Few bands embody the aesthetic of alt-rock as thoroughly as Throwing Muses. Founded in Rhode Island in 1983 by teenage stepsisters Kristin Hersh and Tanya Donelly, the group made moody songs rife with sharp-tongued lyrics, postpunk guitars, and psych-folk vocal harmonies. Guitarists Hersh and Donelly traded lead vocals and shared the songwriting, and after adding bassist Leslie Langston and drummer David Narcizo, the band recorded a demo that eventually landed them a deal with London indie 4AD—the label’s first American signing....

Leor Galil, Reader staff writer Cross Record, Be Good Once the snow finally started falling this winter, I had the sudden desire to throw on this LP by former Chicagoan Emily Cross. These enchanting, occasionally foreboding folk and drone tracks evoke what’s magical about a cold winter night, and since the season has only just started, I figure they’ll be a good way to keep my spirits high through the low temperatures....

And then there were three. Beijing-based Ofo, one of the four vendors participating in Chicago’s far-south-side pilot of dockless bike-share (“DoBi”) technology, is taking its marbles and going home. The Beijing-based company, which deployed 50 wheel-lock-only cycles when the test launched in early May, announced today that it is dropping out because the city hasn’t raised the cap for those kind of bikes. On June 29 the Chicago Department of Transportation changed the DoBi permitting guidelines to allow companies to release 350 “lock-to” cycles, which have built-in cable locks or U-locks for securing them to a fixed object....

Leonard C. Goodman is a Chicago criminal defense attorney and co-owner of the newly independent Reader. The problem for the victims is that a deep dive into the Epstein-Maxwell network would implicate not just powerful men like Bill Clinton, who took at least 26 trips on Epstein’s private jet—nicknamed the Lolita Express—but also untouchable U.S. intelligence officials like Michael Hayden, who was CIA director in 2007 when Acosta was told to “leave [Epstein] alone....

Friday, July 19 1:00-1:40 AACM Great Black Music EnsembleGreen Stage 1:45-2:25 MikeRed Stage 2:30-3:15 Standing on the CornerGreen Stage 2:45-3:30 Rico NastyBlue Stage 3:20-4:10 ValeeRed Stage 4:00-4:45 GrapetoothBlue Stage 4:15-5:10 Sky FerreiraGreen Stage 5:15-6:10 Earl SweatshirtRed Stage 5:15-6:00 Julia HolterBlue Stage 6:15-7:15 Pusha-TGreen Stage 6:30-7:15 Soccer MommyBlue Stage 7:25-8:25 Mavis StaplesRed Stage 7:45-8:30 LowBlue Stage 8:30-9:50 HaimGreen Stage Saturday, July 20 1:00-1:40 Lala LalaGreen Stage 1:45-2:25 Ric WilsonRed Stage...

“Streetwear in Chicago” evokes such names as Leaders 1354, Jugrnaut, Joe Freshgoods of Fat Tiger Workshop, and Virgil Abloh. These brands and individuals carry the torch internationally for Chicago streetwear, but while the titans are making their waves, there is a bubbling undercurrent of designers whose creative work brings definition to the city’s fashion scene. It is in that undercurrent that Amanda Harth, founder of the online fashion resource Runwayaddicts, stumbled upon the inspiration for the Museum of Streetwear....

Welcome to the Reader‘s morning briefing for Tuesday, November 8, 2016. Happy Election Day, and remember to vote! Report: Nearly a quarter of Illinois teachers miss more than ten school days a year Approximately 23.5 percent of public school teachers in Illinois were absent for more than ten days of the school year, according to the Illinois Report Card, and according to research used by the U.S. Department of Education, absenteeism at that rate negatively affects student performance....

Welcome to the Reader‘s morning briefing for Friday, June 24, 2016. Woman stabbed to death on Red Line train in the middle of the day A woman was killed after being stabbed in the neck on a Red Line train Thursday afternoon, the first homicide on the CTA since 2013. The stabbing, believed by the Chicago Police Department to be an act of random violence, occurred at the 47th Street stop, which trains were skipping after the incident....

Regardless, when the DOJ does eventually release its report, it could find that there were no “patterns or practices” of civil rights abuses within CPD, thus clearing the department. Or, as it has in 27 other jurisdictions—including Los Angeles, New Orleans, and Baltimore—it could find that CPD has indeed been systematically violating citizens’ civil rights through the use of excessive force, discriminatory policing, unlawful search and seizure, or other practices....

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Jeff Elstone Nika Roza Danilova, aka Zola Jesus I was pretty surprised the first couple of times I listened to Taiga (Mute), the latest album from Wisconsin native Nika Roza Danilova (aka Zola Jesus). Her voice remains as dramatic and forceful as ever, with a strong thread of viscous darkness, but her songs trade in her old goth introversion for something bright, larger-than-life, and, at times, seriously hooky. Some of the songs shoot for wide-angle pop, propelled by big electronic-dance-music beats and the singer’s even bigger, brassier voice, replete with bittersweet, soaring harmony overdubs and phrasing that clearly borrows some of its swoops and curlicues from modern R&B....

Director J.J. Abrams leans in hard on our nostalgia for the previous Star Wars trilogies with the ninth entry in the saga, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. If a creature was cute, they make an appearance. If a Jedi Master was wise, their voice will most assuredly emanate from the Dolby Atmos speaker above you. The Rise of Skywalker is certainly fun and moves at an especially zippy pace in its first half....

On December 1, 2015, school superintendent Diane Cepela called her son Matt at Central DuPage Hospital in west-suburban Winfield, where the 24-year-old was undergoing treatment for crippling clinical depression. She’d found a long-term residential home near Los Angeles that she thought he’d like, one offering nontraditional therapy options like acupuncture and surfing. When Matt didn’t return her messages, Diane felt a pang of motherly instinct: something was wrong. Diane characterizes Matt, who lived with his family in Shorewood, just west of Joliet, as a highly intelligent young man with a “gentle heart” who was passionate about computer programming, music, the Blackhawks, and politics (particularly Bernie Sanders)....

TOP Miller and Karczewski are designing sets and lights (respectively) for Mercury Theater Chicago’s Spamalot, one of at least four fall shows with design crews that are exclusively femme, nonbinary, or gender nonconforming. (Miller just earned a Jeff nomination for her set for First Folio Theatre’s production of All Childish Things, while Karczewski is nominated for her lighting design for A Chorus Line with Porchlight Music Theatre.) After 25 years in the business, Weber has thoughts....

The covers of Main 13, the official magazine of the Chicago Police Department published between 1921 and 1923, seem to allude, at first glance, to simpler times for Chicago cops. The glossy magazine ran winsome illustrations of a traffic cop escorting smiling, well-dressed children across the street, a patrolman supervising a game of marbles, and a mounted officer delivering a hot meal to a widow on Christmas. Only the cover of the November 1922 issue depicting a copper shooting into dark alley hints at the dangers police faced nearly 100 years ago....

It’s better to be wrong than to be shallow, but I’m going to admit here to having not thought deeply enough about the Chicago Tribune‘s endorsement of Gary Johnson for president. It might be as cunning as it is ridiculous. What we don’t know, I told Stump, is whether Trump would’ve been hurt more—and Clinton helped more—if the Tribune hadn’t played games and had simply endorsed her. This editorial would’ve changed fewer minds—we’re assuming here for the sake of argument that editorial pages have the power to change any at all—but Clinton would’ve gained a whole vote from each of them....

Marionette-like figures in colorful, exaggerated costumes dance on and off the stage, opening little doors to reveal light boxes with wreaths, dolls, and other tokens of Christmastime before Mary Zimmerman’s transcendent adaptation of this Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale even begins. It’s a signal that there’s something special behind closed doors and, indeed, this production is a delight from start to finish, all the more amazing for the fact that nary a word is uttered....

Reba Cafarelli is managing director for Third Coast Percussion, working primarily in booking, marketing, and day-to-day operations. The ensemble is incorporated as a nonprofit, and it has a board of directors and three full-time employees in addition to its four members. In May 2022 Third Coast Percussion plans to release its next album, which will include Perspective, a seven-movement piece created on commission in 2020 by footwork innovator Jlin. As told to Philip Montoro The primary role that I play with Third Coast Percussion is booking....

Michael Gebert Chalkboard over the kitchen pass at Vera Two of my favorite people to talk to about the restaurant business are Liz and Mark Mendez, co-owners of the West Loop Spanish wine bar Vera. They are thoughtful, unafraid to be frank about the ups and downs—plus they run a place small enough that they can more easily put their ideas into practice. The Mendezes’ current object of much thought and debate can be read on the chalkboard over the pass in their kitchen—terroir, the French concept of wine (usually) being an expression of the place, climate, and soil that it’s grown in, which can be undeniable (you really can taste chalk in wines grown in limestone) or marketing-speak designed to justify a high price....

Welcome to the Reader‘s morning briefing for Tuesday, March 29, 2016. State budget mess could lead to longer lines on Election Day Hopefully Illinois will have a state budget by November 8, but the state is in danger of missing important deadlines for a new election law allowing same-day registration and more early voting. The delays would make updating voter registration information or registering new voters on Election Day a very long process....