Gabriel Wiesen and James Nuccio, owners of Beavers Coffee & Donuts are busting out their party hats for:
Summer music festivals Me and Jim are huge fans of electronic dance music, and music festivals in general, going back to our days as drummers in high school, and, more recently, our previous jobs in nightlife hospitality. We have traveled the country attending electronic dance music festivals like Ultra in Miami, Electric Zoo in New York City, and Electric Daisy Carnival in Las Vegas, and are very excited about some upcoming festivals that have been organized in Chicago. There are a ton of artists that we love, but we’re probably most looking forward to seeing Laidback Luke at the Spring Awakening Festival June 17. Laidback Luke, in addition to being an amazing producer and DJ, also puts on a touring themed party called Super You and Me where everyone is encouraged to dress up as superheroes and dance to his music in a giant costume party. We also cannot wait to see Erick Morillo at Wavefront Beachside Music Festival June 30 and Chicago native Kaskade at Lollapalooza August 5.
Stephen Flemister, visual artist currently exhibited in “Involuntary. Loss(y). Privacy.” at Blanc Gallery is retracing the footsteps of:
Dawoud Bey Mr. Dawoud Bey is one of my favorite portrait photographers. He currently has two exhibits in Chicago: one showing his earlier works that focus on Harlem, which is in the Modern Wing of the Art Institute, and the second, “Picturing People” at the Renaissance Society, which consists of photographs of Chicago. Churchgoers, prideful shoe-repair workers, marching band musicians, and neighborhood youth, full of aspiration, are a few of the subjects of his work. “Harlem U.S.A.” (1978), on exhibit in the Art Institute, resonates with me the most. One photograph in particular of three women, dressed in their Sunday best, casually lean with unimpressed expressions on a barricade that reads police line. It reminds me of the elder churchwomen on Chicago’s west side from my childhood memories, and their loyalty to the higher authority.
Laura Goldstein and Jennifer Karmin, curators of the Red Rover reading series are working their way through:
The Encyclopedia Project Coedited by Tisa Bryant, Miranda Mellis, and Kate Schatz, the serial book project is a really innovative compilation of writing in a variety of forms, set up like a large reference. However, because of the surprising range of topics and writing styles, it becomes the best source for everything you never knew about. The newest volume, F-K, has 400 pages and 209 entries of essays, short stories, collages, translations, plays, lists, drawings, photographs, collages, and much more. Some of our favorite contemporary writers, artists, scholars, activists, educators, and performers make up the 193 contributors, including Amina Cain, CA Conrad, Krista Franklin, Bhanu Kapil, John Keene, Sueyeun Juliette Lee, Jena Osman, Vanessa Place, Anne Waldman, and Ronaldo Wilson. And best of all, the editors are currently taking submissions for the third volume, L-P, through June 1. Send them over your entries (encyclopediaproject.org), which can be anywhere between one sentence and 4,000 words.