PINETOP PERKINS On the cover of Born in the Delta, his 1997 release on Telarc, Pinetop Perkins drapes his arms over a toy piano–appropriate, because even though he’s 86, he still plays and improvises with the bright-eyed ebullience of a child. Schooled in the jukes around Helena, Arkansas, in the 40s, Perkins joined Muddy Waters […]
Tag: Vol. 28 No. 47
Issue of Aug. 26 – Sep. 1, 1999
Posted inNews & Politics
Swimmers Float
As you can see from my address, I live within a block of Lake Michigan. I love to swim but have not swum in the lake since my last visit to the Indiana Dunes many years ago. The lifeguards won’t let me. Everything Craig Greenman complains about is true [August 13]. If I try swimming, […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Calendar
Friday 8/27 – Thursday 9/2 AUGUST By Cara Jepsen 27 FRIDAY Ukrainian writer Mykola Khvylovy’s 1924 short novel Me focused on a member of the communist secret police who must choose between his political beliefs and his mother’s life. The story reflected Khvylovy’s own growing disillusionment with Soviet authorities who banned the work of artists […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Fred Ho
Fred Ho A stirring baritone saxophonist and provocative composer, Fred Ho is one of the two most important artists in the Asian-American jazz movement–along with his west-coast compatriot, pianist Jon Jang–and certainly the angriest. Ho is a musical and sociological descendant of Charles Mingus: his compositions have a slashing energy, and he often gives them […]
Posted inNews & Politics
Life-Goons All Wet
[Re: “Lake of Ire,” August 13] Editors; I grew up along the lake (in Michigan) and swam frequently on lifeguardless beaches. I consider myself an experienced swimmer–and also experienced enough to know when not to mess with the lake. So imagine the culture shock after I moved here. As a regular recreational swimmer at North […]
Posted inMusic
All the Rage
Fela Anikulapo Kuti Coffin for Head of State/Unknown Soldier; Confusion/Gentleman; Expensive Shit/He Miss Road; Opposite People/Sorrow Tears & Blood; Original Sufferhead/I.T.T.; Shakara/London Scene; Shuffering & Shmiling/No Agreement; Stalemate/Fear Not for Man; V.I.P./Authority Stealing; Yellow Fever/Na Poi (Barclay) By Michaelangelo Matos In 1991, when Polygram released Star Time, its four-CD overview of James Brown’s career, it […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Fortinbras
Fortinbras, Cenacle Theatre Company, at Pilsen Theatre. “Something about this place makes me want to talk to myself,” soliloquizes the Norwegian prince who–as every English-lit student knows–marched into Elsinore at the end of Hamlet. There he discovered most of the Danish court slain and the witnesses’ story–well, implausible. But Fortinbras, the pragmatic protagonist of Lee […]
Posted inNews & Politics
Critical Function
To the editor: While Kristin Ostberg dutifully reports all the advantages of bicycles over cars (“Joy Riders,” 8/20/99), she never quite sees the necessity for a radical biking group like Critical Mass. Let me suggest a political reason. Radical organizations extend the terms of the debate. They help cause change, if only by comparison with […]
Posted inNews & Politics
High Tension
High Tension By Mary Wisniewski It was a good day for a fight on the el. The temperature had topped 90 for five days, and the air-conditioning on the train was broken. I got on at Washington and squeezed into a car, grasping the rail on the back of a seat. In the aisle seat […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Black Harvest International Film and Video Festival
This festival of films and videos by black artists from around the world continues Friday through Sunday, August 27 through 29, at the Film Center, Art Institute, Columbus Drive at Jackson. Tickets are $7, $3 for Film Center members. For more information call 312-443-3737. FRIDAY, AUGUST 27 The Girl With Brains in Her Feet Roberto […]
Posted inNews & Politics
The View From the Chair
The View From the Chair This is in response to the Neighborhood News story “Lake of Ire” [August 13] and the two subsequent letters that followed [August 20]. As a former lifeguard for the Chicago Park District, I have dealt with the frustrations of beach patrons firsthand. I hope this letter provides a simplified answer […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Hubbard Street Dance Chicago
You can see why local choreographer Harrison McEldowney (creator of “the Milly”) and Hubbard Street Dance Chicago are a good fit: Hubbard Street has always had a silly streak, often with a retro flavor. Consider its signature piece, artistic director Lou Conte’s The 40s, with its big-band music and playful dancers skittering across the stage, […]
Posted inArts & Culture
The Problematic Cartoonist
The Rhinoceros Theater Festival has always been one of the high points of Chicago’s theater scene, but in recent years the event has begun to drift. The festival began as a showcase for new plays back when big, ambitious scripts were pouring out of Wicker Park in a torrent. As that neighborhood began to drown […]
Posted inNews & Politics
Mmm…Quinine
Dear sir: As I read the Straight Dope of August 13 on quinine tonic water, I recalled an anecdote on page one of Edward Kendall’s book, Cortisone (Nobel Prize, 1950). His paternal grandfather (1817-1904) enjoyed the taste of quinine and periodically would place a few crystals from a pocket vial on his tongue with a […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Jazz Festival
12th ANNUAL JAZZ CLUB TOUR The Beatles had George Martin; the four-day Jazz Festival has the Jazz Club Tour, this year on Wednesday, September 1, to effectively swell the lineup to five. Organized and operated by the Jazz Institute of Chicago, which also programs the free Grant Park hoopla, the club tour costs money. But […]