GOLDEN BOY, Consuming Specs Theatre Company, at the Cornservatory. When Clifford Odets wrote Golden Boy in 1937, both he and the Group Theatre were in desperate need of a hit. Two years earlier Odets had gone from the toast of the town–three of his plays were running on Broadway simultaneously–to persona non grata, when his […]
Tag: Vol. 30 No. 24
Issue of Mar. 15 – 21, 2001
Posted inArts & Culture
The Statue of Liberty and Rumpelstiltskin: Size Doesn’t Matter (A Love Story)
THE STATUE OF LIBERTY AND RUMPLESTILTSKIN: SIZE DOESN’T MATTER (A LOVE STORY), Sirmarbleeye, at the Chicago Actors Studio. Andrew Gregory Krzak’s surrealistic comedy about the Statue of Liberty’s torrid love affair with Rumplestiltskin has all the makings of a theatrical fun ride: an insane story line, lots of pop-culture references, a smattering of intellectual humor, […]
Posted inNews & Politics
News of the Weird
Lead Stories In December an Albuquerque judge approved the settlement of a class-action lawsuit against Primerica Life Insurance in which the plaintiffs’ lawyers get about $7.5 million in costs and fees while only two of the six million customers they represented get any money at all ($30,000 each). The lawyers had argued that Primerica failed […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Rory Block
Rory Block By definition, blues revivalists preserve ways of playing that have fallen out of popular favor; paradoxically, for their efforts they’re often accused of turning the music into a lifeless museum piece. But even the stodgiest purist would hesitate to level that charge at Rory Block: she inhabits her material with an obsessive commitment, […]
Posted inNews & Politics
The Pure Heart of Gangsta Rap
Scholar and minister Michael Eric Dyson finds moral lessons in places others seldom even look.
Posted inArts & Culture
Wild Pecos Bill
Wild Pecos Bill, ComedySportz. Like many kids of his generation, my father spent most of his Saturday afternoons at the movies, watching the latest adventures of cowboys like Red Ryder and Hopalong Cassidy. Each week these heroes of the old west faced death at the hands of bad guys and wild animals, relying not on […]
Posted inColumns & Opinion
Savage Love
I need your help. On Saturday, February 17, I went out dancing with some friends from work. We ended up at Electra (in Cincinnati), where I wound up dancing with this really attractive Asian woman. We danced all night and built up a really magical rapport. Her ride was pressuring her to leave, so in […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Polish Movie Springtime
Polish Movie Springtime, a festival of contemporary Polish films presented by the Society for Arts, runs Friday, March 16, through Sunday, March 25. Screenings will be at the Copernicus Center, 5216 W. Lawrence, and the Society for Arts, 1112 N. Milwaukee. Tickets are $9. For more information call 773-486-9612. FRIDAY, MARCH 16 That Life Makes […]
Posted inNews & Politics
Abandoned Buildings
After years of studying the Robert Taylor Homes–including spending much of the 90s living there–sociologist Sudhir Venkatesh shows how residents have survived the city’s most feared address.
Posted inNews & Politics
Where Has All the Money Gone?
The Park District’s rolling in it, but programming is quietly being cut.
Posted inNews & Politics
Sports Section
The University of Illinois basketball team is haunted by its traditions. In this, I refer not to any evil spirits conjured up by its mascot, Chief Illiniwek, a noble, graceful, and courageous image of American tribal tradition (even if he is a composite character and not purely Illini), but to its penchant for–how do I […]
Posted inArts & Culture
In Print: a lapsed Lumpen lashes out
Addie Prewitt hates her job. She’s a copy editor for the Chicago-based National Association of Libraries, where the beige walls of her workplace simply are not to her taste. She’s disgusted with her demanding, leering boss, Coddles. She’s annoyed by her zombie coworkers. As a matter of fact she’s disgusted and annoyed by just about […]
Posted inMusic
Room to Rock
Room to Rock Last September Sean Duffy took over as the talent buyer at the Abbey Pub, the long-standing Irish club on the northwest side. By his own admission it’s a much different scene than what he’s used to. During the 80s and for much of the 90s, Duffy’s independent promotion company, Last Rites, was […]