THE DORIANS: PARTS 1-9, Hostage Theater Company, at Voltaire. Too often critics mistake stupidity for ambition. When a bunch of 22-year-olds slaughter Greek tragedy or Elizabethan drama, they’re praised for their artistic courage rather than reprimanded for their blinkered hubris. Playwright S. Lamar Jordan, on the other hand, has true ambition, as evidenced in this […]
Tag: Vol. 27 No. 6
Issue of Nov. 13 – 19, 1997
Posted inArts & Culture
In Print: when is an anarchist not an anarchist?
In 1908 the nation was in the midst of a depression and becoming alarmed at what it perceived as a growing threat. The Haymarket Riot, though more than 20 years in the past, still loomed large in the public’s mind. In 1901 President William McKinley had been gunned down by an anarchist named Leon Czolgosz. […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Days of the Week
Friday 11/14 – Thursday 11/20 NOVEMBER By Cara Jepsen 14 FRIDAY Ancient Africans were the first to plot the solar system, create drainage and irrigation systems, smelt steel, and perform cesarean sections, says writer and anthropologist Ivan Van Sertima. The author of They Came Before Columbus: The African Presence in Ancient America will discuss the […]
Posted inFilm
The Power of Suggestion
Fast, Cheap & Out of Control Rating **** Masterpiece Directed by Errol Morris With Dave Hoover, George Mendonca, Ray Mendez, and Rodney Brooks. To name an object is to suppress three-fourths of the enjoyment of the poem, which is composed of the pleasure of guessing little by little: to suggest…that is the dream. –Stephane Mallarme […]
Posted inMusic
Tribute to Leon Forrest
TRIBUTE TO LEON FORREST The death last week of literary lion Leon Forrest–educated at the U. of C., later chairman of African-American studies at Northwestern, and described as an American James Joyce and “the black Faulkner”–will train an extra spotlight on this program, which was in fact begun more than a year ago. Chicago actress […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Jan Erkert & Dancers
JAN ERKERT & DANCERS In last spring’s UnWeavings Jan Erkert created a dance about the end of relationships; in her new piece, still in progress, she explores their beginnings, using as inspiration Japanese love poems more than 1,000 years old. In a duet section called “The Heart Feeds Itself First,” Erkert contrasts the slow, sensuous […]
Posted inNews & Politics
In a Fog
gerber.qxd Dear Editors, One would think that smarty-pants Peter Margasak would know that Metallica are Bay Area metal stars, not “LA metal stars” as erroneously reported in his column [October 24]. Rock may be beneath your dignity, but at least get your facts straight. Andy Gerber Chicago Peter Margasak replies: Thanks for the correction.
Posted inArts & Culture
17th Chicago Lesbian & Gay International Film Festival
17th Chicago Lesbian & Gay International Film Festival The 17th Chicago Lesbian & Gay International Film Festival, in its second and final week, runs from Friday through Thursday, November 14 through 20, at Chestnut Station, 830 N. Clark. Advance tickets can be purchased at Chicago Filmmakers, 1543 W. Division, between 10 am and 6 pm […]
Posted inNews & Politics
Field & Street
Last Saturday about 175 people gathered at Oakton Community College to learn about nature in the Chicago area. All of us who were there are part of the Volunteer Stewardship Network, a group started a little more than a decade ago by the Illinois Chapter of the Nature Conservancy. The network now operates all over […]
Posted inNews & Politics
Dramatic Sarcasm
griffin.qxd Jack Helbig– [Re: review of You Can’t Take It With You, Section Two, October 31] Beautiful! Right on the head! What the hell’s wrong with the so-called pros of the theater? Don’t they know this is the 90s? How in the hell can we relate to anything written in ancient times–1936?! Christ, gimme a […]
Posted inMusic
Makanda Ken McIntyre
MAKANDA KEN MCINTYRE When he arrived on the scene, Ken McIntyre had the mark of Eric Dolphy upon him: he was a multiple reed player with alto sax as his main ax, a melodist with a puckered tone and an inclination toward disjointed lines, a vanguardist with an innate connection to bop. That Dolphy played […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Guys and Dolls
GUYS AND DOLLS, Marriott’s Lincolnshire Theatre. Based on Damon Runyon’s high-rolling lowlifes, Frank Loesser’s 1950 “musical fable of Broadway” serves up an irresistible stew of gangsters and grifters, molls and missionaries. Amid the colorful clutter is a simple “chemistry lesson” in which a maverick gambler and Salvation Army crusader find common cause, thanks to Loesser’s […]
Posted inMusic
Acetone
ACETONE On its 1993 debut, Cindy (Vernon Yard), Acetone decorated a Velvetsy foundation with icy psychedelia, chunks of garage noise, and a sprinkling of Isaac Hayes guitar. But apparently the LA trio found its own concoction unsatisfying, because over subsequent albums, it radically changed the recipe. In fact, its recently released, eponymously titled third album, […]
Posted inNews & Politics
The Other Evanstonians
kim.qxd Regarding the article “Hitting a Movie Target” [Neighborhood News, October 31], I have just a few things to say to people like Liz Reeves and Kathy Burgess. In case you haven’t noticed, there is this university located in Evanston called Northwestern University. Again, Northwestern University. Much of the motivation behind building the 18-screen complex […]
Posted inMusic
John McLaughlin
JOHN McLAUGHLIN John McLaughlin calls his new band the Heart of Things–that’s also the title of their brand-new Verve album–and it makes sense that the pioneering jazz-rock guitarist, now 55, might be wondering what’s made his brilliant career tick. Since helping to invent fusion, as a member of Tony Williams’s Lifetime and as a vital […]