From Jonathan Rosenbaum’s Chicago review [Movies, Section Two, December 27]: “The story here started out as Roxie Hart, a cynical, satirical 1942 William Wellman comedy set in the 20s and inspired by The Front Page (though written by Nunnally Johnson). It reappeared as a stage play by Maurine Dallas Watkins, then as a stage musical […]
Tag: Vol. 32 No. 14
Issue of Jan. 2 – 8, 2003
Posted inNews & Politics
Datebook
JANUARY 3 FRIDAY Chicago artist Sandra Perlow’s paintings look like they’ve swung down a fairly straight path that started with 1950s abstract art. Her colorful quasiorganic shapes dance into patterns that remind critic John Brunetti of wallpaper or drapery designs, though they don’t look like anything that’s appeared on a wall or window since about […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Doo Wop Shoo Bop
You don’t have to die to go to musical heaven. You can go whenever Jackie Taylor revives her 1995 hit, a strut-your-stuff tribute to the singers and girl and guy groups of the 1950s who pioneered rock ‘n’ roll with doo-wop. Black Ensemble Theater’s brilliant band and combustible ensemble, Thomas Washington’s awesome arrangements, and Jimmy […]
Posted inNews & Politics
Trapped With Her Own Petard
Mr. Hayes: Joy wasn’t “trapped” [December 13]. And “the system” didn’t let her down. Damien had been arrested numerous times and had several convictions for domestic-related batteries and assaults. He served his time and was released when that time was up, as required by law. And yet every time he was released Joy accepted this […]
Posted inNews & Politics
Breaking the Silence
James De Salvo was photographed by Bill Kirby as part of the CITY 2000 photodocumentary project. He is deaf and speaks mostly in sign language. I met him at his town house in Wheaton about two years ago, and we spoke with the help of his daughter Priscilla and son Rocco. We continued the interview […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Lincolnwood Chamber Orchestra
Formed by conductor-guitarist Philip Simmons in 1990, the Lincolnwood Chamber Orchestra has done its hometown proud–it was dubbed Chamber Ensemble of 2000 by the Illinois Council of Orchestras. Its roster of 35 is drawn from the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (including violinist Albert Igolnikov, the LCO’s concertmaster), the Indianapolis Symphony, and the area’s sizable corps of […]
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Films by Ernst Lubitsch
This week the Film Center launches a retrospective of Ernst Lubitsch’s Hollywood pictures with two of his finest: The Love Parade and Trouble in Paradise (many would add Ninotchka, also playing this week, but not me, even though it has Greta Garbo and Melvyn Douglas). The Love Parade (1929, 110 min.), Lubitsch’s first talkie and […]
Posted inNews & Politics
The Straight Dope
In my high school biology class we were studying biogeochemical cycles, including the carbon cycle. One paragraph detailed how humans, by burning fossil fuels, are putting more carbon dioxide into the air than is being removed, causing global warming, etc. According to my textbook, transportation accounts for most of the carbon dioxide being added to […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Sound in Action Trio
Jazz drummers rarely play together. This is not an entirely bad thing, given the way dual-drummer setups have been abused. In the 1950s drummers might square off in (un)pitched battles–a chance for Buddy Rich to try to deafen Gene Krupa or Max Roach, say. By the 70s a real drummer was likely to be obstructed […]
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A Born Fighter
Danielle Green overcame huge obstacles to become one of the top basketball players in the city and then at Notre Dame. Her next challenge might take her to Iraq.
Posted inArts & Culture
Calendar
Friday 1/3 – Thursday 1/9 JANUARY 3 FRIDAY One hundred years ago, W.E.B. DuBois wrote in The Souls of Black Folk: “Herein lie buried many things which if read with patience may show the strange meaning of being black here at the dawning of the Twentieth Century. This meaning is not without interest to you, […]
Posted inNews & Politics
Notes from Underground
Age: 28 Occupation: Unemployed/poet Apartment: 350-square-foot basement studio, $475 a month Location: West Town Years in this apartment: Four Decorative themes: Schlitz beer promotions: trays, signs, electric displays. Pictures of skeletons. Wake-up Song: “Argh Fuck Kill” by the Dayglo Abortions Post-its on doorjamb: “Lunch Fucker!!” “Fruit!! Fucker!!” Not Pictured: Boxes of his early writings: poems, […]
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Nicholas Nickleby
The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby (1838) may be Charles Dickens’s greatest novel, but at 900 pages it’s a lot to dramatize–Trevor Nunn and David Edgar’s brilliant 1980 adaptation for the Royal Shakespeare Company (later televised and released on video) ran more than eight hours. This is the fourth celluloid version, and though writer-director […]
Posted inNews & Politics
TRG Music Listings
Rock, Pop, etc. concerts TRENT CARLINI Elvis tribute. Sat 1/4, 8 PM, Rosemont Theatre, 5400 N. River Rd., Rosemont. 847-671-5100 or 312-559-1212. CHICAGO A CAPPELLA performs music about food, including “Fragments From His Dish” and “Chili con Carne,” in a program entitled “Tastes of Paradise.” Free admission. Thu 1/9, 12:15 PM, Preston Bradley Hall, Chicago […]