Friday 1/30 – Thursday 2/5
JANUARY
By Cara Jepsen
30 FRIDAY Anyone who’s lived in a garden apartment knows firsthand that the earth maintains a constant temperature of 53 de-grees just below its surface. But if you were to heavily insulate the apartment and add a few humans, their bodies would act like miniradiators and bring the temperature up to about 70. At least that’s the premise behind the virtually energy-free building, a masonry structure that combines the heat from below with that of the people inside to maintain a year-round temperature of 70 degrees. Bollocks, you say? Since 1973 Huntley-based Solarcrete has built about 3,000 of the buildings. See one for yourself today at Solarcrete’s free open house, which showcases the newest–and biggest (525,000 square feet)–of the bunch. It’s from 1 to 4 (preceded by a workshop at 11:30 and a lunch/Q&A session at 12:15) at Roman Inc., 880 Rohlwing in Addison. Call 815-923-2553 for more.
31 SATURDAY A drawing of a small, horizontal female stick figure and a large male stick figure on top of her, with the title Daddy Fucking Me scrawled across the page, is one of the items in Raised by Wolves: Photographs and Documents of Runaways, a multimedia exhibit assembled by San Francisco photographer Jim Goldberg. It was drawn by one of the many teens Goldberg befriended be-tween 1968 and 1993 while working on a book about young runaways in San Francisco and Los Angeles. Among the 170 photos in the show is one of a boy’s torso, scarred where his father shot him; in another a well-dressed couple walks by an emaciated boy lying on a piece of newspaper on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame. The exhibit opens today at noon and runs through March 21; Goldberg will give a lecture on March 12. It’s free, at the Museum of Contemporary Photography, 600 S. Michigan. Call 312-663-5554 for more.
FEBRUARY
1 SUNDAY In 1972 the shah of Iran’s secret police arrested a dozen intellectual types for allegedly plotting to take the crown prince and queen of Iran hostage. Poet Khusroo Goalsurkhi and activist Keramat Daneshian were executed, and many of the others received long sentences. The prisoners, including filmmaker Reza Allamezadeh, were finally set free during the revolution seven years later. Unfortunately the Ayatollah Khomeini’s regime wasn’t much more open-minded, and Allamezadeh fled to the Netherlands in 1983. His documentary The Surf Is at Rest chronicles his trial and the climate of terror that existed during the shah’s tenure–and that Allamezadeh says continues in Iran today. He’ll discuss the film after the 5:30 screening at Facets, 1517 W. Fullerton. Tickets are $7. Call 773-281-4114.
Since 1985 Uptown Habitat for Humanity has fixed up or built 69 homes in Uptown, Edgewater, Rogers Park, west Humboldt Park, and Evanston, and it’s in the process of completing another two dozen, including a 12-unit row house three blocks west of the United Center. Using interest-free loans, volunteer labor, and “sweat equity” provided by the owners-to-be, the group makes housing affordable for low-income, inner-city families. Tonight it’ll raise funds to build more with its second annual Music Benefit for Uptown Habitat for Humanity. The roster includes Brando’s Charm, Marathon Man, Odysseus Johnson and Crosseyed Cat, Fondly, and Rock Star Club, as well as a jazz-funk “supergroup” called Slam featuring Mars Williams of Liquid Soul and Kent Kessler of the Vandermark 5. Door prizes include a Washburn guitar signed by a gaggle of local musicians. It starts at 6 at Metro, 3730 N. Clark. It’s $10; call 773-549-0203 for information, 312-559-1212 for tickets.
2 MONDAY Carolyn “Kecky” Kirshenbaum, who wrote about the local theater scene in the 1970s and ’80s under the nom de plume Lynn Carroll, was one of the community’s biggest boosters. In 1985 she helped put together Art Against AIDS, the success of which paved the way for the formation of Season of Concern, the theater community’s AIDS-support organization. After she died of a heart attack last fall, her friends and family established the Kecky Fund to continue raising money in her name. Their inaugural event is tonight’s Cavalcade Chicago ’98! An Evening of Music and Laughter, which will include performances by Spider Saloff, Michael Kearns, Nan Mason, and Denise Tomasello, as well as actors from Second City, Apple Tree Theatre, and Black Ensemble Theater. The preshow buffet and reception is at 6 and the performances start at 7:30 at the Mercury Theater, 3745 N. Southport. Tickets are $20; proceeds benefit Open Hand Chicago and Season of Concern. Call 312-409-8029 for more.
3 TUESDAY U.S. foreign policy has gotten a lot more complicated since we lost our favorite whipping boy, the big, bad Soviet Union. Sure, we still have the stock Middle Eastern villains and our NATO pals in Europe to deal with, but according to Northwestern University professor and World Trade Center Chicago president Arthur I. Cyr, migration, tourism, and the media are just as important in today’s foreign relations as diplomacy and military power. His new book, After the Cold War: American Foreign Policy, Europe, and Asia, examines the economic and other forces behind our current approach. He’ll discuss his work tonight at 6 at the Newberry Library Bookstore, 60 W. Walton. It’s free. Call 312-255-3520 for more.
4 WEDNESDAY What happens when an incarcerated criminal, who’s been corresponding with a sweet young thang in a small town and claims to have found religion, is released from jail? He seeks her out and acts the gentleman, until his sweetie gets on his nerves. Eye of God, the first feature film directed by actor Tim Blake Nelson, examines abortion, adultery, and abuse in a nonlinear format that manages to add shock value to the inevitable tragic ending. It’s based on his play of the same name, which is currently running in a local production at Profiles Theatre. The film stars Hal Holbrook as the sheriff, Martha Plimpton as the lonely heart, and Kevin Anderson as the bad guy. It screens at 7 and 9 tonight at Facets, 1517 W. Fullerton. Admission is $7; call 773-281-4114.
5 THURSDAY Ten years ago HealthWorks Theatre debuted The Wizard of AIDS, a 45-minute parody of the L. Frank Baum story; the baddies consisted of the Wicked Witch of Needle Sharing and the Wicked Witch of Unsafe Sex (who met her end at the hands of a giant condom). The play was later modified and performed in high schools, and the company went on to create other educational musicals. Tonight the theater kicks off its three-day Ten Year Gala with a tribute to its supporters and former company members, a video retrospective of the evolution of The Wizard of AIDS, and a performance of the play. Tonight’s festivities start with champagne and snacks at 6 and the play begins at 7:30 at Roosevelt University’s O’Malley Theatre, 431 S. Wabash. Opening-night tickets are $35 and include a postshow coffee reception; tickets for tomorrow and Saturday are $15. Call 773-929-4260 for more.