, because she’s so to compromise, to having more self- in love with him. It’s such a power- acceptance and pride.” ful, all- encompassing love,” Woods says. “I relate to that in how I love “Miles” people. Like, I love very deeply and In the world of jazz, Miles Davis is hard, and even if the relationship the originator of cool. You can hear isn’t great, it’s this laser focus. He the cool in this track, produced was cheating on her and doing all (like most of Legacy! Legacy!) by sorts of shit, so it’s not, like, idealiz- Chicago-based Slot-A. The ground- ing their relationship, but more so breaking trumpeter wasn’t about that house as a symbol of how bal- pandering to white audiences, and ance or respect for each individu- Woods embodies this in song: “I’m al’s personal space could look. That bad like my mother, so don’t dis- seems ideal to me. As an introvert, respect / There’ll never be another, I’m learning that I just need that.” I’m better than your best.” “This is thinking about the cool- “Eartha” jazz Miles—the Miles that performed If you live on Twitter, you’ve seen with his back to the audience. Just the viral Eartha Kitt video—the thinking about power,” Woods one where she’s schooling a male explains. “Turning his back to the journalist on how loving her real- audience because he’s just, like, J ll MAY - CHICA O READER 25 continued from 25 angry. He seemed to consider the ‘I’m a fucking musician. I’m going to question for a long time in silence, direct my band and play my instru- then smirked and quietly replied, “I ment. I’m not going to shuck and don’t remember.” At the time, the jive for you white people,’ basically. world expected Black rage to be We create the things that are cool. loud—a way Basquiat didn’t often We create the things that every- express himself. body wants to take part in and Woods likewise doesn’t present appropriate. Black culture is con- as the stereotypical “angry Black stantly appropriated, but there’s no woman.” But that doesn’t mean she counterfeiting the original source.” isn’t angry about the injustices and inequalities around her. She added “Muddy” Pivot Gang rapper Saba to “Bas- No one played the blues like Muddy quiat” because he also seems gen- Waters. And no one played a more tle on the outside but makes emo- important role in transforming it tionally powerful music packed with from the raw, mostly acoustic Delta outrage and anguish. style to the modern, electric Chi- Woods sees Basquiat’s evasion as cago style. His influence was vast, a moment of resistance. “Not giving and everyone wanted a piece of access to this random white dude his sound: Bo Diddley jacked the to his interior space—I just relat- signature riff of Waters’s 1954 cut ed to that in terms of the way that “Hoochie Coochie Man” for 1955’s Black anger or non-anger is inter- “I’m a Man,” and uncountable art- preted,” she says. “This dichotomy ists have borrowed from him since— of angry Black women as bad—calm among them Elvis, the Beach Boys, and quiet Black women are good. It and the Rolling Stones. seems like Basquiat was perceived “Muddy” isn’t a blues track by as this kind of quiet, strange artist. any means, but it crackles with the It’s like this fascination of, oh, could power of Waters’s guitar and atti- you ever be angry? It’s kind of like tude: “They can study my fi ngers / this exotifi cation of Black rage.” They can mirror my pose.” She remembers that during the “It came from doing a cover proj- press cycle for Heavn she was com- ect from Kevin Coval’s book, A Peo- plimented—almost congratulated— ple’s History of Chicago,” Woods because her album didn’t sound says. “But it was more so thinking angry. “It just started to rub me in of this interview with him. The inter- a weird way. But then, just want- viewer was asking, like, oh, the Roll- ing to own that protest can sound ing Stones, they covered his songs different ways,” she says. “Emo- too. He was like, ‘White people tion doesn’t have to just sound one really like your music. These white way. Emotion can be very beautiful. teenagers, they’re trying to play the Black women’s anger has been the blues like you.’ And he’s like, ‘Like birth of so many movements. I’m me? You must be kidding.’ Black sure Emmett Till’s mom was angry people, we created these sounds, in addition to sad, which led to her and they can’t replicate that. They opening the casket. So anger can can attempt, but they can’t replace also be beautiful.” that.” “Sun Ra” “Basquiat” On Legacy! Legacy! “Sun Ra” is the This ethereal track suggests the deep cut. Woods comes out swing- otherworldly aura maintained by ing: “I’m a fable, you and me,” she visual artist Jean-Michel Basquiat. sings. “My twist-outs shitting on Influenced by graffiti and hip-hop, gravity.” She pulls ancestral energy he inspired a generation with the from experimental jazz keyboard- social commentary in every stroke ist and cosmic poet Sun Ra, who of his brush. spent a formative period in Chica- For “Basquiat,” Woods studied an go between 1945 and ’61. His wis- old video interview where a journal- dom was light-years ahead of its Jamila Woods at the SSCAC exhibit “Flowers in the Garden.” The photo at upper le is a 2019 print titled Worldly Roxi by Chicago-based multimedia artist, educator, gallery owner, documentary fi lmmaker, and musician Tony Smith. ist asked Basquiat what makes him time, and his ability to live out J LAWRENCE AGYEI 26 CHICA O READER - MAY ll PORTRAITS IN RHYTHM, BLUES & BEYOND
Featuring Violinist REGINA CARTER
FOR TICKETS VISIT CHICAGOSINFONIETTA.ORG OR CALL 312-284-1554 ll MAY - CHICA O READER 27 continued from 26 a future of his own design survives today in artists such as Woods, sing- er Solange Knowles, and producer Thundercat. “It’s on that same Afrofuturism tip, but drawing inspiration from Sun Ra’s certainty of his lineage,” Woods says of her song. “He’s like, ‘I’m from space.’ I’ve always felt this lack of a homeland or lack of know- ing where my people are from. I found Sun Ra’s answer to that very beautiful. ‘My wings are greater than walls.’ It’s a line from a Sun Ra poem, and that makes me think of Black imagination and the power to create your own narrative for yourself.” “Octavia” Octavia E. Butler kicked ass in the white-male-dominated world of sci- ence fiction. Her writing helped popularize Afrofuturism, a socially conscious aesthetic and philosophy that addresses the African diaspora through the lens of speculative fi c- tion or fantasy—since its first flow- ering in the 1950s, it’s grown to include the Marvel blockbuster Black Panther and even several works by Chicago storyteller Eve Ewing. One of Butler’s most popular books, 1979’s Kindred, bends time— its protagonist skips back and forth between Los Angeles in the 1970s and a Maryland slave plantation in the 1810s. Producer Slot-A uses Jamila Woods at the piano in the Burroughs Gallery of the South Side Community Art Center. Nat King Cole o en played this instrument, and synthesizer to make “Octavia” feel Gwendolyn Brooks liked to write poetry at it. LAWRENCE AGYEI like a time warp, and Woods’s gen- tle vocals are a perfect fit for the song’s mystical vibe. not being rewarded for inventing country’s Black ghettos. Woods sees Butler as an exam- a whole new term for talking about Woods begins “Baldwin” with a ple of Black excellence thriving on your eyebrows. The idea that we declaration to white America, the its own terms. “She had these note- don’t have the right kind of lan- gatekeepers whose own success books where she wrote down every- guage or intelligence is false.” depends in part on the erasure and thing she wanted to happen, and manipulation of Black history: “You then basically manifested it for her- “Baldwin” don’t know a thing about our story, self,” she says. “I had read her book There’s so much to say about lit- tell it wrong all the time.” Thanks Kindred. Being a person who works erary genius James Baldwin. His to the addition of trumpet by Nico with young people a lot, and seeing impact reaches far beyond his writ- Segal, the track feels triumphant, a lot of Black young people who are ings, his televised debates, his cri- like Woods crossing a metaphorical brilliant poets, artists, and rappers, tiques of the racist shitshow plagu- fi nish line. That’s intentional, consid- there’s still this idea that you’re not ing the Black world around him. He ering that she had trouble finding smart unless you can pass this test understood the temperature and the right way to complete the song. or unless you go to college. Mean- frustration of 1960s and ’70s Black “‘Baldwin’ is inspired by his let- while everybody’s on fleek, using America. He knew the ways white ter to his nephew in The Fire Next Black language to be cool. You’re privilege and bias suffocated the Time,” Woods says. “I wrote this 28 CHICA O READER - MAY ll ®
song a long time ago for Heavn, and I struggled with it. There was this point in the essay where he says, ‘We have to love these inno- cent white people. They think we’re This inferior but we have to accept them Friday! with love.’ And I was like, ‘Mmm May 3 really? That’s a lot.’ I realized that it’s kind of directed towards white peo- Park West ple, in talking to white people about their whiteness and how their priv- ilege and perception of Black peo- ple can be a form of violence when they’re blind to their own racism. Slot-A helped me with that song. This Friday! May 3 • Vic Theatre He’s like, ‘OK. We gotta watch some battle rap, because in battle rap, you really have to love your oppo- nent. You have to know them so well that you almost love them in order to successfully battle them.’” “Betty (for Boogie)” The last song on Legacy! Lega- May 13 cy!, “Betty (for Boogie),” seems Vic Theatre like a bonus track because “Bald- win” feels so much like its finale. Woods honors the roots of Chicago house music, specifically teaching artist and choreographer Boogie McClarin. “The remix for Boogie is a shout- SPECIAL GUESTS THE BEACHES out to Boogie McClarin,” she says. Saturday, May 11 “She’s a Chicago house dance Vic Theatre May 15 • Riviera Theatre instructor, but she’s really how I learned about Chicago house music. I wanted to shout her out for what she does for the culture.”
oods discovered new parts of herself, person- Wally and musically, while studying the lives and work of these Black and brown artists. Though Legacy! Legacy! doesn’t begin to cover all the muses in her life, it pro- vides a glimpse inside her creative mind—and inside the minds of those on whose shoulders she stands. “I love seeing what inspires peo- ple to make things,” Woods explains. May 22 • Vic Theatre “I think that’s what I’ve always loved Saturday, June 29 • Park West about watching interviews of artists On Sale This Friday at 10am! in general, especially visual art- ists—just knowing that you can own your lineage and celebrate it and it doesn’t make you less of an original BUY artist.” v TICKETS AT @Waldens_Block ll MAY - CHICA O READER 29 Est.Est.1954 1954 Celebrating over 6165 years of service service A Reader staff er shares three musical obsessions, then asks to Chicago! 1800 W. DIVISION someone (who asks someone else) to take a turn. (773) 486-9862 IN ROTATION Come enjoy one of Chicago’s finest beer gardens! FEBRUARYSEPTEMBERJAMAYNUARY 2 11...... 20 23 ...... MIKE DA SMILIN’VID QUINN FLABBY FELTENBOBBY HOFFMAN AND THE SHOWCLEMTONES 8PM SEPTEMBERJAMAYNUARY 3 12...... 21 .....WAGNER THE POLKAHOLICS AMERICAN& MORSE DRAFT 9PM LG Reader staff writer W M Resavoir bandleader FEBRUARYSEPTEMBERMAY 4 22 24 .....THE ..... STRAYDADYRKNAMOS BOLTSROOM MEN JA NUARY 13...... OTTER DJ RIVER SKID BAND, LICIOUS FROM DETROIT and Whitney trumpeter SEPTEMBERJAMAYNUARY 5 14...... 23 ....WHOLESOMERADIO THOMASWHITEWOLFSONICPRINCESSTO NYA MATECKI DO DJRO NIGHTSARIO BAND GROUP MAY 6 MURPHY CHICAGOMOJO THOMPSON 49 SKYLINERS 9:30PM BIG BAND 7PM Harold Washington Library discards When- JA NUARY 17...... MIKE PROSPECT FELTENJAMIE FOURWAGNER 9PM & FRIENDS JAMAYNUARY 8 18...... ELIZABETH’S MIKE FEL CRAZYTON LITTLE THING ever I stop by the Harold Washington Library, Broadcast’s Black Session from La Maison FEBRUARY 25 .....WHOLESOMERADIO THE FEATURING RON AND RACHEL VITTORIO SHOW CARLI DJ NIGHT 9PM SEPTEMBERJAMAYNUARY 9 19...... 24 .....RC FLABBY BIG BAND SITU HOFFMAN 7PMATION DAV SHOWID 8PM I visit the nook next to the DVDs, CDs, and de la Radio, Paris, May 4, 2000 It really bums MAY 10 BIRDGANGS THE TOURSMAXLIELLIAM 9:30PM ANNA FEBRUARY 26 .....RC THOUGHTS BIG BA DETECTINGND 7PM MACHINES newest books, where media removed from me out that I’ll never get to see this band play JAMAYNUARY 11 20...... TITTY KILLING CITTY FIRST ME WASMALLSRD PROBLEMS FEBRUARYJAMAYNUARY 12 21...... 28 .....PETER DUDE HEISENBERG SAMETO CASANONY DO UNCERTAINTYROVASARIOQUARTET GROUP PLAYERS 8PM 7PM circulation is free for the taking. I’ve gotten live. The way they blend samples with live SEPTEMBERJA NUARY 22...... 26 .....PETER DREAM CASANOVA RC SEED BIG QUARTETBA9:30PMND 7PM MAY 13 RC BIG BAND 7PM some great music-related reading material— instrumentation makes the production sound MARCHSEPTEMBERJA NUARY 1...... SMILIN’ 24...... 27 .....DORIAN JON RARICKTA PETERJ BO CASONOBBYNONET AND 9PMVA THEQUARTET CLEMTONES SEPTEMBERJAMAYNUARY 14 25...... 28 ..... TO FLABBYURS THE HOFFMAN WICK SHOW 8PM including bound volumes of the Cambridge huge and weird, but it’s just the four of them, MARCHMAY 15 2...... ICE BULLY MORSE PULPITBO &X WAGNER AND BIG HOUSE JAMAYNUARY 16 26...... DOG WON’T THE HEPKATS HUNT University Press journal Popular Music. In tight AF, playing without backing tracks, and MARCHSEPTEMBERMAY 17 3...... CHIDITAROD 29 .....SOMEBODY’S RED WIGGLERSSKIPPIN’ SINS ANDROCKTARRINGTON 10PM FEATURING FEATHERPUSHER JOE LANASA December, artist Marc Fischer used the Insta- Trish Keenan singin’ so cool over the top of SEPTEMBERJA NUARY 27...... 30 .....OFF MAGNAPHONIC THE VINE THE 4:30PM STRAY BOLTS MARCHJA NUARY 7...... 28...... NUCLEARJAMIE WHOLESOMERADIO JAZZWA QUARKTETGNER & 7:30PM FRIENDS DJ NIGHT gram account of his publication Library Exca- everything. They only play “Come on Let’s EVERYOPENEVERY MIC TUESD TUESD HOSTEDAY (EXCEPT BY MIKE 2ND) 2ND) &ATAT MIKE8PM8PM vations to post pics of a bevy of seven-inches Go” (their biggest song) for 39 seconds! OPENON TUESDAY MIC HOSTED EVENINGS BY JIMIJON (EXCEPT AMERICA 2ND) in the discard corner; I returned to the library Badass. I love how they’re able to go from a that a ernoon, and I’m still listening through superweird experimental vibe to a pop-song the odd pile of records I brought home. vibe and it all makes perfect sense.
I discov- Infi nite Spirit Music’s 1980 album Live Nas x MF Doom, Nastradoomus Without Fear ered this album in college, soon a er hearing Doom for the fi rst time, and downloaded it off a campus-wide fi le-sharing server. Been jam- ming it for years, and I only recently found out A A DJ King Hippo, that it’s fan made! Had me fooled. Someone hosts on Lumpen Radio, Worldwide FM put all the a cappellas from Nas’s Nastrada- mus over MF Doom beats off the fi rst two vol- London’s music scene Can you imagine liv- umes of Special Herbs. Crazy that music can ing in a city where the mayor cares about its work that way. musical heritage, nightlife, small venues, and cultural well-being? As a resident of Chica- go, I would answer, “No way!”—if it weren’t for the city of London. That city fl oors me in so Seven-inch vinyl in the discard corner at many ways—they have a thriving jazz scene Harold Washington Library LEOR GALIL that belongs more to the dance floor than it does to stuffy clubs. Their mayor, Sadiq Khan, knows the role small venues play in Respire, Gravity & Grace In early April, Indi- artist development; he was vocal when one ana screamo label Middle-Man reissued the of its most beloved clubs faced closure; and 2016 debut by Toronto six-piece Respire, he even installed a Night Czar. I recommend which somehow corrals together solemn mid- reading Emma Warren’s Make Some Space, western emo, contemplative Canadian post- which invites us to remember the venues and rock, and nasty skramz. “Ascent” surprised me community centers that generated London’s by opening with forlorn horn, sprinting blast- culture and asks its citizens to protect the few beats, and a blur of harsh screams, and that’s that remain. Anything familiar about that? the kind of experience I relish. Azymüth, Demos (1973-75) I haven’t gone out Joshua Virtue, “Loosey” Joshua Virtue raps to Record Store Day as a customer in years. in the duos Free Snacks and Udababy, which This year, the semi-Satanic being worshipped The cover of the fan-made Nas/MF Doom both put out music this winter—the former on RSD managed to lure me out, knowing that mashup Nastradoomus Eat Good Tape in December, the latter a self- only unreleased material by Brazilian jazz-funk titled EP in January. Virtue released the full- band Azymüth—which predates their debut length Post Faith Dialogues in March, which album—could make me wake up at 5 AM and includes the killer “Loosey.” When he per- go wait in line outside with a smile. Clicking around on YouTube This reminds me formed it at his release party that month, doz- of the early days of Wikipedia, going down a ens of people screamed along as he belted Infinite Spirit Music, Live Without Fear wide-eyed blue-link wormhole. Adblock is on out rubbery rhymes on the song’s hook. That When I told pianist Soji Adebayo about his and the rarities are a-fl owin’. There’s so much moment convinced me that Virtue and his 1980 record fetching $3,000, he said, “I’m stuff on YouTube that isn’t on streaming ser- prolifi c collaborators are something special. glad I made something that people are will- vices—lots of it insanely rare, probably unfi nd- ing to pay that much money for.” Original- able in any record store within a 1,000-mile ly, Infinite Spirit Music was only available to radius. It keeps me in the crate-digging mind- 300 people in Chicago, but now, thanks to a set when it’s too cold to leave the house. I still Jazzman reissue, the group’s cosmic messages love going to record stores, but I certainly of love can be heard worldwide. appreciate the folks who upload. v
30 CHICA O READER - MAY ll Recommended and notable shows and critics’ insights for the week of May 2
b ALL AGES F MUSIC
PICK OF THE WEEK Santigold celebrates the tenth anniversary of her bold debut
Claire Rousay DEVIN DE LEON
THURSDAY2 Doro See also Sunday. Metal Church, Images of Eden, and Wrath open. 6 PM, Reggie’s Rock Club, 2105 S. State, $25-$30. 17+
German-born metal vocalist Doro Pesch, who now divides her time between New York and her native Düsseldorf, became the front woman of Warlock in 1983, at which point she was one of the very few prominent women in metal. (Thankfully the fl ood- gates have opened since then!) Doro’s career has held strong, and whether the straightforward traditional sound she loyally sticks to is in fashion or not, respect is due. Six years passed between 2012’s Raise Your Fist and last year’s long, generous double CD Forever Warriors, Forever United. It’s 25 tracks of what her fans want: fi st-pumping rockers and gloriously unironic power ballads, with the CRAIG WETHERBY occasional star duet (in this case, with Johan Hegg S of Amon Amarth; other guests include German Wed 5/8, 8 PM, the Vic Theatre, 3145 N. Sheffield, sold out. 17+ comedian and jazz musician Helge Schneider and Whitesnake and Dio guitarist Doug Aldrich). Doro has said in interviews that she drew much of the emotional energy behind this album from the death in late 2015 of her close friend and favorite duet ON THE COVER of her 2008 self-titled debut album, Santigold fresh and tough to pin down today: the guitars and dreamy vocals partner, Lemmy Kilmister of Motörhead. The song vomits glitter. The image—a black-and-white portrait of the on “Lights Out” hint at mid-aughts alt-rock, while the chorus on “Living Life to the Fullest” is his official Valhalla send-off —and Doro’s striking delivery can give even artist with gold sparkles spilling from her mouth—is part photo “Shove It” has the cadence of a playground taunt. Santigold’s next the reaper’s hoo eats a highly motivational quality. booth and part DIY craft project, and it immediately demands three albums were fun, but they didn’t get quite the same buzz; —M K attention. Now, Santigold is on the road celebrating the album’s the most recent is 2018’s mixtape I Don’t Want: The Gold Fire Ses- tenth anniversary with her 10 Years Golder tour. The album made sions. She’s stayed busy behind the scenes, though: she’s written Claire Rousay See also Friday, Saturday, and an immediate impact: Santi gives off a vibe that echoes other for Christina Aguilera, produced for Devo, and collaborated with Monday. Part of Exposure Series 2019. Forbes artsy weirdos of the era, such as M.I.A. and Björk (both of whom the likes of Lil Yachty and Matt & Kim. A decade after its release, Graham/Angel Bat Dawid/Lia Kohl/Kent Kessler headline; Ava Mendoza solo and Carol Genetti & she opened for in 2008), as she jumps from pop to reggae to new the confidence of Santi’s debut still makes you feel cooler for Claire Rousay open. 9 PM, Elastic Arts, 3429 W. wave. Her lyrics explore what it means for an artist to come into listening—as if some secret power might slip out of the speakers Diversey, $10. b her own power: in “Creator” she promises, “Tell me no, I say yes, I and into your bloodstream while you bob your head to “L.E.S. In jazz, soloists step in front of the band to show was chosen / And I will deliver the explosion.” The album remains Artistes.” —M K their stuff and then retreat back into the J ll MAY - CHICA O READER 31 Find more music listings at MUSIC chicagoreader.com/soundboard. continued from 31 ensemble’s framework. Percussionist Claire Rou- jams with engineer Erik Blood—and the core of Knife say, based in San Antonio, Texas, doesn’t play Knights is the duo of Butler and Blood. Shabazz jazz, but her improvisations are just as conscious Palaces is so closely linked to Knife Knights that of the relationship between self and surround- “off shoot” or “side project” falls short of describing ings. She is queer and transgender, and her music the incestuous relationship between the two. Most addresses the experience of having to be aware of of the songs on 1 Time Mirage were recorded in her physical state as well as the gender-associated improvisational sessions with pals in Knife Knights’s stereotypes assigned to her instruments. Her circle, including OCnotes and Marquetta Miller, approach to performance conscientiously avoids and three tracks list guest contributions from . . . macho forcefulness in favor of patient and fluidly Shabazz Palaces. This makes me wonder where evolving explorations of the timbre, texture, and Butler’s contributions as half of Knife Knights end resonance of her drums, metal bowls, and other and his contributions as half of Shabazz Palaces objects. Though Rousay hasn’t played in Chicago begin, but the guests mostly seem to want to set before, she’ll make up for lost time by playing in a mood, not fl ex their individuality, so I doubt I’ll three diff erent situations as part of Exposure Series ever know. Only three songs don’t feature guests 2019—the fourth annual iteration of an event that at all, but two of those are the album’s strongest: introduces new and challenging improvisers to the the clattering “Seven Wheel Motion” and the anx- city’s audiences and musicians—and by participat- ious “Mr. President” (whose foreboding, metallic ing in Experimental Sound Studio’s Option Series. synths and murmuring percussion will stick in your She opens Thursday night’s concert in a duo with head like the best of Shabazz Palaces) stand out as local vocalist Carol Genetti; she appears on Friday complete, self-contained gestures amid the record’s in a trio with cellist Katinka Kleijn and trumpeter loose, shape-shi ing structure and spontaneous Knife Knights JUSTIN HENNING Graham Stephenson; and as part of Saturday’s free feel. —LG afternoon concert, she gives a solo performance. For her Option Series show on Monday, Rous- ay plays another solo set and a duet with clarinet- za plays sci-fi -themed prog-punk in the power trio Turnover, Turnstile Turnover headlines; Claire Rousay See Thursday. Part of ist Emily Beisel. Exposure Series 2019 also hosts Unnatural Ways and roughly abstracted blues on Turnstile, Reptaliens, and Vortex open. 6 PM, Exposure Series 2019. Claire Rousay/Katinka two other musicians, both of whom will perform her own. Forbes Graham, a trumpeter from Boston, Concord Music Hall, 2047 N. Milwaukee, $25. b Kleijn/Graham Stephenson headline; Forbes solo and in group improvisations with Chicago- has played full-force free jazz with Marc Edwards Graham solo and Ava Mendoza & Dave Rempis ans. Brooklyn-based electric guitarist Ava Mendo- and Weasel Walter as well as electronically spacial- Virginia Beach’s Turnover and Baltimore’s Turnstile open. 9 PM, Elastic Arts, 3429 W. Diversey, $10. b ized solo music. —B M have similar-sounding names, but their approach- es to punk are vastly diff erent. On Turnover’s lat- est full-length, 2017’s Good Nature (Run for Cover), Klaus Johann Grobe Vinyl Williams opens. the foursome lay out 11 tracks of intricate but breezy SATURDAY4 9 PM, Beat Kitchen, 2100 W. Belmont, $12. 21+ emo-infl uenced dream-pop with stirring verses that play into big, swing-for-the-cheap-seats choruses. Herb Alpert & Lani Hall 8 PM, City Winery, As Klaus Johann Grobe, Swiss musicians Sevi The band’s roots skew toward pop-punk, and over 1200 W. Randolph, sold out. b Landolt (organ, synths, vocals) and Daniel the years it’s been great to hear them cool out and Bachmann (drums, vocals) play groove rock that breathe—their latest music showcases their knack Among the many accomplishments of Herb Alpert— feels full despite its minimalist arrangements. for beautiful melody and lush instrumentation. which include cofounding A&M Records, releas- Because they sing in German and build their Turnstile operate on the other end of the spectrum: ing 28 Billboard-charting albums (including five songs atop sparse, hypnotically repetitive rhythms, this groovy, rhythmic, hyper-posi hardcore band that reached number one), and being the only art- Americans tend to describe Klaus Johann Grobe’s have been on a seemingly endless tour that started ist to top the Billboard Hot 100 as an instrumen- music as Krautrock, but the group begs to differ: even before they put out their 2015 debut full- talist and as a vocalist—the easy-listening legend “We’ve never been that much into Krautrock to length, Nonstop Feeling (Reaper). They’ve estab- has nine original sculptures on permanent display be honest,” Landolt told Pitchfork in 2014. “It’s lished themselves as one of the best live acts in the at the Field Museum. But that isn’t even the trum- superb when it works, but it has never been some- world, decimating packed houses night a er night peter’s most important connection to Chicago: for thing we’ve been too enthusiastic about.” On their with their explosive energy and massive riff s. Turn- nearly five decades he’s been married to a local recent third album, Du Bist so Symmetrisch (Trouble stile shows put into practice the power of positivity, native, Grammy-winning vocalist and former Sér- in Mind), they foreground their love of disco, uplifting crowds with the message that every- gio Mendes & Brasil ’66 member Lani Hall, who’s house, boogie, and other U.S. dance subgenres one should be proud of who they are. The band’s joining him for tonight’s show at City Winery. As a that emerged a er Roland introduced the TR-808. much-hyped second full-length, last year’s Time & musician, Alpert is arguably best known for his time The battery of retro synths animating “Siehst du Space (Roadrunner), was easily one of the best rock with the group he created in 1962, the Tijuana Brass, Mich Noch?” prove that boogie’s classic sounds, records of 2018, and completely deserves all the an early example of white popular music borrow- in the hands of a group as sophisticated as Klaus accolades it’s picked up. —L C ing Latin sounds for fortune and fame. The Tijua- Johann Grobe, can feel as new and vital as anything na Brass started as Alpert and the iconic group of currently in the Top 40. —LG session musicians known as the Wrecking Crew. On their debut single, “The Lonely Bull,” they play a lite FRIDAY3 version of mariachi, complete with corny shouts of You know what you need ... “Olé!” As the popularity of the group grew, Alpert Knife Knights Lando Chill, Curta opens. assembled a permanent ensemble and moved away for listening or 9 PM, Sleeping Village, 3734 W. Belmont, $15. b from Latin sounds and toward the smooth pop-ori- LIVE MUSIC background for events ented jazz that would defi ne the rest of his career. Acoustic piano or synthesizer/keyboard If the woozy, intergalactic raps on Knife Knights’s Alpert’s warm tone hasn’t diminished over the years, debut full-length, 1 Time Mirage (Sub Pop), remind which has allowed him to carve out a solid niche as a Classical, jazz, standards, and ’60s, ’70s and ’80s you of Seattle hip-hop outfi t Shabazz Palaces, jazz player with an infectious sense of joy and play- “ ... excellent, and his performance is joyous.” they should. Ever since rapper Ishmael Butler fulness. Hall left Brasil ‘66 in 1971, embarking on a and multi-instrumentalist Tendai “Baba” Maraire solo career that peaked with a Grammy win in 1986 -Chicago Magazine launched Shabazz Palaces more than a decade ago, for her album Es Fácil Amar. In the midst of that suc- [email protected] JeffManuelPianist.com they’ve grown their catalog by fi nessing songs in cess, she contracted the Epstein-Barr virus, which
32 CHICA O READER - MAY ll MUSIC
led to her retirement from the stage for almost ten al posthardcore sextet Cursive resurfaced in 2018 years. Since making a return to music in the late with their first LP in six years. Vitriola (15 Passen- 90s, though, she’s expanded her talents—not only ger), which came out in October, isn’t just a collec- recording as a vocalist with Alpert but also working tion of their catchiest and most cutting songs in a as a producer on a number of their releases. Expect decade; it’s a callback to the sound of the band’s Hall and Alpert’s performance to briefl y nod to their 2003 breakout, The Ugly Organ, on which they most popular moments (they’ve been playing Tijua- paired discordant but infectious melodies with na Brass and Brasil ’66 medleys as part of their reg- strings, keyboard, brass, and more. Vitriola is the ular sets) as it spans the lengths of their extensive fi rst Cursive album since The Ugly Organ to feature careers. Alpert recently reinterpreted a number of a full-time cellist, and new member Megan Seibe Tijuana Brass classics as lush space-lounge jams for plays an integral role in establishing a dark vibe that his latest CD, Music Volume 3: Herb Alpert Reimag- deftly accompanies the nihilistic lyrics of singer- ines the Tijuana Brass, so with any luck you’ll also guitarist Tim Kasher and the group’s gnarly distor- get to hear some old favorites in delightful new con- tion and grooves. Album standout “Ouroboros,” fi gurations. —EB named a er the ancient symbol of a snake eating its own tail, most directly speaks to Kasher’s fasci- nation with humanity consuming itself: “We were Claire Rousay See Thursday. Part of blessed with an enlightened intellect / Enlight- Exposure Series 2019. Ava Mendoza/Forbes Saicobab RYO MITAMURA ened intellect made the Internet / The Internet Graham/Joshua Abrams/Tyler Damon headline; gave the world a mouthpiece / That swallowed our Claire Rousay solo and Forbes Graham & enlightened intellect.” Tonight Cursive are joined by Tomeka Reid open. 2 PM, May Chapel at Rosehill can be as sly as their melodies are big (which is to a pair of excellent emo contemporaries (albeit with Cemetery, 5800 N. Ravenswood. F b say, “very”). These guys know that a focused gui- WEDNESDAY8 a softer edge), MewithoutYou and the Appleseed tar melody, a propulsive rhythm section, and some Cast. —S M raggedy, mournful screams can help convey the Cursive Mewithoutyou and Appleseed Cast Pup Ratboys and Casper Skulls open. 7:30 PM, strength, poise, and determination we need to deal open. 8 PM, Bottom Lounge, 1375 W. Lake, $25. 17+ Metro, 3730 N. Clark, sold out. b with a confusing world—and in their lyrics, they go Santigold See Pick of the Week, page 31. even further, demolishing toxic fantasies and work- Twenty-one years a er releasing their debut album, 8 PM, the Vic Theatre, 3145 N. Sheffi eld, sold out. On their self-titled 2013 debut, Toronto-based four- ing toward a more inclusive future. —LG Such Blinding Stars for Starving Eyes, emotion- 17+ v piece band Pup were all about cra ing poppy hooks from high-octane punk brashness. The album’s massive choruses scream, the guitars roar, and the SURF ROCK SUNDAY WITH DJ MIKE SMITH beats stampede. It’s been six years, and as far as MONDAY6 punk rock goes, the boys in Pup have grown up. On the brand-new Morbid Stuff (a joint release between Claire Rousay See Thursday. Claire Rousay Rise Records and their own new label, Little Dip- performs solo, then in a duo with Emily Beisel. per), Pup balance the fury of their past with delib- 7:30 PM, Experimental Sound Studio, 5925 N. erate rhythms, massive dual-guitar leads, and non- Ravenswood, $10. b stop epic hooks and vocal harmonies. They haven’t 1035 N WESTERN AVE CHICAGO IL 773.276.3600 WWW.EMPTYBOTTLE.COM gone soft by any means—they can still rage when they want to, especially at their famous live perfor- Saicobab 8:30 PM, Constellation, 3111 N. RUBYHORNET X CLOSED SESSIONS PRESENT MON 7:30PM @ CONSTELLATION (3111 N. WESTERN AVE.) mances—but there’s clearly more thought behind Western, $15. 18+ THU WITH FEAT. YOSHIMIO OF DIGITAL FRESHNESS KHARY 5/6 ( OOIOO, BOREDOMS ) (and more breathing room in) their latest material. 5/2 CURTIS ROACH • ONE PUNCH (AJANI JONES X BOATHOUSE) SAICOBAB —L C With her band Saicobab, semilegendary Japanese DJ RTC • DJ CA$H ERA • DJ SCEND noise weirdo YoshimiO (Boredoms, OOIOO) has TUE taken a sharp le turn in a career of sharp le turns. HARD COUNTRY HONKY TONK WITH ZIEMBA 5PM-FREE THE HOYLE BROTHERS 5/7 CLAUDE • SIMULATION (MATCHESS + GEL SET) The group, which also includes Yoshida Daikiti on FRI SUNDAY5 sitar, Akita Goldman on bass, and Motoyuki Hama- 5/3 ORVILLE PECK moto on percussion and gamelan, perform decon- TOBACCO CITY • CAT MULLINS & THEMBOYS WED WINTER Doro See Thursday. Metal Church headlines; structive surgery on Indian music, revealing (or forc- 5/8 FEELS • BRASS CALF Doro and Images of Eden open. 5 PM, Arcada ing) a connection with Japanese classical traditions. SAT Theatre, 105 E. Main St., Saint Charles, $25- On their 2017 debut, Sab Se Purani Bab (Thrill Jock- GLITTER MONEYYY 7PM @ THE ART INSTITUTE (111 S. MICHIGAN AVE.) 5/4 DXTR SPITS • MCKINLEY DIXON • SO PRETTY WED $69. b ey), the result is something like noise-punk raga$5 W/or RSVP 5/8 “The Boredoms Do Bollywood”: fractured bursts STEPHEN MALKMUS of South Asian melodies sped up and interspersed 312UNES PRESENTS Heart Attack Man Seaway headline; Free with YoshimiO shrieking, hissing, and yipping. SUN 5/5 FILM SCHOOL THU WEAR YOUR WOUNDS Throw, Heart Attack Man, and Young Culture “Awawa” starts with YoshimiO yodeling in a bizarre MINT FIELD • THE POISON ARROWS 5/9 open. 6 PM, Subterranean, 2011 W. North, $18. b imitation of Daikiti’s sitar; electronic eff ects drop in UNIFORM partway through, over a repetitive series of notes— FREE RECORD Cleveland’s Heart Attack Man have a good grip as if the song has glitched and transformed Yoshi- MON FRI ( RELEASE ) 5/6 MODERN VICES DEHD on what makes emo powerful, but they also know miO into a robot cricket. “Bx Ax Bx” has a bizarre TOWN CRIERS • KACHI 5/10 THE HECKS • MAVIS THE DOG what can make it awful. On their second album, this pop hook woven into its herking and jerking; when month’s Fake Blood (Triple Crown/You Did This), the band shout a chorus of “B! A! B!” before enter- they mock the worst of the 2000s emo communi- ing a mind-expanding psychedelic section, they 5/11: BRIGHT LIGHT SOCIAL HOUR, 5/13: WOONGI (RECORD RELEASE-FREE), 5/14: ACID DAD, 5/14 @ GARFIELD PARK CONSERVA- ty—a subset of musicians who dabbled in pushing sound like an alternate-dimension funhouse Beatles TORY: MULATU ASTATKE, 5/15: TEEN, 5/16 @ LOGAN SQUARE AUDITORIUM: TRAIL OF DEAD, 5/17: XIU XIU, 5/17 @ GARFIELD an incel agenda—with the tongue-in-cheek anthem led by George and Yoko. Even by the open- ended PARK CONSERVATORY: DRAB MAJESTY • FACS, 5/18: INDIAN, 5/19: BUR, 5/20: FAUVELY (FREE), 5/21: MARY OCHER + YOUR “Out for Blood.” On that track, Heart Attack Man standards of experimental music, Saicobab are GOVERNMENT, 5/22: GREG WARD • BEN LAMAR GAY, 5/23: ESTER, 5/24: CHASMS, 5/25: WINDY CITY SOUL CLUB, 5/26: use the hot-blooded pop-punk hooks of emo’s com- unique and uncategorizable. It’s rare to fi nd music CHURCH OF MISERY, 5/30: FELIX KUBIN, 5/31-6/2 @ DIVISION & DAMEN: DO DIVISION STREET FEST, 5/29: GREG ASHLEY mercial peak to soundtrack the self-righteous nar- so transcendently preposterous and so preposter- NEW ON SALE: 6/8: ACQUAINTANCES (RECORD RELEASE), 6/19: BOULEVARDS, 7/2: KEDR LIVANSKIY, 7/5-7/7 @ CHICAGO & DAMEN: rator’s misplaced indignation—showing that they ously transcendent. —N B WEST FEST CHICAGO, 7/9: GABBY’S WORLD • BELLOWS, 7/13: GOLDEN VESSEL, 9/14: TROPICAL F*CK STORM, 9/27: KING BUFFALO ll CAJUN DANCE PARTY FEAT. MAY - CHICA O READER THE MID-CITY ACES 33 CHICAGOSHOWSYOUSHOULDKNOWABOUTINTHEWEEKSTOCOME
EARLY WARNINGS b ALL AGES F WOLF BY KEITH HERZIK Kim Petras 6/20, 8 PM, Lincoln Never miss Hall, on sale Fri 5/3, 10 AM b a show again. Chuck Prophet & the Mission Express 7/19, 8 PM, City Win- Sign up for the ery, on sale Thu 5/2, noon b newsletter at Psycles, Next Planet, Ars Nova chicagoreader. 5/10, 9 PM, Martyrs' GOSSIP Tony Richards Trio 5/17, 8 PM, com/early GMan Tavern, Two sets; bene- fi t for The Night Ministry WOLF Sabaton, Hammerfall 10/26, 8 PM, The Vic, on sale Fri 5/3, UPCOMING A furry ear to the ground of 10 AM b Joshua Abrams's Natural Son Volt 7/13, 8 PM, SPACE, Information Society 6/28, the local music scene Evanston, on sale Fri 5/3, 10 8:30 PM, Constellation, 18+ AM b Accidentals 6/20, 8 PM, LIKE ITS NEW YORK predecessor in Soul Clap 5/11, 10 PM, Smart SPACE, Evanston b Bar Acid Dad 5/14, 9 PM, Empty the late 70s, Chicago’s mid- and late-90s Speedy Ortiz, Froth 6/29, Bottle no-wave scene scrambled the accept- 10:30 PM, Sleeping Village Fabian Almazan Trio 6/22, 8:30 ed precepts of rock and jazz to create Wesley Stace, Dag Juhlin 7/21, PM, Constellation, 18+ addictively noisy, thoughtfully bent, and 7:30 PM, SPACE, Evanston, on Altin Gun 7/29, 8 PM, Lincoln sale Fri 5/3, 10 AM b Hall, 18+ crassly hilarious music. Its bands includ- Stick To Your Guns, Counter- Black Angels 6/16, 8:30 PM, ed the Flying Luttenbachers, the Scis- parts, Terror, Sanction, Year Constellation, 18+ sor Girls, Math, Duotron, Lake of Dracula , Maitre Gims COURTESY OF ARTIST of the Knife 7/25, 6:30 PM, Chasms, Devon Church 5/24, 9 and Dot Dot Dot, many of whom shared Bottom Lounge, on sale Fri PM, Empty Bottle 5/3, 10 AM, 17+ Cher, Nile Rodgers & Chic members. They gigged at long-gone ven- Delta Heavy, Kedzie, Ayoo, Eric Krasno Trio 6/13, 8:30 Subdudes 10/20, 8 PM, SPACE, 11/27, 7:30 PM, United Center ues such as Czar Bar , Milk of Burgun- NEW Bass-III 6/28, 8:30 PM, Chop PM; 6/14, 10 PM; 6/15, 10 PM, Evanston, on sale Fri 5/3, 10 b dy , and the Magnatroid, but within a few Acoa, Scotch the Filmmaker, Shop, 18+ Martyrs' AM b Chosen Few Picnic and Festi- years most had fallen apart. On Saturday, Safari Room 6/28, 8:30 PM, Eris Drew, Sevron, Sold 5/17, 10 Raja Kumari 6/13, 8 PM, Sunday Papers (Joe Jackson val 7/6, 8 AM, Jackson Park b GMan Tavern PM, Smart Bar Schubas b tribute) 6/23, 8 PM, SPACE, Stef Chura, French Vanilla 7/5, May 4, the Co-Prosperity Sphere hosts Amber Run 11/7, 8 PM, Lincoln Esso, Kaleta & Super Yamba Kedr Livanskiy 7/2, 8:30 PM, Evanston, on sale Fri 5/3, 10 9 PM, Empty Bottle “Chicago No Wave,” with performances Hall, 18+ Band, Radio Free Honduras Empty Bottle AM b Higher Brothers 5/10, 8 PM, by Bobby Conn , 0th, DJ Le Deuce, for- Arizona, Morgxn 6/12, 8 PM, 6/28, 9:30 PM, Sleeping Lunar Ticks, Goose Corp., Kiefer Sutherland 6/29, 7:30 Concord Music Hall, 18+ mer Scissor Girls front woman Azita , and House of Blues, 17+ Village Railway Gamblers 7/27, 9 PM, PM, Park West, on sale Fri Marquis Hill Blacktet 6/16, 7:30 Avatar, Devin Townsend, Expo '76 with Kelly Hogan Sleeping Village 5/3, 10 AM b PM, SPACE, Evanston the reanimated Flying Luttenbachers Dance With the Dead, '68 & Robert Cornelius, Katie Jesse Marchant, Pinc Louds Sweet Honey in the Rock, Hyde 5/19, 6 PM, Reggie's Rock (who recently released the brutally excel- 5/22, 7 PM, House of Blues, Belle & the Belle Rangers 6/9, 8:30 PM, Empty Bottle Walt Whitman & the Soul Club, 17+ lent Shattered Dimension), plus a reunion 17+ 5/31, 9 PM, Martyrs' Marianas Trench, Scott Hel- Children of Chicago 5/11, 7:30 I Am, Orthodox, Boundaries, set by D.O.G. (anchored by Joaquin de la Bear Hands 5/19, 9 PM, Beat Kelly Finnigan & the Atone- man, DJ George Thoms 5/24, PM, Rockefeller Memorial Kharma 6/19, 6:30 PM, Sub- Kitchen, 17+ ments, Renaldo Domino with 8 PM, House of Blues b Chapel F b terranean b Puente). An on-site art exhibit will include Belvederes, Bart Alonzo 5/25, Heavy Sounds 6/1, 9 PM, Pedrito Martinez Group 11/10, Teddy & the Rough Riders, Ìfe 5/9, 8 PM, Sleeping Village work by photographer Jim Newberry, 9 PM, FitzGerald's, Berwyn Martyrs' 7 PM, SPACE, Evanston, on Emily Nenni 7/2, 8:30 PM, Imagery Converter 8/17, 8:30 fi lmmaker Shane Bugbee , Jodie Mecanic Berlin 9/10, 8 PM, City Winery, Flashbulb 7/18, 9 PM, Sleeping sale Fri 5/3, 10 AM b Empty Bottle PM, Constellation, 18+ of Math, Kelly Kuvo of the Scissor Girls, on sale Thu 5/2, noon b Village Mastadon, Calcium, Elevatd Toto 10/4, 8 PM, Chicago The- In Motion, Buzz, Peter Maunu Bev Rage & the Drinks, Baby John Fullbright Band, Brian 6/28, 8 PM, Concord Music atre, on sale Fri 5/3, 10 AM b & Damon D. Green 5/24, 8:30 and Rose Meyers of Zeek Sheck; Lumpen Magic, Thee Casual Hex Dunne 6/22, 8:30 PM, Fitz- Hall, 18+ White Fence 10/8, 9 PM, Sleep- PM, Constellation, 18+ Magazine will have new zines of 90s show 5/24, 9 PM, Subterranean, 17+ Gerald's, Berwyn Sergio Mendes 6/30, 5 and 8 ing Village Indian, Immortal Bird, Blood- fl yers and other ephemera. Jenny Bienemann's Haiku Maître Gims 11/3, 6 PM, Con- PM, City Winery b Wild Adriatic, Sarah Potenza iest 5/18, 8:30 PM, Empty For as long as this wolf can remem- Milieu 5/16, 7:30 PM, FitzGer- cord Music Hall b Los Mirlos, Buyepongo 5/24, 9 7/30, 8 PM, SPACE, Evanston, Bottle ald's, Berwyn Golden Vessel, Instupendo PM, Martyrs' on sale Fri 5/3, 10 AM b Judas Priest, Uriah Heep 5/25, ber, CHIRP’s spring record fair has taken Big Lagniappe 5/10, 9 PM, 7/13, 8:30 PM, Empty Bottle AJ Mitchell, Marteen, Brynn Webb Wilder & the Beatnecks 8 PM, Rosemont Theater, place in April. This year, though, it’s been FitzGerald's, Berwyn Herbie Hancock, Kamasi Elliott 5/9, 7 PM, Subterra- 6/29, 8 PM, FitzGerald's, Rosemont pushed back—perhaps to give vinyl fanat- Big Loser, All The Wine, Pret- Washington 8/10, 6:30 PM, nean b Berwyn Juice, Stephen Day 7/12, 7:30 ics a chance to repair their fi nances a er ty Pleased, Jeff Schaller & Huntington Bank Pavilion, on Mystic Braves, Thee Casual Zealyn, Molly Coleman 5/22, 8 PM, Subterranean b the Long Way Home 5/13, 8 sale Fri 5/3, 10 AM b Hex, Douglas Slur 6/20, 8 PM, Martyrs' b Monatik 11/23, 7 PM, Concord Record Store Day. The 17th annual CHIRP PM, Subterranean, 17+ Van Hunt 7/16, 8 PM, SPACE, PM, Subterranean Zimmermen, Cathy Richard- Music Hall, 17+ Record Fair & Other Delights comes to Bleached 9/29, 8 PM, Lincoln Evanston, on sale Fri 5/3, 10 Daniel Norgren 9/18, 8 PM, son 5/24, 9 PM, FitzGerald's, Mono, Emma Ruth Rundle Plumbers Hall (1340 W. Washington) on Hall, 18+ AM b Lincoln Hall, 18+ Berwyn 6/15, 6 PM, Bohemian Nation- Saturday, May 4, with wares from doz- Boulevards 6/19, 8:30 PM, I Prevail, Issues, Justin Stone Northlane, Erra, Currents, al Cemetery b Empty Bottle, on sale Wed 5/21, 6 PM, House of Blues b Crystal Lake 8/24, 6:30 PM, UPDATED Moon King 6/28, 9 PM, Empty ens of dealers and a few local labels. The 5/1, noon Iris Temple 6/15, 7:30 PM, Sub- Bottom Lounge, on sale Fri Beth Hart 11/18, 7:30 PM, Park Bottle festivities also include performances by Greg Brown, Bo Ramsey 7/12, 8 terranean b 5/3, 10 AM b West, Rescheduled; tickets Slumberjack 5/25, 8 PM, Chop Ovef Ow , the Jellies, Baby Money, the PM, SPACE, Evanston b Josh Garrels, Gray Havens 6/8, Jakob Ogawa 8/13, 8 PM, purchased for 4/25 will be Shop Blue Ribbon Glee Club, DPCD, Thair , and Derrick Carter 5/31, 10 PM, 8 PM, House of Blues b Lincoln Hall, on sale Fri 5/3, honored. 18+ Slushii 5/18, 9 PM, Aragon Smart Bar Jude Shuma, Jungle Green, 10 AM, 18+ Junofl o 6/1, 8 PM, Bottom Ballroom, 18+ Charming Hokum, plus DJ sets by Alex Chelou 9/19, 9 PM, Sleeping Fran 6/25, 9:30 PM, Sleeping Frank Orrall 9/7, 8 PM, City Lounge, Canceled; refunds Superchunk, Negative Scanner White of White Mystery, Chuck Wren Village Village Winery, on sale Thu 5/2, available at point of purchase 6/9, 8:30 PM, Thalia Hall, 17+ of Jump Up Records, Metro founder Joe Circuit Des Yeux (solo per- Keep Bouncing with Altered noon b b Sway Wild, Radio Free Hon- Shanahan, and City Pop evangelist Van formance), Paul Beaubrun, Tapes (DJ set) and more Over The Rhine 8/16, 8 PM, Jennifer Lopez 6/29, 8 PM; duras 8/3, 8 PM, SPACE, Yadda Yadda 6/27, 8:30 PM, 5/24, 9:30 PM, Sleeping SPACE, Evanston b 6/30, 8 PM, United Center, Evanston b Paugam. For $25 you can get first dibs Sleeping Village Village F Panic Priest, Conformco, 6/30 show added; on sale Fri This is the Kit 7/10, 8:30 PM, with 8 AM early-bird admission; regular Cocoa Greene, Rotten Mouth, K.Flay 9/19, 7:30 PM, Riviera Shannon Funchess 9/19, 11:59 5/3, noon b Constellation, 18+ admission at 10 AM costs $8. The fair runs Jack Minogue 6/6, 9:30 PM, Theatre, on sale Fri 5/3, 10 PM, Smart Bar Royal Trux 5/12, 8:30 PM, ZRL (Zachary Good, Ryan till 6 PM. —JRN LG Sleeping Village AM b Gretchen Peters 7/14, 7:30 PM, Empty Bottle, Canceled; Packard, and Lia Kohl) 6/1, Matt Costa, JD & the Straight Chris Knight 6/6, 8 PM, Fitz- SPACE, Evanston, on sale Fri refunds available at point of 8:30 PM, Constellation 18+ Shot, Matt Hartke 6/11, 8 PM, Gerald's, Berwyn 5/3, 10 AM b purchase Zveri 5/31, 7 PM, Concord Got a tip? Tweet @Gossip_Wolf or e-mail City Winery b Music Hall, 17+ v [email protected].
34 CHICA O READER - MAY ll OPINION
SAVAGE LOVE I’m not ashamed to say I enjoyed it. It felt so insanely An itch you can’t scratch good to satisfy that itching Advice on open relationships and deal breakers. inside. I can fi nd lots of information about relieving By D S anal itching, but I can’t fi nd anything about inducing it for pleasure. —I : I’ve been with my judgy things to you about T C H boyfriend for a few months. nonmonogamy and sexist/ Prior to dating, I was clear controlling things about A: According to the Mayo with him that I would need “his woman”—it seems clear Clinic, keeping your ass too to open our relationship that your boyfriend wasn’t clean or letting it get too at some point. He initially being sincere, he was being dirty can induce anal itching, hesitated to respond, but manipulative. DTMFA. as can pinworms, diabetes, then agreed we could do and anal tumors. Seeing as that when the time came. : This is another request you probably don’t want That time has come much for a kinky neologism. diabetes or rectal cancer, and quicker than I anticipated, How about those of us since pinworms aren’t for sale but I feel like he’ll renege on who like the idea of our at your local bait shop, ITCH, his end of things because of signifi cant other having you could try scrubbing your many comments he’s made sex with somebody else ass with harsh soaps, which is recently—comments like but who aren’t into full-on what the Mayo Clinic urges not understanding or liking cuckold-style humiliation? people who don’t want itchy nonmonogamy and how “his “Cuckold” implies a level of anuses to avoid. (I reverse woman” sleeping around is a subordination that just isn’t engineered their advice for deal breaker. Is this a DTMFA my thing, and “hotwifi ng,” you. You’re welcome.) Good situation? —S O besides sounding incredibly luck, and please don’t write R E sleazy, assumes that it’s a back to let us know how couple that is opposite sex you’re progressing, OK? A: Early on, you let your and married, and the guy is boyfriend know that only interested in watching. : I am a 24-year-old openness “at some point” Can you or the hive mind pansexual trans woman was your price of admission— solve this problem? —C and I feel sexually broken. the price he’d have to pay IN O Hormones have made it to be with you—and now nearly impossible for me to he’s letting you know that A: I don’t think the term top a partner. I’m able to do monogamy is his price of “hotwifi ng” is inherently it once in a while, but not as admission. What’s going heterosexist, as there are gay much or as reliably as I would on here? Well, sometimes men and straight women out like. Additionally, hormones Person A tells Person B what there into “hothusbanding.” have messed up my digestive Person A knows Person B (They get off on sharing their system and made bottoming wants to hear regarding hot spouses with others, diffi cult. I’m also relatively Topic X in the hopes that aren’t necessarily interested sexually inexperienced, Person B will feel diff erently in getting with anyone which means I’m enthusiastic about Topic X a er the else themselves, and don’t, about oral but not very good passage of time or a er à la cuckolds, get off on at it. This leaves me feeling Person B has made a large humiliation.) But if that term like I bring nothing to the emotional investment in doesn’t appeal to you, CINO, table. —HBSI Person A. In many cases, there’s already an alternative: T Person A has the best stags (a man who may or may intentions—by which I not be dominant who likes A: Getting good at oral—like mean, Person A isn’t being to share his partner and may getting good at anything— consciously manipulative, or may not participate) and takes a little practice. Let but rather Person A sincerely vixens (a woman who may or your prospective partners hopes Person B will come may not be submissive who know you’re relatively to feel diff erently about enjoys having sex with others inexperienced, and you’ll be Topic X or that they, Person in front of her partner and far likelier to wind up in bed A themselves, will. But may or may not share them with patient and supportive considering how little time with others too). people who will let you has passed, SORE—it hasn’t practice on them. As for even been three months, : I’ve experienced anal bottoming, hopefully your and he’s saying shitty/ itching in the past, and guts will settle down in J ll MAY - CHICA O READER 35 OPINION
continued from 35 (They’re not hitting on me— obese and most people time. As for topping, well, lots and even if they were, no are partnered or married.) of women use strap-on dildos way am I dating a student.) The likelier culprit here for penetration. Having a These girls are smart, nice, (besides a skewed sample REAL PEOPLE strap-on at the ready and interesting, and usually size and confi rmation bias) REAL DESIRE actively seeking out partners obese. You and I both know is the scarcity of available REAL FUN. who don’t regard strap-on that in this imperfect world, male partners. Women now sex as a consolation prize many (most?) people place signifi cantly outnumber (or a fail) will allow you to importance on looks. But men on college campuses: Try FREE: 773-867-1235 Meet sexy friends experiment with penetration how do I tell them that? “Where men once went More Local Numbers: 1-800-926-6000 who really get your vibe... without the pressure of A straight, single, male to college in proportions having to produce or sustain professor telling a female far higher than women—58 Try FREE: 312-924-2066 an erection. You can switch student, even gently, that percent to 42 percent as Ahora español MoreMore Local Numbers: 1-800-811-1633 back and forth between your dropping 20 pounds might recently as the 1970s—the Livelinks.com 18+ vibeline.com 18+ dick and the dildo as needed, help her dating prospects is ratio has now almost exactly and being able to make it extremely risky. reversed,” Jon Marcus wrote happen for your lover—using —P R in the Atlantic. Graduating whatever tools you need—will O F will probably do more to build your confi dence. And improve their romantic you’re not broken, HBSIT. A: Oh my god. Keep your prospects than dropping 20 You are, like all of us, a work mouth shut. First, because pounds. v in progress. Good luck. it’s an asshole thing to say— never mind the professional Send letters to mail@ : I’m a college prof. risk—and second, because savagelove.net. Download Several female students it’s not true. (Welcome to the Savage Lovecast every have confi ded in me they’re America, PROF, where most Tuesday at thestranger.com. having trouble fi nding guys. people are overweight or @fakedansavage
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36 CHICA O READER - MAY ll Chicago,IL; Architect I w/MA in Everyone has a right to privacy! at: 4108 N. KENMORE #1S, Primogeniture; by Birthright; by JOBS Architecture; Prepare designs, For less than $75.00 we can CHICAGO, IL 60613 The Natural Birth; by Freehold; and organize projects, draft reviews; survey an apartment to make true and real full name(s) and by Inheritance. Declared for the GENERAL Send resumes @John Clark-716 sure your privacy is guarded residence address of the Public Record, I am returning N Wells St. Chicago,IL. We use infrared cameras, along owner(s)/partner(s) is: NOAH the European cognomen and with other survey equipment HELFAND 4108 N. KENMORE fi ctitious misnomer back to Additive Manufacturing The Options Clearing to locate hidden cameras & #1S CHICAGO, IL 60613, USA the Colonial possessors of its (ADM) Specialist – Set up ADM Corporation (Chicago, IL), Microphones (5/16) pedigree. I am now Rightfully Centers in NA/Asia. Duties: an equity derivatives clearing Image Survey Pro Declaring, Publishing, and make Centers hub for training, organization, seeks experienced www.imagesurveypro.com Notice is hereby given, Proclaiming my own Free R&D in all 3 regions; ensure professionals to fi ll the following St. Charles, IL 60174 pursuant to “An Act in relation National Name; Affi rming my connectivity between ADM openings in its Chicago offi ce: 708-632-9126 to the use of an Assumed Actual, Rightful, and Civil ‘In Full Centers and worldwide access, Data Scientist and Senior Business Name in the conduct Life’ Status; Conjoined to my incl HW capabilities; track Quantitative Analyst. Apply or transaction of Business in Moorish American Consanguine financials and growth/target online at www.theocc.com. No the State,” as amended, that Pedigree and National Honor. areas; identify and participate calls. EOE. a certification was registered Let it be Declared, Known, in sign-up of external training/ by the undersigned with Published, and Resolved that I devel partners as “extended the County Clerk of Cook Am: Zakarrhea’ Lisa Newbern arm trainers”, and organize County. Registration Number: Mazzarri Bey, ‘In Propria Perso- training/devel sessions w Y19001101 on April 15, 2019 na Sui Juris’ (being in my own internal personnel; devel internal REAL Under the Assumed Business proper person), by birthright; ADM training; identify projects Name of STR8GARBAGE with an Inheritance WITHOUT THE suitable for ADM (prototyping, ESTATE the business located at: 2625 FOREIGN, IMPOSED COLOR- production, end components); RENTALS YOUR PERSONAL TRAINER! W CORTLAND, CHICAGO, IL OF-LAW, OR ASSUMED implement methodology for I have decades of experience 60647. The true and real full DUE PROCESS of the Union WIN “rotate-in, rotate-out” sessions helping young & old become name(s) and residence address States Society; pursuant to, at Centers for project teams; GENERAL healthier, stronger, improve of the owner(s)/partner(s) is: but not limited to: 1. FREE make advances in ADM, incl balance, body-build, lose ALEXANDRA RODRIGUEZ 1634 MOORISH-AMERICAN ZODIAC Simulation, Artificial Intel, ANOTHER CHANCE TO LIVE weight, tighten bellies, sports- W GREENLEAF CHICAGO, IL CONSTITUTION: (Zodiac Robotics; explore programs where you can walk to beach, prepare, become bikini-ready, 60626, USA Constitution and Birthrights of FREE related to digital product devel bus, red line and shops. improve coordination, relieve LANCE ALLEN 2625 W the Moorish Americans) being to shorten product devel cycles Awesome living room. Big back pain, increase heart CORTLAND CHICAGO, IL Ali, Bey, El, Dey and Al), Article and develop mfg capability bedrooms with walk in closets. function, enhance discipline. 60647, USA (5/16) two (2), Paragraph two (2). 2. directly from programs; and $1500 with heat plus GLADIATORPRIME@YAHOO. UNITED STATES REPUBLIC: TICKETS meetings with ADM team/head. patio,laundry and parking COM Notice is hereby given, DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE: Home office work location. available. Call 773-275-3216 pursuant to “An Act in relation Moorish American Credentials: Reqd: MS in Mech Eng or Tech LEGAL NOTICE to the use of an Assumed AA 222141- TRUTH A-1 3. and 2 yrs exp in ADM. Perm Need roommate. $410. 6900 N. Business Name in the conduct UNITED STATES SUPREME U.S. work auth. Dir inquiries to Ridge. Call 312 982 6491 or transaction of Business in COURT: SUPREME LAW - Acts Notice is hereby given, L Dyrbye, Senior HR Manager, the State,” as amended, that of State 4. UNITED STATES pursuant to “An Act in relation Danfoss Power Solutions (US) a certification was registered CONSTITUTION: Article III (3), to the use of an Assumed Company, 2800 E. 13th Street, BEDROOM by the undersigned with Section two (2), Amendment Business Name in the conduct Ames, IA 50010. MUST APPLY the County Clerk of Cook V (5) (Liberty clause) and or transaction of Business in ONLINE: www.Danfoss.com. Large one bedroom County. Registration Number: Amendment IX (9) (Reservation the State,” has amended, that EO employer and VEVRAA Fed apartment near Morse red- Y19001165 on April 25, 2019 of the Rights of the People). a certification was registered Contractor. line. 6824 N. Wayne. Hardwood Under the Assumed Business 5. RESOLUTION NUMBER by the undersigned with the floors. Laundry in building. Name of LOPEZ WINDOWS with SEVENTY-FIVE (75): Dated Make up to $30/hr as a Marble County Clerk of Cook County
CLASSIFIEDS $995/month. Heat included. the business located at: 2310 April 17, 1933 A.D. (MOOR- Restorer: on April 9th, 2019 Under the Check out the Pets OK. Available 6/1. Larger W. ARTHUR AVE, CHICAGO, ISH-AMERICAN SOCIETY Assumed Business Name of -Long established Natural unit for $1025/month, available IL 60645 The true and real full OF PHILADELPHIA AND THE VICKY’S BREAKFAST with the Stone Restoration Team needs 7/1. (773) 761-4318 www. name(s) and residence address USE OF THEIR NAMES), 6. business located at: 11216 S. and wants a skilled person lakefrontmgt.com of the owner(s)/partner(s) is: UNIVERSAL DECLARATION who restores old or damaged MICHIGAN AVENUE, CHICAGO latest giveaways MARIO LOPEZ CABRERA 2310 OF HUMAN RIGHTS - UNITED ILLINOIS 60628. The true and marble, terrazzo, granite, etc. W. ARTHUR AVE CHICAGO, IL NATIONS - HUMAN RIGHTS real full name(s) and residence Background check, references 60645, USA (5/16) [Article Fifteen (15)]. 7. RIGHTS address of the owner(s)/ and Driver’s License are OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES - reviewed. MARKETPLACE partner(s) is: RAFAEL NEGRETE to win tickets THE MOORISH DIVINE AND UNITED NATIONS: GENERAL JOBS 11216 S. MICHIGAN AVENUE, Bonus of up to $750 is part of GENERAL NATIONAL MOVEMENT OF ASSEMBLY - Part 1, Article 4. CHICAGO IL 60628 (5/2) the hiring process. 50% health THE WORLD 8. I attest to Autochthonous ADMINISTRATIVE insurance, disability and other Unitarian church of Evanston LEGAL NOTICE! NAME AmErigan Moor the aboriginal benefi ts involved. If motivated Notice is hereby given, to live theater, - ANNUAL RUMMAGE SALE DECLARATION, CORREC- and Indigenous Natural People pursuant to “An Act in relation SALES & email asap or call 773-685-2500 Friday May 3rd, 9am to 5pm TION PROCLAMATION AND and True Heirs of the Land-Al to the use of an Assumed Saturday, May 4th, 9am to PUBLICATION I, Zakarrhea’ Moroc (America). Affi rming Business Name in the conduct MARKETING noon. 1330 Ridge Ave (1 blk Lisa Newbern Mazzarri Bey, Primogeniture, hereditary, Mars, Inc. seeks a Senior or transaction of Business in concerts, and n of Dempster at Greenwood being duly Affi rmed, standing birthright, and Freehold Status the State,” as amended, that FOOD & DRINK Talent Specialist in Chicago, Evanston.) Free parking. Bus squarely, Declare, and Proclaim, Northwest Amexem/Northwest a certification was registered IL to partner w/ the segment #201 - Call: 847-864-1330 upon Divine Law; Nature’s Africa/North America Where- by the undersigned with SPAS & SALONS leadership to ensure global Law, Universal Law, Moorish fore, I, Zakarrhea’ Lisa Newbern talent mgmt initiatives & projs the County Clerk of Cook much more. Looking for our dream boat! Birthrights; International Law; Mazzarri Bey, being ‘Part and County. Registration Number: are deployed & communicated Seeking a small sized motor and Constitutional Law; Declare Parcel’ named herein, and by BIKE JOBS Y19001056 on April 9, 2019 to stakeholders. Job req Bach boat, a little cruiser for the open and say: I, being previously Birthright, Primogeniture, and Under the Assumed Business deg or equiv in HR, Bus Admin, water of Lake Michigan. 18’-24’ Identifi ed by the Union States Inheritance, make a Lawful and GENERAL Name of APPLICATION Org Psych, or rel fi eld & 3 yrs of no bigger with a single motor. Society of North America - Legal Entry of Affi davit and MENTOR with the business talent mgmt exp. To Apply: Mail Bass boat, bay boat? We’ll take U.S.A. under the colorable, Public Notifi cation of Nationality located at: 5007 SOUTH resume to Barbara Mercurio at it! Email [email protected] Ward-ship name, Lisa Newbern Proclamation; Name Correction KEDVALE AVE, CHICAGO, IL 100 International Dr, Mt. Olive, Mazzarri, do hereby refute the Claim; Declaration, Affi rmation, 60632 The true and real full REAL NJ 07828. Fraud; make Public and Publish and Application; Herewith SERVICES name(s) and residence address my Corrected National Name; Published for the Public Record. of the owner(s)/partner(s) is: McNabb Technologies, Declare and Affi rm my true, I Am alacas Ley A Free and ESTATE My name is Renee Ann Owner/Partner Full Name LLC d/b/a TouchCR seeks *Proper Person Status’; and Sovereign Moorish American Cryer, and I am an attractive Complete Address MICHAEL Information Technology Director reclaim my Rightful Social and National, In Propna Persona woman looking for a serious R NOWAK 5007 SOUTH for various & unanticipated Cultural Life of the State, in Sui Juris Northwest Amexem RENTALS relationship that could possibly KEDVALE AVE CHICAGO, IL worksites throughout the U.S. accord with my Moorish Nation / Northwest Africa/North lead to marriage with a mature 60632, USA (5/9) (HQ: Chicago, IL) to dev IT of Northwest Amexem / North America All Rights Reserved FOR SALE man between the ages of 48 strategy to insure alignment w/ America - acknowledging my Witness: A Frée and Sovereign and 85. Call or text me at +1 Notice is hereby given, business goals associated w/ Birthrights. Having Lawfully Moorish American National, 661 429 2033, or write me pursuant to “An Act in relation NON-RESIDENTIAL online retail platforms. Master’s and Legally Obtained and In Propria Persona Sui Juris at 9000 Vanalden Ave, Unit to the use of an Assumed in Comp Sci/Comp Info Sys/ Proclaimed my Moorish Northwest Amexem / Northwest 199, Northridge, CA 91324 Business Name in the conduct ROOMATES related field +2yrs exp or Nationality and Birthright ‘Name Africa/North America All Rights for a possible good time. or transaction of Business in Bachelor’s in Comp Sci/Comp and Title’; in harmony with, in Reserved Witness: A Free and the State, ́as amended, that Info Sys/related fi eld +5yrs exp association with, and in Accord Sovereign Moorish American Hidden Camera & Microphone a certification was registered req’d. Req’d skills: managing with Divine Law, the Customs; National, In Propria Persona Detection by the undersigned with IT depts for multinational and the Laws, Rules, and Sui Juris Northwest Amexem / MARKET- the County Clerk of Cook corps; sw product dev; mgmt Usages of The Moorish Divine Northwest Africa/North America VISIT Protect yourself and or your County. Registration Number: of onsite & offshore Agile and National Movement; being All Rights Reserved LN/NCT family Y19000782 on March 8, 2019 dev teams consisting of 30+ Aboriginal and Indigenous, and No. 0001H PLACE Do you or your family members Under the Assumed Business individuals; communicating tech bound to the North American CHICAGOREADER.COM/WIN rent apartment, shared offi ces, Name of SKY ENTERTAINMENT strategy & sw dev processes Continent by Heritage, by GOODS to senior executives, investors, houses, or have roommates? with the business located & customers, IT business dev; for your chance to win! SERVICES dev acquisition, retention, & monetization strategies for HEALTH & online businesses; multichannel marketing; CRM; Marketing WELLNESS Automation; Salesforce Clouds; Apex; Heroku; Consumer INSTRUCTION Profi ling, using AI for Marketing Half-Price Theatre Analysis & Predictions. 60-70% MUSIC & ARTS telecommuting permitted. Enjoy your city. Ignite your soul. Stretch your dollars. Travel to cl sites as needed. NOTICES Send resume to: R Doermer, 20 N. Wacker Dr., Suite 1416, MESSAGES Chicago, IL 60606. Chicago's best theatre deals: HOTTIX.ORG LEGAL NOTICES Job Title: Architect I Job Description: Cordogan Hot Tix is a service of the non-profit League of Chicago Theatres. Learn more about Chicago’s theatre community at CHICAGOPLAYS.COM. ADULT SERVICES Clark & Associates in ll MAY - CHICA O READER 37 Stretch your dollars. Ignite your soul. 24 lumpenradio.com We hope you’ve enjoyed the return of comics serials to the Half-Price Reader. This is last installment (for now). Here’s where 7 coprosperity.org Theatre you can follow your favorite indie artists: JP Tickets spitandahalf.com/product-tag/john-porcellino
M M patreon.com/melissamendes, mmmendes.com
M C mikecenteno.com, @mike_centeno
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