Mon 10/17 and Mon 10/24: The Chicago International Film Festival screens Insatiable: The Homaru Cantu Story, chronicling the tumultuous and eccentric life and work of the Chicago chef and inventor, edible photographs, miracle berries, and all. Director Brett A. Schwartz attends both screenings at River East 21 (322 E. Illinois). 10/17, 8:30 PM; 10/24, 6:15 PM
Welcome to the Reader’s morning briefing for Friday, June 3, 2016. Have a great weekend! Fate of former Chicago Police Department official Glenn Evans is a test for new chief Glenn Evans was a high-ranking Chicago police official with a long history of excessive-force complaints. Now his future is in the balance as the department decides how to discipline him for allegedly punching a woman and breaking a bone in her face....
American news media can be frustratingly myopic. But even when mainstream reporting fails to deliver the goods from outside our bubble, the simple act of listening to an album can remind us that we’re part of a global community of people who share more common interests—and face more common threats—than our leaders would have us believe. On Contra, the new seventh album from Chilean four-piece Vuelveteloca, the band use a spacey blend of psych, Krautrock, and post-rock to tap into dystopian visions of the future and a beautiful spirit of resistance and reemergence....
Cold Specks’ Ladan Hussein (aka Al Spx) is one of a number of artists, among them FKA Twigs, Kelala, Dawn Richard, and Frank Ocean, who combine R&B and rock into uncategorizable pop—though her particular version of it has been characterized as “doom soul” or quirky indie soul in the past. The Somali-Canadian performer’s latest album, Fool’s Paradise, sounds less odd than her earlier material, in part because it’s so perfect. Hussein’s new arrangements are less fussy than before, their electronic elements seamlessly incorporated into a series of dreamy midtempo tunes worthy of Sadé, and also like Sadé, above it all floats Hussein’s marvelous, insinuating voice....
Seeking: women Occupation: music editor and Beer and Metal columnist for the Reader What do you do when you’re not working? His friend says: “Philip tells funny stories, knows lots about beer, and has long hair like a mermaid. He is also very kind.” Biking, reading, playing drums, going to shows, wishing I had more time to cook, displacing about .08 cubic meters of air. Smoker? I bum the occasional cigarette....
Earlier this week, cinephiles noted the passing of French actor, director, and producer André S. Labarthe, best known for the legendary documentary TV series Cinéastes de notre temps (1964-72) and its follow up, Cinéma, de notre temps (1993-2016). In his honor, our list this week features five extraordinary films about film—ones that move beyond simple documentary and are great works of cinema themselves. One Day in the Life of Andrei Arsenevich As the title’s reference to Solzhenitsyn implies, this superb 1999 video portrait of the late Russian filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky by his friend Chris Marker is a protest against the post-Stalinist persecution that eventually drove Tarkovsky into exile....
D on’t you hate when you’ve defeated another of your fellow wizards from your hellish home dimension, only to find the U.S. government kidnapped your buddy the talking platypus? Browne’s first professional work was a 2007 issue of Stormshadow written by G.I. Joe creator Larry Hama. That’s the year he also started writing, illustrating, and self-publishing God Hates Astronauts. This sci-fi superhero series about farmers illegally launching themselves into space helped build his rep as a weirdo auteur....
No Age have always been great at making very little sound like a whole lot. Since they began blending influences from hardcore punk and noise rock with indie-rock catchiness 15 years ago, the Los Angeles-based duo have been on the cutting edge of cool—they’ve always seemed a step ahead of their peers in the guitar-rock world. On the brand-new Goons Be Gone, No Age’s second full-length for Drag City, guitarist and singer Randy Randall and drummer and singer Dean Spunt have created their most lush and thoughtful music yet, proving that their well of greatness isn’t going to dry up anytime soon....
“I want all the kids to be super cool!” says Aisha Burris, owner of Kool Kidz 2144 in Beverly. The 23-year-old opened the children’s clothing store in December 2018. Burris says that after getting pregnant as a teen, she didn’t want to be a statistic. “I wanted better for my son, for myself. I wanted the young girls to know that just because you have a baby young, your life is not over....
AP Photo/Tony Dejak Kris Bryant’s ninth-inning grand slam off the Indians’ David Murphy, normally a DH, put the Cubs up 17, a sufficient cushion for the bullpen. The Cubs have the most one-run victories (17) in the big leagues this year, and now they also have a perfect record in 17-run games. They slipped by the Indians in Cleveland last night, 17-0.
Nothing says summer like a cold beer—or any kind of alcoholic beverage really. Catch a buzz and maybe a tan at these ten local bars with beer gardens and patios, and see our Bar Guide for a full list of places to drink. 770 N. Milwaukee, 312-666-9292. Old Oak Tap | Ukrainian Village The 1,500-square-foot front patio gets jammed, and every third patron seems to be bouncing a baby between sips of Saison DuPont, but the craft beer list showcases a lot of crowd-pleasers—Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA, Firestone Walker Union Jack IPA, and a rotating Solemn Oath tap—as well as a couple of intriguing curveballs....
Welcome to the Reader‘s morning briefing for Friday, June 17, 2016. Chicago police officer allegedly referred to Obama with racial slur The Independent Police Review Authority has recommended firing a cop who allegedly referred to President Barack Obama with “an offensive racial remark” (reportedly the N-word) during a 2015 visit to Chicago. The unidentified cop made the comment in front of other CPD officers, and one of them complained to IPRA....
Despite endless debate, Chicago seems no closer to addressing the consequences of gentrification today than ever. Even though the City Council recently advanced a Rahm-backed measure to force developers to build more low-income housing, other efforts, like another measure targeted at obligating developers to pay demolition taxes along the 606, never received a hearing in council chambers. While a handful of Chicago neighborhoods such as Pilsen and Humboldt Park are the sites of skyrocketing rents, other areas of the city remain disinvested and overpoliced, getting none of the benefits of redevelopment as austerity measures continue to gut resources for education and other public goods....
All Hallow’s Eve is coming up, and it’s a fun time filled with much more than candy-corn martinis and masked children leaning on the doorbell. If you’re looking for trick-or-treating times for the kids, traditional haunted houses, or bars with drink specials that will let you show off your sexy ex-cabinet-member costume, please check out our Agenda listings online at chicagoreader.com/chicago/Agenda. For now, read on for some events that capture the spirit of Samhain season but may have escaped your notice....
It’s apparently not enough to just be a good idea. What I learned about ideas at Monday night’s session of Chicago Ideas Week is that it’s all in the presentation. Maybe we should have slunk out together. Instead, I tried to reason with myself. Why had I been discussing Trump? Wasn’t it because he was running for president? And wasn’t the election an event? Surely my mind was average at worst!...
Hatebreed and Devildriver at Metro, Saturday May 14
The major-label music industry is doing its best to pretend the pandemic is over. Despite an accelerating death toll, high-profile artists and organizations have spent the last half of this long year bringing audiences into indoor venues for award shows (the AMAs), album-release parties (T.I.), and even full concerts (Trey Songz, Chase Rice, Great White). Muse had previously coordinated the Love & Nappyness Hair Care Drive during the 2019 holiday season, an effort he repeated this fall....
When your ragtag, noisy hardcore-meets-postpunk band has spent the better part of a decade as one of the most deservedly hyped rock groups in the world, which direction do you choose next? In the case of Copenhagen’s Iceage, you drop the aggression and gloom of your early work, start over, and create an art-punk masterpiece. On May’s Beyondless (Matador), Iceage lays out dense, layered tracks that pile crisscrossing guitars, horns, and strings on top of pushy, dark, knotty songs that highlight the group’s epic melodic sensibility....
Usually, the quaint shop at 5044 N. Clark buzzes with customers of all ages, genders, sexualities, and levels of experience, browsing the expansive selection of vibrators, dildos, lubricants, and more. Down to the details, like sex-positive artwork and a fascinating collection of antique toys, Early to Bed knows how to create a welcoming and accepting environment for any shopper that might wander in the door. Nowadays, staff members fill their days processing and shipping orders that come in online....
Nowadays, what, exactly, is underground? Early to Bed, a feminist sex shop based in Andersonville, has donated condoms and lube for the occasion. “We’re promoting safe sex at the drive-in,” says the festival’s executive producer Taila Howe. “So for anyone who doesn’t vibe with the movies. . . that is an option.” “I was really stoked with the way that the festival was panning out, and then. . . COVID,” says Howe....
