The Unseen Hand Sam Shepard wrote his 1969 The Unseen Hand during a manic time in his life–when, he says, he “couldn’t write fast enough to keep up [with] the flow of material running through” his brain. “When I wasn’t writing, I was thinking about it or continuing to ‘write’ in my head.” And certainly […]
Tag: Vol. 25 No. 44
Issue of Aug. 8 – 14, 1996
Posted inNews & Politics
No Bait, No Switch
Dear editors: A casual reading of the July 26 Neighborhood News article, “Bait and Switch,” may leave you wondering why a 125-year-old community agency is actively deceiving its immediate community. Erie Neighborhood House is situated in the West Town community area, just minutes from the Loop. Author Ben Joravsky’s description of our neighborhood, “where property […]
Posted inMusic
Byther Smith
BYTHER SMITH Byther “Smitty” Smith is as powerful a blues poet as any working today, with musical chops to back it up–yet he remains relatively unknown. His album Housefire, on the Razor label (reissued in 1991 on Bullseye Blues), showcased him roaring out lyrics that seemed to emanate from realms of torment few others have […]
Posted inColumns & Opinion
Savage Love
Hey, Faggot: A couple of questions for you: 1. I like it when my beautiful and adventurous girlfriend grabs my testicles and twists. Hard. However, she has expressed a distaste for men who wear their balls around their ankles. That, coupled with the desire to reproduce, has led both of us to wonder what exactly […]
Posted inMusic
Grant Park Symphony
GRANT PARK SYMPHONY Pianist Stephen Hough is one of those unassuming, learned soloists who slowly compile impressive track records without a lot of hype. At 35, the Englishman boasts an extensive discography that includes the complete solo keyboard works of Benjamin Britten and a pair of Hummel concertos with the English Chamber Orchestra. In the […]
Posted inArts & Culture
I Am Lorraine Hansberry: Measure Me Right
I AM LORRAINE HANSBERRY: MEASURE ME RIGHT, Black Ensemble Theater. Lephate Cunningham Jr. and Jackie Taylor’s biographical play pays homage to the visionary playwright who first made a place for the drama of the African-American family in America’s theater canon. In this nonlinear creation, sketches of Hansberry’s short life–from adolescence on Chicago’s south side to […]
Posted inNews & Politics
Sports Section
How appropriate that the centennial of the modern Olympic Games should turn into a primer on how to distinguish quality from mediocrity in the modern, no, make that the postmodern world. The summer Olympics in Atlanta were so commercialized, so contrived, so American, that they epitomized the corruption of almost every amateur Olympic ideal Pierre […]
Posted inArts & Culture
The Rhinoceros Theatre Festival
Founded as a component of the Bucktown Arts Fest, this annual summer showcase of fringe theater and performance has relocated farther north over the past few years. This year’s edition, which runs August 15 through September 22, is housed at the Lunar Cabaret and Full Moon Cafe, 2827 N. Lincoln, and the Famous Door Theatre […]
Posted inMusic
Moonshake/New Kingdom
MOONSHAKE/NEW KINGDOM London’s Moonshake has retained the massive groove it lifted from Can (along with its name, the title of a 24-year-old Can tune), but in the foreground the music now bears little resemblance to the group’s early work. The first recordings made liberal use of jarring guitar parts, but when coleader Margaret Fiedler left […]
Posted inNews & Politics
City File
Economist humor, from Diane Swonk of the First National Bank of Chicago, describing in a recent FNB press release one reason the midwest economy is likely to do better than the nation’s as a whole: “Strength in the housing market combined with spending surges after recent floods have kept spending on furniture and appliances afloat.” […]
Posted inMusic
Spot Check
GOLDFINGER 8/9, METRO By leavening third-generation wag-along punk–Buzzcocks by way of Green Day–with ska and skate thrash, this callow LA foursome has managed to please nearly the whole alternarock family–at least for this week. Based on their self-titled debut, I’d say Goldfinger ought to wisely invest their quick earnings–teenagers aren’t long on loyalty. They open […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Claudio Roditi
After 15 years of earning accolades as a “great Brazilian jazzman,” trumpeter Claudio Roditi has finally shed the geographic modifier in that phrase. These days the jazz world readily recognizes him among the trumpet elite, as much for his impeccable mainstream improvising as for his mastery of sprightly sambas. The last two years have brought […]
Posted inMusic
William Parker – Compassion Seizes Bed-Stuy (Homestead); Rob Brown Trio – High Wire (Soul Note)
Bass Instincts