Chicagoans is a first-person account from off the beaten track, as told to Anne Ford. This week’s Chicagoan is . . . Anne Ford! April Abbott, ex-matchmaker: “Women would come in and say, ‘Oh, I’m so attractive, I spend so much time on myself, I’m so well-read, and I work out every day,’ and I would want to say, ‘Go fuck yourself.’ ” Bettie Luciu, waxer: “If you’re trying to apply the wax to the inner labia, you have to take your finger and move the clit away....

From the mid-80s till the mid-90s, country music went through what Robbie Fulks calls an “integrity explosion.” As if to make up for the middle-of-the-road Urban Cowboy era directly preceding those years, a bunch of traditionalists and iconoclasts suddenly began coming through the door, including Marty Stuart, Steve Earle, and Dwight Yoakam. Even better, these artists got legit airplay, massively expanding their reach rather than remaining cult heroes left out in the cold....

Don’t be fooled by this film’s quirky title and robust comedic cast—Emma Seligman’s debut feature Shiva Baby is in the running for the most anxiety-inducing, claustrophobic film experience of the year. Shiva Baby is adapted from Seligman’s thesis film from NYU, which premiered at SXSW in 2018. The seven-minute short also features Sennott as the lead—along with the formidable sense of tension at the film’s core—but Seligman is able to develop ideas planted in the initial short and explore new territory in the feature-length version....

T.J. Miller, who trained as a comic in Chicago, is being accused of sending a transphobic email to current Chicagoan Danielle Soltzman, who runs the movie review site Solzy at the Movies. In early August, she wrote Miller to politely point out the distasteful term “Tranny Dumpster Sex” embedded in his website’s metadata. Then she found herself at the receiving end of a missive from the self-proclaimed absurdist. After receiving the email, “That day, if not the next day, [Miller] shared one of my older photos on Facebook saying, ‘This person’s my hero,’” Solzman says....

Tamale-Spiced Tomalley

Bob Englehart This is one of the most effective editorial cartoons I’ve ever seen. It was drawn by Bob Englehart of the Hartford Courant. Its message isn’t open to misinterpretation, or even to interpretation. It’s just a statement of how things are. The fiercest liberal will smack his lips and think, exactly! So will the fiercest reactionary.

You can’t tell the story of Chicago hardcore and punk without talking about Los Crudos. Initially active from 1991 till ’98 and sporadically reunited since 2006, the Pilsen four-piece wielded hardcore’s lunging rhythms, ricocheting guitars, and furious battle cries on behalf of the downtrodden and disenfranchised, whether close to home or around the world—they spoke not only to the Latino population in Pilsen and to the broader punk community but also to the poor, people of color, immigrants, and sexual minorities everywhere....

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. Older strips are archived here.

When he released his 2009 LP Never Better (Rhymesayers), Minneapolis MC and rock musician P.O.S (born Stefon Alexander) had already made a name for himself on his own and with Doomtree, his seven-member hip-hop collective and record label. But Never Better announced a new P.O.S—one who had taken his production and lyricism to another level. Its aggressive beats, huge hooks, dexterous flow, and fully articulated punk-rock attitude made it one of the best and most unique rap albums of the year....

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 A side on the Artistics’ second Okeh 45, a smooth and snappy Sam Cooke-ish groover called “Get My Hands on Some Lovin’,” became a minor local hit in ’64 (and it can’t have hurt that it had been cowritten and originally recorded by Marvin Gaye)....

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 duo gigged around the midwest, frequently visiting Michigan, and after their split in the mid-60s I can find little further evidence of Len’s career—in 1969 he did make an interesting solo LP for Atco, which mixes up weird country-rock and straightforward crooner pop....

In an interesting experiment this weekend, two of the city’s iconic arts organizations have joined forces. For the first time ever, the Joffrey Ballet is dancing at Symphony Center, accompanied by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Ravel’s Pavane for a Dead Princess provides a brief orchestral interlude before the dancers reappear in Commedia, choreographed by Christopher Wheeldon to music from Stravinsky’s Pulcinella. The original ballet was composed in 1920 (for the legendary Russian impresario Sergei Diaghilev, with sets and costumes by Picasso), but it was inspired by, and sounds a lot like, music of the 18th century....

In its mix of essentialist storytelling and blatant artifice, Jungle sometimes recalls the 1940s work of low-budget director Edgar G. Ulmer (Bluebeard, Strange Illusion, Ruthless). Ulmer was shrewd in his use of lighting and offscreen space to cover up his lack of resources—he called on viewers to imagine the world outside the frames, thus making the world of the film as big as anything the viewer can imagine. Ulmer’s minimalist aesthetic also encouraged viewers to focus on more cerebral themes....

Rene Marban The O’My’s As long as you’re reading this before 8:30 PM on Thursday, June 25, there’s still time to make it to the Metro for our Best of Chicago concert featuring Mike Golden & Friends and local “rock ‘n’ soul” band—and Chance the Rapper collaborators—the O’My’s. Then again, maybe you have a toothache or your elderly grandmother is visiting from Tulsa or you accidentally stapled yourself to the carpet in your living room—in that case, you can check out a live stream of the whole thing right here....

There are plenty of shows, films, and other events happening this week. Here’s what our critics say about what we recommend: Tue 4/17-Wed 4/18: “The concept for [Eric] San’s Art Institute performances grew out of a series he hosted in Montreal in which he invited fans to sketch or write in public while he spun cosmic, ambient-leaning original compositions he had made with synths, strings, and, yes, turntables. The songs appeared on his first non-sample-based record, last year’s Music to Draw to: Satellite (Arts & Crafts), and he devised a unique interactive live show....

In 1986, Julie Smolyansky’s parents brought commercial kefir to the U.S. when they launched Lifeway Foods. More than 30 years later, Smolyansky—now CEO of the company—has published The Kefir Cookbook, a collection of recipes that incorporate the tart cultured milk—along with one for making kefir itself. It’s a memoir as much as a cookbook: she’s written her family’s history in the personal stories that accompany each of the 100 recipes....

The last time two tycoons faced off head-to-head in a Battle of the Billionaires, Donald Trump clotheslined Vince McMahon and shaved his head at Wrestlemania 23. Illinois’s gubernatorial version of the Battle of the Billionaires? It promises to remain a war of words—and money—lots and lots of money. Loading… What Rauner didn’t mention is that while he was chairman of the private equity firm GTCR before becoming governor in 2014, he invested in several of his company’s offshore investment pools registered in the Cayman Islands....

ARTIST: Daniel MacAdam SHOW: Future Islands at Empty Bottle on Wed 10/4 MORE INFO: crosshairchicago.com

This week, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago returns to the Harris with a new work by company member and Chicago native Rena Butler in its fall program, Forge Forward. This, That, and the Third, Butler’s second work for the company, was inspired by the concept of code-switching. “I’ve had to do that my whole life,” says Butler, who attended a private Catholic school in Beverly. “I went to speech classes to clean up my vernacular to be comfortable in that predominantly white school....

Before Wild vaulted her to fame and fortune, Cheryl Strayed offered literally free advice. She wrote (for free) the “Dear Sugar” column at the Rumpus from 2010-’12. Nia Vardalos of My Big Fat Greek Wedding fame decided that the columns, which were published in book form under the title Tiny Beautiful Things, were stageworthy. It’s hard to imagine this show working as well as it does without Janet Ulrich Brooks as Strayed....