So, have you been seeing anyone?” Abigail asked as we sat around a campfire in my parents’ backyard last September. She was a lifelong friend and we hadn’t seen each other in a while, so it wasn’t an unlikely subject. But coming just a day after my last chemotherapy session, the question might as well have been whether I’d gone to the moon lately. That was the pattern that continued with any eligible bachelor familiar with my disease....
Over the last several decades few figures in traditional flamenco have matched the power of native Madrileño Jiménez Salazar (better known as Diego el Cigala), whose appealingly gruff timbre, deep emotional reserves, and effortless range can compare with legendary antecedents such as Camarón de la Isla and Enrique Morente. Though he hasn’t achieved their stature, his deep curiosity and natural versatility make it apparent that he’s on his way to doing so....
Wasting away on a student’s diet of crackers and boiled eggs, young Hannah Arendt (Christina Gorman) subjects her latest essay on neighborly love in Augustine to the chilly scrutiny of her married teacher, Martin Heidegger (Lawrence Grimm). Probably the two most brilliant people in Germany at that time, they fall in love, and in due course find themselves huddled clandestinely together in Martin’s hut in Todtnauberg. At first, Hannah is such a pale bundle of nerves there in her hero’s rooms that it feels playful of Martin to compare her to the mouse she’s seen nosing around her little grubby student apartment....
Keyboardist Rob Clearfield’s ubiquity on Chicago’s jazz scene says plenty about his talents and adaptability. He’s a musician who can lend sophisticated harmonic support to any setting—I’ve especially admired his simpatico contributions to bassist Matt Ulery’s Loom. While his ardor for fusion and prog rock—where he busts out his digital keyboards—leaves me cold, his touch on piano is another story. He’s just dropped his second solo album, Wherever You’re Starting From (Woolgathering), an impressive extension of its 2009 predecessor A Thousand Words in forging a feathery jazz-classical hybrid with often weightless lines of gossamer beauty....
In a December interview with the music site Elevator, Chicago rapper Adot said he follows his gut when it comes to musical direction rather than adhering to a strict sound. Putting it more succinctly, he said, “My sound is lost.” Adot’s nonexplanation of his musical thumbprint does a good job of hinting at his aesthetic choices. His brand-new self-released EP Midnight contains hazy instrumentals that cloak entire tracks like a fog and sparse, bone-dry percussion that cuts through his cloudlike melodies like a lighthouse beam....
As a performer, comedian Dave Maher is a high-concept mischief-maker. During his recent six-week stint at the Annoyance, he spent one night intentionally shirking his responsibilities, setting up a microphone and announcing that anyone in the audience could get up on stage and say anything; he would do nothing but listen and ask questions. Another night he dressed as the devil and spent most of the show insulting the audience....
This three-man Oakland death-metal powerhouse formed in 2011 and quickly began releasing appetite-whetting demos and singles, but on their debut full-length, 2017’s Blood Offerings, they proved they had the energy for a sustained assault. Though their new second album, Mortal, treads most of the same boards as its predecessor, the band’s fury feels fresh and renewed. Necrot largely built their audience on the concert and festival circuit, where they earned a reputation as a ferocious live act....
7/2/2019: This article has been changed to correctly reflect the events that leaf Flipper to break up. We live in a time where the unhinged, nothing-to-lose noise-rock front man is a punk-rock celebrity. But without Will Shatter and Bruce Loose of Flipper, the world never would’ve experienced the antics of Pissed Jeans’ Matt Korvette, These Arms Are Snakes’ Steve Snere, or Metz’s Alex Edkins. Formed in San Francisco in 1979, Flipper were born of the same west-coast hardcore scene that produced Black Flag and the Circle Jerks, but rather than leaning into rage and aggression like many of their peers, they wrote weird, disturbing, slippery, sludgy noise punk....
In early March, Tim Kinsella and Jenny Pulse, aka eclectic, philosophical pop duo Good Fuck, fled the disastrous initial COVID-19 outbreak in their new home of Italy to return to their old home of Chicago—and since then, they’ve been working overtime hours on their music almost every day and releasing compelling work at a breakneck pace. The postindustrial jams and sophisticated ballads on their recent EPs and singles—Gossip Wolf counts eight from the past few months—ring with political rage and echo with nostalgic sadness, all filtered through the suspended quality of life in the amniotic sac of quarantine....
Last week Riot Fest organizers announced they were moving their annual multiday punk blowout from Humboldt Park to Douglas Park in North Lawndale, and tonight the festival has released a large portion of the lineup. The big names playing Douglas Park in September include 90s hitmakers No Doubt, indie kings Modest Mouse, and unclassifiable heavyweights Faith No More. Exciting, sure, but many of the names that have caught my eye are further down the bill, mixed in among perennial favorites (Gwar, Andrew W....
This week’s fantasy gig poster is only partly fantasy, given last week’s “spring” weather in Chicago. Andrea Hill Fitzgerald, a Chicago artist and teacher whose work recently appeared in the “Black Creativity” exhibition at the Museum of Science and Industry, created this poster with Prince in mind. Not everybody can make a fantasy gig poster, of course, but anybody with a few bucks to spare can support the out-of-work staffers at Chicago’s music venues—here’s our list of fundraisers....
Welcome to the Reader‘s morning briefing for Thursday January 28, 2016. More details emerge about Homan Square The Cook County Board of Commissioners approved a resolution asking the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate the alleged abuses at Homan Square. Police officers at the Chicago Police Department’s infamous facility can’t use the force’s central booking system, which means they can easily allegedly hold suspects for more than 72 hours without charges....
This story was originally published by ProPublica Illinois. In Hadden’s view, the race came down to whether residents felt their neighborhood would remain vibrant and affordable. The 14 candidates for mayor all agreed on one point: To confront these challenges, Chicago didn’t need anyone like Emanuel. Most tried to distance themselves from his record of school closings, Wall Street campaign contributions and insider ties, touting themselves as progressives. Moore first won office in a runoff in 1991....
It’s February 25, 1964, and four men in the prime of their lives are in a hotel room to celebrate history in the making. Cassius Clay (Eli Goree), soon to be Muhammad Ali, is riding the high of becoming the heavyweight champion of the world at just 22 years old. He’s joined by his spiritual mentor and political activist Malcolm X (Kingsley Ben-Adir), charismatic soul singer Sam Cooke (Leslie Odom Jr....
Q: I’m 64 years young, a musician, chubby, full head of hair, no Viagra needed, no alcohol, I don’t mind if you drink, smoker, yes I am. I am also faithful, loyal, and single for five years. No health issues, nada, zero, zilch. Not gay, not prejudiced against gays, pro-woman, Democrat, MASCULINE. Except I only like the younger women and women without tattoos. And I like them FEMININE. Ladies my age are a shopping bag of issues with children and ex-hubbies....
Courtesy Wikimedia Commons Wire performing in 2008 Reader staffers share stories that fascinate, alarm, amuse, or inspire us. • About how poverty harms the young brain? —Steve Bogira • This list of inquiries to the reference librarians at the New York Public Library? (“Why do 18th century English paintings have so many squirrels in them, and how did they tame them so that they wouldn’t bite the painter?”) —Aimee Levitt
Not long ago, the father and son who smoke what’s arguably the best barbecue in the city closed their doors in Bucktown and relocated to a former beauty salon on 43rd Street in Bronzeville. Most troubling of all is the restaurant’s regrettable policy of saucing all the barbecue before it comes to the table. By now most adults realize that reflexive saucing is emblematic of a problem. It shows a lack of confidence in the pit master’s product....
After a four-year hiatus between 2003 and 2007, Greek death-metal band Septic Flesh returned to the scene with a one-word name and a new, refined sound. Three members of the band—bassist-vocalist Spiros Antoniou, multi-instrumentalist Christos Antoniou, and drummer Fotis Benardo—had stayed active during those years as the Devilworx, in which they honed a sweeping symphonic palette. When Septicflesh made their triumphant return with Communion in 2008, they put the aesthetic they’d developed during their break to good use on the mothership....
Q: I’m a fortysomething gay male professor at a small college. I try hard not to get attracted to students, and usually succeed. But it’s tough to resist temptation when you’re surrounded by hot, smart, fun, horny young guys in a rural area with not many other options. Over the past several years, I’ve ended up having sex with several students. None of them were students I was currently teaching or likely to teach, and two had graduated....
Last month Resident Advisor spoke with Recording Industry Association of America vice president of communications Cara Duckworth Weiblinger about rumors that the organization would begin to track cassette sales. “It’s such a small number it doesn’t meet the threshold of sales requirements for us to report it,” Weiblinger said. I’ve been reading breathless think pieces about the cassette revival for five years or so, and the RA article appears to throw a blanket over that sort of enthusiasm, suggesting that it’s groundless....
