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Seattle emo superheroes Sunny Day Real Estate were falling apart at the end of 1994, when they recorded LP2, an album that still feels like a comet entering earth’s atmosphere. Listening to it, I get a sense of the band’s behind-the-scenes tension, especially from Jeremy Enigk’s otherworldly howl, which seems to scoop up all the complex feelings of being in the precarious position of being young and on the precipice of stardom; many had touted them as the next big thing, especially given their backing by Sub Pop, at the time was the biggest indie label in the world....

John Fahey first incorporated psychedelia into his American Primitive approach to acoustic guitar in 1966, when he ran the tape backward on “Knott’s Berry Farm Molly.” Cosmic-minded pickers have been combining the two styles ever since, and these days no one does it better than Elkhorn. New Yorker Drew Gardner and Pennsylvanian Jesse Sheppard have been playing together under that name since 2013, but their personal and musical association stretches back to the 1980s—which helps explain the ease and flexibility of their rapport....

Brian Pastor’s remounting of his 2016 gender-blind production of Moisés Kaufman’s 1997 nonfiction play about the slow, painful judicial destruction of one of the 19th century’s greatest writers is not perfect. Some of the acting is rough. The performing space is a little cramped. The set is perhaps too spare. And it’s clear that the production has been put together on a shoestring. But it is, at its core, inspired theater....

After three months on the job, the city’s new commissioner of the Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events sat down in his Cultural Center office to talk about how he got to his position and what’s coming up in 2017, Chicago’s Year of Public Art. I’m a percussionist. In college I actually had the honor of being a percussionist for an Allen Ginsberg happening. And for Hal Russell—I was the worst percussionist to ever play for a world-class player....

In the months leading up to an election, many faithful CTA riders regularly encounter this sight at their stops: a volunteer clutching a clipboard, calling out to passengers on the platform, “Register to vote. Change your address.” Rauner claims he’s earnest about increasing voter participation. So why the additional hassle? Is it really about so-called voter fraud—or do partisan politics threaten access to this basic civil right yet again? “We’re hiring a lot of people....

At one point in our e-mail back-and-forth, Ganser bassist and vocalist Alicia Gaines says, “I miss green-room conversations.” We’ve been talking not just by e-mail but also over Zoom and via Twitter DMs. In any other year this might feel an excessive number of channels to use with just one person, but the pandemic has made communicating like this feel normal. Look At The Sun by Ganser Services like Twitter are designed as platforms for conversation, and when musicians use such spaces that way, they can develop relationships and collaborations naturally—relying not on record-label machinations but rather on deeper personal bonds....

The First Family of pinball: Meet the local wizards behind the game’s huge resurgence Roger Sharpe once saved the Chicago-born arcade game in the 70s. Now his two children are behind pinball’s latest renaissance. By Ryan Smith Chicago once waged a 40-year war on pinball Alderman Ed Burke (yes, that Ed Burke) was among those who fought to keep the ban, fearing kids would blow their “lunch money” on pinball....

This Thursday after sundown, the streets of West Rogers Park will be perfumed with the aroma of hot oil. Nowadays West Rogers Park’s strict Orthodox community is primarily located between Peterson Avenue and Howard Street, and concentrated west of California Avenue. That boundary gave its name to native son Adam Langer‘s 2004 memoir Crossing California. The CDOT staffers were fuzzy on exactly who requested the arch, as well as the function of the eruv, so I reached out to Silverstein for more info....

As protesters hit the streets to demand justice and action over George Floyd’s murder and the mistreatment of Black Americans, many folks are looking for alternative ways to support the fight, especially while still living in a pandemic. Brave Space AllianceThis alliance is the first Black-led, trans-led, LGBTQ center located on the south side of Chicago. They have been assisting with jail support and feeding folks in the community. You can find their daily drop-offs and locations on their Instagram....

Massive newsroom job cuts and a populace in isolation helped drive the upsurge in single-operator newsletters in 2020. The number of active writers on Substack doubled between March and June alone, and Mailchimp and Medium also reported increased activity. Chicago music journalists—including the three Reader contributors quoted in this piece—have contributed to that boom. Ernest Wilkins, who writes about the business of culture on Office Hours With Ernest Wilkins, describes newsletters as a “necessity-built thing” that arose in the mid-2010s when the demand for highly curated content outstripped the resources that traditional publishers devoted to the specialized writers who could create it....

Wil Akogu calls himself the Most Valuable Poet, and the 19-year-old Chicago-based rapper seems certain the rest of the world will too—he wants to use his rhymes and music to change the way we think about self-love, purpose, and our own identities. On his recent second EP, The Language of the Soul, he turns his journey to find himself into an invitation to other lost brethren. “It was really hard for me to find myself....

It seems like every year Wale, arguably the first D.C. rapper to maintain a long career as a national star, promises that he’s working on an album built around go-go. But though he’s flirted with the funk sound of black D.C. that dates back to the mid-60s (see the 2011 regional hit “Bait”), he has yet to deliver that album. Fortunately, D’Anthony Carlos, aka 24-year-old rapper Goldlink, has picked up the slack: his major-label debut, March’s At What Cost (RCA), intertwines rap and go-go with its celebratory throng of percussion, and one especially live-sounding track captures the infectious energy and communal groove of a go-go show (“Hands on Your Knees,” featuring D....

Everyone knows that Chicago is an indigo city in a solidly blue state. This is the land of the Democratic primary that’s treated like a general election. But there are Republicans even here. And three wards on the southwest side saw a majority of those registered with the GOP vote for Trump in the primary. Krupa was happy to have the day off from school due to a parent-teacher conference. He describes himself as a “day-one Trump supporter” and hopes Trump’s law-and-order politics will shake up both the “inner city” (which he defined as “State and Madison”) and his own neighborhood....

Even the most hard-core Harry Potter fans can suffer from wizard fatigue these days. What started as a seven-book series has exploded into theme parks, spin-off movies, and a flood of ill-advised J.K. Rowling tweets. (Please, someone, change her password.) But just when all seems lost, wizard-rock band Harry & the Potters return to save the day with Lumos, their first album in 13 years. The core members of this Massachusetts group are round-glasses-and-Gryffindor-tie-sporting brothers Paul and Joe DeGeorge....

I first met Brooklynite J.R. Bohannon when he was working as a booking agent for underground bands and cult artists, so I was surprised when he left that business to focus on his own music. Born in Louisville, Kentucky, Bohannon moved to New York in 2009 to soak up the avant-garde music scene (in an interview with Premier Guitar he mentions Sonny Sharrock and Acid Mothers Temple as favorite bands). In 2015 he released the debut album of his ambient project Ancient Ocean, but the earthy bluegrass sounds of his southern upbringing remained in his consciousness....

Welcome to the Reader‘s weekday news briefing. Have a great weekend! Man convicted in 1993 Brown’s Chicken Massacre denied new hearing A judge denied a new hearing for James Degorski, who was convicted in the 1993 Brown’s Chicken Massacre, Thursday. Degorski and his legal team were pushing for a hearing “into claims of errors during his 2009 trial, including allegations that a key prosecution witness may have lied on the stand to receive reward money,” according to the Tribune....

It was easy to be homies with Alejandro Morales. You might have met him at one of his gigs—he drummed in noise-punk band Running and experimental duo Piss Piss Piss Moan Moan Moan, among other projects—but all you really had to do was stand anywhere near him in the crowd at somebody else’s show or lurk by the DJ booth when he was spinning records. Sooner or later his earnest, supportive attention would land on you like a ray of sunshine....

In the 13 years that the Boka Restaurant Group has opened as many restaurants, it’s been a rare event when it has launched one that’s not outstanding. Number two, the late Landmark, was a sophomore slump from which the company quickly recovered, but it hasn’t faltered since. The rest, from the flagship to Stephanie Izard’s Girl & the Goat to Perennial Virant to Balena and Momotaro, have been dependably delightful to eat at and write about, ideal syntheses of food, service, and design....

Michael Gebert Chicken and waffles at 5 Loaves The terrific-looking fried chicken and the entirely decent waffle you see above come from 5 Loaves Eatery, a south-side breakfast place that immediately charmed my kids and I when we visited after touring the Regal Theater during Open House Chicago. (You can tell how much I liked the chicken by its placement on this list of the best chicken and waffles.) I’d tell you to go eat there this weekend, except that you can’t; for the second time, according to DNAinfo, the restaurant has been forced to shut down because someone stole its outside electrical wiring to sell as scrap copper....

If like Gossip Wolf you’re a dedicated hater of Christmas music, this time of year can be an endless waking nightmare. Every public space is blanketed in treacly tunes celebrating fake holiday warmth. Bah! Humbug! Local label Eye Vybe Records has the right idea: its new cassette compilation, Alone in Logan on Christmas Eve, is refreshingly frank about how grim and miserable this supposedly merry season can be. The album’s eight acts include honky-tonkers Cat Mullins & Them Boys (who contribute the steel-guitar-saturated “Lonely Holiday”) and pop polymath Magic Ian (with the hilariously deadpan anti-gift-giving screed “Digital Friends”)....