If there’s still anyone out there who doubts that Chicago’s a divided city, I urge you to compare and contrast two mayoral endorsement sessions that happened to take place on the same day last week—one at the Tribune‘s downtown office, the other at a west-side church. They distributed green and red pieces of paper for audience members to wave when they agreed (green) or disagreed (red) with what the mayoral candidate was saying....
Brian Enyart spent the first 14 years of his career quietly climbing the ladder in Rick Bayless’s kitchens, rising to chef de cuisine at Topolobampo—easily the most rarefied and progressive restaurant in the Bayless empire—before stepping away in 2011. There were a few consulting gigs and a stint at a Saint Louis Mexican restaurant, but now he’s back, along with former Topolobampo pastry chef (and wife) Jennifer Jones, at Logan Square’s Dos Urban Cantina....
“August Wilson definitely influenced my storytelling,” Eugene Lee remarks to dramaturg Reginald Edmund in the program notes for Lee’s East Texas Hot Links, running now at Writers Theatre. “He told me once that, ‘It’s alright to let them talk.’” Parson has a long history with East Texas Hot Links. He directed the celebrated 1995 Chicago premiere—mounted by a now-lost black company, Onyx Theatre Ensemble—and then an equally well-received 1998 remount. In 2014 Sun-Times critic Hedy Weiss reported that Parson was working on reviving Onyx with still another production of the play....
A modest but significant burst in new, noteworthy Thai restaurants lit up Chicago over the last year and a half, with small, independent operators offering relatively uncompromising food compared to the oversweetened, dumbed-down Ameri-Thai standards much of the city is used to. They’re not pioneers. They’re walking in the footsteps of the folks behind Spoon, Aroy Thai, and Andy’s Thai Kitchen, among others. In some cases they’re veterans of those kitchens....
Since 2004 Plastic Crimewave (aka Steve Krakow) has used the Secret History of Chicago Music to shine a light on worthy artists with Chicago ties who’ve been forgotten, underrated, or never noticed in the first place. Older strips are archived here.
In the early 90s, comedian Sean Flannery says, he told a really big lie for the first time, impersonating a New Jersey pharmacist to sneak into a Huey Lewis and the News concert at a medical conference in Cleveland. At the afterparty, he drunkenly walked off a roof, breaking his back and shattering his heels. But as other partygoers tried desperately to get ahold of the pharmacist’s wife, they realized Flannery wasn’t actually the person he’d claimed to be....
In theaters now Reader staffers share stories that fascinate, amuse, or inspire us. • This essay by neuroscientist Daniel J. Levitin about “why the modern world is bad for your brain”? —Ben Sachs • David Carr on why the critically acclaimed Selma got only two Oscar nominations, while American Sniper, whose reviews were middling, got six? —Steve Bogira
Larry Busacca/Getty Images How does Amy Schumer do it? Reader staffers share stories that fascinate, alarm, amuse, or inspire us. • About the weird world of British politics? —Drew Hunt
If anybody knows puppets—like really knows puppets—it’s Blair Thomas, founder and artistic director of the Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival and codirector of the Chicago Puppet Studio. And yet, if you ask him about the artists who are most attracted to the form, his answer is entertainingly vague. “Chicago could boast over 150 companies in town,” Thomas continues, “but the aesthetic was of a very narrow palette.” So what changed? For him—and also for much of the city’s theater community, he believes—it started with a festival....
The Reader’s archive is vast and varied, going back to 1971. Every day in Archive Dive, we’ll dig through and bring up some finds. Rodkin spoke with many happy customers, but he also contacted state officials to answer other burning questions.
After taking a hiatus in 2018, Chicago Open Air is back for a third edition. The two-day festival celebrates the legacy of heavy metal, and each night’s headliner is one of the biggest bands in the genre—both of whom have kept fans eagerly waiting for new music for more than a decade. The first day of the fest wraps up with a set from Armenian-American circus-prog legends System of a Down....
I want to apologize at the outset. Here Chicago Shakespeare Theater just built an astonishing new performance space, the Yard, where nine huge “audience towers” can be slid around on cushions of air, allowing for all kinds of configurations. And here they inaugurated it with a four-night stand by the supremely gifted Swiss physical artist James Thiérrée, providing not only a gorgeous show but an encouraging sign that the Yard will be thoughtfully programmed....
Evan F. Moore is a culture/entertainment writer with the Chicago Sun-Times. Evan attended Donald Trump’s Chicago rally and lived to tell about it. And the bio for a dueling petition from the same website named “Do NOT remove Michael Vick as Pro Bowl Captain,” which has about 295,000 supporters, states: “The same people who will preach about forgiveness for injustices against human life will hold grudges in regards to animals. Forgiveness is forgiveness....
July is Minority Mental Health Awareness Month, and Herbert Wright III—better known as rapper G Herbo—has a lot on his mind. Herb is offering free 12-week therapy sessions to Black youth ages 18 through 25, partially funded by proceeds from a T-shirt collaboration with local designer Don C, owner of Chicago streetwear staple RSVP Gallery (applications will be accepted beginning in September at swervinthroughstress.com). Working with NAMI, Herb’s team has also created a hotline for anyone who needs to talk to a professional: right now it’s operating Monday through Friday from 9 AM till 5 PM CST at 844-457-PTSD (7873), and emergency help is available 24/7 by texting NAMI to 741741....
A few weeks ago guitarist John Scofield performed at the Chicago Jazz Festival with one of his greatest bands, his recently reconfigured quartet with the sublime saxophonist Joe Lovano. That project showcases his deep engagement with postbop, but over the last couple of decades the guitarist has repeatedly shown interests ranging far beyond that. He’s explored funk in collaborations with Medeski Martin & Wood, surveyed New Orleans-style R&B, and exploited his chops for the jam-band crowd, whether leading his own Uberjam project or working with Gov’t Mule....
Q: I’m a 38-year-old lesbian, very femme, very out. I have a coworker I can’t figure out. We’ve worked together for a year and gotten very close. I never want to put out the wrong signals to coworkers, and I err on the side of keeping a safe but friendly distance. This is different. We are each other’s confidants at work. We stare at each other across the office, we text until late at night, and we go for weekend dog walks....
Street View is a fashion series in which Isa Giallorenzo spotlights some of the coolest styles seen in Chicago.
The Field Museum just announced that local scientists have named the chanterelle mushroom most commonly found in the Chicago area after the city of Chicago; henceforth it will be known as Cantharellus chicagoensis. According to the release, scientists once thought chanterelles were a single species but have discovered over the past few decades that there are more than 100 species worldwide. This naming is a rare honor: the Field Museum writes that the mushroom “will join a short lineup of species named after Chicago, including a moth and an extinct mollusk....
In the past decade, Chicago hip-hop has elevated many talented acts to the national stage, among them rapper-producer Tremaine Johnson, better known as Tree—and his wildly idiosyncratic sounds set him apart from most of those newly minted stars. The Cabrini-Green native specializes in calamitous productions whose tough-as-nails percussion frames honeyed vocal samples warped till they sound ghostly; it’s a style Tree calls “soul trap.” This sound enriches his storytelling, giving his worldly-wise perspective more heft and making the detailed snapshots from his youth feel as tangible as flesh....
“Literally everyone has a podcast,” says Chicago Podcast Festival producer Elizabeth Amdahl. She’s not far from wrong. When all you really need is a recording device and a YouTube channel, it’s become easier for any- and everyone to become an audio star. The Chicago Podcast Festival is here to introduce you to at least a few of those luminaries—specifically, the funny ones. “Unfortunately, that was just the way this year panned out—sometimes booking podcasts and booking comedians and dealing with agents can be really tricky,” Amdahl says....
