FREE AND FREAKY SINCE | OCTOBER THIS WEEK CHICAGO READER | OCTOBER | VOLUME NUMBER
IN THIS ISSUE T R - Desire celebrates cliteracy prime pandemic escapism the 40 Chicagoans of Note Andrew @ 10 News YOUmedia was a refuge documentary Nationtime is raw Tham composer performer and for Black and Brown youth Recent and inspired and Sofi a Coppola’s cofounder of Parlour Tapes P T B layoff s put that in jeopardy On the Rocks is a light examination E C S K K H of uncomfortable but inescapable I C L A H OPINION C L R H relationships 42 Supreme Court Democrats M E P M let Barrett happen because she’s TD K R exactly the kind of judge their C E B W A E J L corporate donors support S W M D L G D I B J M S E A S N L CITY LIFE G D K W 04 Street View Defying L C S C -J boundaries two entrepreneurs mix S J R business community and prints F A M R C E B N B L C M D L C M THE SEX ISSUE C N L C J F S 15 Queer Haven Gay bathhouses F J H I H B J C M J M were barely surviving Then came MUSIC & NIGHTLIFE K S K N D LM COVID 28 Feature Bridgeport DIY house M A M -K J R N J 18 Play Parties The swinger lifestyle Rancho Huevos nurtured an N M O A P- A K S C S creates solace and friendship for antiauthoritarian community for 43 Savage Love Dan Savage ------those seeking sexual freedom nearly two decades Now it stands off ers advice on overcoming D D J D 21 Toys Sex shops off er pleasure at a vacant and slated for demolition the patriarchal gaze and S M C J G distance amid COVID 32 Records of Note A pandemic objectifying someone who SS P can’t stop the music and this wants to be objectifi ed by you A T A FOOD & DRINK THEATER week the Reader reviews current S I D M N 06 Restaurant Review Meet 22 Safe Sex Scenes Intimacy releases by Rich Jones & Montana CLASSIFIEDS D D C W Dinkey DaDiva creator of the Jerk directors protect actors Macks Tawny Newsome & Bethany 46 Jobs M P C Y D Chicken Egg Roll by promoting boundaries Thomas Sen Morimoto and more 46 Apartments & Spaces E A S L K communication and respect 38 Early Warnings Rescheduled 46 Marketplace M P D 24 Fair Pay Elsa Hiltner crunches concerts and other updated listings A A C NEWS & POLITICS S EC K K 08 Joravsky | Politics Blago the numbers on theater designer 38 Gossip Wolf Beloved DIY Donnie Phyllis and other shameful salaries space Situations signs off with a ADVERTISING campaign absurdities Halloween livestream and Angel -- @ C A H C 09 Isaacs | Culture The FILM Marcloid drops an album of fi zzy - @ documentary The Dilemma of 26 Movies of Note Holidate is jazz fusion as Nonlocal Forecast V P S A M S D A N C R M T P S A R L M -H L S THIS WEEK ON CHICAGOREADER.COM C S M W R N A V M G -- - J L S B ------D C [email protected] -- CHICAGOREADERLC BP D R L T E R A- S V
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T C R O P-R F C F We (don’t always) love TV Get me rewrite! ‘Essential, not disposable’ ------R ISSN - Two television addicts scream Aaron Sorkin rewrites Chicago We need a new ethic of care that R LC about how much they hated history to help beat Trump, writes values workers for their labor and S M S C IL Netfl ix’s Emily in Paris. Ben Joravsky. for the lives that they are living. -- C © C R P C IL
2 CHICA O READER - OCTOBER ll 2020
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ISA GIALLORENZO Street View Out of the box Defying boundaries, two entrepreneurs mix business, community, and prints. B I G
hen spotted at Garfield Park Con- servatory, Maria LyVonne, 35, and WAshley Bassett-Parkins, 33, looked like they belonged in a fashion editorial—and they did! They were being photographed for the “lifestyle brand” they introduced last April, named LYV-ON (pronounced “live on” or “love on”). “We are on a mission to change the role the fashion industry plays in climate change, make sustainable fashion inclusive, and bring a more relatable and transparent approach to the industry,” says LyVonne. Be- fore they launch their fi rst capsule collection next spring, LyVonne and Bassett-Parkins are focused on building a community “where real women with real experiences can come togeth- er, get inspiration, feel empowered to have a voice, and love and care for themselves.” While busy producing their very own garb, the business partners and longtime friends were sporting garments that represented their “mix-and-match” aesthetic: “I love emo- tional pieces, which is why I gravitate towards the mixture of prints and fabrics. I love pieces that tell a story and are inspirational,” says LyVonne, who described the look she rented from Rent the Runway as “eclectic fall garden party.” Bassett-Parkins, dressed in a “whim- sical garden” theme, likes to mix leopard and fl oral prints year-round and favors a blend of femininity and masculinity with an edge. “Not one style defi nes me,” she says. “I don’t like to be put into a box, since I feel that everyone’s style is constantly evolving and I like to push my limits.” v
For more about LYV-ON, check out lyv-on.com and @lyvonlife on Instagram.
4 CHICA O READER - OCTOBER ll YOUR MENTAL HEALTH DEPENDS ON IT V Voting helps to: o Overcome t Traumatic e Effects
Generational Trauma and prolonged traumatic stress rips the social fabric in our communities. We count, we matter and we must be intentional in our efforts to uplift the human condition! Voting made the Civil Rights Act, Voting Rights Act, Women’s Suffrage, American with Disabilities Act, 1st Black Mayor of Chicago and 1st Black US President possible. Let’s encourage the next generation and keep our future bright!
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FOOD REVIEW Dinkey DaDiva JEFF MARINI FOR CHICAGO READER Meet Dinkey DaDiva, creator of the Jerk Chicken Egg Roll The Egg Roll Lady has 75 varieties in her arsenal. By M S
inkey DaDiva, the Egg Roll Lady, and her sister Pinkey grew up on the west side Deating their Auntie Cathy’s egg rolls stuffed with ground beef and cabbage. So when they opened L&B Soul Kitchen in Bell- wood in 2012, it made sense to put them on the menu. “I called them ‘soul rolls,’” says Dinkey, who, along with Pinkey, was given her nickname as a child, and whose real names are Ernesta and The OG jerk chicken egg rolls JEFF MARINI FOR CHICAGO READER Lekia Berry. The soul rolls did OK, but it wasn’t until 2015 when she noticed the jerk taco trend sweeping the west side that the light bulb lit up the path to her destiny—as the probable originator of the current jerk egg roll wave and the creator of some 75 egg roll varieties. I learned about Berry after reading taco scholar Titus Ruscitti’s recent egg roll round- up where he wondered why these deep fried jerk rolls seemed to have become the unoffi cial snack of the west side. Turns out Ruscitti had visited ground zero two years earlier, long after Dinkey and Pinkey changed the name of the restaurant to Tastee Rolls in the midst of a marathon, 18-month egg roll brainstorming session. “After I did the jerk chicken egg roll, it went crazy,” she says. “I set a trend on social media. There are so many restaurants and so many people trying to do it. We sat at the table and came up with so many egg rolls—jerk chicken, jerk steak, jerk shrimp.” DaDiva’s original jerk chicken egg roll
6 CHICA O READER - OCTOBER ll D ’L R| R facebook.com/dinkey.dadiva N. Mannheim Hillside, Illinois - - FOOD & DRINK
YOUR PERFECT WEEKEND STARTS AT VIRTUE CIDER FARM
Unoffi cial snack of the west side JEFFMARINIFORCHICAGOREADER
is a shatteringly crispy bundle of chopped else doing them,” she says. “It’s just like breast meat, carrots, and cabbage bathed in chicken wings. Anybody can do chicken wings. the warm spiced glow of the tropics. But the Anybody can do egg rolls. I feel honored that sisters didn’t stop there. They stuffed rolls I started a trend in Chicago and everybody with scratch-made Italian beef, Philly steak, wants to do it because of me.” To complete the Buffalo chicken, and gyros. There was a surf- circle, the Jerk Taco Man, probable originator and-turf egg roll, a “mean green” veggie roll, of the jerk taco craze, now has a jerk egg roll peach cobbler and cheesecake rolls, and a on his menu. “mystery roll.” They made mini egg rolls for Dinkey still controls the Eggsplosion Rolls kids’ parties, supersized 12-inch egg rolls for Facebook page, which she uses to steer fans to big eaters, and breakfast rolls like bacon, egg, her new location, Dinkey’s Lucky Rolls. She’s and cheese. Every egg roll can be ordered with now inside a small carryout kitchen next to molten hot cheese inside. the video slot and poker machines at Bobby’s, The sisters didn’t just rebrand, they ex- a strip mall gaming parlor in Hillside, part of panded. While Pinkey held down the fort in a burgeoning suburban chain. Dinkey has been Bellwood, Dinkey introduced the rolls to the planning to expand along with it, offering her city, opening a new soul food spot in 2017 on rolls in each new location, along with break- Madison with a partner. But that arrangement fast, sandwiches, nachos, wings, rice bowls, fizzled in April 2018, and Dinkey pivoted to and tacos—“Make it jerk,” recommends the making egg roll deliveries from a family food menu. She’s projecting egg rolls in 29 total truck. locations. Last November she and another partner To ensure consistency, she’s mandated a opened Eggplosion Rolls on Chicago Avenue, two-week egg rolling course for employees. where they introduced “make your own egg Graduates—eight of them so far—get a certifi - rolls” that encouraged customer-driven, cate upon completion. genre-bending mashups like Italian beef and She’s hired a restaurant consultant to help Philly steak in one roll. But that relationship her grow, and she’s plotting a return to the was short-lived too. Dinkey struck out on her west side too, Chicago Avenue in particular. own again in June, and while Eggplosion Rolls Meanwhile, there are always new egg rolls to CIDER TASTINGS | FARM ANIMALS is still open, its egg roll offerings are much conceive. “I’m steady creating,” she says. “I diminished. love this business. My mind—I eat, sleep, poop NATURE TRAILS | LIVE MUSIC There are bitter feelings about the breakup, egg rolls.” v but Dinkey is proud of the overall ascendance VirtueCider.com | (269) 722-3232 | 2170 62nd St, Fennville, MI of jerk egg rolls. “I don’t care about anybody @MikeSula ll OCTOBER - CHICAOREADER 7 NEWS & POLITICS
Are people really going to take political advice ing for Blago don’t look so bad after all. from this guy? U S MARSHALS SERVICE Here’s a question for all you wannabe po- litical scientists out there. How loyal is MAGA to Trump? We already know they’ll vote for Even though I realize that shaming voters him even though he allegedly raped a woman, will never get you anywhere in campaigning. cheated on his taxes, and called American war A message that lefties—like state senator heroes “losers” and “suckers.” Robert Peters and activist Amisha Patel—have But would they vote for the Fair Tax if he been telling me for years. endorsed it? I think they would. Consider the I mean, you don’t have to be Saul Alinsky to evidence . . . realize that insulting people is not a produc- Blago was the epitome of Democratic cor- tive way to organize them. ruption. The man Republicans used to turn Besides, I learned long ago that hate has Illinoisans against the Democratic party. a strong infl uence on voting behavior. It can And then in a shrewd move, Blago started even get people to vote against their own self sucking up to Trump while he was still in interest. prison. That motivated Trump to commute his It doesn’t take much for MAGA voters to sentence, largely on the grounds that Blago hate and thus vote against anyone who oppos- was set up by the same sinister deep-state es Trump. forces that were going after him. POLITICS I bet there are many pro-police retirees Now Blago’s the public face of Trump’s cam- on the northwest and southwest sides who paign in Illinois. He’s so popular with Repub- hate Governor Pritzker because he’s had nice licans that he was invited to be the featured Shame, shame, shame things to say about the Black Lives Matter speaker at a Republican fundraiser in Will movement. County. Blago, Donnie, Phyllis, and other shameful campaign absurdities So, they’ll vote against the Fair Tax largely If Blago ran for governor in the 2022 Re- because Pritzker supports it. And they fi gure publican primary, he’d probably get a bunch By B J by voting no they’ll be punishing Pritzker, of votes. With a few tweets from Trump, he even though they’re really punishing them- might even win the nomination. Blago v. Pritz- selves. Let me explain . . . ker—what a showdown! he weirdest, almost psychedelically Let me pause to remind you that for better The state does not tax retirement income— Now imagine if Trump harnessed all of his surreal moment of the campaign season or worse, everything Blago got in politics he pensions included. To be even clearer, you pay power and tweeted out support for the Fair Toccurred last week when Blago showed got as a result of his connections to the Dem- zero state taxes on your retirement income. Tax. It would probably win by a landslide. up at Trump Tower to rally Black support for ocratic Machine. Pensions included. Sigh. If only my shaming had the power of President Donnie. In particular, his father-in-law—former The Fair Tax would raise the rates the one tweet from Trump. v We know about this thanks to Tom Schuba, Alderman Richard Mell—without whom Blago wealthiest residents pay in state income tax. ace reporter for the Sun-Times, the only media would never have been elected state repre- But it doesn’t affect retirees—because retire- @bennyjshow person to gain access to the affair. As such, sentative, much less congressman, and then ment income is not taxed. Schuba was on hand to witness a maskless governor. People, I’m trying to make this as clear as Blago make his pitch. Black people voting MAGA because of Bla- possible. So, one more time . . . “I’m one of your homies,” former governor go’s endorsement is not even this campaign Pritzker could raise the highest rates to 50 #TVKUV9TKVGT Rod Blagojevich told the crowd of about 25 or season’s most self-destructive act. percent, and it still would not affect retirement so Black MAGA lovers, few of whom bothered That distinction goes to pensioners who income. ’Cause—all together now—retirement 2GTHQTOGT! to wear a mask. plan to vote no on the Fair Tax in part because income is not taxed by the state! %4'#6+8' 51.76+105 (14 Wow. I mean—wow. If there’s a voter in of a fraudulent TV commercial paid for by If the tax is zero, and they raise the rate to %4'#6+8' 2'12.' the universe—Black or white—moved to vote billionaires. 50 percent, you still pay zero ’cause zero times MAGA because of Blago’s endorsement then I’m alluding to the infamous commercial 50 percent is still zero. 5WRRQTVKXG #HHKTOKPI CPF )QCN . . . well, I don’t know, maybe the qualifi cations featuring Phyllis, a retiree from Park Ridge You freaking idiots! &KTGEVGF 2U[EJQVJGTCR[ CPF for voter eligibility aren’t high enough. who tries to scare pensioners into voting Sorry, sorry, that was really inappropriate. I *[RPQVJGTCR[ HQT #FWNVU Oh, no—I feel a surge of Baby Boomer against the Fair Tax on the grounds that it humbly apologize for that shameless outburst vote-shaming coming up . . . would slap a tax on their retirement income. of shameism. /#: - 5*#2'; .%59 Not proud of these moments. It’s an affl ic- It won’t do that. All the extra money raised with higher rates .QECVGF KP &QYPVQYP 'XCPUVQP tion that comes with age. Be warned, millen- Repeat, the Fair Tax won’t do that. on the wealthiest residents would help pay nials, it will happen to you in about 30 years, Phyllis—or whoever wrote the script she’s for the state’s massive obligations, including whenever you see an abnormal abundance of reading—just made that up. pensions. And so retirees could vote to have YYYOCZUJCRG[EQO voter ignorance and irrationality. I get so frustrated at the thought of Phyllis someone else fortify their pensions. OCZUJCRG["CQNEQO Like, to go back to our example, Blago woo- scaring retirees into voting no on the Fair Tax But, guess what—many will vote no because NWG TQUU NWG 5JKGNF 2TGHGTTGF 2TQXKFGT ing Black voters for Trump by denigrating the that I wind up howling at the moon . . . they hate Pritzker. KIPC 2TGHGTTGF 2TQXKFGT Chicago Democratic Machine. Shame, shame, shame on you people! In contrast, those Black MAGA lovers cheer-
8 CHICA O READER - OCTOBER ll NEWS & POLITICS
The Dilemma of Desire COURTESY THE DILEMMA OF DESIRE
per Jasmine, economist and budding stand- up comic Sunny, artist and poet Becca, and Umnia, whose memories and video clips from a loveless marriage make for some poignant, hard-earned wisdom. There’s a lot of Chicago on screen: Coriama interviews bearded local drag queen Lucy Stoole, Becca gives away her poetry at a Ful- lerton Avenue bus stop, Sunny and a friend shop for vibrators in Lakeview, and Umnia reminisces about her father on a deck with a view of the downtown skyline at night. Jasmine strolls down Michigan Avenue, and the “Democracy without Cliteracy? Phallusy.” slogan is projected onto Trump Tower. But the takeaway is anything but strictly local. The movie opens (and closes) with the searing words of Black lesbian poet and es- sayist Audre Lorde, initially in her own voice, reading from “Uses of the Erotic: The Erotic as Power,” at Mount Holyoke College in 1978: “The erotic offers a well of replenishing and provocative force to the woman who does not fear its revelation,” Lorde says in that essay. But also, “We have been taught to suspect this CULTURE resource,” and to suppress it, because “women so empowered are dangerous . . . We have been raised to fear the yes within ourselves.” The Dilemma of Desire The point is that the absence of information about the source of female erotic pleasure A new documentary celebrates cliteracy. is no accident: it’s integral to a system that wants to control women and trap them in a po- By D I sition of inferiority. “Girls are separated from the reality of their bodies,” Wallace tells the iven that—as legal pundit Jeffrey Toobin don’t know what my own biology looks like?” clitoris stickers on museum art, and is the camera: “They don’t think they have the right recently and so unexpectedly reminded The answer, according to the fi lm? We put creator of Cliteracy: 100 Natural Laws, a post- to feel good.” Gus—everyone is sexual, here’s a ques- a man on the moon in 1969, but it wasn’t until er-style text installation that’s been touring “While this is a film about sexual desire,” tion: If I handed you paper and pencil right 1998 that the full clitoris was extracted from a since 2012, covering gallery walls with facts Finitzo told me in a phone interview last week, now, could you draw a clitoris? human body. By a woman doctor. and proclamations like, “The Hole is Not the “it’s mostly a fi lm about equality and power, Not just the button. Could you draw the The visible part of the clitoris, it turns out, Whole,” and “Democracy without Cliteracy? and how if you don’t understand the full ca- whole thing? is the tip of the iceberg—a tiny bowed head on Phallusy.” pacity of your body in your life, then you’re The Dilemma of Desire, a new documentary a hidden neck. Behind it stands a staunch root She’s driven by the memory of her grand- disconnected from your power both politically from Kartemquin and Chicago director Maria with two pairs of branching appendages that mother, who bore fi ve children but didn’t think and personally.” Finitzo, poses this question early on, and then hug the vagina. The entire, wishbone-shaped she’d ever had an orgasm. The Dilemma of Desire was slated to pre- takes a hard look at the reasons why you prob- structure might bring to the boggled mind a The film intersperses glimpses of Dutton, miere at SXSW in March, but it was canceled ably can’t, and their consequences. tulip, or a cephalopod, or—for those inclined Wallace, University of Utah psychology pro- a week prior to screening by COVID. Finitzo For starters, neuroscientist Stacey Dutton to something more anthropomorphic—a long- fessor Lisa Diamond, and industrial designer is hoping for an in-person Chicago premiere pulls a vintage Gray’s Anatomy from her book limbed, dancing humanoid. Ti Chang (who creates sex toys that look like in 2021, but we don‘t have to wait that long to shelf, locates “clitoris” in the table of contents, If you already knew this, it could be because lipsticks and can be worn as pendants) with see it. It’ll be available for online viewing as and then searches in vain for any discussion of you’ve seen the work of Sophia Wallace, a New profiles of five Chicago women shot over a part of the DOC NYC festival, November 11-19; this subject in the text, though there’s plenty York-based artist who’s featured prominently three-year period. Identified only by first tickets are $12 at docnyc.net. v there about the penis. “As a woman biologist,” in the film. Wallace turns the clitoris into name, they are artist and activator Coriama, Dutton asks herself, “how is it possible that I jewelry and sleek metal sculpture, plasters Northwestern University dropout and strip- @DeannaIsaacs ll OCTOBER - CHICAOREADER 9 NEWS & POLITICS
ANNA JO BECK What happened to YOUmedia? The Chicago Public Library’s fl agship teen program was a refuge for Black and Brown youth. Recent layoff s put that in jeopardy. By T M
10 CHICA O READER - OCTOBER ll NEWS & POLITICS
alk through the doors of the an adult they could go to in a friendship ca- three things: hang out, mess around, and geek Brown youth. The majority of teens who visit cavernous 5,500-square-foot pacity and professional capacity that wasn’t out. YOUmedia are low-income and nonwhite. In YOUmedia space and your a teacher or parent,” says Matt Jensen, a A storage room at the Harold Washington a city that erodes public schools, communi- senses are overwhelmed im- founding YOUmedia mentor who left the Library was cleared for a space that looked ty spaces, and social services in Black and mediately by the whirring of library last year to move to Michigan. “Kids like a cross between a lab, an art studio, and Brown neighborhoods, YOUmedia felt like a W3D printers, the shouts of middle schoolers could come and talk to us about diffi cult top- a living room, intended to accommodate all refuge for many. locked in a tense game of Mario Kart, and ics, like ‘I can’t afford college’ and ‘I might be three needs. “Ten years ago, we created these In 2015, DYN’s contract with the city ended, ecstatic rhymes in the recording studio from a gay’ and ‘I don’t know how I feel about this places that didn’t exist. Youth need spaces and the mentors were switched to another young artist who, years later, you’ll swear you person in my house.’” that are designed to allow them to engage employer—but it wasn’t CPL. Mentors and all knew them way back when. On a typical school In the absence of a social safety net, YOU- and tinker with one another,” explains Dr. other grant staff were contracted by a staff- day afternoon, prior to the COVID-19 pandem- media mentors have also mobilized to re- Nichole Pinkard, YOUmedia cofounder and ing agency called Advanced Resources, which ic, it wouldn’t have been unusual to see 100 spond to crises. “There were lots of occasions founder of DYN. managed payroll and acted as the middleman teens stream into—of all places—the Harold where kids would come to the library with Mentors were originally employed by for CPL communications. Unlike union-rep- Washington Library downtown. problems that you hope would’ve been ad- DYN as specialists in STEM, art, music, and resented city staff, the largely part-time It’s no wonder that Chicago’s most respect- dressed in other arenas, like [homelessness]. other creative disciplines. Unlike librarians, grant staff were not provided benefi ts such as ed rappers, such as Saba, Vic Mensa, and Mick Through having this teen space and nontra- mentors were not required to go through the health insurance and paid time off. Jenkins, extol the program’s virtues. Chance ditionally trained library staff, we would be draconian city job application process or hold This was a source of tension for some the Rapper, YOUmedia’s most high-profile able to put them in contact with resources. graduate degrees in library science (or any grant staff and a source of confusion among alum, famously recorded much of his first . . . Kids could come in and it was a safe place degree at all). Mentors were therefore more city staff. “I never understood why they mixtape, #10Day, at the Harold Washington for them to be sheltered,” Jensen says. likely to have nontraditional professional outsourced branch labor,” says one teen recording studio—a closet outfitted with a Which makes what was to come all the backgrounds and were more diverse than the librarian, who requested anonymity because microphone and a Mac desktop—during a more painful. In a surprise move on July majority-white librarian workforce. CPL employees aren’t allowed to speak to the two-week suspension from Jones College 14, the Chicago Public Library Foundation, Jennifer Steele, a founding DYN mentor press. “They should’ve been employees of the Prep High School. “I’m still Mr. YOUmedia,” the nonprofit fundraising arm of the Chi- who worked as YOUmedia’s partnerships city and guaranteed their jobs.” he raps in “Acid Rain,” a single off his second cago Public Library (CPL), laid off all staff manager and left in May to be executive Over the years, grant staff heard murmur- mixtape, Acid Rap. members whose wages were funded by director of 826CHI, describes the program’s ings of management internally advocating In “Yesterday,” Bronzeville native Noname philanthropic grants. Among these workers early success among teens as a “ground- for them to become city staff and some spec- pays tribute to her beloved friend and mentor (known as grant staff) were CyberNaviga- swell.” Unlike other after-school programs, ulation that AFSCME Local 1215, the union “Brother Mike” Hawkins: “Me missing Broth- tors, tech-support professionals who offered YOUmedia does not require application that represents CPL workers, would want to er Mike, like something heavy / My heart digital literacy training to adults; Teachers- fees or an approval process to get in. The work with them someday. (AFSCME Local just wasn’t ready / I wish I was a kid again.” in-the-Library, educators employed by the low-pressure environment of the library, 1215 did not respond to interview requests.) Hawkins, who died in 2014 at age 38, was a library as after-school tutors; and all the understood as a public space, made it easy for Mentors and current librarians attribute founding YOUmedia mentor and “spiritual YOUmedia mentors. teens to feel welcome. “Teens vote with their this lack of urgency to City Hall politics. father to a generation of Chicago rappers,” More than seven months into the COVID-19 feet, and they ended up coming back,” Steele Carving out millions for these grant-funded Leor Galil wrote for the Reader in 2014. pandemic, Chicago unemployment stands says. programs would’ve taken a lot of political For Trey Raines, a 20-year-old rapper who at 11.7 percent, three times higher than the The YOUmedia model was so lauded that gymnastics, so it was cheaper and more ex- performs as the Third, joining a YOUmedia same time last year, according to the Bureau the concept was replicated in more than pedient for the Chicago Public Library Foun- open mike around 2014 was formative in his of Labor Statistics. The hundreds laid off by 20 other cities as part of the YOUmedia dation to continue courting philanthropists career. “Looking back, it’s one of the weak- CPL join 30 million unemployed Americans Learning Labs Network. YOUmedia spaces and corporate donors like Allstate, Comcast, est verses I have ever written,” he recalls, seeking work in a decimated job market. To of varying sizes were carved out of 22 more and Boeing to fund public programs. “We laughing. “But to see everybody being really the mentors laid off and the CPL librarians branches across Chicago, staffed by either questioned how much they were really fi ght- loud, gassing me, and cheering me on, it was still at work, though, it’s unclear why the lay- teen librarians (adult librarians who work ing [for us],” says one mentor. amazing to see that. My confi dence in my rap offs needed to happen. “Before all of this, it in teen services), YOUmedia mentors, or a “[Mentors] don’t get health care, but they . . . started there.” really felt like they cared about us. Now I feel combination of the two. In a ten-year anni- loved the job so much they didn’t want to Alex, a 17-year-old living on the south side, stupid for feeling that way,” says one mentor. versary announcement last year, the library leave,” says another mentor. Engrossed in remembers the day he fi rst walked into the “They just left me out on the street.” promised 30 total YOUmedia spaces by the the day-to-day work of youth programming, YOUmedia lab of the Harold Washington end of 2020. mentors did not feel a sense of urgency when Library his freshman year of high school. efore YOUmedia was an institution, it Over time, YOUmedia evolved from a space it came to advocating for themselves, a dif- He originally came for the computers and was an experiment. Founded in 2009 as into a community. Not only has the program ferent mentor tells me. “We didn’t realize in 3D printers—“just overall expensive stuff Ba MacArthur Foundation-funded part- produced fashion shows, podcasts, literary 2020 all of us would be laid off at the same that I couldn’t afford”—but felt moved by the nership between the Chicago Public Library magazines, and more, it’s also given students time.” warmth of the mentors. “It’s like that friend and the Digital Youth Network (DYN), an agency. “It gave you experience in so many you make on the first day of school where educational project centered on media arts, different things, but without the expectation n March 17, Mayor Lori Lightfoot and you know you’ll be friends,” he says. They be- YOUmedia was built on a simple premise: that you needed to be good at it or that it Governor J.B. Pritzker acknowledged came invaluable not only for their expertise “HOMAGO.” It’s an acronym based on a theory needed to be graded,” says one alum. Othe severity of the COVID-19 outbreak in STEM and the arts, but also for their life by Mizuko Ito, a media technology professor Such programs are vital not only because by closing Chicago Public Schools. Libraries, advice. at the University of California, Irvine, that of the activities offered but also because they however, were not part of the initial shut- “It’s rare for a high school student to have youth learning spaces should allow kids to do function as social safety nets for Black and down—a move that generated fi erce pushback ll OCTOBER - CHICAOREADER 11 NEWS & POLITICS from the library workers’ union. issues leading up to [the layoff], I would like Molloy points to the teen librarians, who are like they cared.” “We were the last major public library to know why.” union-represented city staff, still employed Matt Jensen, the YOUmedia mentor who system to close,” says one teen librarian. The Three librarians tell me they were not no- and creating digital programs for YOUmedia. left in 2019, says he didn’t understand why New York Public Library closed on March tifi ed by e-mail or in person by managers that “The library and library foundation haven’t the mentors weren’t asked to use their dig- 14, the Los Angeles Public Library closed their grant staff colleagues, with whom they made a decision to lay people off.” ital-media knowledge to build out online on March 16, and the Boston Public Library worked daily, would not be coming back. To some current library workers, CPL’s programming. “There’s a huge amount of closed on March 17. CPL closed a week later, purported concern over public safety feels knowledge and experience that the library on March 22. disingenuous. One teen librarian says the specifically paid to craft, and now they’ve Library workers employed by the city library’s delay in closing could have exposed just decided to jettison it. It seems like it’s were sent home and paid their full salaries librarians, their families, and patrons to going to cost them far more money in the long through the closures. Grant staff were given COVID-19. And when their branch reopened run to rebuild that expertise. I don’t know two weeks of pay. In a March 25 e-mail to “It really felt in May, the only supplies they received were what kind of business decision that is.” grant staff, Brenda Langstraat, president expired nonalcohol hand sanitizer, too-large of the Chicago Public Library Foundation, latex gloves, and a box of 10 masks. The li- he physical YOUmedia spaces have since called YOUmedia and the other grant-funded brarian ended up sewing homemade masks reopened, but even the largest branches programs “more essential than ever” and like they at their own expense to outfi t the rest of the Treceive only a few teenagers a day. Walk- extended another week of wages. “Your work staff. ing through the Harold Washington Library’s truly transforms lives,” Langstraat wrote, Some librarians speculate that the pro- YOUmedia space on an August afternoon, you promising regular updates on library opera- cared about gram was shut down because of budget short- can feel a palpable sense of loss. A large table tions. A week later, she followed up in another falls and the cancellation of key in-person that once held an elaborate model train now e-mail to suggest that YOUmedia mentors fi le fundraising events that the Chicago Public sat empty. The recording studio is still closed, for unemployment. Library Foundation usually relies on—they and the areas where teens used to play live In mid-May, library branches began to us. Now I earned it $1,786,723 in net revenue last year. music and video games were roped off with reopen. One mentor says that at fi rst, it was “The foundation loved [the mentors]. I don’t caution tape to enforce social distancing. a relief they weren’t called in to work so early think it was personal,” one teen librarian COVID-19 precautions prohibit the face- in the pandemic, given uncertainty about feel stupid says. Langstraat of the Chicago Public Li- to-face interactions that would’ve been the virus. On the other hand, the grant staff brary Foundation declined requests for an in- happening now, but that isn’t why YOUmedia says they hadn’t been informed that their terview and deferred to CPL. A review of the teens feel that they’ve been cut off from the branches were opening, and instead heard foundation’s fi nancial statements shows that relationships that originally bonded them to from other staffers. for feeling the nonprofit spent $979,438 on teen pro- the program. Then the mentors started to worry. They grams in 2019, with $673,723 going toward “This really angers me, because those tell me they didn’t receive any communica- grant-funded positions. In April, the foun- people in the YOUmedia Center made it tions from CPL, the Chicago Public Library that way. dation applied for and received a $147,500 come alive. . . . They are my family,” says one Foundation, or Advanced Resources in May Payment Protection Program loan through 18-year-old student, who asked to remain or June. It was “utter silence,” according to the CARES Act. anonymous. Another teen named Samson one mentor, until July 14. In-person program- As for programming, it has all gone on- says, “I could just tell by . . . spending time ming was paused indefi nitely, a representa- They just left line. The annual ChiTeen Lit Fest, originally with them that they had genuine love for me tive from Advanced Resources wrote in an planned for April before the pandemic hit, and all the students who would go there—just e-mail to YOUmedia grant staff. “Given the will be all-virtual in November. During the something you can’t replace.” likely long-term impact of COVID-19, CPL is me out on summer, CPL teen librarians launched a Alex, the 17-year-old who started coming to reimagining it’s [sic] current offerings and Summer Learning Challenge program, a teen YOUmedia his freshman year, says that right planning for future needs. At this time, YOU- internship program through One Summer before the pandemic, he had been planning to media mentors will not be rehired to work at Chicago, author talks, and book clubs. One work with mentors to build a telescope and branch locations.” the street.” mentor calls the library’s online summer pro- experiment with astrophotography. With the According to the e-mail, the Chicago Public gramming “traditional out-of-touch stuff,” quarantines and layoffs, he’s had to scrape by Library Foundation had to make “budget since the planning seemed top-down and not on YouTube tutorials at home. “I should have modifi cations given the many uncertainties —YOUmedia mentor arising from teens’ natural interests. professionals teach me how to do such things. in fundraising, including the YOUmedia bud- Another mentor says they tried to per- . . . The administrators really don’t know get,” though it does not directly attribute the suade the administration to let mentors de- what they are taking away from YOUmedia.” layoffs to lack of funding. The announcement “This isn’t a staff cut, and it’s not a cut to velop digital programming at the beginning YOUmedia mentors share stories of the came just two weeks before the $600 weekly services for teens. It’s us following public of the pandemic, but those proposals fell on economic anxiety they’ve faced while un- unemployment benefi t from the CARES Act health guidelines,” library spokesperson deaf ears. “They didn’t communicate with employed as well of the heartbreak they ended on July 31, which made the situation Patrick Molloy tells me. According to Molloy, us at all,” they say. “If they had worked with felt when laid off. “I’m sure I could’ve found feel more dire. YOUmedia grant staff were contracted to us, and we didn’t fi nd a solution that worked, something at Target for more hours, but I “When I got the e-mail, I was crushed,” provide specialized in-person program- and the funding just wasn’t there, and then chose [working part-time at YOUmedia] be- says one mentor. They had fully expected to ming, and because COVID-19 precautions they had to let us go, it would still be hard. cause . . . it was an important job that needed go back to work and had even been practicing prohibit in-person programs, it would’ve But it wouldn’t have been so heartbreaking, doing,” one mentor says. “Even when I had new skills for future programs. “If there were been impossible to keep them on the payroll. because we would’ve tried. It would’ve felt issues or problems to deal with, at the end of
12 CHICA O READER - OCTOBER ll POETRY CORNER NEWS & POLITICS Chiraq By Ciara Darnise Miller the day I could say I love my job. . . . It’s very frustrating to have my last memory of being A gang of white college frat boys walked into CVS What does seven gunshots sound like to a girl in that space, not knowing it would be the last loud & laughing the term “Chiraq”. time.” I turned around like the Black man who comes home before streetlights glare “YOUmedia created a movement. It created in Frantz Fanon’s Black Skin, White Masks, when the little French child said: to avoid being gunned down? something the city never thought [it would],” /Look a Negro/ another mentor says. “This is a kid that’s because iin naming, it’s always about what you answer to. Could it sound like home? disenfranchised doing science. I would show them that they’re smart enough to do this.” In Bloomington, Indiana, a name like Chiraq What do Iraqi children dream about besides war or religion? Now, with the layoff, the mentor has stopped is for the shadows of Chicago’s west & south side visiting their library branch altogether. “It’s where news stories about bullet wounds can only be compared Wasn’t I the child stuffed in windowless classrooms built like prisons? too emotional. Too much for me.” to a Third World country. Wasn’t I the child given books with torn front & back covers, Library spokesperson Molloy says that restrooms with ripped down doors where us girls had to pee the library will offer in-person YOUmedia The four frat boys continued to laugh in front of each other, quelling the awkwardness with reminders that as I remained stuck in an aisle confused it’s okay, we all have the same thing. programming as soon as possible, though he about the meaning of artiartificial & natural flavors. declined to answer whether or not the men- /Chiraq/ TTell me about mothers raising children amongst bullets. tors laid off would be hired back. A petition I laughed & then laughed again at the memory Tell me about mothers who kiss their sons who carry guns asking Lightfoot to rehire the Chicago Public of my saxophonist friend complaining about journalists & bullet wounds in their chests. Library Foundation grant staff has received who refer to his sound as “Coltraneish.” Tell me about black-on-black crime. more than 200 signatures since July. The two sound nothing alike Tell me about human beings being murdered. But even if the world were to return to besides maybe an instrument. normal a year from now, the mentors say the IIn this case, maybe a gun. “It was just a joke”, one of the gentleboys said. “You know, Chicago is a scary place.” layoff was devastating enough they may not Tell me what I sound like, my friend demanded. want to come back. “Knowing I am complete- So, I turned to the laughing frat boys & asked the same thing: I told him/them, that yes, I do know ly dismissable isn’t an easy feeling to shake,” & that until they’ve actually held the names one mentor says. “Stepping back into that Do you pronounce it Chi-RACK OR Chi-ROCK? of girls & boys on their tongues role—and knowing that, [when CPL is faced As in, who is the president of I-RACK or E-ROCK? for longer than a five second sigh at the deaths with] hardship, you may be among the fi rst As in, who came to occupy Englewood or North Lawndale? of people rendered invisible in this American landscape, people to go—isn’t something I would take As in, do you even know about Englewood or North Lawndale? don’t talk to me about war. About bodies falling. lightly.” As in, who started the war anyway? About this Black. Body. Here. As in, when you merge the names of a city & a nation As jarring as it was to lose their jobs, the do you know anything about either place? What do you have to say to the woman whose name you speak? mentors suspect the loss is taking a similar /CHIRAQ/ toll on the teens. Beyond losing access to The boys were stunned. One stepped forward I am here, as alive as a ghost rebirthed hobby equipment, teens are also grieving in Bloomington, Indiana & when you call my name, the loss of a safe community space and of with the “hands up, don’t shoot” pose. the knowledge that someone they admire always expect an answer. and trust will always be at the library after I fired anyway. school. “A lot of these kids, it felt like they were my Ciara Darnise Miller, a native of Chicago, holds both an MFA and MA in Poetry and African American/African Diaspora Studies from Indiana University. She own children,” says one mentor. “I watched also received her BA in Liberal Arts from Sarah Lawrence College. She has published poems and academic essays in such collections and periodicals as The Whiskey of Our Discontent, Break Beat Poets, Mosaic, Fjords Review, African American Review, Callaloo, Muzzle, Alice Walker: Critical Insights, Chorus, them grow up. I watched them graduate. . . . and many more. She currently lives in Chicago where she serves as an Afro-American Studies professor at Kennedy King College and the CEO of Miller’s It’s diffi cult to know that work is over.” Learning Center (MLC), a test prep and career-support company. Many mentors still receive e-mails, mes- A biweekly series curated by the Chicago Reader and sponsored by the Poetry Foundation. This week’s poem is curated by poet Tara Betts. Tara Betts is sages on social media, and texts from teens the author of two poetry collections, Break the Habit, Arc & Hue, and the forthcoming Refuse to Disappear. She also co-edited The Beiging of America and edited a critical edition of Philippa Duke Schuyler's Adventures in Black and White. In addition to her work as a teaching artist and mentor for they’ve mentored. Sometimes, the teens young poets, she's taught at prisons and several universities, including Rutgers University and University of Illinois-Chicago. In 2019, Tara published a share art or music they’ve been working on poem celebrating Illinois' bicentennial with Candor Arts. Tara is the Poetry Editor at The Langston Hughes Review and the Lit Editor at Newcity. Betts is in quarantine, or send messages to check in, currently hard at work to establish The Whirlwind Center on Chicago's South Side. like “How is your family during the pandem- ic? I miss you.” Others ask when they can Free events at the Poetry Foundation Reading for Young People: Carson Ellis come back, when they can use the recording Saturday, October 31, 12:00 PM Event information and registration at poetryfoundation.org/events Halloween family reading with Carson Ellis, studio again, if they can get help with their author and illustrator of the bestselling homework. Poetry Explorers picture book Du Iz Tak? Fridays, 10:00 AM One mentor says many of the teens haven’t Weekly family program with live, interactive activities all Open Door Series Online: Suzanne Buffam found out yet that the YOUmedia mentors about the poetry life! Designed for children ages 5–11 and & CM Burroughs don’t work for the library anymore. “I don’t their families. Tuesday, November 10, 8:00 PM have the heart to tell them.” v Highlighting Chicago’s outstanding writing programs @taylormooresays ll OCTOBER - CHICAOREADER 13 14 CHICA O READER - OCTOBER ll SEX ISSUE
The Man’s Country exhibit at the Leather Archives & Museum ADAM M RHODES
landmark 2003 U.S. Supreme Court decision striking down homophobic anti-sodomy laws have certainly made it safer and actually legal to seek out same-sex hookups. But even still, bathhouses have historically provided a certain amount of safety and ease to the gay male community that can’t be denied. And Wasdin says that continues to this day. Even fi nding hookup partners via apps comes with its own degree of risk, either in going to a stranger’s home or having them come to you, as does meeting at bars and good ol’ fashioned cruising. Bathhouses, Wasdin says, can provide a neutral, safe space to meet and have sex. “For gay men in particular, bathhouses were about risk reduction,” Wasdin says. “And it’s a place that allows you to meet others to have sex in a relatively safe environ- ment; and so, you know, boom, March comes, that’s gone.” As with many other businesses amid the ever-continuing pandemic, bathhouses and play spaces are also under signifi cant fi nan- cial stress; and that’s alongside a historic shuttering of these spaces, adding another head to the hydra of the forces that are clos- ing these doors. Like many explicitly queer spaces, bath- BATHHOUSES houses were frequently the target of ho- mophobic vice raids in the 1960s and ’70s. While gay sex was an obvious and signifi cant Can these queer havens survive another part of bathhouses, the greater conversation about them has largely ignored the civic good also undertaken at these spaces. pandemic? A 2010 article from World of Wonder, the production company behind the RuPaul’s Hookup apps and cultural changes had them barely hanging on. Then came COVID-19. Drag Race franchise, details that before the 1980 presidential election, the New St. Marks By A M R Baths in New York City and the League of Women Voters held a registration drive at the t’s month eight of the pandemic, and But in true if you know, you know fashion, much more. now-shuttered gay bathhouse. while some might be wishfully thinking the space opens up once you’re inside, past a “Yes, they’re about sex,” says Gary Wasdin, And according to an exhibit at the Leather about enjoying a drink from their favor- check-in counter to a complex that includes executive director of the Leather Archives Archives & Museum about the now-closed ite bar or ordering their favorite meal in a gym, a steam room, and saunas, as well & Museum. “We don’t run from that, we Man’s Country bathhouse in Chicago, owner person in the hopefully not-too-distant as private rooms and public spaces to have don’t hide from that because, you know, sex Chuck Renslow closed the glory holes and the Ifuture, others are waiting for when they can sex—often called “play spaces”—and the op- is awesome. And having, you know, a lot of orgy room at the bathhouse in the 1980s after indulge in pleasures that are harder to order portunities they present. sex is awesome. But, there was always this the HIV/AIDS crisis reached the city. to-go. To the untrained eye, gay bathhouses concurrent side that was just as important, According to the exhibit, safe sex pam- On its exterior, Steamworks is rather unre- like Steamworks are mere dens of iniquity, especially in the 60s and 70s, as bathhouses phlets and condoms were passed out at the markable. Its door isn’t clearly labeled. There where taps on the bathroom fl oor, a lingering emerged and became popular. You know, bathhouse after the HIV virus had been iden- aren’t any posters or advertisements on the glance, or a door ajar says much more than even just meeting with your friends to hang tified, and STI testing was done at a clinic side of the building. It looks more like an ar- you’d expect; but to the initiated and the out and chat was dangerous in this country.” upstairs at the bathouse. mory or a warehouse than anything else. experienced, they are indeed that, but also so The explosion of dating apps and the That community work continues to this ll OCTOBER - CHICAOREADER 15 SEX ISSUE
In addition to its gym, whirlpool, and glory holes, Man’s Country had retail shops and a music hall. ADAM M RHODES
one of such folks. Through Twitter DMs, he says he would go to Steamworks, as he put it, to relax. “I mainly go for the jacuzzi and sauna, relax, and if someone starts chatting or wants to have fun then I let it happen,” he says. But the advent of social networking apps, and the ability for queer people to meet in public without as pronounced a fear of arrest, assault, or worse, has undoubedtly impacted bathhouses’ fi nances, causing many to shut- ter across the country. That trend reached Chicago just three years ago, when Man’s Country closed at the end of 2017. Gary Chichester was the fi rst manager at Man’s Country when it opened in 1973. “A lot of times there were customers that didn’t particularly like to go out to the bar scene,” Chichester says. “Man’s Country was a little more comfortable; bathhouses are more comfortable. There was more space between people, you didn’t have to push and shove, and the intensity of the cruising, et- cetera. But then we also had some of the best talent, you know, in what was then called the K-Y Circuit.” day, albeit in a different form. he observed robust sexual health practices tween the ease of fi nding a sex partner versus During its 44 years in Chicago, Man’s Emjay Rawls, who worked at Steamworks among bathhouse patrons when he was part the riskiness of the behavior.” Country evolved into a complex of repeatedly from November 2015 to October of 2018 and of a CDC-funded study in the National HIV Be- But a shuttered bathhouse or play space changing spaces. Local gay historian Owen calls it the best job she’s ever had, says that havioral Surveillance program back in 2011. isn’t just a lost venue for sex; for those with- Keehnen, who co-wrote with Reader publish- the bathhouse often sponsors events in the The NHBS program, founded in 2003, stud- out robust queer communities around them, er Tracy Baim a biography of Chuck Renslow, community at popular gay bars in Boystown, ies behaviors of populations at high risk for bathhouses and places like them can be a says Man’s Country at one point boasted a including Hydrate, Roscoe’s Tavern, and HIV infection, such as men who have sex with lifeline to crucial community and intimacy. leather shop and a shop selling western wear, Sidetrack. men, and is conducted in 22 cities around the Northwest Indiana resident Harvey Quinn, alongside its gym, whirlpool, glory holes, and Rawls says Steamworks also financially country—including Los Angeles, Chicago, 31, says Steamworks was an escape from what music hall. contributes to annual pride celebrations in New York, and San Juan, Puerto Rico. he called the “cultural wasteland” around “I think one of the things that [Renslow] the city. Phillips, who directs the Evaluation, Data him. Quinn says that before the pandemic, he really focused on was that it was much more “The Pride Parade literally is all because Integration and Technical Assistance pro- had only been a handful of times but plans to than a place to go just for sex; it was also a of Steamworks and all the money they dish gram at Northwestern’s Institute for Sexual go back, as he put it, “the moment it’s open.” communal area,” Keehnen says. “It was very out. That’s just all Steamworks,” says Rawls, and Gender Minority Health and Wellbeing, And Rawls says she saw a lot of Steam- important to him to have the music hall, and whose most recent position at Steamworks says that as part of that study, he recruited works patrons there just to socialize. For that the music hall, you know, would have was lead clerk. participants at bathhouses, observing that them, she says, sex felt like a bonus. entertainment. And it could be a place to Similarly to Man’s Country’s efforts in the their safe-sex practices were nothing out of “A lot of clients came in there just for the socialize.” height of the HIV/AIDS crisis, Rawls says that the ordinary. social interaction of it all and just to like, Renslow also founded the International when Steamworks was open before the pan- “We had lots of questions about number use our facility, use the jacuzzi, and just Mr. Leather contest that draws thousands to demic, the bathhouse worked with LGBTQ+ of partners, condom use, types of sex they chill out,” Rawls says. “A lot of these people, Chicago every year. organizations Center on Halsted and Howard were engaging in, and we didn’t really find they’re running 24/7, running all types of In an essay on his website, “Brotherhood Brown Health to conduct STI testing on site. anything that stood out in terms of like, ‘Oh, hours throughout the day, and they just want of the White Towel,” Keehnen also described And if that’s not enough to dispel precon- yeah, these people are using less condoms, to go there to relax.” how Man’s Country brought in popular per- ceived notions that bathhouses are petri or they’re having more partners.’ It was just One Steamworks patron, a 29-year-old formers with a gay cult following, including dishes of STIs and other diseases, Dr. Gregory people engaging in the same level of behav- Latino male who says he went to Steamworks Boy George, the Village People, and Divine. Phillips II of Northwestern University says ior,” Phillips says. “There’s a difference be- roughly once a month before the pandemic, is And as a testament to the love for Man’s
16 CHICA O READER - OCTOBER ll Bookends & Beginnings
Armadillo's Pillow CHICAGO INDIE BOOKSTORE MAP 2020 Women & Children First
Uncharted Books
The Book Cellar City Newsstand Bucket O'Blood * Unabridged The Mellow Books and Records SEX ISSUEKibbitznest Books, Brews, & Blarney* RoscoeBooks POSTERS Quimby’s Chicago Bike City Lit Books Volumes Bookcafe Country, a 13-hour New Year’s Eve party or it doesn’t, is such a stress reliever* for peo- Wicker Park Secret ON SALE closed the storied space, with some patrons ple,” Chase says. “A lot of clients come to see Agency Supply Co. Map taking a literal piece of it with them. Adam me, and come to see other mistresses because Volumes Bookstore and Skye Rust, the owners of Andersonville’s it is like a steam valve for the pressure cookerSemicolon Occult Bookstore Woolly Mammoth Antiques & Oddities, re- of life, and all of a sudden you don’t have that. Barbara's Bookstore NOW moved a handful of the glory holes in the days And now, we have even that much more stressOpen Books The Book Table (West Loop) after the space closed, selling all but one. The on us with everything happening. And that After-WordsChicago Reader 2020 remaining glory hole now hangs proudly in normal place where people wouldMadison have Street that Books their shop. outlet, all of a sudden isn’t there. And so peo- The Dial Bookshop Mellow Bike Map But despite the historic goodNOTE: these More spaces stores listed ple’sbelow mental health suffers.”Pilsen Community Books & Indie Bookstore Map have done, for some gay people like Michael But even in the world of bathhouses and Sandmeyer's Bookstore Inga Bookshop Gifford, who loaned a salvaged Man’s CountryKey rentable dungeons, impacts of the pandemic as published in the glory hole to the Leather Archives & Museum are not created equal. July 9 and 23, 2020 issues in June 2019, bathhouses are a microcosm of Smaller, locally-owned spaces like Chicago
some of the most serious problems facing theMask RequiredDungeon Rentals are under greater threat Frontline Bookstore community, namely chemsex—or sex under than corporate-owned chains like Steam- $10 each the infl uence of drugs—and blurred lines of works, which has locations in Seattle, Berke-Powell’s Books Chicago $ or get BOTH for consent. ley, Toronto, and Vancouver. 57th Street Books (and every “Even though there need to be safe sexualOnline Shop and/or MailChase Order says she had to shut down her dun- sale helps the spaces for different people, we really have to geons completely during the Chicago stay-at- Seminary Co-Op Bookstore Reader keep $15 printing!) be open and honest with ourselves that there home order, and since the gradual reopening, +shipping are serious problems going on in BoystownCurbside Pickupher business is roughly half of what itFrontline was Books & Kultural whenever it comes to taking advantage of before the pandemic. As someone who Emporiumis im- (Cottage Grove) chicagoreader.com/maps young people of color,” Gifford says. “And munocompromised, Chase says she will not within our own community, there needs Limitedto Capacitybe able to safely work until there is a vaccine Underground Bookstore be a serious reconciliation with drugsopen and by appointmentavailable. only alcohol abuse.” * And though it might go without saying, Bookie's Chemsex isn’t a problem exclusive to corporate-owned chains are much more 2020 bathhouses, and Wasdin says57th that Street inBooks his likely to770 weather Village Center, the Burr Ridgeeconomicchicagocomics.com fallout from Lake Forest Book Store 312 255 3520 773 684 1300 barbarasbookstore.com City Lit Books 847 234 4420 60 W. Walton experience, bathhouses’ typically1301 E. 57throbust St. 2020’sBarbara's compounding Bookstore (O'Hare) crises than773 235 2523 your aver- 662 N. Western, Lake Forest newberry.org 57th.semcoop.com 773 686 1281 2523 N Kedzie lakeforestbookstore.com Round Table Books check-in policies weed out mostAbraham drug Lincoln use Book Shopage mom-and-pop10000 W. O'Hare Ave. bathhouse. citylitbooks.com Liberia Girón Pilsen 312 502 7335 312 944 3085 barbarasbookstore.com City Newsstand 312 226 2086 1023 Terrace Ln., Glenview before it makes it into the space. And824 W. Superior,he says Suite 100 “SmallerBarbara's Bookstorelocal (Vernonorganizations Hills) 773 545 7377 just don’t 2141 W. 21st St. roundtablebooks.com alincolnbookshop.com 847 549 7550 4018 N. Cicero gironbooks.com Sandmeyer’sVENDOR Bookstore bathhouses are no less safe thanAfter-Words anywhere have the102 resourcesHawthorn Center, Vernonto go a yearcitynewsstand.com with no in- Madison Street Books 312 922 2104 312 464 1110 Hills City of Joy 312 929 4140 714 S. Dearborn else people illicitly use drugs—bars,23 E. Illinois clubs, come, youbarbarasbookstore.com know, while you’re still224 676 1164 paying rent 1127 W. Madison sandmeyersbookstore.com after-wordschicago.com/inde Book Bin 56 S. Milwaukee, Wheeling madstreetbooks.com Semicolon and their own homes. x.html bills and847 498 4999 things like that,” WasdinD&Z House ofsays. Books “So Myopic Books 312 877 5170 Alternate Reality 1151 Church, Northbrook 773 282 4222 773 862 4882 515 N. HalstedFAIR He acknowledged there are typically773 881 4376 two yeah, I bookbinnorthbrook.indielite.orgthink there’s a huge likelihood5507 W. Belmont that 1564 N. Milwaukee semicolonchi.com 3149 W. 111th The Book Cellar domksiazki.com myopicbookstore.com Seminary Co-Op Bookstore or three drug-related deaths at Steamworksmyalternatereality.com some of773 293 2665 them will close.” The Dial Bookshop Occult Bookstore 773 752 4381 Amazing Fantasy Books & Comics 4736 N. Lincoln 410 S. Michigan, 2nd Floor 773 292 0995 5751 S. Woodlawn every year that are often labeled(Frankfort) as heart If therebookcellarinc.com is a silver lining to anydialbookshop.com of this—and 2032 W. Grand semcoop.com 815 469 5092 The Book Stall Frontline Books occultbookstore.com Unabridged Bookstore failure or something similar. 20505 S. La Grange, Frankfortit would847 446 8880 be a microscopically773 288 7718 thin lining at Open Books (Pilsen) 773 883 9119 afbooks.com 811 Elm St, Winnetka 5206 S. Harper 312 243 9776 3251 N. Broadway The importance of these quasi-publicAmazing Fantasy Books & Comicsthat—it’s thebookstall.com that the pandemic hasfacebook.com/frontlinebooks illuminated 905 W. 19th unabridgedbookstore.com (Tinley) The Book Table Frontline Books & Kultural open-books.org Uncharted Books spaces doesn’t just stop at a bathhouse708 633 0837 or the among many708 386 9800 queer folk and Emporiumqueer (Cottageadjacents Grove) Open Books (West Loop) 872 208 7021 16649 Oak Park Ave., Tinley Park 1045 Lake St, Oak Park 872 244 3242 312 475 1355 ext. 100 5140 N. Clark back room of a bar, however. Sophiaafbooks.com Chase just howbooktable.net important these safe6357 spaces S. Cottage are Grove to 651 W. Lake unchartedbooks.com owns and operates Chicago DungeonAnderson's Rentals, Bookshop (Downersthe community.Bookends & Beginnings facebook.com/Frontline-Book open-books.org/stores/open- Underground Bookstore Grove) 224 999 7722 s-Kultural-Emporium-1053693 Thursdays:books-west-loop 773 768 8869 November 5, 12 & 19, 2020 630 963 2665 1712 Sherman, Alley 1, 31009993/ Paragon Book Gallery 1727 E. 87th which offers BDSM dungeons for5112 sex Main St.,work- Downers Grove And hopefully,Evanston Wasdin says,Gallery Bookstorethat trans- Ltd. 312 663 5155 undergroundbookstore.com andersonsbookshop.com bookendsandbeginnings.com 773 281 9999 1029 W. 35th Volumes Bookcafe ers and the casual kinkster alike.Anderson's She saysBookshop a (La Grange)lates toBookie’s visitors and financial923 W.support Belmont for paragonbook.com 773 697 8066 space that allows even just two people708 582 6353 to be these spaces773 239 1110 once the pandemicgallerybookstorechicago.com is over. Pilsen Community Books 1474 N. Milwaukee 26 S. La Grange Rd., La Grange 10324 S. Western Heirloom Books 312 478 94343 FULL DAYSvolumesbooks.com OF VIRTUAL WORKSHOPS AND andersonsbookshop.com bookiesbookstores.com 239 595 7426 1102 W. 18th St. Volumes Bookstore sexually free is an important lifelineAnderson's that Bookshop the (Naperville)“OurBookie's gathering (Homewood) spaces are dwindling,6239 N Clark but pilsencommunitybooks.com 312 846 6750 630 355 2665 708 377 0789 Inga Bookshop Powell’s Books Chicago 900 N. Michigan, level 5 pandemic has cut off from many. 123 W. Jefferson, Napervilleat the same2015 Ridge time, Rd., Homewood I feel like during1740 W. 18th the pan- 773 955 7780INFORMATIONshop900.com/volumesbooks ON UPCOMING GOVERNMENT andersonsbookshop.com bookiesbookstores.com i-n-g-a.com 1501 E. 57th Wicker Park Secret Agent Supply “For a lot of people, a very importantArmadillo’s Pillow part demic,Bookman's at least Corner we’re remindedKibbitznest about Books, how Brews, im- & powellschicago.com Co. 6753 N. Sheridan 773 929 8298 Blarney Quimby’s CONTRACTING773 772 8108 OPPORTUNITIES of not only their identity, but theirarmadillospillow.com self-care portant2959 those N Clark spaces are,” Wasdin773 360 7591 says. “It’s 773 342 0910 1276 N. Milwaukee Barbara’s Bookstore Bucket O’Blood Books and Records 2212 N. Clybourn 1854 W. North secretagentsupply.com is their sexuality,” Chase says. 312 926 2665“And then human nature,312 890 3860 we take things forkibbitznest.com granted, we quimbys.com Women & Children’s First in Northwestern Memorial 3182 N. Elston Kinokuniya Chicago Ravenswood Used Books 773 769 9299 people cannot play at home, if theyHospital, have 201 kids, E. Huron expect they’llbucketoblood.com always be there.847 427 2665 So it feels like 773 593 9166 5233 N. Clark barbarasbookstores.com Centuries & Sleuths 100 E. Algonquin, Arlington 2005 W Montrose womenandchildrenfirst.com [or] they have roommates, you know,Barbara's ifBookstore their at least 708 771 7243many of us have maybeHeights developed a RoscoeBooks FOR MORE INFORMATION AND TO REGISTER, VISIT elderly parents live with them.” 312 781 5257 greater 7419understanding Madison, Forest Park and appreciationusa.kinokuniya.com that 773 857 2676 (in Macy's) 111 N. State centuriesandsleuths.com Kurt Gippert Bookseller 2142 W. Roscoe *Contact stores for more barbarasbookstore.com Chicago Comics 773 583 7613 roscoebooks.com Kink, in particular, can be importantBarbara's Bookstore for (Burr Ridge)those spaces773 528 1983 are still open.” v1757 N. Kimball Rosenberg Bookshop at the details as guidelines her clients’ mental health, Chase says.630 920 1500 3244 N. Clark kurtgippert.com NewberryWWW.CHICAGO.GOV/VENDORFAIR Library change “Kink, whether it includes sexualJuly 27, 2020 activity @byadamrhodesFor updated bookstore map, see chicagoreader.com/indiebookstores By Salem Collo-Julin and Amber Huff ll OCTOBER - CHICAOREADER 17
July 9, 2o2o By Joe Mills and John Greenfield SEX ISSUE
PLAY PARTIES Sex and the suburbs The swinging lifestyle creates solace and friendship for those seeking sexual freedom. By S N L
winging is like any other social ac- Swinger parties usually have a set of rules, where ordinances impact the ease of having floor and 18 bedrooms. In March, the owner tivity, just dialed up to 11,” says An- require an ID, cost some money, and take a party in your home without your neighbors and his son were arrested for operating an “Sdrew*, 41. He and his wife fi rst began place in hotels or private homes. Some clubs calling the cops. illegal business in a residential area. When I swinging shortly after they began exploring and parties have been occurring for years, In Markham, Illinois, Mayor Roger Agpawa fi rst started writing and researching this piece nonmonogamy in 2018. Before the pandemic, while others are simply pop-ups. But there is has been working toward closing adult swing- a year ago, the Couples Choice hyperlink was the couple would frequent a western-suburb a looming threat of them being shut down by er clubs and specifically targeted Couples dead. Now, the website is back up again and location every two months. city o cials, particularly suburban locations Choice, a popular location that has a dance explicitly states that, “This is not a business 18 CHICA O READER - OCTOBER ll SEX ISSUE
MADDIE FISCHER Fans have become a way for kink communities she laughs and says, “There’s a lot of us.” Last parties. When guests check in, they are given to thrive safely. year I attended Karen Yates’s Wild & Sublime a colorized name tag that indicates what they “When places are closed due to complaints talk show event at Constellation where Yates are looking for throughout the evening. A girl or legal issues, this can also increase the read aloud quotes from folks who were upset looking for other girls is indicated with a pink in any way and under no circumstances should negative views of individuals not involved in over a recent club closing in the southwest tag, bisexual folks have a purple tag, straight be viewed as one. Couples Choice Social Club these communities, who could then view the suburbs. Carla reassures me that there are women looking for men will wear a blue tag, is a gathering of like-minded adults who enjoy community as causing trouble or engaging in clubs popping up everywhere. and red tags are for folks just checking things the lifestyle.” Agpawa started the “Clean up unacceptable activities,” says Madrake on the With 11 years of experience under her belt, out and observing. New folks have a cherry Markham” campaign, closing strip clubs and closing of swinger clubs. By increasing the un- Carla knows how to run the show. After the sticker on their name tag. other so-called “seedy” businesses in order derstanding of these spaces and communities, end of her marriage, she began searching “My landlord knows what I do. They don’t to solve the crime and corruption concerns in society can change their preconceived, often online for clubs, and after attending a few have a problem. My neighbors, however, don’t the south-suburban town with a population of harmful judgements. events, Carla says she realized what she liked exactly like me,” she explains. She’s had issues 13,000. Unlike Agpawa’s belief that swinging When I ask Andrew what swinging means and didn’t like. As a result, she opened up her with parking, where folks legally take up all of leads to crime, Rachel Zar, a licensed marriage for him and how folks can break down stereo- own club. “I thought to myself, ‘I can do this the spots for ten hours one day a month. Every and family therapist from Spark Chicago types surrounding the clubs, he says it’s a way better,’” and that’s exactly what she did. now and then, a disgruntled neighbor will call Therapy and Northwestern Medicine’s Center for him to let loose and to “have fun with the After being in the swinger community the cops. “I’m not hurting anybody. I barely for Sexual Medicine, says just like any sexual woman I love more than anything else in the for three months, she started hosting hotel play music in the house. You can’t even tell activity, safety is key for swingers. Clubs offer world. If I or my wife thinks someone is attrac- parties. “I’m a big girl, I’m a normal person, that I have 100 people in my house other than solace and community for patrons because tive, we don’t have to bury that feeling. We can I’m not a Barbie. I like sex just like the next the parking. It could be anybody on the street. there is “security, boundaries, and rules” communicate and have fun with it.” person. Why can’t I have my own club? Why So that’s the slight issue I’m having currently, within these spaces. She says, “It’s interesting Since the pandemic, the couple has been can’t I have a space where people like me feel but that’s my own issue because I’m using my that there’s this idea out there that sex clubs staying away from parties. “We have been comfortable?” she says. own residence,” she says when we talk before are inherently dangerous, but I’d argue that pretty down about missing that part of our Carla was always honest with the hotel staff the pandemic. Before she moved into the would be the exception, not the rule. I’d liken lives during this pandemic but ultimately about hosting an adult party behind closed house, she specifically checked the parking it to restaurants that don’t follow health understand. We have heard of some groups doors. After some time, she decided to host and city codes. The city is aware of what kind codes—they’re out there, and they’re worth getting together to do Zoom meetups and parties once a month in the house where she of parties she’s throwing and they do not care taking precautions against, but that doesn’t other online events involving some level of lives near Elgin. The Purple Diva’s parties have as long as she doesn’t violate parking or noise. mean that all restaurants should be shut down nudity and sex, but for us, that’s nowhere close a cover of $20 for women, $50 for a couple, and “My next house will have a parking lot!” she just in case.” to satisfying, plus the possible security issues $60 for men. In other clubs, women can get in says. Couples Choice owner Tim Geary told make that a no-go,” explains Andrew. Many free, but Carla says, “I’m providing you a meal. In terms of ordinances, clubs have to deal WGN that his guest list is made up of doc- clubs have closed during the pandemic due to I’m providing you supplies. I’m providing you with minute details to fi nd loopholes, which tors, nurses, dentists, and police, “I mean, “disagreements concerning how to safely get a venue.” Like many swinger parties, food is means the city will also fi nd loopholes. Carla they’re everyone,” he says. First, Agpawa together,” as well as “disagreements about offered, but Carla goes above and beyond by explains that she wasn’t able to publicly share told Couples Choice they had code violations. how dangerous the virus really is.” For An- cooking a full buffet dinner (think: enchiladas, a link online for her parties, and other cities The club spent thousands of dollars to fix drew and his wife, they are learning to adapt lasagna, “actual good food”). There are non- don’t allow folks to run a business out of a these concerns. Then, there was a zoning without attending parties. “Since swinging for alcoholic beverages and it’s BYOB (sloppiness residential space. Just like other owners, Carla issue which turned into the passing of the us was always more of a bonus to add some fun is not accepted in swinger clubs). Supplies is dedicated to her events. “I could be deathly “No Live Sex Act” ordinance. Peoria enacted than a need, we’re both pretty fulfi lled in a lot like condoms, puppy pads (for those who ill and I would still have a party,” says Carla. a similar ordinance in 2011 which prohibits of ways still.” are messier than the next), lube, towels, and “Something has to be signifi cant for me not to businesses where folks can watch or view live A club in Indiana did attempt to organize shampoo are all offered for the price of entry. have one.” Recently, on her website, she wrote sex. In a 2019 city council meeting, Alderman an event during the pandemic at a Roseland With room for 150 guests, her four-bedroom, that she has had to cancel all events during William Barron said that Markham is a “Chris- Hotel with 160 participants. However, some- four-bathroom house is converted into a sanc- the pandemic and that, “NO ONE should be tian-based town,” and just because the club one leaked this information to the authori- tuary for couples and singles. The guest list hosting any lifestyle events at this time,” has been there for 30 years doesn’t “make it ties. Organizers of the party explained that for Carla’s parties generally includes those in because it is “impossible to maintain social right.” folks concerned with COVID-19 would wear their 30s to 50s, and she requires that folks are distancing.” All of the profit that Carla does Dr. Mary Madrake, a clinical psychology different color bracelets that were assigned 21+. However, she says those numbers aren’t make goes right back into the party. She has postdoctoral resident at Balanced Awakening different meanings. Red would mean “do not set in stone. She does see folks in their 20s and a regular 9-to-5 job and says that the parties in Chicago, says, “Much of society still views approach, we are social distancing,” yellow over 60 as well. “It’s just mature people who do not fi nancially sustain her. Although she in- different types of kink, including swinging, would mean, “do not touch without consent,” know whatever the hell they want,” she tells vests time, money, and energy into the events, BDSM, and other aspects of kink as abnormal and green would mean, “you can touch me, I’m me. it’s more of a passion project. If she’s having a or deviant, which can take a toll on the mental here for human contact.” Ultimately, the party Carla lives in the house with her children, party on Saturday, she says the planning and health of those who identify as part of these was canceled. who are in their 20s and help her set the house coordinating begins on Tuesday and doesn’t communities. Having a place in which indi- up before each event but leave once it begins. stop until Sunday. viduals within these communities can express arla, AKA the Purple Diva, 45, runs an She has security, tour guides, kitchen staff, Cook County has an ordinance regarding their authentic selves without experiencing inclusive members-only lifestyle club, and a front desk with a check-in. “My staff exchanging money when it comes to sex. stigma and judgment is really important.” On- CAlways Wanting More (AWM), out of the members are like family. We hang out all of Many clubs use the term “membership” as a line communities are also imperative: social western suburbs near Elgin. When I mention the time,” she explains. One staff member loophole. Folks can buy a membership for an media, FetLife, Facebook, Twitter, and Only- the closure of swinger clubs due to ordinances, drives three hours just to help Carla with her evening which blurs the idea of folks paying ll OCTOBER - CHICAOREADER 19 SEX ISSUE for sex as commerce. This is why many more While it wasn’t a queer scene by any means, it were a little bit bloodless,” explains Yates. She reminds me, “You don’t have to play at a clubs exist outside of the city limits where was still largely open and accepting. Through She describes her experiences at swinger play party.” Folks can simply attend and walk regulations and ordinances vary per city. That Couples Choice, she found folks having parties parties like a “hit and run.” She had a harder around and watch. “Yes, people are voyeurs, so isn’t to say swinger parties aren’t happening in Chicago inside of people’s homes. time building relationships, whereas with it’s a very real sexual thing. But a lot of times in Chicago; they are just more private. “You Yates explains to me that hotel takeovers queer parties in the city, there is “emotional in couples, one person in a couple wants to have to get on things like FetLife or SLS” to happen a lot more than private housing par- juice” developing between folks as there is swing and their partner is not on board with find parties happening around the city, says ties. Renting an entire fl oor is easier and more more fl uidity. “At fi rst, swinger parties were it, so the person who wants to says, ‘Well let’s Wild & Sublime founder Yates. relaxed than dedicating your entire home super, super fun for me in my sexual journey. just go to a party and you can at least see it. We to a party. “People just run around and they It felt like a fucking playground. After a while, don’t have to do anything, or we can go have ates explains to me over a Zoom call that fuck,” says Yates. “It’s also a way for people I was like, ‘eh.’” She explains that the certain sex by ourselves in a corner.’ And that hap- it’s been a small coming-out process to organize larger sex parties. They will rent amount of effort in going to the parties even- pens! That’s enough of a thrill.” Yates explains Yfor her. Last year in November, we met out two adjoining suites and invite 15 friends tually wore on her, and like with any process, that there isn’t one way to play the swinger up at a coffee shop in Lincoln Square where who all chip in. People are creative if they need she began to learn more about herself. “I took scene. “You don’t even have to take your we briefly discussed her experiences in the mattresses.” time off, but I probably will return.” For a year, clothes off. A lot of times what happens is that swinger community, but on our Zoom call, we When I ask Yates about the demographics at Yates says she used to go every other month to [people] are getting less and less dressed. In got into the nitty gritty. Now that she’s started swinger parties, she tells me, “In the cis-heter- a party, but then she started to move toward terms of exploration, you can just go and not a podcast and her thoughts on sex positivity onormative world, they are younger, under 40. the private play parties (with more curated do a damn thing.” In the past few years, Yates are publicly being shared, she says, “I’m so Swingers in their 20s and 30s. And then there’s guest lists) that were more interactive and hasn’t played as much as she used to, but she much more comfortable being like, ‘I’m a sex the swinger umbrella term that is going to typ- relational. “That was the next phase for me,” still attends. positive babe, and I have sex.’” ically skew a little older. My assumption is that she says. But the sex positivity community is essen- About fi ve years ago, she attended her fi rst people start knowing their sexual proclivities One woman in particular who threw private tial for Yates. She literally created an event swinger party as a single woman. A previous as they get older. Second, if people have been parties recently moved away, leaving Yates where she interviews sex experts to combat partner led her through the process and ex- in long-term relationships, eventually [they] feeling crushed. The guest list was curated stereotypes and taboos. “People who live plained how the parties work. “It was so new want to add something to it. There are these and invite-only which eradicated any feelings outside of the heteronormative, monogamous to me,” she says. “I was so intrigued and I two dynamics.” of uneasiness for Yates. “It’s a very real factor. culture often experience a good amount of was so frightened simultaneously. It was this In my research, I’ve found that clubs can be It’s like a dance club. Like, ‘Hey babe, wanna sexual shame—they may feel that they have push-pull.” very segregated and specifi c. “A lot of times dance?’ and you’re like, ‘No . . .’” Although to live in secret; it can often feel isolating, “I did not want to be around heteronorma- they are very white,” says Yates. “What you Yates assures me the parties are a safe envi- and they may have experienced ridicule from tive people. I knew enough about swingers to see happening are more specialized swinger ronment, there is still an effort to navigate the others,” explains Zar, the marriage and family know that it was extremely heteronormative. clubs, or sometimes, like at Couples Choice, space and manage single cis men. Hosts and therapist. “Shame can be healed by feeling The men were content to see two women they always rented out to specialized groups. hostesses have to calibrate how many guests like part of a community, knowing that you’re getting it on, but God forbid two men actually And by ‘specialized,’ I mean African American, make sense. There can’t be too many single not alone, and sharing your experience with touch,” explains Yates. “What I did was I spent Latino, bisexual.” Cities like New Orleans, cis men, but there do need to be enough. “If others.” a month or two researching online trying to Miami, and San Francisco have more flour- there are too many single men, the men who For many folks, swinging involves friend- fi nd a party.” She decided to look for explicitly ishing swinger parties and clubs that aren’t are partnered feel threatened. Again, this is a ship and community more than sex. The bisexual male-friendly parties. As a result, getting shut down by law enforcement. “But hetero thing,” so hosts of the parties have to safety and ability to eradicate shame creates a she found Couples Choice. Dawn and Dave ran in [Chicago], there is not as much interplay. make sure there is an even ratio where certain healthy, consensual space for folks. When I ask Couples Choice in Markham for 16-and-a-half However, if you’re looking at queer play par- folks don’t overpower the others in the overall Carla what the swinger community means to years before it was closed down by the town’s ties, those are different than swinger parties. setting. her, she says, “They are my best friends.” v mayor. “It is explicitly bi-friendly and a larger There are subtleties. There are differences. I ask Yates if she has any tips for how number of men are allowed,” explains Yates. After a while I found that the swingers parties newbies can get into the swinging lifestyle. @snicolelane
20 CHICA O READER - OCTOBER ll SEX ISSUE
Satisfy yourself with toys of all shapes, sizes, and colors at places like Early to Bed. ANJALI PINTO
and gender identity, among other topics. “We’re still providing education, obviously, but it’s a little different in that we don’t have that group of people who are using us as a place to learn solely, as opposed to just, you know, coming in and buying stuff,” she says. “So I miss that. I think that it’s what has to happen right now; we have to really focus on people who are coming in to buy something.” In spite of the challenges associated with adapting store operations, Deysach says that Early to Bed has seen an increase in customer engagement since the start of the pandemic. “I would say that people staying home has led them to spend more time with their bodies or their partners, and they are defi nitely try- ing new things,” she says. “I think people are bored, and they’re masturbating more than they were before. People are still having rela- tionships with their bodies and their partners and they’re looking for ways to make it more fun, more interesting, more satisfying. So we have had an OK time surviving this.” While Kugelman says that Leather 64Ten is currently “running 30 percent down,” he also notes the store has recently seen a more diverse client base, namely couples looking to RETAIL THERAPY experiment sexually. “We’re fi nding people to be more interested Sex shops offer pleasure at a distance amid COVID-19 and curious than normal. It’s something that’s They’re seeing diff erent kinds of clientele and more intentional shopping. happened since this has all started,” he says. “They have so much time on their hands so By E O a lot of people are having sex. We’re getting a different type of customer. It’s not just the kids, the club kids, and the gay people. It’s the heterosexual coming in and exploring.” hen Chicago businesses saw citywide there was a line to get into the store.” of barrier puts between us that just makes it While adult retailers are still fi nding their shutdowns as a result of the COVID-19 While businesses throughout the city have harder to really make that connection and help footing in regard to adapting to the pandemic, Wpandemic earlier this year, Eric Kugel- had to make various concessions in order to somebody fi gure out what they want.” Figueroa says that access to exploring one’s man says that he “went into shock.” prevent the spread of coronavirus, sex shops Retailers have also remarked that masks— sexuality is crucial during an ever-tumultuous Kugelman, one of the owners of adult enter- are faced with the unique challenge of provid- while mandatory in stores—can lead to fur- time. tainment store Leather 64Ten, says that the ing an intimate service from a distance. ther challenges with communication. “In this moment, we deserve the pleasure store quickly adapted their in-person business Searah Deysach, owner of Early to Bed in “Because of the delicate conversations, it’s and as much pleasure and joy as we can get. model to a curbside pickup and home delivery Andersonville, remarks that the usual per- not ideal to be [six] feet away from people and And it’s so difficult for us to access those service. The store still includes these services, sonalized customer service of the store has masked up and asking them to repeat what things right now because of the stress that in addition to new regulations for in-person suffered as a result of social distancing. they said, but we’ve defi nitely worked around everyone is under,” she says. “And so we get shopping. “Pre-COVID, our staff had this ability to help it,” says Natalie Figueroa, store manager at to offer people pleasure and joy and then also “We allow up to seven people at a time in multiple people at a time and to really get up HUSTLER Hollywood. a sort of escape, like a little bit of a fantasy, the store, and that doesn’t include the employ- close and personal and talk to people about Deysach says that the reduced customer ca- where they can go into a different world and ee,” he says. “We’ve already had one incident the specifi c product,” she says. “It’s so much pacity ultimately prioritizes patrons explicitly they don’t have to really deal with everything where we’ve had a line out front; that was easier to show somebody the features of a vi- looking to purchase. This can reduce the more that is bombarding them all.” v when the bars first reopened on a Saturday brator when you feel more comfortable stand- “casual” shopping experiences of those look- night. There was a line to get into the bar and ing close to them. There’s a lot that this kind ing to educate themselves on sexual response @emmaoxnevad ll OCTOBER - CHICAOREADER 21 THEATER
Gaby Labotka and Carin Silkaitis JOE MAZZA/ Gaby Labotka is a performer, fi ght choreo- COURTESY CARIN SILKAITIS grapher, writer, director, and certified inti- macy director with IDC. I spoke to her about dination while assisting “in preventing sexual intimacy direction and COVID-19. harassment in the workplace.” Labotka said, “When there’s a vaccine and Recently We See You W.A.T.—an organiza- a way to safely return to the rehearsal hall, I tion created to combat racism and prejudice believe that intimacy directors are going to be within American theater—demanded “the our shepherds to being able to be close to each presence of a contracted intimacy director for other again. Intimacy directors are armed every production.” with the knowledge of how to articulate, Chelsea Pace, an intimacy choreographer, share, and respect boundaries between peo- coordinator, and educator, developed her own ple. Now everybody has a better awareness of pedagogy for staging theatrical intimacy. She boundaries because of COVID-19. A mask and eventually collaborated with Laura Rickard six feet apart are measurable, vital boundar- in cofounding Theatrical Intimacy Education ies, and for so long theatermakers were taught (TIE) in 2017, specializing in “researching, not to have boundaries. The only option was to developing, and teaching best practices for say ‘yes, and,’ but that doesn’t allow for actual staging theatrical intimacy.” consent if you are only allowed to say ‘yes.’ Their core principles are “Ethical, Effi cient, Now everybody has a boundary of a mask and and Effective.” They have worked with multi- boundary of distance, and it may be easier to ple institutions including Boston University, articulate boundaries because now everyone Princeton, and most recently Columbia Col- has practical experience with them. I think lege Chicago to further education surrounding intimacy directors are going to be the ushers SAFE SEX SCENES theatrical intimacy. back into creating safe and healthful work.” Carin Silkaitis, chair of the Columbia Col- Labotka also noted, “Zoom productions Intimacy directors protect actors lege Chicago theater department, has worked are creating interesting problem-solving They promote boundaries, communication, and respect. alongside both IDC and TIE on numerous opportunities for us. It’s tricky because if the occasions. She fi nds tremendous value in the script says there is nudity, you can’t do nudity By A N work both from an education standpoint and over Zoom and you can’t necessarily simulate an industry standpoint. sex acts because the line is still nebulous. I Silkaitis said, “When I was going through would ask the director the same questions as even months and over 223,948 lives lost. profi t, Intimacy Directors International (IDI) theater school, it was truly horrifying. I if I was choreographing for the stage anyway: As a theater practitioner who has given with Alicia Rodis and Siobhan Richardson remember teachers being so cavalier about ‘What does this nudity or sex act mean to you? Sher heart, soul, and emotional well-being in 2016, with its core pillars being “Context, these things, and it was so damaging. They What are feelings you want the audience to to her craft, I think a lot about how we protect Consent, Communication, Choreography, and would say things like ‘Y’all know you want to get from this? What is the story that you are artists going forward. As studios resume pro- Closure.” go rehearse and make out with each other, so trying to tell? Why does the playwright want duction, theater conservatories open up to Rodis was one of the key players responsi- have a good time!’ I was put in so many situa- this character to be nude?’ We can then have a students, and theatrical unions release their ble for bringing this practice to TV/fi lm during tions where I had to go to my scene partner’s conversation to fi gure how we can accomplish own COVID-19 guidelines, we have to consider the #MeToo movement with HBO’S The Deuce. house to rehearse and when we got to the kiss that without using actual nudity. For example, the importance of personal boundaries and Cast member Emily Meade advocated hiring scene, he pushed me back to his bed and was do they just shed a layer of clothing and still emotional safety of every individual involved an intimacy director to showrunner David like ‘Well, while we are at it.’ I was just put in have a tank top underneath it? with these productions. Simon, in part because of past uncomfortable unsafe situation after unsafe situation, and I “Figuring out how can we communicate I can’t help but think about the importance on-set experiences. didn’t know what to do. I just never want any- a sex act and its meaning to the audience of intimacy directors during this time period Rodis was hired for a new position—the in- body to go through this ever again!” without simulating it, what the context is, and their role as we transition back into the timacy coordinator. Rodis’s work on The Deuce After reading Pace’s book Staging Sex: Best why we’re telling that story, what do we want world of entertainment. was so successful that HBO pledged to have an Practices, Tools, and Techniques for Theat- the audience to feel . . . That’s how we can be Intimacy direction is a practice in which a intimacy coordinator on board for every pro- rical Intimacy, Silkaitis decided to work in creative on how we interpret those stage di- trained movement practitioner is employed duction involving intimate scenes. collaboration with Pace to create a program at rections and to permeate the feelings that we for a stage or fi lm production to choreograph Since then, Rodis has also collaborated with Columbia College Chicago. want through the computer screen.” a simulated sex scene or an intimate moment. SAG-AFTRA to create new standards and pro- They hosted workshops for both undergrad- We’re in a time when individuals are trying They are the advocate for the actors in the tocols to address intimacy on set and to make uate students and faculty supported by the to navigate their own boundaries and what room and act as a voice between them, the an intimacy coordinator a requirement for any department “to create a culture of consent and that means, especially while sharing a re- director, and the rest of the crew. scenes that involve intimacy. to outline a system of best practices that we hearsal space with someone else after being This practice was codifi ed by Tonia Sina via IDI closed its doors on March 15, 2020, can work together at this department, so that quarantined for nearly seven months. We need her theater pedagogy graduate thesis, “Inti- giving way to a new company—Intimacy Di- everyone in my program is speaking the same intimacy directors now more than ever, for our mate Encounters; Staging Intimacy and Sen- rectors & Coordinators (IDC)—that provides language,” said Silkaitis. She and Pace are also emotional, mental, and physical safety. v suality,” in 2006 at Virginia Commonwealth online workshops, education, and pathways to currently pushing for a graduate certifi cation University. She eventually cofounded a non- certifi cation for intimacy direction and coor- program in collaboration with TIE. @AlmanyaNarula 22 CHICA O READER - OCTOBER ll CHROMEBOOK APPLY NOW & INTERNET APPLY NOW GUARANTEED FOR FALL 2021 9TH GRADE ALL STUDENTS
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ll OCTOBER - CHICAOREADER 23 THEATER
Elsa Hiltner JOEL MAISONET
merous Chicago theaters including Steppen- wolf, Silk Road Rising, Windy City Playhouse, Teatro Vista, Lifeline, and American Blues Theater, and fi nally received the business ed- ucation she had been missing. When she moved to Chicago, her rent in- creased and Hiltner quickly learned that she had to wear many different hats in order to survive. She quickly snagged part- and full- time jobs within the industry while continuing to freelance in the evenings. When she had her fi rst child, she began freelancing full time to accommodate childcare. Three years ago she started working in development for Col- laboraction, where she is a company member, while also designing lights. Hiltner also does commercial wardrobe styling, which unsur- prisingly pays far better than theater. For most of her career she worked in a vac- uum without other designers to commiserate with. But once her HowlRound article went viral, she discovered that the unionized cos- tume designers of United Garment Workers had just formed a costume committee, and FAIR PAY she connected with them to compare notes. Says Hiltner, “If you’re having a hard time ne- gotiating a contract for labor support or pay, Transparent by design your circumstances can seem very individual. Everyone is dealing with the same or very Elsa Hiltner crunches the numbers on theater designer salaries. similar issues.” One of the common roadblocks to pay ne- By S F gotiations is that theater budgets are often made in such a way where certain line items his past week, Theatre Communications sulting in a culture of shame and secrecy. Who the Theatrical Designer Pay Resource spread- are fi xed, such as rent, utilities, and materials. Group (TCG) announced that its job wants to admit that their expensive MFA in sheet, which began to collect and track rates Dollars for artist labor are the last line item to Tsearch engine, ARTSEARCH, would not directing earned them a plum position at the of pay from designers nationally in order to be allocated and unfortunately also the most only be free of cost to all users, but would top theater in the city, only to earn less than a demystify the process and create one of the malleable. Hiltner once experienced a conten- additionally require all prospective em- mid-level manager at the local McDonald’s? fi rst repositories of hard data. tious contract negotiation over being offered ployers to list a salary range for all postings. Most frequently, calls for pay equity have “So much of the arts coverage focuses on $1,500 for a show where other designers were This announcement comes on the heels of centered on the most visible members of the the product and not the process,” says Hiltner, offered $2,000. “This particular negotiation seismic changes within the theater industry industry—actors, directors, playwrights, and who knew she wanted to be a costume design- lasted about two weeks and they threatened aimed at dismantling inequity and financial arts administrators—but have often ignored a er beginning in high school. “I have always me with legal action. This was over $500.” exploitation. large group of critical theatermakers working loved arts, people, personalities, and history, Frustratingly, if raw materials such as paint It is common practice for a job seeker to re- diligently in the shadows: designers and tech- so costume design was a pretty natural merg- go over budget, the money is usually immedi- spond to a posting for a seemingly full-time or nicians. Enter: Elsa Hiltner. ing of those things.” ately found. Says Hiltner, “It just feels like the contract paid position, only to discover upon A freelance costume designer and wardrobe Hiltner earned her BA in costume design money is treated differently when it’s going to receiving a “job” offer that the position is un- stylist with over 16 years of experience in from Western Washington University in individual artists rather than a tangible, visual paid, paid in “exposure,” or paid at a stipend the industry in Chicago and beyond, Hiltner Washington state. “It was an ultra liberal arts thing that is seen by the audience.” Part of rate that averages out to far less than mini- is also an advocate for pay and labor equity school and I really liked the program there, but what makes everything so challenging is that mum wage. And once they fi nally snag coveted for designers and technicians, author of the there was really very little conversation about there isn’t an accepted standard as to how fees jobs at top theaters, they are often appalled to viral essay on HowlRound, “A Call for Equal the business side and the labor side of things.” are established. Few theaters are transparent discover that the wages aren’t much better, re- Support in Theatrical Design,” and creator of Throughout her career she has designed at nu- about their process and can’t explain why they
24 CHICA O READER - OCTOBER ll THEATER
choose arbitrary hourly or fl at fees other than collecting their own data and sending it to the vague metric of “experience.” Hiltner in bulk. She recently added a column “Experience is a very problematic term for for executive pay from publicly available me” says Hiltner, who further notes, “Who is 990 tax reports, which has illuminated some given experience often goes along the lines of interesting takeaways; for example, the range race, gender, sexual orientation. A company of designer pay between organizations is large will say they are going to pay the unionized and not necessarily tied to operating budget. designers the union minimum, but the non- Says Hiltner, “You can have fees that are pretty unionized ones, we will pay the lower rate.” similar [between smaller organizations] and Further complicating the process, the operating budgets that are ten times the size.” amount of work for the fee can vary wildly The demographics of who has participated depending on details, such as what period in in the spreadsheet reveal additional truths. history a director decides to set the play. Ad- The costume designers and lighting design- ditionally, roles such as costume design, which ers who are voluntarily participating in the have historically been dominated by women, spreadsheet are predominantly women and often face barriers that male-dominated de- BIPOC as compared to the industry at large. sign categories do not. Hiltner refl ects, “That speaks to who benefi ts For example, the role of a costume designer from pay transparency and pay equity.” She typically includes reading the script, analyz- hopes to continue to receive even more data ing the script, going to meetings, conducting and begin to track and analyze changes over research, attending preliminary meetings time. Of course the pandemic has created a about design concepts, drawing sketches hopefully temporary hiccup in that plan. and perhaps a second round of sketches after Hiltner recognizes that actors also suffer receiving feedback, and then potentially from pay equity within the same production. making patterns, building the garments, and “I expect that directors between shows do as conducting fittings if there is not a costume well.” She notes that her spreadsheet isn’t the shop. The majority of Chicago theaters do not only one, with others across the nation start- have costume shops or costume labor support. ing similar Google sheets tracking pay for ac- Do you want to In contrast for the traditionally male role tors, stage managers, and other positions. She of set designer, after the design and concept hopes to merge them all together someday. In phase (sketching, drafting, modeling), they January 2020, Hiltner joined fellow designers QUIt using can typically hand the work off to a technical Bob Kuhn, Christine Pascual, and Theresa director, team of carpenters, set painter, and Ham to form On Our Team, an organization properties designer. Quips Hiltner, “Costume dedicated to “creating a united front in requir- CRACk or coCAINE? designers are doing multiple jobs for the ing equitable pay and support for theatrical We offer an outpatient research study for individuals interested in same—if you’re lucky—fee.” Properties de- designers.” quitting crack or cocaine. signers, video designers, and composers are “It’s really good for companies,” says Hilt- also often expected to build the product, and ner. “All the science shows that people who are in the case of composers, they often have to paid equitably, where there is pay transpar- this study offers: This study is being run by the play the music as well as compose it for the ency, people work harder when those things - Treatment and medical exam at no cost to you Addiction research same fee. are in place. The product is better, you retain &treatment Laboratory Hiltner feels that the solution to all of this is employees better, these are things that will be - Medication & non-medication treatments at the university of illinois at chicago transparency—“having a community and cul- visible to the audience and make a difference that may help you quit Dr. Margaret Wardle ture in place that allows these conversations for the company’s bottom line, if you want to Director to happen without individual artists getting go to capitalist school terms.” - Payment for your time & parking/transit costs Department of Psychology 1007 W. Harrison St. (MC 285) blamed, being called difficult to work with, As theater productions struggle with the Chicago, IL 60607 having offers rescinded, not being called back, limitations of Zoom, one cannot help but MUST BE 18-60 YEARS OLD, AND NOT PREGNANT Protocol #2018-0827 Version #1, 12/3/18 all the things that happen currently when art- notice that productions with the more so- ists attempt to negotiate on their own behalf.” phisticated lighting, sets, and costumes have Some companies are beginning to offer trans- the ability to transform the online experience parent equal designer fees across the board, into something more cinematically stunning. like Collaboraction, which pays everyone $18 Hopefully more theaters realize the power of per hour. this advantage and pay designers accordingly. The spreadsheet Hiltner created in 2017 to Says Hiltner, “One thing that I love about break the stigma of talking about money is the theater industry is that we all care enough Find hundreds of Reader-recommended restaurants at gaining momentum. Just in the last month or about it to hold it accountable.” v chicagoreader.com/food. so it has received a fl urry of submissions, and theatermakers from other cities have begun @SheriFlanders ll OCTOBER - CHICAOREADER 25 R READER RECOMMENDED b ALL AGES N NEW F Get showtimes and see reviews of everything playing FILM this week at chicagoreader.com/movies.
American Utopia they-won’t-they, which Roberts and Bracey convincingly tunately, the convention adjourned without a consensus sell. An ensemble rom-com that blatantly references being reached, causing some to consider it a failure. better ensemble rom-coms, such as Crazy, Stupid, Love, Greaves’s fi lm largely proves otherwise, as the speakers Holidate is still smart enough to know what it isn’t and and performers—who include Baraka, Jesse Jackson, highlight what it is: a self-aware and serviceable comfort Betty Shabazz, Bobby Seale, Issac Hayes, and Dick fi lm to get the holiday season started, one that is well Gregory—pertinently elucidate the incommensurable worth the stream. —B J 103 min. Netflix experiences of Black Americans and stress the need for vast sociopolitical reform. (Furthermore, they later Martin Eden published the National Black Agenda on Malcolm X’s R Italian painter-turned-director Pietro Marcel- birthday.) The topics discussed are myriad, the sheer lo’s fl oating adaptation of Jack London’s eponymous, breadth of oppression and the problems which the semi-autobiographical 1909 novel—not a veritable clas- delegates seek to solve immense. Greaves’s fi lmmaking sic, but a somewhat arcane exemplar beloved by various is raw and inspired; the roving cameras capture the cultural luminaries—stumbles as does its titular protag- staggering magnitude of the task at hand, while frenetic onist, the strapping young sailor Martin Eden (Luca editing and sudden, startling zooms intensify the sense Marinelli); both are metamorphosed and burdened by of convivial disorder. Sidney Poitier and Harry Belafonte NOW PLAYING pitting natural hair against weaves, and never acknowl- their respective creators’ visionary appetites. Marcello, co-narrate; Belafonte reads poems written by Baraka edging Black women on the other end of the issue who who cowrote the script with Maurizio Braucci, relocates and Langston Hughes, while Poitier reads Greaves’s duly American Utopia simply enjoy switching it up. Simien also tries to do too the story from Oakland to Naples, the exact era inde- magniloquent commentary. —K S 80 min. R Spike Lee’s onscreen vision of David Byrne’s much at once. With its uneven tonal shi s, it’s hard to terminate. Born into a working-class milieu, Martin turns Through 11/5, Facets Virtual Cinema Broadway hit is the perfect salve for those craving tell if this movie wants to be a campy B-movie horror, to writing a er he meets the beautiful, wealthy Elena togetherness. Part concert fi lm, part one-man show a thoughtful comedy (its strongest suit with a hilarious (Jessica Cressy), having been galvanized to pursue On the Rocks (though the stage is stacked with members of the bit part from Lena Waithe), or a social thriller. But a er education as a means of elevating himself above his R Laura (Rashida Jones) is having problems with band clad in matching gray suits throughout), American watching Bad Hair, one thing is clear: it can’t do it all. proletarian station. This motley Künstlerroman charts her marriage. Naturally, she calls up her playboy father Utopia is fi lled with Byrne’s musings on existence, —N D L 115 min. Hulu Martin’s onerous rise and existential fall as he grapples (Bill Murray) for advice. On the Rocks marks Sofi a Cop- punctuated by a mix of Talking Heads hits, Byrne’s solo with his desire for individualism (inspired by the teach- pola’s fi rst collaboration with Bill Murray since Lost in work, and a particularly powerful Janelle Monáe cover. Cadaver ings of English sociologist Herbert Spencer) amidst his Translation—and it’s clear they’ve both done some grow- In the show’s second half, as things get more political, R Cadaver creates a world where survival gets countrymen’s—and to some extent, his own—thirst for ing up in that time. The fi lm is a departure from much of Byrne and company sing “Hell You Talmbout,” asking vile. When husband and wife Jacob (Thomas Gullestad) social equality. The complex political ethos is absorb- Coppola’s work as she shi s her focus from youth and the live audience present when fi lming to say the names and Leonora (Gitte Witt) and their daughter Alice (Tuva ing, but it’s Marcello’s formal experimentation that beauty to the endless confusions of adulthood—dealing of Black men and women killed by police. It’s moments Olivia Remman) fi nd themselves struggling to survive commands. Throughlines from the director’s previous with your fractured familial relationships, uncovering like this, paired with the graceful way in which Lee the a ermath of a nuclear disaster, the starving family fi lms are present, specifi cally his clever use of archival paranoia and rising tensions in your marriage, and fi nd- weaves through the performers on stage and view from accepts a generous off er they soon regret. Invited to footage to complement narrative; combined with the ing out where exactly you fi t in with the world. Rashida the audience, that make it easy for at-home viewers to a hotel to attend a dinner theater performance, the variety of fi lm formats employed (primarily 16-millimeter Jones shines as a dramatic lead, and her rapport with a get swept into feeling as if they were in the seats in famished family attends with high hopes. Instructed by and Super 16-millimeter, though also some 35-millimeter philandering Murray is sharp and charming. Some will Broadway’s Hudson Theatre that night. American Utopia a man named Mathias (Thorbjørn Harr) that the entire and expired fi lm stock) and his subtle use of unfi xed argue that there’s not a lot going on in this fi lm—and is not just a masterful concert fi lm, but a magical escape hotel is a stage and everything they’re about to see is anachronisms, the fi lm is a living history of its quixotic, they’ll be right to an extent—but Coppola delivers a and much-needed reminder of the importance of human acting, the audience then dons golden masks to sepa- though ultimately disaff ected, protagonist. In Italian, lightness to the uncomfortable but inescapable relation- connection —B W 135 min. HBO Max rate themselves from the actors. Once the show starts, Neapolitan, and French with subtitles. —K ships in our lives like few others. —C C R, 98 however, things turn sinister fast as audience members S 129 min. Music Box Theatre Virtual Cinema min. Apple TV, Landmark’s Century Centre Cinema Bad Hair begin disappearing, including Alice. Dark and dirty in Justin Simien is the latest fi lmmaker to blend Black a way that calls to mind such fi lms as Hostel and Saw, Nationtime The Witches social issues with horror elements in the Sundance Cadaver is the story of one woman’s will to save her R Once presumed lost, this newly restored, orig- R The sheer terror of Nicolas Roeg’s adaptation standout Bad Hair. Anna (Elle Lorraine), a young woman child, and in the process, her own humanity. —B inal cut of William Greaves’s rousing documentary of Roald Dahl’s The Witches is surely cemented in many in late 80s LA, dreams of being a host at the urban music J 86 min. Netflix about the 1972 National Black Political Convention a millennial’s brain—now the story gets a retelling for a television channel she works for. When the network is approximately 20 minutes longer than the version new generation. Robert Zemeckis cra s a fun take on brings in new management to rebrand the channel for a Holidate that aired on television (the longer iteration then con- the tale of shapeshi ing witches who want to rid the more “mainstream audience” (see: white people), Anna R Holidate is prime pandemic escapism. Fed sidered too militant for broadcast). Greaves, a prolifi c world of children, but it’s not an entirely necessary or ditches her ‘fro for a weave to assimilate into the new up with being single on the holidays, strangers Sloane documentarian best known for his 1968 avant-garde inventive reimagining of the story. Along with Zemeckis, beauty standards, despite having a fear of hair styling (Emma Roberts) and Jackson (Luke Bracey) agree to be meta-documentary Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One, the screenplay touts fi lm and fantasy giants Alfonso ever since a childhood perm-gone-wrong. However, the each other’s platonic plus-ones, or “holidates,” all year was invited to chronicle the momentous occasion by Cuarón and Guillermo del Toro—who pay a weird and weave turns out to have demonic roots and begins to long to escape constant judgment from their meddling co-organizer Amiri Baraka. Working with a small budget, wacky homage in line with the original story. The story take over Anna’s life. Bad Hair begins with compelling families. Treating viewers to a slew of holiday outings Greaves assembled a three-camera skeleton crew, and may be a bit too familiar to stand out, but it’s worth a cultural commentary that explores the complicated, and gatherings throughout the Chicagoland area, it the spirit of their fi lmmaking refl ects the determined watch to see A-list actors have a fun and ridiculous time. o en fraught, relationship Black women have with our doesn’t off er the best depiction of the city (and the two fervency of the subject matter. The Gary, Indiana-based Anne Hathaway and Stanley Tucci, notably, both don hair—even to this day when many schools and workplac- fi nd themselves at a mall all too o en), but beggars can’t convention, composed of delegates and spectators cartoonish accents and mannerisms, rightfully forgoing es still engage in hair discrimination. However, the fi lm be choosers. So sit back and soak in the before times from a range of political backgrounds, was intended to their appearances for the spirit of a children’s movie. fails to facilitate a well-rounded dialogue, simplistically scenery and the absurdity of a very predictable will- espouse “unity without conformity,” per Baraka; unfor- —C C PG, 105 min. HBO Max v
26 CHICA O READER - OCTOBER ll ll OCTOBER - CHICAOREADER 27 Rancho Huevos tenants and regulars from the past 16 years or so, clockwise from top le : Benny Hernandez, Lindsey Rae, Josh Piotrowski, Chris “Kisston” Georges, and Chris Cabay ERIC STROM FOR CHICAGO READER
Chris Cabay of the band No Slogan, aka Chris Huevos, was the second tenant Benny Hernandez never lived at Rancho Huevos, but he helped run Southkore Records during the house’s DIY years. ERIC STROM FOR CHICAGO READER there with his No Slogan bandmate Cabay. ERIC STROM FOR CHICAGO READER
28 CHICA O READER - OCTOBER ll not respond by publication time to phone calls was moving to the north side anyway. “Then seeking comment.) I could practice and have shows in the base- During Rancho’s life as an underground ment, you know? So of course, yeah, I’ll take it The life and death show space, renters made most of the repairs over, why not?” and alterations themselves. They fi xed a col- For Cabay, finding the extra $50 to move lapsed kitchen fl oor and enlisted the help of a into Rancho Huevos was about more than tenant’s parents to upgrade the electrical sys- seizing an opportunity to live alone and save tem. In Rancho’s early years, it had no working money on a practice space. At the time, he was of Rancho Huevos outlets in the basement, so to host a show 27 and had a decent-paying nine-to-fi ve job. A Bridgeport DIY house that nurtured an antiauthoritarian community for the organizers had to run an extension cord He could afford better than a run-down house, nearly two decades stands vacant and slated for demolition. downstairs through a vent from the kitchen. and he was at a life stage where most people Circumstances forced the upgrade in the late would take any better option. But to keep Ran- By M C 2000s, when half the house lost power. cho going as a venue, someone had to deliver The basement was spectacularly neglected the rent checks—and its continued existence and dirty, and the crowd at most shows would promised a lot of benefi ts for the DIY scene. kick up enough fi lth that everybody breathed Having a whole house with a hands-off t’s been 20 years since Y2K and abolition of policing and mass incarceration, it in all night. A hallmark Rancho experience landlord helped Cabay and bandmate Benny the world is still going even if it’s for the humanity of all people regardless of was blowing black snot for days after a gig—in Hernandez grow their record label, Southkore burning,” begins the Facebook immigration status, for sex workers’ rights— fact, “black snot” gets its own segment in Records, which they’d launched in 1999. South- event page for Distort Midwest, a basically for a long list of positions question- A Wave of Us, a 2014 documentary about the kore focused on rising Latinx punk bands, and two-day release party at the end ing the power of the nation-state and even its venue by Dave Fried. Spawn remembers mov- running Rancho meant always having a show “Iof February for a compilation tape of heart- right to exist. ing junk that he thinks might’ve been down spot for them—including groups seldom no- land hardcore. “We’re fucking bored out here What no one knew during Distort Midwest there for decades, only to fi nd dog skeletons ticed by north-side venues or those whose tour in the land of milk and honey with our mun- was that it would be the house’s last concert. wedged behind it. options were limited by obstacles Hernandez dane jobs and weekend benders. Long live this Like licensed music venues, Rancho was As Rancho Huevos passed from tenant to didn’t see white peers facing, such as immigra- decadence from here until the apocalypse!” forced into hiatus by the pandemic. And then tenant, each new resident moved in with the tion status or the need to fi nancially support Put together by Thaib Wahab and the in July, the landlord announced he’d sold the understanding they might be the last. Still, multiple family members. Hernandez’s work mononymous Spawn—immigrants from land under the house. The house would be when the end fi nally came for one of Chicago’s at Rancho Huevos also helped him grow the Singapore and Nepal, respectively, who run demolished, and the sole remaining tenant longest-running punk houses, it felt abrupt— network necessary to organize the Southkore Chicago tape label Third World Kaos—the needed to vacate ASAP. not least because COVID-19 meant that the fest, which as far as he knows became the fi rst Distort Midwest comp showcased the ferocity The sale wasn’t a total surprise. Toward the people who’d loved it couldn’t say a proper Latinx punk festival in America in 2006. and talent of fl yover-country punks. And if the end of 2019, when Rancho was already down to goodbye. No Slogan’s influence on Rancho fell off tape was a love letter, then the festival’s two that same sole tenant, a realty sign had quietly DIY show spaces tend to be born from a de- when Cabay moved out after a three-year stay, shows were Lloyd Dobler with a boombox: appeared outside. “We were like, what the sire to host people who have few if any other but the band’s impact lingers in the name. 13 hours of screeching guitars, cheap beer, fuck?” says Spawn, whose bands were pitch- places to do what they want—especially those Before Rancho, Cabay had lived across the righteous outrage, and unrestrained joy that ing in on rent to help keep the space going. whose identities or interests fall somewhere street from No Slogan’s practice space at 21st celebrated Wahab and Spawn’s chosen home “And then we checked online and saw that it on the Venn diagram of unpopular, marginal- and Damen. “Chris would always be late,” Her- and announced, “We are nothing without our was on the market.” ized, and forbidden. Rancho Huevos wasn’t nandez says, laughing. “He would sometimes community.” Long before that, Rancho’s days felt num- for people who would’ve preferred to play just not bother to show up because he was Distort Midwest’s first day was at Rancho bered simply because the house was in such legitimate venues but didn’t have the means to too tired. So our drummer at the time, Danny, Huevos, a tiny, dilapidated Bridgeport house bad shape. Built in 1870, it hadn’t been well run one or get booked at one. It was about sus- kept calling him huevón . . . which just means that had been a staple of the Chicago DIY maintained, and many people who’ve lived taining a music culture outside the music busi- big, heavy balls, and therefore you’re lazy. It scene for almost 16 years. It was a living space, there or seen shows there have speculated ness, and living and playing there represented just kind of morphed into ‘huevos,’ and then a show space, and a practice space—Spawn that it should’ve been condemned. It was a small opposition to capitalism’s colonization he became Chris Huevos. When he moved, we used to live there, for instance, and at the time poorly insulated, and one winter the heat al- of everyday life. decided that, since it was a little house in the he also rehearsed there with his bands Mock legedly went out. Nine different tenants from Many people believe that 2966 S. Archer middle of the street—kind of an outpost with Execution (which also includes Wahab) and the DIY years say the landlord was so resistant became a show house during the tenancy of nothing around it—we’ll just call it ‘Rancho.’” Tzar Bomba. DIY venues tend to come and go to making serious repairs that they learned to Chris Cabay, a punk veteran from the band No The house’s relative isolation—its large lot quickly, and Rancho’s longevity eventually stop asking—though Troy Ishkanian, a former Slogan who’s affectionately nicknamed “Chris means it has few immediate neighbors—is made it something of a local institution. resident who also plays in Tzar Bomba, says Huevos.” But that honor actually belongs to part of why Rancho Huevos endured. Its sleepy During the house’s tenure as a DIY space, the landlord did fi x a window broken by a dis- Ryan Ross, who in 2003 hosted a few noise part of Archer Avenue remains untouched by around 20 tenants passed through it. They gruntled showgoer who’d been thrown out for sets and then Boston folk-punk band Bread & redevelopment, and businesses in the area established a distinctive culture built on in- saying racist shit. Roses. As Cabay recalls, Ross decided to are mostly mom-and-pops that close early. clusivity, accountability, mutual support, and Rancho’s tenants claim they weren’t offered move out of the house after about six months The only adjacent structure is an apartment free-spirited rebellion—against internal ob- leases, though for the most part they were because it was such a diffi cult and unpleasant building that houses an intergenerational stacles as much as external oppressions. In the happy not to sign one. The landlord lived near- place to live. But Ross also saw the value of family, and they treated Rancho Huevos with a parallel universe where Rancho Huevos might by and knew the house was booking shows maintaining the house as a venue—and he mix of indifference and amusement. Longtime put together a political platform, it would from very early on, but he didn’t interfere. already had another show booked. Did Cabay Rancho tenant Lindsey Rae says she’s heard make the Bernie Sanders campaign seem He seemed happy just to get rent on time—if want to take over? that one of the daughters has grown up to be quaint. Though the politics of the house’s tenants didn’t ask much of him, he didn’t ask “It was like $50 more than my rent in a punk. community evolved constantly, it stood for the anything else of them. (Rancho’s landlord did Pilsen,” Cabay explains. And his roommate Basement overfl ow often spilled into Ran- ll OCTOBER - CHICAOREADER 29 could get permission to stay late enough to see unasked- for chaos, then any chance to choose the fi nal band. what happens to you can feel liberating. Unexpected negotiations come with the Rae was a teen runaway when she moved territory at a punk house, but they’re just part to Chicago in the aughts from a small town in of what makes it tough to live in one. Hosting Indiana. “I stood outside the Alley on Belmont all-ages DIY shows—which Rancho’s residents and Clark and asked people who looked punk if did as often as two or three times per week— they knew where I could sleep, and that’s how requires flexibility and generosity of spirit. I found a place to live,” she recalls. “From then You have to surrender to whatever your guests on, it was just, like, shows! Shows! Shows! (especially intoxicated ones) might do to your Venues! Bands! Just all the time.” She’d lived home, and if you’re smart you’ll prepare for in multiple punk houses already when she any crises they could create. You might be moved into Rancho in her early 20s. It had sat confronted with teen girls passing out alone vacant for a few months after Georges and Pi- in dark corners, your friends brawling with otrowski left unexpectedly, and Rae wanted to strangers over an inflammatory remark, or build on its particular inclusive and politically someone you only vaguely recognize steal- radical character. ing all your makeup from the bedroom you “Rancho was the fi rst time I felt in control,” thought you’d locked. she says. In some ways it was especially hard to live Throughout the years, Rancho hosted all at Rancho Huevos. A one-story house with kinds of music—stoner metal, crust punk, interior space totaling only 768 square feet, it black metal, D-beat hardcore. Eventually, it was decent for one person but not especially became well-known enough that bands start- large for two—even taking into account its ed seeking it out, sometimes from very far unfi nished basement, which had a comparable afield—all-woman Japanese hardcore band footprint. But sometimes three or four people Banjax played CLIT Fest in 2008, when Rancho lived there: one in the bedroom, another in the ran the third day of the event. CLIT Fest re- living room, a third in the pantry, and maybe turned to Chicago fi ve years later and became someone in the nasty-ass basement who’d a precursor to Fed Up Fest, which kicked off in have to shove their mattress out of the way 2014. FUF and Black and Brown, its big-sibling once or twice a week for shows. When multi- festival (launched in 2010 by the Black and ple touring bands came through on the same Brown Punk Show Collective), both held fund- night, it could easily mean another seven or raisers at Rancho because it supported their eight people trying to crash on the fl oors. radical, inclusive politics. One former occupant believes they devel- Concerts weren’t all that happened at oped asthma from living at Rancho because Rancho. In 2008, for example, Piotrowski put it had such pervasive mold. But that problem, together a homemade haunted house for Hal- like so many others, was part of the price loween, and it became an annual tradition—it everyone there chose to pay so they could do lasted almost ten years there before graduat- what they wanted with the house. They were ing to larger DIY spots. His birthday was near pretty sure that if they put too much pres- Halloween and his family loved the holiday, sure on their landlord to fix things himself, so he’d grown up helping his mom and dad he’d raise the rent—or worse, he might evict trick out their own house every year. He’d also A poster promoting the second annual haunted house at Rancho Huevos ART BY JOSH PIOTROWSKI everybody. worked in costume shops, which helped him “I have best friends that are not punk,” says accumulate props and materials for his own cho’s “yard,” which is at least as big as the area half mile from the Orange Line and near sever- Hernandez. “They just never understood why spooky installations. of the house. Still, cops seldom patrolled the al major bus routes. It stood practically in the I was into this—you know, like, ‘What’s the Piotrowski took inspiration from the area. Most folks in the neighborhood shared shadow of the Stevenson Expressway, and it payoff?’ My answer is always: Punk is the only neighborhood for many of his scares, and he an unspoken understanding that calling police had plenty of free parking. thing I control in my life, on my terms. I get to dramatized hauntings detailed in the 2005 didn’t solve problems. When neighbors got Around 2007 Cabay moved out and passed book where my band plays, who I play with, book Weird Illinois: the woman in white at angry about things—shows running too late, the house along to Josh Piotrowski, who was what the door price is. If someone is acting out Archer Woods Cemetery, for instance, or the showgoers peeing in an alley—they talked to joined in early 2008 by his girlfriend Chris of hand, I get to kick them out. Back in my late devil dancing at Kaiser Hall in Bridgeport. Rancho’s residents directly instead of involv- “Kisston” Georges. Georges already knew 20s, early 30s, I was starting my professional His fright night was something local families ing the cops. Punks lived in and ran the house, Rancho Huevos because she’d regularly ridden career. You’re a nine-to-fi ver, and everything’s could count on, not just punks. One reason it but they recognized themselves as part of a the Metra in from the suburbs to visit it, just so dictated to you. It made having that space moved on from Rancho was that it became too community beyond their scene. All these rea- she could feel connected to something. Lind- beautiful.” popular. Piotrowski and Rae estimate that at sons help explain why no show at Rancho ever sey Rae, who lived at Rancho for about three If your life is so micromanaged that you the haunted house’s peak, it attracted more got shut down. years starting in 2009, remembers making a barely feel like a person—you’re just going than 250 people in a night. Among comparable DIY venues, Rancho phone call to the parents of some teenagers through the motions, toeing someone else’s Other events Rancho hosted included art had unusual success bringing together people she didn’t know who’d come to a show at Ran- line about how to act or spend your time— installations and self-defense trainings for from across Chicago and its suburbs because it cho—she promised that a friend of hers would then any break from that regime is precious. queer people and sex workers. Residents also was fairly transit accessible. It was less than a drive the kids to the train afterward, so they And if your life keeps you guessing with allowed organizer friends to use the space
30 CHICA O READER - OCTOBER ll became a shibboleth separating insiders and met here. But cheap rent and abundant space outsiders—if you were invested in south-side are magnets for developers, venture capital- punk and DIY, you’d know how to say it, but if ists, and the kind of well-off new neighbors you were just glimpsing that scene in passing, who call the cops on loud cookouts—and the you probably wouldn’t. forces of the state reliably line up to enforce Of course, now there’s nothing left to those people’s will. glimpse at Rancho Huevos—but the scene The community nurtured by Rancho Huevos lives on. “As long as there’s pissed-off kids gave people a place to go that would always learning three chords in a basement or garage feel like home, even if they’d been away for somewhere, punk’s gonna keep going,” Her- years and all the faces were new. It’s where nandez says. “At the end of the day, really, los- they met bandmates, collaborators for their ing Rancho is no big deal. We should really be next art show, comrades to help organize concerned and worried about families being protests. And it wasn’t just punks talking to displaced by gentrifi cation.” punks—the house was also connected to its Gentrifi cation also threatens the future of neighborhood. punk, though of course that danger is much “I think it’s a big loss in terms of what it less serious than the hardship faced by dis- means for Chicago,” Spawn laments. “In placed families. One thing Wahab and Spawn the bigger picture, it’s not just the house. have enjoyed about being in the States is that It’s, like, the whole block. . . . Bridgeport is DIY punk thrives here in part because rent is changing rapidly. Every year, it’s not like it cheaper and space more abundant than in was. Rancho—I loved living there. All our Singapore or Nepal. They don’t have to rely neighbors—just regular working-class folks. on licensed venues to approve of them, their They never had a problem. They didn’t care bands, or their ideas. They’ll play a basement, ’cause we talked to them, we hung out with Members of Tropiezo, No Slogan, Tensions, and Rumores outside Rancho Huevos in September 2015. a yard, or a generator show. Rancho was a them. Who knows what shit’s going to be like COURTESY BENNY HERNANDEZ dream come true for them: not only did they on that street now. Are they just going to build have an affordable place to practice, but they another condo?” v for Anti-Racist Action meetings. During the cover cops collected license-plate numbers could also provide show space to bands they pandemic the last group of folks still paying and other identifying information, supposedly knew from Asia as well as the friends they’ve @miccoslays rent considered running it as an art studio. For because “rock bands” played there that “were a few years, pro dommes would pay to use the known to attract anarchists.” basement for scenes. The cops weren’t technically wrong on that “One time I was listening through the vents last point—plenty of people who frequented because I’m a creep,” a former resident admits Rancho Huevos sympathized with anarchist HAPPY NATIONAL PIZZA MONTH with a giggle, “and somebody shit on a donut beliefs—but as usual they imagined a violent and fed it to their slave.” threat where none existed. (This also helps You can see why somebody might laugh at explain why many people connected to Rancho a story like that. But it’s worth remembering were wary of being named or quoted in this that many sex workers get into the business story.) Anarchism doesn’t advocate chaos; because they can’t secure more conventional it wants everyone to be free from coercive jobs—in some cases because they’re trans or systems. And no matter who was living or undocumented. Other sex workers need more playing at Rancho, it retained its commitment money than they can make in the straight jobs to DIY as an intentional alternative to the for which they’re deemed qualifi ed. Some have monoculture. disabilities that can’t be accommodated by That’s one reason the house’s name never potential employers, or they’re someone’s sole changed. About four years into its life as a DIY caretaker and need extreme scheduling fl ex- space, Rae and her roommates at Rancho at- ibility. It’s important to know you can do the tempted to mark a new era by renaming it Ar- work that pays your bills reliably and safely, no cher Nemesis. In part they felt they didn’t have matter what it is. Rancho provided that peace a right to use the old name—they were trying of mind to at least a few people who needed it. to own up to being Chicago transplants who While the house didn’t attract beat cops, didn’t speak Spanish. But south-side punks the political slant of many shows at Rancho pushed back. Honor the lineage, they said. As seems to have attracted undercover offi cers, Hernandez explains: “If you inherit something judging from facts that came to light during beautiful, respect it.” the domestic-terrorism trial of the out-of- “People who can’t speak Spanish always SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL PIZZA SHOP town activists dubbed “the NATO 3.” The trial butcher it up and change the name,” he adds. highlighted a pattern of entrapment and “Red “You know, huevos rancheros podridos or Squad” tactics from Chicago police—and a ranchero huevos. A lot of south-side Latinx 2014 Sun-Times article revealed that Rancho kids would chime in and say, ‘No, it’s Rancho DANTE’S | RENO | KNEAD | EASY STREET | FLO AND SANTO’S|+MORE Huevos was one of many spots where under- Huevos. There’s no ‘s’ at the end.’” The name ll OCTOBER - CHICAOREADER 31 Recommended and notable releases and critics’ insights for the week of October 29 MUSIC
PICK OF THE WEEK Decades of friendship enrich a new collaboration by rapper Rich Jones and producer Montana Macks
Cordoba AYETHAW TUN
Cordoba, Specter nicity powerful enough that they can actualize most Amalgam of their grand visions without any help at all. The music.amalgamusic.org/album/specter velvety “Ghosts 1” could smooth-talk its way onto an R&B-heavy playlist made to woo a new fl ame, and if When The Sick Muse interviewed Chicago jazz- it can help love happen—or if any song on Specter fusion sextet Cordoba in 2019, vocalist Brianna can—then I’d consider that a positive revolution in Montana Macks and Rich Jones JASON NELOMS Tong talked about the ways improv-based music this acutely painful year. —L G can be a megaphone for protest movements. “I don’t think it’s revolutionary, but I think it can deep- en the things that are in the lyrics of those songs, Crippled Black Phoenix, Ellengæst and provide an outlet to feel more about the song,” Season of Mist Rich Jones & Montana Macks, How Do You Sleep at Night? she said. “I think it is an important part of people’s crippledblackphoenixsom.bandcamp.com/album/ Self-released radicalization to actually feel about what the fuck elleng-st richjonesmusic.bandcamp.com/album/how-do-you-sleep-at-night is happening, and not just be like this is how it is, it sucks.” Tong speaks from experience: she’s been Listening to a new Crippled Black Phoenix record part of the People’s Lobby and Reclaim Chicago, is a bit like unwrapping a present. Even if you have and was already engaged in organizing and activism an idea what’s under the intricate ribbons and shiny RAPPERSINGERRICHJONES and producer Montana Macks have been friends for nearly when Cordoba began releasing music in 2016. You paper, you can still get surprised. That’s partially can feel the intensity she wants to communicate in by design. Though the the songs of British multi- two decades, which surely helps explain how the Chicagoans’ new self-released album, the irascible clomp of “No Answer,” from Cordo- instrumentalist Justin Greaves provide the group How Do You Sleep at Night?, hits so smoothly. For the past few years, Jones has leaned into ba’s new Specter (Amalgam). And even when Tong’s with a common thread, Crippled Black Phoenix the downy plushness of his voice, more and more often rhyming in a relaxed croon—and screams are so garbled that it’s impossible to make have routinely changed lineups—and their sound out individual words, the outrage comes through— has changed with them, at various times adorning he’s also one of the few MCs who can drop Yiddish into the middle of a verse without sound- and the lyrics that are clear put the capitalist system the band’s tapestry of cinematic prog and post- ing fakakta (the exact word he uses in “Clicksonmyphone”). For the new record, Macks has squarely in her crosshairs (“Why do I have to pay for rock with threads of British folk, spaghetti western crafted loose-limbed instrumentals to match Jones’s mood, providing a subtle percussive water . . . and a place to fucking live”). scores, psychedelia, doom metal, and cabaret. In a Cordoba went big for Specter, enlisting Chica- 2016 interview with Music Radar, Greaves said he kick that accentuates his friend’s sharp observations and syllabic twists. Jones and Macks go’s Kaia String Quartet and other auxiliary musi- didn’t even own a guitar until he launched Crippled recruited a load of talented Chicago guests for this full-length—the leisurely, triumphant cians to enrich their ambitious sound. (In that Black Phoenix in 2004 (he’d spent years drumming “Locals Only” features an all-star team of rappers Matt Muse, Defcee, Skech185, Psalm One, same Sick Muse interview, guitarist Cam Cun- in infl uential sludge and stoner bands, including Iron ningham said, “I want Cordoba to be a Wagneri- Monkey and Electric Wizard). Each of the group’s and Jovan Landry—and the two of them work as hard to make their collaborators shine as an experience, without any of the racism.”) But the ambitious releases is a testament to what creativity they do to show off their own skills. —L G core members of Cordoba—Tong, Cunningham, can do when it doesn’t put itself in a box. multi- instrumentalist Eric Novak, keyboardist Zach Crippled Black Phoenix prove that point again Bain-Selbo, bassist Khalyle Hagood, and drummer on the new Ellengæst, which they describe as a mini Zach Upton Davis—have also developed a synchro- album even though it’s nearly an hour long. On the 32 CHICA O READER - OCTOBER ll MUSIC
fi rst day of recording, it came out that longtime gui- lute and elegiac refrain “Live to fi ght another day.” and several members of the Devil’s Blood took part wailing blues-rock with an anthemic undertone and tarist Daniel Änghede, who also shared lead vocals, Sometimes surviving the darkness is a bigger “fuck before going their own ways musically—some got lyrics about survival and endurance. The long-form was leaving the group. Rather than halt production, you” than going extinct in a head-on battle. And the involved with other Dutch bands, including Dool “Formless Hands” has a regal, entrancing shuffle, they recruited an eclectic assembly of guest vocal- way Ellengæst ends—with a cover of the Bauhaus and Rrrags. almost like a sharper-edged Can, and builds to a rit- ists to pitch in. Each he y song rolls into the next, tune “She’s in Parties”—suggests that dancing can Nearly five years later, Roadburn founder and ualistic peak that manifests the bandmates’ occult- pairing ornate, gothic, and sometimes mysterious be an act of resistance. —J L artistic director Walter Hoeijmakers invited the rock history in a dazzlingly fresh and urgent way. music with lyrics that serve their messages straight band’s surviving members—Farida, guitarists Oeds Despite their links to the past, Molasses are confi - up—including recurring themes of humanity’s cruel Beydals and Ron van Herpen, and bassist Job van dently their own thing. —M K and self-destructive nature. On Ellengæst the trans- Molasses, Through the Hollow de Zande—to collaborate with other members of fixing voice of lyricist Belinda Kordic threads the Season of Mist the Dutch music scene (including Marcel van de songs together, whether she’s singing backup or molassess.bandcamp.com/album/through-the- Vondervoort of Astrosoniq and Matthijs Stronks of Aquiles Navarro & Tcheser Holmes, lead (as she does on the cover of Vic Chesnutt’s hollow Donnerwetter) for a special commissioned perfor- Heritage of the Invisible II “Everything I Say”). The album takes aim at lead- mance at the fest’s 2019 edition. They called the International Anthem ers who sow chaos to tighten their own control (as Molasses was born from the ashes of influential group Molasses, a er the fi nal track from Earth Air intlanthem.bandcamp.com/album/heritage-of- on opener “House of Fools,” with lead vocals from Dutch band the Devil’s Blood. Founded in 2006 Spirit Water Fire, and quickly realized they weren’t the-invisible-ii Anathema’s Vincent Cavanagh), but it’s less about by guitarist and vocalist Selim Lemouchi (“SL”) and done making music together. Their first release, despairing over that chaos and despotism and fronted by his sister Farida (“the Mouth of Satan”), the 2019 seven-inch “Mourning Haze” b/w “Drops Trumpeter Aquiles Navarro and drummer Tcheser more about fi ghting back, even if only by embrac- they took their name from a Watain song but never of Sunlight,” is a haunting, majestic acknowledg- Holmes begin their new duo album, Heritage of the ing compassion and empathy over their opposites. went full black metal. Instead they made sweep- ment of profound loss, but their expansive debut Invisible II (International Anthem), with “Initial Med- On the hook-driven “Cry of Love,” vocalist Ryan Pat- ing, elegant, complex, and ethereal heavy psych album, Through the Hollow, sounds like the work of itation,” a red-hot vortex of percussion and elec- terson (Coliseum, Fotocrime) sounds resigned to informed by occult-rock progenitors such as Coven, musicians who’ve been chafi ng at the bit for a long tronics whose abrasive, hypnotizing swirls some- the numbness of heartbreak but hopeful that he’ll Black Sabbath, and Roky Erickson and colored by time and are finally able to unleash their poten- times sound like a helicopter fl ying overhead. That someday reconnect with his so er side. Kordic sings Selim’s satanism and other spiritual beliefs. He dis- tial. Though the Devil’s Blood are a hard act to fol- powerful opening statement makes clear that these lead on “Lost,” a song about apathy and ignorance banded the group in 2013, released the solo album low, Molasses draw you in immediately with the musicians—best known from unrepentantly politi- at the dawn of the apocalypse, and when Cava nagh Earth Air Spirit Water Fire as Selim Lemouchi & His 11-minute title track of Through the Hollow, which cal jazz ensemble Irreversible Entanglements—can joins in on the chorus they transform it into the kind Enemies, and then took his own life in March 2014, opens the album by walking the line between pro- sound just as colossal as a duo as they do with that of jet-fueled anthem that could turn the masses just weeks before the Enemies were scheduled to gressive metal and a more romantic, mythical sound five-piece band. Navarro and Holmes first clicked around. The record’s one true duet is the somber, play at Roadburn—the Dutch heavy-music festival that weaves and dodges and surges behind the cav- when they met at the New England Conservatory proggy “In the Night,” sung by Kordic and Kristian where the Devil’s Blood made their live debut in alry charge of Farida’s rich, powerful voice. “Get in 2008, and throughout Heritage of the Invisible II “Gaahl” Espedal, which culminates with the reso- 2008. The Enemies set became a tribute to Selim, Out From Under” is a jaggedly heavy piece of dark, you can feel how deep their bond runs; they speak
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PAID FOR BY VOTE YES FOR FAIR TAX ll OCTOBER - CHICA O READER 33 MUSIC
friends in the 2000s, when they put in time as back- up singers for a long list of forgotten bar bands, and in 2017 they both appeared on Jon Langford’s album Four Lost Souls. But it’d be a mistake to pigeonhole them as supporting players—their soul- ful voices have always commanded attention rath- er than blending into the background. In addition to her musical career, Newsome (now based in Los Angeles) has an exhaustingly full resumé as an actor and comedian (she’s currently voicing a lead char- MARCH 26 acter in Star Trek: Lower Decks), while Thomas has FRI appeared onstage at Steppenwolf and the Second Naperville Bluegrass Festival City, portrayed Billie Holiday in a dinner-theater @ Sheraton Lisle Naperville Hotel production, and fronted a David Bowie tribute band, among other things. Both women are clearly comfortable with an eclectic range of projects, but they’re not dilettantes—and their debut album as a duo, Material Flats, is out-and-out rock ’n’ roll. They throw themselves into the music like they were born to do it, and they probably were. Rather than stick- ing to simple harmonies or answering each other’s verses, they seamlessly weave their multi- octave TO ADD YOUR EVENT TO voices together, in and out of diff erent keys. New- TIXREADER COM some and Thomas bring every one of these brood- ing rock songs to a simmer—even ballads such as SEND AN EMAIL TO Sen Morimoto DENNIS ELLIOT “Pincushion” have a certain tension—and on “June- [email protected] teenth 2020,” a solemn meditation on the aboli- tion of slavery, the music starts to boil over. The duo put their acting skills to good use during the continued from 33 Park at Home series “is not intended to provide a spoken-word bits, and they’re smart enough not to gratefully of each other on “Plantains,” and the syn- platform for public discourse and debate”—a coun- get too hammy. Like all good actors and musicians, chronicity of their playing tells us more than words terintuitive way to think about a program intended Newsome and Thomas know the value of restraint. ever could. On that track, Holmes’s tight, unyield- to lift up local musicians. In his lengthy response, —J P ing drumming projects a relentlessly explorative Morimoto wrote, “Without that social depth of mindset that pairs well with Navarro’s reverberat- expression, the City is merely perpetuating an ing trumpet declarations. The musicians constantly Entertainment Industry, and not fostering the vital- Star, Violence Against star Never push each other forward on songs such as “Navarro- ity of its artistic community.” Half a Cow holmes,” a boisterous eight-minute romp bristling On Morimoto’s new self-titled album, his second star13.bandcamp.com/album/violence-against- with palpable, unresolved tension. But Navarro full-length for Chicago indie label Sooper Records, star-2 miss a and Holmes do more than just display their iron- he foregrounds the artistic community he’s fos- sharpening-iron artistry: they’re forever celebrat- tered. Morimoto co-owns Sooper, and long before As tempting as it is to indulge my wee-lad love of show ing their partnership and their cultures. That’s most he came aboard with Sooper cofounders Nnamdï all things dream pop and compare Star’s fresh evident in the Afro-Caribbean rhythms and humid and Glenn Curran in 2017, he’d perfected a pragmat- take on shoegaze to early-90s wombadelic prac- again. atmospheres of “Pueblo,” a contemplative, cheer- ic approach to home recording—just an MPC, key- titioners (I’m not making up the term “wombade- ful piece that allows for the kind of inward- looking boards, a saxophone, and his voice. Throughout Sen lia,” though it never really caught on), the band reflection that can build confidence and hope. Morimoto he combines hip-hop, indie rock, R&B, prefer the more open-ended tag “noise pop.” Music this rich and festive is innately communal, and city pop, creating unexpected juxtapositions That said, the catchy three-minute nuggets on the and Navarro and Holmes bring in four guest artists, of placid synth soundscapes, skittering percussion, local trio’s second album, Violence Against Star, including vocalist Brigitte Zozula and pianist Nick and delicately layered vocals. And while he can cre- sound like they could’ve charted in the UK along- Sanders, to broaden the scope of their arrange- ate a rich, full-band sound alone if he has to, he no side Ride and Lush if they’d been released in, say, ments. Heritage of the Invisible II is a reminder that longer has to: he also brings in his friends, includ- 1992. Opening cut “Angel School Anthem” is basi- the simple act of having fun can spur individual and ing Pivot Gang rapper Joseph Chilliams and fellow cally a mission statement for their wall of sound, collective growth. —J M K Sooper stars Kaina and Nnamdï, to give his music combining Shannon Roberts’s dark, cooing vocals new flavors of pop bliss. Lala Lala’s Lillie West, bathed in oodles of delay, Theodore Beck’s sub- EARLY poet and songwriter Kara Jackson, and rapper Qari terranean bass and huge, four-on-the-floor pro- Sen Morimoto, Sen morimoto make “Taste Like It Smells” an album highlight; their grammed beats, and Scott Cortez’s scuzzy ripples Sooper vocals not only add emotional complexity to the of guitar. Cortez defi nitely has dreamy string-god WARNINGS morimotosen.bandcamp.com/album/sen- dreamlike instrumental but also enhance its vivid credentials: he’s spent time in 90s Michigan goth- morimoto textures until it feels like I can reach out and touch gaze duo Lovesliescrushing and long-running My Find a concert, buy a the sound. Morimoto knows how fulfi lling it can be Bloody Valentine-indebted Chicago band Astro- Chicago art-pop wizard Sen Morimoto made nation- to give other voices a platform, and it’s part of what brite. His buzzing, high-end axe frequencies and ticket, and sign up to al news in July, when the Department of Cultur- makes his music great—even when he’s the only one speaker-blowing low end fuel “Noise Parade,” al Aff airs and Special Events removed him from its doing the recording. —L G which recalls the DIY spirit of ye olde indie-fuzz get advance notice Millennium Park at Home virtual summertime music bands such as Black Tambourine. Roberts scorn- series. Morimoto had prerecorded a series of mys- fully calls out some surely evil soul, her airy voice of Chicago’s essential tical, gentle musical movements, but he began his Tawny Newsome & Bethany Thomas, revealing a tinge of malevolence: “With your dirty set by delivering a brief statement lightly criticizing Material flats silence / With a nasty violent stare . . . You’ve gotta music shows at Mayor Lori Lightfoot for her inaction in the face of Fine Alpinist lotta nerve to crash my noise parade.” She’s even chicagoreader.com/early. public protests about police brutality. DCASE asked tawnyandbethany.bandcamp.com/album/ more pissed off on “Artifi cial Planes”: as Star reach him to remove the statement, and when he refused, material-fl ats-2 full-on punk velocity, Roberts sounds like she’s the department chose not to broadcast his set. intoning from a far-off mountain top as Cortez’s DCASE’s public statement said that the Millennium Tawny Newsome and Bethany Thomas became roaring guitar pitches landslides down its flanks. 34 CHICA O READER - OCTOBER ll Find more music reviews at chicagoreader.com/soundboard. MUSIC
Star COURTESY THE ARTIST
“Last Star” backs away from this aggro approach, radio station now known as KBOO. In the early 70s, with dreamy atmospherics a la the Cocteau Twins he assembled and edited fi eld recordings he’d cap- or Purple Ivy Shadows (the nine-teez references tured around the city in the 50s and 60s, augment- keep fl ying, folks), a slow drum-machine pulse, and ing them with new original music made primarily Frippertronics-style drones; Roberts gently delivers with zither and synth. In 1975 he self-released this the line “I’m trapped in a bloody hell” (goths, please material as Neighborhoods, pressing around 1,000 take note). When I pressed Roberts about the inspi- copies and giving most of them away, usually to ration behind these songs, she replied “cult movies/ family and friends. In the decades that followed, politics/love, anger, redemption, and revenge.” Fair the album became sought after by private-press enough. record collectors for its combination of audio doc- The first side of the album closes with the umentary and proto-ambient synth work. Hood suf- stripped-down “First Grade Still,” which starts like fered from post-polio syndrome and passed away in a Morricone soundtrack, with just guitar and word- 1991, but his infl uence has only grown—and in 2019 less vocals, and then tumbles to the bottom of a New York label Freedom to Spend remastered the deep, reverberating well. Side two, which starts original Neighborhoods recordings for a vinyl reis- with fuzz-ball popper “Cruel 15,” is just as epic. sue with new liner notes, donating a portion of the With its triumphant multitracked vocal choruses, proceeds to KBOO. “White Fear” reminds me of the second wave of New Neighborhoods is inspired by Hood’s work, lo-fi shoegaze bands (Velocity Girl, Swirlies, Eric’s and includes new compositions and fi eld recordings Trip) before they chucked their pedals and got bor- by 16 musicians and groups from all over the world, ing, while the massive title track ends the album including UK dub and techno duo Space Afrika with thick Jesus and Mary Chain-style six-string and former Chicagoan Ka Baird, cofounder of scree and a cavernous bass rumble. When Roberts Spires That in the Sunset Rise. Baird’s contribution, exclaims “Blast the music up,” it’s already there— “West End,” remixes a series of fi eld recordings she Star have entered the canon of angsty noise-pop made in her native Decatur, Illinois, including the greats. Tragically, this will be the band’s last album, sounds of splashing water and a distant train horn. at least with this lineup—Beck died of cancer last Most of the tracks recall Neighborhoods in their week. He was also Roberts’s husband, so for her it’s mix of bucolic city soundscapes, but the globe- a double blow. Deepest condolences to everyone spanning roster on New Neighborhoods adds a touched by this loss. —S K texture and variety that the original lacks; Japanese electronic musician Sugai Ken created the haunting “Symphonic ‘Joya no Kane’” using a fi eld recording Various Artists, New Neighborhoods of gong sounds and wind from his native Kanagawa Freedom to Spend Prefecture. Freedom to Spend is donating all pro- freedomtospend.org/catalog/new-neighborhoods ceeds from the fi rst edition of New Neighborhoods to the Association for Neighborhood and Housing You don’t have to know Ernest Hood’s 1975 album Development’s Center for Community Leadership, Neighborhoods to understand what’s going on a New York-based training program for grassroots in the new compilation New Neighborhoods, but activists and housing-focused groups. The com- it doesn’t hurt. Born in 1923, Hood was a Portland pilation makes a great addition to the ambient jazz musician who kept up with new recording and music canon as well as a fi ne tribute to a visionary, production techniques throughout his life, and in civic-minded musician who loved his city and his 1964 he cofounded the listener-supported Portland community. —S C-J v ll OCTOBER - CHICA O READER 35 CHICAGO READER IS PROUD TO PARTNER WITH THESE INDEPENDENT BOOKSTORES!
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36 CHICA O READER - OCTOBER ll Book Club Month Author Talk The Chicago Reader November 20 11/19/2020 BOOK CLUB Mikki Kendall Natalie Moore Hood Feminism: The South Side Book Club Notes From the April 21 membership Women That a 4/22/2021 includes: Movement Forgot Rebecca Makkai Book Club Month: Exclusive The Great October 20 access to Author Talk: Believers conversations 10/22/2020 May 21 between 5/27/2021 Authors and Sonali Dev the Reader Recipe for Fatimah Asghar Persuasion If They Come for Discounts to November 20 Us your favorite 11/19/2020 June 21 independent Sonali Dev 6/24/2021 bookstores Author Riva Lehrer USA Today bestselling author Sonali Dev writes Bollywood-style love Golem Girl Kayla Ancrum A curated stories that explore issues faced by women around the world. Dev’s December 20 Darling monthly novels have been on Library Journal, NPR, Washington Post, and 12/17/2020 July 21 newsletter Kirkus’s best books of the year lists. She has won the American Library 7/22/2021 Association’s award for best romance, the RT Reviewer Choice Award Emil Ferris A members- for best contemporary romance, multiple RT Seals of Excellence, is a My Favorite Jessica Hopper only RITA finalist, and has been listed for the Dublin Literary Award. Shelf Thing Is Monsters (TBD) discussion Awareness calls her “Not only one of the best but one of the bravest romance novelists working today.” She lives in Chicagoland with her January 21 August 21 forum husband, two visiting adult children, and the world’s most perfect dog. 1/28/2021 8/26/2021 Find more at sonalidev.com. Special off ers Eve Ewing Precious Brady- from Reader 1919 Davis partners February 21 I Have Always Brianna Wellen joined the Reader 2/25/2021 Been Me: A in 2013 as an editorial assistant Memoir and since has covered everything Nnedi Okorafor September 21 from stand-up comedy to medical marijuana to riot grrls and so much Remote Control 9/23/2021 more. Now, as culture editor, she March 21 continues to work to celebrate the 3/25/2021 people, places, and communities of all shapes and sizes that make up the city’s vibrant and thriving arts Presented by: and culture scene. She spends her free time (when not in a pandemic) laughing at comedy shows, drinking Brianna Wellen in dive bars, and (now more than ever) watching as many TV shows Moderator and movies as possible with her cats, Miso and Tofu.
Learn more at chicagoreader.com/bookclub ll OCTOBER - CHICA O READER 37 CHICAGO SHOWS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT IN THE WEEKS TO COME
EARLY WARNINGS b ALL AGES F WOLF BY KEITH HERZIK steelpantherrocks.com b Never miss Story of the Year 10/29, a show again. 7 PM; 11/7, 7 PM, livestream at ghostsignal.co b Sign up for the Tedeschi Trucks Band 10/29, newsletter at 7 PM, livestream at stellar- chicagoreader. tickets.com b GOSSIP Thank You Chicago pres- com/early ents Friendsgiving: Black Wednesday featuring DJ WOLF Fresh, DJ Jukie tha Kidd Driver Era, Wrecks 2/19/2021, 11/25, 3 and 6 PM, the Prom- 7:30 PM, the Vic b A furry ear to the ground of ontory Elder, Bask, Flesh of the Stars Happy Traum 4/17/2021, 2 PM, 11/28, 7 PM, Reggies’ Rock the local music scene Szold Hall, Old Town School Club, 17+ of Folk Music b Elephant Stone, Al Lover, Tin- DIY SPACE Situations has been around Verve Pipe 11/21, 5 and kerbelles 3/24/2021, 9:30 PM, 8 PM; 11/22, 4 and 7 PM, City Sleeping Village, rescheduled since 2010—long enough that it’s hard to Winery b Kurt Elling 10/30, 3 and 8 PM; remember Chicago without it. But at the Waco Brothers 11/7, 7 PM, Fitz- 11/13, 3 and 8 PM, livestream end of October, this Logan Square hub Gerald’s, Berwyn F b at mandolin.com b for uncompromising underground art and Keith Washington 11/20, Tinsley Ellis 3/8/2021, 8 PM, 7 PM, livestream at citywinery. SPACE, Evanston b music will shut down—the landlord is sell- Kurt Elling ELLIOT MANDEL com b Greet Death 11/6, 8 PM, live- ing the building, and the current tenants Windhand 11/14, 7 PM, live- stream at audiotree.tv b have to vacate. Residents and organizers stream at go.seated.com b Colin Hay 3/27/2021, 8 PM, will say farewell with a 24-hour virtual Hal- A Diff erent Vibe & Tip Off Lu's Jukebox with Lucinda Thalia Hall b NEW present Black Friday hosted Williams presents Funny Heat featuring DJ Ron Carroll loween blowout that starts at 12 AM on by Makinde 11/27, 6:30 PM, How Time Slips Away: A UPDATED and more Thursdays, 7 PM Saturday, October 31, and ends at 12 AM Afro Soca Love DJs 11/7, 6 PM, the Promontory Night of 60s Country Clas- through 12/23, Le Nocturne on November 1. The stream will include the Promontory Kurt Elling Sings Christmas sics 12/3, 7 PM, livestream at NOTE: Contact point of pur- Chicago F “fireside chats,” Mario Kart exhibitions, Kioto Aoki & Tatsu Aoki’s 12/5, 5 and 8 PM; 12/6, 4 and mandolin.com b chase for exchange or refund Holy Fuck 3/19/2021, 9 PM, Reduction Trio featuring 7 PM, City Winery b Mako Sica (Joshua Abrams, information. Lincoln Hall, 18+ live sets from the Situations basement by Jamie Kempkers 11/13, Every Vote Counts: A Celebra- Thymme Jones, Jacob Niall Horan 11/7, 7 PM, live- locals such as Unmanned Ship and Bret 7 PM, livestream at ess.org tion of Democracy featuring Fawcett) 11/6, 8 PM, Constel- Sonny Fodera, Dom Dolla stream via ticketmaster.com b Koontz, and prerecorded performances F b Alicia Keys, Dan & Shay, lation, in-person show with 4/22/2021, 8:30 PM, Concord Brandon James 11/7, 3 PM, by more than two dozen regulars—among Aquabats Kooky Spooky Hal- Off set, Shawn Mendes, and a concurrent livestream at Music Hall, rescheduled; tick- Reggies’ Roof Deck F loween Party 10/30, more 10/29, 8 PM, broadcast youtube.com/user/constella- ets purchased for original and James Hunter Six 3/12/2021, them Ryley Walker, Jill Flanagan, Ooz- 8 PM, livestream at on CBS with livestream at tionchicago, 18+ previously rescheduled dates 8 PM, City Winery b ing Wound , Melkbelly , Daniel Knox , and theaquabats.veeps.com b CBS All Access, IHeartMedia Michael McDermott 12/16-12/17, will be honored, 18+ Jayhawks 11/29, 8 PM, live- comedian Sarah Squirm . The party will Avalon String Quartet 11/7, radio stations, Apple Music, 7:30 PM; 12/18-12/20, 8 PM, Wynonna Judd & Cactus stream at mandolin.com b stream for free on Twitch, but you can 7 PM, livestream at utrf.org b and Twitch F b City Winery b Moser 7/30/2021-7/31/2021, No Limit Reunion Tour fea- Bendelacreme 4/27/2021, Fever 333 10/28, 8 PM; 10/29, Miyumi Project 11/14, 8 PM, 8 PM, SPACE, Evanston, turing Master P, Mystikal, get access to more goodies by joining 7 PM, Thalia Hall, 17+ 1 PM; 10/30, 8 PM, livestream Constellation, in-person show rescheduled b Silkk the Shocker, Mia X, Situations’ new Patreon—and the money Brendan Benson (Raconteurs) at fever333.veeps.com b with a concurrent livestream Josh Kelley 11/18, 8 PM, City Fiend 11/27, 7:30 PM, Genesis it costs you to sign up will benefi t Fami- 11/14, 4:20 PM, livestream at Robbie Fulks 11/22, 8 PM, live- at youtube.com/user/constel- Winery, canceled Convention Center, Gary b ly Rescue, a local nonprofi t that provides sleeping-village.com/events/ stream at noonchorus.com b lationchicago, 18+ Bonnie Koloc, Ed Holstein Nois 11/20, 7 PM, livestream at brendan-benson b Ganser 11/11, 8 PM, live- Chanté Moore 11/14, 6 PM, 11/6, 8 PM, the Promontory, uchicago.org b support services for domestic-violence Body Afro-Caribbean dance stream at noonchorus.com/ livestream at citywinery. canceled Nombe 3/27/2021, 8 PM, Lin- survivors. Perks include commemorative party hosted by Queen hideout b com b Marty Stuart & His Fabulous coln Hall b shirts and prints by Bill Connors and Ryan Ms. Mighty 11/8, 8 PM, the Chris Greene Quartet 11/15, Nick Moss Trio 11/6, 7 PM, Fitz- Superlatives 4/18/2021, 3 and Off Broadway, Handcuff s Duggan, respectively, and you can opt in Promontory 7 PM, City Winery b Gerald’s, Berwyn F b 7 PM, Maurer Hall, Old Town 4/3/2021, 8 PM, Reggies’ Rock Box Tops 4/5/2021, 8 PM, City Emmylou Harris and friends Nonlocal Forecast movie night School of Folk Music, general Club, 17+ for a small monthly fee to get ongoing Winery b featuring Marty Stuart 11/16, and release party featuring admission sold out for both Jon Kimura Parker 11/6, access to archives of the livestream and Frank Carter & the Rattle- 7 PM, livestream at citywinery. Angel Marcloid, Hausmo shows; VIP tickets available b 7 PM, livestream at uchicago. other bonus material. Situations’ Twitch snakes 11/13, 2 PM, livestream com b Honchos, Sara Goodman, Volvox, Harry Cross 11/13, org b account is at twitch.tv/situations420. at universe.com b Here Come the Mummies Jesse Bond, Kyle Drouin, 10 PM, Smart Bar, canceled Parsonsfi eld, Oshima Brothers Josh Caterer (Smoking Popes) Weenstream 2020 10/31, Stiner Bros, Bcspatch 10/29, 3/30/2021, 7 PM, SPACE, It’s been a productive year for Angel 10/28, 8 PM, livestream at 8 PM, livestream at exitin. 8:30 PM, livestream at twitch. Evanston b Marcloid . In May, the genre- smashing noonchorus.com/hideout b com b tv/hausumountain F b UPCOMING Jeremy Pinnell 3/5/2021, local musician dropped Rainbow Bridge, Chicago Asian American Jazz Griffi n House 12/3-12/4, Kyle Price, Erica Miller, 8:30 PM, Carol's Pub a heart-rending album from her main proj- Festival night one featuring 7:30 PM, City Winery b Norman Long 11/5, 8 PM, Frank Catalano Trio 11/6-11/7, Pokey LaFarge, Esther Rose Jason Finkelman’s Kuroshio, House Tuesdays featuring Sofi livestream at twitch.tv/elastic- 7:30 and 9:30 PM, Andy’s 2/19/2021, 8:30 PM, Thalia ect, Fire-Toolz, about the death and a er- Chromic Duo, Jeff Chan Tukker 10/27, 9 PM, livestream artschicago F b Jazz Club Hall, 17+ life of her cat Breakfast. (That month she (solo) 11/6, 7 PM, livestream at at twitch.tv/insomniac F b Freddy Quintero Trio 11/5, Black Diamond 11/7, Steve Poltz 12/2, 8 PM, SPACE, also put out a vaporwave-flavored remix stream.airmw.org F b Jazz Community Quintet 11/8, 7 PM, FitzGerald’s, Berwyn 8:30 PM, livestream at you- Evanston b of Pearl Jam’s “Jeremy” that’s one of this Chicago Asian American Jazz 7 PM, FitzGerald’s, Berwyn F b tube.com/user/constellation- Gregory Porter, Ledisi Festival night two featuring F b Walter Salas-Humara 11/6, chicago b 2/17/2021, 7 PM, Chicago wolf’s most-played songs of the year.) Yoshinojo Fujima & Hekiun Jean Deaux 10/29, 8 PM, live- 8 PM, livestream at noon- CSO Sessions: Mozart, Shaw, Theatre b On Friday, October 30, Hausu Mountain Oda with Toyoaki Sanjuro & stream at audiotree.tv b chorus.com/hideout b and Brahms featuring mem- Chuck Prophet & the Mission releases Holographic Universe(s?)!, a Dawei Wang, Jonathan Chen Le Vent du Nord 11/12, 7 PM, Silent Chicago featuring bers of the Chicago Sympho- Express 3/18/2021, 8 PM, new full-length from Marcloid’s Nonlocal with Tatsu Aoki/Jamie Kemp- livestream at oldtownschool. Urban Fêtes DJs 11/6, 6 PM, ny Orchestra daily through SPACE, Evanston b kers/Julia Miller 11/7, org b the Promontory 11/20, livestream on demand LeAnn Rimes 2/5/2021, 7 PM, Forecast that dramatically contorts jazz 7 PM, livestream at airmw. Dylan LeBlanc 11/18, 7 PM, Situationchicago listening at cso.org b Genesee Theatre, Waukegan, and new age instrumentation loaded with org F b livestream at citywinery. party featuring DJ Tghtntrl Cold War Kids 11/8, 8 PM; 11/22, b gooey guitar runs and epic saxophone Chicago Honky Tonk DJs 11/8, com b and more 11/11, 6 PM, the 8 PM, livestream at nocap- Maggie Rose, Them Vibes solos. —JRNLG 3 PM, FitzGerald’s, Berwyn Leland Blue 11/18, 8 PM, live- Promontory shows.com b 2/13/2021, 8 PM, SPACE, F b stream at audiotree.tv b Steel Panther presents the Shawn Colvin, Daphne Willis Evanston b v Deeper 11/18, 8 PM, livestream Local H 11/20, 8 PM, livestream Halloweenie Ride Livescream 1/23/2021-1/24/2021, 8 PM, Got a tip? Tweet @Gossip_Wolf or e-mail at noonchorus.com b at audiotree.tv b 10/31, 4 PM, livestream at SPACE, Evanston b [email protected].
38 CHICA O READER - OCTOBER ll ll OCTOBER - CHICAOREADER 39 MUSIC
Andrew Tham and friend JENNA LYLE and Lia Kohl (who are also in Mocrep), and we did a record-release party on the Experimental Sound Studio’s Twitch series. We all decided to create prerecorded video. We wanted to create the Empty Bottle. So the audience was literally a series of demos, like “Here’s an instructional just our parents and their friends. on how you might listen to the album.” I was a music director at our college radio I don’t think we think of ourselves as a station and I booked this band called Volcano! classical-music label anymore, but we’re still from Chicago, and Sam Scranton—he’s a good in that realm no matter what, just because friend of mine now and a composer—he was those are a lot of our friends. All of us who are the drummer in the band. He told me about in Parlour Tapes joined Mocrep, and the Mo- Access Contemporary Music (ACM), who do crep vibe is also very much like that. Mocrep a lot of composer-advocacy stuff for contem- started out as a contemporary classical-music porary classical music. That was my fi rst gig ensemble, and then they were performing in that let me go back to Chicago. I moved back ways that were further from just a concert in with my parents and I started interning at where you sit down and play your instrument. ACM, and then I just started going to all these It felt very much like a merger when they contemporary classical concerts. asked us to join the group. One of the fi rst gigs I went to in that period In terms of solo stuff, I had to go into quar- was the Spektral Quartet at the Empty Bottle. antine for two weeks because I was exposed And I was blown away—it seems outdated to somebody with COVID (I’ve tested negative now, but at the time I was like, “Oh my God, a since). I was just livestreaming myself from string quartet at a punk venue, that’s so crazy!” my room for eight hours a day, just to see what I started interning for Spektral Quartet too. It it felt like. It was weird. That kind of endurance was sort of that initial seed, just fi nding those is sort of discipline exploration. I really like shows and seeing the same people at every the artist Tehching Hsieh. I feel like I’m always CHICAGOANS OF NOTE show and then fi nally stopping being awkward thinking in that vein a little bit for myself. for a second to strike up a conversation. The Sims soundtrack is in my desert island That’s how Parlour Tapes started, at shows. discs. I e-mailed the composer, Jerry Martin, Andrew Tham, composer, Kyle Vegter and Jenna Lyle and I knew each to ask if he had sheet music I could borrow. other from meeting at shows, and then Kyle And he responded, which is amazing. I’m on and I shared a coworking space. None of us his personal newsletter now, so like once a performer, and cofounder of had run a record label before. We didn’t really month I get “Here’s an old demo I did for Sim- have a lot of funds, so we thought tapes would City 2000” or something. be cheaper to make. We also thought that Jeff Kimmel (who plays in Aperiodic) and I Parlour Tapes doing a cassette would give us an avenue to have done this set a couple of times where we create an art object of sorts with each release, DJ Weather Channel music. There’s a website “I was just livestreaming myself from my room for eight hours a day, just to see to collaborate with artists and designers. of these people who host old Weather Channel what it felt like. It was weird.” Later, I fantasized about putting out a mix- videos and make emulators where you can tape on fl oppy disk, which became our release create your own TV broadcast in the style of As told to S C -J Mini MIDI Mixtape. That was a high-concept the 1980s and 1990s Weather Channel. It’s project where I e-mailed ten composers and unreal. These people are really good about told them to make a track that is only MIDI— crediting all the music that they fi nd, and they Andrew Tham, 31, is a composer and perform- the Civic Orchestra, and he’s also worked as it’s only MIDI playback, and you can post it note down playlists—so Jack and I ripped all er who grew up in Edgewater. He’s a founder the conductor of the orchestra at DePaul. I on Finale or Sibelius or whatever composing the music off YouTube, and we’ll just do like an of art-music cassette label Parlour Tapes, a tried to take piano and I could not hang with software you use. And then you forward it as a hour-long set. member of performance collective Mocrep, it, but then in the middle of high school I came MIDI fi le, and it has to be under 3.4 MB because The Sims I have a nostalgic attachment and an occasional sound designer for the around to classical music again. Because I had I’m going to put it literally on a floppy disk. to—I played The Sims growing up. But Weath- Neo-Futurists. been playing bass in grade school and in my People really ran with it. er Channel music, which is mostly smooth own bands, I started playing jazz at school as We haven’t really released that much in the jazz—I have no relation to that. I don’t know grew up in Edgewater and went to college well. And then I started playing tuba for the last couple of years. It’s slowed down to maybe if it’s because I’ve been primed by Sims-type in Iowa and then immediately came back wind ensemble. It was all bass, all the time for one or two releases a year. Our Parlour Tapes music or something, but now—I cannot get I after graduation in 2011. I went to a really me in high school. Every Sousa march sounds project in 2021 is that four of us who also work enough of it. I discovered the Rippingtons last small school called Cornell College, maybe ten the same, but it was kind of fun. with the Mocrep collective (me, Zach Moore, year and I am obsessed. I listen to one track for miles from Iowa City. I went there for music In school I played in rock bands with my Deidre Huckabay, and Jenna Lyle) are all going like a week. So now I’m thinking, “Do I just like and English basically and tried to fi t in some friends. In the band I had in high school, we to make our own record, and we hope to re- smooth jazz?” v theater classes. played our last gig at the Empty Bottle, and lease it as a quadruple-tape set. Really go big. My dad is a conductor. He used to conduct none of our friends could come because it was We just put out this record by Zachary Good @hollo 40 CHICA O READER - OCTOBER ll Minister Scott Aaseng Bishop Tavis Grant Ann Patton Rev. Ira Acree Rev. Dominic Grassi Father Michael Pfleger Pastor Otis Allen Pastor Bertram Gray Rev. Joy Ramza Rev. Patricia Allen-Stewart Associate Rabbi Amanda Greene Lead Pastor Bruce Ray Minister Rahim Alton Pastor Steve Greer, Jr. Pastor D. Ray Dr. Co-Pastor Vince Amlin Rev. William Hall Pastor Allen Richards Bishop Gerald Anderson Rev/ Senior Pastor Rob Hamilton Rev. Dr. Christophe Ringer Rev./Co-pastor Rebecca Anderson Minister Lindsey Hammond Pastor Eugene Roberson Rev. Dr. Jacqueline Triche Atkins Pastor Martha Susan Harlow Pastor Henry Roberts Pastor Krista Austin Pastor Carl Harris Rev. Craig Robinson Rev. James Bailey Rev. Marshall Hatch Pastor Charles Rogers Pastor Jeffrey Ball Pastor and Executive Director Rich Rabbi Brant Rosen Pastor T. L. Barrett Havard Senior Minister Ann Rosewall Presiding Elder Walter Bauldrick Rector Catherine Healy Minister Pam Rumancik Pastor Felix Beard Pastor Astead Herndon Board Member Marilyn Runkel Pastor Allison Bengfort Bishop Tyrone Herrington Baptist Robin Russell Rabbi Aryeh Bernstein Rabbi Lizzi Heydeman Board Member Chuck Ruth To our Fellow Illinoisans, Board of Directors David Bigsby Rev. James Hicks Pastor Leslie Sanders Rev. Dr. Phalese Binion Pastor Julia Holmes Bishop T. Roland Sanders Minister Rev. Leland Bond-Upson President Marian Honel-Wilson Minister Emeritus William Sasso We represent communities of faith from around the state of Rev. Erin Bouman Pastor Robin Hood Executive Director Brian Sauder Illinois who are publicly declaring our support for the Fair Rev. James Boyd Associate Conference Minister Location Pastor Zach Savella Stallard Tax amendment. We believe that in the coming election, Rev. J.C. Boyd Michelle Hughes Pastor David Schwartz Pastor Marland Brazier Rev. Sally Iberg Senior Co-Minister Teresa Schwartz voters in Illinois have the power to promote justice, equity, Pastor Roy Britton Rev. Julie Jan Chappel Pastor Deborah Scott and compassion by eliminating the clause in the state Pastor Ray Britton Rev. William Jenkins Pastor Francis Senyah constitution that requires a flat rate income tax. Lead Pastor Meredith Brown Presiding Elder Joel Miles Rabbi Isaac Serotta Pastor Beth Brown Pastor Violet Johnicker Apostle Derrick Shepherd Year after year, those with the least means, often people Pastor Sherman Butler Pastor Andrea Johnson Rev. Brian Skinner of color, pay twice the share of their income in state and Bishop James C. Austin Rev. Walter Johnson Rev. Floyd Skinner Rev. Ray C. Bonney Senior Minister Matthew Johnson Reverend Linda Slabon local taxes as those with ample income at the top. This year, Rev. David Cherry Pastor Marion Johnson Miles Rev. Don Smith a question on the November ballot could fundamentally Pastor John Chism Pastor Sherman Johnson, Sr. Pastor Larry Smith reform the current broken tax system that holds back those Co-Pastor Gay Chism Pastor B. Jones Pastor John Smith Pastor Chan Choi Pastor Leroy Jones Priest at Large Katherine Spelman with the least means. Illinois has a flat income tax system Pastor Bernard Clark Pastor Lawrence Jones Pastor Steve Spiller that is at the core of these tax inequities. By voting for a fair Bishop Shirley Coleman Pastor Hannah Kardon Sr. Pastor David Stewart tax, you can help restore the path for people to get ahead Rev. Walter Coleman Imam/Director Omar A Karim Pastor David Stewart Pastor Mitty Collier instead of behind because of an unfair tax system. Associate Pastor, Retired Phyllis Pastor Kenneth Storck Rev. John Collins Kersten Pastor Floyd Swanigan We recognize the pervasive harms of systemic racism Pastor Julie Contreras Pastor Tim Kim Pastor Marcus Tabb Pastor Dwayne Cook Pastor Rev Dr Kent King-Nobles Senior Minister Alan Taylor and know that the education provided for our children Pastor Jacobita Cortes Senior Pastor Colin Knapp Pastor Walter Taylor is not equitable, that Black and Brown communities are Pastor Jason Coulter Senior Pastor Larry Lawrence Pastor Eric Taylor underserved, that health and mental health and jobs are Pastor Maurrice Coverson Pastor Erik Lee Minister Carol Taylor Associate Pastor Gloria Cox underfunded in our state. Through a fair, graduated rate Pastor Ronnie Lee Pastor Rev. Thomas Terrell Pastor Sheila Crawford Senior Rabbi Seth Limmer Pastor Eric Thomas income tax, Illinois can better invest in programs and Reverend Paula Cripps-Vallejo Rabbi Andrea London Vice-President, Chr. Civil Rights services that can strengthen communities that have long Rev. Dr. William Crowder Pastor Lindsey Long Joyce Committee: been neglected. Your vote in favor of the fair tax can make Rev. Dr. William Crowder, Jr. Pastor Emma Lozano and Chaplain James Thompson Pastor Darius Curtis Clergy Alka Lyall Rev. Jennifer Tinsley this structural change possible. Reverend Daniel Dale Senior Pastor David Lyle Pastor Jennifer Tinsley Rev. Amondo Damole Fair Tax reform means 97% of Illinoisans, those making Pastor (Retired) Chuck Maney Bishop Aaron Townsend Legacy Pastor Rev Harriet Dart Pastor Bernard Marsaw Elder Loretta Turner under $250,000 a year, will pay less or the same in taxes Rabbi Michael Davis Pastor Lawrence Marshall Pastor Anthony Tyler while wealthy people making more than $250,000 a year will Prophetess Doris Dickey Rev. Michael Martin Pastor Norma Tyson finally pay their fair share. This small sacrifice by the wealthy Pastor Fr. Larry Dowling Pastor Eugene Matthews Rev. Colleen Vahey Pastor Vilius Rudra Dundzila Pastor Charles Matthews Minister Colleen Vahey provides better funding for education, human services, health Pastor Michael Eaddy Retired Clergy Peggy McClanahan Rector/Pastor Kara Wagner Sherer care, infrastructure, and public services our communities Lead Pastor Melissa Earley Senior Pastor Myron McCoy Apostle Angela Walker need. These are works of mercy and justice. Rev. Dr. Linda Eastwood Lead Pastor T Ray McJunkins Minister Lovell Walker Iman Tariq El Amin Reverend/Pastor Catiana McKay Minister of Word and Sacrament Ryan In our sacred texts, time and again we see how God demands Rabbi Bruce Elder Pastor Charles Mickens Wallace that society reorder its priorities to care for one another. This Pastor P. Louis Evans Rev. Waltrina Middleton Rev. Roosevelt Watkins Bishop John F. White Presiding Elder/Senior Pastor Joel Pastor Billy Webb is a moral issue impacting every community within our state Pastor Kelly Faulstich Miles Rabbi Max Weiss and it is up to all of us to not only vote for a Fair Tax, but use Rev. Jeremiah Ferguson Rev. Johnny Miller Rabbi Rachel Weiss our voice to ensure Illinois makes this fundamental change! Senior Pastor Derrick Fitzpatrick Rev. Leon Miller Pastor Van Wells Pastor Reshorna Fitzpatrick Evangelist Carmelita Moody Pastor Barrie West As faith leaders, we are called to help build a better world Executive Pastor Reshorna Fitzpatrick Weathersby Pastor Ira Wheaton through our commitment to building love for neighbor into Rev. William Fleshman Sabbatical Minister K Mooney Apostle Carl White, Jr. Lead Pastor & Director of Programs Minister Karen Mooney Bishop John White our public policies. That’s why we’re voting for the Fair Tax Jamie Frazier Apostle Melvin Moore Pastor Leon White amendment in November. We invite you to join us by voting YES. Minister of Faith Development Emily Rev. Gregory Moore Member Marilea White Gage Pastor Otis Moss III Rev. Lajuan Whitfield Pastor Cecilia Garcia Pastor Craig Mueller Rev. Ronald Wilks Thank you. Bishop Michael Gardner Acting Associate Conference Minister Rev. Dr. Janette Wilson Bishop Troy Garner Terrill Murff Pastor Mark Winters Pastor Dwayne Gary Minister Patti Nakai Lay Leadet Jean Wood For more information about the Fair Tax, visit: Rabbi Emeritus Gary Gerson Rabbi Ariel Naveh Reverend Martin Woulfe Rev. Andrew Gibson Pastor Chris Neptun Pastor Emeritus Trinity UCC Jeremiah Pastor Andrew Gibson Rev. Dr. Nicole Oliver Snyder Wright Pastor Georgette Glover Executive Pastor Ebony Only Rabbi Todd Zinn Pastor Nancy Goede Pastor Kenneth Orr Priest Kimberly Ziyavo www.YesForFairTax.org Bishop Simon Gordon Executive Director Marilyn Pagan-Banks Pastor Darryl Washington Minister Rev. Jennifer Gracen Associate Pastor Christian Education PAID FOR BY VOTE YES FOR FAIR TAX
ll OCTOBER - CHICAOREADER 41 Have a strong opinion or perspective you’d like to share? We invite you to send ideas to OPINION [email protected].
SUPREME COURT water became noxious, and citizens became Judge Kaplan later charged Donziger with ill. This has all been confi rmed by courts in criminal contempt, but the New York pros- Ecuador after an eight-year trial, the submis- ecutor’s offi ce refused to take the case. In a Democrats let Barrett happen sion of 105 technical evidentiary reports, and rare legal move, Kaplan then appointed a pri- testimony from numerous witnesses. vate corporate law fi rm (that also represents Because she’s exactly the kind of judge their corporate donors support. “I did not set out to be an environmental Chevron) to prosecute Donziger. Kaplan lawyer,” Donziger recently told Greenpeace. assigned Judge Loretta Preska, a member of By L CG “I simply agreed to seek a remedy for 30,000 the Federalist Society, to hear the case. Pre- victims for the destruction of their lands and ska placed Donziger under house arrest and Leonard C. Goodman is a Chicago criminal for a federal judgeship. water; to seek care for the health impacts confi scated his passport. defense attorney and co-owner of the newly In a true representative democracy, a including birth defects, leukemia, and other I reached Donziger by phone at his apart- independent Reader. lawyer should not have to demonstrate her cancers; and to help them restore their Ama- ment in Manhattan, where he lives with his n March 16, 2016, President Barack fealty to corporate power to become a federal zon ecosystem and basic dignity.” wife and teenage son. He says that his con- Obama nominated Merrick Garland for judge. The interests of corporate America are Donziger made more than 250 trips to tempt trial before Judge Preska is scheduled Othe U.S. Supreme Court to succeed An- closely aligned with only a small fraction of Ecuador over the next two decades as he led for November 4, the day after the election. He tonin Scalia, who had died one month earlier. Americans: the investor class. Most of our the legal fi ght against Chevron. Then in 2011, is again being denied a jury trial. But Senate Republicans blocked his nomina- interests are more closely aligned with those Donziger and his team secured a $9.5 billion Some 29 Nobel laureates, including nine tion on the grounds that it was too close to the of workers and consumers. There are scores judgment on behalf of the victims. The trial Peace Prize winners, have signed a letter presidential election, which was then seven of talented lawyers who go to top law schools court decision was affirmed on the merits declaring that Chevron’s legal assault on months away. Four and a half years later, Pres- but do not go to work at corporate firms. or for enforcement by multiple appellate Donziger is “one of the most egregious cases ident Donald Trump nominated Amy Coney Many of these lawyers devote their careers courts in Ecuador and Canada, including the of judicial harassment and defamation” ever Barrett to succeed the late Justice Ruth Bader to representing ordinary people, often taking supreme courts of both countries. seen. He has also been backed by 475 lawyers Ginsburg. Although Barrett’s nomination was on the most powerful interests in industry Chevron refused to pay. During the trial, it and bar associations who wrote an open made just over one month from the presi- and in government. These pro-people lawyers threatened the affected communities with a letter outlining his wrongful detention and dential election (which Trump appears to be should also have a place on the federal courts. “lifetime of litigation.” Afterwards, Chevron mistreatment by U.S. judicial authorities. losing), she was confi rmed. Thurgood Marshall was a civil rights ac- engaged a team of 2,000 corporate lawyers to Donziger’s story is also a story about the Democrats claimed to be united in their tivist who distinguished himself represent- retaliate against Donziger and the lead plain- sad condition of the U.S. court system which, opposition to Barrett’s confirmation. Yet ing victims of racial injustice before being tiffs in the case, filing a barrage of SLAPP like the other two branches of our govern- their resistance to having a justice rammed nominated by President John F. Kennedy for (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participa- ment, primarily serves the interests of the through at the 11th hour of a lame duck presi- a federal judgeship, and later to the Supreme tion) and RICO suits, legal tools used—and wealthy. On this topic, I strongly recommend dency feels like the resistance that the Wash- Court. Marshall would never get on the court abused—by large companies to punish people Ronald Goldfarb’s book The Price of Justice. ington Generals used to show against the today. Without a track record of pro-corpo- who take them to court. Although the Democrats did nothing to Harlem Globetrotters. That is, pure theater in rate advocacy, the donors would reject him. Chevron’s vile and cynical legal strategy— stop Barrett’s nomination to the Supreme which the outcome is never in doubt. Some lawyers distinguish themselves by designed to avoid paying compensation to Court, their leader, Joe Biden, has pledged What this tells us is that the corporate taking on powerful corporations that harm the Indigenous people whose lives it delib- that if elected, he would establish a biparti- donors who control the Democratic Party ordinary people through negligence or mal- erately destroyed to earn an extra $5 billion san commission to study whether to expand are happy with a Justice Barrett. In her short feasance. These lawyers often exhibit great over 20 years—could not succeed without a the courts to achieve greater balance. time on the bench, she has ruled consistently skill, resourcefulness, and integrity. federal judiciary populated by judges willing We recall from history class that President in favor of corporations. Just weeks before Probably the most successful lawyer ever to bend the law to protect corporate profi ts. Franklin D. Roosevelt also threatened, in her nomination, Judge Barrett delivered a in taking on the criminal acts of massive Chevron’s RICO suit against Donziger was 1937, to add enough liberal justices to the key ruling blocking many gig workers from corporations is Steven Donziger. Donziger filed in the Southern District of New York, court to protect his programs from the “ob- suing when tech companies cheat them out of graduated from Harvard Law School, worked a Wall Street-friendly court. The case was structionist” conservatives. The key differ- overtime pay. This and other business-friend- as a public defender in Washington D.C., and presided over by U.S. district Judge Lewis ence then was that FDR had an agenda of bold ly rulings is why corporations have given mil- in 1993 agreed to represent a group of 30,000 Kaplan who, before being appointed to the programs to pull the country out of the Great lions to campaign for Barrett’s appointment. Indigenous people and villagers in Ecuador bench by former President Bill Clinton, a Depression, such as putting Americans to Barrett also belongs to the business-backed who had been deliberately poisoned by Chev- Democrat, spent decades as a corporate work building post offi ces, bridges, schools, Federalist Society and will join five other ron, one of the world’s largest corporations lawyer representing tobacco companies and highways, and parks; supporting farmers and Federalists on the Supreme Court. with over $260 billion in assets. banks. The record of the RICO case shows that labor unions, and ending alcohol prohibition. The differences between Democrats and Beginning in 1964, Chevron (then Texaco) Chevron paid a disgraced former Ecuadoran The Democrats of today, however, offer Republicans on issues like abortion and gay began extracting oil in Ecuador. To save judge named Alberto Guerra about $2 million nothing but a promise to wear a face mask and rights are important to be sure. But the areas about $3 per barrel of oil produced, the com- to testify that the verdict in Ecuador was the to not send mean tweets at 3 AM, while Biden of agreement between the two parties— both pany decided to ignore waste regulations product of a bribe. Chevron’s cash payments assured his wealthy donors at a New York parties favor the interests of corporations and dumped some 16 billion gallons of toxic to Guerra should have disqualifi ed him as a fundraiser that “nothing would fundamen- over their workers and the environment— wastewater into rivers and pits, polluting witness. Moreover, Guerra admitted to lying tally change” if he is elected president. Even are also important. And these issues don’t groundwater and farm land, and destroying about the bribe in another international pro- a Supreme Court packed with Republicans is get discussed because there is no disagree- a large section of the Ecuadorian Amazon in ceeding. Nevertheless, after denying Donz- likely to go along with that agenda. v ment. It is just accepted by both parties that what came to be called the “Amazon Cher- iger his right to a jury trial, Judge Kaplan a lawyer must be business-friendly to qualify nobyl” by locals and experts. Local drinking found that Guerra’s story was credible. @GoodmanLen 42 CHICA O READER - OCTOBER ll OPINION
an EJP is dealing with an EJP are people out there who do. To gaze at someone who who resents you for hiding Your boyfriend might be one desires your gaze, to touch something from them—some- of them. But don’t push your them and play dirty games thing like working with an luck. with them, isn’t inherently ex—that would set them off sexist or dehumanizing—so for days or months. I get it, I : I’ve been with my partner long as it’s consensual and get it: he kept this from you. for a year and a half and have mutually pleasurable, which But if the last six months (!) been long distance from I realize it all too o en isn’t, are proof of anything, ITAL- the start and she’s working particularly for women. But IANE, they’re proof your towards moving closer to me we shouldn’t let assholes boyfriend was right to keep in a more permanent way. (mostly men) who can make this from you. Since chang- But I’m worried about the people (mostly women) feel ing jobs wasn’t an option and sex as I feel a lack of desire unsafe or uncomfortable since he can’t jump in a time for her. I believe it could be with a look ruin what isn’t just machine and go unfuck this my newfound awareness of enjoyable when consensual, woman, what other option “patriarchal gaze,” which I but affi rming and at times did he have? Given a choice wasn’t conscious of before transcendently pleasurable. between telling you and meeting her. I used to To be perfectly frank, spending the next six months enjoy kink but I no longer SHDDS, I’m concerned about
JOE NEWTON dealing with your bullshit consider it sexy. I used to your relationship. If you feel or keeping his mouth shut have a lot of sex with my so awful about your sexu- SAVAGE LOVE and hoping you never found ex-boyfriends and used al desires and sexual histo- out, he quite understand- to feel some confl ict but ry that you’re incapable of Don’t let the patriarchal gaze kill your kink ably chose the path of least power games were a turn- enjoying sex anymore—if There’s nothing wrong with objectifying someone who wants to be bullshit. on. Loving care has replaced you can’t even masturbate If you can’t see how your dirty games and I feel wrong anymore—and those awful objectifi ed by you. own behavior may have con- if I try to watch porn and I feelings entered your life at tributed to his omission— no longer enjoy touching roughly the same time your By D S and if you can’t forgive him myself because I cannot get partner did . . . maybe your and you can’t take, “No, I’m off without thinking in sexist partner is part of the prob- not fucking her now,” for an ways. I’m feeling pretty lem. If you were evolving in : I’ve been in a relationship stop by sometime but once I cause a huge scene if I think answer and you refuse to confused. Although I love a different direction with her with a wonderful guy for the got there he freaked out. He you might be fucking some- see this as your problem, not my partner in a very special sexually, if you were moving past year. The only problem accused me of not trusting one else or have ever fucked his—then do your boyfriend and deep way, it’s quite away from power games— is that he works with a girl him! My question: Am I being someone else.”) If you’re a favor and dump him. If you confusing. Please advise which can be very loving— he used to fuck. It wasn’t crazy and overreacting—I’ll anything like EJPs I’ve dated don’t and if you keep this shit on how to feel sexy again and toward something else, just sex—they would go on admit I’ve been agonizing and dumped, you didn’t show up, if you keep saying you without being destructive. I wouldn’t see a problem. dates and even went on nonstop about this—or is your boyfriend this side of can’t trust him one minute —S H D D But you aren’t opening up vacation together. He kept he acting like an asshole yourself until long after he’d and then complaining about S to something new in this this little “detail” to himself with something to hide? developed feelings for you, him accusing you of not trust- relationship, SHDDS, you’re for six full months before I’ve been struggling to curb making it harder—harder by ing him the next, be prepared A: There’s nothing wrong shutting down. Even if your giving himself away by my anxiety about this, and design—for him to end things. to have your ass dumped. with objectifying someone partner hasn’t said or done mistake. He then apologized, I’ve even had a few panic I’m gonna go out on a Because there’s only so long who wants to be objectifi ed anything to make you feel said he hadn’t told me so attacks he’s not aware of. limb and guess he found a person, guilty of wrongdo- by you and there’s nothing ashamed of your sexual that I wouldn’t worry for Him changing jobs is out of out his new girlfriend is an ing or not, will put up with an wrong with being objectifi ed desires or history, SHDDS, I’m no reason, and that he no the question. —I’ T EJP before you found out EJP’s bullshit. by someone you want to be not sure she’s right for you. longer has any feelings for A L I A your boyfriend works with And finally: Your boyfriend objectifi ed by. (That’s what And I don’t think it would be her whatsoever. Disclaimer: N E a woman he used to fuck. was under no obligation to you mean by the “patriarchal right of you to let someone I’m an extremely jealous At some point before the disclose the current loca- gaze,” right?) In addition you don’t desire move across person with huge trust A: How long were you dating six-month mark, ITALIANE, tion of every girl he’d ever to being three-dimensional the country to be with you. issues, so knowing he kept all this guy before you outed you blew up at him about fucked at the start of your human beings with wants, But whether you decide this from me is devastating. yourself as an extremely a waitress or someone he relationship, ITALIANE, or at needs, agency, and autonomy, to stay in this relationship or I no longer trust him. Just jealous person (EJP)? follows on Instagram. And any other point, for that mat- we are also physical objects, not, you would benefit from thinking that he’s seeing—on I’m guessing at least a few at that moment he real- ter. While some people can SHDDS, and sometimes speaking with a sex-positive/ a daily basis—a woman he weeks, ITALIANE, if not a few ized he couldn’t tell you be open with their partners we want to be appreciated kink-positive therapist about used to sleep with is driving months. Because as you’re he works with a woman he about their pasts and their for the objects we are. (Or your conflicted feelings. v me nuts! I repeatedly asked no doubt aware—as all EJPs used to fuck. Because now partners can be open with the objects we also are.) So him to let me meet her in are aware—it’s not a desir- he feared—because now he them, it’s not compulsory. long as the person you’re Send letters to mail@ person, at the very least, able trait, which is why very knew—you would lose your And if someone wants to try objectifying—the person savagelove.net. Download but it didn’t happen. So few EJPs disclose on the first EJP shit over it because he’d and make it work with an EJP, on the receiving end of the Savage Lovecast at one night, a er giving him date. (“I grew up in Milan, I seen you lose your EJP shit it’s not a good idea. I don’t your gaze—enjoys receiving savagelovecast.com. a heads-up, I showed up at have two sisters, and I’m the over far less. know why anyone would that kind of attention from @fakedansavage their workplace. He had said type of person who’ll show The only thing more want to make it work with you and vice versa, there’s it would be OK for me to up at your workplace and exhausting than being with an EJP, ITALIANE, but there nothing wrong with it. ll OCTOBER - CHICAOREADER 43 ADVERTISEMENT Men’s Virility Restored in Clinical Trial; 275% More Blood Flow in 5 Minutes A newly improved version of America’s best-selling male performance enhancer gives 70-year-old men the ability and stamina they enjoyed in their 30’s.
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Master’s in with consulting with visit, & must reside within UI Health Hospital background checks Comp Sci/Comp Eng/ business unit partners commuting distance Administration at the on all job candidates an ng e rs e p and within the enterprise of Chicago, IL. Req. Notice is hereby given that the Chicago Transit University of Illinois at upon acceptance of or Bachelor’s in Comp regarding new techniques, Bachelor’s in Accounting, Authority (CTA) Board desires public comment Chicago, located in a contingent offer. Sci/Comp Eng/any Eng approaches, practices, Mgmt., or Internal before it considers an ordinance to adopt the a large metropolitan Background checks field + 5yrs exp req’d. and technologies in data Audit. Email resumes to proposed 2021-2025 Capital Program of Projects, area, is seeking a full- will be performed in Req’d skills: sw design, processing and the impact Adelfia LLC at mfbalita@ 2021 Operating Budget and Program, and the time Director, Project compliance with the architecture exp. w/high on proposed and ongoing a e acpas c m Financial Plan for 2022 and 2023. A virtual public Coordination Services Fair Credit Reporting volume, high concurrency projects; 5 years of hearing will be held on Thursday, November 12, 2020 to assist the department Act. The University of sw applications; Java, experience with Agile and Assemblers, Inc seeks at 6:00 PM. to provide high-level Illinois System requires Spring, SpringBoot, Scrum methodologies; Food Safety and Quality business planning, candidates selected Git, Maven, Jenkins, and 5 years of experience Assurance Manager Because of the pandemic and the Governor’s project management and for hire to disclose any Confluence, SonarQube, with Java, J2EE, Ant, CI/ in McCook to Ovrsee Executive Order prohibiting large public gatherings, analytical support for key documented finding of Linux, Big data; CD, J2EE design patterns, dvlpmnt of SQF systm the public hearing will proceed only virtually. strategic initiatives of the sexual misconduct or WebServices, Tomcat, JAX-WS, JAXB, JMS, & procdr to ensr prod health enterprise. Works sexual harassment and Soap UI, Shell Scripts, JSON, Maven, MQ Series/ of qlty prdcts. Req BS A link to view the hearing will be available at closely with hospital to authorize inquiries Squirrel SQL Client, Kafka, MS SQL/Oracle, in Fd Sfty & Tech or rltd transitchicag c m nance. Members of the public and clinic leadership to to current and former WebSphere. Send resume PL/SQL, REST, Spring, fld + 2 yrs exp rltd fld + who wish to speak at the virtual public hearing are manage the analysis, employers regarding to: R. Harvey, REF: KBS, Spring Boot, Tomcat, 24 mnths exp in: GFSI; encouraged to submit their request prior to the design, development findings of sexual 555 W Adams, Chicago, and WebLogic. Job HACCP; Ln Sx Sgma + hearing. Options for providing comment at the virtual and implementation of misconduct or sexual IL 60661 location: Chicago, IL. To 18 mnths exp in: Fd San & hearing or for submission to the CTA Board on the diverse enterprise-wide harassment. For more apply, please visit https:// Pst Cntrl; mcrblgcl environ proposed 2021-2025 Capital Program of Projects, strategic projects and information, visit https:// TransUnion, LLC careers.northerntrust.com mntrng; & lab mng & analy 2021 Operating Budget and Program, and the initiatives. Partners with www.hr.uillinois.edu/cms/ seeks Sr. Analysts for and enter job requisition mthds. 5% dom trvl. Mail Financial Plan for 2022 and 2023 are detailed below: executive leadership to One.aspx?portalId=4292& Chicago, IL location to number 20097 when resumes to Paul Siefert drive the development pageId=1411899 design & execute all prompted. Alternatively, 2850 W Columbus Ave, and execution of large aspects of statistical please send your resume, Chicago, IL 60652 WRITTEN STATEMENTS. Written statements will be strategic initiatives. Ann & Robert H. Lurie analysis projects for cover letter, and a copy of taken into consideration prior to the adoption of the Provides comprehensive Children’s Hospital predictive modelling, the ad to: S. Schachter, 50 AArete, a fast-growing proposed 2021-2025 Capital Program of Projects, business planning support of Chicago seeks business reporting and S. LaSalle St., Chicago, IL global management 2021 Operating Budget and Program, and Financial to analyze feasibility and Reporting Workbench customer evaluations. 60603 consulting firm, is Plan for 2022 and 2023. Written comments for the desirability of potential Radar Specialist for Master’s in Statistics/ recruiting a Manager CTA Board’s review and consideration must be health system initiatives Chicago, IL to administer Applied Mathematics/ TranSmart, Inc. in – Talent Acquisition: submitted by 5:00 PM, Monday, November 16, 2020. and provide management all aspects of EPIC related Quantitative field Chicago, IL has Master’s Degree in Written comments may be submitted in any of the support in the planning, Reporting Workbench + 1yr exp. req’d. Req’d openings for the International Business, following ways: development, and & Radar reporting tools. Skills: Exp. performing positions: 1. Engineer Marketing, or HR CLASSIFIEDS implementation of those Bachelor’s in Info Tech/ segmentation & statistical I – Carry out technical Management; plus 18 • Via US Mail, CTA Board Office, 567 W. Lake initiatives. Responsible Healthcare Informatics/ analyses, R, Linux, tasks w/the planning, month’s 18 months’ exp. Street, 2nd Floor, Chicago, IL 60661. for all aspects of project related field+3yrs exp SQL, GLM (Logistic), design, drawing, In: Full cycle recruiting • ia r p at ea arters, a e management including req’d. Req’d skills: data visualization, time operations & maintenance experience, with either a treet, st r mai r m analysis, solution design, 3 yrs w/: EPIC: data series analysis, scenario of highway, rail & transit management consulting • Via fax at 312-681-5035. project development warehouse dev, RW, & sensitivity analysis, projects. Collect data to firm or staffing agency; • Via email at [email protected]. and implementation; Radar. Background machine learning, Unix run traffic simulations, Recruiting mid, senior, JOBS integration of key check&drug test req’d. Command, MS VBA, create reports & perform and C-level executives; ORAL STATEMENTS. Members of the public who stakeholder input Apply to https://careers- Dimensionality reduction advanced coordinate- Supervising employees; ADMINISTRATIVE wish to speak at the virtual public hearing are and best practice luriechildrens.icims.com/ techniques (feature based calculations. Reqs. Managing at least five encouraged to register prior to the hearing, by innovations to achieve jobs/13735/rw-radar- selection/extraction, Bachelor’s in Civil Eng. vendor relationships and SALES & completing and submitting a Request to Speak form transformative change. specialist/job Tracking stratified sampling), 2) Civil Engineer - negotiating contracts; and online at transitchicago.com/finance. Individuals Develops and maintains code: 2020-13735 scripting language, Carry out technical Benchmarking candidate MARKETING project specifications statistical techniques. tasks rltd to civil & and compensation registered online by 6:00 PM on November 11, including business and Groupon, Inc. is seeking 10% travel required. Send structural eng. Prepare information for positions/ FOOD & DRINK 2020, the day before the hearing, will be called by user requirements, a Sr. Software Engineer resume to: R. Harvey, plans, specifications, roles hired for. Please CTA, at the telephone number provided, during the functional and operating in Chicago, IL w/ the REF: RL, 555 W Adams, estimates & conduct visit: https://www.aarete. SPAS & SALONS November 12, 2020 hearing, to be connected to the systems specifications. following responsibilities: Chicago, IL 60661 bridge inspections. com/join-our-team/open- BIKE JOBS virtual public hearing proceedings. Measures and projects Develop, construct & Reqs. Bachelor’s in positions/ for instructions growth opportunities and implement the next The Northern Trust Civil Eng. or Structural to apply. GENERAL DIAL IN AT THE TIME OF THE HEARING. Members enterprise performance generation of company Company seeks a Eng. + 2-yrs. Exp. in job of the public may also dial-in, while the hearing is in around strategic goals products and features Specialist, Applications offered or rltd position. progress, to request to speak, by calling and objectives, including for Groupon’s web & to design, develop, test, Must have completed RENTALS 312-681-3091. development of an mobile apps; design and deploy software some university level enterprise performance high-performance applications and coursework in structural Apartment for rent: 2 REAL Individuals who pre-register to speak will be taken up dashboard. Manages RESTful service-oriented solutions. Analyze user eng. Mail resume to bedrooms, includes heat rst at the irt a p ic hearing n i i a s h ca project budgets and architectures & software requirements, procedures, P.Brown, 411 S Wells and parking. 5815 W Ful- ESTATE while the hearing is in progress will then speak in the expenses, as requested. that is ast effi cient r and problems to automate Street, Suite 1000, lerton. 773-889-8491 order that they call in. Prepares required reports millions of users. Apply and improve existing Chicago, IL 60607 RENTALS and submittals by at www.grouponcareers. computer systems. Charming studio apart- developing, analyzing and com by searching Maintain software Universal Logistics ment in coach house. The proposed 2021-2025 Capital Program of Pleasant neighborhood: FOR SALE Projects, 2021 Operating Budget and Program presenting related data keyword R23982 applications, including Group LLP seeks CEO and information. Performs coding, debugging, and for Woodridge, Illinois 5000 North, 3700 West. and the Financial Plan will be available for public $600 plus security depos- NON-RESIDENTIAL inspection, beginning on Thursday, October 22, 2020, other related University TransUnion, LLC seeks installations as needed. office. Req. Bachelor’s duties and special Consultants for various Conduct feasibility studies or equiv. in Business it. Heat included. Call Pat ROOMATES on CTA’s website www.transitchicago.com in both 773-279-0466. pdf and plain text formats. projects, as assigned. & unanticipated worksites and define and design Admin or closely rel. Travel may be required throughout the U.S. (HQ: system requirements field & 6 yrs wrk exp as for conferences and Chicago, IL) to support for complex software CEO or similar executive ADULT At the virtual public hearing CTA will afford an professional development. global analytics initiatives. development projects. position in supply chain MARKET- opportunity for interested persons or agencies Requires a master’s Master’s in Statistics/ Confer with users and industry performing HR & SERVICES to be heard with respect to social, economic, degree in business Mathematics/Analytics/ translate application market analysis, business New Agency hiring PLACE environmental and other related aspects of the administration, health related Quantitative field storyboards and use development & sales female massage girls proposed 2021-2025 Capital Program of Projects, services administration, + 2yrs exp or Bachelor’s cases into functional management. Up to 30% Call or text Lauren GOODS 2021 Operating Budget and Program, and the healthcare management, in Statistics/Mathematics/ applications. Position domestic & 20% int’l trvl 331 223-3143 Email Financial Plan for 2022 and 2023. or related field, or its Analytics/related requires a Bachelor’s req. Email resume w/ cvr nurumassagechicago@ SERVICES foreign equivalent. For Quantitative field + 5yrs degree in Computer ltr to diana.martinez@ protonmail.com At the virtual public hearing, an American Sign fullest consideration, exp req’d. Skills req’d: Science, Engineering, unilogicgroup.com & HEALTH & Language interpreter and a Spanish interpreter will please submit a CV, exp w/statistical analysis Information Systems, reference job #CEO-001 Phonesex Dungeon be provided. Individuals with disabilities who require Cover Letter, and 3 & data analytics using R, or a related STEM field, For all your WICKED WELLNESS other accommodations to review the budget or Professional Reference SAS & SAS automation, followed by 5 years of Staff Auditor / desires and UNGODLY INSTRUCTION provide feedback should contact Amy J. Serpe, Letters to the attention of SQL queries for data progressively responsible Accountant (3 positions) sins. Call Chyna 1 (888) Manager, ADA Compliance Programs, at the Search Coordinator extraction, Tableau, experience with financial Chicago, IL. Do full range 741-1076 $3.99 per min MUSIC & ARTS [email protected] or 312-350-2301 or Relay. via email at apjobs@ predictive modeling, industry front and back of tax, audit & accounting uic.edu or via mail at UI Clustering, Decision office trading platforms engagements (Federal/ Danielle’s Lip Service, NOTICES Health Human Resources, Trees; Education/exp and applications. State/Pvt.); perform Erotic Phone Chat. 24/7. WANT TO ADD A LISTING TO 1747 W. Roosevelt Rd., using Python, Hadoop/ Experience must include audits in accordance w/ Must be 21+. Credit/ MESSAGES OUR CLASSIFIEDS? (MC 807), Chicago, IL Hive, Spark, enSelection. a minimum of: 5 years of professional standards Debit Cards Accepted. All 60608. The University Telecommuting permitted. e perience ith ata & regulatory req’s.; Fetishes and Fantasies LEGAL NOTICES Email details to of Illinois at Chicago is Send resume to: R. and data processing understand accounting Are Welcomed. Personal, an Equal Opportunity, Harvey, REF: NM, 555 W across various systems; & auditing issues. Travel Private and Discrete. 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