Eyes of a Thief Get set for the Chicago Palestine Film Festival, whose 14th edition opens tonight with the Oscar entry Eyes of a Thief at Gene Siskel Film Center. We’ve also got week two of the Chicago Latino Film Festival, and if you check the week-one roundup you can find other films that are repeating this week. Over on the B Side, we’ve got a big roundup of the Chicago Internatonal Movies & Music Festival, with 15 new reviews....

There’s plenty to do in Chicago this week. And plenty to eat, too. Here’s some of what we recommend: Wed 9/27: Panic! at the Honky Tonk has one more night left in its run, playing at the Annoyance Theatre (851 W. Belmont). The Reader‘s Steve Heisler praised the musical sketch revue for its artful use of song and comedy to lambast, “racist, sexist, and other -ist parasites. The cast calls to mind the tokenism of a college brochure, but this diversity is key to showing how similar the issues are faced by blacks, queers, Hispanics, etc, alike....

In the wake of today’s repeal of the Cook County soda tax, I’d like to give a shout-out to the Cook County Board commissioner who’s been speaking the most sensibly on the issue of the county’s need to pay its bills. In this case it was more like, Omigod, soda costs more! Gatorade, too?! That’s an outrage! But we’re apparently incapable of imposing a graduated income tax—with the added revenues helping to fund county operations....

Rich Saal/AP Photos The Trib thinks Governor Rauner is so dreamy. Do you remember your first serious crush? You couldn’t think straight, and your tongue got so thick you could hardly get a sentence out without coughing and clearing your throat. It’s sort of the way the Tribune has sounded since it swooned over Bruce Rauner. “They get, ahem, 13 paid holidays a year.” It was an editorial that might have ended, “Take me....

As he nears the 50th anniversary of his first recording session, Wee Willie Walker is hotter than ever. Long the top soul singer in the Twin Cities, Walker is basking in the acclaim that greeted his 2015 album, If Nothing Ever Changes (Little Village Foundation), which was nominated for a Blues Music Award. On Saturday he and his band We “R” will heat up the stage at Petrillo. Produced by veteran blues harpist Rick Estrin and guitarist Kid Andersen, the album has given his career a welcome boost....

Street View is a fashion series in which Isa Giallorenzo spotlights some of the coolest styles seen in Chicago.

Since 1959, when the Isley Brothers began their long string of hits with “Shout,” they’ve been a reliable R&B institution. They’re one of the few acts to break the top 50 on the pop charts at least once per decade from the 50s though the 90s—not even James Brown could make that claim, and he was at least as prolific. And during the period from 1969 till ’83, the Isleys really seemed to hit their stride....

courtesy of the artist Friendship by Frances F. Denny While assembling “Feminism (n.): Plural,” her new show for Woman Made Gallery, Claudine Isé, the gallery’s new executive director, used Roxane Gay’s discerning essay collection Bad Feminist as her inspiration. The result is a display of work by 35 artists that encompasses various feminist themes. I recently interviewed Isé about the show and her thoughts on the role of feminism in the art world....

Activists calling for a code of conduct in non-Equity theaters have declined to meet with Darrell W. Cox, the actor and artistic director accused of misconduct at Profiles Theatre, unless he apologizes for his actions. Meanwhile, theater professionals in Chicago and other cities continue to respond to the investigation. Emily Vajda and Harmony France, two actresses who had worked at Profiles, posted personal essays on their respective blogs about their own experiences at the theater....

Gossip Wolf conceded that Cassette Store Day was “kinda silly” when it debuted in 2013, but it’s still going strong—this year it’s on October 8! Shannon Candy, guitarist for punk confectioners Strawberry Jacuzzi, sure feels this retail holiday’s boom-box vibe—she’s started a label called Bernice Records and Tapes, and her first release is a local cassette compilation! Super Roar: Volume One features 18 tracks from Chicago indie acts, including Gossip Wolf faves Swimsuit Addition and Bleach Party....

It was Halloween when the Chicago City Council gave final approval to the deal that will allow the Obama Presidential Center to be built in Jackson Park, and it’ll be Valentine’s Day when a federal district court judge hears oral arguments on a lawsuit trying to bring that deal to a halt. POP suggests that other south-side locations would be less disruptive and costly (taxpayers will be on the hook for road reroutes and other infrastructure expenses that the city has estimated at $175 million), and would bring greater benefit to local residents and businesses....

2018 On November 15 Dariana Ruiz woke before dawn to find an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent standing over her bed and shining a flashlight in her face. The ICE officer guided the 18-year-old into the kitchen of the suburban Elmhurst home where she lived with her mom, Carla, her dad, Kikin, and her eight-year-old sister, Viviana. Her dad sat at the table across from a cup of hot coffee and a slice of bread, his hands cuffed behind his back and another ICE agent by his side....

Adam Seger/Facebook Adam Seger in Panama Want to work on your tiki drink technique? Adam Seger of Hum fame will be doing a class at Lush Wine & Spirits/West Town next Wednesday, March 25. For 40 bucks you get a couple of drinks to try and the chance to concoct your own. Everyone will be calling you Trader Justin or Sailor Ashley in no time! Call 312-666-6900 to reserve your spot....

Beyoncé’s album Lemonade, released in April, includes imagery of African-American women in flowing white dresses that recalls a landmark film made 25 years ago—Daughters of the Dust (1991), written and directed by Julie Dash, is a vivid tone poem focused on a family of Gullah women living on the Sea Islands in South Carolina in the year 1902 and contemplating a move to the American mainland. For those who’ve seen Daughters of the Dust and Lemonade, the parallels are noticeable....

With text drawn in part from court transcripts, this complex, multilayered piece of theater chronicles the case of Matthew Shepard, the gay University of Wyoming student whose 1998 murder paved the way for passage of federal hate crimes legislation. But the play also dramatizes the experience of its creators, playwright Moisés Kaufman and members of his Tectonic Theater Project, who traveled to Laramie, Wyoming, after Shepard’s death to interview residents of the traumatized town....

Vic Spencer opens his new single, “Love for Vic,” with the lines “Vic Spencer the worst rapper from Chicago / They want me out the city, as far as the Chi go.” If you follow Spencer on Twitter, you may have noticed his proclivity for, um, starting shit—and the trash talk that often comes back at him as a result. Sometimes he ends up kicking off a good-natured, playful back-and-forth, like when he provoked Lupe Fiasco into a sort of freestyle battle on Twitter early last year—that is, insofar as anyone can freestyle on a platform that allows users to self-edit before dropping the hammer....

Wardruna’s fifth full-length was due last June, but due to the pandemic, the Norwegian neo-prog-folk band bumped the release date of Kvitravn to this January. Though Wardruna were born out of Norway’s black-metal scene—two of the band’s three founders, Einar Selvik and Gaahl, are veterans of the influential Gorgoroth—they’re also inspired by Norse folk traditions, so their sound isn’t expressly metal. I wouldn’t say it’s not metal at all, though: the emotional scope of the music makes it feel like metal, but because it’s played on traditional Norse instruments, it also has an organic vibe that feels steeped in ancient history....

Botanically, the eggplant is a berry, but culinarily it resides firmly in vegetable territory. That makes it challenging to incorporate into a dessert, says Beacon Tavern pastry chef Kevin McCormick, who was tasked with just that by Kymberli DeLost (the Gage, Acanto, the Dawson). “It doesn’t have a lot of flavor on its own, but you can manipulate it in a million different ways,” McCormick says. “Every manipulation gives us a different quality of the eggplant itself....

More than four years have passed since Chicago’s last teachers’ strike, but in many ways it seems as if time has stood still, what with teachers recently voting to authorize another strike as soon as October 11. Now that I’m sufficiently depressed about the state of things, let’s break them down, starting with the mayor’s fabrication. If you add the cost of living raises to the step and lane hikes, then, yes, the mayor’s offering teachers a 13 percent raise....

Scandinavian quintet Atomic first convened in 2000, and even after nearly two decades, they never have trouble generating material in-house. Saxophonist and clarinetist Fredrik Ljungkvist, trumpeter Magnus Broo, pianist Håvard Wiik, bassist Ingebrigt Håker Flaten, and drummer Hans Hulbœkmo (who replaced original drummer Paal Nilssen-Love in 2014) are all fluent improvisers in free and structured settings. Both Wiik and Ljungkvist write involving, multipart compositions that reconcile the contrasting energy levels, rhythmic imperatives, and structural ambitions of contemporary classical music with the post-bebop jazz continuum....