News by Numbers We can’t honestly remember the time when watching TV news was a vital part of staying well-informed. But some eras have been more useful than others. Lew Koch tells us Channel Two turned out good product back in the early 60s when he worked there. Koch was a producer, Frank Reynolds was […]
Tag: Vol. 22 No. 22
Issue of Mar. 11 – 17, 1993
Posted inNews & Politics
Sex, Porn, and Prostitution
Scarlot Harlot says she came to town to participate in an antipornography conference at the University of Chicago. Now she’s protesting it. At lunchtime, on the first full day of the weekend meeting, she is parading on the sunny plaza in front of the law school in full view of the audience gathered inside for […]
Posted inArts & Culture
James Chorale
In the crowded field of local choirs the 17-year-old James Chorale has emerged as one of the few that can be counted on to deliver consistently excellent performances despite its semipro status. Last summer I heard the 35-voice chorale–whose name is a mystery even to its veterans–at the Woodstock Mozart Festival and was struck by […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Orchestra of Saint Luke’s
Roger Norrington, an Oxbridge product with an aptly donnish demeanor, is music’s man for all seasons. Over his astonishingly productive three-decade career he’s prepped as a tenor and a violinist and helped found an opera company and a chamber orchestra. The English maestro’s chief renown, however, is as a guru of the period-instrument movement. Most […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Jinsky Pinsky: A Night in Tights
When Chicago choreographer Timothy Buckley was performing his solo The Grave Digger at Jacob’s Pillow last summer, festival director Sam Miller told Buckley that his character reminded him of the early-20th-century ballet legend Vaslav Nijinsky. Miller also told Buckley about a new biography of Nijinsky that focused on both the exhilarating genius and debilitating schizophrenia […]
Posted inNews & Politics
Why I Stopped Going Out on St. Patrick’s Day
For a while I lived in San Francisco, right down the street from a bar where even at 11 AM I could usually make out three or four ancient, hunched-over permanent fixtures nursing beverages in total darkness. Things picked up later in the day when they were joined by a handful of colleagues unlucky enough […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Brilliant Disguise
KEEP YOUR PANTS ON! Wit’s End Theatre Company at Raven Theatre FAITH, CHARITY, AND HOPE Tight & Shiny Productions at the Bop Shop Keep Your Pants On!, Manfred Karge’s beautiful and sad exploration of German society from the 1920s to the 1970s, is ultimately a play about one woman’s victory over painful and life-threatening circumstances. […]
Posted inFilm
9 1/2 Weeks With van Gogh
VAN GOGH *** (A must-see) Directed and written by Maurice Pialat With Jacques Dutronc, Alexandra London, Gerard Sety, Bernard le Coq, Corinne Boudon, and Elsa Zylberstein. Consider the following two scenarios: (1) In May 1890, Vincent van Gogh, missing one ear, arrives at Auvers-sur-Oise and meets Dr. Gachet–an avid art collector and fan of the […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Vinegar Tom
VINEGAR TOM Halcyone Productions at Splinter Group Studio Caryl Churchill’s Vinegar Tom, first performed in 1976, is as much about the 70s women’s movement as it is about the witch-hunts of 17th-century England. The story centers on four women accused of witchcraft, but the actors intermittently step out of character to sing campy folk songs […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Club Dates: Freedy Johnston, looking up
When he first moved to New York City from his home state of Kansas, songwriter Freedy Johnston landed a job as a truck driver, delivering Italian ice. But his eyesight is poor, and he’s a lousy driver. He quickly perpetrated a series of traffic accidents and was soon fired. “I’m much better off in my […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Garage Sale Teasures
CHARLES WIESEN at Tough Gallery, through March 20 Charles Wiesen’s art is full of hand mirrors and coat hangers and mail-order furniture, old kitchen utensils, wooden trays, and little pieces of string. Much of his stuff seems to have been foraged from wholesale outlets, thrift shops, and the depths of closets. It’s art, but it […]
Posted inArts & Culture
The Horrible Attraction
CIRCLES OF LUST Liat Dror and Nir Ben Gal Company at Northeastern Illinois University, March 4-6 Sometimes dance of a certain bright and cheery kind seems artificial and limited, almost sterile. “They’re so quiet,” I say to myself. “I can hear their feet. When are they going to start talking?” And sometimes, watching even the […]
Posted inNews & Politics
High-Speed Trains: Not So Fast
To the editors: David Moberg’s article of February 26 could be expanded into one of those “Tom Swift” books we read in eighth grade, but I had trouble basing but a few sentences in fact or reality [“Faster Trains for a Stronger Future“]. I love speed and trains probably more than the average guy. But, […]
Posted inNews & Politics
Where in the World Is Molly Zelko?
She was a Joliet journalist who had enemies in the local mob and more furs and jewelry than she could evidently afford. She disappeared 35 years ago. Some think she’s still alive.
Posted inArts & Culture
Daley’s $100 Million Joke/Farewell, Goodbye Girl
Get this–private sources have scraped together $100 million to improve Orchestra Hall and the Lyric Opera…and the city didn’t kick in a penny! Isn’t that rich?