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One of the major misconceptions about Abraham Lincoln is that he ran for president with the full intent of ending slavery in the United States. It’s nice to think that it was once possible for someone with so much moral sense and the courage of his convictions to get elected to, well, anything. But the true story of Lincoln’s evolving feelings about slavery and racial equality, chronicled in “Lincoln’s Undying Words,” a new exhibition opening at the Chicago History Museum on Saturday, is far more complicated, and also far more interesting....

My metric for good TV has always been Breaking Bad. For years now, I’ve been telling anyone who will listen just how much I love the show. It has the groundbreaking antihero, it has unparalleled acting, it has unexpected action and slow burn drama. Breaking Bad has those moments that good TV has, where the viewer’s mind is completely shattered by what just happened. The end credits roll, and I say to myself, “Vince Gilligan, you son of a bitch....

Kyle Bruckmann teaches oboe and performance at four universities (the University of California campuses in Santa Cruz, Davis, and Berkeley plus the University of the Pacific), plays with five new-music ensembles (Quinteto Latino, sfSound, the Eco Ensemble, the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, and Splinter Reeds), and subs with the San Francisco Symphony and several northern California regional orchestras. He also has an edgier side: he plays electroacoustic improvisations and compositions by the likes of Anthony Braxton and Michael Pisaro in the duo EKG, suspends densely layered poetry over twisting prog rock with Degradient, and performs solo concerts that seek to apply his free-jazz chops to nakedly beautiful music....

Two years ago, legendary avant-garde artist Lydia Lunch brought her all-star no-wave revival band Retrovirus to Chop Shop. The group laid down a charismatic, devastatingly tight set that wove together works from all phases of the singer’s storied career and even included crowd-pleasing Pere Ubu and Suicide covers. Her latest project is a very different type of act, despite containing two Retrovirus members: bassist, keyboardist, and sound artist Tim Dahl and drummer Weasel Walter (guitarist in Retrovirus), a former Chicagoan who leads the notorious (and recently reactivated) Flying Luttenbachers....

I’ve seen plenty of movies whose cast and crew should wish to remain anonymous, but never one this good in which they actually are. Manuscripts Don’t Burn is the latest drama from Iranian writer-director Mohammad Rasoulof, best known here for the political allegory Iron Island (2005), and the new movie—a tale of government censorship, repression, and murder—is so uncompromising that the only onscreen credit belongs to Rasoulof. After he and fellow filmmaker Jafar Panahi were arrested for shooting a movie about the disputed 2009 presidential election, Rasoulof fled to Hamburg, where he was living when Manuscripts Don’t Burn won a prize from the International Federation of Film Critics at the Cannes film festival....

We sent photo intern Chris Riha to cover Primary Day voters, polling places, and Hillary Clinton’s election-results watch party. Here’s what he captured from yesterday’s closely watched races. A photo posted by Chris Riha (@superbia454) on Mar 15, 2016 at 6:28am PDT

When Chicago postrock band Tortoise began attracting international attention in the 90s, critics frequently discussed the band’s nifty adaptation of Steve Reich-style minimalism, particularly its use of hypnotic, interlocking tuned percussion. Tortoise’s “Ten-Day Interval,” from the brilliant 1998 album TNT, reconfigured his ideas for an indie-rock audience. At the time lots of underground artists took inspiration from Reich, and the following year Nonesuch Records released Reich Remixed, which featured electronic acts such as Howie B....

No Men are one of Chicago’s most idiosyncratic bands, mixing doom-metal walls of sound, punk velocity, and a pinch of hooky new wave—this wolf wouldn’t be surprised to find Missing Persons in the trio’s collection! No Men also have a thing for “killer” videos—in 2016 they collaborated with director Greg Reigh on a bloody Dario Argento-esque short for the rabid “Stay Dumb.” They’ve been working with Reigh again on a video for “Sucker,” which bassist DB describes as “a twisted-up western about abuse of power and environmental degradation, with some witchcraft and demon shit....

The following questions were crafted at a City Bureau event with the Reader to reflect the concerns of participants, who came from diverse neighborhoods in the city. Candidates Gery Chico, La Shawn Ford, John Kozlar, Neal Sales-Griffin, and Toni Preckwinkle were also invited to participate but did not respond. Full responses are listed in alphabetical order by last name. For the trimmed answers featured in print, click here [PDF]. Too many of us don’t feel safe, and too many of us tell ourselves there is nothing we can do, and that is wrong....

When local brick-and-mortar record store Permanent Records celebrated its five-year anniversary in 2011, the Reader‘s Miles Raymer laid out the forces that had been arrayed against cofounders Lance Barresi and Liz Tooley when they opened the Ukrainian Village shop in October 2006: not only were physical record stores dropping like flies, but Reckless Records seemed to have Chicago’s small market cornered. But Barresi and Tooley, who’d just moved here from Missouri, didn’t just persevere but thrived—and since then they’ve launched two more Permanent locations in Los Angeles, where they’ve lived since 2011....

According to the New Yorker‘s humorist Andy Borowitz, Queen Elizabeth II has offered to rule the United States long enough to see us through our current difficulties, and then, perhaps, forever after that. So I have a counteroffer. The Queen—who is, “by the Grace of God of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of Her other Realms and Territories Queen, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith”—has a lot on her plate already....

I’ve been a huge fan of reedist Chris Speed for decades. He’s an improviser who’s adroitly experimented with various strains of jazz hybridization over his long career, whether transplanting rhythmic ideas from electronica into his avant-garde quartet Yeah No, toying with the music of Balkans in his fusion-heavy ensemble Pachora, or creating new chamber music in John Hollenbeck’s Claudia Quintet. Speed’s rigorous curiosity may take him in varied directions, but he filters all of his endeavors through a deep jazz foundation....

At her best, young Chicago singer-guitarist Melody Angel comes on like a one-woman Black Rock Coalition. She updates ideas drawn from blues and old-school rock ‘n’ roll with a hard-rock ferocity that never crosses into overkill, while also incorporating generous helpings of R&B, hip-hop, and Tracy Chapmanesque balladry into her style. Melody Angel Sat 6/8, 11 AM, Crossroads Stage Melody Angel Band Sun 6/9, 9 PM, Rosa’s Lounge, 3420 W. Armitage, $15, 21+...

In my essay on Jia Zhang-ke’s Ash Is Purest White that appears in the current issue of the Reader, I asserted that “one of the more compelling things about the film [which takes place over 17 years] is how you can never predict when Jia will flash forward in time. It’s one of those movies . . . in which time exists as an autonomous force.” Writing that line made me think about other movies that cover long stretches of time in such an idiosyncratic fashion, movies that subvert the conventions cemented by too many routine biopics....

ARTIST: Josh Davis SHOW: Metz, Muuy Biien, and Brett Naucke at Empty Bottle on Thu 6/23 MORE INFO: deadmeatdesign.com

Get out of the house on this beautiful Friday. Here’s some of what we recommend for the unseasonably warm weekend: Sat 2/20: Speak Bitterness is a six-hour performance at the Museum of Contemporary Art (220 E. Chicago) in which the cast confesses their secrets, from the largest sins to the smallest mistakes. The audience is free to come and go as they please. 4 PM

Elements of vintage soul have long been part of Nashville veteran Jim Lauderdale’s portfolio, dating back to his stunning 1994 album Pretty Close to the Truth (Atlantic)—a knockout hybrid of American music that’s also distinguished by the melodic sensibility that’s made him one of the most successful songwriters in modern country history. They appear once again on his latest record, London Southern (Sky Crunch), which was cut four years ago while Lauderdale was on a UK tour backed by the like-minded working band of roots maverick Nick Lowe....

A little bit of ika shiokara goes a long way. At Izakaya Mita in Bucktown, the little strips of cold squid flesh, marinated in salted, fermented squid guts, come in a dainty dish. But with the outsize intensity of their briny funkiness and their slippery and wormy texture, they seem to come alive in your mouth—and really can’t be washed down with anything less potent than whiskey. This is drinking food, every bit as challenging as balut or hakarl....