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Chicago Dance History Project commemorates five years of collecting oral histories with icons of theatrical dance in Chicago with an interview marathon on January 31, recently designated Chicago Dance History Project Day in a proclamation by Mayor Lori Lightfoot. “The City of Chicago is thrilled to celebrate our diverse and legendary local dance community. The seven-hour Interview Marathon represents decades of dance history personified in more than 40 interview subjects—presented by the critically important Chicago Dance History Project, which investigates, documents, and presents the histories of dance in Chicago,” says Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events Commissioner Mark Kelly, who will be speaking at the event....

Freewheeling Chicago band Snooze play math rock like they’re trying to be inexplicable. They’re fans of emo, metal, and prog, and though that’s comfortably ordinary in this subgenre, I’d be hard-pressed to think of another such group who’ve opened an EP by segueing quickly from a distorted electronic hodgepodge reminiscent of footwork into a soothing polyrhythm (2017’s Actually, Extremely) or who’ve prefaced a whimsical, whiplash-inducing romp with a honeyed a cappella melody (“Amicus Pawsterum,” off 2019’s Familiaris)....

This heavy-psych band from Washington, D.C., caused a stir when they released their self-titled debut album in 2000: they seemed to have tapped a vein of blues-based trippy rock from the early 70s that had lingered underground in its purest form while the genre was mined and embellished by innovators such as Deep Purple, Hawkwind, and Uriah Heep. Dead Meadow had a successful stint on Matador Records, releasing pitch-perfect instant museum pieces Old Growth and Shivering King and Others (and others), before founding their own label, Xemu, in 2010....

On Yarrow (Six Shooter), the first studio album in four years by veteran Canadian folk-rock band Deep Dark Woods, the group continues to pursue singer Ryan Boldt’s harrowing end-time visions, putting a modern spin on murder ballads, apocalyptic natural disasters, and frayed love affairs. At times Boldt’s prosaic touch makes the music fall flat, no matter how crisply his bandmates shape the guitar-driven arrangements or how beautifully guest harmony singers Kacy Anderson and Clayton Linthicum (aka Kacy & Clayton) bring richness and variety to his introspective mumbling; his uninspired imagery and tentative delivery on “Deep Flooding Waters” conjure the destructive force of a sun shower....

This week’s featured poster reminds me of the heyday of punk-rock flyers: skilled artists spending their free time turning classic cartoon characters (and mid-80s skateboard graphics) into monsters of their own making, all for the thrill of wheat-pasting their work onto random light poles. What I’m saying is that I could easily see this one tacked to some board-up—and the concert the flyer advertises is at one of the old-school music venues that I’m happy to see back open and thriving....

It’s spring! Foraging season! There’s stuff on the sidewalks. To eat, or not to eat? That is the question.

Joy Productions’ inaugural show, Exit, Pursued by a Bear, begins with a compelling image: Kyle Carter (Aaron Wertheim) sits in a recliner, tied down with a comically epic amount of duct tape, in a rural southern shack. He’s inert, passed out before the play begins, and doesn’t stir until slapped awake by his wife, Nan Carter (Dani Mohrbach). Nan has had enough of his drunkenness and abuse and aims to leave him for bear food....

For ten years now, Chicago Psych Fest has been warping minds. Organized by musician and artist (and longtime Reader contributor) Steve Krakow and local artist Matt Ginsberg, the three-day festival is much like the classic shows held at the Fillmore (in San Francisco and NYC), the Kinetic Playground (in Chicago), the Grande Ballroom (Detroit), and the Boston Tea Party (guess) during the genre’s earliest days, featuring combinations of younger acts, veteran bands, and even influences from outside fuzz-tone rock....

There’s plenty to do this week before the holidays hit like a ton of yule logs. Here’s some of what we recommend: Tue 12/19: Daymaker‘s sloppy punk starts a mosh pit at the Empty Bottle (1035 N. Western). The Reader‘s Noah Berlatsky writes, “[Erin] Daymaker’s a bit of a mess and a bit of a known quantity—snotty punk rawk bands are scattered across the midwest as liberally as abandoned industrial plants—but Delaney’s pissed-off charisma oozes from the recording, and the band embraces its underdog status with winningly mean-spirited resolve....

Since 2015, Experimental Sound Studio has been intermittently hosting a weekly music salon called Option, where a who’s who of musicians and composers from Chicago and abroad—among them William Parker, Magda Mayas, Angel Bat Dawid, Paul Lytton, and Zeena Parkins—perform live and then sit for interviews with series curators Ken Vandermark, Tim Daisy, and Andrew Clinkman. ESS has long maintained an extensive archive of Option sets and conversations on its YouTube page, and it swiftly adapted to COVID-19 by moving the series online—each event is streamed, often live, and then added to the archive....

In light of the Chicago Teachers Union’s recent vote to walk out for a one-day strike on April 1, I have a suggestion for Mayor Emanuel to help boost his wretched standing with the citizenry and maybe even help with the school-funding crisis. In fact, a considerable number of teachers aren’t even sure they want to go on the one-day strike. What’s needed more than ever is a source of money to help pay the bills....

Andre Vasquez had never run for public office before launching his campaign for 40th Ward alderman in April, but he’s been in plenty of battles. As a Lane Tech student in the mid-90s, he’d spend his weekends crisscrossing Navy Pier, entering impromptu cyphers where he’d freestyle against other ambitious young rappers from all over Chicago. Vasquez says he competed in more than 1,000 battles and lost only seven times—though admittedly that’s by his own count....

London’s Conflict are one of the original anarchist punk bands, and though it’s been nearly four decades since they formed, their Thatcher-honed rage feels as relevant in today’s world as ever. Driven by original vocalist Colin Jerwood, the group hew to politics that are far more from the punch-a-Nazi school of activism than the let’s-sit-around-and-discourse model—and they don’t shy away from taking the left to task nearly as much as the right....

Q: I’m a 41-year-old male who looks like the tall, strong, professional, alpha-male type on the outside. On the inside, though, I would like to find a strong, confident woman who wants a cuckolding relationship—she sleeps with other men, while I am faithful and submissive to her. There must be women out there who would love to have a loving, doting boyfriend or husband waiting at home while they go out with other men, but I tend to attract women who want the alpha-male type....

Long before drummer Warren G. “Trae” Crudup III and bassist Luke Stewart launched noisy free-jazz duo Blacks’ Myths in 2018, they backed celebrated saxophonist James Brandon Lewis as the rhythm section in his trio. They’ve also enmeshed themselves in D.C.’s jazz scene individually: Crudup performs with a slew of scene fixtures, including saxophonist Brian Settles and poet Thomas Sayers Ellis, while Stewart plays in Afrofuturist crossover group Irreversible Entanglements and works for jazz nonprofit and editorial site CapitalBop as “director of presenting and avant music editor....

Correction: Jordan Reyes is no longer affiliated with Moniker Records. Close by Jordan Reyes

There are plenty of shows, films, and concerts happening this week. Here’s some of what we recommend. Thu 7/5: After 139 years, Gilbert and Sullivan’s Pirates of Penzance is still a satisfying combination of sweet and sharp. Through 7/15: Thu-Fri 7:30 PM, Sat 3 and 7:30 PM, Sun 3 PM, Stage 773, 1225 W. Belmont, 773-327-5252, saltboxtheatre.org, $16, $9 students and seniors.

Michael Gebert Scott Manley sniffs a black truffle I was at Rare Tea Cellar, gourmet tea and food importer Roderick Markus’s warehouse, a Batcave of wonders along the Ravenswood line, in mid-January. Phillip Foss (El Ideas) and a couple of his cooks were there, tasting different things—scattered across Markus’s desk were upscale foodstuffs including an entire leg of jamon iberico-style ham made in Appalachia, a tray containing a few thousand dollars’ worth of both white and black truffles, assorted teas and tinctures, vinegars and liqueurs from all over the world....

Welcome to the Reader‘s morning briefing for Wednesday, November 22, 2017. City Council approves Emanuel’s 2018 budget The City Council approved Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s 2018 budget Tuesday, which will raise the cost of concert tickets, ride-sharing services like Uber and Lyft, and emergency phone service, according to the Tribune. Alderman Scott Waguespack, one of the three aldermen who voted against the plan, believes Emanuel isn’t being completely truthful about the city’s financial status....

As one sexual harassment horror tale after another emerges from Springfield, I’m coming face-to-face with the heretofore seemingly unthinkable: It’s only a matter of time before Michael Madigan is forced to step down from his positions of power. Didn’t like the obvious conflict of interest between his profitable property tax appeal law firm—specializing in winning tax breaks for downtown property owners—and his influence in selecting the judges and assessors involved in the process....