J.R. Nelson Freelance contributor Anna White I’m with J.R. on that one for sure—not a fan of album performances. Leor Galil As much as I go to bat for Blink-182, I am not thrilled about seeing Enema of the State, which has three hits and loads of filler. Dashboard Confessional Fri 9/13, 6:35-7:35 PM, Riot Stage The Selecter Sat 9/14, 3:25-4:15 PM, Radicals Stage Against Me! Sun 9/15, 3:55-5:10 PM, Riot Stage...
Dressed in a yellow leopard-printed bodysuit and a colorful skirt, Bambi Banks climbed a 50-foot wall while lip-synching to “The Climb” by Miley Cyrus. The crowd below cheered as Banks reached the top, let go, and gracefully rappelled down. Out To Climb “We post these signs on our door that say that we’re a welcoming place, that we value everyone based on their color and their gender identity,” said Claire Bao, Brooklyn Boulders Chicago’s marketing manager....
In 2019, LGBTQ television has never been better. According to GLAAD, one in 11 or 8.8 percent of characters on scripted prime-time shows identify as LGBTQ, which amounts to more than 100 more than there were last year. This means more representation, inclusivity, and accuracy and television content that will continue to break down barriers and highlight a variety of identities across all spectrums. Here are ten of the most influential shows airing right now....
Welcome to the Reader‘s morning briefing for Monday, September 19, 2016. Derrick Rose allegedly didn’t know what sexual consent meant The woman who accused ex-Bulls star Derrick Rose of gang-raping her with two of his friends gave interviews to the media last week. Her legal term said that she was “incapacitated to the point she couldn’t give consent, but that Rose might not have understood what consent was,” according to Deadspin....
Halloween isn’t until Tuesday, but this weekend offers plenty of opportunities to scare yourself. Here’s some of what we recommend: Sat 10/28: Halloween cuisine isn’t all eyeballs and brains. Fat Rice (2957 W. Diversey) chef Abraham Conlon has whipped up a prix fixe feast of frog’s legs, gator gumbo, a boudin cake, and myriad other ways to eat odd animals for sustenance at the Big Sl-Easy: All Hallow’s Eve Jazz Funeral....
Cosplay at ACEN, May 20-22, 2016 The celebrated Anime Central fest brings out everyone from Deadpool to Mandalorian Jedi knights.
I’ve got a plan to make things better in America and it’s a good plan, a healing plan. Please don’t think of it as some sort of modest proposal, because I’m not feeling modest about it at all. There are lots of smart people in Chicago but nobody else came up with this one. Just me. To ask the question was to answer it. Simply by coming up on us in the dark he’d made me squirm a little....
It’s Such a Beautiful Day Hey, did you know the Academy Awards are tonight? Of course you did, because this year, the noxious noncontroversies generated by the annual awards show are particularly noxious and particularly noncontroversial, save for the Academy’s legitimately egregious and transparently racist dismissal of the biopic Selma—though I’m sure you’ve read one too many think pieces on that subject, so I’ll spare you the soapboxing. Meanwhile, the far less significant squabbling surrounding American Sniper‘s nebulous politics and The Lego Movie‘s supposed snub in the Best Animated Feature category cloud the fact that most of the films nominated tonight really aren’t very good....
For the past few years, Chicagoan Guido Gamboa has been one of the city’s best purveyors of experimental music, though too few people have noticed. He launched his record label, Pentiments, in December 2015 with the release of his debut solo album, Saturday’s Notes, a collage of field recordings and electronics expertly arranged to render familiar sounds (car horns, camera shutters) enigmatic and beguiling. His second album, 2018 (Regional Bears), is more austere, and his new third LP, A Droll (Pentiments), further refines his sonic mischief....
UPDATE Saturday, March 14: this event has been canceled. Refunds available at point of purchase. Interrobang Theatre Project presents a revival of Daniel MacIvor’s daringly strange one-person show, Here Lies Henry, starring Scott Sawa in the title role, directed by Elana Elyce. Suspenders, jitters, throwback mustache and all, Sawa delivers a bravura performance as either the worst inspirational comic of all time; a soul in purgatory who keeps blurting out unsavory disclosures involving past awkwardness and possible murder; a pathological liar; or some fiercely winning jumble of all three....
Starting Friday, the Gene Siskel Film Center will close its doors for a month to renovate its two theaters. This effort marks the organization’s first extensive renovation since it started operating at its State Street location in 2001. All the seats in the two theaters will be replaced, as will the wiring; the latter renovation is to improve hearing for patrons with cochlear implants. The carpeting between the two theaters will also be replaced....
Courtesy of Stripped & Chewed This month Chicago boutique dance label Stripped & Chewed is reissuing 2000 (And We’re Still Here), which local house veteran Merwyn Sanders released under the name Merle. For Sanders, the fact that anyone besides himself is excited about the EP is an unexpected delight. It’s certainly different than the reaction Sanders received when he released the record in late 1999. “I didn’t sell anything, I didn’t hear any response,” he says....
Q: My boyfriend and I were having relationship issues until we tried something new: pegging. He wanted to try it, but he was afraid and sometimes said the idea disgusted him. Then we tried it, and it was better than normal vanilla or even kinky bondage sex. It was the most emotionally connected sex we’ve ever had. I actually pegged him three times in 24 hours. He says now he wants to be “the girl” in our relationship....
Since 1981, Green Jellÿ (yes, styled with an umlaut over the y) have doggedly pursued one goal: to be the world’s worst band. And by some indications, that title’s not unfounded. How many other groups have burned through more than 400 musicians, a number vocalist and sole original member Bill Manspeaker lists prominently on Green Jellÿ’s Facebook page? How many other groups have been halted less than a minute into a performance on The Gong Show, a fate that in 1987 befell Green Jellÿ just as Manspeaker—wearing a jack-o-lantern mask—looked like he was getting into the groove of “Rock ’n’ Roll Pumpkin?...
Welcome to the Reader‘s morning briefing for Thursday, November 24, 2016. Happy Thanksgiving! Investigative report sheds light on abuse of adults with disabilities in group homes Illinois has been covering up the abuse and neglect of disabled adults living in state-funded group homes, according to an investigative report by the Tribune. The paper uncovered “1,311 cases of documented harm since July 2011″—hundreds more than publicly reported by the Illinois Department of Human Services—in an article that also shares several personal stories of families who lost relatives in horrific ways....
ARTIST: Sarah Squirm SHOW: Helltrap Nightmare at the Hideout on Fri 3/9 MORE INFO: sarahsquirm.tumblr.com
Field & florist, which opened in 2017 in a charming basement in Wicker Park on Division just east of Damen, grows its flowers on a 30-acre farm in southwest Michigan. Owners Heidi Joynt, 36, and Molly Kobelt, 32, say this land—surrounded by woods, vineyards, and blueberry fields—is the beating heart of their business. “Farm-to-table” isn’t just for restaurants anymore. Aside from floral arrangements and a unique selection of home goods and gifts, Field & Florist sells local products like mobiles handmade by Curio Curio, ceramics by Angela Vernachik (including the popular “convertible vases,” which adapt to shrinking bouquets), and postcards and book bags designed by the Normal Studio....
The streaming-video channel FilmStruck is currently featuring Alfred Hitchcock’s early British features from the 1920s and ’30s. Many of the director’s favorite themes, motifs, and visual devices are already in evidence, as is his dark, sardonic wit. Highlighted below are two of his more famous films from the period (The Lodger and Sabotage) and two real obscurities. The Lodger Alfred Hitchcock’s most famous silent (1927). Not a great film, but a remarkable one, with Hitchcock at his most “innovative,” shooting through plate-glass floors and generally one-upping the expressionist cliches of the period....
Peter Morgan’s dramatization of the televised 1977 interviews between the lightweight British talk show host and the disgraced former American president gets a deft and timely revival under Scott Weinstein’s direction. There’s nary a dull moment as Nixon and Frost prepare to spar in front of the cameras. Jeffrey D. Kmiec’s set manages to make Redtwist’s tiny stage work as a TV studio and a half dozen other locales through clever use of doorways and video elements....
Adele Nicholas didn’t sleep the night of the presidential election. She stayed up watching the results with her husband, and she couldn’t bring herself to stop even after it became clear what had happened: Donald Trump had won. Nicholas, like many other people in the Chicago legal and music communities to which she belongs, felt immediate dread and horror. A civil rights attorney as well as founder and front woman of synth-pop trio Axons, Nicholas remembers being struck with a sudden conviction as soon as the electoral votes were tallied: “Basically everything we do now is political,” she says....
