Bloodshot Records is bought by Exceleration Music
Given the beloved alt-country label’s recent troubles, this is probably the best news we could’ve gotten—but it’s too soon to say whether Bloodshot will keep releasing music.
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The Chicago Reader has officially made it to 50 years. Let’s celebrate it with a 50 day prize giveaway!
Latest Stories
The life and legacy of Nelson Algren
Michael Caplan’s new “sensorily saturated” documentary Algren works for long-time fans and new viewers alike.
Halloween Kills
Halloween Kills fails to resurrect the franchise. But that was as predictable as the fact that Michael Myers is indestructible, no?
Dune
This visually sumptuous space opera is sure to please new audiences and Dune fans alike.
Stuck Together
Stuck Together makes for an at times amusing look at our shared bonds during this pandemic, but doesn’t quite succeed.
B is for Bobcat, Brown N’ Loud Market, and ‘booty bounce’ in this week’s round-up
Upcoming events and recommendations for the next seven days
La Gran Tirana unpacks a diva’s baggage
Aguijón Theater’s world premiere transcends the standard bio-musical.
News & Politics / Columns & Opinion
The “fuckton” twins . . .
Politically speaking, John Catanzara may be Mayor Lightfoot’s best friend.
Two priests, a rabbi, and the Sex Pig
My 25 years shooting for the Reader
50 years of a Chicago weekly
The history of the Reader reflects the larger history of newspaper publishing in the United States. This timeline traces the paper’s changing fortunes over the course of a half-century.
Kinky or killer?
During a trial over a grisly murder, prosecutors and journalists alike traded in homophobic, sex-negative tropes that some say do a disservice to the victim and the BDSM community.
Arts & Culture
All you need is As You Like It
Chicago Shakespeare opens its season with a joyous mash-up of the Beatles and the Bard.
Putting the pieces together in First Folio’s The Jigsaw Bride
A new take on the Frankenstein mythology at First Folio puts women in the narrative’s center.
Less is Moor in Court Theatre’s stripped-down Othello
A dynamic new take on Shakespeare’s tragedy shows that it’s about more than racism.
Music
The Opals deserve a place among Chicago’s greatest girl groups
If they’d released more than a handful of singles during their career, they’d probably be as famous as the Shirelles or the Supremes.
Elastic Arts hosts the fourth annual Afrofuturist Weekend
Plus: DJ Tony Trimm launches a deranged online cooking show, and Fire-Toolz releases the blissfully maximalist double album Eternal Home.
Food & Drink
Limón y Sal launches pozole season at Monday Night Foodball
Peep the Jaliciense menu for week nine of the Reader’s chef pop-up series at the Kedzie Inn.
Get down with Don Pablo’s big Chilean empanadas at Monday Night Foodball
Check out the menu for week eight of the Reader’s chef pop-up series at the Kedzie Inn.
The return of the roti at Cafe Trinidad
The city’s original Trini restaurant mounts a ghost kitchen comeback.
Film
“I’ve always considered myself an outsider“
Bobcat Goldthwait talks new doc, Joy Ride, ahead of Music Box screening.
Lamb
Lamb captures grief by oscillating between the beautiful and the horrific.
The Last Duel
The Last Duel recounts the story of the last legally sanctioned trial by combat in France.
City Life
Tickled pink
“When I walk outside and I’m wearing something pink I feel very girly, which I really like,” says Cheyenne Williams, 19, an early childhood education student at DePaul. “Cutesy and pink, that’s my motto,” she says, while sporting an impeccable Lolita-like ensemble. “I always put my outfit together the night before, no matter where I’m…
City Life Continued
Long live the classifieds!
A young person’s dive into the history of the once lucrative section and its humble future.
Outdoor rituals, an immersive horror show, and more are on the cultural harvest table
With Halloween on the horizon and Indigenous Peoples’ Day on Monday, there are plenty of opportunities to ponder horror, acknowledge history, and honor resistance. Here are some of our best cultural bets for the week ahead. Fri 10/8: What does it mean to create as an act of resistance to oppressive structures? Can art manifest…
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50th Anniversary
The Reader at 50
A deep dive into how this city’s alt-weekly made it through five decades
A note on this week’s cover
And also a goodbye
The long haul
My not-quite-50-year love affair with the Reader
No assignments, no deadlines, no promises, no job
How I met and fell for the Reader (great editors: part I)
