• Review: Deadpool & Wolverine

    Review: Deadpool & Wolverine
    Deadpool & Wolverine in wide release in theaters
    The post Review: <i>Deadpool & Wolverine</i> appeared first on Chicago Reader.
  • The same kind of sadness

    The same kind of sadness
    As Steppenwolf Theatre’s world premiere production of Samuel D. Hunter’s Little Bear Ridge Road nears the end of its run, Steep Theatre presents the Chicago premiere of Hunter’s 2022 drama, A Case for the Existence of God. With all due respect to the deeply moving work of Laurie Metcalf and company, Hunter’s writing seems tailor-made […]
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  • War of the words

    War of the words
    Amy Crider’s entertaining and stimulating new play Wells and Welles, receiving its world premiere in a very well-acted non-Equity production by Lucid Theater at the City Lit Theater space in Edgewater, is based on a true event—a joint appearance by 74-year-old Herbert George Wells and 25-year-old Orson Welles on San Antonio’s KTSA radio station on […]
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  • Review: The Last Breath

    Review: The Last Breath
    The Last Breath in limited release in theaters, wide release on VOD
    The post Review: <i>The Last Breath</i> appeared first on Chicago Reader.
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  • Review: Made in England: The Films of Powell and Pressburger

    Review: Made in England: The Films of Powell and Pressburger
    Made in England: The Films of Powell and Pressburger opening 7/26 at the Gene Siskel Film Center
    The post Review: <i>Made in England: The Films of Powell and Pressburger</i> appeared first on Chicago Reader.
  • Review: Dress My Tour (Season one)

    Review: Dress My Tour (Season one)
    Dress My Tour (Season one) now streaming on Hulu
    The post Review: <i>Dress My Tour</i> (Season one) appeared first on Chicago Reader.
  • To love oneself fiercely

    To love oneself fiercely
    I suspect more people would find poetry accessible if, instead of reading it on the page, they experienced it in live performance—especially one on par with Fleetwood-Jourdain Theatre’s current production of For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow Is Enuf. When Ntozake Shange wrote this work in the mid-70s, she dubbed it a […]
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  • Zen and the art of improv

    Zen and the art of improv
    In the late 80s and early 90s, Del Close, in the workshops he taught at iO, used to talk about slowing improv down, not forcing things, and allowing the scenes, characters, and eventually perhaps the comedy (though it wasn’t essential), to emerge naturally, effortlessly—free of the performer’s ego (and desire for laughter and applause). He often […]
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  • Cheese-en-scène

    Cheese-en-scène
    Many of my favorite movie memories are from my teenage years, right at the cusp of the streaming age, when mail-in discs and trips to Family Video coincided with Comcast VOD and a bare-bones Netflix digital queue. My friends and I would stock up on food at Jewel-Osco before a movie night, not just for […]
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  • Lives cut short

    Lives cut short
    Drumbeats pierce the air with discomfiting bluntness, a beeline for the ear soothed into tranquility with music performed by Fred Jackson Jr., Evan Hill, and Chér Jey. Three masked figures process onstage to this march, two bearing a corpse in a sheet. When they unmask, we see them: children.  The number of youths killed by […]
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  • Chicago Reader Volume 53, No. 25

    Chicago Reader Volume 53, No. 25
    Chicago Reader Volume 53, No. 25. July 25, 2024. The Food & Drink Issue.
    The post Chicago Reader Volume 53, No. 25 appeared first on Chicago Reader.
  • Teenage angst land

    Teenage angst land
    The summer between graduation from high school and college, for those of us who went, was a shaky time filled with its fair share of doubt, anxiety, and questions. Meet Sam. She’s just graduated high school as valedictorian and faces a crossroads—go to an Ivy League college, like her mom expects her to do, or […]
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  • Anthony Freud bows out

    Anthony Freud bows out
    Anthony Freud is retiring from his triple-title job as Lyric Opera of Chicago’s general director, president, and CEO at the end of July, and a search for his successor is underway. Here’s an edited version of a recent conversation about his time at Lyric and the future of opera. Deanna Isaacs: You had two more […]
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  • They’re laughing in the face of famine at Cedars Mediterranean Kitchen

    They’re laughing in the face of famine at Cedars Mediterranean Kitchen
    Sudki Abdullah wanted to name his restaurant “Olive Mount,” but his Jewish friends talked him out of it. That was 32 years ago, when Sudki, a Palestinian grocer who’d started frying falafel in the unventilated storeroom of Hyde Park’s Harper Foods, prepared to open a full-scale Middle Eastern restaurant. “We’re Palestinian,” recalls his son Amer […]
    The post They’re laughing in the face of famine at Cedars Mediterranean Kitchen appeared fir
  • Ragana cast anarchist black-metal spells to bring about positive change

    Ragana cast anarchist black-metal spells to bring about positive change
    Last year, Olympia-based duo Ragana released their fourth full-length album, Desolation’s Flower (the Flenser), which balances radical political vision with a supernatural ambience. The anarchist blackened doom metal band are celebrated for their explicitly queer perspective and antifascist, anticapitalist politics. Coming out of a pandemic while witnessing the rising tide of American fascism, they’ve resisted […]
    The post Ragana cast anarchist black-metal spells to bring abo
  • On ‘stepping into the unknown after everything changes’

    On ‘stepping into the unknown after everything changes’
    The Faggots & Their Friends Between Revolutions, a poetic, richly illustrated book first self-published in 1977 by Larry Mitchell with illustrations by Ned Asta, is a text that is far grander than its small size would suggest. The work may be attributed to Mitchell and Asta as writer and illustrator, two individuals whose collaborative spirit […]
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  • Mei Semones couches straightforward emotion in the flowery sounds of romance

    Mei Semones couches straightforward emotion in the flowery sounds of romance
    Brooklyn singer-songwriter Mei Semones combines jazz, bossa nova, and indie rock in charming, understated songs that drip with romance, infatuation, and melancholy. Semones picked up the electric guitar as an 11-year-old in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and went on to study guitar performance at the Berklee College of Music, where she met her current bandmates. She’s […]
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  • Vince Staples enriches Dark Times with the skills he’s learned in TV

    Vince Staples enriches Dark Times with the skills he’s learned in TV
    In February, Netflix released The Vince Staples Show, a five-episode sitcom vehicle for the Long Beach rapper. Staples is no stranger to the screen: he brought nonchalant wit and chummy charm to his brief run on ABC’s Abbott Elementary, giving his side character plenty of dimension and reminding me of what I love about his […]
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  • ‘Plant-based bodybuilders—we’re out here’

    ‘Plant-based bodybuilders—we’re out here’
    Vegan bodybuilder Angelique Antigone Tally is spreading the gospel of plant-based big biceps. The 31-year-old grew up in North Lawndale studying culinary arts at a career academy. Her mom is a chef, so cooking was always a family activity that bonded Tally and her five siblings. After high school, Tally expected to continue her gastronomic […]
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  • Chicago musicians celebrate the 100th birthday of long-lost singer-songwriter Connie Converse

    Chicago musicians celebrate the 100th birthday of long-lost singer-songwriter Connie Converse
    It’s only human to love a good mystery, and the 1974 disappearance of singer-songwriter and antiracist activist Elizabeth “Connie” Converse is a doozy. Born in New Hampshire in 1924, Converse led a colorful life in the vibrant 1950s Greenwich Village arts scene, then moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan, where she worked as an academic editor. […]
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  • British art-rockers 10cc show off their adventurous songwriting on a rare U.S. tour

    British art-rockers 10cc show off their adventurous songwriting on a rare U.S. tour
    What do you get when you let four veteran musical geniuses loose in their own studio with plenty of space to collaborate? One answer is experimental pop legends 10cc. This summer the British art-rockers are touring the U.S. for the first time in 30 years, responding to a surge of interest driven in part by […]
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  • The Illinois Lottery celebrates a half-century of wins during its 50th-anniversary celebration

    The Illinois Lottery celebrates a half-century of wins during its 50th-anniversary celebration
    If any big win is a reason to cheer, 50 years of wins is cause for a full-on extravaganza. That’s the spirit in Illinois this month, where the Illinois Lottery kicks off its 50th anniversary with a summerlong celebration. “We have done a lot over the past fifty years,” says Illinois Lottery director Harold Mays. […]
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  • ‘VeepStakes’ 2024: Who Will Kamala Harris Pick as Her Running Mate?

    ‘VeepStakes’ 2024: Who Will Kamala Harris Pick as Her Running Mate?
    Senator Mark Kelly, Presumptive Democratic Presidential Nominee Kamala Harris, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker (Photo Credit: Public Domain, The White House, and Wikimedia Commons).
    Since President Biden’s announcement on Sunday, Vice President Harris has quickly emerged as his most likely successor in the quest to keep the White House blue in November. 
    In the first 24 hours of her candidacy, Harris raised $81 million, already shattering fundraising records in her efforts to shatter Americ
  • Celebrating the Unbreakable Bond: National Cousins Day

    Celebrating the Unbreakable Bond: National Cousins Day
    There’s always that cousin in the family who feels more like a sibling. 
    You grew up together, created countless memories, got into trouble and generally felt in sync. 
    No matter what happens around you, your bond goes beyond just sharing an aunt or uncle. 
    It is important to reflect on who this cousin is to you and how you love and celebrate with each other daily. 
    If you’re looking for inspiration, here are a few ideas to celebrate occasionally, especially on th
  • Questions Surround Stabbing Death Of Black College Student

    Questions Surround Stabbing Death Of Black College Student
    Photo: GoFundMe
    A family is seeking answers after an Alabama State University student was stabbed to death near campus.
    21-year-old Tiana Dye died on July 14 after she was found with a stab wound to the chest less than a half mile from the Alabama State University campus, 11 Alive reports.
    No suspects have been identified in the stabbing. Police are still investigating the incident.
    According to reports, Dye was on track to graduate with a biochemistry degree and wanted to become a dermatologist
  • Property is Power! Addressing Appraisal Racism in the Mortgage Industry

    Appraisal bias, a significant yet often overlooked issue, is a form of discrimination in the home appraisal process that can result in lower valuations for homes based on the race or ethnicity of the residents. This bias can have profound financial consequences for homeowners, such as limiting their ability to take out loans, pay property taxes, and build generational wealth.
    The Impact of Appraisal Bias
    According to a 2021 Freddie Mac study, Black and Latino homeowners are twice as likely as wh
  • The Carr Report: You have to ‘Get out of Dumb’ before you can ‘Get out of Debt!’

    The Carr Report: You have to ‘Get out of Dumb’ before you can ‘Get out of Debt!’
    Have you ever done something so stupid that you wanted to smack yourself and scream out loud, “WHAT WAS I THINKING?”  I know I have.  I recall one freezing, cold, winter day. The snow was up to my knees. I had to go out and run an errand.  Car was low on gas. I made a stop at the gas station.  The gas cap was frozen shut.  I pried and I pried.  I couldn’t get this gas cap to open for nothing. Then I got this bright idea.  Use a lighter to thaw
  • Mr. Sonny Knows for July 24, 2024

    Mr. Sonny Knows for July 24, 2024
    The post Mr. Sonny Knows for July 24, 2024 appeared first on Chicago Defender.
  • Cities around the world share many challenges. To address them, they need to develop science diplomacy

    Cities around the world share many challenges. To address them, they need to develop science diplomacy
    The mayor of Montréal, Valérie Plante, the mayor of Chicago, Brandon Johnson, and his counterpart from Milwaukee, Cavalier Johnson, at the annual conference of the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative, on May 15, 2024 in Montréal. Cities must unite to discuss their major issues. (Canadian Press/Ryan Remiorz)by Rémi Quirion, McGill University
    States should be more aware of how cities and local governments can help them carry out their diplomatic and scie
  • The spoiler effect

    The spoiler effect
    Editor’s note: This is the second article in a series about three nominating conventions in Chicago that changed the course of United States history.  The presidential nominations in 2024 had seemed a done deal for months. The Republicans’ limp attempts at a contested primary produced a debate series lacking the apparent front-runner and all but […]
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  • Locrian’s experimental ambient noise metal will not cease

    Locrian’s experimental ambient noise metal will not cease
    Metal music often exists at an odd intersection between cathartic, lowbrow lunkhead aggression and adventurous arty abstraction. Since the mid-2000s, the members of Locrian—vocalist and synthesizer player Terence Hannum, guitarist André Foisy, and drummer Steven Hess—have been howling and wandering back and forth through the experimental end of that dichotomous terrain. The 2010 record The […]
    The post Locrian’s experimental ambient noise metal will not cease app
  • Fcukers make hard-edged dance pop for a new generation

    Fcukers make hard-edged dance pop for a new generation
    The hype around the Dare a couple years ago has made me skeptical of (if not hostile to) any emerging New York City indie artist praised by the few outlets in the city that still care. All I heard at the time was “microwave-dinner version of something on DFA, but maybe a little problematic.” Perhaps […]
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  • Psychedelic quartet Mountain Movers space out on their new LP

    Psychedelic quartet Mountain Movers space out on their new LP
    No reasonable person would describe the COVID pandemic as anything other than a catastrophe, but it’s important to look for silver linings—and lockdown gave some musicians a chance to try something different. Mountain Movers, a psychedelic quartet from New Haven, Connecticut, released the double LP Walking After Dark through local label Trouble in Mind in […]
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  • Full Body 2 root shoegaze hypnosis in the world of gaming

    Full Body 2 root shoegaze hypnosis in the world of gaming
    Of all the emerging bands nourishing today’s shoegaze resurgence, Philadelphia trio Full Body 2 best use the style’s amniotic atmospheres to evoke the dreamlike draw that the screens of our devices can have. The thrumming “Sprite Ocarina” is alternately spellbinding and overwhelming, just like spending all day online; guitarist-vocalist Dylan Vaisey whispers about being transfixed […]
    The post Full Body 2 root shoegaze hypnosis in the world of gaming appeared firs

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