Q: I’m a single gay guy in my late 30s. I’m quite introverted and a bit shy, yet I have a big sexual drive and a rich libido. I’ve always found the gay scene overwhelming. I feel my quiet ways tend to put people off, and I hardly ever get the chance to show my more playful or crazy sides, as it takes me a bit to feel comfortable to show those....
Every time I walk to Humboldt Park, which is a weekly occurrence that has kept me sane and outside during the pandemic, I’m reminded of a patch of grass that was full of laughter and community during summer 2020: It was comedy in a pickup truck. When entertainment venues shuttered in the early half of the year, artists all over the city struggled. As the summer months brought much-needed brightness, the local comedy scene got creative....
Tim Zawada began his DJ career in Chicago knowing he was an outsider. The south-suburban native had been DJing at parties while at Indiana University before graduating and moving here in 2009. Within a couple weeks, his skills had earned him a job with a local DJ company, which set him up with occasional gigs at clubs and bars, but he felt obligated to tread carefully when deciding what records to spin....
If you’ve ever wished that more music festivals were like family picnics, then you need to go to this Jackson Park house-music blowout. In the late 80s, DJs and brothers Tony and Andre Hatchett and their families began hosting an annual Fourth of July reunion barbecue behind the Museum of Science and Industry. For the 1990 gathering, they decided to treat their relatives to a day full of DJ sets with help from the three other members of their crew, the Chosen Few....
July is almost over, but there’s still plenty of summer fun to be had. Here our recommendations for what to do this week: Tue 7/26: The city is honoring the 50th anniversary of Kartemquin Films, the acclaimed Chicago documentary production company, with a screening of Inquiring Nuns in Millennium Park (201 E. Randolph). 6:30 PM Thu 7/28-Sun 8/1: An obscure music festival you’ve probably never heard of called Lollapalooza starts Thursday and lasts for an unprecedented four days....
The Field Museum Two lions protect the new Cyrus Tang Hall of China. Maybe the best part of the Field Museum‘s new Cyrus Tang Hall of China, which opened Wednesday, is that it’s a permanent exhibit. It tells the story of nearly 10,000 years of Chinese history, from the Neolithic period up to the turn of the 20th century and the end of the imperial age, through 350 objects, ranging from primitive tools to 19th-century snuff bottles....
After nearly three decades, Robert Joffrey’s Nutcracker, which debuted in 1987, was starting to show its age—its opulent sets and costumes were quite literally falling apart. Artistic director Ashley Wheater admitted as much to the Reader last year; “America’s No. 1 Nut,” as the annual event was once branded, was overdue for an upgrade. The Joffrey scored a coup in hiring Christopher Wheeldon, Tony Award-winning director-choreographer of the 2015 Broadway smash An American in Paris as well as an eminent choreographer of contemporary ballet....
The Sun-Times and Tribune editorial boards covered plenty of ground in the questionnaires they put to mayoral candidates—but there was a key omission. They inquired about pensions, TIFs, taxes, crime, and economic development. And they raised other, more specific issues: Should Chicago have a casino? An elected school board? Traffic cameras? A smaller city council? A legislative inspector general? A Lucas museum on the lakefront? See our related story: “Mayoral candidates speak up about Chicago’s segregation” The two dailies aren’t alone in ignoring racial segregation as an issue in this mayoral campaign....
I remember the first time someone harassed me at work for being queer. The Center, a first of its kind resource for queer workers of all stripes, aims to empower workers to stand up for their workplace rights, particularly freedom from the discrimination I experienced that summer. As part of their mission to empower the queer workforce—almost 9.7 million people, according to the Center’s estimates—the Chicago chapter maintains a 24-hour worker’s rights hotline for queer people who are in need of assistance, also a first of its kind....
It’s time for a brief primer on the heated election for the presidency of an organization that until recently you probably never heard of—the Chicago Principals and Administrators Association. I mean, let’s be real—it’s not like the idea wouldn’t occur to him. In fact, Janice Jackson, one of the mayor’s top CPS appointees, is a voting member of the association—a point I’ll get to in a moment. So here’s another question savvy readers may already be asking: If LaRaviere is a vociferous Rahm critic, does this mean Hunter’s running as Rahm’s rubber stamp?...
If not for the longing and deep-seated dread characteristic of many dream-pop songs, artists like the Radio Dept. would float right out of our collective consciousness like a lost balloon—there’d be nothing to keep them grounded and present among the overlapping celestial washes of synthesizers and vocals if not for the foil of gloom. Blending a detached cool with Krautrock-vibing rhythms and heavy hues of synth, the Swedish duo of Johan Duncanson and Martin Carlberg create engaging and enveloping melodies....
Daryl Cameron believes the time is right for his cape. Musically, The Whole 9 connects to The Adventures of Captain Sky and the two albums that followed. Cameron’s overarching mood is as resolutely positive now as it was then. Classic funk guitars, scratchy yet precise, engage with bass and keyboard vamps while horns sneak in brief solos. Cameron, who’s about to turn 63, still prefers live instruments over samples, and he shuns Auto-Tune in favor of his natural voice....
Warning: This post contains spoilers. There are some nice interactions here and there. Ezra Miller, playing Barry Allen (aka the Flash), expresses some juvenile anxiety toward his superpowers, and he bonds with Cyborg (Ray Fisher) over their mutual feeling of being outsiders. Batman (Ben Affleck) has a nice rapport with his butler, Alfred (Jeremy Irons), who assists with his crime-fighting from a top-secret lair. Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) and Aquaman (Jason Momoa) seem to have little to do but bask in their godlike powers, yet they establish a certain chemistry with each other and the other stars....
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. They got encouragement from Mantegna’s mentor and drama teacher at Morton East, Jack Leckel, who also ran the theater departments at Morton West in Berwyn and a nearby junior college. Leckel came up with the name “the Apocryphals” (the band didn’t even know what it meant at first) and helped them buy their first sound equipment....
ARTIST: Jason CastilloSHOW: Gerber Fest at the Abbey on Sat 5/9MORE INFO: castilloillustration.com
Beloved local indie four-piece Ne-Hi only just announced their split via a May EP release, but former members are already breaking new ground! This week, Ne-Hi vets Mikey Wells, James Weir, and Alex Otake drop a self-titled debut single and video as Spun Out, who focus more on synthesizers and grooves than their predecessor. The song features Clay Frankel and Chris Bailoni of Grapetooth, and the trippy video (which seems to show Wells living inside a river bridge wearing Aladdin Sane-style makeup) is directed by local DJ and art collective Noble Savage....
Before clarinetist James Falzone relocated from Chicago to Seattle last fall to pursue a teaching position, he cemented Wayfaring, his duo with bassist and singer Katie Ernst, with a performance at the Hyde Park Jazz Festival. The musicians also recorded a stunning record, I Move, You Move, which was recently released by Allos Documents. Modern jazz history is rife with strong duos, but Wayfaring stands out by, channeling ideas from American folk tradition or the church (where both musicians have spent significant time performing) into music that extends well beyond the language of jazz....
At first blush, it may seem like mayoral hopefuls Toni Preckwinkle and Lori Lightfoot have nearly identical transportation platforms. After all, both Preckwinkle and Lightfoot said they’re on board with multiple policy ideas floated by the Active Transportation Alliance in its candidate questionnaire. These include reduced transit fares for low-income Chicagoans; adding 50 miles of bus lanes; installing 100 miles of bikeways; building a continuous Chicago River trail; developing a transportation and infrastructure equity plan; implementing ride-sharing policies that encourage multipassenger trips; upgrading the Metra Electric line; and “prioritizing safety, equity, public health, and the environment above [motor vehicle] travel times when designing city streets....
First off, let me concede that you gotta like Pat Hughes. Hate the Rickettses and what they’ve done to Rickettsville, hate the Cubs and what they did to themselves, you gotta like Pat Hughes. But remember, friends, the category is best sportscaster, not best toastmaster. And that is Jason Benetti, television play-by-play man for the other baseball team in town with a 21st-century World Series title, the Chicago White Sox. After the retirement of Ken “Hawk” Harrelson—a childhood hero of Benetti’s, who grew up a Sox fan with dreams of being Harry Caray “as long as I don’t look like Harry Caray”—this was his first season full-time in the role and his fourth with the team, side by side with none other than Steve Stone, Harry Caray’s broadcasting partner during the Cubs’ mid-80s glory days....
The artist Yvette Mayorga, clad in a black sports bra and leggings, stands arms akimbo behind a barbed wire fence near the U.S.-Mexico border. The fence is laced with tiny American flags. Mayorga’s image blinks and then disappears. This scene is quickly replaced by an ornate domestic space displaying religious figurines. That gives way to a shot of street vendors selling food and luchador masks under a bright sun. Miniaturized migrants, weathered and dirty and carrying backpacks, walk past the merchandise laid out on the ground....
