In lieu of a traditional funeral service, a young comedian asks for a livestreamed, no-holds-barred roast of honor to be performed by his colleagues and family at his wake. Complicating what could otherwise be a cathartic act of irreverence is the fact that the entire lineup is bitterly estranged, and his cause of death—suicide—makes it unclear if honoring wishes he made during an acute mental crisis is really healthy for anyone involved....

On Monday Chicago magazine published the blog post “Six Months After Laquan McDonald Fallout, Chicago’s Starkest Protest Music Is Surfacing,” a headline that might sound true to you if you’ve only been paying attention for the past couple weeks. Assistant editor Matt Pollock found his hook in two recent releases: Vic Mensa’s EP There’s Alot Going On and the video for Jamila Woods’s “Blk Girl Soldier.” Pollock wrote, “That the movement’s sharpest music is surfacing now makes sense....

“Got time for a sinner?” The film’s real star, however, is Pattinson as the sinister-yet-soft-voiced Reverend Preston Teagardin, who introduces himself via a domineering, overtly-righteous sermon that could only be given by someone with something incredibly blasphemous to hide. Teagardin’s devotion to faith is loosely tethered at best, yet he yields it—and his authority as a respected figure in the community—in order to terrorize young women. Unfortunately, due to the film’s vast ensemble, Pattinson spends the vast majority of the runtime underutilized....

Madhu Budhathoki knows about the viral urban legend known as the Momo challenge. A customer at his University Village restaurant told him about the creepy bird lady who supposedly appears on the screens children plant their faces to and ultimately encourages them to kill themselves. At the Momo World, they’re using commercial dumpling wrappers, which results in a durable dumpling unlike those at Chiya Chai Cafe, the city’s other momo specialist, where the wrappers are more delicate but tend to tear, making desirable qualities like juiciness a bit of a gamble with each individual dumpling....

Very few bands can claim to be equally revered by lovers of psych, mod, ska, punk, funk, R&B, disco, glam, and bubblegum pop, and had a racially integrated lineup in the turbulent 60s—and had hits. The Equals were such a band, though sadly in the States they were known mostly as a footnote to Eddy “Electric Avenue” Grant’s career. My gateway to their music was their monstrously mod-fuzzed “I Can See but You Don’t Know,” which I heard on a psych comp in the 90s, and there was no going back....

WCIU, the channel best known for airing daytime court television and reruns of The King of Queens, is kicking off the New Year with something a little different. Instead of relying on a 2 Broke Girls marathon to bring in viewers before midnight, the local station will air Chicago’s One Night Stand-Up, a showcase of local comics hosted by one of the city’s most visible stand-ups, Rebecca O’Neal. “I’m really happy that the lineup for the pilot episode was good, so that people can see what the Chicago comedy scene has to offer,” O’Neal says....

Whether you’re on the vast endless seas or stuck in your own living room day after day, the sameness of routine juxtaposed with the creeping sense of danger can do a number on your mind. Two current online offerings from Chicago theaters—Theatre in the Dark‘s live radio-play adaptation of Moby-Dick and Strawdog‘s anthology of short (mostly) solo video pieces, How Do We Navigate Space?—address that paradox. On the other hand, a scene between Ahab and Pip, the Black cabin boy, allows us a rare glimpse into Ahab’s vulnerability and desire for connection—but only on his terms....

The city introduced its first ever public art plan this week, in conjunction with a two-day symposium at the Cultural Center, and as part of the Year of Public Art. Consider increasing the types of projects covered by the city Percent for Art Ordinance (which mandates that a portion of the cost of any new government building be spent on artwork for that project). 2. Establish clear and transparent governmental practices (for example, improving permit procedures)....

Jeremy wants a girlfriend more than anything, but can’t get one. So naturally, he hides in his sister Bridget’s closet with a rope, planning to end it all. He changes his mind at the last minute—and goes for the razor instead, just as Bridget opens the door. He survives, but Bridget (who is avowedly proud of her single status) decides (to quote Todd Rungren), “We Gotta Get You a Woman.” So she basically tricks Chloe, a young woman she meets in a supermarket, into signing a contract agreeing to become Jeremy’s lover....

Welcome to the Reader‘s morning briefing for Wednesday, October 25, 2017. Women want to open a dialogue about sexual harassment in the Illinois State Capitol More than 150 women in the Illinois State Capitol, from lobbyists to lawmakers, have signed a letter detailing the sexual harassment they’ve experienced in Springfield political circles. The goal of the letter is start an open dialogue about the subject and help assure women it’s OK to come forward....

Summer always seems conspicuously late to the party. Especially in this city, where sunshine is understood to be a much-needed balm for winter wounds, each relatively mild day is precious. So by the time the official start to the season finally rolls around—this year on June 21—we Chicagoans have already made significant headway on our warm-weather to-dos. Hence the Reader‘s Summer Guide now, in mid-May, when the possibilities are endless, and the forecast, more metaphorically than meteorologically, is nothing but blue skies....

The wonderful thing about Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest is that it’s escapism in its purest form. It makes no grand generalizations about society. The problems are ridiculous. The big fight at the end of Act II is over the consumption of muffins. A professor told me once that the competitive muffin eating symbolized sexual greed, but I think people who try to find that sort of significance in Earnest are looking at it all wrong....

Gossip Wolf is routinely bowled over by Chicago’s Spektral Quartet—not only do these supreme string shredders totally rip it up, but they also chuck stereotypes about classical music right out the conservatory window! This month, Spektral fire up their 2019-2020 season, entitled “Totally Obsessed,” which showcases a ludicrously wide range of creativity. On Wednesday, August 14, at Constellation, they perform a totally far-out piece from longtime collaborator LJ White that’s based on the Shaggs’ 1969 outre-rock classic “My Pal Foot Foot....

Chocolate meat is on the menu every day at Albany Park’s Subo Filipino Kitchen. If you happen to jump off at the Brown Line’s terminus with a taste for dinuguan, the thick, fortifying, iron-rich blood stew of the Philippines—sanguineous pork butt, snout, and stomach lit up with an acidic spark of rice vinegar—you need only turn your anemic bones a half block south on Kimball Avenue. If you have an even more particular hankering for dinuguan Ilocano, a drier, less gravylike regional variant, the cooks can do that too, but only if you’re having a party....

Ten former students of Northwestern University professor Alec Klein have issued a public letter accusing the award-winning journalist and Medill Justice Project director of sexual misconduct ranging from inappropriate remarks to unwanted touching. In the letter, addressed to Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications dean Bradley J. Hamm, the women said, “We are writing to tell you that Alec Klein’s time is up. His harassing behavior. His predatory behavior....

Kanye West is a blizzard. He’s unpredictable, he seems to have little regard for social conventions, and he can send hundreds of thousands of otherwise rational citizens into hysterics—in the process, he worms his way into the thoughts of people who wouldn’t otherwise be affected by anything he does. The debut of Kanye’s Yeezy Season 3 fashion line at Madison Square Garden last Thursday doubled as the premiere of his seventh album, The Life of Pablo....

Chicago hip-hop thrives and continues to be special because of people like rapper, singer, saxophonist, and producer Sen Morimoto. Born in Kyoto, Japan, Morimoto grew up in western Massachusetts, where he learned to play saxophone under the tutelage of Charles Neville of the Neville Brothers, and during his teenage years he joined the brazen outre hip-hop collective Dark World. As much as anyone else in the local scene, Morimoto understands that Chicago rappers don’t need to bend their voices to fit the stereotypes outsiders have of the city’s hip-hop artists—namely, that they either make drill or sound like they could be friends with Chance, a lame bifurcation that ignores a swath of challenging, thoughtful, and eye-opening music....

Minnesota-based folk-blues guitarist and songwriter Charlie Parr has had a long and prolific career, though he’s flown much farther under the radar than he would in a just world. He plays fluently and soulfully on resonator and 12-string guitars with a fingerpicking style in the tradition of John Fahey and Leo Kottke, and he writes lyrics with a novelist’s attention to the diamonds in the dust, creating melancholy but compassionate scenes in songs such as “In a Scrapyard Bus Stop,” “Love Is an Unraveling Bird’s Nest,” and “Cheap Wine....

courtesy of the artist David Berkman Pianist, bandleader, and composer David Berkman has been one the most interesting, gracefully swinging figures on New York’s jazz scene for a couple of decades, but his lack of flash and his tight fit within the postbop tradition (although he regularly pushes against the seams) have made him easy to overlook. There’s nothing wild or weird about him—he’s just a great musician, which is sometimes not enough when it comes to attracting attention....

Last June the comedy open mike at Cole’s Bar in Logan Square—widely considered to be the best comedy open mike in the city—celebrated a decade of consistent weekly shows. Due to stay-at-home orders across the state, Cole’s is currently closed and cohosts Alex Kumin and Carly Kane know they are unlikely to celebrate the mike’s 11th year on the stage in the back of their favorite dive bar. But they’ve found a new outlet for gathering the Chicago comedy community together to try out new material in front of eager audience members on Wednesday nights: Zoom....