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Steven Levenson’s family drama, set in the months immediately before and after the 2000 presidential election (but before 9/11) offers a time capsule of the cusp of the millennium, complete with Nader voters, newfangled cell phones, and Internet chat rooms. But the issues it tackles have only grown more pronounced, from gentrification to the eldercare crisis to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict (not to mention presidential election shenanigans). At times, Levenson seems determined to underscore the old chestnut about “two Jews, three opinions....

In the months since Rogers Park native Stevon Odueze graduated from Northern Illinois University in December, he’s been singularly focused on transforming his music from an undergraduate extracurricular activity into a career. And judging from the pop-forward hip-hop he’s released in the past six months, he’s well on his way. As OG Stevo, Odueze encodes melody into the DNA of his mike technique to supercharge his instrumentals—even when he’s not outright singing, he often ends his rapped lines with a honeyed lilt....

When I moved to Chicago in 1981, the community around the intersection of Clybourn and Division on the north side was overwhelmingly poor and African-American. Now, of course, it’s one of the richest and whitest corners of town. Well, if anyone’s hallucinating, it’s the mayor and his pals at the Tribune. ‘Cause, let’s face it, folks, we all know the exodus of tens of thousands of black residents over the last seven years is no figment of Kennedy’s imagination....

Joel Lerner Derrick Rose when he was at Simeon in 2006 The Sun-Times‘s Michael O’Brien spotted my Tuesday Bleader item on Derrick Rose and wrote immediately to tell me one part of it was “simply not true.” O’Brien, Rossi, and the Sun-Times deserve credit for their reporting, which apparently was more extensive than I recalled. But I’ll stand by my main point—and O’Brien doesn’t dispute it either. The stories didn’t stick....

A funny thing happened on the way to state legislative approval for Chicago’s very own casino last week. That’s what she’d be seeking in Springfield: a casino of, by, and for the people. Mayor Lightfoot told the Sun-Times that a city-owned casino “wasn’t going to make its way through the General Assembly,” and that the “legislative process is about compromise.” And then the public discussion moved on to speculation about which of a half-dozen possible locations would be the chosen casino site, with the odds in favor of the old Michael Reese Hospital site in Bronzeville—never mind the objections of local residents....

Since moving here from Cincinnati in 2009, drummer Jeremy Cunningham has anchored several local ensembles, including orchestral jazz squad Resavoir and a crack quartet with guitarist Jeff Parker, bassist Paul Bryan, and saxophonist Josh Johnson—which is also the core group on most of his solo album The Weather Up There, due Friday, February 28, via Northern Spy. The album celebrates his brother Andrew, killed in a home invasion robbery in 2008; in a short documentary about the project, Cunningham says, “It’s helpful to reconnect with the whole of a person’s life, and not just the worst thing....

Garfield Park-based gallery Goldfinch opened “Play the Fool,” a solo show with works by Em Kettner in late October. I traveled to the gallery earlier last week to examine the works that sit, live, and perform on the shelves and walls of the gallery. With the recent stay-at-home advisory in place, the entire exhibition is also viewable on the Goldfinch website with extensive documentation. Kettner’s charms and cabinet curiosities can be seen as characters in a larger story or narrative that we have yet to finish....

On December’s self-released Lost in the Walled City, Chicago’s Arthhur sound like they would’ve been signed to DFA Records if they’d been around in the early aughts. They’ve only been releasing music for a couple years, though front man Mike Fox launched Arthhur as a solo vehicle, but quickly roped in Matt Ciani (the two also play in a doom four-piece called Flesh of the Stars). Arthhur started as a loose creative project in which Fox and Ciani could go in any stylistic direction, and their first couple albums don’t sound much like Lost in the Walled City, other than the fact that Fox and Ciani play several instruments on all three; 2016’s dour, intimate Who Needs Friends (When You Have Thoughts Like These)?...

Welcome to the Reader‘s morning briefing for Thursday, July 14, 2016. Chicago doesn’t actually have the highest per capita murder rate in the U.S. Chicago’s murder rate is higher than that of New York City or Los Angeles, but there are many smaller cities with a higher per capita murder rate—including some represented by antigun control congressmen. As Congress argues about gun control legislation in the wake of the Dallas police shooting and the Orlando Pulse nightclub shooting, the Guardian has released a list of U....

Welcome to the Reader‘s morning briefing for Monday, March 14, 2016. Bernie Sanders slams Rahm Emanuel, Hillary Clinton supporter Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders made several appearances in the Chicago area Friday and Saturday, and didn’t miss his chance to slam controversial mayor Rahm Emanuel. If Sanders ends up winning the nomination, he would reject an endorsement from Rahm, he said. [New York Times]

Among active Chicago musicians, it’s hard to conceive of anyone more deserving of a Blues Festival tribute set than saxophonist Gene “Daddy G” Barge—though that conclusion apparently wasn’t obvious to the man himself. With characteristic humility, he says he didn’t know Saturday’s show was a tribute till I asked him about it—he’d assumed it was just another gig. Barge will be honored with a performance by the Chicago Rhythm & Blues Kings, whose tight horn section he’s graced for decades....

Q: My boyfriend of almost two years is wonderful, and we have had very few issues. But there is one thing that has almost been a deal breaker. He fiddles with his penis almost constantly—in front of me and in front of our roommates. I’ve confronted him about it a number of times. He said he should be able to fiddle with his dick in every room of the house if he wants to and he should feel comfortable doing so....

Jesus Garcia (center) as a sophomore at Saint Rita High School, shortly before a dress code change allowed him to start growing his trademark mustache My coverage of the mayoral campaign has focused largely on Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, not because we attended the same high school in overlapping years, although we did. AP Photo/M. Spencer Green Garcia yesterday at his campaign office He chuckled when I recounted my instrumental political role in the birth of his mustache, which is now streaked with gray....

Tekki Lomnicki is a brilliant solo performer and the creator of Tellin’ Tales Theater, which has produced and fostered creative work by people with disabilities for more than 20 years. Lomnicki has a disability that affects her height: she is a little person. She walks with a set of crutches and does her storytelling act mostly from a folding chair. When she’s seated, she stands the crutches up against the chair’s frame; when it’s time to get up, she picks them up again....

The debut album of Mexico’s El Shirota, Tiempos Raros (“Weird Times”), resonates mightily as the world convulses from the effects of America’s racist violence in the midst of a global pandemic. Founded by lead singer and guitarist Ignacio Gomez in 2013, the band went through several lineup changes before settling on their current configuration in 2018: Gomez, guitarist Ruben Anzaldúa, bassist David Lemus, and drummer Gabriel Mendoza. El Shirota’s smart postpunk melange, with its intentional rawness and volatile edge, connects the dots between Nirvana, Weezer, and the sounds of Mexico City’s rock scene from the 90s till today....

Michael Gebert Doug Sohn, pictured in 2006 with a bumper sticker I made Judging by the line outside Paulina Meat Market a few weeks ago, there’s an inexhaustible appetite for Doug Sohn’s encased meats on a bun. So at the end of this month the late Hot Doug’s returns again for the Dog Dayz of Summer, which features Doug’s dogs, beer from Goose Island, and “punk and country bands” on June 27 and 28 at the Goose Island Barrel Warehouse (605 N....

Q: Garbage human here. I’ve had herpes for about 15 years. The first five years, I was in a relationship with a guy who also had it. The last ten years, I haven’t been in a serious relationship. I’ve been a (rare, drunk) one-night-stand type of gal, and I don’t usually tell the guy because, like, everyone has herpes. (I get that one in five isn’t everyone, but if you count HSV-1?...

Welcome to the Reader‘s morning briefing for Monday, December 19, 2016. IPRA rules the 2014 police shooting of Ronald Johnson III justified The Independent Police Review Authority ruled that Chicago police officer George Hernandez’s shooting of 25-year-old Ronald Johnson III in 2014 was justified. Johnson “wielded a firearm” as he ran from police, according to the IPRA. [CBS News]

The First and 26th Wards will vote on a nonbinding referendum that asks whether Illinois should lift the ban on rent control—prohibited in the state since 1997. Don’t Push Us Out