To the editors: Contrary to his cheerful, self-congratulatory conviction, Michael Miner is not “Ready for (School) Reform” [October 20]. Instead, he is part of the problem. He lives in a neighborhood where he has NEVER BEEN INSIDE THE LOCAL SCHOOLS except to vote NOW–but leaves it for the “less than equal children of “negroes, foreigners […]
Tag: Vol. 19 No. 5
Issue of Nov. 16 – 22, 1989
Posted inArts & Culture
The Bad Luck Ballet; What’s Up at Chicago Theatre?; Nightclub Owner Resorts to Violins; Steppenwolves to Pair Off in “Love Letters”?; Star; Superstar; Old Town’s New Tricks
Since their tenants went bust last summer, Marshall Holleb and his partners have been running the Chicago Theatre themselves–and things are looking up.
Posted inNews & Politics
The City File
“Chances that a first-time cigarette smoker will become addicted,” according to Harper’s “Index” (Nov-ember 1989): “9 in 10. Chances that a first-time user of cocaine will become addicted: 1 in 6.” A woman in a thousand. In its annual genuflection to “the corporate elite,” Business Week (October 20) barely mentions that 999 of the 1,000 […]
Posted inNews & Politics
A Failure to Communicate
To the editors: I’m sure glad I saw the Decalogue series at the Film Festival before I read Berenice Reynaud’s comments (October 20) on the episodes. Her remarks hardly make them seem worth going to, and her reactions to them seem quite out of line with my own, those of the audience as a group, […]
Posted inArts & Culture
The Long Weekend (o’ Despair)
Shot for the astonishing sum of $5,000, Gregg Araki’s second feature is accurately described by its writer-director-producer-cinematographer-editor as “a minimalistic gay/bisexual postpunk antithesis to the smug complacency of regressive Hollywood tripe like The Big Chill.” A college reunion of sorts takes place when Rachel (Maureen Dondanville), a lesbian, and Sara (Nicole Dillenberg), a hetereosexual, decide […]
Posted inNews & Politics
The Armchair Reviewer
To the editors: While reading Dennis Polkow’s recent review of Lyric Opera’s production of Richard Strauss’ Der Rosenkavalier [October 6], I was reminded of a letter which the German composer Max Reger once sent to a critic who had unfavorably reviewed his music. The letter said, in part, “I am sitting in the smallest room […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Bo Diddley
It’s been more than 30 years since New York DJ Alan Freed christened Bo Diddley’s audacious music “rock ‘n’ roll,” but Bo’s classic style sounds as fresh and liberating as ever. Diddley combined an ear for tradition with a razor-sharp urban wit and devilish irreverence; he adapted the hip street slang and signifying of 50s […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Charles Earland
Organist Charles Earland’s migration to Chicago, in early 1988, made perfect sense; for years, first in his native Philadelphia and later throughout the country, Earland had been playing the kind of soulful, bountiful, rollicking jazz that’s most at home in the clubs of Chicago’s south side. Earland possesses the expansiveness that seems to come with […]
Posted inNews & Politics
Crying Time
To the editors: Big fat salty tears splashed down on the stuffed shells. “This, this story, (I rattled the Reader in the face of the waitress so as to show and not have to talk) . . . is so poignant.” I almost always read at dinner and I never cry in public. “The Rag […]
Posted inNews & Politics
Demonstration at Ditka’s
Inside Ditka’s, that bastion of beer and brotherhood, movie star Raquel Welch was nervously talking about having the right to make choices. Outside, about a dozen demonstrators picketed and proselytized through bullhorns. “You’ll be stars in hell too,” read one sign. “I understand there’s a street full of people dressed for Halloween,” Welch told her […]
Posted inNews & Politics
Phoebe vs. President Bill
To the editors: I almost wrote to respond to Phil Albee’s September 15 complaint about the new layout of Section Three, but I restrained myself. “Just some malcontent,” I decided. But Bruce Palmer’s vicious attack on President Bill [Letters, October 13] demands rejoinder. To take things in ascending order of importance. First, bravo on all […]
Posted inNews & Politics
Field & Street
“I really think we are living in a sort of golden age of South American ornithology, both for people who study birds and for people who just want to see birds.” If you have been following the headlines about global warming and tropical-forest destruction, that statement by ornithologist Robert Ridgely may sound a bit divorced […]
Posted inNews & Politics
Our Dated Design
To the editors: I’m sure you all are smart enough to see the irony in this letter. That I would have the temerity to complain about your paper’s design, in specific for its old fashioned appearance, while I use an ancient typewriter. But still, please read this letter anyway. My point is that the Reader […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Chicago Lesbian & Gay International Film Festival
The Chicago Lesbian and Gay International Film Festival continues through November 21 at the Music Box, 3733 N. Southport, 871-6604, and through November 26 at Chicago Filmmakers, 1229 W. Belmont, 281-8788. Tickets for programs at the Music Box ($4 for matinees, $5.50 for evening programs) are available at the box office on the day of […]