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 […]
Tag: Vol. 26 No. 45
Issue of Aug. 14 – 20, 1997
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. […]
Posted inArts & Culture
The Transformation of Benno Blimpie
THE TRANSFIGURATION OF BENNO BLIMPIE, Firstborn Productions. According to Gregory Gerhard, artistic director of Firstborn Productions, the company name comes from the notion that “the theater event is a sacrificial offering for an audience, for the good of those who witness it.” This production of Albert Innaurato’s The Transfiguration of Benno Blimpie takes itself just […]
Posted inNews & Politics
Trib Columnist Loses Credit
By Michael Miner Terry Ruffolo succeeded as a publicist beyond a publicist’s wildest dreams. He’s marketing director of the Consumer Credit Counseling Service of Greater Chicago, certainly not a name on many lips. But thanks to Ruffolo, CCCS began showing up weekly in a Chicago Tribune column. The columnist doted on Ruffolo’s boss, quoting her […]
Posted inFilm
The Way We Are
In the Company of Men Rating **** Masterpiece Directed and written by Neil LaBute With Aaron Eckhart, Stacy Edwards, Matt Malloy, Michael Martin, Mark Rector, Chris Hayes, Jason Dixie, and Emily Cline. By Jonathan Rosenbaum In the weeks leading up to this year’s Cannes film festival it wasn’t clear whether the Iranian government would allow […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Circus Minimus
The Bindlestiff Family Cirkus and Autonomadic Bookmobile at Charybdis, August 3 By Jack Helbig As circuses have become more popular again–thanks to Cirque du Soleil, the Big Apple Circus, and a handful of smaller troupes–sideshows have also begun attracting more notice. But sideshows–with their tattooed ladies, people with flipperlike hands, “leopard” skin, excessive facial hair–have […]
Posted inMusic
Bobby McFerrin Conducts the Best of Porgy and Bess
BOBBY MCFERRIN CONDUCTS THE BEST OF PORGY AND BESS In the 60-odd years since the premiere of Porgy and Bess, George Gershwin’s opera has steadily increased in stature and popularity, seducing new generations of performers with its gorgeous melodies and, for the more adventurous, its inventive and meticulous construction. (In fact, a new album by […]
Posted inNews & Politics
Straight Dope
Just what does “colitis” mean? In the song “Hotel California” by the Eagles the first lines are, “On a dark desert highway, cool wind in my hair, warm smell of colitis rising up through the air.” I remember I tried looking it up at a university library years ago and couldn’t find the answer. I […]
Posted inNews & Politics
Friends of Bill
In the popular imagination William S. Burroughs was to have died with a syringe hanging out of his arm, sprawled in the nearly windowless apartment in New York’s Bowery that he’d nicknamed the Bunker. He spent his last two decades exploiting the grim, gray junkie persona of his best-known novel, Naked Lunch, and enjoying his […]
Posted inArts & Culture
The Moon is Brighter-An Obituary
THE MOON IS BRIGHTER–an obituary, Van Chester Productions, at Urbus Orbis. AIDS has popularized memories of the dear departed as a topic for drama, but what separates art from therapy is the amount of interest such quasi-biographical eulogies hold for audiences outside the immediate circle of bereaved mourners. Its subtitle suggests that The Moon is […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Days of the Week
Friday 8/15 – Thursday 8/21 AUGUST By Cara Jepsen 15 FRIDAY Bonsai trees originally grew on high, rough terrain over 1,000 years ago in the Far East, stunted by a lack of soil and the strong winds that gave them their trademark twisting trunks and sparse foliage. Over several centuries gardeners perfected the art of […]