Constellation hasn’t hosted a New Year’s Eve bash since the Sun Ra Arkestra’s legendary fete in 2017. This year, the intimate venue ushers in 2023 with homegrown talents who could be considered Constellation all-stars. The evening is headlined by Natural Information Society, led by multi-instrumentalist Joshua Abrams; the five-piece ensemble realizes his teeming compositions (often […]
Tag: Constellation
Posted inMusic
Black Ox Orkestar return after 15 years to explore modern socio-political strife though Jewish diasporic traditions
The Yiddish language originated in the 900s and peaked in the early 1940s with around 11 million speakers, primarily in Europe’s Ashkenazi Jewish communities. But of the six million Jewish people murdered by the Nazis during World War II, 85 percent of them were Yiddish speakers. Just as the worldwide Jewish population has not yet […]
Posted inCity Life
Chicago Community Bond Fund celebration and more
The Chicago Community Bond Fund, a local group working to end pretrial incarceration and the cash bail system, is hosting its seventh annual end of year celebration. Take stock of the group’s trials and tribulations over the past 365 days while enjoying a panel led by Chicago Black Social Cultural Map, dance performances, a disco-influenced […]
Posted inAgenda
Sounds & S’mores, Acid Nun, the Crooked Mouth, and more
Artist Khaaliq Haneef closes out his debut solo show, “The Devious Mind of Khaaliq Haneef” with Sounds & S’mores, an open mike at the Lawndale Pop-Up Spot (1408 S. Central Park). Hip-hop and R&B artist Khing Kwon will be master of ceremonies, and DJ Ramiro, who has a monthly night at Osito’s Tap in Little […]
Posted inFilm
Embracing analog
If you’re looking to fall in love with film and its potential to inspire, look no further than Celluloid Now.
Posted inMusic
The best of the jazz outside the fest
For several years now, the heart of the Chicago Jazz Festival has been in Millennium Park. This year the four days of the fest also include programming at the Cultural Center (from 11 AM till 5:15 PM on Thursday, September 1) and a lunchtime show at the Maxwell Street Market on Sunday, September 4. Around […]
Posted inAgenda
Orchids, Soul Remedy, music, and Billiken
Arrive at the field house in McKinley Park (2210 W. Pershing) by 7 PM to be led to Orchidelirium, a live performance about the history and symbolism of orchids by Mitsu Salmon. The action will be immersed in a soundscape by TRQPiTECA cofounder La Spacer, who will DJ a dance party in the park following […]
Posted inCity Life
April showers us with events
It may be a little damp and dreary outside, but there are loads of ways to warm up with some cultural events this week. FRI 4/8 At 5:30 PM tonight, catch a free performance by Xochitl-Quetzal, the dance troupe founded by Henry Cervantes that’s keeping the Concheros dance tradition alive. As the event host—the International […]
Posted inMusic
A concert-by-concert guide to the Frequency Festival
After a COVID gap year, the Frequency Festival returns on February 22. The six-day event is an outgrowth of the Frequency Series, which is programmed by former Chicago Reader staff music critic Peter Margasak and hosted by Constellation. Founded in 2013, shortly after drummer and promoter Mike Reed opened the north-side venue, the series presents […]
Posted inMusic
New-music feast the Frequency Festival returns after taking a COVID year
Former Reader staff writer Peter Margasak has been programming the Frequency Series at Constellation since 2013, bringing in artists from across the wide spectrum of experimental and new music for weekly showcases. Since 2016 Margasak has also booked the annual Frequency Festival, which skipped 2021 for obvious reasons; the festival will return for its sixth […]
Posted inMusic
New-music combo Honestly Same debut their improvised meditations
Update Thu 1/20: The Honestly Same concert tonight has been canceled because one of the group’s members has been exposed to COVID. Gossip Wolf has yet to hear a note from Honestly Same, but the temptation is strong to refer to the five-piece improvising collective as a supergroup—kind of like Temple of the Dog for […]
Posted inMusic
Dave Rempis and Avreeayl Ra’s saxophone-drums duo comes in from the COVID cold
Bennu, the first duo recording by saxophonist Dave Rempis and drummer Avreeayl Ra, takes its name from an avian Egyptian divinity that created itself and also helped bring the world into being. It’s a fitting title for a completely improvised performance, especially one that ended the longest stretch without a gig that either had endured […]
Posted inMusic
Round Trip Records opens its brick-and-mortar shop after almost two years of pandemic delays
Chicago has a brand-new record store: Round Trip Records in North Park! Co-owner Paul Nixon says the shop has been in the works since November 2019, when he left his longtime gig at Laurie’s Planet of Sound. Shortly he and Round Trip co-owner David Baker started selling records online and at the Chicagoland Record & CD […]
Posted inMusic
Chicago indie-rock mainstays Eleventh Dream Day celebrate their 14th album, Since Grazed
When Chicago indie-rock stalwarts Eleventh Dream Day released their 14th album (and first in five years), Since Grazed, in April 2021, the pandemic prevented them from having a proper release party. The group, formed in 1983, are creeping up on their 40th anniversary, and though they didn’t hold together this long by being impatient, they […]
Posted inMusic
Joshua Abrams and Chad Taylor concentrate their shared history in Mind Maintenance
Mind Maintenance is Joshua Abrams and Chad Taylor, two musicians whose concord transcends time, distance, genre, and instrumentation. They’ve been playing together since the 1990s, when they both lived in Chicago, and their collaborative relationship has endured since Taylor headed east 20 years ago. They’ve jointly backed the likes of singer Sam Prekop and cosmic […]