Author Archives: Cara Jepsen

Videomaker and musician Keith Dukavicius used to regale his coworkers at a downtown poster shop with his impersonations of James Mason, the British-born star of such films as Lolita and The Desert Fox. “I’d do it steadily for about a half an hour and drive them crazy,” he says. “One of my coworkers kind of […]

When Katy Chevigny and Kirsten Johnson started working on their documentary Deadline three years ago, they didn’t know that George Ryan would become the video’s central figure. Instead they were planning to focus on the history and repercussions of Furman v. Georgia, the 1972 Supreme Court case in which the majority ruled that the state’s […]

Earlier this year, a technical glitch caused Amy Goodman’s syndicated radio show, Democracy Now!, to disappear from Northeastern Illinois University’s radio station, WZRD, where it airs weekday mornings at 7 and 8. The show, which originates from an old firehouse in New York City’s Chinatown and is carried by the independent Pacifica network, is known […]

Guitarist John Greenfield started his latest band, Illinois First!, after picking up a 1986 grade school textbook called Discovering Illinois at a yard sale last fall. The lyrics for “Nauvoo (City of Joseph)” are culled from what he found inside: “Our town of 15,000 was bigger than Chicago / Made of bricks and mortar, plaster […]

Last May the Chicago Force’s match against the Oklahoma Avengers was called off after a tornado hit Oklahoma City and destroyed the homes of three of their players–including the quarterback’s. “They found her unconscious in the bathtub, no house,” says Ronit Bezalel, who codirected A Day on the Force, a documentary about Chicago’s franchise in […]

All three of the founders of the Chicago Art Department teach for a living, but, says Mike Nourse, “We’re not convinced that taking classes that fit into a larger curriculum that leads you to a degree is the best method of developing art skills.” Nourse teaches video art and digital photography at DePaul and the […]

In the early 90s Screwball Press founder Steve Walters was just another underemployed guy about town, working random jobs, hanging out at Lounge Ax, and trying his hand at comic art and other media. “I had friends in bands and probably would have been in a band, but I didn’t have any musical talent,” says […]

Friday 1/16 – Thursday 1/22 JANUARY 16 FRIDAY Around this time each year Saint Sabina’s Catholic church holds a fund-raising event in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Past speakers have included names like Harry Belafonte and Cornel West; this year’s guest is actor and director Sidney Poitier, whom King called, in 1967, “a man […]

Friday 1/9 – Thursday 1/15 JANUARY 9 FRIDAY “People always say, ‘I love to see your shows, but always feel a little bit disappointed because I want to be in a piece myself,’” says David Feiner, cofounder of the Albany Park Theater Project. This weekend’s Heat Included, the company’s new festival of performances, panels, and […]

“It’s hard at first to start ripping and drawing and painting in a book,” says Oak Park artist Polly Smith. “But once you get past that first rip, it’s easy.” Since she began incorporating text, photos, paintings, and collages into the pages of existing tomes–mostly used hardbacks–two years ago, she’s completed about 100 “altered” books. […]

Friday 1/2 – Thursday 1/8 JANUARY 2 FRIDAY “We keep hoping that maybe the divine Melissa Gilbert will stop by,” says Becky Eldridge, cocreator of the musical spoof Little House on the Parody. “Or Richard Bull, the original Mr. Oleson on the TV series, will drop us a note. He’s in Man From Nebraska at […]