To the editors. The July I Reader article called “Child in the Streets”, may succeed as Faulknerian literature, but it does not succeed as journalism at any level. First of all the only audience who could possibly understand what Timothy went through as a child of the streets would be the Reader’s gay audience. The […]
Tag: Vol. 17 No. 40
Issue of Jul. 21 – 27, 1988
Posted inArts & Culture
Madras Parables
MADRAS PARABLES Curious Theater Branch at Cabaret Voltaire, Cabaret Voltaire is a clean, well-lit coffeehouse at Elston and Cortland, just west of the river. Aside from some very bad (and some not so bad) paintings on the wall, it’s surprisingly homey and unpretentious. As is Madras Parables, which is playing in the back room. Madras […]
Posted inNews & Politics
McGregor v. the NRC
Why did the Nuclear Regulatory Commission fire one of its toughest plant inspectors?
Posted inFilm
When Bad Films Happen to Good Actors
MIDNIGHT RUN ** (Worth seeing) Directed by Martin Brest Written by George Gallo With Robert De Niro, Charles Grodin, Yaphet Kotto, John Ashton, and Dennis Farina. There’s a certain unavoidable imposture in the way critics (and the Academy Awards) generally break commercial movies into constituent parts and distinct contributions. To do this is to assume, […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Buster Benton
Buster Benton scored big locally with his gospel-tinged “Lonesome for a Dime” a few years back; it remains his signature tune, and the perfect vehicle for his gritty-sweet voice and deceptively passionate, insinuating leads. Although Buster hasn’t been able to duplicate the commercial success of “Lonesome,” his live performances consistently resonate with deep blues feeling […]
Posted inNews & Politics
Shirt store: a hopeful sign in Humboldt Park
Humboldt Park is the kind of neighborhood where an entrepreneur is someone who opens a bar, a little restaurant, or maybe a resale joint. Where economic development usually means little more than a new Pizza Hut or Burger King. Where the local kids either go off to work someplace else or hang around like a […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Blues Notes: marking the memory of Jim Brewer
When Jim Brewer played on Maxwell Street on Sunday mornings, he looked like blues history come to life. Grizzled and blind, hunched over his guitar or autoharp in the early morning sun with an ancient hat jammed down over his forehead, he seemed a throwback to the days when every southern town had its street […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Choreography Collections
NEW DANCES ’88 Chicago Repertory Dance Ensemble and guest artists at Ruth Page Foundation July 8, 9, 15, 16, 22, and 23 Hatchlings resemble their parents, and most of the works premiered in the Chicago Repertory Dance Ensemble’s choreographic incubator New Dances, now in its sixth year, share the ensemble’s virtues and vices: its careful […]
Posted inNews & Politics
Reading: Two Trumans
A fine new biography of Truman Capote leaves us contemplating the strange spectacle of the artist in a world of celebrity. Would Jane Austen have done the Tonight Show?
Posted inArts & Culture
A War at Home
PRECIOUS SONS Pegasus Players Precious Sons takes place in 1949, and it could very well have been written in or around that year, too. Funny, harrowing, and very moving, George Furth’s memory play is filled with echoes of All My Sons, Death of a Salesman, The Country Girl, The Shrike, and especially The Glass Menagerie–products […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Dance and More for $1.98
DANCE AND MORE FOR $1.98 MoMing Dance & Arts Center July 15, 16, and 17 This second week of new choreographic works at MoMing provided frustratingly disappointing fare. The six pieces tended to wander aimlessly and often endlessly. The artists, while exploring interesting ideas and intriguing images for the most part, seemed unable to structure […]
Posted inNews & Politics
Rain
One minute I’m looking out at the oppressive Saturday afternoon sky, thinking that rain never falls on Chicago anymore, even when it looks like it will. Extended forecast: hellish; 99 percent chance of perspiration. The next minute–as though someone shouted “Action!”–fat drops are plunging down onto the street, bouncing and glittering like a cascade of […]
Posted inNews & Politics
Growing Old With Grace
Financially, legally, and in a variety of other ways, growing older is getting harder–especially for women. Grace Halperin, a soft-spoken but persistent 74-year-old widow, is a leader in the movement for change.
Posted inArts & Culture
The Spook Who Sat by the Door
Possibly the most radical of the “black exploitation” films of the 70s, this movie was an overnight success when it was released in 1973, and then was abruptly taken out of distribution for reasons that are still not entirely clear. A mild-mannered social worker (Lawrence Cook) is recruited by the CIA as a token black, […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Chicago Fun Times: hanging around with Jessica Hentoff
Trapeze artist Jessica Hentoff has what seems a rather nonchalant attitude toward her job. When she’s on the road, getting from city to city bothers her more than hanging 100 feet above ground: “The worst circus accidents I’ve ever seen are on the road,” she says. When her father worries about the risks she takes, […]