Tag: Vol. 52 No. 15
Issue of May 4, 2023
On the cover: “The Food & Drink Issue”
Mariko Kallister knows the way of Soba: Meet Chicago’s master of handmade Japanese buckwheat noodles.
Photograph by Jeff Marini.
Find a print copy of the Reader.
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Posted inNews & Politics
’People of all generations healing together’
Being a licensed clinical social worker (LCSW) in Chicago means that you are allowed to open a private practice and bill insurance for your clients’ sessions. It also means that you have attained your master’s degree in social work, completed 3,000 hours of clinical work under a licensed supervisor (including unpaid but graded hours of […]
Posted inMusic
Helen Money and Will Thomas dream up otherworldly soundscapes on Trace
Cellist Alison Chesley, who makes music as Helen Money, has been colleagues for years with composer and producer Will Thomas. Thomas has worked on a couple of Chesley’s albums (2016’s Become Zero and 2020’s Atomic), and Chesley has contributed to Thomas’s song-based collaborative project Dive Index. Chesley, who grew up in California, came to Chicago […]
Posted inMusic
Greg Puciato embarks on his first-ever solo tour, and anything could happen
There’s busy, and then there’s Greg Puciato busy. In the thick of his 16-year tenure fronting metalcore act the Dillinger Escape Plan, he got involved in several other endeavors, including wide-ranging postmetal project Spylacopa, alt-metal supergroup Killer Be Killed, and synthwave act the Black Queen. Since the band’s dissolution in 2017 he’s continued to carry […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Backyard bacchanal
Station Eleven, the impactful TV show based on Emily St. John Mandel’s novel of the same title, follows a motley crew of survivors around the Great Lakes region following a pandemic that killed all but .1 percent of the world’s population. As they renegotiate the human condition sans societal infrastructure, the nomadic band of protagonists […]
Posted inMusic
Man or Astro-Man? return to Chicago with a refreshed aggressive sound
Now that 90s nostalgia is trending hard, you’d think the decade’s wackier shit would get more attention. Man or Astro-Man? (often styled “Man . . . or Astro-Man?”) emerged in the early 90s as a punk-driven surf-rock band from the landlocked college town of Auburn, Alabama, with members who claimed to be extraterrestrials and infused […]
Posted inChicagoans of Note
Molly Compton, founder of Ur Mom Records
Molly Compton is a scene mom and mentor who founded the independent label Ur Mom Records in December 2021, using her savings and support from family. Compton is a recognizable face in the local DIY music scene: she hosts twice-monthly COVID-safe house shows for local and touring acts, either at her place or in her […]
Posted inArts & Culture
A new life for Carol Day
This is the tale of an unlikely trio who came together to save the legacy of a brilliant artist nearly lost to history, British illustrator David Wright. It’s also the origin story of Lance Hallam—an oversize, exquisitely bound book of glorious artwork destined to be displayed. Listening to them talk about it, you would think […]
Posted inMusic
Former viral star Rebecca Black cautiously finds her voice on Let Her Burn
In 2011, Rebecca Black became one of the first teen YouTube sensations when she went viral with the video for “Friday,” her ode to the freedom of childhood weekends. Backlash arrived just as quickly as her newfound fame, and even though she was 13 years old, she wasn’t spared harsh criticism. As Dan Whitworth at […]
Posted inStaff notes
Little treat season
In my household, we’re currently celebrating “little treat” season. It occurs every year just as Chicago is shaking off the winter weather; on days when it’s extra sunny or unseasonably warm, my partner and I allow ourselves to go out and get a little treat. Now, “little treat” can mean anything from a shared iced […]
Posted inTheater Review
Mothers of the revolution
India Nicole Burton’s Panther Women: An Army for the Liberation has already played at Cleveland Public Theatre and Indianapolis’s Phoenix Theatre as part of the National New Play Network’s rolling world premiere program. But it’s hard to imagine a more apt setting for Burton’s choreopoem in celebration of the women in the Black Panther Party […]
Posted inTheater Review
At a loss for words
Romantic comedies depend on miscommunication. It’s why we love them. It’s comforting to see that everyone stumbles over their words. Our greatest tool for self-expression often mutates into its most frustrating obstruction. AstonRep Theatre Company’s The Language Archive, a comic-drama written by Julia Cho and directed by Dana Anderson, plays on this ironic tension through […]
Posted inTheater Review
Showfolk follies
I’m generally not a huge fan of material wherein creative folk in any discipline—theater, film, publishing, music—turn to their own profession for inspiration. If a movie is about filmmaking, or a novel is about a tortured novelist, or a singer crows about how hard life is on the road, I check out pretty quickly. So […]
Posted inTheater Review
Timely Twain
The dramaturgy displays alone for Mercury Theater Chicago’s Big River, based on Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, taught me more about Mark Twain’s 1830s-set, biting antislavery novel than I learned from studying the book in junior high, high school, undergrad, and grad school combined. First off, the musical (music and lyrics by Roger Miller, book by […]
Posted inTheater Review
Big-box problems
If verisimilitude and timeliness were all it took to create a great play, Ken Green’s world premiere comedy-drama about working in big-box retail would be a home run. Its dialogue captures every cliche and bit of doublespeak in the corporate human resources dictionary, not to mention every grouse and plaint ever uttered in a workplace—and […]