It was only a matter of time before I would watch Bridgerton. For one, I’m more hungry for new content now than ever, devouring nearly every series the second it drops. But Netflix’s latest offering was unique in the way TV watchers are passionately talking about it in a way that made it impossible to ignore the show even if I tried, in part because of what were promised to be steamy (and somewhat controversial) sex scenes....
Painting by Stella Rosen In honor of International Sex Workers’ Rights Day, the Sex Worker Outreach Project of Chicago (SWOP Chicago) is hosting an art show this Friday, March 6. Organizing sex workers has become a global effort. According to the Sex Workers’ Project report on sex worker stigma, “While the exchange of sex for money is a common practice around the world, sex workers are often treated as less than human, both in cultural attitudes and public policy ....
Q: Down to business: Christmas came and went, and every present I bought for my extraordinary husband could be opened in front of our children. He deserves better, and I have a particular gift in mind for Valentine’s Day. My husband has expressed an interest in sounding, something we’ve attempted only with my little finger. He seemed to enjoy it! But the last thing I want to do is damage his big beautiful dick....
This sounds insignificant, but the cast of Teacher of the Year messes up the Fibonacci sequence, a mathematical series in which each number is the sum of the previous two, then liberally incorporates the error into its plot. The mistake is indicative of the production’s poor attention to detail. The missteps distract from its wit, absurdity, and playfulness with comedy tropes, and it becomes impossible to suspend disbelief—a prerequisite given the show’s bizarre premise....
Nearly three years ago, the first call for submissions for the Empty Bottle book went out, and today the venue announced the details of the release party. Writer John E. Dugan has spent the past several years compiling people’s stories about Chicago’s best rock club into the 200-plus-page volume The Empty Bottle Chicago: 21+ Years of Music / Friendly / Dancing, published by local indie Curbside Splendor. The anecdotes inside come from Bottle staff and regulars as well as local musicians, artists, and writers—there’s even a tale from yours truly about the time my old dirtbag punk band almost accidentally burned the place to the ground....
At 5 PM Saturday, March 21, Governor J.B. Pritzker’s COVID-19 Executive Order No. 8, aka the Stay at Home order, took effect. Here’s a daily-ish journal of how Reader staff, our friends, family—and our pets—are spending our time. Unorthodox on Netflix, but only once a week, on Wednesdays. Like the old days, when we had to wait for things. Too Hot to Handle on Netflix, in more typical binge form. Fave quote: “Why’d I draw a fucking cat?...
QMy fiancee is extremely bothered by me looking at porn. It revolves around insecurities that have gotten so bad that even other girls bother her. (We can hardly go to a beach anymore.) I don’t have any weird relationship with porn—no addiction, no violent stuff, and I look pretty infrequently. She acknowledges that it’s a normal thing but is unable to get past it. She has gone through two counselors on her own, and we have gone through two couples counselors....
For most, the holidays mean food, family, festivities, and fits of reckless acquisition. But for ballet dancers, Thanksgiving is the last supper before the marathon of merrymaking that is The Nutcracker, which first flopped in 1892 Russia only to become a seasonal sensation in 1950s America. More than two dozen productions of the annual phenomenon exist in the Chicago area alone, ranging from extravagant and spectacular to DIY and Dance Along, ensuring that the magic of Christmas is broadly allied with the ritual of dance....
Everyone loves an old-fashioned “local mutant makes good” story. It’s the kind of feel-good journalism that reaffirms your faith in God and country—and in this case, in a shambolic artist of humble Hoosier stock who’s found a way to turn his chaotic responses to a world gone sterile into provocative and original street art, album covers, paintings, music, and more. He seemed locked in a tug-of-war: to create or to destroy, to channel spite and love and frustration and joy into self-expression or into a belligerent bender that got him kicked out of a bar....
In 1931, chewing gum entrepreneur William Wrigley Jr. gave an industrial building at 509 N. Union to the Salvation Army, which started collecting donated goods there in addition to housing Depression-era guys down on their luck. Ever since, it’s been the go-to place downtown for great deals on used furniture, clothing, and just about anything else, including stuff you don’t need but can’t resist. In the years before the Internet “disrupted” the resale business it was possible—as I once did—to pluck a Ceil Chapman or Mainbocher gown from a rack there for, say, $15....
The attack on Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life Synagogue last October that killed 11 people shined a light on the ugly truth that anti-Semitism in the U.S. and Europe has been sharply increasing in recent years. According to a survey published October 23 by the American Jewish Committee, nearly one in three American Jews avoid wearing or carrying objects that will identify them as Jewish, and the same percentage said that Jewish institutions with which they are affiliated had been the targets of anti-Semitic attacks and threats....
The day after the presidential election, distraught customers came to Women & Children First in Andersonville to commiserate with like-minded feminists and fellow readers. It wasn’t the first time this year, though, that the bookstore had been a place of comfort for the community. A week after the Pulse nightclub shooting in June, the store hosted You’re Being Ridiculous, a live-lit series. The emcee, Jeremy Owens, decided to begin the show not with a moment of silence, but by asking the audience to make as much noise as possible to honor the dead....
ARTIST: Ethan D’Ercole SHOW: The 13th Annual Barn Dance Apocalypse with the Golden Horse Ranch Band at Thalia Hall on Sat 2/3 MORE INFO: ethandercole.com
While tobacco use may be well-ingrained in our society, not every tradition has its roots in health-conscious habits. Tobacco use, over the years, has been found to be incredibly harmful to the body. It’s linked to dozens of cancers, diseases, and disorders, and in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s a greater concern than ever. The shift away from tobacco in recent decades has been truly remarkable. As of last year, only about 13% of the population of the United States still used tobacco, but tobacco use itself has been linked to a higher risk of contracting COVID-19 and increasing the chances that the victim will develop serious health complications because of it....
QLast summer I reconnected with a high school teacher I hadn’t seen for a year. We first met when I was 15, and I had nothing but respect for him and his intelligence. I also had a crush on him for the next four years. Fast-forward a year. He is sexting me and sending dick pics and wants to hook up. He has told me he loves me. I feel violated and tricked, like he was supposed to be someone I could trust and he didn’t respect that....
It’s a balmy May morning and the streets of downtown Springfield are quiet save for a stretch of Adams Street near the Old State Capitol. For more than a block, the sounds of Bob Dylan’s “The Times They Are A-Changin” can be heard blaring from speakers perched against the screen windows on the second floor of Springfield Furniture and Recycled Records. “When I turned 70 last November, I decided I wanted to relax a bit,” Mark says as he leans his elbows against a glass counter filled with old cassette tapes....
Serpentwithfeet’s recently released debut album, Soil (Secretly Canadian), is essentially one long, ecstatic warble. The R&B singer-songwriter genius also known as Josiah Wise sings with the most pronounced vibrato this side of Tracy Chapman; when he multitracks his high tenor and falsetto vocals such as on “Wrong Tree,” the result is an ocean of shimmering, yearning ululation. Set against electronic soundscapes reminiscent of Björk or FKA Twigs, his singing is both sensual and unearthly, floating and shaking beyond the usual limits of male and female voices to sketch out new, extravagant life forms (as you’d expect from an artist who calls himself Serpentwithfeet....
In the last week’s Hunger Games-style competition for survival, it was developers one, kids with special needs nothing. I call it Rezko Field cause it was once owned by Tony Rezko, the notorious wheeler-dealer who wound up doing prison time on corruption charges. In the case of Rezko and Ricketts fields, the city or developers have neglected to say how much public subsidies will be required. Be warned, Chicago, both projects are in tax increment financing districts, so it’s just a matter of time before you get stuck with a bill....
Next time you find yourself grumbling about the cold through chattering teeth, just remember: Chicago has the best weather in North America. Sure, 72 degrees and sunny may be the climatic equivalent of prime rib, but do you want to eat prime rib every day? Here in Chicago, we get to experience the entire meteorological buffet—sun, rain, wind, heat waves, polar vortices, wet falling leaves pasted to windshields, Snowmageddons, gloomy Aprils that refuse to turn into spring—without the aforementioned gristle of hurricanes and extreme flooding....
If you’re wondering how to make the most of your post-Thanksgiving weekend, here’s some of what we recommend: Fri 11/24: G Herbo, one of Chicago’s brightest hip-hop stars, plays the Portage Theater (4050 N. Milwaukee). The Reader‘s Leor Galil writes of Herbo’s latest album, Humble Beast: “For all the bloodstains splattered across cracked-cement corners and the lack of opportunity that weighs heavily on the people in his songs, Herbo always finds a way to inject a little bit of light into his narratives and instrumentals, no matter how dire or vitriolic....
