Warming temperatures mean it’s time to get out there and strut. From book signings to variety shows, there’s something coming up for everyone’s walking speed. Sweet Void Cinema screeningssweetvoidcinema.com The Humboldt Park-based production company and microcinema Sweet Void Cinema (3036 W. Chicago, Suite 1W) collects shorts from local filmmakers and screens them monthly as a […]
Author Archives: Micco Caporale
Posted inNews & Politics
Worth the risk?
Fallout from a queer erotica screening at Sleeping Village exhibits how far cultural institutions still have to go to support the entire LGBTQ+ community.
Posted inChicagoans of Note
Gray Schiller, ambient musician and founder of StretchMetal
Gray Schiller didn’t expect to be running a nonprofit at 26. From middle school through college, they were relentlessly focused on becoming a folk singer. After growing up in the North Shore area, they moved to New York to attend the Pratt Institute. “I wanted just to make music, but my parents wanted me to […]
Posted inCity Life
Cronenberg, comedy, and weirdo music
Warmer weather is finally here to stay. You’re probably hoping to be everywhere all at once, but here are a few things you won’t want to miss, in the first iteration of our new column, The To-Do. MargueriteFri 5/26, 8 PM, Color Club, 4146 N. Elston, sold out, 18+ ReveriesSat 5/27, 8 PM, Color Club, […]
Posted inMusic
Former viral star Rebecca Black cautiously finds her voice on Let Her Burn
In 2011, Rebecca Black became one of the first teen YouTube sensations when she went viral with the video for “Friday,” her ode to the freedom of childhood weekends. Backlash arrived just as quickly as her newfound fame, and even though she was 13 years old, she wasn’t spared harsh criticism. As Dan Whitworth at […]
Posted inMusic
Rock ’n’ roll drag queen Christeene brings her gender terrorism to the Salt Shed
Christeene is like the bathroom-stall love child of Iggy Pop and Peaches. No, she’s like an orphan who emerged from a hidden cave unearthed at a Blacklips Bar stage show in 1992. Actually, she’s like a teen girl from the Stone Age who time traveled to 2023 to learn R&B. A rock ’n’ roll drag […]
Posted inMusic
The Reader’s guide to Record Store Day 2023
Record Store Day began 15 years ago as a way to mobilize consumer support for independent brick-and-mortar record stores, which were seen as niche enough to be at risk of extinction from big online retailers. Streaming wasn’t yet the behemoth business it is today—Spotify also launched in 2008, and it wouldn’t reach the U.S. till […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Best art show that flexed on Chicago’s place in the new media landscape
Every Chicagoan knows this city is the underdog of major metropolises. There’s no shortage of things we don’t get enough credit for. When it comes to art, I’m of the mind that our most unsung heroes right now are our new media artists–creators who are pushing technology’s creative applications and imagining new ways to blur […]
Posted inBuy Local
Best place to find vintage music ephemera at reasonable prices
Let’s Boogie Records & Tapes (3321 S. Halsted) is a time machine to a different era. Bridgeport and Pilsen have no shortage of outlets for serious crate diggers (shout-out to 606 Records), but Let’s Boogie has been around longer than any other shop in the area—Neal S. Keller opened it in the mid-70s—and it has […]
Posted inBest of Chicago
Best porn at a short films screening
Last June, I interviewed emerging filmmaker Henry Hanson about his short Bros Before, a funny 20-minute hyperpop fever dream where two trans men struggle to understand their changing friendship after they begin hooking up. At the end of July, it made its hometown debut at Facets following eight shorts by trans filmmakers from the United […]
Posted inMusic & Nightlife
Best place to catch a man practicing harmonica while he urinates
Sidekicks (4424 W. Montrose) is an understatedly chill karaoke joint. Flashy people sing at Alice’s or Cafe Mustache, but if you’re looking for a good, weird time singing to a mix of people that might include Bass Pro card carriers as well as homos you haven’t met at every other gay spot, Sidekicks is the […]
Posted inFood & Drink
Best home bakery for outrageous custom cakes on a budget
Sylvia Patterson, mom of spooky-silly goth Twitch streamer DJ Patrixia, is an absolute vibe master, and it comes out in her imaginative confections. The self-taught baker owns Sweets by Dragonflies, which is amazingly affordable and has a quick turnaround, with vegan options. And while Patterson can reliably recreate anything you’d find at a grocery store […]
Posted inMusic
A new compilation recalls a beloved queer performance series in New York’s underground
You know a compilation is “peak New York club” when it features Joey Arias. On Blacklips Bar: Androgyns and Deviants—Industrial Romance for Bruised and Battered Angels, 1992–1995, the cabaret star and former Fiorucci store manager (who’s also executor of Klaus Nomi’s estate) appears right out of the gate with a breathy, aching rendition of “Good […]
Posted inChicagoans of Note
Heather Gabel, collage artist and singer of Hide
Heather Gabel is an icon of the midwestern industrial scene. As singer for Hide, their electronic duo with Seth Sher, they control the stage like a bionic witch who’s just emerged from a scrap heap to reveal truths both prophetic and profane. Offstage they’ve been a support professional in varied musical communities, working as a […]
Posted inMusic
Ambient pioneer Laraaji elevates new age music on the four-LP collection Segue to Infinity
Anyone who’s written off new age music hasn’t heard Laraaji. The multi-instrumentalist and composer (born Edward Larry Gordon) is recognized as an ambient pioneer because his 1980 album, Ambient 3: Day of Radiance, was produced by Brian Eno—in fact it’s the third release in Eno’s famous ambient series. But Laraaji, a proud spiritualist, had already […]