In late 2014, when Ryan Graveface launched Terror Vision, an imprint of his Graveface label specializing in horror-movie music, he’d already secured the rights to its new release: the score for a 1988 obscurity called 555. It’s the only movie from director Wally Koz, who used Ukrainian Village as the backdrop to his no-budget slasher. (Graveface now lives in Savannah, Georgia, but he spent years in Chicago.) Koz shot the movie on video, a popular choice for aspiring horror filmmakers after the rise of camcorder technology in the 1980s....

You don’t have to know anything about composer Richard Wagner to laugh your head off at this season’s collaboration between Lyric Opera and Second City, Longer! Louder! Wagner! And if you do, you’ll also have a great time. The talented folks behind this irreverent spoof (and on the stage) have managed to make it work for everyone. If you’re thinking Hershey Felder crossed with The Producers, you’ve got the vibe.

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. “We didn’t even have a name at the time,” Lery says. The club promoted the show in the Reader with an ad that simply said “Reggae band playing.” Lery claims they were the first band to ever play at the Cubby Bear, and that hundreds of people showed up....

This might go down in history as the year everything got completely fucked forever, but some people will also fondly recall it as the year when Sonic Boom finally released his glorious second LP, All Things Being Equal—three decades after his solo debut. Peter Kember, the multi-instrumentalist better known as Sonic Boom, made Spectrum way back in the innocent age of 1990, just before the dissolution of his long-running alt-rock outfit Spacemen 3....

The Higher Brothers found inspiration for their group’s name in air conditioners. Or, rather, the supplier of the air conditioners they know best: Haier, the Chinese consumer-electronics company that purchased General Electric’s home appliance unit for $5.6 billion in 2016. Likewise, the Higher Brothers—a four-person hip-hop group that formed in Chengdu, the capital of China’s Sichuan Province—aspire to be as globally dominant and renowned in their field as the company in their (very large) backyard....

Bike to Work Challenge The annual Bike to Work event now spans two weeks, rewarding commuters for putting down the Ventra card or the car keys and picking up a helmet and U-lock. Prizes will be awarded; more information can be found at bikecommuterchallenge.org. Through-Fri 6/29, kick-off rally (date to be rescheduled) Daley Plaza, 50 W. Washington, 312-346-3278, free. Dare2tri Tandem Bike Training Grab a buddy and hop on a bicycle built for two....

On May 1, 2013, during a talk at the City Club of Chicago, Cubs owner and chairman Tom Ricketts said that if the team wasn’t allowed to increase advertising signage in its ballpark, including a 5,700-square-foot video board in left field, the Cubs might bolt. Because, for decades—and even now, as the team prepares to contest its first World Series since 1945—the Cubs’ main draw has been Wrigley Field. Maureen Martino, executive director of the Lakeview East Chamber of Commerce, says that local business owners are excited about the changes: the combination of a winning team and redevelopment is going to bring in more people, and may, she says, answer the perennial question “How does the neighborhood survive when there’s no game, or during the winter?...

Courtesy of Frank Leone Frank Leone Last night 19-year-old rapper Frank Leone released his debut full-length, Enter Wild; it’s free, like most mixtapes today (except Drake’s latest), and it’s got the same lush, immersive quality that makes the best mixtapes resemble studio albums. But Leone calls Enter Wild an album, and the spirit and dynamics fit the definition. Leone produced all of Enter Wild on a laptop, recorded his vocals with a cheap microphone, and sought vocal contributions from artists overseas and in Chicago—local MCs Monster Mike and Saba show up, as does poet and activist Malcolm London....

Chicagoans is a first-person account from off the beaten track, as told to Anne Ford. This week’s Chicagoan is Adina P. Sella, 80, child of the Holocaust. “We ended up in a small village, where nobody knew we were Jewish except the people who housed us. One day we got the message that we had to flee because somebody had seen German troops nearby. We walked and walked and walked.

Ne-Hi formed in 2013 and subsequently became one of the most revered Chicago indie-rock bands of the decade. The four-piece called it quits in May 2019, but I imagine their reputation will only keep growing—partly because all four members continue to play in remarkable groups. Jason Balla always juggled a few projects while in Ne-Hi, chief among them postpunk trio Dehd, which he’s helped lead since 2016; their recent Flower of Devotion is one of the most celebrated indie albums of 2020....

On its website, Jefferson Park’s tiny the Gift Theatre states as one of its founding beliefs that “a play never closes until everyone who saw it stops thinking about it.” Which means maybe I should let the ensemble know that, thanks to me, their powerhouse 2018 production of Hamlet—directed by Monty Cole, with Daniel Kyri heading a mostly Black cast—is still running. How much do I owe them? Oh, that’s right—in their view, art is a sacred gift, from actor to audience....

During his first expedition to Africa for the Field Museum, in 1896, Carl Akeley, who would later be recognized as the father of modern taxidermy, collected the skins of more than 500 animals including a lion; impressed a sultan with his taxidermy skill; nearly died of dehydration in the Somali desert until a passing caravan revived him with a skin of rancid goat’s milk; and strangled a leopard with his bare hands after the cat pounced, knocked his gun from his hands, and grabbed his arm with its teeth....

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 Kind practiced on South Boulevard in Oak Park, sharing a space with legendary power-pop group Pezband. They bought a pink-painted mail truck at a local auction for $50 and started playing every gig possible: pool parties in Rolling Meadows, dances on downstate air force bases, suburban high school proms....

How do you solve a problem like Melissa Lorraine? I thought she was something special the first time I saw her onstage, just under five years ago, in the little upstairs space at the Royal George Theatre. She was performing Juliet, an evening-length monologue by Romanian writer András Visky. Based on his mother’s sufferings under communist rule, Juliet was harrowing. And Lorraine was vivid. By the time I saw her in another Visky work, Porn—also about Romanian despotism—I was ready to declare that “I’d sit through anything she chose to perform....

Jack Gillespie has what any teen or 20-something could only dream of: a lifetime supply of boba tea. Now, restaurants no longer need a Michelin star to see success. The key ingredient for a line out the door is a viral video. As new businesses pop up, owners are gravitating toward the “TikTok model,” intentionally creating unique storefronts and cutesy foods to garner attention online. But as whimsical cafes become more common, some have taken to TikTok to highlight the restaurants that aren’t as video-worthy—from mom-and-pop diners without social media pages to hidden family-owned stores lacking adequate advertising....

There are plenty of events happening this week—of the music, theater, and trivia variety. Here’s some of what we recommend: Wed 3/21: The weekly quiz night Trivia Mafia at North Bar (1637 W. North) comes with cheap drinks, popcorn, and pizza and is hosted by WBEZ’s Amy Wielunski. Also, you can catch some cool bands and comedy acts after the trivia. 7 PM, free

Playwright and MPAACT founding member Shepsu Aakhu was inspired to write this campus sexual assault drama by a conversation initiated by one of his two college-aged sons, “two Black males living a life completely free from my daily protection.” The fear he has on behalf of his family is palpable and, regrettably, well-sourced—conversations about the prevalence of misogyny and assault on universities often sidestep the reality that young Black men in this country still live under an unjust cloud of suspicion....

After two weekly mural-painting sessions, today Pitchfork finished announcing the lineup for its three-day festival in July. (The mural will be completed, of course, but the rest of the acts were made public in advance.) Headliners are the previously announced Tame Impala, fest veterans Fleet Foxes, and Lauryn Hill, who will perform all of 1998’s The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill on Sunday night. Whatever my reservations, I’ll likely be waiting outside Union Park before the gates open on Friday, hoping to get a good spot to see Melkbelly....

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. Narcos: Mexico on Netflix Fantastic Fungi on the Gene Siskel Film Center’s streaming site What we’re cooking: To make it yourself, you need: Sift in flour once the chocolate is melted and mix into a paste....