A rag doll yearns for a forever friend in this new musical.
Tag: Vol. 49 No. 9
Issue of Nov. 27 – Dec. 4, 2019
Posted inArts & Culture
Always . . . Patsy Cline is a honky-tonk treat with Firebrand
Harmony France and Christina Hall trade off the two roles in this warmhearted story based on real events.
Posted inArts & Culture
The First Deep Breath rattles the family skeletons at Victory Gardens
Lee Edward Colston II’s play leaves it all on the table—and the floor.
Posted inArts & Culture
The Tall Boy brings Tandy Cronyn back to Chicago—and Germany
Current events have caught up with this solo play about refugee children.
Posted inMusic
Forest Management drops an ambient record made from Debussy vinyl
Forest Management drops an ambient record made from Debussy vinyl, the Chosen Few celebrate the legacy of Sauer’s with a Thanksgiving house and disco party, and more.
Posted inFood & Drink
There’s Khmer food right under your nose at Googoo’s Table
This Chinese restaurant in Hermosa hides a few Cambodian dishes on its broad menu.
Posted inMusic
Whitney proves that the kids love the soft stuff
My peers and I spent our formative years seeking out the hardest, heaviest, fastest music we could find. We considered it a rite of passage, a way to rebel against the bloated arena rock and pillowy AM gold of our parents’ generation, much like they rebelled against their own folks’ Pat Boone with the Beatles […]
Posted inMusic
Songwriter Cat Clyde journeys beyond the blues on Hunter’s Trance
Stratford, Ontario, is famous for its long-running annual theater festival, which leans heavily on productions of Shakespeare. Singer-songwriter Cat Clyde has spent most of her life in and around Stratford, but you’d be hard-pressed to call her rootsy music theatrical, despite her poet’s knack for enveloping listeners in her stories—her primary influences belong on the […]
Posted inMusic
Brett Naucke goes deep into the void to deliver spacey electronic soundscapes
One of the first times I saw Brett Naucke onstage was in in 2007, when he and his noisy power trio, Druids of Huge, played a Cleveland punk bar. During the first minutes of the set someone dumped an entire pint of beer on Naucke’s synthesizer, rendering it unusable. In response, Naucke cranked the dials […]
Posted inMusic
Chicago trio Town Criers make psychedelic power pop for the ages
The guitar-driven power pop on Town Criers’ recent self-released EP, Town Criers II, feels like it could live comfortably in any era of garage music from the 60s through the 80s; the singing of guitarist Andre Baptista often sounds like post-Big Star Chris Bell tinged with a bit of fresh-faced Jeff Murphy (from 70s Illinois […]
Posted inMusic
Pigface offers a cornucopia of industrial-flavored madness with two shows Thanksgiving weekend
Pigface was born in 1990 as the supergroup brainchild of Ministry members Martin Atkins, also of Public Image Limited and Killing Joke, and William Rieflin, who has led a miraculously eclectic career—anyone who’s been a member of R.E.M., Swans, and King Crimson can probably play just about anything. By design, the group has had a […]
Posted inMusic
Footwork innovator Jlin continues to expand her sound
Indiana-based footwork producer Jlin is laser-focused in her vision and in her dedication to expanding her sound. Her debut album, Dark Energy, arrived in 2015, when footwork was gaining sizable popularity outside Chicago. The record stood out for its severity, with confrontational tracks that elegantly pair brooding tones with footwork’s precise rhythms. Jlin’s follow-up, 2017’s […]
Posted inMusic
BJ the Chicago Kid has what it takes to carry any song alone on 1123
R &B singer Bryan James Sledge, aka BJ the Chicago Kid, has the kind of commanding voice most rappers seek out when they’re looking for a guest artist to make a good song great—and to loosen their inhibitions in the process. On Sledge’s second album for Motown, July’s 1123, he turns the tables, showcasing guest […]
Posted inMusic
Houston pop-punk miscreants Waterparks sound like the future of rock on Fandom
If the members of infamous UK pop-rock band the 1975 had grown up in the U.S. and listened to more pop punk than emo, they’d probably sound a lot like Waterparks. The Houston three-piece have become poster boys for the sleek, sugary suburban pop-punk sound that will forever say “Warped Tour.” That style faded out […]
Posted inMusic
Pivot Gang celebrate the life of a fallen member at the third annual John Walt Day
The members of west-side collective Pivot Gang have been calling themselves a boy band since long before Brockhampton was a twinkle in Kevin Abstract’s eye. Because Joseph Chilliams, Frsh Waters, MFn Melo, and Saba all rap, this self-description has caused some confusion, but as Pivot Gang see it, there’s not much to differentiate them from, […]