Richard A. Chapman/Sun-Times Blaine Elementary School principal Troy LaRaviere Almost from the moment this week’s First Tuesdays show at the Hideout ended, folks in the audience were bugging me: Hurry up and post this baby on the Internet! What do you expect? I was on the stage. So now you can watch it in the comfort of your home. Enjoy the show, everybody . . .
Police officers who work in Chicago Public schools and other districts across the state could be required to get special training under a proposed bill moving forward in the Illinois legislature, while another bill would give funds to schools that hire behavioral or mental health counselors to help with discipline. Police reform advocates are now poised to achieve their goal of required training for any school-based police officer across Illinois....
And don’t miss the Gift Theatre’s “exhilaratingly subversive” Richard III, reviewed by Tony Adler here. 42nd Street Based on Bradford Ropes’s novel and the 1933 movie it spawned, this 1980 stage musical concerns desperate chorus girls and boys, doing their damnedest to stay afloat and hold on to their dreams during the Great Depression. What’s interesting is that they don’t backbite to achieve those goals. Whenever they make a decision, they do it for the good of the group—even if that means stepping aside to help one of their number get her big break....
Lyft drivers are behind the wheel in a large percentage of cars on Chicago roadways—and now the ride-share company is looking to gobble up many of the bikes on the streets too. Divvy—about to celebrate its fifth anniversary—launched in the summer of 2013 at the cost of nearly $28 million. It has expanded its fleet from only 750 bikes at 75 stations to 6,000 bikes at 580 stations across the city....
Two separate protest groups lined the sidewalk outside of McDonald’s new West Loop headquarters at 11 AM Thursday—the day of the fast-food giant’s annual shareholders’ meeting. Thursday’s action marked the fourth day in a row that groups have voiced their discontent with McDonald’s at its home, which opened in April. Earlier in the week, nearly 150 members of the Fight for $15—a union-backed movement campaigning to raise the pay of minimum-wage workers—chanted slogans like “McDonald’s, McDonald’s, you can’t hide / We can see your greedy side”—and paraded up and down Restaurant Row....
I missed the concert that Alejandro Escovedo played at FitzGerald’s last week, where he was supporting his excellent new album, the hard-rocking, raucous Burn Something Beautiful (Fantasy). Yesterday, while flipping through some old CDs, I came across a much earlier Escovedo record—his second solo album, 1993’s Thirteen Years—which reflects a very different side of his aesthetic. Back then Escovedo was transforming the rude power of protopunk into something even more devastating with the unlikely addition of chamber-music-style strings....
Last Friday the Reader said hello to the Chicago Newspaper Guild, which this paper’s editorial employees certified by a vote of 19-0. On Monday the Reader began saying good-bye to editor Mara Shalhoup. “There’s a time in life—and if you live in Chicago, that time is January—when the possibility of a new adventure becomes irresistible,” she told her staff. “I love this city. I love working with all of you. I love the Reader....
The bike helmet debate stirs strong emotions. Many of us have heard stories of people who suffered traumatic brain injuries after being struck by a motorist while biking without a helmet. It’s also common to hear testimony from people who believe that wearing protective headgear made the difference between life or death during a crash. On the other hand, there are many people—even mainstream American bike advocates—who say helmets aren’t necessary for all kinds of riding....
Playwright Jillian Leff’s tale of a rookie novelist whose big break depends on her ability to convert her partner’s trauma into a commercial blockbuster is an eye roller. Long story short: there is so much to side-eye in the Right Brain Project’s 90-minute, four-person drama that you might well leave with improved peripheral vision. Directed by Kathi Kaity, (Non)fiction wades toward the preposterous before wholly diving into the deep end of what-even-is-this folderol....
On Wednesday, December 19, Mark Pinski, the general manager for WCPT—Chicago’s progressive talk radio station—took me out for breakfast to give me an “annual performance review” about my afternoon show. And then, just eight days later—on December 27—that very same Pinski, along with Brian Linscott, the company’s COO, called me into the conference room to break a bombshell. Ultimately, I believe I was fired because the top brass didn’t want my left-of-center voice broadcast from their station....
Welcome to the Reader‘s morning briefing for Monday, October 17, 2016. A few CPD officers have more than 100 complaints from civilians Around 62 Chicago Police Department officers have at least 70 complaints against them, and a few officers have more than 100, according to report by the Tribune. Between 1967 and 2014, about 125,000 civilian complaints were made against 25,000 officers, but very few have led to an officer being fired....
Project Film via Bandcamp Album artwork for Different Rooms Project Film’s debut album, Chicago, was one of the first to come out on the duo’s own label, Tandem Shop, back in 2010. It was also one of the first records I ever reviewed. Scratchy, hissy, and charming in its bare-bones fidelity, the album was recorded while Megan Frestedt and I were both still undergrads at University of Chicago. We’d lived in the same dorm for our first two years at college; after moving out, she joined a band and founded a label with her friend Sam McAllister....
Street View is a fashion series in which Isa Giallorenzo spotlights some of the coolest styles seen in Chicago. Cameron creates a minimal khaki look that’s anything but boring. His garments fit perfectly, and his attention to detail—such as the rolled-up pant legs showing off his blush socks, of the tucked-in T-shirt—make him stand out while most khakis just blend in. See more street style in the Chicago Looks blog.
Conduit, a fresh New York noise-rock band with members of Twin Stumps and White Suns, have posted their first demo online. Its six brutal songs of hardcore-influenced noise-sludge are in the vein of other modern New York noise greats such as Drunkdriver and Uniform. The demo will get a proper release in the next couple months on Chicago-based label Rotted Tooth Recordings (operated by soon-to-be-former Oozing Wound drummer Kyle Reynolds), and today’s 12 O’Clock Track is a little peek into the deranged tape....
The 13th edition of the Chicago African Diaspora Film Festival—”an eclectic mix of foreign, independent, classic and urban films representing the global black experience”—runs all week at Facets Cinematheque. Following are reviews of selected films; for a full schedule see facets.org. La Pirogue In this 2013 drama, 30 men and a lone female stowaway, ditching their destitute lives in West Africa, embark on a perilous ocean journey from Senegal to Spain....
Among the flurry of bills passed in the five-day January lame duck session in Springfield was the Predatory Loan Prevention Act, a measure that would cap interest rates for consumer loans under $40,000—such as payday loans, installment loans, and auto title loans—at 36 percent. These types of loans often trap consumers in cycles of debt, exacerbate bad credit, lead to bankruptcy, and deepen the racial wealth gap. Some 40 percent of borrowers ultimately default on repaying such loans....
Coinciding with Black History Month, the arts nonprofit Project Onward hosted the opening of its new exhibition, “Distinct Portraits by disAbled Artists,” last Friday at the Bridgeport Art Center. The exhibition showcased portraits of esteemed African-American artists by Project Onward sculptors, painters, and even glitter artists. “Our artists, like their contemporary artists, are just as capable of performing artwork that can go into a museum,” said Gomez. Andrew Hall on Kehinde Wiley: “When I got the commission, I said, ‘I have a great idea for this guy....
Yesterday LA electronic label 100% Silk released a cassette from Potions, the solo synth project from Distractions front man Tom Owens (who also goes by Roland Potions). The seven-song Phased follows Potions’ late-2013 LP MIDI Jazz Bass, and from the sound of “Sway Vacay” Owens is still following his own unusual path. Owens collects shimmering lounge keys, coiled percussion, and descending funk synths, then interweaves them in a kaleidoscopic pattern that changes shape throughout the track—by the end it melds together in a tropical haze and floats away with the tide....
There’s plenty to do this New Year’s weekend. Here’s some of what we recommend to really make the most of the final days of 2016 and start 2017 on an upswing: For more stuff to do this weekend—and every day—check out our Agenda page.
Cypriot composer and electronic musician Yannis Kyriakides uses polyphonic vocal arrangements, string sections, glitchy beats, and found-sound collages to articulate wordless experiences and evoke things lost or removed. English electric guitarist Andy Moor is best known for playing with the Ex, a band that has never abandoned the principles or ferocity of its punk roots, but whose music can’t be contained within any known genre. He also works in free-form settings, not just with Kyriakides but also with the likes of Ken Vandermark and John Butcher....
