Tuesday, February 23, 2021 | Section 4 + ARTS+ENTERTAINMENTAE Twitter Where are all temporarily those promised suspends Music Box relief funds? By Michael Phillips Chicago Tribune Running on fumes, music venue and theater Twitter can suspend an operators wait for full federal grant guidelines account for all sorts of reasons. A president or ex-president By Steve Johnson “I still cannot apply for the might violate the rules of hate Chicago Tribune Shuttered Venue Operators speech or incendiary language Grant,” wrote Donnie Biggins, designed to foment an insur- When the Shuttered Venue owner of the Lincoln Park music KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI/GETTY rection, for example. Operators relief package became venue Tonic Room, in a Twitter Joe Shanahan, owner of iconic Chicago concert venue Metro, poses Or the suspension might law at the end of 2020, arts in- thread Sunday. “To still be wait- on Dec. 29 outside his venue. involve a beloved Chicago dustry business owners saw it as ing for the chance to apply for theater and an Oscar-winning a long-delayed means of survival: SVOG is crushing the live music which was part of the nation- gram and doling out the cash. song from “Top Gun.” $15 billion in grants designated industry even worse.” wide lobbying effort that got the But there is qualified good Over the weekend, a ripple for the music venues, movie and Said Ryan Oestreich, general relief package passed into law. news for the arts-business own- of cinephiliac panic spread live theaters and museums and manager of the independent “The law was passed in Decem- ers, who stand to be awarded up virally as the result of the sud- zoos that had been closed or movie house the Music Box ber. January goes by. OK, we all to 45% of their 2019 revenues den, unexplained suspension operating at limited capacity Theatre, “A lot of us are just get that, change of (presidential) when the process is complete. of the Music Box Theatre’s since the pandemic began. waiting patiently — or impa- administration, I’m empathetic. “It’s a lifeline for a small busi- Twitter account. But now it’s late February and tiently — for the full grant guide- But now we’re closing in on the ness,” Biggins said in an inter- Was the 92-year-old Lake- the organizations — many of lines to come out.” end of February.” view. “It gives you hope that we view movie emporium in dire which are running on fumes and “Open the program,” said Joe There is no target date to would be able to continue on for trouble? Had current owner the kindness of their landlords — Shanahan, owner of Chicago announce or even point toward, years to come.” William Schopf given up are getting anxious about the fact music clubs Metro and Smart according to the federal Small The good news? Politicians abruptly on the film exhibition that they can’t even apply for the Bar and a founder of the Chicago Business Administration, tasked game, after nearly a full year of grants yet. Independent Venue League, with developing the grant pro- Turn to Grants, Page 2 pandemic capacity restrictions and economic losses? No. That wasn’t it. Devotees of the brick-and-mortar movie- going experience in general and the Southport Avenue landmark in particular needn’t worry, at least about the Music Box. Turns out it’s a four-year old copyright infringement matter. On Feb. 17, Twitter informed the Music Box of its temporary account suspension, because of the theater’s Twitter account violation of the Digital Millen- nium Copyright Act. In 2017, the Music Box did what it did every year in pre- COVID times: It created a coming-attractions trailer for its annual 70 Millimeter Film Festival. That year’s lineup included “Spartacus,” “West Side Story,” “Interstellar” — and the 1986 flyboy and volley- ball smash “Top Gun,” the sequel to which is arriving July 2, 2021, depending on likely pandemic scheduling reshuf- fles. The theater’s festival trailer used the “Top Gun” theme song, “Take My Breath Away,” as underscoring. Sony Music Entertainment, rights-holders of the Giorgio Moroder/Tom Whitlock song, eventually got wind of it and called foul. The trailer, which had been floating around for years on Twitter and Facebook, has been taken down, according to Music Box senior operations manager Buck LePard. Twitter, LePard said Sunday, heard from Sony mid-January. And last week the Music Box heard from the Content Protection & JOSE M. OSORIO/CHICAGO TRIBUNE 2020 Enforcement division of the In 2013, Jahmal Cole founded an organization called My Block, My Hood, My City, its ambitious aim to provide opportunities for the archaic-sounding International disenfranchised young people of the city’s disenfranchised neighborhoods and otherwise heal what ails us. Federation of the Phono- graphic Industry. (That’s “phono’,” by the way, not “porno-.”) The London-based IFPI trade group represents various record companies, Sony among them. To heal what ails us The Music Box’s Twitter account, which LePard man- ages (and manages to make ‘Ripple of Hope’ documentary is about Chicago activist Jahmal Cole, a very entertaining), should be father, neighborhood organizer and now political hopeful back up by Feb. 24. Per Cook County COVID Filmmaker Jason Polevoi is not at all cian/activist/politician Che “Rhymefest” restrictions, the 750-seat main surprised. “Over the years people were Smith; poet/activist/teacher Kevin Co- auditorium will continue to always suggesting that he run for politi- val; Cook County Commissioner Bridget operate with a 50-person ca- cal office, for alderman, for mayor.” Gainer and Liz Dozier, the former prin- pacity. The second, much He met Cole four years ago, when he cipal of Fenger High School and later smaller auditorium, meantime, was producing a special on My Block, My founder and CEO of Chicago Beyond. will extend its rent-a-theater Hood, My City for WGN-TV, where his There is Lena Waithe, the native Chi- programming. Rick Kogan work as a producer had won him many cagoan who is a screenwriter and pro- “It’s doing very well, and it Sidewalks local Emmys. He was taken not only with ducer of, most prominently and topically, helps,” Music Box publicist Cole’s mission and efforts but also with “The Chi,” who says, “Even when the Steve Prokopy said. For Before the pandemic began to take its the man and the price being paid for his dark clouds hover, you can’t keep the months, both auditoriums have terrible toll and before the city erupted in cause. sunlight out.” There are articulate oth- been made available for private spasms of protest and other assorted During 2018, Cole was followed by ers. viewing parties. “Last Saturday turmoil, Jahmal Cole had been doing his camera-toting Polevoi and the result is a But Polevoi does not overuse any of it was ‘Moulin Rouge’ in one best to make a difference in the lives of riveting and powerful and enlightening these “stars.” His focus is firmly on Cole theater and John Carpenter’s people few of us ever see in neighbor- film titled “A Tiny Ripple of Hope,” and the kids with whom he works, many ‘The Thing’ in the other,” he hoods most of us never visit. which is currently having its world pre- of them part of the Explorers program, said. “Some people bring in He is still at it, this young man who in miere, as part of the Slam Dance Film which monthly takes young people into their Blu-rays; other people 2013 founded an organization called My Festival, a virtual event this year. places in the city and beyond that they actually have prints. We had a Block, My Hood, My City, its ambitious Polevoi, working on a shoestring might never have seen. We meet the kids ‘Moana’ party the other day.” aim to provide opportunities for the budget, shows us Cole addressing crowds and observe the joy and excitement as As for the temporary Twitter disenfranchised young people of the in the film and you’ll see the people in they travels and wander the Notre Dame suspension, LePard said, “it’s a city’s disenfranchised neighborhoods those crowds watch and listen with rapt campus in South Bend. We see the pal- very isolated incident. Just like and otherwise heal what ails us. attention, heads nodding. You easily pable pride of some of the kids’ parents. Trump. Though I’d like to He now plans to jump into politics. grasp Cole’s charismatic persona, a qual- Cole, rightfully, is the star, rivaled only think our Twitter (infraction) Though he is unlikely make a formal ity mentioned by virtually anyone who by his charming, scene-stealing daugh- was a little less incendiary.” announcement until early April, he has has ever met him. ter, Khammur, in a few tender scenes made public his desire to challenge Rep. You’ll hear from some of those. There’s that belie the tension that his work has Bobby Rush for the 1st Congressional that former Chicago mayor named Michael Phillips is a Tribune District seat in Congress. Emanuel; the late Karen Lewis and musi- Turn to Kogan, Page 5 critic. [email protected] Twitter @phillipstribune 2 Chicago Tribune | Arts+Entertainment | Section 4 | Tuesday, February 23, 2021 CELEBRITIES Daft Punk breaks up after 28 years ASK AMY From News Services By Amy Dickinson Grammy-winning elec- [email protected] Twitter @askingamy tronic music pioneers Daft Punk have announced that they are breaking up after 28 years. The helmet-wear- Man’s ex should warn other women ing French duo shared DearAmy: I was with my that I’ve remained silent.