Last summer, Clarence Fountain and his gospel group roused audiences out of their seats in the Goodman Theatre’s The Gospel at Colonus, in which ancient Greek myth was reset as an African American church pageant. Fountain’s gritty lead vocals, propelled by the vibrant harmonies of the rest of the group, proclaimed a decidedly earthy brand […]
Tag: Vol. 20 No. 18
Issue of Feb. 14 – 20, 1991
Posted inNews & Politics
Gardner’s run: Harold Washington’s former political aide is in a four-way race for city clerk
Years from now pundits may say that this year’s race for city clerk launched the career of the man who became Chicago’s most prominent black politician. Or they may say it ended the career of a bright but foolishly ambitious young man. Joe Gardner, a former political aide to Harold Washington and now a Water […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Reel Life: recent adventures of Tom Chicago
Tom Palazzolo thrives on creative chaos. It’s Wednesday afternoon, ten days before his latest feature is to premiere at the Film Center, and the elder statesman of the local independent film scene is counting a sheaf of hundred-dollar bills. “Oh, excuse me,” he apologizes absentmindedly. “I want to make sure I’ve got enough money to […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Roy Nathanson Quartet
Ever wonder what it might have been like if Eric Dolphy met, say, Harold Pinter–at Sun Ra’s house? Then try these guys on for size. First famous as a member of New York darlings the Lounge Lizards, saxophonist Nathanson is also cofounder of and guiding force behind the Jazz Passengers, the sophisticated, roisterous, witty, rough-hewn […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Don Cherry & Multikulti
By calling Don Cherry a father of “world music,” I don’t mean to slight either his trumpet playing or his vital niche in the history of jazz. His expertise on the instrument–which might be seen as a logical (if bold) extension of Dizzy Gillespie’s playing–made it possible for him to learn and execute the early […]
Posted inFilm
Stage, Screen and Television
PRIVATE CONVERSATIONS: ON THE SET OF DEATH OF A SALESMAN *** (A must-see) Directed by Christian Blackwood. I’ve never seen Volker Schlondorff’s 150-minute made-for-TV film of Death of a Salesman (1985), which Leonard Maltin’s TV Movies awards high marks: “Stunning though stylistic remounting of [Dustin] Hoffman’s Broadway revival of the classic Arthur Miller play with […]
Posted inNews & Politics
Com Ed Watch: The Electric Library
While responsible utilities promote conservation, Commonwealth Edison subsidizes the construction of all-electric buildings.
Posted inNews & Politics
Watch Your Language!
Anthropological Linguist Michael Silverstein on Australian Aborigines, Wine Nuts, Dear Abby, and the Language Police
Posted inArts & Culture
Art Facts: redeeming the cross
Over the last few years, the cross as a work of art hasn’t gotten much respect. Take the medium of Madonna’s chest: the cross, her symbol of irreverence (and ironically of nostalgia) can usually be seen dangling on a chain between her pushed-up bosom. Then there’s painter Andres Serrano’s urine: in 1989, the cross was […]
Posted inNews & Politics
The Wedding Professionals
The average Chicago wedding costs $13,000. Melissa Henz and Nancy Sarlo will help you spend it.
Posted inArts & Culture
Performing Arts Center: Who’s Paying? Who’s Buying?/CH&P Scale Back/Phantom Phenomenon/Joseph Holmes’s European Vacation
Blue-ribbon businessmen including Richard Franke, chairman of John Nuveen & Company, say the money is available for a new arts center. Whether we need one is yet to be determined.
Posted inNews & Politics
The Straight Dope
COMPLAINT DEPARTMENT You goofed again. Better crank up the insults to mask your incompetence–or enlist the aid of a real physicist. Aluminum does contain tiny magnets [September 7]. The reason it doesn’t stick to a magnet is that the tiny magnets are jiggling around too much due to thermal motions. If the temperature were low […]
Posted inNews & Politics
Final Touch
“Hello, Willie?” The man had to yell into the phone, shouting over the wind blasting between the billboards on the el platform. “It’s Benjamin,” he said. “What? No. No. I’ve got good news. I got a job today. I’m so excited.” He had an Irish accent and spoke with the breathless hurry of a telephone […]
Posted inNews & Politics
The City File
Probably because the floors are really strong. Lead question from a review of a self-help tape in Executive Edge (January 1991): “If dinosaurs have been extinct for millions of years, why do so many work in your office?” How TV promotes racism, according to Ted Cox’s summary of Robert Entman’s survey of tube crime reporting […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Eric Hochberg Quintet
For a nearly 20-year veteran of the local jazz scene, Eric Hochberg has seemed sort of invisible of late, probably because he hasn’t been leading his own groups (and possibly because he blends so well into any project he takes part in). This tough, terrific band–which addresses the first point and proves the second–is long […]