THE DEATH OF CARMEN Pegasus Players “Free she was born,” declares the gypsy Carmen of herself, shortly before her deranged ex-lover knocks her off, “and free she will die!” Would that were true of The Death of Carmen, Victoria Bussert and Russ Borski’s new version of Georges Bizet’s 1875 opera. The Death of Carmen was […]
Tag: Vol. 19 No. 32
Issue of May. 24 – 30, 1990
Posted inMusic
Hubert Sumlin–Heart & Soul
HEART & SOUL Hubert Sumlin Blind Pig Records BP 3389 The best blues and jazz soloists are both earnest about their craft and deeply committed to having a good time. The histories of these two interrelated forms are peppered with a colorful cast of flamboyant free spirits whose art and life-styles refused to remain within […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Art Facts: the amazing faces of Eteri Chkadua-Tuite
Eteri Chkadua-Tuite, a 25-year-old painter from Soviet Georgia, knows at least one difference between Americans and Georgians: the way they express their emotions. Georgians, she says, “show it in their eyes and their brows,” but not Americans: “My husband is an American, and you can never tell what he wants by his expression. With Georgians […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Toots & the Maytals
Frederick “Toots” Hibbert is one of the half dozen or so Jamaican musicians who can justifiably lay claim to having “invented” reggae, and hardly anyone disputes that he gave the genre its name (“Do the Reggay,” 1968). When he and Bob Marley were getting their first U.S. releases (1974 or so) the two were considered […]
Posted inFilm
A Bluffer’s Guide to Bela Tarr
ALMANAC OF FALL *** (A must-see) Directed and written by Bela Tarr With Hedi Temessy, Erika Bodnar, Miklos B. Szekely, Pal Hetenyi, and Janos Derzsi. 1. Problems One reason that Eastern European films often don’t get the attention they deserve in the West is that we lack the cultural and historical contexts for them. If […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Ben Vaughn
From Ben Vaughn’s rather inauspicious beginnings (the Ben Vaughn Combo originally consisted of Vaughn and a guy on snare) the pride of Camden (New Jersey) is now rock’s leading funnyman. He’s not a parodist, exactly, and he’s not really a wit, either. Mostly what he does is construct effortless pop ditties on such essential subjects […]
Posted inNews & Politics
Beckoning to the Lost Generation/Who Needs Freedom of the Press?
Beckoning to the Lost Generation It began for us with Dad reading our favorite comic strip out loud on Sunday morning. Soon we could handle the comics by ourself and quickly we moved into sports. Much much later, about the time we set off for college, we started reading the news. These days, a lot […]
Posted inMusic
Handel With Care
JOSHUA Basically Bach at Saint James Cathedral May 18 CHORAL ENSEMBLE OF CHICAGO at Saint Paul’s United Church of Christ May 20 The greatest single pleasure of the blossoming of early-music groups in Chicago in recent years is that occasionally we get the opportunity to hear a long-neglected masterpiece. Such was the case when Basically […]
Posted inArts & Culture
New Humanism
GET WELL SOON at the Robbin Lockett Gallery Previous shows at the Robbin Lockett Gallery may have been too idea-oriented and esoteric for many Chicagoans, but the current group exhibit, “Get Well Soon,” should communicate provocative ideas to a wide audience. Its accessibility comes from the show’s references to the human body, of which we […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Size Counts
THE MARRIAGE OF FIGARO Chamber Opera Chicago at the Ruth Page Auditorium Chamber Opera Chicago’s production of Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro reminded me of something Luciano Pavarotti said a couple of years back–before he embarked on his latest and most successful weight-loss campaign. Pavarotti admitted that he had given up the role of Ferrando […]
Posted inArts & Culture
LAPD Inspects Chicago
LAPD INSPECTS CHICAGO Los Angeles Poverty Department at Randolph Street Gallery The first scene in LAPD Inspects Chicago shows what the Los Angeles Poverty Department does best: create arresting moments drawn from the real lives of the homeless. A quiet, reserved young man (Ameir Tahir) inadvertently crosses the path of another more aggressive young man […]
Posted inNews & Politics
The Straight Dope
Enclosed is an article extolling the virtues of colonic irrigation. After reading it we are convinced that removing our primal fecal matter will cure all that ails us, although we’re a little apprehensive about the “lighted viewing tube” that seems to figure in the process. Can you tell us more? –The Sluggish Colons, Baltimore, Maryland […]
Posted inNews & Politics
Reading: When Gays Came Marching Home
You might not guess it given the armed forces’ current policies, but the national gay subculture came out of World War II.