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CHICAGO’S FREE WEEKLY SINCE | APRIL THIS WEEK CHICAGO READER | APRIL | VOLUME NUMBER
IN THIS ISSUE T R - 08 News Doulas are working concerts and other updated @ double time to see parents listings through safe empowered births in 31 Gossip Wolf Hip hop activist a crisis Jamie “J Milla” Sevier dies at P T B E C S K K H and Well Yells drops a new C L R H darkwave album that traffi cks in M E P M the sonics of isolation TD K R C E B W A E J L into the wacky o en overlooked S W M D L G world of rare and antique books D I B J M S E A S N L CITY LIFE Porno despite its racy title is a lot G D A H 03 Transportation Would an East more Saved meets Demons than L C S C -J Bay style Slow Streets program be it is Deep Throat and Deerskin is C E B N B L C M D L C M C benefi cial in Chicago during the a bizarre horror comedy featuring J F S F J H I coronavirus crisis? Adele Haenel H C M J HOME & PLANTS M K S K Chicagoans N D L J L 11 Favorite Things MUSIC & M M A M -K share the objects that make their J R N J N M O homes good places to be NIGHTLIFE M S C S 14 Comic In defense of clutter 22 Feature Chicago indie rockers OPINION ------16 Propagation Money doesn’t Ratboys recently released their 32 Savage Love Dan Savage off ers D D J D D D C W grow on trees but other trees do! best album yet and though they advice for a woman drowning in S M C J G can’t tour they’re fi nding ways to arousaleven in a pandemic! M P C THEATER stay connected to their fans Y D SS P 18 Improv Chicago improv and 26 In Rotation Current musical CLASSIFIEDS A T A comedy classes fi ll the quarantine obsessions of Huntsmen bassist 34 Jobs S EC K K void online Marc Stranger Najjar musician 34 Apartments & Spaces ADVERTISING NEWS & POLITICS 20 Comedy Remembering the and producer Sanford Parker and 34 Marketplace -- @ 05 Joravsky | Politics Mayor early days of the powerhouse the Reader’s Jamie Ludwig C Lightfoot channels her inner Mayor Upright Citizens Brigade 27 Records of Note A pandemic - @ Daley can’t stop the fl ow of great music P F O S D 06 Isaacs | Culture There will be FILM Our critics review releases that C B G V P S A M no tiptoeing through the Chicago 21 Movies of Note The you can enjoy at home C R M T P S A R Botanic Garden’s tulips Booksellers takes a deep dive 31 Early Warnings Rescheduled L M -H L S A R G M F N S C S M W R
N A V M G -- - J L S B THIS WEEK ON CHICAGOREADER.COM ------D C [email protected] -- CHICAGO READER L C BP D R L T E R SJ S A- S V
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C © C R Covert Peruse these virtual The stay-at-home chronicles P C IL On motherhood, the apocalypse of What we’re reading, watching, A C R R the interior life, and sheltering on the bookshelves listening to, etc., to pass the time. R R T ® other side of Lake Michigan. Ditch Amazon and support local bookstores.
2 CHICA O READER - APRIL ll When A Great Deal Matters, Shop Rob Paddor’s... CITY LIFE Evanston Subaru in Skokie 0% FOR 63 MONTHS % % FOR % % A LIMITED 00 TIME 00
FORESTER OUTBACK ASCENT IMPREZA NEW REDUCED HOURS 9:00AM-6:00PM MONDAY-SATURDAY •SALES •SERVICE •PARTS Oakland, California, has banned through traffi c on 74 miles of side streets to increase access for pedestrians. ! CITY OF OAKLAND SALES BY APPOINTMENT ONLY TRANSPORTATION EMAIL: [email protected] OR CALL: 847-869-5700 We are vigilant in upholding the practices as recommended by the CDC Pandemic pedestrian activity Voted “Best Auto DeAlership” By CHICAGO Voters’ Poll 2019 and COVID-19 cycling NEW 2020 SUBARU NEW 2020 SUBARU NEW 2020 SUBARU Would an East Bay-style Slow Streets program be benefi cial in Chicago OUTBACK FORESTER CROSSTREK during the coronavirus crisis? It depends on whom you ask. 0% 0% 0.9% By COURTNEY COBBS AND JOHN GREENFIELD
36 36 36 $ MONTH $ MONTH $ MONTH NEW LEASE NEW outh Shore senior citizen Josie Conley track at nearby Eckersall Stadium is closed DESIGN * LEASE * DESIGN LEASE * takes walks regularly to stay healthy during the pandemic, joggers and exercise 9 5 74 AUTOMATIC,18 Back-up9 Camera Eye- 1 1 AUTOMATIC, Roof Rails, Alloys All-Wheel-Drive, 17’’ Alloy Wheels, Sduring the COVID-19 quarantine. But walkers are crowding the sidewalks on the Sight, All-Wheel-Drive EyeSight, All-Wheel-Drive Apple Carplay / Android Auto NO SECURITY DEPOSIT! NO SECURITY DEPOSIT! NO SECURITY DEPOSIT! narrow sidewalks mean that maintaining the perimeter of the park. $2,995 due at signing. LDB-01 #0292 $2,995 due at signing. LFB-02 #0361 $2,995 due at signing. LRA #73012 recommended six-foot “social distance” from Pedestrians and cyclists jockeying for S others is kind of like a game of Dodge ’Em. “My space in the time of coronavirus present a TOP-QUALITY INSPECTED USED CARS & SUV’ mother doesn’t want to take any chances,” problem on many sidewalks, trails, and parks IMPORTS & DOMESTICS SUBARU FORESTERS ‘19 Toyota Corolla Hatchback XSE/Navi. Loaded, 11K, Silver, 22343R ..$17,995 ‘17 Forester Prem. ....Automatic Sunroof, Heated Seats, Silver, P6521 ..$19,995 explained her son Shawn Conley, who joins across Chicago. That’s been especially true ‘16 Toyota Corolla S Prem. ....Automatic, Full Power, 34K, Silver, P6381 ..$13,995 ‘16 Forester Touring ...... Automatic Sunroof, Leather, Silver, 23651A ..$18,995 her during his lunch break from his job with since March 26, when Mayor Lori Lightfoot ‘12 Acura TL w/Tech/Navi/ ...... Leather, Moonroof, Black, 24284A ..$12,995 ‘14 Forester Prem. Automatic, Sunroof, Heated Seats, White, 24116A ..$14,995 ‘14 Nissan Murano LE AWD/Navi. Leather, Moonroof, Silver, 24273A ..$12,995 the Illinois State Board of Education. He also closed the entire shoreline, including the ‘09 Forester XT Ltd ...... Automatic, Sunroof, Leather, Green, 24391A ....$8,995 ‘13 Hyundai Sante Fe 2.0T AWD Automatic, Full Power, Black 23373B ..$11,995 helps lead the Major Taylor Cycling Club of Lakefront Trail, as well as the Chicago Riv- ‘11 Honda CRV EX AWD ...... Automatic, Sunroof, Silver, 24311A ....$9,995 SUBARU OUTBACKS / CROSSTREK / ASCENT ‘19 Ascent ...... 8 Passenger, Sunroof, Eyesight, 4K, Grey, P6528 ..$25,995 Chicago, a predominantly Black organization erwalk and the 606 elevated greenway, in ‘14 Toyota Prius Two ...... Automatic, Full Power, Silver, 23783A ....$8,995 ‘11 Honda Accord LX ...... Automatic, Full Power, 67K, 24134A ....$8,995 ‘18 Outback 2.5i ...... Automatic, Full Power, Eyesight, White, P6493 ..$19,995 with about 120 members. response to social distancing violations on ‘09 Mini Cooper S ...... Automatic, Full Power, 58K, Dark Silver, 24393A ....$7,995 ‘17 Crosstrek Prem...... Automatic, All-Weather, Black, P6469 ..$19,995 Josie won’t leave the house unless the the fi rst warm day of spring. ‘11 Hyundai Elantra Ltd...... Automatic, Loaded, 51K, Black, 23930B ....$6,995 ‘16 Outback Prem...... Automatic, All Weather, Alloys, Black, 24117A ..$18,995 sidewalk is clear for half a block in front of Some might respond with the ubiqui- ‘13 Kia Soul+ ...... Automatic, Full Power, Moss, 24176A ....$6,995 ‘14 Outback Prem...... Auto., Full Power, Alloys, Silver, P4891 ..$13,995 ‘12 Fiat 500 Pop ...... Automatic, Full Power, Black, 21534A ....$5,995 ‘12 Outback 2.5i ...... Automatic, Full Power, Black, 23880A ....$8,995 her, and once an approaching pedestrian is tous “Stay home!” mantra, arguing people six or eight houses away, she detours onto shouldn’t be leaving the house during COVID- A+ the driveway or lawn of an adjacent home to 19 anyway, except for essential jobs and to RATED get out of the way. Shawn said other elderly pick up supplies. But Illinois’s stay-at-home EvanstonSubaru.com people in the neighborhood use the same order acknowledges that “walking, hiking, 3340 OAKTON - SKOKIE • 847-869-5700 *Add tax, title license and $300 doc fee. 0% financing for 63 months. Monthly payment of $15.87 per $1,000 borrowed. Finance on approved approach, steering clear of younger people running, or biking” are “essential activities” credit score Subject to vehicle insurance and availability. *Lease on approved credit score. Lease, 10k miles per year, 15 cents after. Lessee responsi- to avoid respiratory droplets. And since the key for maintaining physical and mental ble for excess wear and early termination of lease. End of lease purchase option; Outback $17,806. Crosstrek $13,198, Forster $16,495. Ends 5/04/2020 ll APRIL 30, 2020 - CHICAGO READER 3 CITY LIFE
continued from 3 Active Trans’s opposition to open streets Derek Lau, program assistant for the Coa- wellness during the crisis. has drawn a backlash from members at a lition for a Better Chinese American Commu- Even if you aren’t convinced that outdoor critical time. The group has canceled its main nity, said, “A program that could potentially exercise is important, many people are annual fundraiser, Bike the Drive, for safety attract a large crowd of people is dangerous.” walking and biking for essential commutes reasons. Now previous donors say they’re After we clarifi ed that Oakland’s Slow Streets nowadays to avoid risking viral exposure pulling their support. “Having the major model would be spread over dozens of miles, on transit. CTA ridership is currently down transportation advocacy group for our city coalition director Grace Chan McKibben said about 80 percent, according to the agency. sit on the sidelines when there is an immedi- they’d be interested in seeing whether that Cities all over the country are currently ate and clear need and opportunity [for open strategy is successful. seizing this unique moment in which auto- streets] is unfathomable,” commented soft- Torrey Barrett, CEO of the Washington mobile use has plummeted but speeding has ware engineer David Altenburg on a Streets- Park–based KLEO Community Family Life increased to give roadway space to pedestri- blog Chicago post about Bike the Drive. Center, said Slow Streets is a good idea for ans and bike riders. New York, Philadelphia, Shortly after Active Trans’s post came areas that lack recreational amenities. But Washington, D.C., Boston, Madison, the Twin out, Oakland, California, announced plans he’d like the program to be combined with Cities, Denver, and Portland have all been for Slow Streets, a clever approach to open- additional benefi ts for low-income residents, banning cars on stretches of road during the ing roadways that addresses most of those such as the city funding bikes for locals and pandemic to allow people to safely travel and concerns. It’s creating a 74-mile network of partnering with the Greater Chicago Food get physical activity. side streets where people can safely walk, Depository to distribute meals on the streets. However, there’s little movement on that run, and bike in the road. Through tra c is Logan Square alderman Carlos front from Chicago o cials. “The Chicago De- banned, but motorists can still access local Ramirez-Rosa, a Democratic Socialist, is in partment of Transportation is paying close destinations. It’s quick and cheap, with the favor of trying Slow Streets. “The pilot pro- attention to what other cities are doing” was only infrastructure cost being for traffic grams being rolled out in other cities should about all spokesman Mike Cla ey had to say. cones and signs. Since it doesn’t involve main be done here in Chicago to provide opportu- Kyle Lucas is an essential worker with HIV streets, no additional policing is needed. nities for people to safely walk, run, and bike who can’t risk COVID-19 exposure on the Oakland officials have argued that Slow in the street while practicing social distanc- CTA. He launched a petition asking the mayor Streets is equity focused. In an interview last ing,” his o ce said in a statement. to open streets and/or reopen the Lakefront week with Streetsblog USA, Oakland mobility Jacky Grimshaw, vice president with the Trail for biking so essential employees can policy director Warren Logan stressed that Center for Neighborhood Technology, said safely get to work without being struck by a major goal was to make it easier for low-in- Slow Streets would work well in dense parts speeding drivers. As of last week, more than come people without cars to do essential of town with limited access to recreational 1,000 people had signed. trips. space. However, she said it would be im- So far Lightfoot has indicated these re- But there’s been pushback to the open portant to educate residents about the no- quests are nonstarters during COVID-19. streets movement from some mobility jus- through-tra c rule. “The lakefront’s not reopening anytime tice advocates of color who’ve argued it’s Elihu Blanks, a South Shore resident who soon,” she said at a recent press conference. mostly white people who are promoting regularly attends Chicago’s quarterly May- “There’s lots of bike lanes and bike trails such programs without enough input from or’s Bicycle Advisory Council meetings, said throughout the city.” organizations and individuals in Black and he likes the Slow Streets concept, but doesn’t A major reason why an open streets pro- Latinx neighborhoods. “I’m feeling pressure trust drivers to comply with an unenforced gram hasn’t gained traction is that the Active from white advocates to advocate for open ban on through tra c. Transportation Alliance isn’t supporting streets,” wrote a member of The Untokening, Deloris Lucas, who leads the bike group We it. “A pandemic does not seem like the most a mobility justice collective, in its recommen- Keep You Rollin’ in the far-south Riverdale appropriate moment to be pushing forward dations for equitably navigating the COVID- community area, said she doesn’t think Slow this vision,” the group stated in an April 7 19 world. Streets is especially needed in Riverdale, blog post. Active Trans declined to tell us which com- where side streets are fairly quiet, but “I do Active Trans argued that doing an open munity partners in Latinx, Black, and Asian think it’s a great idea to provide more spaces streets program would be resource intensive. communities they spoke with. So we asked to ride during the pandemic.” The organization questioned the wisdom of dozens of community organizations, alder- As for South Shore resident Shawn Conley, promoting a sustainable transportation pro- men, and transportation advocates in neigh- he said being able to safely walk in the street gram during COVID-19, when health care, em- borhoods of color whether an Oakland-style would prevent his mother Josie from having Providing arts coverage ployment, and housing are urgent concerns program might be benefi cial during the pan- to evade other pedestrians. “It would in- in neighborhoods of color. “In conversations demic. Here’s who responded by press time. crease her level of comfort,” he said. “I know in Chicago since 1971. with community partners serving Latinx, Christian Diaz, lead housing organizer we’re supposed to be sheltering at home, but Black, and Asian communities, nobody point- with the Logan Square Neighborhood Associ- as it warms up, people are going to need to ed to open streets as an immediate need,” the ation, said he likes the concept in theory, but get exercise, fresh air, and Vitamin D. So the blog post says. The group also argued that it’s argued now is not the time. “While [it’s] by no more I think about Slow Streets, the more I problematic to deploy CPD o cers to enforce means a terrible idea I don’t have reason to like it.” v www.chicagoreader.com street closures in Black and Brown neighbor- believe this is a priority right now for people hoods that are already overpoliced. who are hungry and at risk of homelessness.” @CourtneyCyclez @greenfieldjohn 4 CHICA O READER - APRIL ll NEWS & POLITICS
Mayor Lightfoot’s eruptions are reminiscent of one hour to put down the cash. Otherwise, a certain former mayor who liked to blow his top. he’s selling his masks to Rockford. DBKING / FLICKR In short, the council had to pass this emer- In that article, Glowacz quoted several old gency legislation so she has easy access to budget hands who gently suggested—clearly a stash of cash she can dip into anytime she not wanting to infuriate the short-tempered wants. mayor—that it might be more prudent (and And I thought that’s what the TIF program legal) if she convinced the council to concede was for. such authority to her. As opposed to, you The other argument is that President know, ripping it out of their hands. Trump, Governor Pritzker, and Cook County So last week Mayor Lightfoot proposed an president Preckwinkle have emergency pow- ordinance to, among other things, give her ers in the pandemic—so she should get ’em the authority to enter into contracts of up to too. $1 million without council approval. Well, at the risk of getting the mayor really Immediately, her proposal was denounced mad at me, I’m not convinced. I mean, of all as a power grab by the unlikely alliance the problems Chicago faces, I’d say mayoral of Aldermen Raymond Lopez and Carlos helplessness in the face of a too-powerful Ramirez-Rosa—the former being a conser- council would not make the top, oh, 10,000. vative Democrat from the southwest side and Largely because it’s a problem that does not the other a Democratic Socialist from Logan exist. Square. The vote went down at a virtual council They used a parliamentary maneuver to meeting last Friday, and the mayor prevailed prevent the council from voting on the ordi- by a margin of 29-21—an astounding dis- nance at last Wednesday’s meeting. play of defiance. Apparently, Lightfoot has And how did Mayor Lightfoot react? Man, managed to rankle Democratic Socialists, I haven’t seen such a glorious mayoral erup- progressives, several members of the Black tion since Mayor Daley blew his stack at Al- caucus, and even Alderman Ed Burke, who derman Robert Fioretti for—you know, I can’t probably will never forgive her for humiliat- POLITICS remember why Daley got so angry at Fioretti. ing him after she took o ce. I just know it’s so funny that every now and Arguably, her fi nest moment as mayor. then I watch it on YouTube just for a good I can’t be too outraged because at least Power play laugh. I know, I need a hobby. she agreed to have her newfound spending Anyway, after Lopez and Ramirez-Rosa authority terminate after June. Mayor Lightfoot channels her inner Mayor Daley. delayed the matter, Lightfoot let ’em have Also, it’s going to be a fi eld day for Glowacz, it, calling them “selfish and shameful . . . Dumke, and all the other investigative By B J grandstanders” who, unlike the other, bet- journalists in town who will be filing FOIA ter-behaved aldermen, are putting “their own requests from here to eternity trying to see selfi sh interests ahead” of “helping our fellow which mayoral friend got what contract. fter almost two intense months of shel- one, verse one—where our former mayor Chicagoans who are literally sick and dying.” Think of it as Chicago’s very own journalis- tering in place, it seems like the coun- advises to never allow a good crisis to go to And so forth. tic payroll protection plan. Atry’s slowly getting back to normal—at waste. As time goes on, Mayor Lightfoot’s short Lastly, it’s hard for me to get really worked least when it comes to political power plays. Though, at the moment, I can’t think of temper is starting to remind me more and up over a Daley-like power grab when we In Washington, President Trump, Mitch anything even remotely good about this more of Mayor Daley’s. Though it’s true, she have a lunatic in the White House who re- McConnell, and other congressional Repub- pandemic. still has not threatened to stick a rifle up cently recommended fighting the virus by licans inserted language giving massive tax The Trump/McConnell machinations give some reporter’s ass—as Daley did to Mick ingesting disinfectant. breaks to the fabulously wealthy into the bill more money to the 1 percent, while the new Dumke. Then again, she’s only been in o ce As you can see, we’re still a long way from intended to help the most vulnerable survive Chicago ordinance gives more power to the for about a year. normal. v the pandemic. mayor—something that neither party needs. As I can see it, the most compelling argu- And on the local front, Mayor Lightfoot Let’s deal with the Chicago ordinance. ment for giving her the new authority is that @bennyjshow used the crisis to strong-arm the City Council It stems from what many people call the in this crisis the city may have to make an into passing an ordinance giving her virtual Dave Glowacz executive order to give the emergency purchase upon which lives will control over millions of federal and state pan- mayor control over COVID-fi ghting funds. hinge, and if she has to wait for the council to demic relief funds without council approval. Actually, I’m the only person who calls it give her the go-ahead, people will die. Now I’m not equating Lightfoot with that—just my way of tipping my hat to Mr. You hear that Lopez and Ramirez-Rosa? Trump—good lord, even Mayor Rahm wasn’t Glowacz, my old podcasting partner, who Those deaths will be on your hands! please recycle that bad. alerted the city to the mayor’s executive I had this vision of the mayor on the phone But I would say that both acts come order in an article that recently ran right here negotiating with a shrewd and evil broker in this paper straight from the Book of Rahm—chapter in the Reader. something like face masks who’s giving her ll APRIL - CHICAOREADER 5 Don’t H C R A M | E C N I S LY K E E W E E R F S ’ O AG C I H C NEWS & POLITICS miss an STAY AT HOME issue Get the Next 12 Weeks of the Chicago Reader
Delivered to Your Home CULTURE chicagoreader.com/support No tiptoeing through the tulips The Chicago Botanic Garden is only open online. Chicago's By D I Free Weekly t’s tulip time. Between now and Mother’s bulb garden?) before giving up and heading to Since 1971 Day, masses of these heralds of spring will the adjacent Skokie Lagoons, which, so far at We Couldn't Be Free Without You— Iburst into bloom at the Chicago Botanic least, remain open. On Saturday, Cook County Support Community Journalism Garden, which counts 750,000 bulbs among board president Toni Preckwinkle closed the treasures on its Glencoe campus. To see parking lots at many of the forest preserves them in fi elds of dazzling color is to begin to on weekends (including Fridays), but the la- understand the mania that seized Holland in goons aren’t among them. The parking there The Reader 420 Companion is the 17th century, driving the price of a single has always been limited, but it’s still open, as #TVKUV9TKVGT filled with greatrecipes , activities bulb to many times the annual earnings of is the bicycle path. You can hike, bike, fi sh, or and coloring pages. ordinary Dutchmen. launch a kayak or canoe. 2GTHQTOGT! We are not seeing them, however. Like The lagoons are all water and woods, more %4'#6+8' 51.76+105 (14 most everything else during the pandemic, nature than the carefully plotted nurture of %4'#6+8' 2'12.' the Botanic Garden is closed, and has been the Garden’s display areas, though they’re since March 17. The originally announced also man-made, thanks to a massive Civilian 5WRRQTVKXG #HHKTOKPI CPF )QCN closure through April 30 has been extended; Conservation Corps fl ood-control project in &KTGEVGF 2U[EJQVJGTCR[ CPF the current target for reopening is July 1. A the 1930s. There are seven of them, spread *[RPQVJGTCR[ HQT #FWNVU garden spokesperson says they’re following over 894 acres of former marshland just east federal, state, and local recommendations of the Edens Expressway, between Willow /#: - 5*#2'; .%59 and, if they’re able to safely reopen earlier, and Dundee roads. On Sunday, with the trees .QECVGF KP &QYPVQYP 'XCPUVQP they will. still devoid of leaves and many of them felled, I went there anyway last weekend, tulips on the scene was stark and skeletal, like some the brain. The main entrance (on Lake Cook ghostly gray battleground. Near the shore- YYYOCZUJCRG[EQO Road) and both bicycle entrances are blocked, line, I stumbled on something startling: parts OCZUJCRG["CQNEQO Details may be found at and the entire property is fenced. But there’s of a carcass, stripped bare—all empty eye NWG TQUU NWG 5JKGNF 2TGHGTTGF 2TQXKFGT chicagoreader.com/420book a gap under the main gate; it looked like an sockets and rib cage. A deer, I’m guessing, and KIPC 2TGHGTTGF 2TQXKFGT invitation to slide under and I considered it a gruesome reality check. Seeking tulips in a (Would they spot me, making my way to the pandemic, I’d found death. 6 CHICA O READER - APRIL ll Chicago's Free Weekly Since 1971 NEWS & POLITICS
The Lakeside Garden at the Chicago Botanic make online classes available; [so far] yoga Garden COURTESY THE CHICAGO BOTANIC GARDEN and photography.
How has the shutdown changed what the Like the Chicago Botanic Garden, most of public will see when the Garden reopens? the nation’s famous gardens are closed. But a New York Times editorial last weekend urged Reductions include fully eliminating our that gardens and parks fi nd ways to remain spring displays, downsizing our plant orders open—the public benefit outweighing the for summer and fall displays, and cancellation risks. The Botanic Garden was able to limit of all travel including our international plant visitors during its ticketed winter light show; collection expeditions. When the Garden maybe they could use a similar reservation reopens, it will look different, as we have system to allow a manageable number of vis- had to prioritize tasks. For example, we have itors to return? In the meantime—no public eliminated tasks that require more than one hours and no media visits. person such as moving large containers. How is the garden faring? Here’s an edited Large planting projects have been postponed. version of responses to questions about that from Executive Vice President Fred Spicer, via What’s it like without visitors? e-mail. We have moved ahead with planned projects What fi nancial e ect is the shutdown hav- that include construction on the new Shida chicagoreader.com/donate ing on the garden? Evaluation Garden and Shoreline Restoration and converting crushed stone to brick on the The closure hit us right at the beginning of path by the English Walled Garden. During We Couldn't Be Free Without You— the Garden’s busy season. Due to not gener- the temporary closure we have seen some e - Support Community Journalism ating planned earned revenue, we have had to ciencies in completing projects, as we haven’t reduce operating costs across the board. Re- had to schedule around our visitors. ductions in personnel operating costs include wage reductions, reduced hours, and layo s What about o -site programs? for Garden employees. We were able to keep 86 percent of our sta employed and have im- The Chicago Botanic Garden manages the plemented a wage reduction for less than half Farm on Ogden and 17 Windy City Harvest of the Garden’s employees. urban farms, which are also closed to the public. We are still operating and growing You’re also operating without any of your produce at those locations. We are currently regular force of about 1,400 volunteers; maintaining the same level of production how has the work been a ected? with aquaponics, harvesting approximately 2,500 heads of lettuce a week, and also other Many of the Garden’s staff are working re- crops. As we retool our distribution model motely and we’re bringing the Garden to the to support emergency food needs for the public through our website (chicagobotanic. community, we are adjusting the types of Herrera Landscape org) and social media channels. We are con- crops we grow [in part for longer storage]. tinuing to care for our treasured 385-acre liv- For VeggieRx, which supports patients with Let us create your outdoor oasis! ing museum, 2.6 million plants in our perma- diet-related diseases who are also food in- nent collection, and production greenhouse secure, we’re creating 100 VeggieRx bags a operations. Behind the locked gates, a critical week [for delivery or pickup]. For Corps, our operations sta is in place. transitional jobs programming for justice-in- volved individuals, we are bringing on three Lawn maintenance • Landscape design • Plantings What about programming? small cohorts (3 participants per cohort) who Hardscape • Brick paving • Retaining walls and more! will help with continued produce production. We are encouraging people to join us for a #nature moment every Wednesday on Face- Are the tulips in bloom? book, Twitter, and Instagram to share images of spring blooms. [Also] we are sharing ways We are sharing a live feed of the Circle Garden one can quiet the mind and connect with na- where tulips were planted last fall and their Contact us today! ture, such as information on forest bathing. colorful blooms are beginning to pop. v Although all classes scheduled through June herreralandscapes.com | (847) 679-5622 30 have been canceled, we are starting to @DeannaIsaacs ll APRIL - CHICAOREADER 7 NEWS & POLITICS
Birth and postpartum doula Cassie Calderone helps a private client through labor at West Suburban Medical Center on March 27. MALINDA NICHOLSON
is just one of a handful of area hospitals that continue to allow parents to labor with a part- ner and a doula after both have been screened for exposure to COVID-19 (at West Suburban, this means ensuring visitors don’t have a cough, fever, or shortness of breath, though other hospitals may also ask about recent travel and contact with people who have tested posi- tive for COVID-19); others include the Advocate system hospitals and Rush. In nearby Berwyn, the PCC Family Birth Center allows each birth- ing parent three visitors: a partner, another family member, and a doula. AMITA Health Saint Joseph does allow a doula in addition to a visitor, unlike other AMITA city hospitals. (The hospital confi rmed this to Birthguide Chicago, which maintains a daily updated list of birthing hospital visitor policies.) But the lion’s share of hospitals, including UChicago, Prentice, and Mount Sinai, have adopted a strict one-visitor policy for labor and delivery units, counting doulas as “visitors” rather than an essential part of the birthing team. However, there’s still some inconsistency in how hospitals interpret their interim policies. “The chain of communication in a pandemic is not great,” said Qiddist Ashé, a birth and postpartum doula. On March 27, Ashé accompa- nied a client in labor to the University of Chica- go Family Birth Center, where, she said, she had been assured by a sta member that she could NEWS sometimes irregularly enforced visitor poli- enter in addition to her client’s partner. But cies—introduced in an e ort to slow the spread when she arrived, the person she had spoken to of the novel coronavirus—have kept doulas out was not on call, and she wasn’t allowed in. For A push for more options of the delivery room, or even removed them the first time in her several years as a doula, in the middle of a labor, making the process of she aided her client through labor virtually. A Doulas work double-time to see parents through safe, empowered births. bringing life into the world a little more fraught. spokesperson for UChicago Medicine said in an “[Other birth workers] were saying, ‘I went e-mail statement that the birth center currently By E P to Prentice [Northwestern Medicine’s Women’s does not allow doulas to enter the hospital, but Hospital] and I was allowed in, but while I was is working to facilitate virtual doula support. there, I was asked to leave,’” said Calderone, “As doulas we prepare for the unknown, and irth and postpartum doula Cassie old, self-quarantined for two weeks before and who works privately as well as through a help other people prepare for the unknown,” Calderone returned to work from her after the birth for her clients’ and her family’s community doula program at Advocate Illinois Calderone said. “[During] a pandemic, how are own maternity leave in late March, just safety. And, she said, after her client’s 24-hour Masonic Medical Center. “Information was we going to know? How is anybody going to a week after the city’s shelter-in-place labor, she learned that the hospital had just im- changing by the minute.” know?” order went into e ect. Her fi rst birth plemented a new policy preventing visitors who In response to the COVID-19 outbreak, hospi- Bwas an induction, scheduled in advance, and left the labor and delivery unit from returning. tals have adopted temporary no-visitor policies irth justice advocates worry that the the baby was born healthy and to happy parents Fortunately for the couple, Calderone didn’t in accordance with CDC and Illinois Department one-visitor policies adopted by most hos- at West Suburban Medical Center in Oak Park, need to return, and neither parent had a reason of Public Health guidelines, granting exceptions Bpitals will make it harder for them to fi ght just outside the city limits, on March 27. But be- to leave the unit before they were discharged: for patients in their labor and delivery units, against existing racial disparities in maternal cause of precautions due to COVID-19, this birth this was their fi rst child, so they had no older among others. But not all hospitals are in agree- health care. Having to choose between a part- looked di erent than any other in Calderone’s kids to pick up from the neighbors or the ment on the question of how many visitors to ner and a member of your birth support team four years of practice. Calderone, who has a grandparents. But in other instances in birthing allow birthing parents. can cause “emotional stress and, probably, less- preschooler with asthma and a three-month- hospitals across the city, recently instituted and West Suburban, a popular birthing hospital, ened physical comfort and all the consequences 8 CHICA O READER - APRIL ll NEWS & POLITICS
of not having a doula,” said Anya Tanyavutti, The maternal health crisis for Black parents Change.org petition started by Chicago Family executive director of Chicago Volunteer Doulas is compounded by the pandemic, which is also Doulas to the same end. (CVD), a nonprofit birth justice organization disproportionately affecting Black people in Last month, in response to Michigan birth that provides free doula care for its clients, the Chicago, who represent only 29 percent of the workers lobbying for their work to be rec- majority of whom are people of color. city’s population but 70 percent of COVID-19 ognized as “essential,” Michigan governor Doulas, studies show, help improve health deaths as of April 5, according to WBEZ. Gretchen Whitmer released a statement saying outcomes for parents and babies. Doula- Ashé, who works predominantly with Black that all birthing people should be able to be ac- attended labors are shorter and less likely to pregnant people and their families, said that companied by a doula and a partner. In addition leave the mother with “negative feelings,” as these converging crises have raised the stress to helping support parents of color through well as 39 percent less likely to result in a C-sec- level for parents of color who are preparing to an increasingly stressful hospital experience, tion. Regular prenatal doula meetings made at- give birth during the pandemic. “A lot of [my Tanyavutti said the support of doulas can help risk parents four times less likely to give birth clients] are feeling a greater sense of anxiety free up already stressed hospital resources. preterm. In a hospital setting, doulas can serve about the safety of them and their babies,” “Our doulas help mitigate medical interven- as advocates, making sure that all birthing peo- Ashé said. “That anxiety is compounded on top tion,” she said. “You’d think they’d want to ple—but especially clients of color and Medic- of the concerns and valid fears around racism lessen the need for medical intervention.” aid patients, who research shows are at greater . . . within the medical system.” risk for complications—have their voices heard The desire to have a safer, more empowered “Humans have ven if lobbying does eventually allow and birth plan respected. birth experience in a hospital setting is what doulas to be present for all births, doulas While the American College of Obstetricians leads many of her clients to seek out her doula Eand organizations like CVD are coming to and Gynecologists recognizes the significant care in the first place, she said. Along with been birthing terms with the fact that COVID-19, and social benefi ts of doula-assisted births, it has not is- providing other labor support, Ashé helps to distancing, may have a longer-term impact on sued a statement on the topic of restrictive vis- “protect the space” for clients, and make sure birth work. itor policies during COVID-19: it recommended that their needs are heard and met. for a very The doulas I spoke to are following the CDC that patients ask their providers about specifi c Some of Ashé’s clients have expressed inter- recommendations, and in some cases taking policies for doulas. The Association of Women’s est in home births as COVID-19 cases continue additional precautions, to keep themselves and Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses, on the to climb. But unlike Wisconsin, Illinois does not long time, their clients safe. Calderone plans to self-quar- other hand, came out with a strong statement recognize or insure home births, and so there antine before and after all upcoming births for of opposition: “AWHONN opposes hospital pol- are few certifi ed midwives who are willing to the foreseeable future, though it won’t always icies that restrict the presence of a doula in the attend home births. Most of these midwives be so easy to do. The March birth was a sched- inpatient setting during an infectious disease who do attend home births are now nearly at and have gone uled induction, but babies don’t always arrive break.” capacity. And since insurers in Illinois won’t in the time frame they’re expected. For parents of color, and especially Black cover home births, it can be prohibitively ex- For the births she cannot attend in person, parents, in Chicago—who due to decades of pensive—anywhere from $1,500 to $5,000. Oth- through a lot of and for prenatal visits, she’s switching to virtual racist policies and health-care inequities face ers are opting for free births, or family births, care—both in her capacity as a private doula much higher risks than white parents of devel- which is a birth in the home, supported entirely and as a community doula with the Healthy oping conditions or dying during pregnancy, by family members and birth workers. apocalypses.” Families program at Illinois Masonic, where birth, or the postpartum period—the prospect Ashé honors her clients’ preferences, and will she sees mostly low-income, pregnant teens. It of giving birth in a hospital has become even continue to support them if they choose to do a hasn’t been easy. “I’ve been working incredibly more fraught as the peak of COVID-19 cases ap- home birth or even a free birth. (Some doulas hard to help everybody adjust,” she said. “I was proaches and hospital beds fi ll up with people won’t attend free births.) But most major health personally like, ‘Am I doing enough?’” who are struggling to weather the respiratory organizations, including the American College The Ounce of Prevention Fund, an Illinois infection on their own. for Obstetricians and Gynecologists, recom- nonprofi t that promotes early childhood devel- “What we see are some really tragic and un- mend that pregnant people continue to give —Qiddist Ashé opment in low-income communities, is advis- fortunate parallels that really demonstrate the birth in hospitals. And for the vast majority of ing the ten community doula programs it funds levels of racism embedded in our medical insti- people, a hospital birth is the only choice. in Chicago—including the Healthy Families tutions, our housing institutions, our economic Tanyavutti and Ashé (who is a Chicago program—only to meet with patients virtually institutions,” said Tanyavutti. Volunteer Doulas board member) are joining or over the phone, including for birth. While In Illinois, Black women are six times more other birth workers across the city in lobbying virtual care is “suboptimal,” especially because likely to die of a pregnancy-related condition Governor J.B. Pritzker to release a statement some families may lack the technology, spokes- than white women—almost twice the nation- explicitly a rming doulas as essential workers, person Corrie Leech said, it’s in accordance wide rate. A 2018 report by the Illinois Depart- in the hopes that hospitals will consider doulas with advice from public health o cials to limit ment of Public Health found that 72 percent of as integral members of the birth team rather the spread of the virus. all pregnancy-related deaths were preventable. than as visitors. They cite CDC-issued hospital While CVD is also providing prenatal care Last year, Illinois representative Mary Flowers visitor guidelines, which say “facilities can virtually, the organization is working on a case- pushed new legislation through to establish consider exceptions . . . when a visitor is essen- by-case basis with its doulas and clients to help more legal rights for birthing parents as well as tial for the patient’s emotional well-being and them make an informed decision about wheth- a task force to better understand the high death care.” CVD is also helping circulate resources er in-person birth support and postpartum care rate for Black mothers and babies. and talking points for calling the governor and a is safe. In-person postpartum care is especially ll APRIL - CHICAOREADER 9 NEWS & POLITICS continued from 9 was announced, Calderone made the choice to ing. “So I get on the fl oor, I’m tilting the camera they can stay in touch with their mentors and important for some families, Tanyavutti said. start seeing her own postpartum doula virtu- down, pretending to be a pregnant person and their loved ones. It can be extremely difficult to make breast- ally, too. Even through FaceTime, being able to support person at the same time.” At the births “It’s a frightening and frustrating time to feeding work, especially if it’s not something talk to her doula and having her doula talk to she has assisted virtually, though, she says see how vulnerable people are being treated in that’s “normal” to a parent’s community or her preschooler so that she can focus on taking nurses have stepped up, o ering to help coor- these moments,” Tanyavutti said. “The reason family, without early lactation support. “What care of her newborn has been helpful. dinate or carry out her instructions. She con- why our work is so critical is not because of a we want to try to prevent is a generation of vul- While Ashé and Calderone still have cli- tinued. “My hope is that in the move toward problem we’ve created. We are mitigating a nerable birthing people and infants having less ents—and therefore income—for the fore- digital services, we don’t lose our traditional problem that the system has.” access to breastmilk and chestfeeding.” seeable future, CVD has had to adjust their and ancestral forms of working person to per- Ashé says she hopes that Chicagoans will be At a time when low-income families are ex- fund-raising strategies since postponing its son. So much of the care that I o er, and that inspired to advocate and call for the release of periencing severe income instability because annual summer soirée, funds from which many people don’t get in the medical model, all incarcerated people, but especially those of workplace shutdowns, providing safe, cover most overhead costs. Now, it’s launched involves physical touch.” who are pregnant or parenting while incarcer- in-person lactation support is particularly im- a spring donation drive and is planning to As she looks toward the future, she says she’s ated. In the meantime, she continues to advo- portant, Tanyavutti added. Formula is a major apply for payroll protection funding to make thinking of pregnant people who are incarcer- cate for doulas to be considered indispensable expense, costing parents on average between up for the lost funds. But Tanyavutti sounded ated in the middle of a public health crisis that parts of parents’ birth team. And in the midst $1,200 and $1,500 in the fi rst year of a baby’s optimistic, saying they’ve been “humbled has turned prisons and jails into the biggest of the pandemic she’s finding grounding in life. And there are long-lasting benefits of and touched” by the support they’ve received COVID-19 hotspots city- and nationwide. CVD the depth and dedication of the birth worker breastfeeding that can help reduce disparities already. continues to provide support to incarcerated community, in ritual, and in the resilience of in child health and development. In a line of work that’s traditionally hands- people at Logan Correctional Center, a prison the birthing body. For others, virtual postpartum support may on, switching to virtual isn’t always logistically 30 miles north of Springfi eld, where they run “Humans have been birthing for a very long be enough. The couple whose birth Calderone easy. While the transition to FaceTime and a peer doula training program. While two time, and have gone through a lot of apocalyps- attended in March needed her to be there Zoom has gone mostly smoothly for Ashé, she pregnant people, one of whom is due in May, es,” Ashé said. “The babies coming into the and present for labor, but then were OK with said it’s not always easy to showcase the more have been released and are receiving virtual world right now are coming into the world for receiving virtual support from her postpar- physical aspects of birth preparation. “Just the support from CVD doulas, the incarcerated a particular purpose.” v tum as they quarantined at home with their other day I was trying to demonstrate birthing doulas in training are in lockdown; CVD is giv- newborn. And after the shelter-in-place order positions through FaceTime,” she said, laugh- ing them extra communication credits so that @emelpos SCRATCH FOR STACKS
10 CHICA O READER - APRIL ll ARTS & CULTURE
mental protest last year. I’m so proud of her. I love her to death, and seeing her painting every morning when I get out of the shower reminds me of her and her two sisters (who also have names beginning with Z—we call them the three Zs), and reminds me that chil- dren are our greatest blessing. And they are Gen Z, and awesome, and our future, and we owe it to them to leave them a world that is as much a blessing to them as they have been to us. It’s a good way to start the day, at least for a guy who grew up in a big Irish family, in neighborhoods full of big Irish families, and especially when I’m quarantined at home alone. Children are a precious gift, even if they aren’t ours, and even if we can’t see them in person.”
DWAYNE KENNEDY Emmy-winning producer, comedian, and south side native ing in Eden — / Ah, the sea / Might I moor — Objects: remote control, television Tonight — / In thee!” (from her poem number 249, aka “Wild Nights — Wild Nights!”). Dwayne sent us a photo of his remote control While most of us are, rightfully, just deal- and television, familiar items for most of us ing with the juggle of the new, some can see these days. “Let’s just go with the picture of our stay-home e orts as an opportunity for the TV. It’s the closest I ever want to be to vis- taking stock. Some of us are fortunate to have iting anybody or anybody visiting me . . . and people and pets living with us with whom that was even before the pandemic!” we’re excited to spend more time, but most of us privileged enough to have shelter can SALOME CHASNOFF point to at least one thing that makes our Filmmaker and arts educator, founder of home a good place to be. Beyondmedia and member of the PO Box I asked a group of notable Chicagoans to Collective share some of their favorite items in their Objects: Salome’s bed, a mannequin in Sa- house and tell us about the things that have lome’s house made this time a little easier. They all pro- vided their own photos, and some had re- “Instead of jumping out of bed every morning fl ections about the experience of being in the to get to work as I’ve done most of my life, I’ve world during this troubling time. been hanging in bed for hours, reading, like I have all the time in the world. My memory JERRY BOYLE foam pillow has made this delicious behavior STAY HOME Attorney and National Lawyers Guild Chicago extra special. I just fi nished On Earth We’re legal observer Briefly Gorgeous [a novel by Ocean Vuong] Object: a painting by Jerry’s goddaughter, and I’m starting The Shape of the Ruins [by Zoharia Lev Drizin Juan Gabriel Vasquez]. We’ve had the manne- quin around forever. Our daughter used her Chicagoans share the objects that make their homes good places to be. Jerry shared a painting that his goddaughter in photo shoots in high school. I put her in the Zoharia (now in college) gave him when she window to help me participate in a local quar- By S C -J was in second grade. “Zoharia is the first antine project, #neighbors4abolition—a way daughter of my former roommates, and I was to vocalize our protest against people being her Ba’al HaBeracha—I gave the blessing at held in prisons and jails that are quickly tay-home edicts and orders preventing and grocery delivery). Dickinson is perhaps her naming ceremony. Christians know these turning into death camps. I change her outfi t Illinois residents from public congrega- one of our most famous American home- traditions as godfather and baptism, and we when the spirit moves me.” Stion have only been in place for about a bodies, but even the confi nes of her father’s often use godfather/daughter so other people month as I write this, but people are already house in late-19th-century Massachusetts get the relationship. She’s a freshman . . . SHARLENE KING feeling the e ects of living like Emily Dickin- was inspiration enough for her to come up majoring in environmental studies, and I got User-experience designer and information son (albeit with access to a 24/7 news cycle with worldly and lascivious lines like “Row- to cover her as a legal observer at an environ- architect ll APRIL - CHICAOREADER 11 ARTS & CULTURE
presented to me as a birthday gift by the guys online to remember how to thread the bobbin of my TV crew. It makes me feel happy. It was once the one that was in there ran out. But an honor to be spoofed in Mad, and it reminds now this machine sits on our dining room me of the great people I work with that I look table, moved to the fl oor for meals, and then forward to being back with again—hopefully back up for another round of stitching.” soon!” KAINA DAN SINKER Musician, whose 2019 album Next to the Sun Author, publisher, founder of Punk Planet, made the Reader’s Best Chicago Albums of and cohost of the Says Who podcast the 2010s list Object: Dan’s Singer Heavy Duty sewing Objects: plants, a Nintendo Switch machine “It’s been really nice waking up to a whole Dan has been making masks with his Singer. bunch of plants in my room. They’re still liv- “It started with just making masks for my ing, and tending to them and paying attention family using scrap fabric around our house to their habits has been a nice way of staying and then I kept unearthing boxes of fabric in touch with life as it moves. I got a lot of that my wife Janice and I had collected over these from the local store Plant Shop Chica- Objects: dinosaur costume, cat castle, resis- and shoulder presses again. I’m doing a lot the years. We’ve sent over 150 masks out now go, which is one of my favorite businesses to tance band platform of Zoom calls these days and the costume is to people we know, people we don’t, frontline support—I picked up a few during quarantine sure to bring a smile to someone’s face. I’ve nurses, an entire preschool class. It’s become since they’re offering pickup and drop-off. Sharlene shared a few items built around the also been able to help out friends with kids my morning ritual now to get up and cut and Some of these are cuttings from friends so it’s inspirational theme of making this time work by reading them books or talking about di- sew masks before school and work starts. nice to have that reminder of socialization for you: “I’m really digging the cat castle I nosaurs. It is impossible not to be adorable if I’m always making things—though mostly too!” built out of old cardboard boxes. All I used you dance in the costume.” online—so this is the perfect mindless busy Kaina also sent a photo of the Nintendo to build it was wood glue. I used a large bowl work for me right now. And, it helps people. I Switch, a gadget that a lot of people have and some pots to cut the di erent holes out. RICH KOZ (aka SVENGOOLIE) know how to sew (thanks 1980s public school discovered as a great distraction. “My best All the wood I’ve scrounged and the tools Television host and creature of the night home economics) and usually make the kids’ friends Paige and Sen gifted this console to I’ve accumulated over time since I was a Object: art by Tom Richmond for Mad Maga- halloween costumes—bought this machine me for my birthday two years ago and it’s student at SAIC 20 years ago means I’ve been zine (published in 2018) a few years ago after the ancient one we had really felt like a blessing. Animal Crossing building wood things during this time. One of finally broke—but that’s the totality of it. recently came out and it’s such a peaceful and my favorite projects is this resistance band “This is the original Tom Richmond art for When I just wanted to make masks for us, I cute game so it’s allowed me to calm down platform that lets me do squats, deadlifts, the Svengoolie Mad Magazine satire that was had to look up the sewing machine manual my everything-is-burning feelings. I use it a 12 CHICA O READER - APRIL ll ARTS & CULTURE
Providing arts coverage in Chicago since 1971. lot to pass time during drives on tour so it’s a home. Even Emily Dickinson could get into nice to tap into that zoning-out feeling while this: as she wrote in poem number 1510, “How things are bad.” happy is the little Stone / That rambles in the Road alone, / And doesn’t care about Careers JOHN CUSACK / And Exigencies never fears.” v Former Evanstonian, actor, activist Object: white crystal @hollo
Mr. Cusack graciously sent me this image, which includes a white crystal that seems to have a prominent place in his home. While www.chicagoreader.com he wasn’t available to chat about his object, white crystals are well known in the spiritual please recycle community as a clearing stone that attracts this paper good light and energy and invites peace into ll APRIL - CHICAOREADER 13 by Rachel Hawley
It seems prescient now that a movie about being trapped inside a house took home Best Picture at the 2020 Academy Awards.
The film,s interior design is as much of an indictment of new minimalism,s pretenses as its story is an indictment of capitalism,s. That the Parks, house is so neat while the Kims, is so cha- otic doesn,t mean that the Parks are living a more thoughtful or balanced life. They simply have more hidden spaces to hide their messes away in - including one they don,t even know about.
But the new minimalist ethos isn’t really about anti-materialism, as one might surmise after spending a few minutes perusing $60 storage con- tainers and $175 compost bins on Marie Kondo,s online store. It,s a shift in the distribution of material, from owning fifteen $20 sweaters to four $100 ones, from rooms packed with furniture and decorative flourishes to rooms like those in the Parks, home.
14 CHICAGO READER - APRIL 30, 2020 airbnb
I find this argument convincing. An imper- sonal minimalist aesthetic can lessen the , discomfort of entering a stranger s home, in the case of Airbnb. And as buildings, then blocks, then entire cities begin to look more and more like one another, each one begins to feel more familiar, though none feel quite like home.
I have more free time than ever, and yet I never seem able to muster up the energy for a deep decluttering session. One of the biggest supposed benefits of living-space minimalism is the peace of mind that comes with a spare, organized home. But peer- There’s something nice about living and communing ing into my coworkers, lives during videochat meetings I feel , spaces that feel made and inhabited by actual people, oddly comforted by the sight of a crammed bookshelf or disorga- free from the uncanny perfection of new minimalism. nized room in the background. Maybe embracing clutter is a radical expression of my individuality. Or maybe I’m just too lazy to tidy up.
APRIL 30, 2020 - CHICAGO READER 15 ARTS & CULTURE
PLANTS Propagation in isolation Money doesn’t grow on trees, but other trees do! By M D
n this time of isolation and general slow- soil, too. Stem-and-leaf cuttings (think pothos down, many of us are spending an unprec- and philodendron tendrils) can be placed in Iedented amount of time at home, among any receptacle of water and multiply quickly. the inanimate objects and living beings that Plus they look cute in glasses, bottles, or vases add texture, sound, and color to our daily ex- around your home. istence. Perhaps we’ve started cleaning more There are a million guides to propagation COmedy out of boredom, or rearranging our books, or online, and tons of inspiration for propaga- trying new recipes. We may be cuddling with tion aesthetics on Instagram, but sometimes pets or kids like never before. And we may be it’s good to just follow your gut, particularly from Your looking at our houseplants and feeling the with succulents. Pluck off a juicy leaf, let it urge for more. Luckily, you can materialize and rest away from a playful cat’s paw or curious multiply plants like Jesus with his loaves and toddler’s mouth for a couple of days until fi shes. An avocado plant will grow out of a pit, the broken part scabs over, then place on top an onion can easily become a source of green of some soil in a pot, spritz or soak every so cOUCh shoots, and scallion root tips can yield a new often, and watch its new roots appear. Soon bulb garden. Every plant can become more enough there’ll be more succulents for sunny plants, often from nothing more than one of its windowsills. leaves or tendrils. And luckily, it’s spring, the “In propagation the name of the game is optimal time for propagation, as the tempera- increasing humidity so that the nodes can gen- ture warms and daylight grows longer. erate new sets of roots,” says Damiane Nickles, Connect, Laugh, Create with People There are three basic ways of propagating who runs the @notaplantshop Instagram most houseplants: stem-and-leaf cuttings, pup plant shop. Though his business is temporar- Around the World Through Virtual Classes! cuttings, and root division. Pup cuttings (like ily on hold due to the coronavirus lockdown IMPROV • STAND-UP • WRITING • & MORE! from monstera or aloe) can be placed in water he’s propagating as actively as ever, starting or soil to develop their own roots. Plants that with his favorite Sansevieria snake plants. SECONDCITYONLINE.COM • 312-337-3992 can be propagated by dividing root clusters “They’re so fucking tough,” he says, launching (like ferns or snake plants) can go directly into into a story about how he’d repotted one a 16 CHICA O READER - APRIL ll POETRY CORNER ARTS & CULTURE Cornelius “Johnny” Hodges By Yvonne Zipter Grow your garden using stem-and-leaf cuttings, Whatever the growing medium, Nickles rec- pup cuttings, or root division. MAYA DUKMASOVA FOR ommends keeping propagating cuttings out of CHICAGO READER direct sunlight. Hate was the fuel, desperation the wick, Pothos are particularly easy for novice prop- and Woodlawn the candle that burned while back and found a new baby in the root agators. “They will propagate even if you don’t to the ground, the scars cluster. He stuck it in his pocket to plant later have the best indirect light in your house,” from its heat still evident 50 yrs on. and forgot all about it. “I gave the jeans a wash Nickles says. “I usually like to take a big long and the next day found the cutting and it still strip, a nice piece with maybe six leaves, cut But on Kenwood Ave. today, took after the wash,” he says. “I also really like the bottom leaf, and I’ll stick that in soil and a rooster called me to cross the road. the fact that you can cut one leaf into several into a plastic bag or just straight into water. different pieces. That way you can get many Pothos are great because once the growing I know they called you Rabbit, Mr. Hodges, but that dandy many more plants out of one leaf. They’re very season begins they start growing so quickly.” of a bird has got yer smooth. economical and pragmatic plants.” For people who think they don’t have a He ain’t in NO hurry Though Nickles sometimes propagates green thumb, propagation can be a great way to blow another note or two in water, his preferred method is to plant to grow more comfortable with plant care. You but lets it rest a beat until you feel its cuttings in a pot of soil and seal them in a gal- can propagate a bunch of cuttings at once in shimmer.
lon-sized ziplock bag. The bag functions like a di erent spots around your home to see what TThey say the sun lodged a skosh greenhouse. “You don’t even need to water it sticks. “For the virgin propagator I’d say don’t of morning sky on top a’ that much,” he says. “Similar to a sourdough freak out if the fi rst one doesn’t work,” Nickles the rooster’s head. starter, I do like to burp the bag. I open it up says. “Sometimes it doesn’t work and you have Surely that’s what you was hiding and get some fresh air in there every three to try again. It’s more rewarding the next time. under yer or four days.” Once the roots have developed Don’t be afraid of failure.” v cocked fedora and the plant has grown somewhat, the plant cuz the cry is ready to molt out of its plastic cocoon. @mdoukmas from yer horn was bright and cool as new dew.
But when you blew that horn just down the street at the Crown Propeller Lounge, I bet your cool brewed its own kind of de-va- statin’ heat.
Yvonne Zipter is author of the poetry collections The Patience of Metal and Like Some Bookie God and the nonfiction books Diamonds Are a Dyke’s Best Friend and Ransacking the Closet. Her numerous published poems are currently for sale in two poetry-vending machines in Chicago, from which the proceeds are donated to the nonprofit arts organization Arts Alive Chicago.
A biweekly series curated by the Chicago Reader and sponsored by the Poetry Foundation.
Free online events with the Poetry Foundation
Online Poetry Workshops All are welcome to creative writing workshops led by library associate Maggie Queeney. Topics include poetry comics, metaphor, epistle, and repetition. Sessions throughout May OOnline Book Club Book group discussing Come the Slumberless to the Land of Nod by Traci Brimhall, moderated by Library staff. May 15 & 22
Poetry Foundation 61 West Superior Street poetryfoundation.org/events
ll APRIL - CHICAOREADER 17 THEATER
Jimmy Carrane BLAKE MIKOL
what is already there.” Abby Wagner, vice president of the Second City Training Center, notes that they had been o ering online classes for nearly a decade, but they had primarily focused on writing. “A lot of sketch writing, writing screenplays, writing satire.” But the company shifted to offering nearly all of their live in-person classes, in- cluding improv and musical improvisation, in the online realm. One thing that has changed is the running time for several of the courses. “Usually our classes last for eight weeks and go on for three hours,” notes Wagner. “To be more accessible to people who are maybe uncertain about when they’re going back to work or who don’t live here, we’ve added a ton of 90-minute drop-in classes, or four-week classes.” I was a fl y on the wall for the Second City drop-in class I attended. (The dozen students and the instructor, Jonny Nelson, knew I was listening in, but I was on mute and o camera the entire time.) The classes use Google Meet, which provides live captioning, thus making it easier to follow along. Most of the students were from out of state, including participants from Hawaii, California, New York, Florida, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, as well as a few from the Chicago suburbs. After a quick tutorial on the functions of Google Meet ONLINE THEATER TRAINING and explaining that the chat bar would be used for providing improv suggestions, Nelson told his students “If anything feels silly or awk- Making it up as they go ward or weird, you’re doing it right. This work is entirely about ensemble.” He also cautioned Improv and comedy classes move online. them about avoiding “mean-spirited” choices in character. By K R Over 90 minutes, the students played three di erent improv games that focused on listen- ing skills and the basic building blocks of “yes, hen the Upright Citizens Brigade situations where people are on stage, together, enough change going on in the world that I and”—whispering back a line that the person announced that it was closing its interacting at much closer range than six feet.” could not accept another one).” before them had said and fi guring out how to Wtraining center and theater in Manhat- But after speaking to a few improv and sto- Yet only a couple weeks into the process of be specifi c with details of where they were in tan last week, it illustrated the challenges of rytelling instructors and sitting in on a drop- teaching online, Carrane says he can already their online improvised world. “Specifi city is keeping improv and sketch alive during a pan- in improv class o ered through Second City, see the benefi ts. “My method of improv is the your friend,” Nelson reminded them. “Once demic shutdown. But for several institutions I can see that there are some advantages—or art of slow comedy,” he says. “So it’s really you’ve narrowed down where you are, it actu- and individual instructors, Zooming over to at least not completely insurmountable disad- about slowing down. You don’t have to do ally gives you a lot more room to play.” the online world has opened up some new vantages—to the online forum. crazy scenes. It’s more relationship based.” Given that few of them had any training in possibilities and also allowed them to keep Jimmy Carrane, who has been teaching One of the games that Carrane has been teach- improv at the start, it went surprisingly well, an income stream coming in as their stages improv and performing solo shows in Chicago ing for years, which he calls “Documentary,” and I found myself wondering how much of remain dark. for decades, made the leap online initially with even starts out with two people addressing an that was enhanced by the fact that the tech- It seems counterintuitive, for sure. As Jack great reluctance. “I am a very resistant person invisible camera and introducing themselves nology required them to focus closely on each Helbig notes in his Reader article this week on and very kind of old school,” he says. Or, as he and then improvising a story about how they other onscreen to keep the thread going. UCB’s closing, “most of the games created by wrote on his blog, “I would rather walk around met. “When you use stuff like that online, it “Don’t plan on what you’re saying next,” Viola Spolin that birthed modern improvisa- fi lled with gloom and doom than take action. really works because—well, it’s improv, right? cautioned Nelson. “As humans, our brains tional theater are intended for intensely social (Side note: I don’t like change. And there’s You use what you’ve got, so you’re embracing want to plan and plan. Slow it down, listen, 18 CHICA O READER - APRIL ll THEATER
and absorb.” In a time of uncertainty and something really interesting happen which social distancing, learning to be here now I thought was great in a recent class. They and just stay in the moment seems especially were doing a scene and all of a sudden, one useful. of the actors had their screen freeze up. The Wagner notes that Second City is now other actor in the scene assumed, because she reaching students who not only are geograph- wasn’t responding to her, that her scene part- ically removed from a Second City training ner was angry with her. So she addressed that outpost, but may have other barriers. “We just and was a ected by that. And I thought ‘Wow, sent out student surveys and I was reading that’s really good listening.’” some that said ‘Oh, I never would have had Wagner says, “Even when we go back and the guts to go to a stand-up class, but I loved have these live classes, we’re pretty much trying this online. It felt safe.’” planning on still having the ability to do this. If Dave Maher has been through some stuff, you can’t come or the weather is bad, you turn including a weeks-long diabetic coma nearly on the webcam and you can be in the room.” six years ago that formed the basis for his Though Carrane was initially resistant, solo, Dave Maher Coma Show. So surviving a the online courses have become a welcome quarantine maybe doesn’t seem that bad by extension of the community he’s always comparison, though he notes with a laugh, sought in the improv world. As he wrote “I was unconscious for the coma.” Now he’s on his blog, “Maybe that is one of the gifts o ering online versions of classes he’s taught we will get from this whole pandemic sit- at the Annoyance for a few years. “For me, my uation—new priorities of what is really stu translates pretty well to online,” he says. important. But, just like predicting when “There’s not a huge in-the-moment performa- the virus will end, it’s too early to tell.” v tive element.” Maher currently teaches storytelling and Jimmy Carrane o ers a how-to class on producing your own Carrane offers six-week online improv solo work via Zoom for the Annoyance. “I courses, as well as storytelling coaching. also teach a class called Unblocking the Art- jimmycarrane.com ist Within which is kind of my version of The Artist’s Way,” he says. “It’s for people who are The Second City struggling to be creative, and just giving them Online courses for adults, teens, and kids in the tools to do that.” improv, writing, stand-up, film, and more. Maher says he and the rest of the Annoyance secondcity.com teaching team focused on “actually providing value to people and not just using [the classes] The Annoyance as a money grab. People also seem to want In addition to Maher’s classes, the Annoyance bite-size things, so how can we shorten class- offers online courses in puppetry, props, es, and how can we o er them for cheap?” As a voiceover, and stand-up, as well as a class touring solo performer, in practical terms, the on writing for late night with Peter Grosz, a classes also “serve the purpose of getting my writer for, well, Late Night with Seth Meyers. name out there and letting people know I do theannoyance.com more than just teach classes.” But even after the shutdown, Maher says, “My plan is to keep iO GetYour Swag! this stu going as at least a supplement to the Classes on satire, improvised monologues, www.chicagoreader.com/shop in-person stu .” and creating personal narrative are on the iO Meantime, he says he’s trying to adapt the online menu, as well as two specialized online material to the current reality. “A big part writing classes—one focused on building a of the being creative and unblocking class is packet of sketches for Saturday Night Live, the talking about how you spend your time, being other on creating a portfolio for talk shows. accountable, and stu like that. So being able ioimprov.com to mention ‘Hey, I know time passes really weirdly right now, so what are the unique ComedySportz Chicago properties of our days and how can we engage While in quarantine, the improv games with them?’ seems useful. I don’t have any an- troupe o ers training for businesses on team swers for that, but staying open to it is at least building, communication, and brainstorming. something I’m mindful of.” cszchicago.com For Carrane, the online technology itself stretches the mindfulness muscles. “I had @kerryreid ll APRIL - CHICAOREADER 19 THEATER
Amy Poehler, Matt Walsh, and Matt Besser of the coined by science fi ction writer Robert Anton Upright Citizens Brigade Wilson to describe people who deliberately COURTESY CHICAGO IMPROV FESTIVAL undermine simpleminded, often manufac- tured consensus views of reality to reveal improv-based theaters doing shows with seamier, more complex truths. The UCB I performers who have quarantined togeth- covered in the 90s was all about guerrilla er—Boom Chicago in Amsterdam and the ontology. Annoyance—but that does not seem like a Their 1992 show Virtual Reality was full of viable model for all future live shows. And moments where they explored the concepts most of the games created by Viola Spolin of reality, which is, as Luigi Pirandello re- that birthed modern improvisational theater vealed a hundred years ago, a very slippery are intended for intensely social situations thing in theater. At one point in the show, where people are on stage, together, inter- the actors led the audience out of the the- acting at much closer range than six feet. Try ater for a “virtual street demonstration,” a playing freeze while also respecting social demonstration that actually blocked traffic distancing. on North Avenue and resulted in the very real I have to admit, though, that the thing that (unplanned) arrest of cast member Horatio shocked me the most about UCB was how Sanz, who stayed in character throughout the big they had become in the years since they arrest. Sanz ended up spending the night in moved (with almost no fanfare) from Chicago jail; his father picked him up in the morning. to New York in 1996. I knew they had become As I write this, I realize these are the kind of a player in the comedy business. And I have minor rebellions you can indulge in when you gone to shows at UCB in NYC over the years. are young and broke—and struggling to get Still, I was surprised when the news of their noticed. But the world is di erent when you CRITIC’S NOTEBOOK closing prompted articles in not just the New become an institution. It also looks di erent York Daily News and New York magazine’s when the world you have thrived in suddenly Vulture section but the New York Times, New stops working—literally and fi guratively. Upright Citizens hits a slump Yorker, and the Hollywood Reporter. It is easy to call for disruption when you I should not have been. Over the past two have no stake in the status quo. But what do Remembering the early days of the now-struggling comedy powerhouse and a half decades UCB became a rich source you do when the disruption comes and you for talent, and many of the top comic actors don’t want it because you have something By J H on TV today have some connection to UCB: to lose? What do you do when reality itself Aubrey Plaza, Ilana Glazer, Chris Gethard, undermines the consensus reality? Kate McKinnon, and of course Walsh and I spoke with Besser last week and he Poehler. seemed to lament how big and corporate UCB In a way the UCB had come to resemble the had become. That desire for the founders of ast week the folks at the Upright Citizens watch it? And even if you could adapt a large organizations they used to make fun UCB to recapture what they had in the past Brigade (UCB) sent out a letter announc- theater venue so everyone was spaced—at a of when they were a scrappy troupe of un- is refl ected in the open letter they sent last Ling they were permanently closing their minimum—six feet apart, would audiences knowns in Chicago in the early 90s. Back then week; “paring down to the size we were when venues for both performances and classes in show up? And could a theater survive on the Besser used to describe the Upright Citizens we started is our best chance for survival.” New York City. (This on top of announcing meager box o ce returns? Brigade as a dark corporation that secretly Survival. in March they were laying off all their em- Groups like UCB (improv-based comedy runs everything. “We are the invisible gov- Those are the stakes. For UCB. And proba- ployees at their theater spaces in NYC and troupes that also taught improv classes) were ernment,” he told me once, snickering. bly for most people involved in live theater. LA, in response to the pandemic.) The letter always partly insulated from the vagaries of They used to be the bad boys (and for a Which is the fi nal reason UCB’s news hit me was signed “Matt Besser, Amy Poehler, Ian the box o ce, because so much of their rev- long time, like all improv in the early 90s, hard. If they can’t keep it going, who can? Roberts, Matt Walsh, Founders of the Upright enue came from their classes, and from the they were male dominated), the guys who sat On the other hand, if they do find a way to Citizens Brigade.” ready-made audience of friends, family, and in the back of the class and needled the teach- survive the current crisis, others can as well. I don’t know why, but this news hit me fellow students those classes generate once er. They loved tweaking the nose of authority UCB has said they will host shows at another hard. Maybe it was the thought of all those you put your students together into teams fi gures. And I loved them for that. venue in New York and rent space for classes theater people (in one count 160 employ- and have them compete against each other on In 1994’s Conference on the Future of Hap- once it’s safe to do so. ees) suddenly without work. Just another stage. piness they faked a fi ght between Besser and The Hollywood Reporter interview ends reminder of how many theater people are The folks at UCB learned how to do this in an actor pretending to be Richard Christian- on the following hopeful note from Walsh: unemployed. (All of them. Well, almost all of Chicago, in our (until now) always crowded sen, then the lead critic at the Chicago Tri- “We’ve lost our venues multiple times. We’re them.) Or maybe it was just another reminder improv scene. At iO. At the Annoyance. At bune. Besser ended up driving the faux Chris- scrappy. So, god willing, we’ll survive this as of how dire things are in the world of live Second City. tiansen from the theater shouting, “We don’t well. Hang in there with us as we fi gure this entertainment. But shelter in place and social distancing want critics. We don’t need your approval!” out, please.” v How can you do a live show, if you can’t kicks that model in the ass. You can take UCB founding member Adam McKay once safely pack people together in a room to your classes online. And I have heard of two called Besser a “guerrilla ontologist,” a term @JackHelbig 20 CHICA O READER - APRIL ll FILM
Pahokee
Much of the fi lm is joyous, especially as it focuses on events like football championships, school dances, and graduation, but Bresnan and Lucas don’t shy away from the overall sense of melancholy that hangs over places like Pahokee. Bresnan’s elegiac shooting style, o en reminiscent of Emmanuel Lubezki’s work for Terrence Malick, doesn’t serve to gloss over the diffi cult subject matter, but rather brings out the beauty of the tenacious protagonists and the place they call home. —K S 112 min. 5/1-5/7, Gene Siskel Film Center From Your Sofa Porno R Porno, despite its racy title, is a lot more Saved meets Demons than it is Deep Throat. Set in 1992, the comedy horror takes place in a small-town theater staff ed by religious teenagers and a straight- edge projectionist (Robbie Tann). They accidentally summon an onscreen succubus (Katelyn Pearce) via a cursed fi lm reel. Directed by Keola Racela (Two Sisters), it’s a satanic sex education for goth girl Chaz (Jillian Mueller), peeping Toms Abe (Evan Daves) and Todd (Larry Saperstein), and the hunky Ricky (Glenn Stott). All are self-aware teen archetypes who are surely less NOW PLAYING Dupieux (Rubber, Reality), the clothes become him. teller. Archival footage and interviews with Hawkins and intriguing than the writers intended. Though the retro Jean Dujardin stars as a down-on-his-luck divorcé who Robertson’s ex-wife Dominique Robertson add depth vibes, from Encino Man and A League of Their Own on The Booksellers purchases a used deerskin jacket that inexplicably and sometimes humor. But the fi lm feels increasingly the marquee to the Kenneth Anger–like fi lm that puts R “Collecting is about the hunt. It’s not about comes with a free video camera; the purchase inspires one-sided as it turns to the Band’s slow unraveling and the curse in motion, provide a layered escape. Peppered the object.” So says one of the many book collectors him to pose as a fi lmmaker and start making a movie. He split following their 1976 farewell concert (documented with outrageous gore, such as a pair of balls exploding, and sellers featured in D.W. Young’s documentary. The recruits a local bartender (Adele Haenel from Portrait by Once Were Brothers’s executive producer Martin Porno is a funny and frightening time-machine trip worth Booksellers takes a deep dive into the sometimes wacky, of a Lady on Fire) to be his editor, while his goal, again Scorsese in 1978’s The Last Waltz). That makes sense taking. —B J 98 min. Music Box Theatre o en overlooked world of rare and antique books, tak- inexplicably and at the behest of the jacket (which considering that it’s largely based on Robertson’s 2016 Virtual Cinema ing a closer look at everything from independent sellers begins communicating with him), turns from making a book, Testimony, but it paints an incomplete picture; who refuse to cave to real-estate pressure to original fi lm to attempting to be the only person wearing said while Robertson contends that the Band intended The Wretched archival works of Black and Brown writers. The Book- piece of clothing. Murder soon enters the picture, on reuniting eventually, only “everyone forgot,” he R The Wretched is a chilling and capable soph- sellers starts off fun, highlighting the early beginnings concurrent with the deranged hero’s acquiring more sidesteps the group’s second act without him through omore feature from Brett Pierce and Drew T. Pierce of the industry and originators like Martin Stone. But and more deerskin apparel. If it sounds ludicrous, that’s the 80s and 90s. As a memoir brought to fi lm, Once (Deadheads). Following Ben (John-Paul Howard), a the fi lm doesn’t gloss over the dark side of the industry. because it is, though the fi lm doesn’t belabor its oddity. Were Brothers shines bright, but anyone looking for rebellious teenage boy sent to live with his father a er One interviewee discusses how the growth in e-books Dupieux’s cinematography and Joan Le Boru’s produc- a well-rounded look at the Band should take it as one his parents’ separation, the movie lets viewers know has threatened the future of bookselling: “The rise of tion design and art direction are the best parts about piece of the puzzle. —J L 100 min. Through something supernatural is afoot almost immediately. By the Internet . . . has made being a used bookseller almost it; the aesthetic is obnoxiously candy colored, but fi tting 4/30, Gene Siskel Film Center From Your Sofa the time Ben becomes suspicious, it’s revealed that a impossible.” Another discusses the need to eradicate nonetheless. —K S 77 min. 5/1-5/8, Gene “skin-walking witch” from the woods, who moves from the boys’ club culture of the industry that o en excludes Siskel Film Center From Your Sofa Pahokee host to host by wearing their skin, is preying upon chil- people of color and women. The documentary hits a few R A er making several short fi lms about young dren. The fi sh-out-of-water trope paired with a gaggle snags toward the climax with a slower pace, potentially Once Were Brothers people in the titular Florida Everglades community— of grown-ups unwilling to believe Ben calls to mind The losing some viewers’ interest. But for those that can R Once Were Brothers details the rise of fi ve- Pahokee, a town with only 6,000 residents and a Lost Boys. Similarly, The Wretched doesn’t rely heavily stick it through, they’ll fi nd a unique gem of a movie piece Candian-American group the Band from their median income of $14,000—fi lmmaking duo Patrick on visual scares—shots of the witch in her feral state, that they might not know they’re missing. —N beginnings backing rockabilly great Ronnie Hawkins Bresnan and Ivete Lucas extend their scope with this while startling, are sparse—and instead lets the protag- D L 98 min. Through 4/30, Gene Siskel Film and electrifying folk music with Bob Dylan in the feature-length documentary about a year in the lives of onist’s increasing panic build fear. Unfortunately, that Center From Your Sofa mid-60s, to coming into their own by the end of the four of the town’s Black and Latinx high school seniors. panic is fueled more by female sexuality than the pres- decade—and shaping the past half century of roots rock Details of the oppression they must contend with aren’t ence of domestic violence. That aside, The Wretched is a Deerskin in the process. As its full title suggests, it’s told primarily overt, as Bresnan and Lucas insert them subtly, o en solid choice if you’re looking for an attention-sustaining They say the clothes make the man, but in this bizarre from the point of view of cofounder and lead songwriter through fl eeting, observational shots that recall those in and polished production. —B J 98 min. In horror comedy from French musician-director Quentin Robbie Robertson, who proves to be an exquisite story- Frederick Wiseman’s evasively political documentaries. wide release on VOD v ll APRIL - CHICAOREADER 21 MUSIC
Ratboys, from le to right: Dave Sagan, Julia Steiner, Sean Neumann, and Marcus Nuccio COURTESY THE ARTIST
rhythm-section players for shows and ses- sions since moving to Chicago in 2015. After years of evolution, they’re now a full-fl edged four-piece. The release of Printer’s Devil was also supposed to provide the occasion for another big step in Ratboys’ development: their fi rst tour as a headliner. They’d put together an ambitious plan. A couple weeks after their celebratory hometown shows, they’d head to South by Southwest, then tour the western U.S. for three weeks, returning to Chicago on April 12. While Nuccio toured Japan for two weeks with one of his other bands, Pet Symmetry, Steiner and Sagan would play three duo Ratboys shows opening for Wilco in the southeast. Then the full band would reconvene in Chicago to begin the east-coast leg of their tour, kicking o April 29 in Ponti- ac, Michigan, and concluding May 16 in Saint Louis. After a brief breather, they’d head to Europe for three weeks. “It was really exciting, because we had never done a headlining tour,” Steiner says. “We’d done DIY tours, but those don’t have as much pressure or as much weight behind you. This was a new experience for us. And we were surprised—it looked like a lot of the shows were selling really well.” Because SXSW was the fi rst domino to fall, canceled due to COVID-19 on March 6, Rat- boys never even left home. And by March 21, everything else had also been called off or postponed: all 29 of their stateside headlin- Forced off the road but ing shows, their Wilco dates, their European tour, and their other festival appearances (Treefort Music Fest in Boise, Idaho, and still on the rails Waking Windows in Winooski, Vermont). “Everything regarding this whole situation Chicago indie rockers Ratboys recently released their best album yet, and though they can’t tour, they’re fi nding ways happened in small steps,” Nuccio says. “That to stay connected to their fans. week, I remember there being whispers that SXSW was getting canceled, and I remember By T C thinking, ‘This might be real. This might be a big deal.’” Thousands of musicians plan springtime n February 28, Chicago band Ratboys vocalist-guitarist Julia Steiner and guitarist regular live band: bassist Sean Neumann has tours around SXSW, and Ratboys have turned celebrated the release of their third Dave Sagan—started the band in a Notre been aboard since early 2017, and drummer the trip to Austin into an annual rite. “The Oalbum, Printer’s Devil, by playing to Dame dorm room after meeting at freshman Marcus Nuccio has been in and out since past four years we’ve gone down to SXSW,” a sold-out crowd at Lincoln Hall. The next orientation in 2010. later that same year (sharing the job with Ian Neumann says. “I keep telling Julia that I feel night, they headlined a second sold-out Printer’s Devil is an ambitious leap into Paine-Jesam, who also appears on Printer’s so weird right now, because the past four show, this time at the Hideout. Ratboys had wide-reaching indie rock. It’s by far the best Devil). Steiner and Sagan started out as a years I’ve experienced springtime by going been working toward those gigs for nearly Ratboys album to date, and it’s also the fi rst duo, playing quiet tunes that leaned toward down to South By. That’s been the change in ten years, ever since the group’s founders— to feature the lineup that’s become their Americana, but they’ve been recruiting season: we go from Chicago to Austin, Texas, 22 CHICA O READER - APRIL ll MUSIC
where it’s warmer, and it literally turns from the Alternative, wrote a piece titled “Ratboys Sanders voice: “Let me thank the, uh, Ratboys sell for $20 apiece, for instance, and cost $6 winter to spring. To not have that is throwing Are Such a Good Fucking Band.” Steiner and for their music.” to $9 to print; sweatshirts cost more than $16 me o a little bit.” Sagan had already made their songwriting The new album also got fans looking for- each and sell for $30. Ratboys managed to hold onto hope for prowess clear on record, but more and more ward to Ratboys’ upcoming tour. “The week Ratboys aren’t yet making much money their pending tour for a few more days—most people were seeing those tunes onstage, after the album came out, I was excited ’cause from CDs, tapes, and vinyl of Printer’s Devil, of their shows were in venues that held 300 to where they were bigger, louder, and more I hadn’t been checking the ticket sales super because their label, Topshelf Records, wants 500 people, and at that point, cancellations in exciting thanks to Nuccio’s punk-rooted often, and some of the cities were still up in to recoup its expenses—the recording ad- America were still mostly restricted to bigger drumming and the spontaneity in Sagan’s the air—but the bigger ones like Seattle and vance, the video budgets, the cost of the events. masterful guitar playing. LA, a lot of tickets were sold,” Steiner says. pressings, the PR bill for the album cycle, “March 11 we did an AMA on Reddit, and we The publicity campaign for Printer’s Devil “We were pleasantly surprised and excited and so on—before it starts paying royalties were telling people we’ll defi nitely be playing began in November 2019 with the release of and confi dent to go, because we knew people to the band. For now Topshelf is keeping the rest of the shows, don’t worry,” Steiner the video for lead single “Alien With a Sleep were going to be there.” revenue from online sales, streaming, and says. “And then that night the NBA canceled Mask On.” Directed by Chicago duo Coool, aka sales through Ratboys’ distributor, Redeye its season, Trump held a White House press John TerEick and Jake Nokovic, it casts Stein- he cancellation of a lengthy tour in- Worldwide. The band can pocket the profit conference, Tom Hanks got coronavirus. It er as an astronaut fl oating through space and volves more than an emotional letdown, from copies they sell hand to hand, and after changed so quickly, and it was so disorient- Sagan as the leader of a team of scientists try- Tof course. Ratboys had secured guar- the fi rst 100 (which the label gives them free) ing. You’d think we’d be used to feeling disori- ing to rescue her. Helped along by the song’s antees ranging from $350 to $750 for most they pay for them up front at cost. Right now ented, being on the road, but this was a whole power-pop charm and sing-along chorus, the of their shows, and in larger markets such they’re sitting on about 200 LPs, having sold new ball game for everyone.” video attracted coverage from Stereogum as New York and Los Angeles, the payouts perhaps 50 so far. Ratboys know they’ll be The following day, Live Nation announced and the Grey Estates, among other outlets. reached $2,000. At more than 90 percent of in the black with Topshelf eventually, but the postponement of all events scheduled In January the band followed up with the their dates, the band could’ve made more it probably would’ve taken 12 to 18 months for March, and soon literally everyone else video for “I Go Out at Night,” another Coool than that guarantee—their contracts prom- without a pandemic. It’ll take even longer if followed suit. production. Styled like a campy black-and- ised them a percentage of the gross box-o ce they can’t tour. “I thought our shows were going to be white 50s-style horror flick, it depicts the revenue, if that number were larger. Each Gross sales of vinyl and other merchandise fi ne, because at that point it was gatherings four members of Ratboys as trick-or-treaters cancellation results in lost income for the at Ratboys’ Lincoln Hall and Hideout concerts of 1,000 people,” Nuccio says. “Then the next encountering a string of spooks, including band and the venue, of course, and often for totaled more than $3,000—and I would know, day was 500—the next day was 100.” a scary old witch and a werewolf—or rather Ratboys’ booking agency, High Road Touring because I volunteered to work the merch “It’s weird, because we were all so diligent the shadow of a werewolf, which turns out to (which set up the U.S. tour and the shows with table for the band both nights. It seems pretty about preparing to go on tour,” Steiner says. be cast by a cute little pup (a cameo appear- Wilco). The agency doesn’t charge up front— clear that tour sales would’ve quickly covered “Physically, mentally, I was psyching myself ance by my dog Chloe the Pug, who’d gotten instead it gets a 10 percent cut of whatever that initial $5,000 merch expense. When up for this for months. There’s such a specifi c to know Ratboys after I invited Steiner on the band gets paid, which means it’ll have to they’re on the road, each member of the band mindset you have when you’re on tour, to my podcast, Better Yet, in 2016). “I just had a wait till the shows are rescheduled before it gets paid $500 per week through the band’s grind every day. It’s very fun, there’s a lot of thought: What if I never came home?” sings sees any money. LLC, from a fund that’s replenished by reve- room for spontaneity, but at the same time Steiner, almost whispering along to the med- Steiner spent four months booking the nue from tickets and merchandise. When the it’s very grueling.” itative tune’s jangly guitars. “I’d go and get a European tour herself, and though Ratboys tour’s over, Ratboys tally up total sales, and job uninstalling 90s pay phones.” didn’t expect to do better than break even whatever they’ve earned above and beyond ands often see touring as a gratifying Anticipation for Printer’s Devil was build- overseas, they were looking forward to that their $250 goal per show, they split up equal- payo for the months or years they’ve ing on indie-rock Twitter. Between the in- trip too—they’d enjoyed touring Europe ly. If that $250 per show totals more than the Bspent writing, recording, and releasing stant dopamine jolt of “Alien With a Sleep with Dowsing in 2016 and Wild Pink in 2018. up-front cost of the merch, the surplus gets a new album. The material on Printer’s Devil Mask On,” the celestial daydreams evoked by Thankfully the band were able to get a refund parked in the band’s account. dates back to demo sessions Steiner and “I Go Out at Night,” and the rambunctious, of the $3,500 they’d spent on airfare. Nuccio’s Thankfully, nobody in Ratboys ordinarily Sagan conducted in December 2017. Between seesawing ri of the third single, the heartfelt tour of Japan with Pet Symmetry was can- depends on the band for all their income. the May 2017 release of Ratboys’ second “Anj,” the album promised to have enough va- celed as well. With three months of touring canceled, album, GN, and the recording of Printer’s riety to stand up to constant listening. Touring is a doubly important source of they’ve left more than $20,000 in guarantees Devil, the band played to larger and larger When Ratboys released Printer’s Devil on revenue for many bands, because they also on the table. Neumann and Nuccio both hold audiences, opening tours for the likes of Diet February 28, ringing endorsements came sell the majority of their records and other full-time jobs that they can do remotely on Cig, Vundabar, Foxing, and Soccer Mommy. from the likes of Pitchfork, the Alternative, merchandise on the road. Ratboys have es- the road. During the shelter-in-place order, Their tour with Toronto band Pup included and Paste. The latter not only published a tablished a goal of $250 per show for merch Nuccio has continued to work as a graphic back-to-back sold-out shows at Metro. positive review but also ranked Ratboys num- sales, and because they’ve set that number designer for Gatorade without leaving his Ratboys had certainly attracted a loyal fan ber one in a listicle titled “Bernie Sanders low enough for smaller markets, they often apartment in Humboldt Park. Neumann, base with GN and their 2015 debut, AOID, but Thanking Bands for Their Music, Ranked.” double or triple it in the bigger ones. They who lives with Steiner, Sagan, and two other by 2018 the growing sentiment in the emo Steiner and Sagan had performed an acoustic pay 100 percent of the up-front costs for their roommates in a house in Elmwood Park, has and indie-rock communities was that they set at the senator’s campaign rally in Daven- T-shirts, sweatshirts, and baseball caps, and been working from home as a political jour- deserved to be recognized as one of the best port, Iowa, on January 11, and when Sanders for this tour’s initial order that came to al- nalist for People. live bands in the scene. In March of that year, took the stage, he acknowledged them, most $5,000 (though Ratboys planned to re- “It’s been exhausting,” Neumann says. “But Pittsburgh-based editor Eli Enis, one of sev- adding a superfl uous “the” and hesitating a stock on the road). All their merch is priced to at the same time, this exact moment is when eral contributing to online music magazine little before saying “Ratboys” in his Bernie ensure a profi t per item of $11 to $14. T-shirts the whole fi eld of journalism is so vital to how ll APRIL - CHICAOREADER 23 MUSIC
NOW STREAMING - THROUGH MAY 4
continued from 23 says Sagan. “So we have to create some sort things work in this country and around the of opportunity out of this.” world. There’s been this sense of duty, in that Like many other musicians stuck at home, way.” Steiner participated in Instagram live- Steiner and Sagan make money with side streams, but the band wanted more control of GET TICKETS AT jobs when they’re not touring, though touring their presentation—they eventually settled THEHOUSETHEATRE.COM is a better source of income for both of them. on livestreaming service Twitch. Popular Steiner is ordinarily a brand ambassador with video gamers, it gives fans an option to for marketing fi rm Havas, but the pandemic donate money by clicking a PayPal or Venmo means she can’t work. Sagan delivers for link at the bottom on the screen. Amazon and supplements his income with “I was a little more familiar with Twitch graphic-design commissions (he also designs than Julia,” Sagan says. “I knew that it was a Ratboys’ merchandise). format where people can watch livestreams On March 20, when Bandcamp waived its of games for hours on end, and there are cut of sales for the day, Topshelf did the same channels that have built communities of for the entire weekend. Ratboys made almost fans.” $1,400 as a result, all of it from digital music. “You have infi nite options for the way you Immediately after the cancellation of their mike up instruments,” Steiner says. “Ninety- tours, Ratboys also pushed merch on social nine percent of Instagram streams, the per- media, hoping to move some of the shirts son is just using their phone, which is fi ne if and hats that they would’ve sold on the road. you’re just playing by yourself. Twitch allows (Topshelf usually handles online merch sales, us to use all of our gear and to have a setup whether through Ratboys’ website or through rather than a handheld.” Bandcamp.) In the weeks since the band made Steiner and Sagan downloaded Streamlabs their fi rst posts on March 14, more than 200 Open Broadcast Software, then spent a day orders have come in, a surge that’s pushed watching YouTube tutorials to learn how to Ratboys to a net profi t of around $4,400 (in- use it. “Going into this, we knew absolutely cluding the money from the Chicago release nothing—we didn’t even have a webcam,” shows). That’s after covering around $1,100 Steiner says. “We learned all about the back in shipping expenses and the entire cost of end of streaming stu . It’s very basic, but it’s that initial $5,000 order—but it’s still noth- all new, and that’s fun. It gives us a project to ing like what they would’ve made on the road. work on that we can immediately share with people.” eprived of the outlet of touring, Stein- On March 26, the band premiered Ratboys er and Sagan started looking into Virtual Tour live on Twitch. So far they’ve Ddifferent ways to reach fans directly. hosted three weekends of the show, which “We were getting so ready to go on tour, and combines talking segments and performanc- that’s how we express ourselves and reach es from Steiner and Sagan. They typically out to our fans, by touring and playing live,” start on Thursday or Friday night, follow up 24 CHICA O READER - APRIL ll MUSIC
A digital fl yer for the third weekend of Ratboys So far Ratboys have brought in more than Virtual Tour ILLUSTRATION BY DAVE SAGAN $1,000 in PayPal and Venmo donations via Twitch. Though that’s a small fraction of what with a Saturday-night show, and close with a they would’ve made on the road, they’re also Sunday-afternoon matinee. The show’s eight- saving money: they don’t have to pay for gas bit-style title card and graphics were all or lodgings, and it’s cheaper to eat at home. designed by Sagan, and Ratboys use a green They’ve also sold out a batch of 50 special- screen so they can pretend to broadcast from edition Virtual Tour shirts. Assuming things a new far-fl ung location each time. ever get back to normal, livestreaming has “The first episode, we were in Brazil, in potential as a new way for Steiner and Sagan Rio,” Steiner says. “We did a lot of intro, tell- to earn income while Ratboys aren’t on tour. ing people about the concept. It all felt . . . not “Once this whole pandemic is in the past self-conscious, but aware of how out of my and behind us, I’m wondering if all these element I was. It’s nice—I don’t feel that way virtual performances will be looked at as a very often when we’re performing.” novelty of the past because at the time it’s all The show’s tongue-in-cheek presentation we had,” Steiner says. “Or I wonder if there’s is a natural fi t for Steiner and Sagan—they’ve going to be some sort of format or mode of embraced the public-access-show vibe, right connection that becomes ubiquitous that down to recording in their basement. Stein- will . . . not replace traditional live-music er generally stays on-screen, while Sagan performances, but supplement and become bounces back and forth between joining her something that bands do when they’re for performances and working behind the home.” camera. Neumann pitches in as well, moder- Steiner doesn’t want to look too far ahead, ating the live text chat that runs alongside but she’d love to be able to rely more on her the stream. music and less on side jobs. “It would be very “Sean started to moderate the chat, which rewarding for us to be able to come home from was really nice because the people watching a tour, take a few days o to reset, and then Because of the pandemic, our doors started to develop a lot of camaraderie and have a way to perform for people and still humor,” Steiner says. “He was encouraging make a connection and potentially still have were forced to close until May. The people to talk and have a good time.” an income stream,” she says. “That would “He’s a real instigator,” Sagan adds. make me feel so much more fulfilled as a livelihoods of our box office “With Twitch it’s nice because you have di- musician—that would oddly enough make me rect contact with the listeners,” says Steiner. feel even more fulfi lled with choosing this as a “The three of us are pretty introverted, but career. You could go to work in your house. It workers, security, stagehands, techs, we’re humans—we want to have contact with could be an extra thing that could help us stay people.” sharp and come up with new ideas.” and bar servers have been directly The intimacy of the Virtual Tour communi- It’s obviously unclear when Ratboys will be ty has helped Steiner feel comfortable taking able to return to the road to support Printer’s affected by this decision. new risks. “I did a segment called ‘Super New Devil, but whenever they do, it’ll still be their Songs’ where I played really new songs, and best record yet. They’re using their time stuff like that is really exciting and nerve- sheltering in place to create something new, We want them to know how much racking,” she says. “It’s a whole new level of and they’re ready to share it any way they feeling vulnerable—it’s like jumping o a cli can. Ratboys post their Virtual Tour dates on we appreciate their hard work into a large body of water. Things like that Instagram and Twitter (on both platforms, make you feel self-assured in what you’re their handle is @ratboysband). The show and help support them doing.” streams live on the band’s Twitch channel, Whether the show streams from Stone- twitch.tv/watchratboys, and past episodes during this trying time. henge, from a Six Flags parking lot, or from are archived on Twitch and YouTube. the moon, fans keep coming back—sometimes “We’re lucky that the record is out in the Ratboys see the same people every night. world and that we got to play the two release “There have defi nitely been familiar faces shows in Chicago—it was such an affirma- in the chat,” Steiner says. “The cool thing is tion,” Steiner says. “I didn’t think at all that PLEASE DONATE: that a lot of those people are people we know those would be our last two shows for a long from playing shows. It feels like a lot of the time. But those were the best two shows to jamusa.com/helpourstaff people we’re playing for are the people we’d enter an involuntary worldwide hiatus.” v be playing for on tour—the cool thing is, now they can watch every day.” @betteryetpod ll APRIL - CHICAOREADER 25 A Reader staff er shares three musical obsessions, then asks IN ROTATION someone (who asks someone else) to take a turn.
APR 30 @ Online, Literacy Chicago THU Literacy & Libations
@ Online, Make & Muddle SAT MAY 2 Shake it Up: The art of the shaken cocktail
Paul Drummond’s book 13th Floor Elevators: London-born spoken-word poet Kate The cover art for the 1997 Muslimgauze @ Online, Make & Muddle A Visual History COURTESY ANTHOLOGY EDITIONS Tempest JULIAN BROAD album Narcotic SAT MAY 9 Porch Pounders cocktail class
MAY 9 @ Laugh Factory SAT Head Talks with Shane Mauss & Sophia Rokhlin J L M S -N S P Reader associate editor Bassist of Huntsmen Musician and producer @ North Bar SAT MAY 9 Paul Drummond, 13th Floor Elevators: Thundercat, It Is What It Is No one can deny Muslimgauze, Narcotic This is what acid Marcella Arguello - Early Show A Visual History Most biographers move Thundercat’s prowess, and the fact that he’s would sound like. Not like the sounds you along once they’ve published, but some sub- breaking into the mainstream as a virtuoso hear while tripping, but like if acid were a per- jects demand further exploration. Paul Drum- bassist is very encouraging (as my person- son, learned to play an instrument, and start- MAY 9 @ North Bar SAT mond, author of the 2007 13th Floor Elevators al mission is to make the bass cool). I love his ed a band—it would sound like this album. Marcella Arguello - Late Show history Eye Mind, returns with a new look at George Duke–esque singing style, along with Bryn Jones released dozens of albums under the world’s first psychedelic band, from the his nods to Duke’s compositional approach. the Muslimgauze name before he passed 1950s Texas childhood of singer- guitarist Roky He’s also got this sort of sarcastic lyrical voice away in 1999, but the 1997 release Narcotic is @ Online, Make & Muddle Erickson through the group’s 2015 reunion. that’s a reminder that you don’t have to take the one that has always stood out to me. It’s SAT MAY 16 Summer Slushies: Frozen boozy slushies The book is filled with photos, poster art, life so seriously! been the soundtrack to many of my overnight newspaper clips, and other ephemera, but its drives while traveling or on tour (and on acid). extensive oral history could easily stand alone. Fiona Apple, Fetch the Bolt Cutters Holy shit. @ Online, Make & Muddle What a powerful record. I had other submis- Granular synthesis The process of granu- SAT MAY 23 Tiki Talk Mind Melt Video archives Livestreaming sions in mind, but Fiona’s new one came out lar synthesis involves taking an audio sample abounds while we shelter in place, but maybe as I was writing and immediately jumped to and splitting it into thousands of grains that you’d rather see an old show you missed. the front of the line. Her choices across the can then be pitched, time stretched, and rear- @ Naperville Settlement Local metal promoter Rodney Pawlak has board are just on another plane of existence: ranged to create insane-sounding pads and SAT JUNE 6 Naperville Settlement been uploading concert footage from Mind the production, the percussion tones, the cap- textures. The idea of breaking a sound down Melt Video Magazine, the cable-access show tivating lyrics, and of course her perfectly into a single tiny grain and then manipulating he ran from 1993 till 2003. His YouTube off er- unique voice singing them over the delightful that single tiny grain is pretty mind-blowing. ings include alt-rock, punk, and Sunday metal (and almost through-composed) piano parts! Add a dark room, lots of reverb, and psyche- @ The Law Office Pub & Music Hall THU JUNE 25 uploads (when he’d usually be hosting Exit’s delics, you’ll have hours of wasted . . . I mean Mike & the Moonpies / Tim Gleason CMF Metal Sundays). His 1995 Weed Fest Kate Tempest, The Book of Traps and Les- productive time. Chicago video is a snapshot of another uni- sons This one came out last year, and I’m verse, and his trove of Acid Bath shows will fi x admittedly just getting into the world of Kate Roadburn Festival Based in the Netherlands, @ The Law Office Pub & Music Hall SUN JULY 5 the tragic shortage of Acid Bath in your life. Tempest. I was introduced to this London- Roadburn is like no other fest. It hosts a wide Esther Rose born poet’s beautiful brain when I listened to variety of musical acts, including metal, folk, National Independent Venue Association her contribution to “Blood of the Past” by UK experimental, and electronica. I’ve had the The importance of independent music venues space-jazz band the Comet Is Coming. Never pleasure of playing it six times with five dif- can’t be overstated, and they’re already strug- had I imagined loving poetry and spoken ferent bands. Unfortunately, it was postponed gling to survive COVID-19 closures. This week, word until I heard what she has to say. Just this year due to the coronavirus, but there are in partnership with more than 800 member venues in the Nation- listen to the Book of Traps and Lessons track several live releases from previous years avail- al Independent Venue Association (NIVA), “People’s Faces” and try not to cry. Her musi- able—I highly suggest you check them all out. including dozens from Illinois, sent a letter cal poetry is soul cleansing. Better yet, go to Roadburn when you fi nally to Congress asking for support and relief. In can and experience it in person. There’s even to add your event to TIXREADER.COM, the meantime, you can still support Chicago a hash bar a few blocks away with a neon Old email [email protected] venue staff by donating to fundraisers. Style sign. I don’t know why—it just is. v
26 CHICA O READER - APRIL ll Recommended and notable releases and critics’ insights for the week of April 30 MUSIC
PICK OF THE WEEK Chicago hardcore veterans Like Rats go full-on death metal on Death Monolith
PETER COOK
Like Rats, Death Monolith Hibernation Release hibernation-release.bandcamp.com/
CHICAGO’S LIKE RATS HAVE been at it for more has all the best hallmarks of classic death metal: never- than a decade. Consisting of current and former ending double-bass-drum assaults, animalistic vocals, members of earth-shaking metal and hardcore acts and relentlessly evil riffi ng. It also has enough fresh such as Weekend Nachos, Hate Force, and High Priest, fl avor to rank among the best albums of the modern the band started as a brutal, tough-guy hardcore act. era; Like Rats can grind like Pissgrave and slam like But by their second full-length, 2016’s II, they’d begun Sanguisugabogg. The production is clear and mean, to incorporate overtly heavy tones and death-grunt the rhythms swing with beatdown ferocity, and every- vocals into their powerviolence-leaning punk. And one’s playing is next-level sharp. Death Monolith is an the brand-new Death Monolith (Hibernation Release) excellent turn for one of Chicago’s best and heaviest feels like the band just threw up their hands and said, acts—here’s hoping they keep plowing down that path. “Fuck it, we’re a death-metal band now!” The album —L C ll APRIL - CHICAOREADER 27 Find more music reviews at Important MUSIC chicagoreader.com/soundboard. Reader News
Due to business closings and for safety purposes, the Chicago Reader is going biweekly with a print run to 600+ locations, including our box route. On the o weeks (April 9, 23, May 7) the Reader is just being distributed as a free PDF, with a small press run to ful ll subscriber and library mailings.
We are also making a limited number of copies available for special short-term subscriptions, 12 The Bobby Lees JOHNSWAB weeks for $50, and every week’s issue will be mailed to your home. events of the past decade—the idea that only one continued from 27 local rapper in a generation could make it big, for The Bobby Lees, Skin Suit instance, or the insistence that the city had a singu- Just a few hundred copies will be sold of these very Alive/Natural Sound lar sound. While drill became the dominant under- alive-records.com/artist/the-bobby-lees ground wave, proving that young Chicago rappers limited souvenir editions of the Reader: and producers with few means or connections secure.actblue.com/donate/chicago-reader-print-12 Upstart garage punks the Bobby Lees formed a er could build their own cottage industry outside the guitarist-vocalist Sam Quartin moved to Woodstock, mainstream, a panoply of other artists showed how New York, and took a suggestion from a friend to many dimensions the scene actually has: the Era recruit her new bandmates from the local School of devised “footworking with words,” DLow brought Find the full curated PDF download of the Reader at Rock. Now in her mid-20s, Quartin is an established bopping’s euphoric sound to the Billboard Hot actress who’s played alongside the likes of Crispin 100, and Supa Bwe mined the melodic aggression Glover, Michael Pitt, and Marilyn Manson, but in the of screamo years before “Soundcloud rap” broke. chicagoreader.com/issues Bobby Lees she gives you the idea that she might At the same time, a loose web of producers laid prefer basement shows to red carpets. On the new the groundwork for a style that’s become emblem- by Wednesday each week. album Skin Suit (Alive/Natural Sound), produced by atic of the city’s “alternative hip-hop” community. Jon Spencer, the band show they’ve got the chops Most notable among them is Peter Wilkins, better and the weirdness to refresh vintage rock, punk, and known as Peter Cottontale, whose nuanced blend blues (they do a gritty take on Bo Diddley’s “I’m a of neosoul, gospel, R&B, and post-College Drop- Man”) without the commercialism that has plagued out hip-hop has enriched some of the best material other prominent garage bands of their generation. from local breakout acts such as Jamila Woods, Vic Quartin’s unpolished vocals o en recall Richard Hell Mensa, and Chance the Rapper. These days Wilkins (the record closes with a rousing cover of “Blank is best known as bandleader of the Social Exper- Generation”), but the music is memorable enough iment, which formed to tour behind Chance the in its own right to make you want to put highlights Rapper on Acid Rap in 2013, and he’s played such such as “Coin” and “Guttermilk” on repeat. The an important role in every Chance release since swaggering, minimalist “Ranch Baby” is equally then that Chance brought him onstage at the 2017 funny and gross, with lead guitarist Nick Casa tak- Grammys for two of his three awards. For Wilkins’s ing a turn at the mike to ponder a mysterious (and debut album, Catch, he tapped into their grow- apparently sexy) creamy white substance. On “Last ing network of friends and collaborators, includ- Song,” with its backdrop of sweet, 50s fl avored pop, ing rapper Tobi Lou, R&B star Jeremih, and inim- Quartin delivers a take on “crooning” that sounds itable gospel star Kirk Franklin. (Catch also con- like Bobby Darin as a serial killer. Like so many other tains one of the fi rst appearances by Towkio since bands, the Bobby Lees had to cancel their spring the Chicago rapper was publicly accused of sexu- tour, but with help from a little word of mouth they’ll al assault in January 2019.) Wilkins recently told surely be playing packed punk shows as soon as the Tribune that Catch is bathed in gospel’s upli - social-distancing measures allow. —J L ing spirit but doesn’t follow genre traditions, and that’s a fair self-assessment: he imbues his songs with R&B tenderness, pop moodiness, and a hint of Thank you, Peter Cottontale, catch neosoul sensuality to create atmospheres that feel Self-released divine. —L G catchpeter.com The Reader team A lot of theories about how Chicago hip-hop was supposed to operate have been shattered by the 28 CHICA O READER - APRIL ll MUSIC
Thursday, April 30 at 7pm A live-stream concert by Chicago artists playing for a cause, not applause. WindyCityIndie.com
Never miss a show again. V.V. Lightbody RACHEL WINSLOW EARLY WARNINGS Sandy Ewen, You Win ber of Calexico and Devotchka), the Tucson indie Gilgongo mambo group cross and recross the southern bor- chicagoreader.com/early gilgongorecords.storenvy.com/products/29789617- der of the U.S. on their new album, Curandero (Cos- sandy-ewen-you-win-lp-gggr-099 mica Artists ), topping a foundation of 60s boogaloo with blends of rock, pop, and cumbia and adorn- Sandy Ewen’s music is a constant series of negoti- ing the whole thing with mariachi-infused, mambo- ations. She’s constantly seeing what new sounds influenced horns. The new album follows 2016’s she can get out of her guitar, using found objects ¡Vamos a Guarachar!, and its 14 exhilarating tunes— Chicago's Free Weekly Since 1971 such as steel-wool scrubbing pads, dowels, bolts, sung in a mix of Spanish, English, and Spanglish— cat-grooming brushes, and lengths of chalk. She’s express the musical DNA of Nogales, Sonora, where also an inveterate collaborator who relishes chances Mendoza was born, and the adjacent Nogales, Ari- to test her compatibility with new acquaintances or zona, where he was raised. On “Eres Ofi cial,” remi- THE to explore possibilities within her enduring partner- niscent of the 1960s McCoys hit “Hang on Sloopy” ships with drummer Weasel Walter, bassist Damon (a tune that topped the Mexican charts in 1965 a er u Smith, and guitarist Tom Carter. When she plays it was revamped as “Es Lupe” by Los Johnny Jets), with others, Ewen’s style changes according to their singer Quetzal Guerrero makes a cameo, adding input, but her solo work is much more consistent, swinging vocals to the song’s carefree guitar chords focusing on gradual transformations of timbre and and drumbeat-heavy grooves. Other stellar guests texture. On the side-length title track of You Win, on Curandero include Devotchka’s Nick Urata, who which is her fi rst solo LP a er a slew of CDs and cas- lends his smooth voice to a funky vintage Mex- settes, she works patiently through bell-like chimes, ican cumbia on “A Little Space,” and Spanish sing- blown-speaker bursts, elongated whines, and wob- er Amparo Sánchez, who appears on the immigra- bly resonances, testing each element against a cou- tion-reform-themed “Boogaloo Arizona.” The track ple of others. The shorter pieces on side two devel- “Hoodoo Voodoo Queen,” reminiscent of 1940s op more quickly, but each one resolves with a sat- Andrews Sisters numbers, shines with impossi- isfying completeness that demonstrates her con- bly tight harmonies by Moira Smiley, Carrie Rodri- cern with outcomes as well as processes. Ewen is an guez, and Gaby Moreno, spread across languid ped- architect and visual artist as well as a musician, and al-steel twangs and punctuated by bold, honking she has used architectural- rendering software to sax. “Bora Bora” has a smoky, loungey feel, but its compose videos for each of the albums tracks—their winks to mambo and its synchronized horns keep it constantly morphing shapes and images are as tex- from feeling cheesy. “The girls are wearing the red turally rich as the music itself. —B M dresses,” the band croons on the song’s brief cho- rus. “They’re waiting to dance and twist.” Curandero is the perfect album for anyone who’s ever felt that Orkesta Mendoza, Curandero sort of anticipation. —C M J Cosmica Artists orkesta-mendoza.bandcamp.com/album/ curandero V.v. Lightbody, Make a Shrine or Burn It chicagoreader.com/donate The fi rst time I saw Orkesta Mendoza was at SXSW Acrophase about five years ago, and the group had already vvlightbody.bandcamp.com/album/make-a- perfected an enormous, vintage Latin big-band shrine-or-burn-it We Couldn't Be Free Without You— sound and intense, punk-like sensibility unparal- leled in the Latin scene. Led by bandleader, sing- Songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Vivian McCon- Support Community Journalism er, and guitarist Sergio Mendoza (a longtime mem- nell comes from a musical family, and she began ll APRIL - CHICAOREADER 29 MUSIC
BIT.LY/GOOSEDELIVERS
White Ppl DAIMONHAMPTON
continued from 29 White Ppl, White Ppl enmeshing herself in Chicago’s music scene in Self-released the early 2010s, around the time she moved here soundcloud.com/whiteppl from Urbana. By then she and her oldest broth- er, Stan, were playing together in the indie-rock In a 2019 interview for WBEZ’s Weekend Passport, band Santah, and McConnell had also joined indie Filipinx producer-vocalist Ano Ba said they were four-piece Grandkids; she’s since become part of inspired to start their own group after seeing a several overlapping underground scenes. Lately garage band at a favorite Logan Square bar that was her main artistic focus has been her solo project, made up entirely of white dudes. Ano thought it’d where she uses the name V.V. Lightbody to honor be cheeky to recruit other POC musicians to make her pianist grandmother, Virginia Lightbody, but garage rock under the name “White Ppl.” White Ppl Summit she also provides auxiliary guitar, fl ute, keyboards, didn’t end up making three-chord bashers, but Ano or vocals for a hodgepodge of other acts. She’s con- teamed up with Black hip-hop artist Cado San and tributed to Slow Mass’s thundering posthardcore Filipinx vocalist Elly Tier to unlock an alchemical mix (2018’s On Watch), Accessory’s sleepy lo-fi ditties that no other confi guration of musicians could repli- Chicago (2018’s Blue Tape), and Poplife’s effervescent take cate. A er their fi rst session, they emerged in Octo- on adult contemporary, which they call “Bruce jazz” ber 2018 with the kaleidoscopic jam “Ilovemybb,” “I take great pride in being the owner of Summit (the 2019 single “Bad Attitude”). Last year, McCo- which remixes the past two decades of pop: early Chicago for over 22 years. The Summit pioneered nnell debuted a collaboration called Valebol with dubstep’s haunted vocal samples, funk carioca’s lithe Dos Santos percussionist Daniel Villarreal-Carril- percussion, alt-R&B’s brooding and romantic vocal the dedicated urban meeting environment and lo, and though they haven’t released any record- melodies, bedroom pop’s mellow keys, and harsh sax now it is the largest growing sector in the meetings ings yet, YouTube footage of their inaugural perfor- a la TV on the Radio. Since then they’ve released industry. Leading the Summit has afforded me the mance at the Empty Bottle last June has whet my only two other singles—the softhearted, nostalgic opportunity to build, nurture, and support my team appetite. On her second album as V.V. Lightbody, “The Way U Move” and the subtly triumphant “Open Make a Shrine or Burn It (Acrophase), McConnell Door Policy”—and all three appear on their six-track and our clients.” blends light bossa nova percussion, austere indie- self-titled debut EP. White Ppl’s lyrics remain fi rmly Louise Silberman, Owner rock rhythms, snaking guitars, and tender folk vocals fi xed on matters of love, but the group’s sonic pal- with a gentleness that belies the hard work and ette continues to expand—for “Make Me Better,” 312.938.2000 | [email protected] discipline required to pull off such intricate mate- one of the new songs from the EP, they pull from rial. Though McConnell has called her style “nap modern-funk’s supple rhythms, trip-hop’s cool-in- 205 N. Michigan Ave. 10th Floor rock,” she’s more likely to hypnotize you than put the-pocket melodies, and symphonic pop’s strings. Chicago, IL 60601 you to sleep—the oscillating keys and mellow sax Though White Ppl ends too soon, it shows a glimpse www.summitchicago.com on “BYOB” create an intriguing depth of sound that of one of the most promising acts in town. invites active listening. —L G —L G v 30 CHICA O READER - APRIL ll CHICAGO SHOWS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT IN THE WEEKS TO COME
b ALL AGES F EARLY WARNINGS WOLF BY KEITH HERZIK Rock Club, canceled Never miss Car Seat Headrest 5/29-5/30, a show again. 7:30 PM, the Vic, canceled Caribou, Kaitlyn Aurelia Sign up for the Smith 10/22, 7:30 PM, Riviera newsletter at Theatre, rescheduled; tickets chicagoreader. GOSSIP purchased for original date will be honored, 18+ com/early Caspian 6/5, 9 PM, Lincoln Hall, WOLF canceled Circa Survive 5/11, 6:30 PM, Hatsune Miku 9/25, 8 PM, A furry ear to the ground of Concord Music Hall, post- Aragon Ballroom, resched- poned until a date to be uled; tickets purchased for the local music scene determined, 17+ the original date will be Curio 6/13, 8 PM, Reggies’ honored b VETERAN CHICAGO hip-hop activist, Music Joint, canceled Andy Milne & Unison 5/14, 8:30 Dawg Trio 5/30, 6 and 9 PM, PM, Constellation, canceled, manager, and promoter Jamie “J. Milla” City Winery, postponed until 18+ Sevier died Saturday, April 18, at age 47. a date to be determined b Modern English, Bootblacks As a kid, Sevier got into breakdancing and Daybreaker 5/5, Live Wire 9/9, 8 PM, SPACE, Evanston, graffi ti, and he’d joined Chi-ROCK Nation Lounge, canceled rescheduled b Delta Spirit, Hideout 8/5, Nada Surf 4/23/21, 8:30 PM, by the time he met longtime friend Carri- 9 PM, Thalia Hall, resched- Thalia Hall, rescheduled, 17+ co “Kingdom Rock” Sanders, founder of uled, 17+ New Found Glory, Simple the Ill State Assassins crew, in the early Dreadwolf 9/10, 9 PM, GMan Plan, Knuckle Puck 6/13, 7 1990s. They’d crossed paths because both Hazel English COURTESY THE ARTIST Tavern, rescheduled PM, Concord Music Hall, Einstürzende Neubauten 10/23, postponed until a date to be were organizing against an attempt to ban 7:30 PM, the Vic, canceled determined b hip-hop from local radio. “Jamie has always NEW Robert Earl Keen 12/27, 8 PM, Lennon Stella, Kevin Garrett Bryan Eng 6/8, 8 PM, SPACE, New Orleans Suspects 10/30, been the bullhorn for Chicago,” Sanders Thalia Hall, 17+ 7/11, 7 PM, House of Blues b Evanston, canceled 8:30 PM, FitzGerald’s, Ber- says. “I will also call him ‘the plug’—there’s Align, Tvvin, Levity 9/10, Kindo, Milquetoast & Co. 8/18, Katie Toupin 8/27, 8 PM, May Erlewine & the Woody wyn, rescheduled 8:30 PM, Schubas, 18+ 8 PM, Schubas, 18+ Schubas, 18+ Goss Band 7/22, 8 PM, Miles Nielsen & the Rusted a few of us that connect people togeth- James Arthur 9/24, 7 PM; 9/26, Chris Knight, Joe Stamm 11/5, Trace Mountains 5/20, 8 PM, SPACE, Evanston, resched- Hearts 9/18, 8:30 PM, Fitz- er, and Jamie was one.” Sanders and Sevi- 8 PM, House of Blues b 8 PM, City Winery b Subterranean, 17+ uled b Gerald’s, Berwyn, rescheduled er went on to promote hip-hop events Nicole Atkins 8/12, 7:30 PM, Sonny Landreth 7/10, 8 PM, Phil Vassar, Lexie Hayden 9/18, Fab Faux 9/19, 8 PM, Park Nothing Nowhere 5/15, 7 PM, together (Sevier also became an Ill State Lincoln Hall, 18+ SPACE, Evanston b 8 PM, Joe’s Live, Rosemont West, rescheduled b House of Blues, canceled Bad Sneakers Orchestra 6/12, Lane 8 8/22, 9 PM, Aragon Susan Werner 10/25, 7 PM, Failure 7/9-7/11, 8 PM, Thalia Ocean Alley 6/25, 8 PM, Lin- member), and they both worked for Oper- 8:30 PM, FitzGerald’s, Berwyn Ballroom, 18+ Maurer Hall, Old Town School Hall, 7/11 is sold out, 17+ coln Hall, canceled ation PUSH—Sanders as a youth organiz- Selwyn Birchwood 7/24, 8 PM, Las Salseras con Carpacho of Folk Music b Alejandro Fernández, Chris- Oozing Wound, No Men, Dim er, Sevier as national youth director (his SPACE, Evanston b featuring Carpacho y Su Kenny White 6/19, 8 PM, Szold tian Nodal 7/25, 8 PM, Allstate 5/16, 9:30 PM, Empty Bottle, godmother is PUSH Excel national edu- Camelphat 11/13, 10 PM, Radius Super Combo 6/5, 8:30 PM, Hall, Old Town School of Folk Arena, Rosemont, resched- postponed until a date to be Chicago, 18+ Szold Hall, Old Town School Music b uled; tickets purchased for determined cation director Janette Wilson). In the Cannonball 6/26, 9 PM, Fitz- of Folk Music b Webb Wilder & the Beatnecks the original date will be Judith Owen, Pedro Segundo 2000s, Sevier served as president of the Gerald’s, Berwyn Little River Band, John Ford 6/20, 8 PM, FitzGerald’s, honored b 8/5, 8 PM, SPACE, Evanston, nonprofit People Reclaiming Ourselves Rose Cousins 6/14, 7 PM, Coley 6/11, 7:30 PM, Genesee Berwyn Julia Fordham 9/27, 7:30 PM, rescheduled; tickets pur- (whose board included Chico DeBarge) SPACE, Evanston b Theatre, Waukegan b SPACE, Evanston, resched- chased for the original date Charley Crockett 6/11, 8 PM, Lowest Pair 6/3, 8 PM, SPACE, UPDATED uled b will be honored b and hosted cable-access show Hip-Hop City Winery b Evanston b Foreign Air 6/9, 8 PM, Schubas, Pancho Barraza 10/18, 8 PM, 2nite. On Sunday, April 19, Common hon- Christopher Cross 8/13, 8 PM, No Limits Music Festival NOTE: This is a selection of canceled Rosemont Theatre, Rosemont, ored Sevier during the Last Dance pre- Genesee Theatre, Waukegan featuring Simpleton & City the many concerts that were Fuzz 2/4/21, 8:30 PM, Thalia rescheduled; tickets pur- show on SportsCenter: “Rest in peace to b Folk, Owen & the Ghosts, canceled or postponed in Hall, rescheduled, 17+ chased for the original date Greg Dulli, Joseph Arthur 9/14, Platform 29, Like Oscar light of ongoing concerns Charlie Hunter & Lucy Wood- will be honored b my man Jamie—God bless his soul.” 9 PM, Metro, 18+ Wilde, and more 8/28, 8 PM, about COVID-19. We suggest ward 7/14, 7 PM, SPACE, Noam Pikelny & Andrew Patrick Holbrook’s solo darkwave proj- Hazel English 6/4, 8 PM, Beat Beat Kitchen that you contact the point of Evanston, rescheduled; tickets Marlin 5/10, 2 PM, Maurer ect Well Yells traffi cks in the sonics of iso- Kitchen Nombe, Bad Child 8/23, 8 PM, purchase if you need purchased for the original Hall, Old Town School of Folk lation—in 2018, Gossip Wolf said his Skunk Fetty Wap, Emilie Brooklyn Lincoln Hall b information about exchanges date will be honored b Music, postponed until a date 7/18, 7 PM, House of Blues b Origami Angel, Mover Shaker, or refunds. Christone “Kingfi sh” Ingram to be determined b cassette “sounds like it’s coming from a Future Hits, Angela James Equipment, Lettering 6/5, 6/5, 9 PM, SPACE, Evanston, Pokey LaFarge, Esther Rose captive who’s given up on ever escaping 10/10, 3 PM, Schubas b 8 PM, Beat Kitchen, 17+ Airbourne, Tuk Smith & the canceled 2/19/21, 8:30 PM, Thalia Hall, from the bottom of Buff alo Bill’s pit in The Evan Giia 8/14, 9 PM, Schubas, Over the Rhine 6/27, 8 PM, Restless Hearts 5/14, 8 PM, Ionnalee, Iamamiwhoami, rescheduled, 17+ Silence of the Lambs.” This month, Well 18+ SPACE, Evanston b Bottom Lounge, canceled Tungorna 5/7, 9 PM, Metro, Pop Evil 6/26, 7 PM, Bottom Vance Gilbert 6/7, 2 PM, Porridge Radio 7/30, 9 PM, AJJ, Xiu Xiu, Emperor X postponed until a date to be Lounge, postponed until a Yells dropped the excellent full-length SPACE, Evanston b Beat Kitchen, 17+ 3/12/21, 7 PM, Metro, resched- determined, 18+ date to be determined, 17+ We Mirror the Dead, recorded with Adam Happy Together Tour featur- Red Wanting Blue 11/12, uled b Lucy Kaplansky 5/17, 7 PM, Protomartyr 6/28, 8:30 PM, Stilson at Decade Music Studios. Holbrook ing Turtles, Chuck Negron, 7:30 PM, City Winery b Phil Angotti, Mark Watson Szold Hall, Old Town School Thalia Hall, canceled, 17+ says he’s “broken into a new realm,” using Association, Mark Lindsay, Reel Big Fish, Aquabats 6 /4 , Band 6/13, 8:30 PM, FitzGer- of Folk Music, postponed until Rad Trads 5/24, 7:30 PM, Buckinghams, Vogues, Cow- 6:30 PM, House of Blues b ald’s, Berwyn, rescheduled a date to be determined b SPACE, Evanston, canceled “more industrial sounds, maybe even sills 8/8, 7:30 PM, Genesee Residents 5/7/21, 9 PM, Lincoln Anti-Flag, Bad Cop/Bad Cop, La Oreja De Van Gogh 6/8, b echoes of witch house.” Last week, Hol- Theatre, Waukegan b Hall Grumpster 5/7, 6:45 PM, 8 PM, House of Blues, Ramon Ayala 11/1, 8 PM, Rose- brook posted an eerie, gripping video for Sophie B. Hawkins 10/13, 8 PM, Revivalists 10/24, 8 PM, Aragon Cobra Lounge, postponed postponed until a date to be mont Theatre, Rosemont, the propulsive “Kill the King,” fi lmed just City Winery b Ballroom, 17+ until a date to be determined determined, 17+ rescheduled; tickets pur- Lilly Hiatt, Harmaleighs 8/19, LeAnn Rimes 7/16, 7 PM, Gene- Bon Jovi, Bryan Adams 7/21, Bettye LaVette 6/9, 8 PM, City chased for the original date a er the stay-at-home order came down. 8 PM, Schubas, 18+ see Theatre, Waukegan b 7:30 PM, United Center, Winery, postponed until a will be honored b He had a release party booked at Cafe Hippie Sabotage, Sebastian Dave Simonett 11/15, 8 PM, City canceled date to be determined b Dan Rodriguez 8/8, 8 PM, Mustache in May—let’s hope it’s resched- Paul 8/21, 9 PM, Aragon Ball- Winery b Braids 9/10, 9:15 PM, Empty Lost Dog Street Band 12/15, SPACE, Evanston, resched- uled! —J R N L G room, 18+ Simrit 7/7, 8 PM, City Winery Bottle, rescheduled 8 PM, Lincoln Hall, resched- uled b Hombres G 7/16, 8 PM, House b Budos Band 9/5, 8:30 PM, uled; tickets purchased for Ruki Vverh 5/31, 8 PM, Con- of Blues, 17+ Special Consensus 10/24, Thalia Hall, rescheduled, 17+ original date will be honored, cord Music Hall, postponed Got a tip? Tweet @Gossip_Wolf or e-mail I Am Fest 8/15, 2:30 PM, House 6 PM, Maurer Hall, Old Town The Business, Bar Stool 18+ until a date to be determined [email protected]. of Blues b School of Folk Music b Preachers 6/9, 7 PM, Reggies’ Miku Expo 2020 featuring b v ll APRIL - CHICAOREADER 31 OPINION
JOE NEWTON vision of Dr. Caroline Pukall in the Sexual Health Research Lab. Jackowich has published numerous studies on Persistent Genital Arous- al Disorder (PGAD), a condition characterized by a constant or frequently recurring state of genital arousal—sensations, sensitivity, swell- ing—in the absence of sexual desire. “In other words, there is a disconnect between what is happening in one’s body and mind,” said Jackowich, “and this can be both distressing and distracting.” And while you would think stress would tank your libido—and preliminary research shows that the pandemic is tanking more libidos than it’s not—stress and anxiety can actually be trig- gers for PGAD. SAVAGE LOVE As you’ve learned, CA, you can’t mastur- bate your way out of this. So what do you do? The pandemic can’t kill this Unfortunately, it’s the thing you’d really rather not do: call your doctor. libido “It’s important to meet with a knowledge-
Instagram: @soberrabbit • Twitter: @boozetornado • Website: thewhitneywasson.com 22 Whitney Wasson A problem you can’t masturbate out able health-care provider to ensure there is not another concern present that may be Chicago Reader Coloring Book By D S responsible for the symptoms and to access treatment,” said Jackowich. “Research on : I’m a 31-year-old female. Last week treatments for PGAD is relatively new, so it Proceeds will be split I suddenly started to experience an can be helpful to meet with a team of different between the Reader overwhelming, compulsive, and near-constant health-care providers to find what treatments 50 state of physical arousal. I’ve masturbated so would be most effective for you specifically. and the more than much looking for relief that my entire lower This could include a gynecologist, urologist, artists who contributed region is super sore and swollen and still, pelvic floor physical therapist, neurologist, illustrations. it’s like my whole body is pulsating with this and/or psychologist with expertise in sex electric arousal telling me to ignore the pain therapy.” and do it again. I have no idea if it’s normal Talking with your doctor about this may be $30 for PDF download to suddenly have such a spike in libido and I know a lot of people will say they wish embarrassing, I realize, and it doesn’t help that they had this problem but it’s interfering many doctors are unfamiliar with PGAD. Jac- $45 for limited edition with my daily activities because I can’t kowich actually recommends bringing print- printed book and PDF focus on anything else. My college classes outs of information pages and research papers are suff ering because of it. I’ve even had about the condition to your appointment and download to remove my clitoral hood piercing, which sharing them with your physician. And if your I’ve had for over ten years! I feel like I have doc doesn’t take your distress seriously and/ all of the reasons—high anxiety related to or refuses to refer you to the specialists you For copies of this book, either in PDF the pandemic, being stuck with an alcoholic need to see, CA, then you’ll have to get your- form or as a printed book, see: boyfriend in the house, tons of homework, chicagoreader.com/coloringbook fi nances are low—to warrant a lack of arousal self a new doctor. (You can find those infor- so why am I drowning in it? Everything I’m mation pages and research papers at sexlab. learning in class states that sexual desire ca/pgad, where you can also learn about cur- rently available treatments and join support Or send checks to: lowers throughout the lifespan so why am I literally pulsating with it? I really don’t want groups for sufferers.) Chicago Reader Suite 102 to call my doctor if I don’t have to. “More awareness of PGAD and research on 2930 S. Michigan Avenue —C A this condition is needed to help understand Chicago, Illinois 60616 the symptoms and develop effective treat- A: “There’s a general belief that sexual ments,” said Jackowich. “If you experience arousal is always wanted—and the more the better,” said Robyn Jackowich. “But in reality, these symptoms and would like to contribute Provide your name and mailing address persistent and unwanted sexual arousal can to ongoing research efforts, the Queen’s Uni- and say this is for a coloring book on the versity Sexual Health Research Lab is seeking memo line. be very distressing.” Jackowich is a PhD candidate at Queen’s participants for an online study.” To take part University, where she works under the super- in that online survey, go to sexlab.ca/pgad, 32 CHICA O READER - APRIL ll OPINION the cannabis platform a Reader resource for the canna curious
click on “participate,” and scroll down to the about your ex but you’re not going to unfriend “OLIVE Study.” or unfollow her or anyone else. You can make Thursdays on an appeal to reason—you wouldn’t be with : I’ve rekindled a romance with an ex from your current girlfriend if you were the sort of Cannabis a decade ago. We are long distance right person who cut off contact with his exes—but Chicago’s friendliest Conversations now but getting very close. We have one if your current girlfriend is the irrationally jeal- cannabis shop chicagoreader.com/joravsky recurring problem though. She does not like ous type . . . well, an appeal to reason won’t that I am friends with another ex. That ex has help. Irrationally jealous people are by defini- actually been a close friend for a very long tion incapable of seeing reason, UGHS, which time and our friendship means a lot to me. is why they must be shown doors. Cannabis Our romantic relationship only lasted a few months. But since we did have a romantic : This isn’t a sexy question, but you are wise Conversations relationship once, my current girlfriend and I am confused. I have been friends with sees my ex as a threat. I have reassured her a woman for about 16 years. She’s very funny, several times that the relationship is in the creative, loves to have a good time. She’s also chicagoreader.com/ past and we are now only friends. But my intense, not very bright, and my family and nuMed.com | 1308 W. North Ave joravsky girlfriend doesn’t want me to communicate friends do not like her around. Now that we’re with her at all. She wants me to unfriend her grown we do not see each other o en, but on Facebook and unfollow her Instagram and I’ve been glad to maintain a friendship with at least once a week she asks if we have been her and get together now and again. Enter: Your partners in health and wellness. Find out today if medical in contact. It is hard for me to throw a friend my wedding. At the reception she made a fool cannabis or infusion therapy is away in order to be in a relationship. Even of herself (and me) by going on some strange, right for you. Telemed available! though I don’t talk to my ex/friend all that racist rant. The racist thing really surprised Serving medical cannabis patients since 2015. www.neuromedici.com 312-772-2313 regularly, I would like the option to at least and disappointed me and when I asked her check in every once in a while. Cutting her about it she shrugged it off like, “Oh, just out of my life completely feels like a kind of add that to the list of dumb things I do when death. I wish there was some way I could fi nd I’m drunk.” Other things she’d done when THE STATEWIDE VOICE OF a compromise but this seems to be one of she’s drunk: two DUIs, waking up in jail with ILLINOIS’ CANNABIS INDUSTRY those “all or nothing” things. I also don’t like an assault charge, having sex with strangers, CANNABIS BUSINESS this feeling of not being trusted and fear it etc. It’s been about seven months since my ASSOCIATION OF ILLINOIS could lead to other problems down the line. — wedding and I’ve basically been ignoring her U G H S while trying to decide what to do. I love my friend, but I do not want her hurting anyone
A: I can see why your current girlfriend might else on my watch. Do I call her up and end it? ADVOCATING FOR feel threatened by your relationship with See her once a year when no one’s around? BETTER PATIENT WELL-BEING an ex, UGHS, seeing as she—your current Ignore her until she dies? —L TA CONSUMER SAFETY girlfriend—was until very recently just another F EQUITY AND INCLUSION one of your exes. Since you got back together JOB CREATION The is with her, the green-eyed monster whispers : Tell your racist friend to give you a call a er Reader 420 Companion A COMMUNITY INVESTMENT fi lled with great recipes, activities in her ear, what’s to stop you from getting she gets sober and confront her about her AND THE RESPONSIBLE and coloring pages. back together with your other ex? What the racism then—you know, when she’s actually USE OF CANNABIS green-eyed monster doesn’t say, of course, is capable of remembering the conversation, Your purchase supports the Reader. that you had every opportunity to get back refl ecting on what you had to say, and perhaps 15% of the proceeds will be donated to together with your ex and didn’t. And cutting changing for the better. If she can’t get both GET INVOLVED! the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless. off your ex now doesn’t mean you can’t get sober and better, LTAF, make sure she isn’t back together with her later. And what’s to registered to vote and then ignore her until WWW . CBAIL . ORG stop you from getting together with one of she dies. v chicagoreader.com/420book the 3.5 billion women you haven’t already dated? Send letters to mail@savagelove. You have to take a hard line on this. Tell your net. Download the Savage Lovecast at current you’re happy to provide her with a lit- savagelovecast.com. An Essential Calm. tle reassurance when she’s feeling insecure @fakedansavage Day or Night.
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mineralhealth.co To advertise, call 312-392-2934 or email [email protected] advertise, call 312-392-2934 To ll APRIL - CHICAOREADER 33 Engineering, or related & delivering Business as linear regression, provide Microsoft SQL LEGAL JOBS fi eld in quantitative area Intelligence reporting & logistic regression, and Server project life- MARKETPLACE NOTICE of study. Must have 1 data visualization using hypothesis testing using cycle, including system ADULT SERVICES Network Objects, yr exp in a Trading role, Cognos, Qlikview, Power statistical tools, such design, development, This letter is to notify that Inc. seeks combo of such as Derivatives BI, and Tableau. Of the as R or SAS; develop implementation, Danielle’s Lip Service, on May 25, 2020 at 9:30 education, training and Trader, Junior Trader or qual exp, must have at and streamline reporting enhancement, support Erotic Phone Chat. 24/7. a.m. an auction will be experience equiv. to similar. Work experience least 2 years of data by leveraging business and analysis using Must be 21+. Credit/ held at 83rd & Halsted Bachelor’s + 2yrs exp/ must have included modelling experience. intelligence tools and Microsoft SQL Server, Debit Cards Accepted. All Self Storage, Inc., located equiv.: SAP SD Vistex use of Python. Must Travel required up to 5%, programing languages and Microsoft SQL Server Fetishes and Fantasies at 8316 S. Birkhoff Ave, Functional Consultant pass timed math exam. domestic or international such as SQL and VBA Management Studio (2 Are Welcomed. Personal, Chicago, IL 60620, to sell (NSVFC20): SAP SD/MM, Multiple positions. as needed TO APPLY: (2 yrs); use Microsoft yrs); establish, maintain, Private and Discrete. the following articles held EDI, FICO, Sterling. Mail Must reference “Job Access and SQL Server and enforce coding 773-935-4995 within said storage units resume with job ID to HR: Direct resumes to: Megan Code: 3865” to be Management Studio to standards for object- FOR SALE to enforce a lien existing 2300 Barrington Road, Suerth, Akuna Capital considered. Apply by design, validate, and oriented application under the laws of the Suite 400, Hoffman LLC 333 S Wabash, Suite mail - Attention: Sarah maintain SQL code design, development and state of Illinois. 2600, Chicago, IL 60604. Scibelli, HSBC Bank used in ad hoc and maintenance using C#, 70% off complete Estates, IL 60169. trading library consist of Unanticipated work site If hired, must provide USA, N.A. 95 Washington regular analysis (2 yrs). Visual Studio, and TFS 260 Dorian Richwell document confirming Street, Atrium 1NW, Please submit resume to (version control system) all necessary explanation locations throughout U.S. of fundamental and 157 Kyrih Faulkner Foreign equiv. accepted. authorization to work Buff alo, NY 14203. [email protected] (2 yrs); implement Model 304 Reginald Bullock legally and permanently View Controller design technical analysis for stocks commodities Assurance Supervisor – in the U.S. Employment Federal Home Loan Federal Home Loan pattern using Java. This letter is to notify that is at its offi ces in Chicago Bank of Chicago is Bank of Chicago is Please submit resume to and options. Barry (Chicago, IL) RSM: Prep, 224-616-1308 on May 25, 2020 at 9:30 examine & analyze audit at 333 S Wabash Ave. seeking a Senior Risk seeking a Senior [email protected] a.m. an auction will be work papers, financial Analyst in Chicago, Software Developer held at Hyde Park Self statements & related Sr. Software Dev IL with the following in Chicago, IL with the Kraft Foods Group Storage, Inc., located at disclosures & internal Engineer in Test needed requirements: Masters following requirements: Brands LLC seeks 5155 S. Cottage Grove control letters w/ focus by PEAK6 Group, LLC in degree in Finance, Bachelor’s degree in Director, Strategic Pricing Ave, Chicago, IL 60615, on quality, thoroughness, Chicago, IL to develop Financial Engineering, Computer Science or to work in Chicago, IL to sell the following & accuracy. Reqs: & implement financial Statistics or related fi eld related field or foreign & lead pricing strategy articles held within said Bach of science (or for industry app software. or foreign equivalent equivalent degree. and execution for the US storage units to enforce equiv) in acct’ing, fin Reqs Master’s or foreign degree. 2 years of related 3 years of related Retail and Foodservice a lien existing under or rel’d. 1 yr exp as an equiv in Comp Sci or experience. Required experience. Required businesses within Submit your Reader Matches the laws of the state of accountant or rel’d, related fi eld & 2 yrs exp skills: design and develop skills: research, design, Kraft Heinz. Degree & ad today at chicagoreader. Illinois. which must incl: compile designing & developing risk models and perform architect and test system- commensurate exp. com/matches for FREE. separate & consolidated test strategies to build model testing and level software for Web req›d. Apply online: Matches ads are not 544 Chanel Long financial statements in automated testing validation using R, SAS, Application development kraftheinzcompany. guaranteed and will run in 469 Phyllis Robinson accordance w/ IFRS & frameworks. Exp must or Excel (Macro); conduct using C#, .Net, HTML, com/applyNA.html at # print and online on a space- 135 George Kagan IFRS for small & midsized include automation statistical analyses such and JavaScript (2 yrs); R-27304 available basis. 427 Thomas McElroy enterprises; planning, testing, test planning & 71 Lazinnial Brandon fieldwork & finalization strategy, exp with Agile,
CLASSIFIEDS 379 Mkosi M. Miller of independent audit Exploratory, Selenium 10169 Regina M. Hightower engagements in Web driver, Selenium WANT TO ADD A LISTING TO OUR CLASSIFIEDS? 10124 Steven Watson accordance w/ ISA for IDE, Test NG Framework, 84 Patricia Baines clients in not-for-profit, Gradle, Java & Python. E-mail classifi [email protected] with details 377 Melvin Golden retail, manufacturing, To apply, mail resume to or call (312) 392-2970 10129 Steven Watson real estate & aviation L. Moore, PEAK6 Group, 53 Kimberly Blair industries; & using 141 W Jackson Blvd, Ste 365 William Carpenter caseware audit software 500, Chicago, IL 60604. JOBS 10121 Michael B. Weaver to perform/complete ATTENTION audit related tasks. IT Business Analyst ADMINISTRATIVE This letter is to notify that Mail resumes to: Attn: - Data Warehouse, If you are a former 10/1/99 CHA leaseholder who has an interest in on May 25, 2020 at 9:30 C Volkening - #1957, 1 HSBC Technology & exercising your right to return, please read the information listed below. SALES & a.m. an auction will be S. Wacker Dr, S. 800, Services (USA) Inc. MARKETING held at South Shore Self Chicago, IL, 60606 Arlington Heights, IL. Storage, Inc., located at Works with each Global The Draft Tenant Selection Plan (TSP), Lease, and other documents that will apply FOOD & DRINK 7843 S. Exchange Ave, Akuna Capital LLC has Business/Function to to resident occupancy at Levy House are available for review and comment. Chicago, IL 60649, to sell the following Open consolidate and resolve SPAS & SALONS the following articles held Positions in Chicago IL: cross functional data Levy House is a senior property located in the Rogers Park community area, Chicago, IL. Units within within said storage units initiatives, projects and BIKE JOBS to enforce a lien existing 1. Mid-Level Quantitative issues. Reqs: Must have this development will be available for eligible 10/1/1999 leaseholders who have yet to satisfy their right GENERAL under the laws of the Research Must have BA or foreign equival in of return under the Relocation Rights Contract and eligible Project Based Voucher (PBV) applicants. The state of Illinois. MS in Stats, Compu Comp Sci, IT, or rel fl d,+5 Chicago Housing Authority (CHA), to bring additional affordable housing opportunities to Rogers Park Sci, Math, Phys, or years of progress, post- 122 Johnnie Howard related fi eld. Must have bacc rel work experience. has worked in consultation with the developer to draft a TSP and Lease for use at Levy House. S027 Bryon Demons coursework in C or C++ Quali exp must include: REAL 417 Victor Clopton programming, numerical Banking exp, incl the The 30-day public comment period will be held for CHA to receive oral and written comments 606 Diane Taylor analysis & probability area of Data mgnt of on April 16 through May 15, 2020. Due to Covid 19, Chicago Housing Authority has suspended all ESTATE 344 Jerome Cheetam modeling. Must have Loans & Deposits, 412 Douglas Lucas completed internship or Personal banking, public meetings. In lieu of the public comment hearing, we ask that comments be submitted electroni- RENTALS at least 2 yrs of research Cards, Mortgage, cally to [email protected]. All comments must be received by May 15, 2020. This letter is to notify exp using advanced Risk & Compliance FOR SALE that on May 25, 2020 at mathematical analysis and Finance data with 9:30 a.m. an auction will & modeling. Must pass design, architecture and Levy House TSP, Lease, & other documents will be available on CHA’s website beginning April 16 NON-RESIDENTIAL be held at Aaron Bros. coding exam. Multiple dashboards. Data mgmt, through May 15, 2020 at: ROOMATES Self-Storage, Inc., loca- positions. incl industry data ted at 4034 S. Michigan mgmt practice, data https://www.thecha.org/about/plans-reports-and-policies/proposed-policies-out-public-comment Ave, Chicago, IL 60653, 2. Sr. Developer, mgmt processes. Data to sell the following Quantitative Trading/ warehouse & ETL articles held within said Python. Must have BS tools (DataStage and MARKET- storage units to enforce in Compu Sci, Software QualityStage, Information a lien existing under Eng, or related field & Analyzer, Alteryx, File PLACE the laws of the state of 5 yrs exp as Developer Transmission (SFTP, Mail, E-mail or Fax comments to: Illinois. or related role that Connect direct), Object Chicago Housing Authority GOODS included developing storage). Relational data Attention: Levy House Draft TSP & Lease 208 Derrick Frye applications in Python modeling (ERD) and SQL 60 E. Van Buren Street, 12th Floor SERVICES 229 Ishmael McDaniels & C++. In lieu of BS & 5 using Microsoft SQL Chicago, IL 60605 321 Nona Lee Moore yrs exp, will accept MS Server, Oracle, DB2, and [email protected] HEALTH & 2000 Nina Powell in stated fi elds & at least Teradata. Scheduling Fax 312. 913.7837 329 Tanya Lyda 1 yr exp in developing tools including Control M, WELLNESS 6319 Nona Lee Moore applications in Python & IBM Workload Scheduler. INSTRUCTION 580 Jamal Portluck C++. Must pass coding Working with global or 351 Nona Lee Moore exam. Multiple positions. regional stakeholders If you have a question about this notice, please call the CHA at 312.913-7300. MUSIC & ARTS 558 Kamla Ronan in matrix environment. 345 Kermit Waddy 3. Metals Options Of the qualif exp, To request a reasonable accommodation, please call 312.913.7062. NOTICES 552 Michael Weston Trader. Must have BS must have at least 3 TTY 866.331.3603 MESSAGES 585 Danisha White or equivalent in Math, years in developing LEGAL NOTICES ADULT SERVICES 34 CHICA O READER - APRIL ll the platform The Chicago Reader Guide to Business and Professional Services travel entertainment home improvement
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ll APRIL - CHICAOREADER 35 Chicago Reader
The Reader 420 Companion is filled with greatrecipes , activities and coloring pages.
Details may be found at chicagoreader.com/420book chicagoreader.com/puzzle $24.20: Printed, bound copy, includes a digital download (+ $4.20 shipping & handling) Order your printed copy by 4/23 to be guaranteed a book from the 1st print run.
Do Not Touch Puzzle $14.20: Digital download Piece together the first of our iconic Stay Home cover series. Your purchase supports the Reader
This is a 432-piece, 18” x 24” puzzle. The 15% of the proceeds will be donated to cost of this puzzle is $60 + $10 for shipping. the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless (U.S. orders only)
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