Illinois news

• Sol Café wants to bring more to Rogers Park than just specialty coffee

  24-04-2019 18:00 via Chicago Reader
  “Sol is really, truly for everybody,” says owner Simone Freeman.By all appearances, Sol Café is a product of gentrification, a prime example of the businesses that arrive in neighborhoods to accommodate newer, wealthier residents. It definitely stands out from its neighbors on Howard Street, which include long-standing family-owned restaurants, payday lending services, a minimart, and a pair of shoe stores.…
  
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• There are baby goats at GlennArt Farm in South Austin

  24-04-2019 13:00 via Chicago Reader
  Inside a working urban farm, yoga studio, and community hub It's a cold Sunday morning in March, and I'm hovering over two newborn goat kids with a hair dryer.…
  
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• The stage musical of Footloose is just like the movie except without the boring parts

  24-04-2019 13:00 via Chicago Reader
  Kick off your Sunday shoes.The problem with the 1984 movie Footloose is that it tries so damned hard to be a serious, realistic drama about a rebellious teen fighting against the joy-killing puritanism of a middle American small town that it drains the joy out of the best parts of the movie: the silly, energetic, entertaining dance scenes. The beauty of the 1998 Broadway version of the movie, at least as it has been realized in this Marriott revival, directed by Gary Griffin and choreographed by
  
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• First Love is the Revolution examines the brutal nature of humans and other animals

  24-04-2019 13:00 via Chicago Reader
  In Rita Kalnejais's modern fable, parents pass on their prejudices to their children.Whimsical, brutal, and evocative of The Secret of NIMH, First Love is the Revolution is a modern fable and one of the more interesting plays I've seen. It's the story of Rdeca, a young fox who allows herself to be tamed by a human teenager, Basti, and the consequences of that choice.…
  
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• Buyer & Cellar explores Barbra Streisand’s (make-believe) basement shopping mall

  24-04-2019 13:00 via Chicago Reader
  It's only pain and darkness there.Like a cross between The Santaland Diaries and Sunset Boulevard, Jonathan Tolins's 2013 one-man comedy sends up the lifestyle of the haves through the eye of the have-nots. Inspired by Barbra Streisand's book My Passion for Design, it's the story of struggling LA actor Alex More (Scott Gryder) who takes a job in the make-believe shopping mall in the basement of Streisand's Malibu estate and is horrified to learn how the other half really lives.…
  
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• An edited loop on the gig poster of the week

  24-04-2019 13:00 via Chicago Reader
  This week's featured gig poster was created by designer Aaron Lowell Denton, based in Bloomington, Indiana. ARTIST:Aaron Lowell Denton
  SHOW: Makaya McCraven, Resavoir at the Empty Bottle on Thu 4/25
  MORE INFO: instagram.com/aaronlowell…
  
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• The Maypole Folk Festival builds a big tent

  23-04-2019 22:10 via Chicago Reader
  The Maypole Folk Festival builds a big tent, the Goldstars lead a crowded tribute to R&B icon Andre Williams, and more. If you're like Gossip Wolf, the words "folk festival" conjure up earnest imitators of Joan Baez and pre-electric Dylan.…
  
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• Operation Hennessy digs a new channel for Chicago hip-hop

  23-04-2019 20:15 via Chicago Reader
  Keen-eyed rapper Qari hooks up with producer Green Sllime for Operation Hennessy—and opens the floodgates on his friend’s reservoir of irreverent old-school beats. On February 12, 2019, Qari Delaney spent a candlelit evening smoking a joint alone in his roommate's jacuzzi tub with a lavender bath bomb.…
  
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• The Infinitives’ only release is among the most collectible records in garage rock

  23-04-2019 17:30 via Chicago Reader
  In 1966 this teenage band from Des Plaines recorded two drastically reworked country songs written by a neighbor who caught one of their gigs.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. .embed-container { position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; height: 0; overflow: hidden; max-width: 100%; } .embed-container iframe, .emb
  
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• Movie Tuesday: Art imitating life

  23-04-2019 13:00 via Chicago Reader
  Five films in which directors look at themselves via autobiographical stand-ins In the current edition of the Reader, I wrote on Jafar Panahi's 3 Faces (which plays at the Gene Siskel Film Center through Thursday), focusing on how Panahi has incorporated himself into his work of the 2010s.…
  
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• Elected officials need to address the issue now!

  22-04-2019 22:12 via Austin Weekly News
  Historically and anecdotally, encounters between black people and the police have always generated stories of concern. Read More...
  
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• Group seeks to reduce Cook County's jail population

  22-04-2019 22:09 via Austin Weekly News
  The Safety and Justice Challenge wants your opinion on how Cook County can safely reduce its jail population and eliminate racial disparities. Read More...
  
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• Community input needed for confronting mental health

  22-04-2019 21:55 via Austin Weekly News
  The West Side Community Triage and Wellness Center center, located at 4133 W. Madison Ave., has been holding a series of forums. Read More...
  
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• Davis celebrates Second Chance Act anniversary

  22-04-2019 21:51 via Austin Weekly News
  State prison officials say funding from a major piece of legislation pushed by U.S. Rep. Danny K. Davis (7th) has enabled them to help more than 300 people from Austin. Read More...
  
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• Spring brings seeds of healthier West Side

  22-04-2019 21:47 via Austin Weekly News
  For the West Side Health Authority's Good Neighbors initiative, the seeds offer the beginning of positive new things for area young people.  Read More...
  
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• ComEd helps residents build careers in trade

  22-04-2019 21:45 via Austin Weekly News
  For the past nine weeks, a group of West Siders have been learning skills and making connections they would need to get jobs in the construction industry.   Read More...
  
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• Great American Spelling Bee doesn't disappoint

  22-04-2019 21:38 via Austin Weekly News
  The 2019 Great American Spelling Bee, held April 19 at Austin Branch Library, 5615 W. Race, only featured three contestants. Ironically, the paucity of spellers just proved ESPN columnist Darren Rovell's point.  Read More...
  
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• Healthy food service prompts skeptical response in North Lawndale

  22-04-2019 21:34 via Austin Weekly News
  A delivery service that aims to bring healthy meals to neighborhoods that don't have many healthy food options hasn't gotten as far on the West Side. Read More...
  
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• Towering Austin activist dies

  22-04-2019 20:51 via Austin Weekly News
   Robert "Bob" Vondrasek, the former executive director of the South Austin Coalition Community Council, died on April 19. Read More...
  
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• Making the news

  22-04-2019 13:00 via Chicago Reader
  This comic has been created for the Reader to document the year-long, citywide event seriesChicago 1919: Confronting the Race Riots. Coordinated by the Newberry Library and funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the initiative seeks to address difficult history through community conversations across the city.  v…
  
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• Mahjong is experiencing a renaissance downtown

  19-04-2019 21:38 via Chicago Reader
  It’s like Crazy Rich Asians except way less intense.The climax of last summer's hit movie Crazy Rich Asians featured a tense exchange between two characters over a round of the Chinese tile game of mahjong. Mahjong games here in Chicago, though—at least those organized by Debbie Turner—are more congenial and less intense.…
  
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• City and neighborhood festivals

  19-04-2019 13:00 via Chicago Reader
  Good times, good times April…
  
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• Buena Vista celebrates 15 years in a changing landscape

  19-04-2019 13:00 via Chicago Reader
  The family-owned restaurant remains in East Lakeview as the number of Mexican immigrants has gone down and rents have gone up. It's Taco Tuesday, the busiest night of the week at Buena Vista in East Lakeview.…
  
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• The reunion of the original Misfits is pure punk-rock joy

  19-04-2019 11:00 via Chicago Reader
  Hands-down the funniest moment of 2016 happened at Riot Fest, during the insanely hyped reunion of Misfits members Glenn Danzig, Jerry Only, and Doyle Wolfgang von Frankenstein. In the middle of an uncomfortably long stretch of between-song banter, while the front man explained how he thought the giant glowing pumpkins on the stage were “cool as shit,” someone behind me cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted at the top of his lungs, “Shut up, Danzig!” It was the pe
  
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• Print issue of April 18, 2019

  18-04-2019 20:50 via Chicago Reader
  Volume 48, Number 28
  
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• Nureyev tells the epic story of the dancer’s extraordinary life and tumultuous times

  18-04-2019 18:00 via Chicago Reader
  “He was Mick Jagger before Mick Jagger.”He moved with a feral grace, with a heat that blazes through the grain of the film that remains, with a virtuosity that never disguises—but rather illuminates—the sheer risk of dance, the insolence of a human daring to flout the laws of gravity, time, and space to attain a momentary immortality. He lived with furious energy, inspiring multitudes, consorting with celebrities, infuriating authorities.…
  
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• Medusa Undone argues that even gorgons suffer from rape culture

  18-04-2019 18:00 via Chicago Reader
  Otherworld retells the old myth from a feminist perspective.Greek myths are essentially ancient soap operas, and such is the case with Medusa Undone, which reexamines the origin of the well-known monster but told through a modern feminist lens. Here the gods Athena and Poseidon are cast as monsters and Medusa is a timid sea nymph who just wants to serve Athena and is afraid of incurring the wrath of the gods.…
  
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• Corona boldly embraces every space opera cliche

  18-04-2019 18:00 via Chicago Reader
  Otherworld's mashup of Greek mythology and Star Trek is campy fun.Campy and fun, Elizabeth A.M. Keel's Corona follows the voyage of the starship Corona Borealis and its captain, Ariadne, on a mission to bring 14 sacrifices to the minotaur on planet Crete. A spin on the classic Greek myth, it hits every great sci-fi trope: a computer gone bad, a spaceship with a monster, a Kirk-like dude who wants some space sex, and an alternative mission only one person knows.…
  
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• Utility shows the high cost of living in quiet desperation

  18-04-2019 13:00 via Chicago Reader
  Emily Schwend's drama is a resonant portrait of life in the shadows of the American dream.Interrobang Theatre Project presents the midwest premiere of Emily Schwend's low-key, but surprisingly substantial drama about a working-class woman fighting like hell just to keep the lights on. Amber (a seething, world-weary Brynne Barnard) lets her deadbeat wandering husband, Chris (Patrick TJ Kelly), back into her life, but can never decide whether his presence makes life easier or harder.…
  
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• The Chicago Palestine Film Festival provides a framework for understanding recent events in the Middle East

  18-04-2019 13:00 via Chicago Reader
  These eight features and ten shorts comprise an exhaustive look at Palestinian life.Last Wednesday Benjamin Netanyahu was reelected as Israel's prime minister, set to serve an unprecedented fifth term. Leading up to his victory, Netanyahu promised to annex Israeli settlements in the West Bank, diminishing hope even further for the future of a Palestinian state.…
  
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• Surviving with weed

  18-04-2019 13:00 via Chicago Reader
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• In 3 Faces, Iranian director Jafar Panahi turns the camera inward

  18-04-2019 13:00 via Chicago Reader
  How much can artists control the world around them?Had Jafar Panahi not already used the title The Mirror in 1997, he could have applied it to any of the four features he's made this decade. The Iranian director appears as himself in all four—This Is Not a Film (2011), Closed Curtain (2013), Taxi (2015), and now 3 Faces (2018)—effectively turning the camera on himself as a sort-of mirror.…
  
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• Hannah and Martin, the two smartest people in Germany, fall in love

  18-04-2019 13:00 via Chicago Reader
  But what happens when one's a Nazi apologist and the other's a Jew?Wasting away on a student's diet of crackers and boiled eggs, young Hannah Arendt (Christina Gorman) subjects her latest essay on neighborly love in Augustine to the chilly scrutiny of her married teacher, Martin Heidegger (Lawrence Grimm). Probably the two most brilliant people in Germany at that time, they fall in love, and in due course find themselves huddled clandestinely together in Martin's hut in Todtnauberg.…
  
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• A guide to Polish sausage

  18-04-2019 13:00 via Chicago Reader
  Kielbasa, that is, in (many of) its tubular forms"Nie dla psa kiełbasa," is a sardonic thing you can say in Polish when something is (or should be) unattainable for someone who desires it. It means "the sausage is not for dogs."…
  
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• Weed whacked

  18-04-2019 11:30 via Chicago Reader
  If recreational cannabis is legalized, how will Illinois reengage the formerly incarcerated and make amends to communities of color? If Illinois legalizes recreational cannabis, David Tello plans to come home.…
  
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• Should-have-been British rock legend Terry Reid plays a rare Chicago show

  18-04-2019 11:00 via Chicago Reader
  “There are only three things happening in England,” Aretha Franklin was quoted as saying in 1968. “The Rolling Stones, the Beatles, and Terry Reid.” Few have had careers as simultaneously high-flying and underappreciated as Reid’s. One of rock’s greatest vocalists, he began singing as a teen with R&B bands, including Peter Jay & the Jaywalkers, who supported the Stones in 1966, leading Graham Nash to score them a record deal with Columbia.…
  
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• Saxophonist Dustin Laurenzi adapts the compositions of street musician Moondog to jazz

  18-04-2019 11:00 via Chicago Reader
  Even by New York City standards, Louis “Moondog” Hardin (1916-1999) was a character. For a quarter century beginning in the late 1940s, his blind, hirsute form occupied a spot on Sixth Avenue.…
  
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• Reunited Swedish hardcore pioneers Crude S.S. make a rare stateside tour

  18-04-2019 11:00 via Chicago Reader
  History has been so indifferent to Swedish hardcore pioneers Crude S.S. (short for “Society System”) that when the trio’s own members get a little foggy on the details, it’s hard to find any evidence to clear things up.…
  
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• On Mint, global citizen Alice Merton unpacks her nomadic lifestyle

  18-04-2019 11:00 via Chicago Reader
  Europe was way ahead of the United States with Alice Merton: Her 2016 single “No Roots” made it to number two on the German charts in 2017 and charted all over the continent—including in France, Italy, Belgium, and Poland—before finally hitting the American market hard last year. If you’ve heard the song’s opening riff and percussive chorus, you know why the Germans call it an Ohrwurm: “I’ve got no roots / But my home was never on the ground.&rdquo
  
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• Lefty troubadour Billy Bragg looks “One Step Forward, Two Steps Back” in a three-night Chicago stand

  18-04-2019 11:00 via Chicago Reader
  With his instantly recognizable voice—stark, blustery, and heartfelt—Billy Bragg has always had a no-frills musical style. His innovativeness manifests mostly in his career path.…
  
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• Jazz drummer Makaya McCraven hones his skill at crafting compositions from improvisations

  18-04-2019 11:00 via Chicago Reader
  By now, the distinctive methods with which jazz drummer Makaya McCraven composes albums are well-known. Many of us learned about his prowess as a producer from 2015’s In the Moment, an expansive double LP on which McCraven spliced together parts from more than two dozen of his live sets to form a cohesive, free-flowing groove that lands somewhere between improvisation and composition—the tracks sound even more effortless and multicomponent than when they were performed live.…
  
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• Gospel piano takes center stage at the Sirens showcase

  18-04-2019 11:00 via Chicago Reader
  Local label the Sirens has long upheld the tradition of Chicago blues piano, and in the past decade or so it’s begun exploring the neglected world of gospel piano as well. This show features three artists in the Sirens stable, two with new releases.…
  
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• DIY rockers Guerilla Toss blend whimsy and profundity on Twisted Crystal

  18-04-2019 11:00 via Chicago Reader
  Guerilla Toss are down with the Grateful Dead. In an impassioned Facebook post from July 2015, the New York-based band threw laurels upon a group they called “the first ‘DIY’ band,” noting that the Dead used harsh noise in the 1960s and brandished modular synthesizers throughout the ’70s.…
  
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• Chicago hip-hop series All Smiles signs off with a generation-spanning blowout

  18-04-2019 11:00 via Chicago Reader
  No other series has done as much to demonstrate the breadth and depth of contemporary Chicago hip-hop as All Smiles. Launched seven years ago by rapper-singer Rich Jones, the intergenerational monthly showcase says goodbye tonight with a lineup that speaks to its long history of bringing together locals from different cliques and eras.…
  
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• Brooklyn singer-songwriter Emily Reo goes big with her home-recorded sound

  18-04-2019 11:00 via Chicago Reader
  For 2013’s Olive Juice, Brooklyn singer-songwriter Emily Reo made detailed, intimate songs with what sounds like a small symphony of toy instruments powered by nine-volt batteries. She went even bigger with her third album, the new Only You Can See It (Carpark): though Reo has retained her home-recorded approach, she’s fleshed out a full-band sound while playing almost every note herself.…
  
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• Natural Information Society make the stage a home—and vice versa

  17-04-2019 21:30 via Chicago Reader
  Joshua Abrams and Lisa Alvarado of Natural Information Society help give the Chicago collective’s transcendent minimalism a family feeling. Chicago composer and musician Joshua Abrams likes to compare the guimbri (aka gimbri, guembri, or sintir), a traditional three-string bass lute associated with Morocco's Gnawa people, to the Roland TR-808, an early-80s drum machine that became foundational to hip-hop, Chicago house, and a long list of other genres.…
  
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• A morning at CBD Kratom is a study in serenity

  17-04-2019 21:00 via Chicago Reader
  Natural alternatives to illicit and prescription drugs stimulate this weed-adjacent business. It's 8 AM on a Friday in Boystown and 26-year-old Danielle Larsen unlocks the door of the CBD Kratom shop.…
  
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• Porchlight's A Chorus Line is one singular sensation

  17-04-2019 18:00 via Chicago Reader
  The cast brings the group of dance hopefuls to life.On a bare stage, a sea of spandex roils, shining with that 1970s luster. A director calls out counts and steps and the group moves in rough coordination—a dropped step here, a stumble there, pirouettes, jazz hands, pelvic thrusts.…
  
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• David Ranney on Living and Dying on the Factory Floor

  17-04-2019 18:00 via Chicago Reader
  The UIC prof and former factory worker has no nostalgia for the days of middle-class manufacturing jobs.In the mid-70s, David Ranney quit his position at the University of Iowa, where he was a tenured professor of urban planning, and moved to Chicago for a job at the Workers' Rights Center, a free legal clinic for industrial workers run out of a southeast Chicago storefront. When money got tight, Ranney decided to look for work at one of the many factories in the neighborhood.…
  
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• Hotboxing the house of God on the gig poster of the week

  17-04-2019 13:00 via Chicago Reader
  This week's featured gig poster was designed by Chicago artist John Regan, who's also a guitarist for the band High Priest. ARTIST:John Regan
  SHOW: High Priest, Huntsmen, Fool's Ghost, Snow Burial at the Burlington on Sat 4/20
  MORE INFO: instagram.com/highpriestdoom…
  
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