Well, look at that. The world is ending. Suddenly we’re all cooped up, we can’t see friends or loved ones, we can’t go out for pizza, and we can’t grab a beer at the bar. I don’t know about you, but even if people weren’t suffering and dying from coronavirus, I’d be starting to feel really down. I’m frustrated and anxious, I’m stir-crazy, and I’m sleeping terribly. Everything is canceled—tours included—but at least there are still new records coming out....

After years of reading the women-seeking-women Reader Matches ads and never seeing any I felt called to respond to, I just could not get hers out of my mind: “kick-boxing babe,” “Xena-lover,” “giver of tender back rubs,” “looking for articulate romance with a queer cutie.” She didn’t mention a size or shape of body that she was looking for. She didn’t talk about anything I found boring or stupid. The ad stuck with me all week, but I didn’t act....

For ages eternal, the sign in the window of the Montrose Avenue Culver’s read “Coming Soon.” Every time I got off at that Brown Line stop, the false promise taunted me. Time must move differently for frozen custard magnates than it does for mere mortals. Until now, there were only two Culver’s locations in the city limits. From my north side apartment, both required CTA transfers. Over the years, I’ve grown skilled at tagging along on suburban car rides and cajoling my way into a Culver’s drive thru....

Listening to some of the tracks on the new Act Surprised (Dangerbird/Fire), Sebadoh’s ninth studio album, you could almost imagine yourself back in 1992. But though the band’s signature lo-fi sound remains, their lyrics place them squarely in the present. Perhaps that’s the logical progression for Sebadoh, which formed as a duo in Northampton, Massachusetts, in 1988. After releasing three albums and more than half a dozen EPs in just a few years, the messily prolific group signed with Sub Pop in 1992 and became critical darlings during the grunge era....

Throughout the years, Israeli techno producer Maayan Nidam—who’s been based in Berlin since 2004—has juggled a variety of pseudonyms, including Laverne Radix, Miss Fitz, and Spunky Brewster, along with collaborative musical projects, such as Mara Trax, the Waves & Us, and the Kicks. These various names and configurations have given her flexibility in terms of her approach to electronic music. The music she’s released under her given name skews minimal, and her forceful use of the empty space adds shape to its distinct personality....

Avoid the cold with the shows, exhibits, and fairs taking place this weekend. Here’s some of what we recommend: Sat 11/18: Both A Charlie Brown Christmas and the story of Rudolph are affably spoofed at the Annoyance Christmas Pageant—an annual yuletide tradition that takes place, fittingly, at the Annoyance Theatre (851 W. Belmont). 7 PM, $20, $12 children under 12

Karen Lewis was in a confessional mood at her appearance last night at the Hideout—at least she confessed to having a nice word or two to say about her old adversary Mayor Rahm. Lewis didn’t offer much news on that front, other than to say negotiations continue. She praised house speaker Michael Madigan—speaking of people the Tribune loves to hate—for holding the line against union-busting legislation. When asked what she’d do if she were mayor, Lewis sighed and said Chicago’s problems may be too great for any one man or woman to solve....

In this video, we take a look inside Fat Rice as they prep some of the fusion dishes featured in the popular restaurant’s forthcoming cookbook, The Adventures of Fat Rice.

Q: I’m a 31-year-old female. Last week I suddenly started to experience an overwhelming, compulsive, and near-constant state of physical arousal. I’ve masturbated so much looking for relief that my entire lower region is super sore and swollen and still, it’s like my whole body is pulsating with this electric arousal telling me to ignore the pain and do it again. I have no idea if it’s normal to suddenly have such a spike in libido and I know a lot of people will say they wish they had this problem but it’s interfering with my daily activities because I can’t focus on anything else....

At last May’s unveiling of preliminary designs for the Obama Presidential Center in Jackson Park, Barack Obama voiced support for boldly reconfiguring the Frederick Law Olmsted-designed green space to make it more people friendly. The proposal calls for converting most of Cornell Drive, a road through the park that ballooned to six lanes during the urban renewal era, to parkland between 59th and 67th Streets to connect the presidential center site to the rest of the lagoon-filled natural area....

At the end of 2019 the Reader profiled Weedman, who runs a local cannabis delivery business. Back then the biggest threat to his livelihood was the impending legalization of recreational pot in Illinois. Weedman wasn’t worried, though, and even expected his business to improve as weed use was normalized and people tired of paying top dollar and standing in line at dispensaries. Now, as a threat to life itself hangs in the still city air, Weedman’s still pretty zen....

Steve McQueen in Bullitt, which contains one of the most famous chases in movie history I didn’t acknowledge it in my review of Mad Max: Fury Road, but one reason I love the film is that it contains so many chase sequences. I’m especially partial to a good chase, as I spent a few years at a job where chasing people was a regular part of my day, and now that several years have passed since I’ve had to pursue anyone, I get a little nostalgic for the activity when I see it onscreen....

On this week’s gig poster, a party skull says hello to October—and to the fifth edition of ZINEmercado, an independent zine fair based in Logan Square. The poster was created by one of the event’s organizers, artist Chema Skandal, who’s graced the pages of the Reader before with his illustrations and gig posters. He grew up in Mexico City and is now based in Chicago, where he serves as a member of the Instituto Gráfico de Chicago, a local organization dedicated to the activist history and tradition of Latinx printmaking....

The past 12 months have seen the theatrical releases of three extraordinary dramas powered by nonactors: Chloé Zhao’s lyrical contemporary western The Rider, starring horse trainer Brady Jandreau as a Native American cowboy on South Dakota’s Pine Ridge Reservation; Alfonso Cuarón’s sublime Roma, an homage to the strong women who reared him in 1970s Mexico City, with first-time actress Yalitza Aparicio carrying the movie as its lead; and now Nadine Labaki’s searing take on the global refugee crisis, Capernaum, in which the director is the only professional actor among a cast of hundreds who portray migrants in a Beirut slum....

Now that two mornings have passed, it’s safe to say we aren’t going to wake up from this nightmare. Among the angry, despairing reactions to Trump’s victory, I keep seeing an impulse to blame it on progressives’ failure to empathize with his supporters. Because many of us in “blue” enclaves never have to deal with “red” voters, the thinking goes, we’re unable to understand the source of their values—and thus we can’t do the hard work of directly confronting those values we find toxic....

Trumpeter Aquiles Navarro and drummer Tcheser Holmes begin their new duo album, Heritage of the Invisible II (International Anthem), with “Initial Meditation,” a red-hot vortex of percussion and electronics whose abrasive, hypnotizing swirls sometimes sound like a helicopter flying overhead. That powerful opening statement makes clear that these musicians—best known from unrepentantly political jazz ensemble Irreversible Entanglements—can sound just as colossal as a duo as they do with that five-piece band....

Sue Kwong One of the great things about organizing the Greatest Ever Chicago Book tournament was seeing how excited people got about it. When we started asking writers we knew if they might be interested in being judges, we were overwhelmed by the response. In the end, we had way more potential judges than judging slots—a couple of writers volunteered to write their own judgments on the final round, just to take part in the conversation....

It’s been about two weeks since a bunch of well-intended liberals and lefties wrote an open letter in Harper’s Magazine, denouncing intolerance on the left. As if that clarification is any less offensive. Or historically accurate—’cause it’s not at all clear that many slave-owning founding fathers thought there was anything evil about owning slaves. In the aftermath, there are no apologies, no regrets. Apparently, they’re proud of what they say and would say it again....

Courtesy Comedy Exposition Kate Berlant Thanks to a strong showing in its inaugural year, the stand-up-focused Comedy Exposition announces its return for 2015. In an attempt to fill the void left by the disappearance of the mega Just for Laughs festival—which annually populated the city streets with a crop of hyped and established stand-ups—the fivesome of Katie McVay, Stephanie Hasz, Goodrich Gevaart, Zach Peterson, and Matt Byrne began the Comedy Exposition in 2014 with a modest goal in mind: make it good enough to do again next year....

Steven Salaita via Twitter The University of Illinois Board of Trustees is not going to allow a reconsideration of its controversial decision not to approve the hiring of professor Steven Salaita. According to a statement posted on the university website yesterday, that decision will stand in spite of a recent recommendation by the UI faculty Committee on Academic Freedom and Tenure that it be revisited by “a committee of qualified academic experts....