“‘Ball of Confusion’ by the Temptations really set the pace for rap,” says Chicago writer Scoop Jackson of the 1970 hit. “It was the structure of the song, the speed, the repetitive lyrics. They were verbalizing and rhyming at a pace that really hadn’t been done before. The politics behind the lyrics stood out. The […]
Tag: Vol. 23 No. 45
Issue of Aug. 18 – 24, 1994
Posted inNews & Politics
Women in construction: tearing down walls in the building trades
One day while reporting to her job as an elevator constructor, Christina Herzog discovered something near her workbench that had clearly been left for her–a long penis made of pipe caulk. That was back in 1989 when she was 28 years old and new on the job. She now understands the statue was left as […]
Posted inMusic
Beggin’ for Bootie
12-PLAY R. KELLY (JIVE) GET UP ON IT KEITH SWEAT (ELEKTRA) Nowhere is the resurgence of rhythm and blues more evident than in the ascendance of the new-and-improved slow jam. These ballads and mid-tempo laments, long a staple of adult-directed “quiet storm” radio formats, have been the upscale, “soft” antithesis of hip hop’s hard knocks. […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Getting Out
GETTING OUT, Transient Theatre. Though superficially its story deals with the struggle of ex-jailbird Arlene to confront the sordid environment responsible for her outlaw life, Marsha Norman’s Getting Out also traces the spiritual struggle of a brutalized, crippled human being to escape the gloomy conviction that there might be nothing better. But though her mother […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Leny Andrade
For the last 30 years or so American jazz fans have had little trouble cozying up to Brazilian vocalists, no matter how thin their jazz credentials. Even Brazil’s pop music has so much of what jazz listeners seek, in terms of rhythmic complexity and harmonic imagination, that it can carry many singers past their own […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Hot Buttered Roll
HOT BUTTERED ROLL, Rococo Rodeo, at Live Bait Theater. A frustrating curiosity from 1963, Rosalyn Drexler’s play is intensely performed in this Rococo Rodeo production but dramatically inert. In Hot Buttered Roll, a poor man’s American Buffalo, three lowlifes plot, then perpetrate a kinky scam against a rich, paralyzed old geezer. The play is intriguing […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Grant Park Symphony Orchestra
One of the most popular symphonies of our time will receive its local premiere this weekend. Though written in 1976, Henryk Gorecki’s Third Symphony was only “discovered” two years ago when the CD featuring Dawn Upshaw and the London Sinfonietta hit the classical best-seller chart. Its enormous appeal probably can be attributed to its solemn […]
Posted inNews & Politics
Fundamentals of Public Relations
Dear editor: Terry Levin of the city’s Department of Streets and Sanitation blames the wrong people in your Letters column of July 29 when he says that Ben Joravsky and concerned citizens caused misunderstandings about the fate of trees scorched during street-paving operations. In a letter on this subject to Levin’s boss, Streets and Sanitation […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Rusty and Rico
RUSTY AND RICO, Colored Lights Productions, at Cafe Voltaire. Rusty is a Central Park prostitute, Rico a mayoral wannabe. After professing to love each other, you’d think they’d repair to the nearest hotel instead of lingering to dance under the stars, play childish pranks on alfresco diners, and revel in the specialness of their relationship. […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Abbie Hoffman Died for Our Sins VI
Mary-Arrchie Theatre, Angel Island, 731 W. Sheridan, 871-0442. August 19 through 21: Friday-Sunday, according to the schedule below (which is subject to lateness, cancellation, and who knows what other possible mishaps). Tickets: $5 per admission (allows you to come in once and stay as long as you like); $10 for a one-day pass (allows you […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Killing Game
KILLING GAME, Two Planks Theatre Company, at the Wellington Avenue United Church of Christ, Baird Hall. Now that Eugene Ionesco is finally dead, the truth can be told: he was a bore. Even the best plays in his much-vaunted theater of the absurd–The Bald Soprano, Exit the King, and The Rhinoceros–wear out their welcome long […]
Posted inNews & Politics
Explosive Journalism
To the Editor: Bravo! Bravo! I am writing in reference to the article from the August 5, 1994, issue of your newspaper on “Building Boom.” It was truly about time that most of those buildings which were noted in the article were decapitated, at least in print. I am most pleased with the cover photo […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Bard Lite
MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING OTHELLO THE TAMING OF THE SHREW Shenandoah Shakespeare Express at the Theatre Building I like the idea of a national Shakespeare company based in Virginia. After all, the state’s named in honor of England’s “virgin queen,” Elizabeth, whose admiration was key to Shakespeare’s success. And Shakespeare’s plays, so perplexing to us […]