Friday 22
In order to enlarge their bagel store in the historic Monadnock Building, the Jacobs Bros. had to cut through a 97-year-old column. To appease their guilty consciences, the Jacobs brothers will give away fragments of the column as well as samples of bagels all day at their newly expanded store, 53 W. Jackson. The giveaway runs 6 to 6, and there are 1,891 pieces of brick. Details at 922-2245.
Gandharva musicians claim their art rids the environment of stress and creates balance in nature. They perform music from the ancient Vedic civilization of India, playing only what’s appropriate for a particular time of day. As part of the Maharishi’s Festival of Music for World Peace–and to inaugurate the Maharishi School of Gandharva Music for Chicago, one of 1,000 schools being opened worldwide to “hasten the onset of world peace”–they’ll give concerts tonight and tomorrow at 8 at Here’s Chicago, 163 E. Pearson. Admission is $20, $15 for students and seniors; call 477-0102 for more info.
Saturday 23
AEMMP Records, a nonprofit record company staffed by Columbia College undergrads, was established in 1982 to educate students about the recording industry; the acronym stands for Arts, Entertainment and Media Management Program. Every year students find music to record, promote, and distribute. This year’s pick, the Gloryhounds, is a four-man “psychedelic dance group” with an “eclectic, alternative sound.” There’ll be an AEMMP record-release party for the band tonight at 11 at Lounge Ax, 2438 N. Lincoln. Admission is $5; the band will play, and their new single, “Not Today,” will be for sale. The single is also available at Rose Records, Flip Side Records, Importes Etc., and Wax Trax. More at 525-6620.
Sunday 24
The Sun-Times’s third annual Illinois Criterium Championship is the only bike race open exclusively to Illinois residents. Entry fees range from $10 to $15 for the 18 separate races, which vary in length, and some of which have age and gender restrictions. A total of $3,000 in prize money will be awarded. You can watch for free. It all starts at 9 AM at the corner of Columbus Drive and Congress Parkway; call 486-8853 or 493-0956 for details.
Food and wine writers Tom Maresca and Diane Darrow traveled extensively in Italy to research their latest cookbook, La Tavola Italiana, a regional guide to the country’s cuisine. To celebrate their travail, chef Robert Chavis will cook up some of the recipes at tonight’s Degustazione Dinner. The eight-course meal and accompanying wines cost $55 a person; the gustatory activity starts at 6:30 at Convito Italiano, 11 E. Chestnut. Reserve a place at 943-2746.
Past winners of Berlin’s Pet Costume Content have included a bulldog dressed as a Cabbage Patch doll, a Pekingese as Joan of Arc, and a goldfish as Carol Channing. If your pet can do better, bring it to the fourth annual competition, 7 PM at Berlin, 954 W. Belmont. There’s no entry fee; first prize is $100. More info at 348-4975.
They say Ed Gein–the Plainfield, Wisconsin, multiple murderer whose life was the basis for The Texas Massacre and, some say, Psycho–made furniture out of his victims’ limbs and dressed up in his mother’s skin. Tonight, the Psychotronic Film Society presents “The Shocking, True Story of Ed Gein,” an evening of Gein-mania. To be screened: Ed Gein–The Untold Story (a short documentary) and Deranged (yet another movie based on his crimes). Also on the agenda: a comic (if you can believe that) monologue by Del Close and Kim “Howard” Johnson singing a song he wrote about Gein. The morbidly curious should line up at the 950 Club, 950 W. Wrightwood. Doors open at 7:30, the show starts at 8, and admission is $2. Details at 248-4823.
Monday 25
Dr. Tom DeFanti is an artist, a professor of computer science at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and founder of the Electronic Visualization Laboratory, which brings artists and scientists together. Now he’s selected the work of 29 Illinois artists for Art From the Computer: An Illinois Survey, which shows some ways artists use computers. It runs today through September 9 at the State of Illinois Art Gallery, 100 W. Randolph, suite 2-100. The show includes “phscologmams,” 3-D works that combine photography, sculpture, and holograms; printouts of computer drawings; photos of computer screens; and videotapes. Gallery hours are Monday through Friday, 10 to 6. Admission is free. Call 917-5322 for more info.
Every year Today’s Chicago Woman polls its readers on the city’s hottest single women, requiring submissions to include info about jobs, hobbies, and taste in men. This year TCW–along with Bears John Mau, Kevin Butler, and Dan Hampton–is throwing a Bachelorette Ball, where you can meet the poll winners. It runs from 5:30 to 7:30 at Traffic Jam, 401 W. Ontario, owned by (surprise!) Mau, Butler, and Hampton. There’ll be complimentary champagne and a cash bar. Admission is free; call 951-0699 for more info.
Tuesday 26
Professional storyteller Beth Horner-who in the past has been a children’s librarian and a drama teacher–presents Sunny and Spooky Stories of Summer at 10:30 AM at the Dellora A. Norris Cultural Arts Center, 1040 Dunham Road, Saint Charles. Tickets are $2; reserve ’em at 584-7200.
Wednesday 27
Champaign native Alison Krauss just turned 17, but she’s already won state fiddling titles in Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Tennessee, and Kentucky. In 1983 and 1984, she was voted the most promising fiddler in the midwest by the Society for the Preservation of Bluegrass Music in America (SPBGMA). Earlier this year, she and her all-male band won the SPBGMA International Bluegrass Championship. Alison Krauss and the Union Station Bluegrass Band will perform today, noon to 1, at 120 S. Riverside Plaza, which is along the Chicago River’s west bank between Adams and Monroe. The concert’s free; for info, call 207-1100.
University of Chicago law professor Michael McConnell, one of the nation’s leading experts on freedom-of-religion issues, is the speaker at today’s luncheon lecture, Recent Supreme Court Religion Cases: Crumbling Wall or a Stop Toward Neutrality? He’ll be questioned by Colleen Connell, an ACLU lawyer, and Michael Lieberman, the midwest civil-rights director for the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith; all three will answer audience questions. The forum is sponsored by the Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies, a nonpartisan group devoted to the separation of government powers and to the idea that government’s purpose is to preserve freedom. It runs noon to 1:30 at the offices of Mayer, Brown & Platt, 190 S. LaSalle, 39th floor. The $10 charge includes lunch; make reservations by July 25 at 427-3156.
Thursday 28
Hey, life wasn’t exactly a bowl of, cherries for a lot of fairytale heroines, which is probably why the London Women’s Film Group made Rapunzel Let Down Your Hair in 1978. The film tells the story four times from different viewpoints, focusing on (1) the tale’s “erotic force,” (2) the stepmother-daughter relationship and medieval ideas about women and witchcraft, (3) a daughter rebelling against her overprotective mother, and (4) the struggle of women to change their image in fairy tales and myths. It will be shown with Little Red Riding Hood, made by Red Grooms the same year. The double feature starts at 6 at the Film Center, Columbus at Jackson. Admission is $6, $4 for members. Info at 443-3733.