I’d just left the Jewel with a trunk full of groceries that cost about half a week’s paycheck and switched on the radio in time to hear Judas Priest shrieking, “Breakin’ the law, breakin’ the lawww!” Singing along like Beavis and Butthead, I picked up speed and made the turn from School to Marshfield, only […]
Tag: Vol. 29 No. 44
Issue of Aug. 3 – 9, 2000
Posted inNews & Politics
We’re All Disconnected
Political participation is down, civic participation is down, religious participation is down, charitable participation is down. People don’t even go to parties much anymore.
Posted inNews & Politics
Welles Watch
I have been a fan of Mr. Rosenbaum’s writing for more than a year now and treasure his contribution to film criticism greatly. It is so refreshing to find someone with such an informed and unique take on cinema, a viewpoint that doesn’t bow reverently to “classics” by virtue of their sacred-cow nature, but instead […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Bad-Ass & the Devil
Bad-Ass & The Devil, Half Cocked Productions, at the Space. Arik Martin’s thoroughly black script–which follows a high-strung doctor and a smooth-talking hitchhiker on a tense car trip–is about as nihilistic as they come. Bad-Ass & the Devil isn’t just a cheap excuse for a bloodbath, however. In fact the play’s most violent act, limited […]
Posted inColumns & Opinion
Savage Love
My problem isn’t very amusing, but I hope you’ll print it anyway. My seven-year relationship has come to a messy end. My girlfriend and I are both deeply closeted and utterly codependent. Although we’ve had some fantastic times, she has also had a couple of flings with other women. I didn’t want an open relationship, […]
Posted inArts & Culture
A.D.D.: Another Day of Distraction
A.D.D.: ANOTHER DAY OF DISTRACTION, Serendipity Theatre Company, at the Chopin Theatre. At only 54 minutes, this depiction of Americans’ lack of concentration refuses to strain our presumably stunted attention spans. Performed on symbolically skewed scaffolding, these seven interwoven scenes by seven writers deliver a day’s worth of sensory overload, from small talk in noisy […]
Posted inNews & Politics
Jay Marvin Simmers Down
The nastiest mouth in radio is back in town—with a new gig and a brand-new attitude.
Posted inNews & Politics
Cable Box
Format Multimedia variety show, with an emphasis on variety. Depending on the episode, viewers might see repetitive skits performed by hand puppets, an immigrant offering snack cakes, or sad-faced young men walking in circles. Performers play experimental music akin to a yak birthing and tell excited yarns about Providence, Rhode Island. Nothing on UnBalanced Load […]
Posted inNews & Politics
Sports Section
It may be the year of the home run in the major leagues, but in the Midwest League it’s the year of the pitcher–and in Kane County of Josh Beckett in particular. Beckett was the first pitcher chosen in last year’s draft–he earned the honor as a hard-throwing Texan in the long and glorious tradition […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Susanne Mentzer
SUSANNE MENTZER Many of the world’s most memorable opera singers–from Lotte Lehmann and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau to Dawn Upshaw and Thomas Hampson–have also achieved greatness in the intimate recital setting, where they can emphasize subtleties of emotional color. Chicago-based mezzo-soprano Susanne Mentzer, who only recently began giving recitals herself, is poised to join their ranks. The […]
Posted inNews & Politics
City File
Another kind of police brutality, with an assist from the media. Former Chicago homicide detective Wayne Johnson, writing in the Chicago Crime Commission’s “Action Alert” (Spring/Summer): “As the case investigator of a specific homicide involving a middle class African American female who was brutally murdered in the rear stairwell of her building in a high […]
Posted inMusic
Spot Check
JILL DAWSON 8/4, ABBEY PUB Here’s something you don’t see every day: in the liner notes to her debut CD, First Time Around, local singer-songwriter Dawson thanks Andersen Consulting and Oprah Winfrey. After seeing an Oprah segment about “living one’s dreams,” her bio elaborates, Dawson gave up the corporate life and turned to music like […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Better Living
BETTER LIVING, Open Eye Productions, at A Red Orchid Theatre. Tucked deep in George F. Walker’s black comedy are a few moments of recognizable human behavior. But in keeping with so much contemporary playwriting, the rest of the work is so overwrought, portentous, and quirky that it may as well be set on another planet. […]