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Since 2003, Eric Isaacson has run Mississippi Records, a shop in Portland, Oregon, that launched a wonderfully eclectic and idiosyncratic label in 2004; late last year, he turned over the label half of the operation to filmmaker Cyrus Moussavi and experimental musician Gordon Ashworth. “We agreed to do it if we could leave Portland,” Moussavi says. And so Mississippi Records is moving to Chicago—though it doesn’t yet have a physical HQ, and it’s been on pause since mid-December while Moussavi and Ashworth transport its stock via a monthlong tour that ends at the Co-Prosperity Sphere on Friday, February 1....

The singular percussionist Jerome Cooper died on Wednesday at the age of 68 following a battle with cancer. The Chicago native is probably known best for his long involvement in the Revolutionary Ensemble, a daring trio with bassist Sirone and violinist Leroy Jenkins that moved easily between group improvisation and knotty compositional gambits that reached well outside of strict jazz traditions—and, of course, its instrumentation offered something utterly new as well....

Welcome to the Reader‘s morning briefing for Tuesday, September 20, 2016. A University of Chicago sociologist spent 18 months embedded with drill rappers Forrest Stuart, an assistant professor of sociology at the University of Chicago, spent 18 months embedded with a Chicago gang/drill-rap outfit, where music and violence are inextricably linked. With the gang’s blessing to write a book about the experience, Stuart was given a rare opportunity to observe members’ lives and learn how the gang operates....

In college my roommates and I would congregate around the breakfast table, well north of noon, to take inventory of our various UPIs. Not to be confused with UTIs, unidentified party injuries are the bumps and bruises sustained during the previous night’s bacchanalia. Long after short-term memory, reason, and fine motor skills have shut down in the brain, the body soldiers on like a graceless zombie, lumbering through the festivities with little regard for its own well-being....

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. The Boyz had evolved from the Jaguars, and included guitarist and singer Bob Wilson from that group; Griparis also knew guitarist and keyboardist Kevin “Mack” McCann from another local band called the Knights. Griparis met with Wilson and McCann in his basement to discuss forming a Joliet “supergroup,” and they named themselves the Crystal Tower....

I love love. As a serial monogamist and someone who regularly writes about sex, I can’t help but gravitate towards the topic in all areas of my life. It’s relatable, it’s common, it’s exceptional, it’s simple, it’s so fucking hard. With more than 90,000 singles living in Chicago, it’s tough dating in the Windy City. Earlier this year the Reader relaunched our Reader Matches in hopes of regaining a classic—and sometimes successful—approach to dating....

Poor Derrick Rose’s NBA career may have just ended today—not with a bang or a thud—but with a murmur. The self-proclaimed Englewood All-Star said he wanted to “re-evaluate his NBA future.” Who knows what that means? Maybe he’s talking about hitchhiking alone across the country, duffel bag over his shoulder, while a piano plays mournfully in the background.

Through 9/8: Thu-Sat 8 PM, Sun 3 PM; also Sat 8/10, 8/24, and 8/31, 3 PM, and Wed 8/14 and 8/21, 8 PM, Theater Wit, 1229 W. Belmont, 773-975-8150, kokandyproductions.com, $40, $35 students and seniors.

ARTIST: Jay Ryan SHOWS: Mountain Goats American tour, including Fri 11/17 at Riviera Theatre MORE INFO: thebirdmachine.com

Contributing photographer Lisa Predko, in her own words in an Instagram post, noted she “was SUPER excited” to shoot Chicago’s own Towkio for the cover story in the Reader last week. Bonus: for the shoot he would be “WEARING AN ASTRONAUT SUIT!!!:) 🙂 :)” she noted. Here are some of the images—all shot by Predko—that went into the cover:

Building community is the reason for the holiday season! There’s no better way to show your fellow citizens that you appreciate them and love this city than by offering your skills and time as a volunteer. There are a plethora of organizations in Chicagoland that need more hands to help get their important work done, and we’ve listed a few of them here. If you’d like to find more organizations, or different kinds of volunteer opportunities, a good resource is the Volunteer Match website at volunteermatch....

The palatial headquarters of Illuminated Brew Works. I could tell you what those video games are doing there, but then I’d have to kill you. If you were going to start a brewery—and don’t tell me you haven’t thought about it, you beer-column-reading person—how would you get the money? (For rhetorical purposes, I’m assuming you’re not independently wealthy.) Would you hit up family and friends? Run a Kickstarter? Beat the bushes for private investors?...

If there’s anything I dislike more than Stranger Things, it’s the eagerness with which commercial enterprises and media outlets have flocked to the Netflix show in hopes of monetizing its afterglow. I’m willing to make an exception for Post Animal, a Chicago psych-rock outfit that happens to count Stranger Things actor Joe Keery as a member. If his limited presence in the band (he’s a nontouring guitarist and vocalist) has helped them complete their impressive forthcoming debut, When I Think of You in a Castle (on Polyvinyl—clutch), well, I’m all for it....

Bay Area clarinetist Ben Goldberg thrives in sparse settings, where the sere bite of his melodically fluid lines can stand out in stark contrast to surrounding silence. He’s got a keen sense of time, and some of his strongest efforts have been drummer-free projects, such as his new duo recording with New York cornetist Kirk Knuffke. The music on Uncompahgre (Relative Pitch) is fully improvised; each player adroitly complements the other’s spontaneous melodic fragments and breaks off into sudden counterpoints that force fleeting redirection....

When I first heard acid-folk group Espers in the early 2000s, I was stunned by the singing of Meg Baird. Here was a young woman evoking legendary vocalists from the other side of the pond—first lady of British folk Shirley Collins, the cut-glass tones of founding Fairport Convention singer Judy Dyble, the earthy Anne Briggs, even the nostalgia-delving Mary Hopkin—all while maintaining a unique and impressive sound of her own. Espers called it a day after three sublime albums (though they’ve played a few reunions), and since then Baird has made three stark but lovely solo albums for Drag City that showcase the powerful delicacy of her pipes, most recently 2015’s Don’t Weigh Down the Light....

Bill Walker, chef at the Kennison, has nothing against offal. He’s even open to brains as long as they’re fresh. But when Stephen Hasson of Ugo’s challenged Walker to create a dish with Rose Pork Brain in Milk Gravy, Walker struggled with fact that the product comes in a can. For one thing, its smell and taste reminded him of another canned meat—namely, cat food. “[The brains are] just off-putting in a pink paste of milk gravy in a can,” he says....

ARTIST: Josh Davis SHOW: Oh Sees and Rash at the Empty Bottle on Sun 2/18 MORE INFO: deadmeatdesign.com

On their first full-length, 2015’s Holding Hands With Jamie, Dublin-based four-piece Girl Band perfected high-tension minimalist noise rock. The album’s songs are based on terse rhythms and simple, dissonant guitar loops, which lay the foundation for singer Dara Kiely’s convulsive performances—which always sound like he’s trying as hard as possible to fend off a full-on psychotic break. But on Girl Band’s upcoming second album, The Talkies (Rough Trade), the group seem to be doing their equivalent of taking a deep breath and chilling out....

Half of humanity might be awkwardly capturing virtual pets on their phones, but we’ve got a way better game for you to play this week. Take a good, long look at the Where’s Waldo?-style illustration on the cover of this week’s issue—our annual Pitchfork Music Festival preview— by Jason Wyatt Frederick. It’s full of Chicagoans of varying levels of fame and infamy, plus visual puns of Pitchfork acts. The person who correctly identifies the most people and music acts will receive a pair of three-day VIP passes to this weekend’s Pitchfork Music Festival....

What is a conflict?” Levi Holloway asks. Holloway and the students are talking about playwriting, specifically how to build a story, but they’re also talking about the state of the world. It’s the last week of September, and there are examples of the three classical forms of conflict everywhere. The weekend before, NFL players had protested against police brutality by kneeling during the national anthem, much to the displeasure of President Donald Trump....