Much like last year (and the year before) I continued to look to the underground and gray market food economy as the place to spot the most interesting, creative, and groundbreaking chefs and foodlums in the city.
Tag: COVID-19
Posted inStreet View
His name is Ray
“Entertainer, street philosopher, raconteur. I cruise the streets like a wandering knight seeking people to save from time and space, and perhaps life itself,” says Ray St. Ray, 70, accurately describing his iconic persona. “I’m in the business of creating the legend of ‘the Singing Cab Driver’ for people to cash in on with an […]
Posted inNews & Politics
Making good moves
A Step Ahead Chess brings kids together online and in person.
Posted inMusic
Bandcamp Fridays are back again—at least for the rest of 2022
It’s been four months since we’ve had a Bandcamp Friday. In case you’ve somehow forgotten, Bandcamp introduced them shortly after COVID-19 eliminated stateside touring in March 2020, and they’ve since become something of a tradition, helping countless musicians make ends meet without their usual road money. For the 24 hours of each Bandcamp Friday, the […]
Posted inOn Culture
Pox Americana
Last Sunday, stuffed with antibiotics, numbed by painkillers, and facing a date with an oral surgeon the next morning, I made my way to the International Museum of Surgical Science for an artist’s talk by James R. Wilke. It’s not the best way to visit this unique repository for the medical devices of yesteryear, but […]
Posted inMusic
The ‘new normal’ hangs over another summer of live music
It’s music festival season again, and of course we’re still in the middle of a pandemic. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 222.3 million U.S. residents are fully vaccinated against COVID-19—roughly 67 percent of the population. Vaccination is a great safeguard against serious illness or death, but it’s less effective against infection […]
Posted inArts & Culture
It’s not just personal, it’s policy
Rates of suicide have skyrocketed since the COVID-19 pandemic began, and mental illness is more prevalent today than ever before. However, the societal causes of mental illness are still not widely recognized, so people who suffer mental illness are often treated as though the problem is entirely their own to solve. A new novel, released […]
Posted inCity Life
The glowing citizen
Walking down North Avenue with his bulky Home Depot purchases in tow, George Blakemore sparkled in a glistening metallic-toned ensemble he painted himself. “I think that we all are artists,” he said. “We all use our imagination and we all are creative. There was a Black gentleman that died called Mr. Imagination who would say […]
Posted inMusic
Forty-two Reader-recommended releases for your Bandcamp Friday
Friday, May 6, is the 22nd Bandcamp Friday—a 24-hour period where the retailer passes its usual cut of sales revenue along to the independent labels and artists who sell their music and merchandise through the site. Bandcamp typically announces forthcoming Bandcamp Fridays in three-month chunks, and this Friday is the last one that’s been made […]
Posted inCity Life
A handmade tale
“Thrifting is huge right now—being able to go pick out your materials and put things together like Frankenstein; mixing a lot of elements to make something special,” says Cole Glover, 19, a student of designed objects at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Glover perfectly embodies what’s going on in fashion right now: […]
Posted inMusic
The second-biggest news about Bandcamp this week
Friday, March 4, is the 20th installment of what’s become known as Bandcamp Friday, when Bandcamp passes along its usual share of revenue to the independent artists and labels selling music through the site. But that occasion was overshadowed somewhat this morning, when Bandcamp CEO Ethan Diamond announced that the company is “joining” Epic Games. […]
Posted inBest of Chicago
Best concert for a cause
On Wednesday, October 13, 2021, the Old Town School of Folk Music’s third annual Indigenous Peoples’ Day Concert shook the rafters of the auditorium with Opliam’s rock-tinged blues, Huguito Gutierrez’s Andean pan flute, and the NuFolk Rebel Alliance’s mishmash of folkloric music, acoustic Americana, and tropical punk. Artist and activist Opliam (aka Liam McDonald, who’s […]
Posted inBest of Chicago
Best Chicago venues for the COVID averse
For a few relatively blissful weeks in July 2021, Chicago’s COVID-19 infection rates dropped far enough that it was possible to believe that the worst of the pandemic was over. Then the Delta variant hit. The city didn’t lock down again, but Delta posed a dire threat to public health as well as to the […]