A Night on the Dancehall Scene With DJ Field Marshal
Author Archives: Rosalind Cummings
Posted inArts & Culture
Single Issues: Gail Prince, mating maven
You’ve seen them. The ads in the Discovery Center catalog, that repository of yuppie activities. They proclaim “Party Mix: An Evening That Could Change Your Dating Life,” “Flirting–How to Do It Right,” “How to Take Charge of Your Single Life.” They promise to teach you how to “know the difference between romantic illusion and true […]
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Pleasure Seekers
On a sweltering afternoon a middle-aged woman in cutoffs and braids rushes into the store on the corner of 85th and Cottage Grove. Reggae streams from two midsize speakers, and the yellow awning reads: the African Hedonist CDs and Tapes. She glances around and approaches the owner. “What’s an African hedonist?” she says. “I thought […]
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Readings
Consultations With Jorianne, Channeler, Adviser, Psychic Coffee Reader
Posted inNews & Politics
Alley Entrepreneur
“I represent the externalization of not fitting in. I don’t want to fit in,” says Mark Thomas, leaning his chair against the banana yellow walls of his office. He’s wearing black jeans and a black motorcycle jacket, and his long brown hair, which is usually in a ponytail, is hanging straight from his receding hairline […]
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Rock ‘n’ Roll: have yourself a doo-wop Christmas
Just when you thought you couldn’t bear to hear another sappy version of “Jingle Bell Rock,” along comes a finger-popping package of holiday tunes with a funky doo-wop sensibility to save your soul. With its street-corner harmonies and stripped-down production, this record sounds like the corner of 47th and Cottage Grove on a winter afternoon. […]
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Art People: Amy Lee Segami passes on tradition
Amy Lee Segami had been a fluid-mechanics engineer for various corporations for several years when she began looking for a way to express her creativity and looked toward traditional Japanese arts. She mastered ikebana (flower arranging), cha-no-yu (tea ceremony), and sumi-e (brush painting). Her background in the precise science of fluid mechanics eventually drew her […]
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Reel Life: Floyd Webb’s POV
Floyd Webb still remembers a game he played at Boy Scout camp during the summer of 1967, when he was 14. “We had to guess what time a clock was set,” he says. “It was in a paper bag so none of us could see. I tied with another guy who happened to be white. […]
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Auras
Sister Fran Ault glides blue, yellow, and purple pastels across manila paper. Her blue eyes dart behind her tortoiseshell glasses. They glance at my head. “You have a lot of yellow, which means a vibrant mental life,” she says. Sister Fran, a Dominican nun, says that she can interpret the color auras she intuitively senses […]
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Club Scene: Chicago blues with an Italian accent
It’s Tuesday night at Rosa’s, and strains of heavy bass and guitar playing are seeping out through the bar’s walls. Near the entrance, a giant-screen TV blares classic blues concerts. It overlooks a pool table, surrounded by players coolly draping their bodies into shooting position. The walls are covered with Rosa’s relics: pictures from the […]