Courtesy Wikimedia Commons Bye, Brandon. Reader staffers share stories that fascinate, alarm, amuse, or inspire us. • Nikole Hannah-Jones on why blacks hesitate to call 911? (“You have grown up in a different country than I have.”) —Steve Bogira • About music for cats? —Aimee Levitt
AP Photo/Susan Walsh The man who needs nothing except a breath mint Reader staffers share stories that fascinate, amuse, or inspire us. • That dozens of Dartmouth students were caught cheating in an ethics class? —Mick Dumke • This thorough examination of shirtless men and their pregnant significant others? —Drew Hunt
Every Saturday in March, electronic-music website Resident Advisor hosts a spectacular residency at local club and dance-music institution Smart Bar. The residency is part of a yearlong RA programming effort dedicated to 12 of the finest dance clubs in the world, each of which gets a month of its own. Last Saturday was no joke, with DJ Nobu, Eric Cloutier, and Jeff Derringer, but starting tomorrow the bookings get turned up a notch....
When Common dropped Black America Again on Friday, Vulture published an interview with the Chicago rapper that said his 11th album was “perfectly timed for release on November 4.” I’ve turned that phrase over in my head ever since. What makes a recording that’s meant to become part of peoples’ lives “perfect” for a single day? Why should an album that recalls centuries of injustice only hold our attention during an election cycle?...
Welcome to the Reader‘s morning briefing for Tuesday, December 20, 2016. Midyear budget cuts for Chicago Public Schools likely as Illinois budget crisis continues The Illinois house failed to override Governor Bruce Rauner’s veto of $215 million in funding for Chicago Public Schools before the deadline last Friday. Rauner refused to sign the bill to “bail out” CPS, saying that Democrats haven’t done enough work to end the pension crisis and come to an agreement with Republicans on a budget deal....
Few lyrics are as emblematic of drill as “Fredo in the cut / That’s a scary sight,” from Chief Keef’s 2012 breakout hit “I Don’t Like.” Guest rapper Lil Reese delivers the blunt, menacing lines with a hint of playfulness—and all those characteristics apply to the man they’re about. “Fredo” is Chicago rapper Fredo Santana, born Derrick Coleman. He’s there in the “I Don’t Like” video, bouncing around an apartment shirtless along with most of the rest of Keef’s GBE crew....
When Racetraitor formed in Chicago in the mid-90s, their uncompromisingly antiracist politics weren’t always warmly received in the hardcore scene, but after their breakup in 1999 their influence continued to spread (especially once drummer Andy Hurley joined occasional Racetraitor bassist Pete Wentz in Fall Out Boy in 2003). More than a decade later, the burgeoning Black Lives Matter movement surrounding the Ferguson uprising and the white surpremacist agenda fueling Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign inspired Racetraitor to reunite to help combat the hate....
Gary Numan at Metro, May 15-17, 2016
Don’t worry, comedian Adam Conover’s politics-themed live tour of his TruTV show Adam Ruins Everything isn’t “ruining” democracy. He’s just giving it a love tap or two. On his 15-city live tour, which ends in Chicago on October 3, Conover employs a TED-Talk style complete with charts, videos, and slides in an attempt to break down America’s flawed electoral system and inject a much-needed dose of truth and perspective into a political season that increasingly feels obscured by overheated rhetoric and obfuscation....
At an administrative hearing Monday morning, a Cook County official doubled down on a controversial position that the Reader first reported on last week: she explained to attorneys for two Chicago venues that live performances of rock, country, rap, and electronic music do not constitute “music” or “culture” by the county’s standards. County code stipulates that venues with a capacity of 750 or fewer are not subject to the tax as long as any cover charges or admission fees are for “in person, live theatrical, live musical or other live cultural performances....
Gina DeLuca is a 32-year-old Chicago-based writer and live lit performer who specializes in wry, personal essays. She has performed readings of her work at CIC Theatre, iO, and Steppenwolf Theatre. She also cocurates and cohosts a monthly open-mike live lit event with writer Sarah Ashley at the Duke of Perth (2913 N. Clark), called Tartle at the Duke, the first Sunday of every month. So what is the Tartle at the Duke?...
A Reader staffer shares three musical obsessions, then asks someone (who asks someone else) to take a turn. Perfume Genius I was introduced to the music of Perfume Genius in 2014, when I heard the big drums, airy defiance, and luxurious synthesizers of the song “Queen.” Perfume Genius make daring, radical love music, and when I recently saw them perform 2017’s No Shape (opening for Florence & the Machine) I was transformed....
Q: A male friend—not my best friend but a close one—told me his wife was really attracted to me and asked if I was attracted to her. His wife is an incredibly hot woman and I thought it was a trick question. I read your column and listen to the Savage Lovecast, Dan, so I know there are guys out there who want other men to sleep with their wives, of course, but I didn’t want to risk offending this friend by saying “FUCK YEAH” too quickly....
Welcome to the Reader‘s morning briefing for Thursday, March 31, 2016. Should Blackhawks fans be worried after Duncan Keith’s suspension? Blackhawks defenseman Duncan Keith was suspended indefinitely after hitting Minnesota Wild player Charlie Coyle in the face with his hockey stick. Although the team’s already qualified for the playoffs, experts are concerned that Keith may not be back in the lineup for the beginning of the postseason. [ESPN]
This week some copies of the Reader’s print edition are served with a lagniappe. Tucked inside 2,700 copies of the paper is the premiere issue of the Chicago FoodCultura Clarion, the culmination of a collaboration between artist Antoni Miralda and University of Chicago anthropologist Stephan Palmié. Instead Palmié and Miralda, along with an editorial team consisting of noted investigator of south-side culinary oddities Peter Engler, chef and founder of Roots & Culture Contemporary Arts Center Eric May, and food writer Paige Resnick, put together the Clarion, a 12-page folded insert of original Chicago food writing and artwork....
A Reader staffer shares three musical obsessions, then asks someone (who asks someone else) to take a turn. Leor is curious what’s in the rotation of . . . Franz Liszt, Hungarian Rhapsody no. 2 Recently, I bought a Franz Liszt “best of” CD at a Goodwill store, along with a Blu-Ray version of Predator. The beginning sounds like this military procession of giant lizards in the desert. Huge, ominous tones eventually segue into lighter notes, and then near the end of the song it turns into a Tom and Jerry episode and everyone is running around screaming and laughing....
There’s a notorious quote from the dearly departed Mark E. Smith that goes like this: “If it’s me and your granny on bongos, it’s the Fall.” It’s tempting to read this as Smith claiming that he was the sole crucial member throughout the prolific postpunk outfit’s four decades of constantly mutating lineups—and it’s true that when Smith came onstage, you knew what band you were getting. But it can also mean something very different: that the Fall’s sound was about musical chemistry, about holistic connections among players, rather than about conventional competence or lone genius....
This summer Chicago rapper 8MatikLogan released “House of Pain,” a blazing, salacious single punctuated with tasteful claps. Its video is closing in on 400,000 YouTube views, and it could become an even bigger breakout success—which would be a long time coming for the MC. He started rapping in 2012 under the name Logan, and he’s built up a catalog of raw, teeth-grinding rhymes. In 2015 he dropped his debut mixtape, 1636, and became firmly entrenched in the local scene, collaborating with artists such as Saba and Taylor Bennett....
It’s been a busy few weeks on the labor front for both the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Columbia College. “But,” Lester added, “we were able to get a secure guaranteed benefit for the [current] members of the orchestra going forward.” And he said they’re “studying” what to do about new hires. “We’re working with the Association to come to an agreement on a plan for them; the expectation is that we will work cooperatively to get this done....
I don’t know anyone who isn’t looking forward to the end of this grueling, demoralizing election campaign. I’m certain that its ugliness will leave a toxic residue for a long time no matter who wins, but assuming the race is called tonight, it’ll be cathartic for at least half the people who bothered to vote. I’ll probably be cowering on my couch from 8 PM onward, but I also feel a yearning to be out in the world, among like-minded, generous souls....
