Author Archives: Mike Sula

Daniel Mielniczuk and Pepe Curci, 23-year-old purveyors of “artisanal Argentine ice cream,” should be forgiven the untimely opening of the Penguin. This far north, August is not a strategic month to open an ice cream parlor. You might get ahead during the dog days, but before long even the dogged paleteros will be running in […]

After the premiere of the documentaryThe Return of Navajo Boy at this year’s Sundance festival, the film’s main subject, Elsie Mae Begay, finally began to receive recognition for the hundreds of motion pictures, photographs, paintings, and postcards she and her family, the Clys, appeared in during the 40s and 50s as anonymous Native American icons […]

FRIDAY 8/11 – THURSDAY 8/17 AUGUST by MIKE SULA 11 FRIDAY As director, producer, and Felix, you’re quite excited about the off-Loop, sold-out, opening night performance of the canine version of The Odd Couple. But ten minutes before curtain, when city building inspectors show up at your storefront theater complaining of orthodontist bills, do you […]

FRIDAY 6/23 – THURSDAY 6/29 JUNE by MIKE SULA 23 FRIDAY Crustaceans, though known for their sensitivity and defensiveness, are also by nature caring and sympathetic, and generally have no qualms about submitting to degrading displays of physical endurance as long as it’s for a good cause. So just think of the children during A […]

Friday 6/16 – Thursday 6/22 JUNE by Mike Sula 16 FRIDAY Spanish painter Remedios Varo was the daughter of an atheist scientist father and strict Catholic mother. As a youngster she ran away from the convent where her mother had enrolled her in school and ended up hanging out in Madrid and Barcelona with all […]

Bill Talsma started hoarding the black and brown tangles of audiotape he found strewn on sidewalks and snagged in shrubs, but he wasn’t sure what to do with them. “I thought a lot about the fact that they really look like intestines, like this cassette was disemboweled and left on the street,” says Talsma, an […]

Friday 3/17 – Thursday 3/23 MARCH by Mike Sula 17 FRIDAY When he was a lad, pirates kidnapped Saint Patrick from his father’s seaside farm and sold him to a shepherd. Later a vision inspired him to devote his life to converting the idolatrous kings of Ireland to Catholicism. Snake driving was a sideline. Composer […]

Three years ago Josh Rubinstein was almost killed during his first taxi ride. An Art Institute transfer student from the University of Colorado, he was catching his first glimpses of the city on the drive from Midway when a semi began jackknifing in front of the cab. As the driver swerved out of harm’s way, […]