RACHELLE FERRELL The first time I heard vocalist Rachelle Ferrell–in 1991, as a much heralded newcomer in a Montreux Jazz Festival showcase–she scared the hell out of me. It wasn’t just her ridiculous range, said to span six and a half octaves, or even the superpiccolo high notes, which immediately earned her the Minnie Riperton […]
Tag: Vol. 26 No. 45
Issue of Aug. 14 – 20, 1997
Posted inNews & Politics
Giving the Gift of Music
Rita Sumo puts instruments into hands that have little else to hold.
Posted inArts & Culture
Chicago Underground Film Festival
Chicago Underground Film Festival The fourth annual Chicago Underground Film Festival continues Friday through Sunday, August 15 through 17, at the Theatre Building, 1225 W. Belmont. Tickets for all programs are $6, with the exception of two John Waters-related screenings Sunday at 2:30 and 3:45, each of which costs $10. Filmmaker Waters will present a […]
Posted inFilm
Fistful of Shorts
Fistful of Shorts Jim Trainor’s 38-minute animated film The Fetishist manages to be oddly affecting despite its subject. A portrait of Chicago serial killer William Heirens, it uses animation to present Heirens’s strange attractions and behavior: becoming aroused by the sight of an open window, defecating at the scenes of his crimes. Heirens, seen mostly […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Free Enterprise
FREE ENTERPRISE, CollaborAction, at Voltaire. Less a play than an extended comedy sketch, Eric Sanders’s Free Enterprise still manages to pack more satisfying comic drama into its 30 minutes of stage time than most plays fit into two hours. Free Enterprise is at once a witty parody–of Beckett (Waiting for Godot), Pinter (The Dumb Waiter), […]
Posted inMusic
Ken Vandermark-Georg GrŠwe Large Band
KEN VANDERMARK-GEORG GREWE LARGE BAND Last week, Georg GrŠwe and Ken Vandermark chose an especially ambitious curtain-raiser for the debut of their brand-new octet, an episodic GrŠwe composition that stretched to a set-long 45 minutes and alternated short, spiky solo turns–for bassist Kent Kessler and detail-oriented drummer Tim Mulvenna–with duo and trio sections of escalating […]
Posted inNews & Politics
Money Matters
boatrigh.qxd To the Editor: Harold Henderson’s article on money and politics in the July 25 issue of the Reader [“Filthy Lucre”] was an exhaustive and well-written look at the pros and cons of different campaign finance reform proposals. I can’t resist, however, pointing out that his list of sources was somewhat scattered. Does money affect […]
Posted inNews & Politics
Go West, Young Ham
John Mills risks it all to bring Buffalo Bill to the southwest suburbs.
Posted inMusic
Maceo Parker
Maceo Parker If James Brown is indeed the Godfather of Soul, he could never have found a better consigliere than Maceo Parker, the alto man who gained fame in front of the J.B. Horns. His big sound oozes from the instrument, with a slippery and confident sensuality; that same quality also shows up in his […]
Posted inNews & Politics
The Last Word on Jae-Ha Kim
degnen.qxd To the Editor: Peter Margasak’s column [July 25] was a ridiculous little rant about the job switch of a more successful colleague at the Chicago Sun-Times. With no facts to back up his claims and the testimony of the proverbial unnamed “source” at the Sun-Times, Margasak sought to smear the name of Jae-Ha Kim […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Bailiwick Directors’ Festival
Bailiwick Directors’ Festival Bailiwick Repertory’s annual showcase of generally unknown pro, semipro, and student directors features one-acts ranging from established classical and contemporary selections to untested material. There’s a lot more of the latter than the former in this year’s fest, which includes a number of efforts by writer-directors. Coordinator Jonathan Pitts promises greater selectivity […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Abbie Hoffman Died for Our Sins IX
Abbie Hoffman Died for Our Sins IX First presented in 1989 to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Woodstock music fest–and named in honor of the anarchist author of Woodstock Nation, Revolution for the Hell of It, and Steal This Book–this weekend marathon of theater and performance, hosted by the Mary-Arrchie Theatre, emulates Woodstock by […]
Posted inNews & Politics
Environmentally Sensitive
Headline Dear Letters Editor: It’s truly unfortunate that reporter Adam Langer (“Raising a Stink,” August 1) chose to characterize the activities of the Good Neighbor Committee as being based on fear and anger rather than backed by hard facts. Langer spent hours in our office going through the files that Citizens for a Better Environment […]
Posted inNews & Politics
City File
We’re number five! We’re number five! Illinois jumped from sixth to fifth among states in dollar value of foreign exports between 1994 and 1996, according to the summer edition of “Export Matters,” published by the International Trade Center on West Bradley Place. State exports rose from $26.4 billion in 1994 (5.1 percent of the U.S. […]