The positives of the year look different for everyone. The losses and gains have been very personal, so in turn the issue turned out that way too. It reads like group therapy—writers were given space to acknowledge what’s being left behind and then move forward with optimism, maybe even excitement about what the city still has to offer us. Reader poll results were determined by you, the readers!
Tag: pandemic
Posted inBest of Chicago
Tone Deaf Records responded to the stay-at-home order with vinyl delivery
“It made people feel like they were helping out a business in the community, and at the same time they were getting a special service that they could rely on.”
Posted inBest of Chicago
Old-school musicians beat lockdown with new-school platforms
Veteran DJ Vince Adams and nonagenarian bluesman Jimmy Johnson both took to livestreaming during the pandemic.
Posted inBest of Chicago
Chicago’s Latinx musicians rolled with the pandemic’s punches
New projects kept coming from A Flor de Piel, the Los Sundowns, Lester Rey, Gabacho, ÉSSO, and others.
Posted inBest of Chicago
The pandemic pushed indoor music into the parks
Saxophonist Dave Rempis and drummer Tyler Damon played regular concerts in Margate Park this past summer and fall.
Posted inCity Life
Keep on keepin’ on
Upcoming events and recommendations from our listings coordinator
Posted inArts & Culture
Parvesh Cheena invites you into his home
From a call center in India to the socially distant confines of video chat, he’s starred in television shows that have defined an era.
Posted inArts & Culture
Making social distancing sexy
Boudoir photographers get creative during COVID.
Posted inCity Life
Coupled up in quarantine
Despite the ongoing pandemic, partners are finding—and maintaining—love.
Posted inMusic
Music workers’ jobs disappeared, but their bills didn’t
With federal aid to venues only now arriving, how are tour managers, stagehands, bookers, and their colleagues in the concert business making ends meet?
Posted inFood & Drink
Recipes for restaurant survival
From heated yurts to community support, local eateries are doing what they can to make it through the pandemic’s bleakest months yet.
Posted inMusic
Casper McFadden’s breakcore fuels optimistic dreams
In a recent video interview with New York City arts and culture site Lumka, Chicago producer Casper McFadden explained that he made his new second album, Stasis (Log), while his landlord renovated his bedroom over the summer. The construction took longer than anticipated, and McFadden spent months stuck on his couch, unable to access the […]
Posted inCity Life
When does drinking to cope become drinking too much?
Examining and altering our pandemic-induced substance habits nearly one year in
Posted inMusic
This carousel calliope has a message for you—and you’re not going to like it
Sometimes you learn more from a machine when it stops working.