Lead Story At a ceremony in December marking the transfer of authority in Najaf, Iraq, from the U.S. military to Iraqi forces, Iraqi commandos demonstrated their mettle by eating small animals raw in front of a stadium of onlookers. One participant sliced open the carcass of a rabbit with his knife, screamed, took a bite […]
Tag: Vol. 36 No. 18
Issue of Jan. 25 – 31, 2007
Posted inArts & Culture
The Ethics of Self-Preservation
Free speech takes a beating in Brett Neveu’s latest.
Posted inArts & Culture
Velcro Lewis & His 100 Proof Band, Tijuana Hercules
You don’t need to nose around in the Fat Possum trough to find jumpy, fierce, dirty blues rock that sounds like somebody put too much turpentine in the barbecue sauce: two of Chicago’s most underrated party bands are combining forces for a 500-copy split 12-inch on Original Sound Recordings and a release party that ought […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
From All Sides, premiering this week, is a commission by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s composer in residence Mark-Anthony Turnage, working with Hubbard Street Dance Chicago and Finnish choreographer Jorma Elo. It’s Turnage’s first work for dance, and the title refers to his wish to surround the audience with sound, including offstage brass and percussion. The […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Execution of Justice
Emily Mann’s docudrama comes off as melodrama in About Face Theatre’s much anticipated but disappointing revival. The play recounts the 1978 murders of liberal San Francisco mayor George Moscone and gay activist Harvey Milk by their psychologically unstable political rival, ex-policeman Dan White, who served a mere five years for the crime, then committed suicide. […]
Posted inArts & Culture
The Alcohol Professional
Dano (“everybody just knows me as Dano”) tends bar twice a week at the Skylark in Pilsen. You’re known for dressing up in a vest and tie when you work on Friday nights. How did that start? I met a bartender at Club Lucky named Rick. Quite honestly, I stole his style. He was a […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Zs
This New York band is among the most accessible avant-prog acts going, and for one simple reason: no matter how far-out their unpredictable song structures, no matter how rich their dissident dissonance, no matter how jittery their pattering vamps or abrupt their metric and textural shifts, they utterly lack the diddlier-than-thou machismo that makes so […]
Posted inNews & Politics
The Straight Dope
Last weekend I watched the classic 1954 film The Caine Mutiny, which sparked the question: Have there been mutinies aboard U.S. naval vessels, and if so, what were the outcomes? –Jeff P., via e-mail The Caine Mutiny opens with the words, “There has never been a mutiny in a ship of the United States Navy.” […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Uncle Vanya
The set in Charles Newell’s staging for Court Theatre, designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill architect Leigh Breslau, provides the perfect metaphor for Chekhov’s heartbreaking, hilarious work. Breslau’s soaring M.C. Escher-ish jungle gym of stairs and platforms provides plenty of opportunities for obstruction as well as aeries for contemplation. It’s a bold, smart way to […]
Posted inNews & Politics
Did Solis Sign It?
In the 25th Ward it could all come down to who has the better handwriting analyst.
Posted inMusic
Sharp Darts: Two the Hard Way
For such a small band, Aleks & the Drummer aren’t easy to put in a box.
Posted inNews & Politics
Correction
Correction Kevin Junior and Karen Kiska (“Heroin Hell,” January 19) were never legally married (and therefore never divorced). We regret the error.
Posted inArts & Culture
Johnny Drummer
The latest from veteran Chicago blues journeyman Johnny Drummer, Rockin’ in the Juke Joint (Earwig), is his most satisfying album yet. He throws his hat into the contemporary soul-blues ring on funk-driven numbers like “Too Much Information,” but when he picks up his harmonica things get down-home in a hurry. On “Working With Your Mojo,” […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Reassembled Parts
Marianna Levant WHEN Through 2/18 WHERE Gescheidle, 118 N. Peoria, 4th fl. INFO 312-226-3500 In Marianna Levant’s seven paintings at Gescheidle clusters of highly detailed forms float dreamily in space, their planes and curves suggesting both machinery and the natural world. All but one were inspired by clock or watch mechanisms; the exception, from an […]
Posted inNews & Politics
Lunch-Hour Cooking Classes
Whole Foods 30 W. Huron 312-932-9600 There’s not much you can get done on a lunch break besides refueling, but the Lunch Ladies at the downtown Whole Foods are offering a cooking class for people on the go. Every Monday from noon to one, they roll out an array of samples built around a common […]