Fans of Indian cinema may be appalled by this American version of a Bollywood musical, and to be fair, its production numbers are awful, lacking the color, composition, and editing rhythm that makes their Eastern counterparts so magical. But as a romantic comedy this is a cut above the norm, satirical in its treatment of […]
Tag: Vol. 32 No. 18
Issue of Jan. 30 – Feb. 5, 2003
Posted inArts & Culture
Rhett Miller
On Fight Songs (Elektra), the 1999 album by the Old 97’s, front man Rhett Miller blossomed from an alt-country journeyman into a bona fide tunesmith. His melodic instincts were even more assured on the quartet’s 2001 follow-up, Satellite Rides, where his wry twists on the standard themes of lust and heartbreak were set snugly within […]
Posted inNews & Politics
The Straight Dope
I am a history teacher at LaPorte High School in LaPorte, Indiana (you know, that place that Stanley Changnon said had the worst weather in the United States). Anyway, my students and I would like to know how we can become UN weapons inspectors and how much the job pays. We would also like to […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Claudia Hommel
With her throaty trill, floppy hat, and accordion-and-violin accompaniment, Chicago’s Claudia Hommel plays the role of chanteuse-boulevardiere to the hilt. It’s not Piaf, though, nor Dietrich or Garland that she’s modeling herself on; instead, Hommel’s glassy tone and blithe celebrations of life make her seem a latter-day female counterpart to Maurice Chevalier, the quintessential French […]
Posted inNews & Politics
Rockeros on the Rise
The area is crawling with arena-ready Latin rock stars. Now all they need is to get booked into the arenas.
Posted inArts & Culture
Calendar
Friday 1/31 – Thursday 2/6 JANUARY 31 FRIDAY Over the years pro wrestling phenomenon Jerry Lawler has racked up 13 championships, three marriages, two kids, and spots all over radio, TV, and film. Now he’s published a memoir, It’s Good to Be the King…Sometimes, in which he refers to himself in both the first and […]
Posted inNews & Politics
Mauldin on the Attack/Michigan’s Defense/News Bites
Mauldin on the Attack Bill Mauldin’s response to the infamous 1969 raid on the Black Panthers was a drawing of bullets bursting through a chain-locked door, the holes forming a swastika in the wood. It was a brutal statement for a Sun-Times cartoonist to make about the Chicago police, even though anyone with eyes could […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Keith Rowe & Toshimaru Nakamura
As a founder of the English free-improv group AMM, Keith Rowe blazed a new trail for guitarists in the 60s, laying his instrument down flat and coaxing nontraditional sounds from it by rubbing, thwacking, scraping, and scrambling its strings with mundane objects like clips and files. But even more influential was his and his bandmates’ […]
Posted inNews & Politics
Almost Famous
Lenny LaCour may not have many hits to his credit, but he’s churned out more rock ‘n’ roll than you can shake a crawfish at.
Posted inArts & Culture
Kink
Kink, Sirens, at the Cornservatory. The all-female troupe Sirens really goes for it in this hour of long-form improvisation, adopting completely different characters in each new scene. For example, a performer who portrays a young, hyperenthusiastic person in one segment might be a dazed and confused older man in the next. The ensemble realizes these […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Servicemen
Servicemen, Bailiwick Repertory. Evan Smith’s drama, set during World War II, jumps from sarcastic to sentimental in 90 minutes. A brittle socialite aptly named Cyn (Cate Mannion) lives in Manhattan with the handsome–and gay–layabout Gray (Thad Anzur). Cyn is married, but her unseen husband is stationed in Hawaii, and her daughter (a solid Lauren Sowa) […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Lyric Opera
Handel’s Partenope is a seriocomic opera about the busy love life of the mythical founding queen of Naples. Three suitors vie for Partenope’s hand: Prince Armindo, who is timid but truly loves her; Prince Emilio, a hothead who threatens to take her and the city by force if she rejects him; and handsome Prince Arsace, […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Snakebit
Snakebit, Profiles Theatre. New York actor David Marshall Grant writes plays that rise to the performers’ occasions. Catnip to the reliable Profiles ensemble, the characters in Snakebit engage in clean, juicy clashes as suited to defining character as they are to hooking the audience. The play contrasts two best friends and the woman whose affection […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Knives in Hens
Knives in Hens, Strawdog Theatre Company. This smoldering fable by Scotsman David Harrower is as Piano-esque as they come. Young Woman, married to gruff plowman Pony William, slowly falls for miller Gilbert Horn, whose preference for using his head rather than his hands has made him the village pariah, accused of everything from sissyhood to […]
Posted inNews & Politics
Sprts Section
No Cheering in the Press Box is the title of an old book by former Tribune sportswriter Jerome Holtzman, and as something of an old-school sportswriter myself, I follow that edict. My record is exemplary but for the odd groan when Jose Valentin boots a grounder or an oooh for a Sammy Sosa homer, not […]