Lavender “tastes like potpourri, like soap,” says Three Floyds Brewpub chef Pat Niebling. “It’s not great. I can’t wait to not use it again.” In fact, the scientific name for lavender comes from the Latin word for “wash”—the ancient Romans used the flowers as a bath scent, among other things. Who’s next: Niebling has challenged Tony Lomanto of Kuma’s Corner to create a dish with spotted dick, a British sponge pudding with dried fruit....
The pandemic has kept many of us from leaving the house, but honestly, why would you want to? There is too much TV to watch to go outside. Outside doesn’t have Hulu or Netflix or HBO Max. To encourage you to stay home and stay safe, comedian/writer Rima Parikh and myself (two people who watched just as much TV in the before times) will be diving deep into the shows we’re loving or lovingly hate-watching, social-distance-style, over Google chat....
While the dazzling array of Baja-inspired seafood dishes at Rick Bayless’s fantastic Leña Brava can be a bit overwhelming, next door at its sister cervecería/taqueria things couldn’t be simpler. Oddly, you can only order one of these beers when you order food. The rest have to be ordered separately at the bar, which is the only confounding aspect of this unusually straightforward and focused establishment in Empire Bayless.
As this year’s legislative session ground to an end last week, it appeared Republicans have decided the best way to reelect Governor Bruce Rauner is to temporarily abandon their war on unions, vote with Democrats to pass a budget, and aid victims of sexual harassment. Only it’s not really balanced, as it depends on the sale of a building—the Thompson Center—that’s not been sold and pension payments savings that have yet to be realized....
Give thanks, stuff yourself, and then venture out for a break from the fam. Here are the Thanksgiving activities we recommend: Furious Spoon In the spirit of giving, this Pilsen location of the ramen shop will be donating Thanksgiving dinners for those in need from 11 AM-3:30 PM. Additionally, the restaurant will be donating all its proceeds to a local charity yet to be named. 11 AM-3:30 PM, 1316 W. 18th, furiousramen....
Patrick Eugene Prendergast shot and killed Chicago mayor Carter Harrison Sr. on October 28, 1893, in the mayor’s home at what is now a parking lot at 333 S. Ashland. The delusional Prendergast, obsessed with writing postcards, believed that the mayor owed him a political office. That year, Chicago hosted the World’s Columbian Exposition, the World’s Fair dedicated to Columbus’s arrival in North America in 1492. The October 30 closing ceremony was canceled and replaced with a funeral procession for Harrison....
In early 1997, when I’d been at the Reader just a few months, I learned about a piece of workplace history already treasured by the other music nerds on staff: that time in ’94 when Steve Albini wrote in to tear Reader music critic Bill Wyman a new orifice because Wyman had dismissed the “rear guard from the underground” as “bullshit” in his year-end column while praising the Smashing Pumpkins, Liz Phair, and Urge Overkill....
For several years Angela Burke, who owns a PR company that specializes in food marketing, had noticed that black people in the food and beverage industry weren’t being represented in media coverage. “I decided to just start telling the stories myself,” she says. She’d followed Alisha Sommer, a freelance writer and photographer, on Instagram and admired her work, so four months ago, she invited the other woman to have coffee and discuss collaborating....
This past December, the Art Institute of Chicago unveiled the largest gift in the museum’s history in a new exhibit titled “The New Contemporary.” What’s being shown is part of the collection of Stefan Edlis and his wife, Gael Neeson, who in April donated 44 postwar artworks valued at around $400 million; the generous gift includes pieces by Jasper Johns, Andy Warhol, Cy Twombly, and Roy Lichtenstein as well as more recent pieces by Cindy Sherman, Damien Hirst, Jeff Koons, Takashi Murakami, and others....
A View From the Bridge premiered in its final, two-act form in 1956, the same year its author, Arthur Miller, refused to name names at a hearing held by the House Un-American Activities Committee—part of HUAC’s long and sordid effort to expose “the communist influence” on show business. The U.S. government had already been harassing Miller for a while by then, having, among other things, denied him a passport for a trip to see a Belgian production of The Crucible....
On April 8, several organizations came together for a “Chicago Performing Arts Virtual Retreat.” Representatives from See Chicago Dance, Chicago Dancemakers Forum, the Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago, Links Hall, High Concept Labs, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Pivot Arts, the Arts and Business Council of Chicago, and the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE) led breakout sessions, conducted physical exercises, and fielded questions from nearly 200 participants over the three-and-a-half hours of the event....
Power Trip have long produced crossover thrash for the tattered, sleeveless Cro-Mags T-shirt wearer in all of us—and with their recent sophomore album, the Dallas dudes prove it. Since its release in February, Nightmare Logic (Southern Lord) has been universally regarded as a triumph of dystopic metal, a record that has brought together all adrenaline junkies who require a little grime and sweat in their riffs. Its core message is that the world is a few nudges away from resembling a scorched and abandoned industrial compound, with track titles like “Executioner’s Tax (Swing of the Axe)” and “Waiting Around to Die” playing into that mantra....
It takes work to have a place to play, and Michael Foster knows the issue as both an organizer and musician. He’s a cofounder of Queer Trash, which establishes dedicated queer performance events at venues around New York City. The collective hosts experimental and improvised music, harsh noise, performance art, and fashion; Foster’s music in the Ghost, the Andrew Barker Trio, the New York Review of Cocksucking, and duos with percussionists Ben Bennett, Claire Rousay, and Weasel Walter fall into a few of those categories....
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. Older strips are archived here.
Welcome to the Reader’s morning briefing for Monday, May 9, 2016. Remembering the Christina Eilman case ten years later It’s been ten years since Christina Eilman’s tragic trip to Chicago from her native California. After being arrested at a CTA station and spending a night in jail, the then-21-year-old was released by police into Englewood, where she was abducted, then fell or was pushed seven stories from a Robert Taylor Homes building....
‘Twas a time not long ago when if you wanted to sample the ancient subtleties of Khmer cuisine (outside of a home kitchen), you had two opportunities—Cambodian New Year in April, or Ancestor’s Day in September, when local Buddhist temples throw public ceremonies during which huge varieties of food are offered to departed souls—and then eaten by those still around. It’s a modest representation of true Khmer food, relative to the other southeast Asian cuisines on the menu, but it’s a good start....
Over the last couple of years one of my favorite working bands has been a knotty trio led by guitarist Tim Stine, with bassist Anton Hatwich and either Frank Rosaly or Adam Vida on drums. Both rhythm sections bring a deliciously teetering and coolly swinging energy to Stine’s improvisations, which recall the early work of Joe Morris and the splintery spontaneity of Derek Bailey. Stine doesn’t appreciably change his style and tone in his quartet, but the tunes he performs with alto saxophonist Nick Mazzarella, bassist Matt Ulery, and drummer Quin Kirchner do demonstrate the elasticity of his compositional vision....
In pursuit of what remains a very fuzzy vision of a journalism future driven by artificial intelligence, Tronc is now seeking to hire a “content specialist” to develop and maintain “news content harvesting robots.” Successful candidates are motivated, self-directed, and passionate about shaping the future of news distribution by working at the intersection of hard-hitting journalism and big data. Work with our team of content specialists and ontologists to craft customized information solutions for our hundreds of clients worldwide....
The last time I crossed paths with Jennifer Herrema, the former Royal Trux vocalist reminded me that she’d grown up in D.C. And digging through the band’s online text archive of interviews from 1998-2001 [http://www.royaltrux.wolfzen.com/rtx_ints_needs_formatting.txt], it occurred to me that Royal Trux is nearly as much a D.C. area band as any of the punk and hardcore acts celebrated in the wave of documentaries hitting the indie small screen soon. Guitarist/singer Neil Hagerty also hailed from D....
Don’t be fooled! There’s plenty of real things to do this weekend. Here’s some of what we recommend: Sat 4/2: Tom Hanks Day, the celebration of America’s most beloved actor, will feature a Tom Hanks movie marathon, T-shirts, and drink specials at Lincoln Hall (2424 N. Lincoln). All donations benefit Lifeline Energy. NoonSat 4/2: Baltimore-based Wham City Comedy, known for their bizarre viral videos and performance, bring their multimedia show to the Hideout (1354 W....
