On November 13, 1992, Joanna Brown and Mark Freitas launched the Homocore Chicago series with a show by Toronto band Fifth Column—their drummer and guitarist, G.B. Jones, is also a filmmaker, and in 1985 founded influential queer punk zine J.D.s with director Bruce LaBruce. The series booked the likes of Bikini Kill, Los Crudos, Sleater-Kinney, Pansy Division, Tribe 8, and God Is My Co-Pilot, and its May 2000 swan song was Le Tigre’s local debut. Homocore Chicago celebrates its 25th anniversary with a three-day exhibit at Defibrillator Gallery stuffed with photos, films, and ephemera. It opens Thursday, November 2, at 5 PM, and Thalia Zedek (Come, Live Skull) plays that night. Friday‘s hours begin at 2 PM, and local mainstay Scott Free performs with Jenny Urban in the evening. Saturday the gallery opens at noon, and at 2 PM it hosts a panel on 90s queer punk with Brown, Freitas, early Homocore volunteer Chris Kellner, trans activist Ed Varga, Jane Danger (Three Dollar Bill), and Martin Sorrondeguy (Los Crudos, Limp Wrist). Berlin regular DJ Larissa spins on closing night.
In May, Gossip Wolf mentioned the Indiegogo campaign run by Kenny Childers of Bloomington alt-rockers Gentleman Caller, who needed money to press LP copies of No One’s Daughter, a song cycle responding to the 2016 short-story collection Heartbreaker by Chicago writer Maryse Meijer. On Thursday, November 2, at Pilsen Community Books, Meijer reads selections from her stories and Childers plays an acoustic set of album tracks and sells copies of the LP.
On Saturday, November 4, Smart Bar opens at 7 AM for an ambitious event: “23 Hour Party People” features DJs spinning all day and night (with a few in the “chill-out tavern” next door at GMan), ending with a sunrise set by house legend Derrick Carter on Sunday morning. The lineup includes Justin Long, Olin, Eris Drew, and DJ Heather—let’s hope there’s coffee too! v
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