High Taxes and slumping attendance greet incoming leage of Chicago Theatres capo Marj Halperin.
Tag: Vol. 26 No. 7
Issue of Nov. 21 – 27, 1996
Posted inNews & Politics
Spoon Man
Once, just for the hell of it, Uri Geller stopped Big Ben. He says.
Posted inMusic
Beau Jocque & the Zydeco Hi-Rollers
BEAU JOCQUE & THE ZYDECO HI-ROLLERS During the zydeco craze prompted by The Big Easy nearly a decade ago, the music reached new audiences that in many ways it has managed to maintain. As popularity and record sales beckoned, most zydeco bands feverishly attempted to expand their repertoire in search of that elusive crossover appeal; […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Women on the Web
Stephanie Cunningham: at ARC Gallery, through November 30 Scott Jacobson at Feigen Incorporated, through November 30 By Fred Camper Part of her goal, Stephanie Cunningham says, is to counter the pornographic images of women on the Net with more positive images–the way women have chosen to represent themselves: most of her pieces at ARC are […]
Posted inMusic
Parlor James
PARLOR JAMES Not for nothing does Parlor James’s Amy Allison call her other band the Maudlins. The daughter of sly jazz-blues songster Mose, she imbues the country-tinged songs on her solo debut, The Maudlin Years (Koch), with unbridled pathos, lamenting failed relationships almost rhapsodically. In “Garden State Mall” she tries to buy happiness, but only […]
Posted inMusic
Diana Krall Trio
DIANA KRALL TRIO Last year, in the liner notes for her promising debut album, the singer-pianist Diana Krall made mention of her deep admiration for Nat “King” Cole. This year, on All for You (Impulse), she gave full rein to that sentiment and in the process fulfilled her promise. The album comprises songs from Cole’s […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Drowning Sorrows
DROWNING SORROWS, Victory Gardens Theater. A kind of dramatic Rorschach test, Douglas Post’s psychological puzzler forces audiences to fill in some tantalizing blanks. A Manhattan heiress visits the Virgin Islands, “not on a vacation, but a vendetta.” Arriving at an isolated cabana with her British husband Raymond, Emily decides that the bartender, Duncan, is the […]
Posted inNews & Politics
Little Big Man
To the editor: I’m disgusted and appalled after reading “Jaws” by Benoit Denizet-Lewis (November 1). Michael, the owner of several pit bulls that he raises specifically for dogfighting, states “the tougher your dog is, the tougher you feel” and “it’s a status thing. The bigger the dog you have, the more dogs he’s killed, the […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Super Naturalism
Ecstasy Roadworks Productions at Victory Gardens Theater By Justin Hayford Clumps of actors slouching about, scratching their ears and “acting natural,” are about as common on Chicago stages as gobs of spit on subway platforms. But sometimes spit can fascinate, refracting light intriguingly, bubbling unexpectedly, offering up mysterious bits of matter you simply wouldn’t encounter […]
Posted inNews & Politics
Family Matters
We would like to thank the Reader and Tori Marlan for the portrait of one woman’s struggles to put her life together following prison [“Sins of the Mother,” November 8]. Denise is typical of women in prison in that she has been physically and sexually abused and has a history of drug abuse. She was […]
Posted inMusic
Fred Anderson Quartet
FRED ANDERSON QUARTET North-side appearances by Chicago tenor-sax legend Fred Anderson are few and far between, and any opportunity to catch him playing someplace besides his Velvet Lounge shouldn’t be squandered. But this upcoming gig should be particularly special: Anderson will lead a quartet featuring regular collaborators Kent Kessler on bass and Hamid Drake on […]
Posted inMusic
Roscoe Mitchell Quartet
Now that the Art Ensemble of Chicago has disbanded, the world has little choice but to heed the individual offerings of its former members. In the case of Roscoe Mitchell–who 30 years ago founded the quartet that evolved into the Art Ensemble–the opportunities have been plenty, thanks to the startling array of solo and group […]
Posted inNews & Politics
Barking Up the Wrong Tree
Ben Joravsky’s article on prairie restoration in your November 8 issue [Neighborhood News] baffled me on a number of counts. He calls the restorationists “abysmal at dealing with the public,” appearing to pick up on the charge made by the Edgebrook homeowners that restoration has been “sneaky.” But over the 20-odd years that volunteers have […]