After seven days of testimony and a week’s breather from a trial as surreal as the artwork at its center, international art star Peter Doig has won a resounding victory. According to expert testimony during the trial, if Doig said he had painted the work then it could be sold for somewhere in the range of $6 million to $8 million. Last year a larger Doig work went for $25.9 million....
Hey, how are you holding up? Did that question in itself seem like a threat? Yeah, we’re at that part of Chicago winter where people start to get a little antsy, and of course it doesn’t help that many of us are still waiting on vast vaccine distribution in order to feel completely comfortable socializing with groups, going out to stores, and even traveling on public transportation. We’ve purchased the cutest masks, learned how to use all the video conference software, and subscribed to a ton of Patreons and we’re still feeling ugh....
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. Zach Prather’s latest single, “We,” came out in February 2019.
When the general director steps out onto the stage before the curtain rises at Lyric Opera, it’s not a good sign. The audience for Wednesday’s matinee performance of La Traviata, Giuseppe Verdi’s 1853 tearjerker extraordinaire, was not pleased to see Anthony Freud or to absorb his message: celebrated soprano Albina Shagimuratova—the star attraction in this production—was down with laryngitis and would not be appearing as Violetta, the Parisian prostitute with a heart of gold....
Attracting new listeners to contemporary classical music is an ongoing struggle, but in recent years a number of music presenters, including Liquid Music in Minneapolis and Ecstatic Music in New York, have pursued a novel path of spearheading collaborations between pop groups and new music ensembles. In some ways this makes sense—plenty of musicians across the divide are fluent and interested in both, and among these various projects, there have been some successes, such as the winning joint effort between adventurous rock band Deerhoof and Chicago’s Ensemble Dal Niente....
During the 80s, Austin-based songwriter Daniel Johnston began recording fractured, innocent, childlike pop genius onto a boombox. As he passed the tapes around, he caught the attention of alternative acts like Built to Spill, Sonic Youth, and Nirvana—Kurt Cobain famously introduced the mainstream to Johnston’s music by wearing a T-shirt with the cover art for Johnston’s 1983 album Hi How Are You to the 1992 MTV Video Music Awards. Praise from the punk giants allowed Johnston (now considered an outsider legend) some notoriety in the 90s, and he graduated from making albums with a single microphone and a rickety piano to recording them in actual studios with backing bands....
Let’s get this part out of the way first: Oyster Bah is a very dumb name for a very good restaurant. It’s akin to Rich Melman’s Boston cousin opening a steak house called Da Beef. The staff at Oyster Bah know it is a dumb name. This is likely why they refer to the restaurant as, simply, Oyster. As in, “Welcome to Oyster. I hope you enjoy your meal.” Since they do it, I will too....
Diane Alexander White was a photography student with a camera at the seventh annual Gay Pride Parade in 1976. It was the disco era, and the fashions of the day were captured by the 21-year-old Chicago native. The goal was to document the spirit of Chicago’s urban landscape and photograph candid moments of a vibrant city in motion. The LGBTQ parade was a grassroots, assertive declaration of independence with a small crowd and handful of marchers and floats on the southbound lane of North Broadway Street, as oncoming traffic continued in the opposite direction....
Anthony Quintano/NBC News Rachel Dolezal appeared on the Today show Tuesday. Rachel Dolezal is the best op-ed topic to come along in a long time. She’s not just hot copy; she’s actually significant. She raises some really good questions. She’s one of those occasional subjects that remind the lowly pundit what fun it is to think for a living. Yet where does that leave us with the former Bruce Jenner (whose situation has made Dolezal’s twice as interesting)?...
CHICAGO—The Chicago Reader has announced that the Oak Park-River Forest Community Foundation will serve as the newspaper’s fiscal sponsor as it goes through the process to become a full 501(c)3 nonprofit. The Reader, an L3C company founded in 1971, publishes a biweekly newspaper serving the city and suburbs, plus daily content online and on social media. The Reader covers politics, culture, and produces in-depth investigations. “We are excited about this partnership during our time of transition to a nonprofit journalism model,” said Tracy Baim, publisher of the Reader....
Theater communities in Chicago and across the country reacted swiftly to the publication of this week’s Reader cover story—”At Profiles Theatre, the drama—and abuse—is real“—condemning the alleged abuses at the north-side storefront theater and standing behind a group that has emerged to protect non-Equity theater professionals. In addition, Anna D. Shapiro, artistic director of Steppenwolf Theatre, posted a statement of solidarity on behalf of her company: Thursday afternoon, playwright Vern Thiessen commented on the story: Profiles Theatre’s business license expires next Wednesday, June 15....
Euclid This Friday, prolific LA noise artist John Wiese comes to Constellation in support of his new album, Deviation From Balance (you can read more about it in Peter Margasak’s Soundboard write-up). If you’re going, make sure to get there in time to see the opening act, Bay Area instrumental-synth sorceress Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith. On her latest album, Euclid (Western Vinyl), Smith creates intricate, hypnotizing, glowing synth patterns that crawl around each other in serpentine movements....
A chair is still a chair, even if there’s no one sitting there. And it came early on in the 58 minutes and 40 seconds he spent speaking atop the House Chamber dais. In context, the president’s mention of gun violence suggests that the issue remains on the agenda—a hedging way of offering acknowledgment while noting that he’d spend more time “focusing on the future” for the duration of the address....
As one decade turns into the next, I find myself struggling with one of the great existential questions of our time: Which version of “Betcha By Golly, Wow” is best—the Stylistics’s or Prince’s? But I’m going to try to look on the bright side, starting with national politics . . . In short, my argument is that Democrats are better off vigilantly defending their values in a fight with a despicable Republican than watering them down to accommodate the nervous nellies in a Democratic White House....
On her new third album, That’s How Rumors Get Started, Margo Price spins her modern outlaw-country sound into golden strands of pop-friendly Americana, tackling her critics, rock ’n’ roll mythology, and expectations of success. The LP, which was produced by fellow country renegade Sturgill Simpson, showcases Price’s knack for storytelling that pulls at the heartstrings; its lush, midtempo songs contain tales of love, hope, heartbreak, resilience, and promise despite the uncertainty of change....
Here’s some of what we recommend for your snowy weekend ahead: Sun 11/12: Indie stalwart Ted Leo returns with The Hanged Man, his first album in seven years. He’ll be at Thalia Hall (1807 S. Allport) tonight. The Reader‘s Leor Galil calls Leo’s new album, ” . . . an accomplished melange that further colors his power-pop sensibilities and gift for multidimensional songwriting.” 8:30 PM, $20-$25For more things to do this weekend—and every day—visit our Agenda page....
Pride North illegally charged a $20 entrance fee to the festival on Sunday, city officials say, drawing ire from a queer community that was desperate to celebrate in person after more than a year of pandemic restrictions. Hadden says she repeatedly spoke to Treacy, who she says denied charging the fees. She says multiple residents called 311, and that Chicago police officers spoke with event workers twice on Sunday about the fees....
As much as we’d like to think that we’re doing everything right, right now, we’re not. Not totally. Created by Mayor Lori Lightfoot in response to the protests last summer that also prompted her to cause Christopher Columbus statues to vanish from public parks, the Monuments Project is led by a 30-member advisory committee that includes artists, architects, scholars, and civic leaders. The monuments range from images of Leif Erikson, Abraham Lincoln, and Columbus, to the golden replica of the “The Republic” that stands in Jackson Park....
