Jessica Risker is an experimental singer-songwriter and a licensed clinical counselor. After the COVID-19 pandemic sent Chicago into lockdown in March 2020, Risker merged those pursuits for a podcast called Music Therapy, where she speaks to artists, industry professionals, and fellow therapists about their work, creativity, and mental health. She initially imagined the podcast as […]
Tag: The Hideout
Posted inMusic
The Cosmic Country Cookout promises to be out of this world
The Cosmic Country Showcase is an acid-infused variety show that happens a handful of times per year at the Hideout, and on July 24, its presenters are repotting this ravenous alien plant (think Audrey II from Little Shop of Horrors, except in a cowboy hat) as the Cosmic Country Cookout at Logan Square’s newest whiskey […]
Posted inColumns & Opinion
We’re number one!
With two aldermen indicted on just one day, Chicago proves it’s second to none when it comes to corruption.
Posted inCity Life
Readings, livestreams, and drunk farmers
Upcoming events and distractions from our listings coordinator
Posted inNews & Politics
The new normal
What the aftermath of coronavirus will bring for Chicago’s small businesses
Posted inMusic
Billy Helmkamp, co-owner of the Whistler and Sleeping Village
“This is gonna devastate our industry. We were the first to close; we’re gonna be the last to reopen. A lot of venues aren’t gonna make it.”
Posted inColumns & Opinion
Bob Dylan’s ode to Chicago
The new Michael Reese TIF plan tries to undo the damage of the old one.
Posted inColumns & Opinion
The show goes on
One era ends and another begins for our beloved First Tuesdays.
Posted inArts & Culture
Helltrap Nightmare wishes Chicago a fond, freaky farewell
The weirdo-comedy staples perform a sold-out show before heading west.
Posted inArts & Culture
The rise of the viral drag queens
A generation that grew up queer on the Internet finds a home on Chicago’s drag stages.
Posted inArts & Culture
Making the radical left laugh
Monkey Wrench host Arish Singh and collaborator Basim Usmani on political comedy, Trump, and why you can’t trust white liberals.
Posted inMusic
Why won’t City Hall fight for Chicago’s homegrown music scene?
The Chicago Independent Venue League shouldn’t have to push back against the Live Nation handouts in the Lincoln Yards development—but City Hall doesn’t protect Chicago’s homegrown music scene.
Posted inArts & Culture
The three hilarious women of It’s a Guy Thing bring their act to the Tomorrow Never Knows festival
Catherine Cohen, Patti Harrison, and Mitra Jouhari can explain men to you—with songs!
Posted inMusic
Racetraitor guitarist Dan Traitor on connecting hardcore and union organizing
Current musical obsessions of Racetraitor guitarist Dan Traitor, Decline front man Fern X Decline, and Reader associate editor Jamie Ludwig