One hundred years after the 1917 Soviet revolution in Russia, two baffling museum exhibitions attempt to recast one of the bloodiest regimes in human history in a positive light. “Revolution Every Day” at the Smart Museum and “Revolutsiia! Demonstratsiia! Soviet Art Put to the Test” at the Art Institute take different approaches to their subject, but neither pays much more than lip service to the millions of victims of the historical period these shows celebrate....

Abolitionist, journalist, suffragist, and civil rights activist Ida B. Wells-Barnett spent more than half of her life in Chicago. But though she was one of the most prominent black leaders of the 19th and 20th centuries, there’s no monument to her anywhere in the city. Wells’s great-granddaughter and a dedicated group of community members have been trying to change that since 2011, and a new fund-raising push launched on Twitter this week has infused their quest with new urgency....

On Ex Hex’s 2014 debut, Rips, guitarist-vocalist Mary Timony of D.C. postpunk royalty Helium and Autoclave went pop in a new trio. On the brand-new It’s Real (Merge), Timony and company rein it in and slow it down. The first album’s power pop was rooted in a frantic, nervous vibe and proved the band geniuses at cramming earworm vocal melodies and white-hot guitar licks into brief explosions of energy. But the greatness of It’s Real comes from a nearly opposite angle; its songs smolder and steam, its hooks ooze, and its guitars yearn....

As temperatures dipped to 20 below zero on the night of January 29, Martha Hardy and Nakia Young were horrified that the radiators in their South Shore apartments stood cold. The neighbors live in a 21-unit brick building on the southwest corner of 70th Street and Oglesby Avenue. To their surprise, when they contacted other residents, some said they had heat. It didn’t make sense. The whole building only had one source for heat, an enormous Kewanee boiler in the basement....

Exal Iraheta grew up listening to tales from Central American mythology. “The stories, kind of like Grimms’ fairy tales did in Europe, didn’t shy away from real danger,” the playwright, screenwriter, and School of the Art Institute alum recalled. “For me, I’ve always thought of horror and scary stories as a way of releasing something, or experiencing life from a different perspective.” “My (lead) character gets the chance to do a video date—which turns out not to be the best idea,” Iraheta said....

Candy formed in 2016, and given their relatively quick ascent among the ranks of hardcore bands, it’d be easy to use the cliche that they came out of nowhere. But in reality, Candy came from everywhere. They’re often pegged as a group from Richmond, Virginia, the hometown of guitarist Michael “Cheddar” Quick, but the five members are spread across the country, with no two residing in the same city and only a couple in the same state....

Three years ago Chicago rapper Jay Wood (a member of the Freesole collective) dropped his debut full-length, Self Doubt, where he made mincemeat of hard-edged beats while sharing the mike with more established MCs, including Ajani Jones and Femdot. Since then Wood has polished his skills and reconciled his fierce vocals with his interest in pop songwriting. On his new EP, Trackstar (Freesole), he matches the ironclad mettle of his toughest instrumentals and harshest drums with boisterous performances that tease out the sweetness hidden in the tracks—on “Champagne” he rounds off his rapid raps with a light, honeyed touch....

Gossip Wolf is sorry to say that local punks Rabble Rabble—who released the acid-fried grunge opus Composure in May—are calling it quits after nine years, according to a Facebook post from guitarist Ralph Darski. “The live shows are my favorite part,” Darski says of Rabble Rabble, and they’ve played some scorchers! Fans have two more chances to say good-bye: the Chicago Singles Club’s Fourth Fridays series at Cole’s on September 23 (where the bill includes Post Animal, Natalie Grace Alford, and Sexy Fights), and a final gig at the Empty Bottle on Friday, October 14, with headliners Oozing Wound—who’ll be celebrating the release of Whatever Forever....

With the ongoing kidnappings of hundreds of Nigerian girls by the jihadist militant group Boko Haram, media coverage of the country’s female population often focuses on victims rather than fighters. Choreographer Okwui Okpokwasili wants to change that narrative to highlight how women have banded together to take action throughout history. Poor People’s TV Room is a new multimedia piece from Okpokwasili and director-designer Peter Born that takes inspiration from two major events: the Boko Haram kidnappings and the Women’s War of 1929, a revolt against British colonial forces....

Chicago’s Englewood B.U. is as much an alchemist as a rapper, combining elements to create effects that defy easy explanation. On his new debut, 99 B.U. (Matthew Mason Music), the mature grit in his lilting voice gives his dusty instrumentals a worldliness that’s difficult to manufacture. He loves storytelling, and as his lyrics saunter casually atop checkered soul samples and sinewy percussion, his narratives gain extra dimensions as if by magic....

Gannett’s tactics in trying to take over Tribune Publishing now include questioning the competence of the man who runs it, Michael Ferro. At any rate, Gannett quickly replied. Later Friday it issued a statement asserting the Tribune board was showing “complete disregard for its responsibility to shareholders,” and trying to hang Ferro with his own words. “I don’t know anything about the newspaper business,” Ferro was quoted as saying in a Chicago magazine profile by Bryan Smith in October 2013 (when Ferro ran the Sun-Times)....

Third Annual 26th Annual Comedy Festival The A.V. Club welcomes headliners Tracy Morgan and Sarah Silverman to town for its third annual comedy festival. Other performers include Reggie Watts, Jenny Slate, and Chris Gethard. Wed 6/1-Sun 6/5, various locations, 26comedy.com, $10-$72.50. Pride Fest A warm-up for the Pride Parade on Sunday, June 26, this Boystown takeover kicks off with a Pet Pride Parade, local street vendors, and three stages of music with performances by Dumblonde, Daya, and Jordin Sparks....

Code-Switched is the thoughtfully curated care package only your fellow South Asian friend from high school can make. The one who’s been to your house for chana chaat and also smoked weed in your parent’s garage while they went to prayer. And then snacked on said chaat in a satisfied frenzy. It’s nuanced, surprising yet familiar at the same time, and delivers the type of unexpected pairings that always hit the spot....

When Drake dropped If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late late last week he further complicated the various terminology given to hip-hop releases. These days there are more and more “EPs” that are as long as full-length albums and “mixtapes” that appear no different than a proper studio album (like If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late). Drake called the 17-song release a mixtape, but when it came out Thursday evening it wasn’t exactly available on any of the major mixtape sites....

Between his tenure with experimental titans Coil and his stint in the equally important Psychic TV, Scottish musician Drew McDowall helped shape the sound and feel of 90s industrial with his Moogs and modular ­synths. By 2012, he’d brought his sound designs—conjured from gloomy, fractured beats and pure dark energy—to New York, where he embarked on a solo career. Last year he released the succinct Unnatural Channel, his second full-length for Dais....

Drummer Mark Guiliana has previously worked mostly in electronic-friendly contexts, playing hard-hitting fusion with saxophonist Donny McCaslin and a hybrid of jazz and techno with trumpeter Dave Douglas’s High Risk project, and contributing to David Bowie’s final album, Blackstar. On Jersey (Motema), his second consecutive album as a bandleader, he embraces an acoustic sound that deliberately cuts against the grain of most of these efforts; still, the music is undeniably the product of a musician who understands what computers can do with rhythm, and challenges himself to translate tricky beats with his own four limbs....

From Bronzeville to Boystown and beyond, here are some of the events closing out this anniversary Pride Month. The Chicago Dyke March collective celebrates dyke, queer, bisexual, and transgender people with a march, followed by a rally with performances, music, and discussion. Sat 6/29, march 1:30 PM, Little Village Academy, 2620 S. Lawndale; rally 3:30 PM, Piotrowski Park, 4247 W. 31st.

Q: I’m a 33-year-old straight guy with a small dick. I have a girlfriend of seven years. When we met, I was really insecure and she had to spend a lot of time reassuring me that it didn’t matter—she loved my dick, sex with me was great, it was big enough for her, etc. I broke up with her once because I didn’t think she should settle for someone so small....

When Jessica Michelle Singleton, Lisa Curry, and Dana Moon met doing stand-up in Los Angeles in 2013, the like-minded comedians knew they had to take their collective shows on the road. Without huge name recognition, they tried to no avail to set up a tour of colleges or armed forces units. So the trio began calling venues across the country to see if they could get some stage time, and in September 2014 they all packed into a Jetta for an independent 19-city tour....

We’re a little pinball obsessed lately, after learning all about the First Family of pinball and the game’s ties to Chicago. Are you feeling it, too? [content-1]