‘August: Osage County’ draws praise from the NYT.
Tag: Vol. 36 No. 47
Issue of Aug. 16 – 22, 2007
Posted inBlogs
More ways to be green
Another incentive for green builders to build in existing walkable neighborhoods instead of in the middle of nowhere.
Posted inArts & Culture
Private Lives
Chief among the inelegant oddities framing this Pretty Blue Sky production of Coward’s frothy classic is the way the title’s been stenciled, in deco lettering, on one wall of the set. One assumes it’s there to remind viewers which play they’re watching. Other discordant notes include overdeliberate pacing–looking for meaning where there’s precious little, the […]
Posted inArts & Culture
JIM BAKER, STEVE HUNT, BRIAN SANDSTROM, AND MARS WILLIAMS
For more than two years this quartet has held down a Tuesday-night residency at Hotti Biscotti, improvising without a net, and their brand-new debut, Extraordinary Popular Delusions (Okka Disk), is a ferocious, fully committed set that careens from scalding free blowing to abstract rumination. Though it was recorded just after their regular gig began, they […]
Posted inNews & Politics
What About Logan Square’s Skate Park?
Logan Boulevard Skate Park is much closer to completion than the Bloomingdale Trail, but was omitted in the Reader’s wonderful review of Logan Square [August 10]. Chicago’s first “covered skate park” is scheduled for construction in late 2007 by the Chicago Park District underneath the Kennedy Expressway overpass at 2400 W. Logan Blvd. Proposed by […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Open-air screenings
All movies are free. Unless otherwise noted, screenings are by DVD projection and begin at dusk (approximately 7:45 PM). RBarnyard PG, 90 min. a Wed 8/22, Union Park, 1501 W. Randolph, 312-746-5494. Buscando a Leti Presented by the Chicago Latino Film Festival. In Spanish with subtitles. 96 min. a Mon 8/20, 7:30 PM, Harrison Park, […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Drinking & Writing Volume III: To Cure a Hangover
Sean Benjamin and Steve Mosqueda of the Neo-Futurists bring back the third installment in their long-running series of occasional performance-lectures about the bibulous lives of writers. (Though the series premiered in 2002, this volume–focused on the morning after the night before–debuted last summer.) Usually the two perform in bars, not theaters, but they’ve scored the […]
Posted inArts & Culture
FAT WORM OF ERROR
This Massachusetts band is a stumbling, mush-mouthed, amoeboid creature out of a childhood nightmare, devouring everything in the fridge. And once it’s full, it carefully barfs it all up, one thoughtful convulsion at a time: baby animal growls, boingy guitar chatter, seasick feedback, zizzing bass, tongue-choked hyperventilation, and janky clanking percussion that sounds more like […]
Posted inNews & Politics
A Pessimist’s Perspective
Dear Reader editors and staff, Sorry about the news. I hope you are too. In the press release for the sale of the Reader President Bob Roth (or whoever wrote the release) says:”. . . we’ve been able to make careers doing work we love and to establish papers that are vital parts of the […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Chicago Underground Film Festival
The 14th Chicago Underground Film Festival continues through Sunday, August 19, with screenings at the Chopin Theatre, 1543 W. Division, and Elegant Mr. Gallery, 1355 N. Milwaukee. Tickets for single screenings are $7; a $50 pass admits you to ten. For advance tickets visit brownpapertickets.com; for more information call 773-341-6727 or visit cuff.org. friday17 Cutting […]
Posted inArts & Culture
PORTUGAL. THE MAN
Portugal. The Man’s debut, Waiter: “You Vultures!”, was one of the best experimental pop albums in forever, a blend of taut beats, muscular hardcore, and dreamy keys held together by the emo-ish tenor of front man John Baldwin Gourley. Those elements are all present on the recent follow-up, Church Mouth (Fearless), though they’ve been toned […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Marvin Tate
Writer, spoken-word performer, and snow-globe artist Marvin Tate went big and bold as the front man of D-Settlement, a large, chaotic funk party of a band. On his first solo album, Family Swim (IVR), he takes a different tack entirely: with multi-instrumentalist and regular collaborator LeRoy Bach (of Wilco and 5ive Style fame) he creates […]
Posted inNews & Politics
The Treatment
friday17 AU REVOIR SIMONE Though I liked this all-female Brooklyn trio’s 2005 brief debut, Verses of Comfort, Assurance, and Salvation, I wasn’t blown away. But I don’t think they wanted me to be; their sirenlike electronica has an insinuating delicacy that’s designed to work its way slowly under your skin. The follow-up, The Bird of […]
Posted inArts & Culture
A/V Xplo
The A/V Xplo festival showcases visual art and live music in several Chicago clubs. Tickets for individual shows are $12, $10 in advance. For more information go to avxplo.com. THURSDAY16 Double Door | 1572 N. Milwaukee773-489-3160 or 312-559-1212 7:00 Nurses Alan Astor Brenmar Miles Tilmann Trio in Stereo Rue Royale Midstates Theory Anesthetic FRIDAY17 Subterranean […]
Posted inArts & Culture
MIKA MIKO
If the video footage on their MySpace page is any indication, Mika Miko’s second coming to Chicago will deliver us all unto punk heaven. Los Angeles hasn’t spawned a rowdy cabal with this much teen spirit since the Dangerhouse days; it’s as if these five girls walked out of a Bags/Eyes/Dils show and immediately started […]