The films I’m most excited about at this year’s Chicago International Film Festival—Federico Veiroj’s The Moneychanger and Pedro Costa’s Vitalina Varela—weren’t available for preview, but I’m fairly confident that I can recommend both sight unseen. Veiroj and Costa are two of the most innovative filmmakers working today, and it speaks well of the festival that the programmers would choose to present their work. Many of the other filmmakers showcased in the festival aren’t as accomplished; in characteristic fashion, the programmers have emphasized the work of first- or second-time directors....

Shane Parish’s guitar playing in the eclectic, energetic rock duo Ahleuchatistas encompasses rapid neck tapping, convoluted chord sequences, and intricate rhythmic shifts. He and fellow guitarist Wendy Eisenberg improvise dizzily complex configurations of starburst harmonics and frantically negotiated counterpoint on their brand-new LP of acoustic duets, Nervous Systems (Verses). A resident of Asheville, North Carolina, he makes his crust as a guitar instructor, but while his technique is prodigious, he’s a self-taught musician, and for his latest solo recording, Autodidact (Humanhood), he gleans creative inspiration from the state of not knowing....

Chicago rapper Joey Purp grew up all over town—Lincoln Park, Garfield Ridge, Humboldt Park—and it’s endowed the 22-year-old with a perspective that bridges many of the city’s racial and economic divides. “The thing that makes me stand out as a rapper is the same thing that makes me stand out as a person, and that’s the same thing that makes everybody stand out—no two of us have the same story,” he says....

Dear men of the Chicago comedy scene, Our comedy institutions aren’t helping by segregating women into separate shows. Second City is currently running a “mimosa-and-madness-fueled” all-women sketch show entitled She the People: Girlfriends’ Guide to Sisters Doing it For Themselves. The iO Theater hosts the excellent improv group Virgin Daiquiri but bills it as an “all-women ensemble.” When will female comedians be known simply as “comedians?” So the next time you improvise, introduce your female scene partner as an architect or a senator....

The six members of Chicago’s Cardinal Harbor formed an indie-rock band in 2011, after meeting as students at Wheaton College. On their 2013 debut, Faces on Parade, they made popped-collar roots rock and wore their affection for Dave Matthews on their proverbial sleeves, but they’ve since drifted toward more experimental fare. From the sound of their new, self-released fourth album, Vulture Hottub, I’d say they’ve been paying close attention to Bon Iver’s more provocative recent material....

Courtesy Thinkstock The mystery of cannabis Reader staffers share stories that fascinate, alarm, amuse, or inspire us. • That former House speaker Dennis Hastert was indicted for allegedly withdrawing large sums of cash to pay off a blackmailer, though the reason remains a mystery? —Mick Dumke

Jay Gilbert/Sun-Times Media Watch out, that tush is a weapon! Reader staffers share stories that fascinate, amuse, or inspire us. • This critique about why the New York Times won’t show Muhammad? —Steve Bogira • An uptight memo from the editor in chief of Wired magazine explaining to staff the guidelines for how they should treat their new office? —Tal Rosenberg

AP Photo/Winslow Townson Bonuses might be off the table for A-Rod. Reader staffers share stories that fascinate, amuse, or inspire us. • That the staff of Politico are trying to unionize? —J.R. Jones • About life as a Puppy Bowl camera operator? —Brianna Wellen

I know, anecdote isn’t evidence. Over dere by this week’s review of Chicago Ramen I may have made a reckless implication about the antiviral properties of the tsukemen broth at Chef Kenta Ikehata’s new ramen-ya. Takeyama told me the partners have been sitting on this Lilliputian spot (located next to the best carne asada tacos on the north side) for years while getting other projects in order, and it’s something of an experimental station....

Come November, the music press will start churning out “decade in review” pieces. Though I can’t predict their contents (and frankly don’t want to), I anticipate there’ll be several listicles ranking Chicago rappers—and any such roundup would be incomplete without Lucki Camel Jr. He dropped his debut mixtape, Alternative Trap, in 2013, and though he was just 17 at the time, he already showed a tremendous gift for drawing in listeners with his storytelling....

Jovan Landry calls herself “One-Third Emcee” to emphasize her creative pursuits away from the mike—according to an interview she gave to Chicago Crowd Surfer in March 2019, she splits the other two-thirds of her energy between photography and filmmaking. And Landry’s talents don’t end there. She spearheaded a 2019 collaborative album called Synergy, which brought together nearly a dozen great woman rappers, among them Jade the Ivy, Tweak G, and both members of Glitter Moneyyy; women handled every aspect of its creation, including producing, performing, and engineering....

Chicago rapper-producer Ibn Inglor injects bone-chilling cold into supersize, austere, and artfully crafted songs. I’m always keen to hear whatever Inglor has in the pipeline, and a couple weeks ago he dropped a single called “Pray for Health,” which is today’s 12 O’Clock Track. The song opens with yawning, distorted synths and closes with solemn trickles of strings, and Inglor’s masterful hand guides the tune’s direction and mood the whole way....

Christopher Santoso, 32, is a graduate of the Minneapolis College of Art and Design who moved to Chicago in 2014 to get closer to its footwork scene. He produces dance tracks under the name Please, runs the label Issa Party, and cofounded the Smart Bar series Relate. There weren’t really people to show me the ropes as far as music goes, so I had to look for and search and dig through the Internet using Kazaa or Limewire....

Welcome to the Reader‘s morning briefing for Tuesday, December 13, 2016. State senator Kwame Raoul wants to increase sentences for repeat gun-crime offenders Democratic state senator Kwame Raoul wants to solve the city’s gun violence issues by imposing longer sentences for “defendants who previously committed a gun-related crime,” according to the Associated Press. Raoul plans to propose the legislation at the state capitol in January. Judges would still be able to issue sentences based on their discretion, but they might have to explain their rationale when not using the higher-end of the sentencing scale for repeated gun-crime offenders....

When DJ Oreo turns 26 on Sunday, he’ll celebrate by facing off informally against Elz the DJ, another young Chicago talent on the ones and twos. “There’s been ongoing talk about who’s better between me and Elz the DJ,” Oreo says. “This is Tyson versus Holyfield.” Oreo says he also curated War Zone dance battles, which have been integral to Wala Williams’s CAN TV show, Wala Cam. And Oreo’s involvement in footwork colored his early DJing and production....

Last year Pitchfork booked a fierce lady lineup that inspired me to write about riot grrrl’s resurgence on the festival circuit. With such a concentration of powerful women taking the stage, though—especially Sleater-Kinney, who cranked out an electric headlining set—it was easy to lose sight of the bigger picture. The sad fact is, the five female-centric groups I mentioned last year—Courtney Barnett, Ex Hex, the Julie Ruin, Sleater-Kinney, and Waxahatchee—accounted for almost half the women-led acts on the entire bill....

Welcome to the Reader‘s morning briefing for Tuesday, August 2, 2016. Former CPD commander sues city, IPRA, and WBEZ over “conspiracy” Glenn Evans, formerly a CPD commander, is suing the city, IPRA, and NPR affiliate WBEZ. The lawsuit alleges that “he was the victim of a civil conspiracy that led to his wrongful prosecution on criminal charges,” and that “an IPRA employee with a grudge against Evans was out for revenge,” DNAinfo reported....

Last month word got out that Quenchers Saloon, a beer-lover’s pub that straddles the border of Logan Square and Bucktown, was up for sale. Owner Earle Johnson, 75, put the building on the market in November, but word didn’t spread widely till after he placed a big sign above the door. Johnson has owned the place for nearly four decades, and as he recently told Tribune reporter Josh Noel, he doesn’t have the energy to run a bar anymore....

I don’t remember exactly when it was that I first heard a Joe Frank monologue on the radio, but, like many others, I do remember how it felt: like an antenna, snapping to alert in my head. Joe Frank: Work in Progress aired on WBEZ on Sunday nights, starting in the late 1980s, so it must have been around then. The show was fiction that sounded like fact, laden with emotional truth and laced with music that worked the way a great film score works, building the mood....

Over the past few years, Chicago has steadily grown its beat scene, and producers dedicated to instrumental hip-hop have a few monthly showcases to check out their peers, chief among them the Whistler’s Push Beats and Cafe Mustache’s Open Beats. And late in 2018, the Fresh Roasted series (also usually at the Whistler) held a massive, March Madness-style live beat-making competition that culminated with a December championship show at Sleeping Village....