Posted inMusic

Ten best bets for fall music

Matthew Lux’s Communication Arts Quartet September 21 Matthew Lux is the Kevin Bacon of Chicago music, connected to just about every important living player in the city. He’s been a key presence in local jazz, rock, soul, and dance-music circles since graduating from Lane Tech in 1991, but it’s taken him till now to release […]

Posted inArts & Culture

Ten best bets for fall visual arts

Chicago Architecture Biennial Aside from the main exhibition taking place at the Cultural Center, this year’s biennial boasts a number of smaller satellite shows, including new “anchor sites” in various neighborhoods; “Past Forward: Architecture and Design at the Art Institute,” an installation devoted to the museum’s collection; and many related productions at smaller galleries. Read […]

Posted inArts & Culture

Ten best bets for fall theater

The Toad Knew News items always ID James Thierrée as “Chaplin’s grandson,” but he deserves something more like “physical theater genius” or “cunning surrealist.” Back at Chicago Shakespeare after a ten-year absence from the theater, the creator of Farewell Umbrella will help the company inaugurate its new space, the Yard, with The Toad Knew, a […]

Posted inFilm

Ten best bets for fall movie releases

Battle of the Sexes The 1973 tennis match between Bobby Riggs and Billie Jean King was a carnival—the equal rights movement as prime-time game show, broadcast on ABC to an audience of 90 million. This makes it fine material for the offbeat comic filmmakers Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris (Little Miss Sunshine), and publicity materials […]

Posted inArts & Culture

Ten best bets for fall lit

The Hunting Accident by David L. Carlson and Landis Blair The Hunting Accident is the story of how Charlie Rizzo uncovered the story of his father Matt’s friendship with his Stateville Prison cellmate Nathan Leopold, of Leopold and Loeb infamy. Carlson wrote that story down, and Blair illustrated it, and now it’s a handsome doorstop […]