Posts

It was only a few years ago that 21-year-old Los Angeles singer-songwriter/producer Omar Banos, aka Cuco, began messing around with music software after school. He quickly hit on an original and unexpectedly successful style of bedroom dream pop, with lyrics that mix Spanish and English and meander nonchalantly between passionate Latin balladry and sly, hip humor. His signature song, 2017’s “Lo Que Siento,” has a cheesy synth groove and casually corny lyrics (“I hope you know I miss you / From my head I can’t dismiss you”) and ends with a gorgeous mariachi horn coda....

As a sign of how relatively little I have to complain about when it comes to national politics, I’m going to complain about a recent Washington Post headline above an article that explained why I have relatively little to complain about. With that headline, the Post hits the trifecta. It’s patronizing, demeaning, and sorta, kinda accurate. All at once. The Washington Post turns it around. And somehow when they’re done explaining, it’s all part of a larger plan by Biden to tame the left by cooing sweet nothings into our ears....

When you enter the Chopin Theatre for The Ruse of Medusa, it may sound like a half-dozen wild monkeys are performing a musical cacophony on piano, strings, and horns because they are. Settle in for an hour of wild antics, visual and aural stimulation, screaming (both human and monkey), and total silliness. Written by Erik Satie in 1913, this lyrical comedy is one of the first plays to contain absurdist and surreal elements predating the start of dadaism....

This week I went back and forth with friends about the possibility of Chicago Public Schools actually having in-person classes this fall, and all we could determine is that sitting around and solving the world’s problems is not as satisfying when talking to each other via Skype. And then I made a concession to health by trying to use Greek yogurt as a dipping sauce, and while it’s tasty with chocolate chip cookies, I don’t feel like I’m doing it right....

Street View is a fashion series in which Isa Giallorenzo spotlights some of the coolest styles seen in Chicago.

T he upcoming, empowering poetry anthology The BreakBeat Poets Volume 2: Black Girl Magic, edited by Mahogany L. Browne, Idrissa Simmonds, and Chicago poetry staple Jamila Woods, quickly manifested itself from a short conversation between Browne and Kevin Coval, one of the editors of the first BreakBeat Poets anthology, a collection of hip-hop poetry that came out in 2015. Although it’s billed as a sequel, the book-which will be released in paperback on April 3 and is available as an e-book now-can stand by itself: its dense, entrancing, necessary works by more than 60 black women poets create a black-girl-centric world of their own....

Not only is 2020 the Year of Chicago Music, it’s also the 35th year for the nonprofit Arts & Business Council of Chicago (A&BC), which provides business expertise and training to creatives and their organizations citywide. To celebrate, the A&BC has launched the #ChiMusic35 campaign at ChiMusic35.com, which includes a public poll to determine the consensus 35 greatest moments in Chicago music history as well as a raffle to benefit the A&BC’s work supporting creative communities struggling with the impact of COVID-19 in the city’s disinvested neighborhoods....

In two-way radio speak, “10/9” means “please repeat.” That’s exactly what Christina Peck and Nico Deportago-Cabrera, former and current Chicago bike messengers, respectively, did at the North American Cycle Courier Championships in New York City earlier this month. I caught up with these speedy folks last week to discuss their achievements, and the state of the courier industry. A cool head was definitely needed for the final championship race, held Sunday afternoon on 17 blocks of Bushwick, Brooklyn, which the city rendered car-free for the occasion....

Last week, contributor Dave Hoekstra wrote about the Taste Entertainment Center, which has been a required stop for many African-Americans since it opened in 1980. Take a look:

In summer 2017, rapper Kitty, who’d gone viral via Soundcloud earlier in the decade, released Miami Garden Club, her long-awaited crowd-funded debut album, which captured her shift away from the quirky rhymes of her early tunes and toward dreamy bedroom pop. Kitty toured on that record alongside her husband Sam Ray, a like-minded musician who makes beat-heavy, hazy synth soundscapes under the name Ricky Eat Acid. It seemed inevitable that the two would eventually come together for a full-on collaboration, and in September they released a self-titled, five-song EP as the Pom-Poms....

Courtesy of Friends of Friends Different Sleep Local party-promotion company and blog 1833 launched in February 2013 and tomorrow night it celebrates its two-year anniversary with a bash at East Room. How to Dress Well main man Tom Krell will DJ alongside a trio of local producers—Thelonious Martin, Mojek, and Different Sleep, the latter of whom made today’s 12 O’Clock Track, “Hurt You.” Different Sleep, aka Rafa Alvarez, recruited emotive K-Town rapper Lil Chris and ahead-of-the-curve MC Kid Sister for the track, which weds a club-busting, rattling percussion loop with what sounds like mournful synths played in reverse....

As a child of separated parents, I can attest that when you’re younger it’s hard to see both sides of the argument. Hell, it’s hard seeing any side that isn’t yours—the confusion and the pain that come with this transition are stronger than anything you’ve felt so far. It’s easy, then, to blame one parent for the fallout over the other. But as you mature, it becomes easier to view divorce with more sympathy for both parties....

The hothouse of Chicago’s 1990s no-wave scene gave rise to lots of jarringly idiosyncratic bands, but the Scissor Girls may have been the most memorable of the bunch. Formed in 1991 by bassist and vocalist Azita Youssefi, drummer Heather Melowic, and guitarist Sue Anne Zollinger (who left in 1993, replaced in ’94 by Kelly Kuvo), they released two albums, a handful of singles, and a ten-inch EP before breaking up in 1996—and in that short time they exploded the “rock trio” format by making conventional instruments sound like nonmusical objects or even abstractions: How did Youssefi’s bass wobble and waver like a rubber band?...

Welcome to the Reader‘s weekday news briefing. State legislator accused of sexual harassment fighting for primary ballot spot Illinois senator Ira Silverstein and his legal team are fighting to keep his spot on the Democratic ballot for the March 20 primary, according to the Tribune. Silverstein was accused of sexual harassment by an activist who worked with him on a bill to support victims of violent crimes. His election “paperwork raised questions about enough of the signatures to leave him about 45 short of the 1,000 needed” to get on the ballot, and he’s facing primary challengers in the wake of the harassment allegations....

After Tyler, the Creator dropped his fourth solo record, Flower Boy (Columbia), in July it quickly became cliche to describe it as his “mature album.” Granted, Tyler and his pals in the Odd Future collective made an indelible impression on music culture when they broke out in 2011—and his presence as a violently foul-mouthed miscreant with a predilection for homophobic, misogynistic lyrics was partially responsible for their initial infamy. Imagine the challenge of trying to convince the public you have more to offer than that!...

There’s plenty to do this weekend to avoid what’s predicted to be the season’s first snow. Here’s some of what we recommend: Sat 12/3-Sun 12/4: The Renegade Holiday Craft Fair, the off-season edition of the art market taking place at the Bridgeport Art Center (1200 W. 35th), offers chilly Chicagoans the opportunity to peruse some handcrafted goodies without freezing to death. There’s music, drinks, and snacks, too. 11 AM-6 PM...

Chappie Last week I argued that the new live-action version of Cinderella deepens (or some might say stultifies) the classic fairy tale with lessons in European social history. I could have added that, in this regard, the film represents the inverse of two current mainstream hits, Matthew Vaughn’s Kingsman: The Secret Service and Neill Blomkamp’s Chappie, which employ fairy-tale narratives to consider real-life social issues. Kingsman is something of a modern-day Cinderella story, telling the tale of a working-class goon (Taron Egerton) who gets transformed into a dapper, world-traveling spy with the help of an older agent-cum-fairy godfather (Colin Firth)....

“I grew up eating it, still love it, but I gravitate towards things that taste like sticks and leaves,” he says. And matzo’s lack of flavor means that it doesn’t lend itself particularly well to cocktails. Marty tried infusing spirits with matzo; the result, he says, was “incredibly boring.” He crushed up matzo to put on the rim of the drink, which still didn’t taste like anything, and “you end up with crackers all over your lips....