CHUNE 7/26, EMPTY BOTTLE On the band’s second album, Big Hat, No Cattle (Headhunter/Cargo), Chune puts forth a pasteurized version of San Diego grind rock. Behind the Mark Trombino-tweaked twin guitar assault, singer Andy Harris struggles to express melodic ideas picked out of the trash in the alley behind the Smashing Pumpkins’ house. Second-tier spin […]
Tag: Vol. 25 No. 42
Issue of Jul. 25 – 31, 1996
Posted inNews & Politics
Schwartz’s Folly
Beret International’s Ned Schwartz shows art that’s original, challenging, and almost impossible to sell. What’s his deal?
Posted inNews & Politics
JNO Cook
When Schwartz claims that his gallery caters to the artist as “mad scientist,” he may be thinking of Jno Cook, who’s been associated with Beret since its first show. Trained as an industrial engineer, Cook constructs amusingly nonfunctional kinetic contraptions from scavenged household appliances. Like much of the art at Beret, Cook’s work has drawn […]
Posted inNews & Politics
Her Brother’s Keeper
To Jonathan Rosenbaum: I have to admit that familial pride and the urge to brag a bit prompts me to write and thank you for the glowing review of Jim Jarmusch’s Dead Man [June 28]. You see, the production designer, Robert Ziembicki, is my brother–another talented Chicago boy makes good in Hollywood! (Barfly, The Waterdance, […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Bailiwick Repertory’s Directors Festival ’96
Bailiwick Repertory’s Directors Festival ’96 This annual showcase features work by generally unknown pro, semipro, and student directors, who offer their interpretation of scripts ranging from established classical and contemporary selections to untested material. Each night presents a different program consisting of two or three one-acts, as shown in the listings below. Bailiwick Repertory, Bailiwick […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Mysteries of the Bridal Night
MYSTERIES OF THE BRIDAL NIGHT, Coyote’s Playground, at Cafe Voltaire. In Martin Epstein’s maddeningly quirky one-act, two newlyweds lost on a back road en route to their honeymoon have a weird encounter with a coffin whose unseen inhabitant tinkles a bell at odd intervals. This unusual reminder of mortality triggers the couple’s insecurities, testing their […]
Posted inNews & Politics
River Restoration Rebuke
Dear editor: I read with interest your recent article highlighting the I & M Canal-Chicago Origins Site in the Bridgeport neighborhood (Neighborhood News, June 14). Although it was an informative look at efforts to restore the river to its natural beauty, the article overlooked the government contributions to this undertaking. For instance, in the past […]
Posted inFilm
Good Men, Good Women
Good Men, Good Women Like its predecessors, the concluding and entirely self-sufficient feature in Hou Hsiao-hsien’s epic trilogy about the history of Taiwan in the 20th century–a landmark in Taiwanese cinema along with Edward Yang’s A Brighter Summer Day–focuses on a specific period and a specific art form. City of Sadness (1989) covers the end […]
Posted inNews & Politics
Lollapalooza Lowdown
Dear Ms. Jepsen: This letter is in response to your article in the July 12 issue of the Rock, Etc. column “Pasture-ized.” I am just wondering why you think it’s cool to try to emulate the already overly bitter ranks of the Reader’s rock critics. Please, tell us something we don’t know! As someone who […]
Posted inNews & Politics
The City File
By Harold Henderson Press releases that made me feel bloated. “Americans will drink more than 10 billion glasses of iced tea this summer, nearly 110 million glasses per day.” Why does my cigarette taste like burned cheese? Sheila Kaplan, writing in Capital Eye (July 1), says that Democrats and Republicans have many of the same […]
Posted inNews & Politics
Bob Bashing Boring
That nit-picking Bob Greene basher, Ed Gold, still seems to be bashing away with his tirade in the June 7 edition of the Reader [BobWatch]. It’s possible there are other intellectually discriminating individuals like Mr. Gold who enjoy reading such derogatory effluvium. The Reader does well to publish something interesting for all the variegated tastes […]