In 2018, the Reader ran a cover story: “Julie Doucet is done making comics.” The underground artist famously abandoned the scene in 2006, leaving fans of her cult-classic series Dirty Plotte and graphic novels like My New York Diary bereft. Through the years, her autobiographical comics became renowned in the canon. She explored other art […]
Tag: Paris
Posted inOn Transportation
Here’s how we can build a citywide protected bike lane network
In some ways the city’s surprise announcement last month that it’s spending $17 million in funds from Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s Chicago Works infrastructure program to build or upgrade 100 miles of bike lanes in 2021 and 2022 was welcome news. But there are also some disappointing aspects of the plan, which I’ll get to in […]
Posted inMusic
Pianist Willie Mabon gave Chess Records its first big hit
Despite a 1952 smash for Chess Records, pianist Willie Mabon was soon overshadowed by labelmates such as Bo Diddley and Muddy Waters.
Posted inMusic
Kassel Jaeger and Jim O’Rourke take us on a journey with In Cobalt Aura Sleeps
In 2017, Paris-based electroacoustic composer Kassel Jaeger (born François Bonnet) and Chicago-born multi-instrumentalist Jim O’Rourke joined forces for Wakes on Cerulean, a kaleidoscopic duo recording filled with shape-shifting electronics and field recordings. On their brand-new second collaborative album, In Cobalt Aura Sleeps (Editions Mego), they aim to convey a similarly rapturous experience, but the piece […]
Posted inMusic
Why is Chicago jazz so successful in Europe?
Chicago expats Frank Rosaly and Rob Clearfield discuss the differences between pursuing jazz here and overseas.
Posted inMusic
The Art Ensemble of Chicago celebrate 50 years of pushing great Black music into the future
Art Ensemble cofounders Roscoe Mitchell and Famoudou Don Moye expand the group into an 18-piece big band with the likes of Nicole Mitchell, Tomeka Reid, Jaribu Shahid, and Fred Berry.
Posted inArts & Culture
More than a century after its Paris premiere, Cendrillon comes to the Lyric
The archly sophisticated production was worth the wait.
Posted inMusic
Spoils of War pioneered the fusion of experimental electronics and psychedelic rock
The late-60s band founded by unheralded composer Jim Cuomo only released one EP during its lifetime.
Posted inColumns & Opinion
Should the CTA be free? Why not?
Making it easier for people to get to jobs, schools, and health care could save society a ton of money.
Posted inMusic
Ensemble dal Niente pianist Mabel Kwan on a playful post-smartphone look at David
Current musical obsessions of Ensemble dal Niente pianist Mabel Kwan, Kelley Sheehan of Cacophony magazine, and Reader critic Peter Margasak
Posted inBlogs
Michael Madigan is now the longest-serving state house speaker in American history, and other Chicago news
Also, prompted by the highly unpopular pop tax, Cook County commissioner Richard Boykin is mulling a 2018 run against board president Toni Preckwinkle.
Posted inBlogs
If only Chicago had been as cavalier about NATO gatherings as Trump is
As the secretary of state snubs NATO, we remember the raw deal that was the 2012 NATO summit in Chicago.
Posted inColumns & Opinion
Messenger-scene vets swept the North American Cycle Courier Championships
Christina Peck and Nico Deportago-Cabrera cut their teeth delivering in Chicago.
Posted inBlogs
What Chicago could learn from Paris’s massive labor protests
What if Illinois workers responded to austerity measures the way French workers did this week?
Posted inBlogs
Reading Charlie Hebdo in Evanston
On the anniversary of the deadly Charlie Hebdo shootings in Paris, Evanston’s City Newsstand recounts how it got hold of the French satirical magazine’s first post-attack edition.