Lumpen and Public Media Institute produce this annual festival, now in its fifth year, focusing on radical art, media, technology, and politics, with an emphasis on work generated by underground and activist communities. This year’s festival continues through Sunday, May 7, in Bridgeport and scattered other locations and includes neighborhood tours, workshops, numerous public art […]
Tag: Vol. 35 No. 32
Issue of May. 4 – 10, 2006
Posted inArts & Culture
Mahagonny
Experimental filmmaker Harry Smith conceived the film he considered his magnum opus for four 16-millimeter projectors, each filling a different quadrant of the screen; this posthumous 35-millimeter version combines the images into one strip with a cold precision he might not have appreciated. Inspired by the Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht opera that provides the […]
Posted inNews & Politics
The Straight Dope
After watching countless spy movies, westerns, and TV cop shows, I wonder: how easy is it to knock someone out by smacking them on the back of the head with a pistol, club, etc? Since I’m not willing to act as a test subject, although I’m pretty sure I’d have plenty of volunteers willing to […]
Posted inArts & Culture
33: A Question of Doubt
There’s nothing good to say about J. Scott’s murky, brutal new play. The kooky premise of this NihilistGELO production is that serial killer John Wayne Gacy was innocent, framed by FBI agents who were trying to send a message to gay men about the futility of resisting police power. Beware of graphic elements, including the […]
Posted inMusic
Box Tortoise; Record Time for Plush; The Continuing Adventures of Emmett Kelly
The post-rock pioneers gather their odds and sods for a summer release.
Posted inMusic
Short Takes on Recent Releases
Mashup soul, slow-growing southern rock, and an old-timey treasure trove
Posted inNews & Politics
The Daddy of Depravity
John Waters teaches a master class on petty crime and civilized misbehavior.
Posted inNews & Politics
The Equal Opportunity Funny Business
Thanks to Mikey O, Chicagoans can say “diversity” and “comedy” in the same sentence without laughing.
Posted inArts & Culture
International Pop Overthrow
Chicago’s version of the annual International Pop Overthrow festival ends this weekend with shows at two venues. For more information see internationalpopoverthrow.com. FRIDAY 5 Gunther Murphy’s 1638 W. Belmont | 773-472-5139 | $10 7:30 Tommy Zender :00 John Hoskinson :30 Webstirs 9:00 Swinger 9:30 Wicked Liz & the Bellyswirls 10:00 Valley Downs 10:30 Goldstars 11:00 […]
Posted inNews & Politics
The Third School
A new kind of skyscraper heralds a new kind of Chicago architecture.
Posted inNews & Politics
The Archaeologist of Beer
Home-brewing star Randy Mosher is out to rediscover the history of the world’s best beverage.
Posted inArts & Culture
The Jungle Book
Composer Steve Goers and writer Alyn Cardarelli have taken a classic Kipling tale, best known today as a second-rate animated Disney feature, and made the story of a child raised by wolves their own: Emerald City Theatre Company manages to re-create Kipling’s “law of the jungle” world without scaring younger audience members. Kate Stransky’s simple, […]
Posted inMusic
A-Trak, The Rub
If hip-hop steers clear of the gangsta minstrel-show quagmire and continues to annex more and more of mainstream pop culture, sooner or later so many people will have grown up with it as the dominant music of their youth that nobody will still feel compelled to point out when a hip-hop artist isn’t black. Until […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Pretty Girls Make Graves; Giant Drag
Until it finally showed up on record store shelves last month, it seemed PRETTY GIRLS MAKE GRAVES’ much-talked-about third album, Elan Vital (Matador), might never see the light of day. For much of the last two years the band appeared to be in a state of entropy: second guitarist Nathan Thelen left the group and […]
Posted inNews & Politics
News of the Weird
Lead Story In April the New York Post reported on an item for sale at the Web site of Salt Lake City fashion designer Jared Gold: a brooch consisting of a live Madagascar hissing cockroach, roughly three inches long, with a cluster of Swarovski crystals glued to its back, attached to a cameo pin by […]