Print Issue of January 12, 2017 (Volume 46, Number 14)

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FEATURES

4 Agenda Young Playwrights Festival, “Underlying System Is Not Known” at Western Exhibitions’ new gallery, Mary Wisniewski reads from Algren: A Life, and more recommendations

CITY LIFE 21 Movies Live by Night is a period piece, but the period is right now.

MUSIC & NIGHTLIFE

LIT

We need the Read/Write Library now more than ever The Humboldt Park institution has taken an unconventional approach to being a “city library,” and it’s only growing more ambitious.

BY AIMEE LEVITT 12

VICE PRESIDENT OF BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT NICKI STANULA VICE PRESIDENT OF NEW MEDIA GUADALUPE CARRANZA SENIOR ACCOUNT MANAGER EVANGELINE MILLER ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES FABIO CAVALIERI, ARIANA DIAZ, BRIDGET KANE MARKETING AND EVENTS MANAGER BRYAN BURDA DIRECTOR OF DIGITAL JOHN DUNLEVY ADVERTISING COORDINATOR HERMINIA BATTAGLIA CLASSIFIEDS REPRESENTATIVE KRIS DODD

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24 In Rotation Current musical obsessions: MeTV 87.7 FM, the Slits, Bohannon, and more 25 Shows of note Tomorrow Never Knows, Bash & Pop, Hotelier, and lots more

FOOD & DRINK

31 Restaurant review: Knife Fork chef Timothy Cottini has opened a small steak house that’s big on showmanship.

ARTS & CULTURE

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7 Space In Logan Square, a whimsical apartment by the visionary owners of VAM Studio 9 Joravsky | Politics Obama’s early writing on Chicago was eerily prophetic about America’s future.

10 Transportation Should checking cell phone records after serious crashes be standard practice?

11 Identity and Culture In the wake of the Facebook Live attack, we need to talk about black anger.

17 Theater Is tiny Trap Door Chicago’s greatest theater success over the last quarter century?

17 Dance Sleeptalk brings the unconscious to the dance stage.

18 Small Screen Bachelor strategist (and former Chicagoan) Nick Viall is being outplayed by this season’s villain, Corinne Olympios.

18 Comedy Tomorrow Never Knows headliner Phoebe Robinson is a quadruple threat.

19 Lit Books we can’t wait to read in 2017 to get us through this strange new reality

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IN THIS ISSUE

MUSIC & NIGHTLIFE

Weekend Nachos leave behind a legacy of brutality These Chicago powerviolence jokers have ripped it up around the world for 13 years, and this weekend they say farewell with two hometown shows.

BY LUCA CIMARUSTI 22

20 Visual Art Jeff Zimmerman goes political with The Party, a mural to combat the Republican agenda.

33 Cocktail Challenge: Snails Osteria Langhe’s David McCabe puts a new spin on the Bloody Mary.

CLASSIFIEDS

34 Jobs 34 Apartments & Spaces 35 Marketplace

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36 Straight Dope Is scopolamine the same thing as the South American “zombie drug”?

37 Savage Love How to get a lap dance while wearing a male chastity device, and more advice 38 Early Warnings Billy Bragg, Chairlift, Cheap Trick, Nouvelle Vague, U2, and more shows to come 38 Gossip Wolf A day of prochoice activism culminates in a #ShoutYourAbortion fund-raiser, and more music news.

JANUARY 12, 2017 - CHICAGO READER 3

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Send your events to agenda@chicagoreader.com

b ALL AGES

F Ten o CLAIRE DEMOS

PM, Chicago Dramatists, 1105 W. Chicago, 312-633-0630, pegasustheatrechicago.org, $30, $15 students.

DANCE

A Place at the Edge of the R World to Call Our Own RE|dance group presents a new work

inspired by Henry David Thoreau’s Walden. Thu 1/12-Fri 1/13, 7:30 PM, Hamlin Park Fieldhouse Theater, 3035 N. Hoyne, 312-742-7785, redancegroup. org, $20.

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Luke Babylon: The Christian Magician When is a magic trick a miracle? Christianity has grappled with this distinction forever. Medieval Catholicism, writes historian Helen L. Parish, was a religion of “clerical conjurors and magic-working saints.” Jesus himself of course turned water into Yellow Tail. It’s all the same to evangelical prestidigitator Luke Babylon in this one-of-a-kind Annoyance Theatre spectacle. For lo, ’twas God who made thy four of clubs levitate to the top of the deck, and though the maestro and medium will gladly accept your applause, he’d rather have your soul.

Know what you’re in for: Luke Babylon, the Christian Magician, is what you get when that adorable guy at the bar with the swoopy hair and the big brown eyes has a lot of surreptitious love in his heart for the son of God and knows how to rip your card in half and sew it back together with magic. —MAX MALLER Through 2/5: Sun 8 PM, Annoyance Theatre, 851 W. Belmont, 773-697-9693, theannoyance. com, $10.

Ten A gay man is subjected R to conversion therapy a la A Clockwork Orange. A hetero woman

confronts the superficially nice guy who pussy-grabbed her when they dated. A cheery millennial offers absurd tips on how to “beat” Trump-style authoritarianism. The Gift Theatre celebrates itself each year with an evening of ten short new works contributed by members and friends; this time around most of the selections deal in blue-state anxieties.

Pretty glum, all in all, though a few moments may make you put off killing yourself. The piece about the gay man, Jose Nataras’s Warrior, does a neat job of manipulating our sense of the main character, well played by Daniel Kyri.

Gift’s resident improv company, Natural Gas, went off on clever tangents when I attended. And then there’s Will Eno’s Arrangement for Red Bicycle and No Piano, which slides past the dystopian hysterics, dark certainties, and self-righteous indignation to get to the human heart of things. Correctly saved for last, Eno’s brilliant little conceit demonstrates what an authentic theatrical imagination

can do. —TONY ADLER Through 1/15: ThuFri 7:30 PM, Sat 3:30 and 7:30 PM, Sun 2:30 PM, Gift Theatre Company, 4802 N. Milwaukee, 773-283-7071, thegifttheatre. org, $10, all shows are listed as sold out so call ahead.

Women It’s a cute enough idea—apply millennial attitudes to Louisa May Alcott’s 19th-century classic Little Women. In Chiara Atik’s version, the traditional narrative is infused with 21st-century awareness of race and gender. Jo (Aziza Macklin), for example, declares herself a lesbian, rejecting Laurie (Joe Lino) and refusing to “capitulate to the shackles” of her gender. Eventually she moves to New York to become a writer; her older sister Meg (Emily Lindberg) stays home having babies and becoming increasingly hostile. Amy (Francesca Atian) becomes an artist and moves to Europe; Beth (Jillian Leff), as in the original, is dying, though here her death is more an inconvenience than anything else—the sisters are too self-involved to care very much. Toward the end of this Cuckoo’s Theater Project prouduction there’s a shift in tone toward Alcott’s earnestness, but much of the show is cartoonish, a one-note joke. —SUZANNE SCANLON Through 2/4: Fri 8 PM, Sat 3 and 8 PM, Sun 3 PM; also Thu 2/2, 8 PM, Collaboraction, 1579 N. Milwaukee, 312-226-9633, thecuckoostheaterproject.com, $20.

COMEDY

Chicago Improv Classic Second City’s fourth annual improv tournament features qualifying rounds through January 21, then semifinals culminating in a championship bout February 18. Sat 1/7, 1/14, and 1/21, 8:30 and 10 PM; Sat 1/28, 2/4, 2/11, and 2/18, 10 PM, Second City de Maat Theatre, 230 W. North, third floor, 312-337-3992, secondcity.com, $13, $11 students.

Feminist Happy Hour: It’s So R Hard to Say Goodbye SlutTalk honors President Obama in this special

edition of the comedy showcase. The lineup includes Veronica Arreola, Kim Bellware, Jasmine Davila, Colette Gregory, Jill Hopkins-Olewnik, and Alicia Swiz. Mon 1/16, 6 PM, Whistler, 2421 N. Milwaukee, 773-227-3530, wearesluttalk. com, $10 suggested donation.

Are You Smarter Than a ComeR dian? Andrew Tavin and Mary First Time or Fan? Think of it Jordan host this stand-up showcase that R as a party game for Broadway features trivia and audience games. 1/16nerds. First some singers present 6/30: every third Monday, 9 PM, North Bar, 1637 W. North, 773-123-5678, liveatnorthbar.com, $5 suggested donation.

Baby Wants Candy Accompany R comedians to a bar’s karaoke night and you’ll quickly discover how

tremendous the overlap is on the Venn diagram of improv versus musical theater nerds. This long-running troupe’s signature show is where the two fandoms are wedded to create an hour of giddy, off-kilter, harmonious enlightenment . . . and also some dick jokes. The current Chicago iteration, now in new digs in the Beat Lounge at Second City, promises to be a reliable source of live-band-accompanied levity and whip-smart sketch weirdness. While the troupe landed in thorny territory early on during opening night—a lilywhite ensemble satirizing the Standing Rock standoff—it was a particular joy to see the cast’s deceptively astute story maneuvering and self-deprecation enable them to walk a precarious tightrope without a fall. —DAN JAKES Through 3/25: Sat 9 PM, Second City Chicago Beat Lounge, 1616 N. Wells, 312337-3992, babywantscandy.com, $15.

selections from a chosen musical.

(Little Shop of Horrors on the night I attended.) Then they hand the stage over to a troupe of improvisers who’ve never heard of that musical but act it out anyway, based on the performed selections and a few other hints. The biggest problem I had was suspending my disbelief that actors capable of creating a 40-minute entertainment, complete with spontaneously composed songs, really didn’t know Little Shop of Horrors. Still, they got the plot and characters wrong enough, often enough, charmingly and amusingly enough that I decided not to worry.

The show is almost necessarily uneven, but the participants have the chops, smarts, and sense of rapport necessary to make it worthwhile. Tabitha Rooney sang a particularly touching rendition of “Somewhere That’s Green” when I saw the show, Alex DiVirgilio was clever even when grossly mistaken, and Mike Movido did a fine, fine portrayal of a plant. —TONY ADLER Through 2/24: Fri 9 PM, Under the Gun Theater, 956 W. Newport, 773-270-3440, undertheguntheater.com, $12.

Young Playwrights Festival R The four works featured in this year’s festival of plays by high school

students—the 30th edition—could not be more different. Alexandra Obert’s Obsessed is a clear-eyed examination of obsessive relationships, while Elyssa Saldana’s Guarding the Princess is a witty take on fairy tales. Ricardo Salgado’s Eye See All is a comical romp through paranoid conspiracy theories, Sejahari Saulter-Villegas’s Race to the Finish a searing, Brechtian deconstruction of contemporary race relations. But each piece, chosen by the folks at Pegasus Theatre from a pool of more than 600 entries, is a tiny gem, engaging the audience with crisp, believable dialogue, clear storytelling, and original, fascinating characters—giving us hope for a new generation of compelling playwrights in the process. —JACK HELBIG Through 1/29: Fri-Sat 7:30 PM; also Sun 1/22, 3

A Place at the Edge of the World to Call Our Own

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Best bets, recommendations, and notable arts and culture events for the week of January 12

Emily J. Lordi The author disR cusses her book Donny Hathaway Live (33 1/3). Fri 1/13, 6 PM, Seminary

For more of the best things to do every day of the week, go to chicagoreader. com/agenda.

Co-op Bookstore, 5751 S. Woodlawn, 773752-4381, semcoop.com.

Resolve! An Oxford-Style R Debate Two teams of artists argue for and against the following

statement: “In this political climate, artists should put down their brushes and take to the streets.” Thu 1/12, 6 PM, Weinberg/Newton Gallery, 300 W. Superior, #203, 312-529-5090, d-weinberg.com.

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o COURTESY THE ARTIST

Kim Kong: A Comedy Monster R Eunji Kim’s one-person show about her journey from Busan, South

Korea, to Chicago’s comedy scene. 1/122/23: Thu 8 PM, Annoyance Theatre, 851 W. Belmont, 773-697-9693, theannoyance. com, $10.

Pilsen Stand Up: Cool Story Bro R The comedy showcase’s first show of 2017 features Reena Calm, Vince Acevedo, Lily B, and Sean Flannery. Wed 1/18, 8:30 PM, Simone’s, 960 W. 18th, 312666-8601, simonesbar.com, $5.

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Rory Scovel The stand-up and star of Those Who Can’t performs. Fri 1/13-Sat 1/14: 7 and 9:30 PM, Up Comedy Club, 230 W. North, 312-3373992, upcomedyclub.com, $20.

Seriously Unprepared Presents: Lives of the Prepared Comedy students and writers’-room diehards will get the most out of this laid-back conversation and two-person improv set emceed by Seriously Unprepared duo Jo Scott and Jeff Murdoch. Each week a different iO alum video calls in and answers questions about his or her

Lisa Smith The author of Girl R Walks Out of a Bar discusses her book about her experience with addic-

Ryan Travis Christian exhibits in “Underlying System Is Not Known” at Western Exhibitions o COURTESY OF WESTERN EXHIBITIONS professional experience postgraduation. At the show I attended, Conner O’Malley discussed his stint writing for Late Night With Seth Meyers and how routine it felt to develop material that was warmly received in the office but that unquestionably had no place on the show. Murdoch and Scott’s set inspired by the chat ran a little longer than it ought to, but they did achieve the dubious distinction of pulling off the most macabre pregnancy-related joke I’ve ever heard. —DAN JAKES Through 2/8: Wed 8 PM, iO Theater, the Mission Theater, 1501 N. Kingsbury, ioimprov. com/chicago, $12.

VISUAL ARTS R

Elephant Room, Inc. “The Blues,” work by eight local artists inspired by blues music. Opening reception Sat 1/14, 6-9 PM. Through 1/28. Tue-Sat 11 AM-5 PM. 704 S. Wabash, 708-369-4742, elephantroomgallery.com.

The Mission “History Is Boring,” R a group show examining how we “document, erase, and subvert our

collective interpretation of history.”

Opening reception Fri 1/13, 6-8 PM. 1/13-2/25. Tue-Wed noon-6 PM, Thu by appointment, Fri-Sat noon-6 PM. 1431 W. Chicago, 312-243-1200, themissionprojects.com.

Studio Oh! “Off the Wall,” an R exhibition of graffiti work by Derric Clemmons, Ronit Wiener, and

John Yaou. Opening reception Fri 1/13, 6-10 PM. 1/11-2/28. Tue, Thu, and Sat 1-6 PM. 1837 S. Halsted, 773-474-1070, artstudio-oh.com.

Vintage Quest “Zoology,” this R pop-up exhibit features work inspired by animals from more than 40

local artists. Fri 1/13, 5 PM-midnight. 1105 N. California, 773-787-5890, facebook. com/vintagequest.

Western Exhibitions “UnderlyR ing System Is Not Known,” the first show at Western Exhibitions’ new

Galerie F “7,” this exhibit celebrates the gallery’s new location with work from seven local artists: Andrew Ghrist, Epyon5, Jason Rowland, JC Rivera, Justin Van Genderen, Mosher, and Sentrock. Opening reception Fri 1/13, 6-10 PM. Fri 1/13. Tue-Sun 11 AM-6 PM. 2415 N. Milwaukee, 773-819-9200, galerief.com.

gallery in West Town after eight years in the West Loop, features artists who utilize pattern and repetition, including Ryan Travis Christian, Edie Fake, Jessica Labatte, Miller & Shellabarger, and Geoffrey Todd Smith. Through 2/15, Tue-Sat 11 AM-6 PM, 1709 W. Chicago, 312-480-8390, westernexhibitions.com.

Gallery 400 “Embodiment R Abstracted,” an exhibition of video, film, videotaped performance,

LIT

and live performance inspired by the work of choreographer Yvonne Rainer, including a new piece by her. Opening reception Fri 1/13, 5-8 PM. 1/13-3/4. TueFri 10 AM-6 PM, Sat noon-6 PM. 400 S. Peoria, 312-996-6114, gallery400.aa.uic. edu.

Gallery19 “Nothing From SomeR thing,” a group exhibition featuring work from Elizabeth Bick, Halle

Siepman, Charles Callis, Anne Kaferle, and Sam Chung. Opening reception Fri 1/13, 6-9 PM. 1/13-3/11. 4839 N. Damen, 773-420-8071, gallery19chicago.com.

tion and leads an addiction workshop with the Awakening Center. Thu 1/12, 7 PM, Women & Children First, 5233 N. Clark, 773-769-9299, womenandchildrenfirst.com.

o CLARENCE MAURICE

Hug It Out: The Best of Huggable Riot Veteran local sketch group Huggable Riot stages their favorite sketches from the past two years in this revue. The women—Jennifer Allman, Ashley Leisten, and Natalia Via—are definitely the strongest members of this six-person cast. It’s most apparent in sketches like “Dammit Janet” (by Johanna Medrano), featuring a trio of women suffering through spin class, and “Fears” (by Mark Fleming, Charlie Kaplan and Brianne Goodrum), a spoof on bedtime ghost stories with a welcome feminist bent. Political material, from criticisms of Mayor Emanuel to gun violence statistics, ran through other sketches with a more jarring and less impactful effect.

—MARISSA OBERLANDER Through 3/29: Wed 8 PM, Annoyance Theatre, 851 W. Belmont, 773-697-9693, theannoyance. com, $12, $10 in advance.

Eat It Up book launch A celebraR tion of the release of the fourth anthology from Ladies’ Night, a group

of female comic artists, zinesters, and writers. Fri 1/13, 6 PM, Graham Crackers Comics, 77 E. Madison, 312-629-1810, ladiesnightanthology.com.

Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk R launch party A celebration of the release of Kathleen Rooney’s new novel.

Wed 1/18, 7:30 PM, Women & Children First, 5233 N. Clark, 773-769-9299, womenandchildrenfirst.com.

Clint Smith The poet reads from R his debut collection, Counting Descent. Sun 1/15, 3 PM, Seminary Co-op Bookstore, 5751 S. Woodlawn, 773-7524381, semcoop.com.

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Mary Wisniewski The author reads from her new biography, Algren: A Life. Thu 1/12, 6:30 PM, City Lit Books, 2523 N. Kedzie, 773-235-2523, citylitbooks.com.

You’re Being Ridiculous The R art of storytelling is on display at Steppenwolf Theatre’s 1700 space, and

the theme is “family.” Hosted by the lanky and affable Jeremy Owens, You’re Being Ridiculous features a rotating cast of performers on a once-a-week schedule, so opening night’s autobiographical tales of debauchery, hateful resentment, self-discovery, and being probed in stirrups by OBGYN students at a medical school in rural Missouri won’t be repeated. Still, here’s a taste: Christianity wreaks havoc on the young.

Coming out to parents in Arkansas is difficult and demoralizing. Some people think a storytelling performance at a major theater is a great opportunity for open-air cry therapy. And if there’s anything on the docket for the rest of this LookOut series that remotely approaches Lisa Marie Farver’s Faulknerian tale of trailer sex with a first cousin who later died, this is not an occasion to be missed. —MAX MALLER Through 1/21: Sat 8 PM, Steppenwolf Theatre, 1700 Theatre, 1700 N. Halsted, 312-335-1650, steppenwolf.org, $20.

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Our Neighborhood—what it has, what it needs and what can we do about it?

Join Illinois Humanities for an interactive experience about the effect of poverty on school performance—featuring a keynote by Pedro Noguera (UCLA) and responses from education leaders from across the state.

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MOVIES

More at chicagoreader.com/ movies NEW REVIEWS Boardinghouse Shot on Betacam video, this grade-Z slasher movie (1982) has a greasy, pallid look that harmonizes perfectly with its own inherent crappiness. An opening title in cheapo dot-matrix lettering lays out the bloody history of an accursed SoCal home, which is inherited by a swinging new age therapist and telekinetic master (writer-director John Wintergate) and becomes a boardinghouse for his harem of scantily clad babes (including Wintergate’s wife, Kalassu). Gruesome deaths follow, though the viewer is warned in advance (sometimes) by an insert of a black-gloved hand splaying its fingers. The movie makes for a nice technical curio with its analog imagery, clunky synth score, and primitive video-bleed effects, though a scene shot through a shower stall, in which a woman’s breasts are pressed into the pebbled glass, proves there’s no substitute for classic filmmaking techniques. —J.R. JONES R, 99 min. Fri 1/13 and Sat 1/14, midnight.

Music Box

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Boardinghouse

Silence Martin Scorsese follows The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)—a boisterous, boob-filled black comedy about lowlifes perpetrating financial scams during the 1980s and ’90s—with a meditative historical epic about Portuguese Jesuits proselytizing in 17th-century Japan. Based on Shusaku Endo’s 1966 novel, the film tracks two young priests (Andrew Garfield, Adam Driver) as they travel to Nagasaki to spread Catholicism and retrieve their mentor (Liam Neeson), who’s rumored to have apostatized and assimilated into Japanese society. Though Scorsese has explored Christianity in numerous features—most prominently Mean Streets (1973) and The Last Temptation of Christ (1988)—he’s never done so as patiently or methodically as he does here. The film is unfussy and slowly paced, filled with gorgeous landscape shots but almost devoid of music; the formal approach suits the complex theological inquiries. In English, Japanese, and Portuguese with subtitles. —TAL ROSENBERG R, 161 min. Cardinal Blaise J. Cupich leads a discussion following the 4:45 PM screening on Sunday. Fri 1/13-Thu 1/19, 1:30, 4:45, and 8 PM. Music Box 20th Century Women A fiercely inquisitive performance from Annette Bening buoys this otherwise pedestrian indie drama by writer-director Mike Mills (Thumbsucker, Beginners), who

based Bening’s character on his own mother. The film takes place in Santa Barbara in 1979, when the eccentric single mother is 55 and her late-arriving son (Lucas Jade Zumann) is 15; fretting over his lack of a male role model, she enlists one of their boarders, a young photographer with cervical cancer (Greta Gerwig), to educate him about women, though a bitter lesson comes in the form of the classmate he adores (Elle Fanning), who climbs through his bedroom window every night looking for friendship but gives her body to any guy but him. Mills digs deep into the era, with the mother struggling to make sense of punk rock; the film has the feel of a memoir, in both its effortless authenticity and its limited significance. With Billy Crudup. —J.R. JONES R, 118 min.

Landmark’s Century Centre

REVIVALS McCabe and Mrs. Miller R Still Robert Altman’s best moment, this 1971 antiwestern mur-

murs softly of love, death, and capitalism. Warren Beatty is the two-bit gambler who falls in with whorehouse proprietress Julie Christie; together they grope toward money and oblivion. With Keith Carradine, Shelley Duvall, Rene Auberjonois, and songs by Leonard Cohen.

—DAVE KEHR 121 min. Screens as part of the Sound Opinions series; a discussion follows the screening.

Wed 1/11, 7 PM. Music Box

Seven Samurai Akira Kurosawa’s best film is also his most R Americanized, drawing on classical

Hollywood conventions of genre (the western), characterization (ritual gestures used to distinguish the individuals within a group), and visual style (the horizon lines and exaggerated perspectives of John Ford). Of course, this 1954 film also returned something of what it borrowed, by laying the groundwork for the “professional” western (Rio Bravo, etc) that dominated the genre in the 50s and 60s. Kurosawa’s film is a model of long-form construction, ably fitting its asides and anecdotes into a powerful suspense structure that endures for all of the film’s 208 minutes. The climax—the battle in the rain and its ambiguous aftermath—is Kurosawa’s greatest moment, the only passage in his work worthy of comparison

with Mizoguchi. In Japanese with subtitles. —DAVE KEHR 208 min.

Sat 1/14, 3 PM; Mon 1/16, 6:30 PM; and Wed 1/18, 6:30 PM. Gene Siskel Film Center Way Down East D.W. GrifR fith’s most popular film after The Birth of a Nation was based on

a florid Victorian stage melodrama about a seduced and abandoned orphan girl who seeks refuge with a farm family. Through his star, Lillian Gish, Griffith gives the story an emotional power that lifts this 1920 silent feature to the level of a folktale; it becomes something simple, strong, and timeless. —DAVE KEHR 119 min. Sun 1/15, 7 PM. Univ. of Chicago Doc Films

White Girl Elizabeth Wood, R who wrote and directed this gripping debut feature, introduces

the college-age protagonist (Morgan Saylor) with a close-up of her derriere in blinding white shorts—an appropriate image given the sex appeal and class privilege the character exploits to her advantage. By day she works a summer internship at a Manhattan art agency, where her sleazy boss (Justin Bartha) plies her with coke and fucks her face; by night she and a classmate (India Menuez) run wild with three Hispanic drug dealers they’ve met in their sketchy new neighborhood; and eventually night bleeds into day as her partying spins out of control and her boyfriend (Brian Marc) leads her into a dangerous new business venture with a ruthless coke supplier (Adrian Martinez). Neatly plotted and minimally staged, the movie marks Wood as a talent to watch, but Saylor deserves equal credit for her layered performance as the title character, a confident young woman who crumbles into a confused and frightened child.

With Chris Noth (Sex and the City), hilarious as a third-rate attorney.

—J.R. JONES 88 min. Sat 1/14, 7 and 9:45 PM, and Sun 1/15, 3:45 PM. Univ. of Chicago Doc Films

SPECIAL EVENTS Dyke Delicious: An Evening With Chicago Filmmaker Ky Dickens Local filmmaker Ky Dickens discusses her work and screens clips from previous and upcoming documentaries. Sat 1/14, 7 PM. Chicago Filmmakers v

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CITY LIFE

○ Take a video tour of Vincent Martell and Jordan Phelps’s space at chicagoreader.com/space.

SURE THINGS

A string installation VAM created for an event called Fantasty; VAM cofounder Jordan Phelps, artistic director Vincent Martell, and a teddy bear that is part of an upcoming dinner and dance party

¥

Rekorderlig Cider and Keep up to date on the go at chicagoreader. Tsingtao Brewery, plus music from DJ Timmy. com/agenda.

THURSDAY 12

[David Bowie Tribute Burlesque artist Michelle L’Amour hosts a night of performances honoring David Bowie on the anniversary of his death.

8 PM, Untitled, 111 W. Kinzie, 312-880-1511, untitledchicago.com. F

FRIDAY 13

{ Filmspotting Adam Kempenaar and Josh Larsen break down the year in film during this live taping of their movie podcast. 8 PM, Logan Center for the Arts, 915 E. 60th, filmspotting.net, $25.

SATURDAY 14

Ö Handmade Market Crafters unite at the monthly market featuring more than 30 local vendors and snacks from Bite Cafe. The bar’s open too. Noon-4 PM, Empty Bottle, 1035 N. Western, emptybottle.com. F

SUNDAY 15

& Grilled Cheese Meltdown Local eateries—including Cheesie’s Pub & Grub, Dusek’s, and Jerry’s—turn out their best grilled cheese sandwiches. Wash them down with drinks from

11:30 AM-6:30 PM, Thalia Hall, 1227 W. 18th, thaliahallchicago.com, $27.50.

o MORGAN JOHNSON

MONDAY 16

MLK Jr.: Day of Reflection The Hyde Park Art Center hosts a day of films commenting on different aspects of the civil rights movement, among them 13th, Brother Outsider, and The Black Power Mixtape 1967–1975.

11 AM-5:30 PM, Hyde Park Art Center, 5020 S. Cornell, hydeparkart.org. F

TUESDAY 17

n Build & Brews This fund-raiser for Rebuilding Exchange features food from Yvolina’s Tamales, music by DJ Frausto, an opportunity to work on a collaborative woodworking project, and plenty of Lagunitas beer. 5:30-8:30 PM, Lagunitas Brewing Company, 2607 W. 17th, rebuildingexchange. org, $10.

WEDNESDAY 18

J Ice Cream Beer Social The night features pairings of Ben & Jerry’s flavors with New Belgium brews as well as tastings of ice cream beer floats. 7:30-11 PM, Easy Bar, 1944 W. Division, easybarchicago. com. F

Space

Home is where the art is

A whimsical Logan Square apartment by the visionary owners of VAM Studio STEP INSIDE THE Logan Square apartment of Vincent Martell and Jordan Phelps, and the first thing you’re likely to notice is a dramatic canopy of white string cascading over the dining-room table. A sculptural bouquet adorns the geometric glass-topped table, and a neon sign that says vam in white block letters is mounted on the wall. Nearby, two giant plush teddy bears preside over the living room.

For the young couple, such whimsical scene setting isn’t confined to the home: it’s an extension of their work. Martell, 26, is cofounder and creative director, and Phelps, 27, artistic director, of VAM, a creative studio that provides funding and promotion for

Chicago’s underground artists, via parties, videos, and other thoughtfully curated events and experiences. Though they have a goal to eventually run VAM out of a separate building, their apartment currently doubles as

their studio—and the evidence is everywhere.

“The strings installation was one that we did for an event [called Fantasty] and involved 46,000 feet of string on six different palettes,” says Phelps, who spent J

JANUARY 12, 2017 - CHICAGO READER 7

Master bedroom with a canopy of white string over the bed; polished stones and other objects in the "Zen room" o MORGAN JOHNSON

Space continued from 7

Sale Offer Expires 2/15/17

8 CHICAGO READER - JANUARY 12, 2017

an entire week painstakingly cutting and tying lengths of string. The seven-foot teddy bears, meanwhile, are part of an upcoming “Salvador Dali-esque, Alice in Wonderlandinspired” dinner and dance party.

“It’s all about creating interactive art that our audiences can touch,” Martell says.

“Touch, play in, smell, hear,” Phelps adds.

(The two often complete or continue each other’s sentences.)

“So it’s nice to have that in your home because you’re constantly stimulated,” Martell says. “If you’re bored or having a bad day, you can sit on the teddy bear or you play in the strings with the cat.”

The two, who met while studying at Roosevelt University, moved into their Logan Square apartment four years ago and slowly developed a shared aesthetic, merging Martell’s modern sensibility with Phelps’s taste for antiques and penchant for plants. (Having grown up in verdant northwest Washington, he likes to have lots of greenery around him.)

The result is a playful, experimental interiordesign style that borrows from surrealism (a framed fake Dali print made by an artist

friend), found art (a carousel horse salvaged from an alleyway), and film noir (the rosy-tan color of the walls and black accents struck them as very Casablanca).

“This apartment is 115 years old and, when we moved in, it wasn’t the prettiest place,” Phelps says. “But you have to have a vision and you have to be willing to get your hands dirty to put your mark on a place.”

Their mark is particularly felt in the “Zen room” off the kitchen, a meditative lounge that brings together objects from different cultures: Buddha statues, assorted talismans, polished stones. “People sometimes go in there and they’re like, ‘What are you trying to represent here?’” Phelps says with a laugh.

“But it’s a mishmash of things, and we’re aware of that.”

In the sunlit master bedroom in the rear of the space, a bed similarly canopied with white string serves as another stunning focal point.

Phelps installed LED bulbs in the frame that can be set to different colors. “I think it’s my favorite place,” Martell says.

Their art-directed apartment is proof that high concept and cozy can peacefully coexist.

—LAURA PEARSON

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Read Ben Joravsky’s columns throughout the week at chicagoreader.com.

CITY LIFE

POLITICS

Dreams from Obama His early writing on Chicago was eerily prophetic about America’s future.

Obama foresaw a “sharp wind” blowing away the change the city’s first black mayor had wrought.

By BEN JORAVSKY

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s the days tick down on the Obama presidency, and following his farewell speech from McCormick Place, I find myself going back in time to the years when most people didn’t know his name—and those who did weren’t sure how to pronounce it.

I tend to get nostalgic when the past looks better than the future. And at the moment, the future looks awfully bleak.

Recently I reread Dreams From My Father, Barack Obama’s best-selling autobiography.

Initially, I revisited the book to help me think through Obama’s relationship with Chicago, and what his departure from office means for our city—especially since he’s not coming back here. And indeed, I found a lot of reminders that as much as Chicago loves to claim Obama as its own, he was never really ours.

But what surprised me on a second read of the book was the ways in which it’s eerily prophetic about the end of Obama’s presidency—prophetic in ways I’d never have imagined when I first read it way back when.

If you haven’t read the book, I’ll set it up for you. Obama wrote Dreams in 1994. At age 33, he had just married Michelle and was making his way as a lawyer, already vibrant with big ambitions to show the world his stuff.

Much of Dreams describes his first stint in Chicago. He arrived in 1985 at the age of 24.

He’d already lived in New York, California, Hawaii, and Indonesia. The son of a man from Kenya and a mother from Kansas was very much trying to figure out who he was, where he belonged, and what he wanted to do.

Obama settled in Chicago by happenstance.

He wanted to be a community organizer and he couldn’t find a job anywhere else. So began his alliance with the Windy City, as he took a

o ASHLEE REZIN/FOR SUN-TIMES MEDIA

job organizing in a poor, black community on the southeast side.

One of his favorite haunts was a Hyde Park barber shop he calls Smitty’s. He loved to listen to the old black guys talk politics.

This was in the middle of the Harold Washington years, when the black community declared that enough was enough and rose up as one to elect Chicago’s first black mayor.

Unlike Obama, Washington was very much of this city, having been born and raised on the south side. And almost everywhere young Obama went—houses, churches, union halls, Smitty’s—he saw Harold’s picture on the wall. The “election had given [the] people a new idea of themselves,” Obama writes. “Or maybe it was an old idea, born of a simpler time. Harold was something they still held in common: like my idea of organizing, he held out an offer of collective redemption.”

I’m telling you, this stuff is prophetic—you could more or less say the same thing about Obama when he was first elected president.

In 1988, Obama temporarily moved to Boston to study law at Harvard. After he graduated in 1991, he came back. Why not? It was clear that his grander political ambitions required a clearer identity. He had to be from somewhere, so it might as well be Chicago.

And so he turned himself into a pretty decent replica of a real Chicagoan for the decade or so he was here. It wasn’t that hard for him—he’s obviously a smart man who had the patience to listen to what people were saying.

Like a sponge, he absorbed what he saw and heard.

He settled in Hyde Park. Joined a south-side church. Made the right liberal connections.

Successfully ran for the Illinois state senate.

He professed a loyalty to our sports teams, like he’d grown up rooting for them. He even

became one of those insufferable Sox fans who dislike the Cubs, though he probably cared for one team about as much as the other—which is not very much at all.

Politically speaking, he was the quintessential Chicago liberal. He pushed hard for the right causes, like more school funding, but he knew enough to avoid direct confrontations with the Man—in those days, Mayor Richard M. Daley.

“Power was patient and knew what it wanted. Power could outwait slogans and prayers and candlelight vigils.”

—Barack Obama about the post-Harold Washington era in Dreams From My Father

Was Obama’s Chicago conversion genuine?

By my read, it was a little calculated. The epigram in Dreams, quoting 1 Chronicles 29:15, sums it up: “For we are strangers before thee, and sojourners, as were all our fathers.”

It seems to me Obama was just passing through, on his own personal sojourn, looking to get out almost as he got in. In 2000, he unsuccessfully ran against Bobby Rush for

Congress. In 2004, he got out for good, getting elected to the U.S. Senate.

Did he use us? A little. Do I hold that against him? Hell, no. He’s the greatest president of my lifetime—even if, OK, the bar’s kind of low.

If Chicago was a means to an end, I’m glad to have been of service.

But that brings me back to the other prophetic part of Dreams—his recollections of the time just after Mayor Washington died in 1987.

With Washington dead, the same powerful remnants of the old Democratic machine that Washington had kept at bay swept in to eventually elect Richard M. Daley. White Chicago vowed to never let a strong, independentminded black man run this town again. And the black community, hopelessly divided, was powerless to stop them.

“Power was patient and knew what it wanted,” Obama writes about the post-Washington era. “Power could outwait slogans and prayers and candlelight vigils.”

In retrospect, young Obama sounds more jaded and less hopeful than he is today. “At the margins, Harold [made] city services more equitable,” he writes. “Black professionals now got a bigger share of city business. Harold’s presence consoled. . . . But beneath the radiance of Harold’s victory, nothing seemed to change.”

Substitute Obama’s name for Harold, and young Barack sounds like many young black activists today, critiquing Obama’s time as president.

According to Dreams, Obama went to City Hall to watch as the City Council met in December 1987 to approve Washington’s successor. On the way home, he writes that “the wind whipped up cold and sharp as a blade” and he saw a “hand-made sign tumble past me.” “‘His spirit lives on,’ the sign read in heavy block letters,” Obama continues. “Beneath the words that picture [of Washington] I had seen so many times while waiting for a chair in Smitty’s barbershop . . . now blowing across the empty space as easily as an autumn leaf.”

Almost 30 years later, I feel much the same way about the country as Obama appropriately returned to Chicago to say good-bye to the nation. A sharp, cold wind is mercilessly threatening to blow away everything Obama worked so hard to achieve. Let’s hope the country does a better job of resisting than Chicago did after Harold died. v

ß @joravben JANUARY 12, 2017 - CHICAGO READER 9

CITY LIFE Nationally, nearly 3,200 people were killed and around 431,000 were injured in crashes involving distracted drivers in 2014. o JEAN LACHAT/ SUN-TIMES

TRANSPORTATION

Driven to distraction

Should checking cell phone records after serious crashes be standard practice?

By JOHN GREENFIELD

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n September 2006, Matthew Wilhelm, a 25-year-old mechanical engineering graduate who worked for Caterpillar, was cycling on the shoulder of a two-lane highway east of Urbana when he was fatally struck from behind. Police said the driver, 19-year-old Jennifer Stark, was downloading a ringtone on her cell phone at the time, and she was so far off the road that she hit Wilhelm with the driver’s side of the car. She had three recent convictions for speeding and blowing a red light.

Since there was no state law against texting behind the wheel at the time of Wilhem’s death, Champaign County state’s attorney Julia Rietz decided that there were no grounds to prosecute Stark for reckless driving or reckless homicide. As a result, the motorist was only convicted of improper lane use and received just six months probation and a $1,000 fine—a slap on the wrist.

In response to the tragedy, Wilhelm’s parents, Chuck and Gloria, lobbied for the state legislation banning texting, instant messag-

10 CHICAGO READER - JANUARY 12, 2017

ing, and accessing websites while driving, with some exceptions for police officers and truckers. The bill, called “Matt’s Law,” went into effect in 2010.

Now, using an electronic device while driving garners Illinois drivers a $75 fine. But if a crash results in serious injuries, the driver can be convicted of a Class A misdemeanor, punishable by fines of up to $2,500 or a year in jail. And if the collision results in a death, there are grounds for a Class 2 felony with the potential for fines of more than $25,000 and a jail sentence of seven years. Similar legislation exists in all but four states.

And yet in 2014 there were 3,179 people killed and an estimated 431,000 injured in crashes involving distracted drivers, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

In a surprisingly on-point op-ed recently published by the Tribune, the paper’s editorial board argued that, just as Mothers Against Drunk Driving successfully campaigned for stiffer penalties for DUIs in the 1980s, we need a new movement to make texting and driving socially unacceptable.

However, Streetsblog reader Anna Weaver noted that the Tribune piece didn’t address a basic question: When there’s a serious or fatal crash in the Chicago region, how common is it for the police to examine the driver’s cell phone to determine whether distracted driving may have played a role? It’s good that Illinois has penalties for texting and driving.

But if it’s the case that Matt’s Law is rarely enforced after major collisions, that undermines its power as a deterrent.

Weaver’s question is especially relevant in cases where a pedestrian or bicyclist is killed.

Since the victim isn’t alive to tell his or her side of the story, if the driver wasn’t obviously intoxicated or speeding, police may be inclined to take his or her word that the the dead person “darted” or “swerved” in front of the vehicle. Routinely checking cell records could counter those claims.

Here’s what I learned from talking to local law enforcement: According to Chicago Police Department spokesman José Estrada, if there’s evidence—such as witness testimony or security camera footage—that a driver was using a phone or other mobile device prior to a serious crash, CPD’s Major Accidents Investigation Unit will seek a court order to view the driver’s phone records. Officers may confiscate and inventory the device postcrash, but they can’t look through its call log without a court order. And receiving permission isn’t a given.

“Just like any search warrant, [the Major Accidents division] has to go through an approval process, and the orders aren’t always granted,” Estrada says.

CPD also indicated that Major Accidents almost always tries to check cell phone records after serious crashes if there is evidence of distracted driving, but it pretty much never does in the absence of evidence. CPD declined to estimate what percentage of search warrant requests are denied.

This process is the same for state troopers, according to Illinois State Police spokesman Matt Boerwinkle. While investigators will try to access phone records if there’s evidence that distracted driving was a factor in a crash, they don’t do so after every serious collision.

“It’s not practical to get a search warrant signed in most instances,” Boerwinkle wrote via e-mail, signing off with the slogan “A text can wait. Drop It and Drive.”

So local police generally don’t try to check phone records unless there’s clear evidence that a driver was using a device. But should it be required for them to do this after every serious crash? And, if so, how do we make that happen?

“A rule like that would act as a deterrent,” argues Dan Terleckyj, an attorney with Chicago-based Klest Injury Law Firm. “If people knew that every time there’s [a serious collision] their phone records will be checked, fewer people would text and drive. That would result in fewer injuries or deaths caused by distracted drivers.”

But if the city or state police departments tried to change their policy, or if legislation requiring them to do so was proposed, they’d still have to contend with existing legal prec-

edent. The reason cops ask for permission is that they have to: the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2014 that police need a warrant to search the contents of a suspect’s cell phone during an arrest. In April, citing the Supreme Court decision as precedent, a federal judge in Illinois ruled that cops need a warrant even to open a suspect’s flip phone and look at its screen, even if the phone is off.

That likely means that it would be difficult if not impossible to waive the necessity of court permission to search a phone after a major crash. Still, I’d argue that law enforcement agencies could develop policies whereby the warrants were automatically requested after major crashes, even if the courts ultimately decided not to grant them for lack of evidence.

If the driver wasn’t intoxicated or speeding, police may take his or her word that the dead person “darted” or “swerved” in front of the vehicle.

I think we should at least try to make this happen, but others don’t share my optimism about the endeavor. Rita Kreslin, director of the Schaumburg-based Alliance Against Intoxicated Motorists, says more needs to be done to address our national epidemic of distracted driving, but she doesn’t see a more forceful crackdown on texting behind the wheel happening anytime soon.

“A lot more people will probably have to be hurt or killed before the laws change drastically,” Kreslin says.

While it might be difficult to make checking cell phone records after serious crashes standard practice at this point, hopefully this is something that will be considered in the future. Our obsession with our phones doesn’t show any sign of letting up. v

John Greenfield edits the transportation news website Streetsblog Chicago. ß @greenfieldjohn

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Read Derrick Clifton’s columns throughout the week at chicagoreader.com.

CITY LIFE Four black Chicago youths accused of attacking a disabled white peer and broadcasting the incident on Facebook Live have been charged with a hate crime. o VIDME VIA AP

IDENTITY AND CULTURE

Days of rage

In the wake of the Facebook Live attack, we need to talk about black anger.

By DERRICK CLIFTON

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s yet another act of senseless violence in Chicago makes national headlines, my mind drifts back to 2015. It was just days after Dylann Roof gunned down black parishioners in Charleston, South Carolina. Most newscasters focused almost exclusively on black grief, protest, and forgiveness amid a historically fraught act of racial terrorism.

But one lone woman, dismissed as a “heckler” after interrupting one of Don Lemon’s CNN segments, gave voice to another emotion: black anger.

“We’re angry, Don! Speak about the anger,” she said. Although members of Emanuel A.M.E. Church have expressly forgiven Roof, he remains unrepentant for his whitesupremacy-fueled murder spree, even as a jury this week sentenced him to death. And the words of that “heckler” have become a harbinger for what we’re witnessing now.

In recent years, black anger has risen to a fever pitch in Chicago and in cities across the country—a reaction to systemic racism and police brutality, and to the bigotry emboldened by the election of Donald Trump. That bigotry has been unleashed in the more than 1,100 reported hate-fueled incidents since Election Day, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, including the recently reported slashing of a black transgender man on a New York City subway, allegedly perpetrated by a white woman who didn’t want to sit next to a black person.

But now we must also reckon with the brutal torture and kidnapping of a young white man who reportedly has a developmental disability—an incident that took place on Chicago’s west side and was broadcast on Facebook Live for the world to see. According to initial reports, the four black youths in the video struck the victim while saying he “represents Trump.” “Fuck Donald Trump!” they shouted.

“Fuck white people!” The suspects were arrested and charged with a hate crime. And as police superintendent Eddie Johnson said last week, what they did was reprehensible.

All race-based violence, whether it’s the Facebook Live attack or the shooting in Charleston, should be condemned. But we must talk about the roots of black anger and why these events are not the same, even though both were horrific.

Here’s the biggest difference: Black people

are subjected to state violence and white people usually are not. Racial terror has been a through line for black communities from slavery to the present day. The Facebook Live attackers, while horribly misguided, were arguably responding to centuries of institutional violence against black people. Roof, on the other hand, was acting out a white supremacist fantasy based on the myth of black aggression and white victimhood. (“You’re raping our women,” he said, as he wreaked his havoc.)

Such extreme expressions of black anger are relatively rare, because even peaceful protests are met with extreme blowback, brutality, and condemnation—such as when demonstrators in Ferguson were teargassed by a militarized police force, or when the Trump camp characterized protests at his Chicago campaign stop as a “riot.”

And when black people do display anger, it sends the white establishment into a panic.

After Freddie Gray was killed by Baltimore police, some protesters began rioting, venting their anger at decades of structural racism.

The police responded in full force, to protect property and infrastructure. The rioters, and even the protesters, were characterized as “thugs” and “criminals” in the press. Amid the widespread condemnation, there was little to no empathy for the city’s predominantly black residents.

In all of these cases, it’s as if society is saying, “No matter how you express your concerns, we’re not going to listen to you. We’re going to police you—and your anger.”

That rush to police—and to overlook—the root of these problems informs the “law and order” solution Trump has advanced in reference to Chicago’s gun violence problems.

Mike Pence even denied the existence of systemic racism during a vice-presidential debate. It was part of Trump-Pence’s election-winning recipe, one that threw black people under the bus while pretending to address their concerns.

This is a stark contrast to how the government and wider society typically respond when white people protest or commit acts of violence. Police clamp down on black protesters in ways they often don’t when—for example—predominantly white sports fans riot after big games, or when bands of white millennials occupied Wall Street.

Similarly, the attackers in the Facebook Live case were swiftly arrested and charged.

A who’s who of elected officials from Mayor Emanuel to President Obama condemned the video forcefully. The public rallied around

the victim’s family. A #BLMKidnapping hashtag surfaced after the video made the rounds, even though the Black Lives Matter movement had absolutely nothing to do with the tragic incident.

Contrast that response to the recent case of Antwon McDaniel, a developmentally disabled black teenager who was raped by three of his white football teammates in 2015. At least one of the perpetrators won’t face any jail time, just community service and probation—a slap on the wrist.

I hurt for McDaniel, just as I hurt for the Facebook victim. Both cases, at their core, are inhumane and unthinkable violations of some of the most vulnerable people among us.

Yet it’s clear from these two incidents that justice and empathy come quickly and swiftly for white people in this country in a way that it doesn’t for black ones. And white anger and racial resentment—which has been fueled by Trump’s White House bid—has been allowed to run rampant without sanction, while black anger is as taboo as it’s ever been.

As Solange belts out in a recently released track aimed at black people, “You have the right to be mad,” but don’t carry it alone. She’s right—black people have every right to be mad and express their anger. The problem is that, when it’s done peacefully, too many white people remain unsentimental. They don’t listen. They change the channel. They’d rather continue life as usual, comfortably numb to the reality that black lives still, largely, don’t matter to the justice system, or to government officials who direct resources away from black communities, or to the overtly racist vigilantes who continue harming us.

It’s only when that anger turns to violence that white people start paying attention. And then their retribution is swift.

It will take time for much of the country to begin to truly understand black anger.

The Facebook Live torture suspects are not simply the products of “bad home training,” as Lemon said recently. In a city with more than a dozen shuttered mental health clinics, and in a country with a federal government threatening to cut off health care for more than 20 million Americans, there aren’t many avenues for the disenfranchised to process their mental anguish.

But as that CNN “heckler” warned, we must talk about black anger. And to talk about it, we have to stop fearing it, well before it bears the ugly fruit of violence. v

ß @DerrickClifton JANUARY 12, 2017 - CHICAGO READER 11

T

We need the Read/Write Library now more than ever The Humboldt Park institution has taken an unconventional approach to being a “city library,” and it’s only growing more ambitious.

By AIMEE LEVITT 12 CHICAGO READER - JANUARY 12, 2017

he day after the presidential election, the Wednesday morning adult ESL class at Wright College Humboldt Park took a field trip, heading south on California Avenue to the Read/Write Library. The class, consisting largely of women from Mexico and Central America, was working on writing personal stories based on neighborhood photos. Nell Taylor, the Read/Write’s executive director—and also its founder, head librarian, programming director, and chief ambassador—brought out a pile of books of pictures and poetry and personal essays in both English and Spanish for the students to look through.

None of these books was The House on Mango Street, Sandra Cisneros’s famous story collection, though that would seem a logical choice, since Cisneros based it on her memories of growing up on Campbell Avenue, just a few blocks away. But the Read/Write Library doesn’t have a copy of The House on Mango Street. Unlike most libraries, its goal isn’t to assemble a carefully curated collection of books and periodicals that approximate a cross-section of all human knowledge. Its ambitions are both more humble and more grand.

The Read/Write library is, instead, a repository of pamphlets, zines, community plans, oral histories, neighborhood newspapers, literary magazines from CPS schools and state prisons, parish-church and settlement-house cookbooks, self-published poetry and novels, and other ephemera that, taken together, tells the story of Chicago by Chicagoans in their own words, not filtered through the perspectives of academics or journalists. Most people read to find connections in the world, but at the Read/Write Library those connections are immediate: you may find yourself reading about your own neighborhood, about people you already know.

The Wright students looked through, among other things, Unexpected Chicagoland, a collection of photographs by Camilo José Vergara; exhibition catalogs from the National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts & Culture; photo zines produced by students at Benito Juarez Community Academy (one centered around pigeons was especially popular); a chapbook of poetry by Carlos Cortez, De Kansas a Califas & Back to Chicago; and Gallery Humboldt Park, a zine from the late 80s or early 90s produced by women connected to Association House, a neighborhood nonprofit that provides health and educational services.

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READ/WRITE LIBRARY

Fri-Sun 1-5 PM, other days by appointment, 914 N. California, 773-336-2516, readwritelibrary.org.

“It was interesting to read books from our community,” says Laurina Cervantes, one of the students. She had immigrated to Chicago from Guerrero, Mexico. “We looked at a book from a guy who lived in Pilsen. He was telling about his family. It wasn’t a big book. It was not expensive. It was folded paper. He was telling part of his life, like eating beans every day, how big was his family, the routine of life in the USA. It was like my life. When you’re an immigrant, you don’t think too much about education. You think about working.”

Cervantes hadn’t known about the library before, but she planned to return during winter break and bring her kids.

“To see that the first morning after the election reaffirms that we’re needed and our work matters,” Taylor says.

For the past year and half, she’d been in doubt. The Read/Write Library was undergoing what she described in more optimistic moments as “growing pains.” Several longtime volunteers had left the library for babies and out-of-town jobs, and Taylor had failed to get grants that would have supplemented the donations that form the bulk of the library’s budget. She spent a lot of time going back and forth between wondering if anyone would care if she closed the library down and feeling like she couldn’t close it because she’d be letting the community down. “If you’re cycling back and forth between such extreme feelings,” she says, “neither is right.”

Taylor is more given to reasonable compromise than to drama. She’s 34 and has the sort of calm, cheerful, how-can-I-help-you demeanor you’d expect from a librarian, although she never actually went to library school. She’s tall, with short hair swept to one side, and has a penchant for thrift-store sweaters and dramatically oversize earrings.

As Taylor watched Cervantes and her classmates pore over books and chapbooks, she began to feel better. This was exactly how the library was meant to function. The women were seeing that you didn’t have to be a grand and important person to have your words matter enough to be preserved in a library. You could be a Chicago woman practicing your English by writing stories about your life and your neighborhood.

Taylor also began to realize that if people were frightened that their civil liberties would be taken away, it was even more important in the present moment that the library continue its mission and find new

Opposite: Nell Taylor at the Read/Write Library, which she operates. The Humboldt Park space first opened in 2011 after five itinerant years. Above: the Read/Write collects a wide variety of texts that, taken together, tell the story of Chicago by Chicagoans. o DANIELLE A. SCRUGGS

ways of, as Taylor puts it, “making people understand their stories are important and valuable.”

T

he Read/Write Library began in the middle of a snowstorm nearly 11 years ago, in February, 2006, at the Mercury Cafe on Chicago Avenue. Taylor had sent out an e-mail to her friends asking if anyone would be interested in meeting to discuss a community library. One of those friends, Andrew Huff, mistook it for a press release and published it as an event notice on his website, Gapers Block. Forty people showed up, and not just with ideas, but also with books, magazines, and library skills. “So I thought, I guess I’m doing this all of a sudden,” Taylor recalls now.

Taylor had actually conceived the idea three years earlier, when she was still a student at Columbia College. She was studying film, but

realized she knew very little about the rest of the Chicago arts community. She wanted to have a way to encourage collaboration between different kinds of artists. In high school, she’d been on the Oak Park Library teen administrative council, where she organized a weekly poetry slam and saw how libraries could bring people together. “There’s a low barrier of entry for a library,” she explains.

“Anyone can walk in.”

Her library, which she originally called the Chicago Underground Library, would be a completely accessible community resource.

It would not be a white-gloves archive with everything locked away in boxes. It would consist mostly of original materials, not digital reproductions or microfilm, in order to make the history and culture feel tangible and concrete.

As materials continued to accumulate under the stereo in Taylor’s apartment, she began

thinking about ways to organize them. The librarians introduced her to arguments about naming, hierarchy, and identity that were taking place in library circles, in particular the philosophy of radical cataloging.

The radical catalogers wanted to take the power to assign labels and hierarchies from the hands of librarians and give it back to the users. Traditional libraries organize materials by a standardized system—the Library of Congress and Dewey Decimal are the most popular—that uses a hierarchy of prescribed terms to classify and shelve each item. In order to find something, you need to understand the specialized language of the library search engine, which usually requires some training.

Also, the prescribed terms can be outdated or reflect the prejudices of the people who came up with them, like, for instance, using “illegal immigrant” instead of “undocumented.” J

JANUARY 12, 2017 - CHICAGO READER 13

Taylor rents out Read/Write as an event space in the hopes of raising enough money for a bigger new library. o DANIELLE A. SCRUGGS

Read/Write Library continued from 13

Over a series of heated debates, fueled by beer and pizza, Taylor and the Chicago Underground volunteer librarians decided that since most of the material they were collecting existed outside of traditional publishing, their catalog would have to be organized outside of traditional library systems. They decided to classify items under multiple keywords, using the sort of terms someone from the community might type into a search engine (known in librarian circles as “natural language”), and identify every single contributor so visitors could see how different people worked together and influenced each other over time. There would also be a comments section for each listing so that users could suggest additional search terms or share stories or other details.

Everything would be shelved alphabetically within the type of publication—books with books, zines with zines—in order to encourage one of the greatest joys of library browsing: stumbling across something wonderful and unexpected that you never knew you were looking for. The only criteria for accepting material was that it had to be from Chicago and that it had been intended for public consumption, not a personal letter or diary.

The library’s early history was nomadic—it moved five times in as many years. Its homes

14 CHICAGO READER - JANUARY 12, 2017

ranged from a file cabinet in the basement of Mojoe’s Coffeehouse in Avondale to the lobby of the Congress Theater to a church in Lakeview where the windows blew open during a blizzard and buried a third of the collection in a snowbank. (Miraculously, everything was saved.) In 2011 it moved into its current location, a former metalworking studio in the back of a former bar at the corner of California and Walton. The landlord built the space out for the library, adding bathrooms, a kitchen, a gas fireplace, and a storage loft. He painted the walls bright turquoise and gave Taylor a break on the rent. Taylor and her volunteers assembled a collection of thrift-store couches, bookshelves, and folding chairs and tables, plus an ungainly wooden ticket booth, and created a cozy and welcoming space. Around the time they moved in, Taylor changed the name to Read/Write Library; too many people, she found, associated “underground” with the criminal underworld.

A

s the collection grew, the purpose of the library evolved too. After the blizzard catastrophe, while the library was still searching for a permanent home, Taylor experimented with a series of site-specific pop-up events around the city with specially curated collections about each location. One

of these, at the nightclub Berlin, with material about Lakeview and Boystown, generated a particularly strong response.

“There’s an element of recognition that starts to disarm people,” Taylor says. “People would respond to things they remembered and places they used to go to, friends who had died. They were gathered around the table telling stories. It’s a neat way to make a publication live again.”

When the Read/Write Library came to Wicker Park, students from 826CHI, the nonprofit writing center for kids, stopped by to look at material about Wicker Park and the neighborhoods where they lived and went to school.

“We asked them who knew the neighborhood best,” Taylor recalls. “They said, ‘Librarians! Teachers!’ They asked questions, and the questions were intense: ‘Are things always this violent?’ We asked them, ‘How can you have an effect?’ We told them, ‘Maybe it’s not the librarians or teachers who have the answers.’ Different people who you may not have expected might know the answers about what people want from the future.”

This encapsulates the current philosophy of the Read/Write Library: that the best answers about the history of a neighborhood come from the people who live or lived there. That’s why the catalog is accessible by Google: many

people have discovered the library by searching for their own names or the names of their friends and relatives. At the moment, Read/ Write contains about 6,000 items. Only 1,742 of them have been cataloged.

Maryam Heidaripour is a PhD student at IIT who’s working with the library on its organizational design as part of her dissertation on utopian local communities. “The Read/Write Library envisions a utopian future where citizens are involved in history,” she says.

“History isn’t being given to them, but they’re contributing bits and pieces of their knowledge of local history and events.”

Heidaripour notes that many urban designers start their projects from scratch, assuming that nobody bothered to preserve old community plans or histories for them to build on. But she found that the Read/Write Library has a large collection of community plans, some going as far back as the 1950s, when neighborhood activists were discussing, in language that seems appallingly racist today, what to do about the “Negros” moving into Lawndale. (Some of these plans came from a single donor, who stored his entire collection in a rotting paper bag, which he handed over to Taylor at a meeting at a McDonald’s in the Loop.) “Preserving these things is superhelpful,” she says, “especially if you want to build the future of the community. No other library preserves these things.”

Taylor also loves the old sociological materials and finds them useful for explaining present-day social justice movements. “It gives you an idea of why people did things,” she explains, “what they were thinking, what they were responding to. Social justice outreach is really important, but I think it’s really vital to collect material about the systems people were reacting against in the first place.”

One former volunteer made a habit of reviewing old social-justice-oriented publications on the library’s blog. “He looked at the things they got right and wrong, as a way of interrogating people’s good intentions,” Taylor says. “This is relevant to conversations people are having in social justice movements right now about intention versus outcome. It’s what groups like Black Lives Matter and womanand POC-led movements have been talking about: it doesn’t matter if you’re trying to do good if what actually happens is reinforcing stereotypes of a neighborhood.”

Pat Carr, a volunteer who for the past three years has been the library’s chief cataloger, is particularly fond of a zine called Damaged Mentality. Produced by someone with a brain injury, it contains descriptions of daily life and random

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bits of information, like a recipe for vegetarian gravy. “It feels like a personal connection, a very journalistic, intimate connection,” Carr says. “It’s not holding back because a lot of people are going to read it. There’s a lot of value in that, in being able to get a strong personal connection to what someone is going through in life that’s very different from their own.”

There’s a Gmail address on the back of the zine, but Carr has never been moved to contact the author. The experience of reading is already too personal, he says, almost voyeuristic.

Taylor is very careful not to say that the library is “giving people a voice.” What the library does is give them an audience: “We want to help them find an audience, and for the audience to find them.”

T

aylor conceived of the Read/Write Library as an entirely community-driven project. She rejected the traditional nonprofit model of a paid staff and a governing board in favor of volunteers, beholden to no one. The promotional materials had a DIY aesthetic, with hand-drawn graphics. It experimented with a wide range of programming, depending on the whims and interests of its volunteers: a librarian dance party, a science

fair of unpublished work, a puppet show in which an archivist debated library theory with Death, a literal book launch with a trebuchet, and a bookmobile-on-a-bike called BiblioTreka. It had its bad periods—most notably when Taylor contracted flesh-eating bacteria—but most of the time, it had enough volunteers and donations to keep going. “We’d been powered by kids in their 20s with endless time and energy,” Taylor says. “Time is a privilege.”

But when six of the core volunteers left within one four-month period in 2014, Taylor found herself doing most of the work alone, which, along with her day job as a data and user-experience consultant, resulted in 90hour workweeks. She didn’t want to abandon the volunteer culture she’d spent so many years cultivating, but she began to wonder if it was time the library grew up too, so she could have some permanent help.

In 2015 Taylor was one of National Arts Strategies’ Creative Community Fellows. Part of the program involved a weeklong retreat in Norfolk, Connecticut, where she was forced to reflect on what she wanted the future of the library to look like. She met with mentors who helped her design a new organizational model—one that still had a place for the J

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Read/Write Library continued from 15 volunteers—and yelled at her for not appealing to her network of friends in the community for help. It was all very businesslike, but it helped Taylor realize that growing up was not a betrayal of her earlier ideals.

“One thing we talked about was, ‘Who is this for? Who is going to use this and care about this and why?’ ” she says. “And what people need is not for us to uphold some sense of integrity with rules we created for ourselves that were never realistic in the first place.”

The result is a new model for a grown-up Read/Write Library, with professionally drawn graphics, program evaluations, a board of directors, one paid employee, and, if all goes well, a bigger new space, with a reading room and classrooms. In order to cover expenses, Taylor rents out the library as an event space: so far it has hosted meetings for community groups, a site-specific production of King Lear, and two weddings, the most recent of which left a flock of paper cranes lined up on bookshelves and tucked into the corners of display cases.

The first big new program, a book club called Hungry for Stories, in tribute to Studs Terkel, is already under way. It’s a deliberately eclectic collection of work from Chicago publishers—January’s selection is Zoe Zolbrod’s memoir The Telling, while February’s is Color Me Rising, a coloring book from For the People Artists Collective, and March’s is This Is a Dance Movie!, a collection of short stories by Tim Jones-Yelvington. Membership is for a minimum of three months and includes copies of all the books; the cost ranges from $21 to $27 a month, depending on the length of the subscription.

The Read/Write Library is small, just 600 square feet, large enough for 20 people to sit comfortably for a book-club meeting; when Taylor first envisioned the project, she didn’t think it would reach capacity. But by the registration cutoff at the end of December, 30 people had signed up, and the proceeds were enough to help cover the salary of a part-time staff member. Taylor’s not sure where she’ll put them all, but since 12 of them won’t be starting till February this is, she notes, a very good problem to have.

T

he book club was planned before the election, but now that Taylor has seen the outcome, the project has taken on special urgency.

“Since the election,” she says, “people have been focused on what they can do and how they can connect with other people and pop that filter bubble. As the book club evolves, there are some concrete discussions that start

16 CHICAGO READER - JANUARY 12, 2017

from this. We’re talking about this as trying to grow a community of people who are trying to read outside their comfort zone and think about why we value the stories we value. This is inherently political.”

The library world, and by extension, the Read/Write Library, has always been concerned about civil liberties, especially issues of privacy and information protection. But the election and the subsequent news about Russian hackers has given this issue urgency as well. In the upcoming months, the library will host workshops on privacy and encryption.

Taylor has been thinking more about the related issue of trust. Some of the work in the library, especially the zines, is deeply personal.

Although it was published, which creates the assumption that it was intended for public consumption, perhaps it was only for a very small audience of people known to the creator (similar to the difference now between a blog and a subscriber-only e-mail newsletter). Some potential donors Taylor has approached are concerned that their work will be taken out of context, or somehow used to hurt the community; she’s been able to assuage most of these concerns by explaining the catalog system.

Other people, though, have been genuinely shocked that anyone would be interested in collecting their work and are resistant to letting it go. “Those have been harder to overcome,” Taylor says. “People have internalized this idea over the years that what they produce doesn’t matter.”

That’s one of the reasons Taylor wants to work on reaching out to more areas around the city: she wants people to be able to connect with what’s been lost or hidden about their communities and to know that their writing does matter, even beyond the boundaries of their blocks and neighborhoods. This is especially important now when the Oxford English Dictionary has declared “post-truth” the word of 2016, fake news is a real concern, and we’re facing a new president who campaigned on the notion that in order to make our country great again, large numbers of people would have to be silenced and even deported.

“It’s really weird to be in a position where you don’t know if you’re being totally rational or a conspiracy theorist, to think we could be in a Fahrenheit 451 state any minute,” Taylor says. “It’s a weird place to be after eight years of thinking about—I wouldn’t say complacency, but thinking what we were doing had become less urgent.” She pauses. “It’s a damn good thing focusing on strategy and scale and infrastructure right now.” v

ß @aimeelevitt

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ARTS & CULTURE Tiffany Bedwell and Ann Sonneville in Phèdre o J. MICHAEL GRIGGS

THEATER

Trap Door is a Chicago marvel

By JUSTIN HAYFORD

Y

ou wouldn’t know it from looking, but Trap Door’s cramped, sepulchral, amenity-free cubbyhole, where the shoestring company has been mounting intractable, inscrutable plays for 22 years, is the site of perhaps the greatest Chicago theater success in the last quarter century.

I know, I know, such superlatives are supposed to be reserved for companies like the Goodman or Steppenwolf (or in charitable moments, Chicago Shakespeare Theater), and there’s no denying the scale and scope of those companies’ accomplishments. But in our pathologically mercantile culture, we too easily confuse a cultural institution’s accumulation of assets—capital, real estate, headlines, Equity contracts, subscription numbers and/or celebrity drawing power—with its importance. Big, splashy, and well funded always seems to matter, even if it’s, you know, A Christmas Carol.

But Chicago has become the theater capital of the country precisely because so many fringe artists have refused to cater to commercial interests, year after year doggedly mounting work devoid of marketing essentials: a recent New York splash, an at least somewhat well-known playwright, a collection of babyboomer-beloved pop songs strung together

in failed simulation of a plot. And they’ll do it just about anywhere—church basements and attics, abandoned office buildings, converted Park District storage rooms, Berwyn. Precious few make a living off their work; undoubtedly for most, art making is an annual debt to be written off. But they’re creating a scene where ideas, innovation, insight, and insurrection is about all that matters. And if theater’s primary value lies in its communal investigation of our cultural truths—exposing our social existence as it is, rather than as moneyed interests would have us believe—then ours is the rare theater scene that truly matters.

Trap Door has been far outside the commercial mainstream since opening its doors in 1994 with, of all things, The Madman and the Nun by Stansiław Witkiewicz, a seminal figure in the Polish avant-garde. His swirling, eidetic, impermeable, largely forgotten works (of which Trap Door has produced four) withhold the sorts of things American audiences have been trained to believe are indispensable in a play: linear narrative, psychologically consistent characters, broad opportunities for audience empathy. Ditto for the plays of Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Werner Schwab, Matei Vişniec, Catherine Sullivan, and Fernando Arrabal, all of which Trap Door has produced multiple times. They even managed

to get Vişniec and Arrabal, major figures in European theater, to cross the Atlantic to attend openings.

Despite nearly a quarter century presenting demanding, unmarketable works, Trap Door has garnered numerous awards, launched European tours, and significantly grown its audience. Yet it hasn’t gone the usual route charted by successful fringe companies: get a bigger space and program more audience-friendly material to support it. Rather they do what they’ve always done, challenging our conventional understandings of what theater is, how it operates, and why it matters. Such constancy is their arguably greatest success. And given our nation’s rising, recalcitrant nativism, their focus on European experimentalism reminds us of an urgent truth: the American way of doing things is only one among many.

Their newest offering, Paul Schmidt’s scaled-down adaptation of Racine’s 1677 neoclassical tragedy Phèdre, focuses on the titular Athenian queen whose “monstrous” lust for her stepson Hippolytus unleashes all manner of personal and civic agony. On the surface it’s a relatively safe choice; the story is straightforward, the characters cohere, and some people have actually heard of Racine.

But director Nicole Wiesner superimposes stark distancing devices—angular stylized movement, intermittent doubling of characters, barking choral laughter—that render the proceedings brutal and strange, as does Danny Rockett’s echoing, distortion-heavy sound design. Costume designer Rachel M. Spyniewski decks everyone out in various combinations of leather, crinoline, combat boots, and fishnets, and with scenic designer J. Michael Griggs’s inclined, rough-hewn wooden slab and suspended ropes making up the bulk of the set, the land of Troezen becomes a combination modeling runway/S&M dungeon.

Wiesner creates arresting, confounding stage images, as out-of-scene characters get sucked into squares of light lining the stage’s periphery, where they seem doomed to pose and primp as their world collapses. While the images don’t evolve significantly over the show’s 75 minutes (and they all but vanish in a climax overly dependent on melodramatic acting), Wiesner’s eye for the inexplicably resonant is characteristically sharp. And it is precisely from the collision of inexplicability and resonance that this show, like so many at Trap Door over the years, draws its power. v R PHÈDRE Through 2/11: Thu-Sat 8 PM, Trap Door Theatre, 1655 W. Cortland, 773-384-0494, trapdoortheatre.com, $20-$25.

Sleeptalk

DANCE

While you were sleeping . . .

THREE YEARS AGO, the choreographer and activist Ashley Fargnoli woke up to learn she’d developed a strange new tic.

According to her husband, she was talking in her sleep. “It sounded like I was doing therapy,” says Fargnoli, who works with Bosnian refugees as part of her day job as a dance and movement therapist at CEW Design Studio in Edgewater. She decided to record herself for the better part of a year, and came away with surprisingly coherent if obscure statements—“The plants get a craving, a yellow craving,” for example. “I really have no idea where that was coming from,” she explains, only that the fragments seemed like a way to process what she absorbs listening to other people tell their stories—the trauma, the PTSD, the depression. “It’s very isolating in a way.”

Her new dance, appropriately titled Sleeptalk, premieres at Links Hall this weekend and centers on eight core phrases, developed in collaboration with her dancers, using Fargnoli’s recordings to create a “sleeptalk universe.” She worked with musician Josh Convey, who cut a soundscape that features the disjointed blips and gibberish of her unconscious, offering sometimes funny, sometimes mundane glimpses into what you might call Jungian psychology. The Philadelphia native honed her choreographic chops at the Jacob’s Pillow Choreographers’ Lab, but a good chunk of Sleeptalk’s trancelike style reflects her excursions abroad.

She’s spent time in India, France, and Bosnia-Herzegovina, among other places; a stay in the last is part of what led her to a career working with refugees. It now appears that work is following her to bed.

—MATT DE LA PEÑA SLEEPTALK Fri 1/13-Sun 1/15, Links Hall at Constellation, 3111 N. Western, 773-281-0824, linkshall.org, $10.

JANUARY 12, 2017 - CHICAGO READER 17

ARTS & CULTURE

SMALL SCREEN

Two Bachelor watchers discuss former Chicagoan Nick Viall’s star turn.

By BRIANNA WELLEN AND JAKE MALOOLEY

Jake Malooley: We’re now two episodes into The Bachelor, season eleventy-thousand. Our bachelor is Nick Viall, a Wisconsin native who recently resided in Chicago before heading off to LA to become a career reality-show contestant. But episode one made a desperate attempt to make it look like Nick still lives here, with shots of him walking around Michigan Avenue.

Brianna Wellen: It felt inauthentic, like when Rahm first ran for mayor and was trying to convince everyone he was a Chicago resident even though he’d been living in D.C.

JM: By now the only person who’s logged more hours on The Bachelor is Chris Harrison. This is now Nick’s fourth appearance, and at this point he is the unrivaled student of the game that is this show.

BW: He definitely knows what makes good TV. He knew that giving the aggressively sexual contestant the rose would be more interesting than giving it to the woman he’d had a nice conversation with. He’s also been through enough bullshit that he should have a better idea of who will be a good match for him. But ultimately his veteran status is making him come off as extremely bored.

JM: He certainly doesn’t look like he’s having much fun. His past experiences on the show lurk at every turn and weigh it down. Before the first group date, he told all the women that group dates are always awkward—and he knows because “I’ve been on my fair share.” Later, he says on a group date at the Museum of Broken Relationships that “I’ve had my fair share.”

BW: I think that is exactly why Nick turned out to be a popular bachelor after two seasons of being hated: beat someone down enough and America will root for you.

18 CHICAGO READER - JANUARY 12, 2017

JM: The one thing Nick apparently hasn’t learned: How to pour a glass of champagne.

He and Danielle M. take a helicopter ride, land on a yacht, and Nick proceeds to pour her a glass filled with foam.

BW: He also hasn’t learned how to be discreet. During the first group date, all the women posed with Nick in various wedding tableaux—and he had no problem making out with all of them in front of each other. It’s continuing a sexually charged vibe that started in the first episode. There’s thankfully less sexual stigma this time around. A few other small progressions this season: more women of color and a bisexual woman who is proud to admit she dated a woman. And not in an aren’t-I-sexy-because-I-kissed-a-girl way.

JM: The implied rules of propriety have gone out the window in recent seasons, especially as Bachelor in Paradise’s raunch has leaked into the mothership. It’s all led up to Corinne, this season’s obvious villain, who made out with Nick on the first night and by episode two ordered Nick to palm her bare breasts, a la the Janet Jackson Rolling Stone cover.

BW: Corinne, who still has a “nanny” fetch her bowls of cucumbers to snack on.

JM: Corinne, the Floridian whose daddy runs a “multimillion-dollar company” that she’s being groomed to inherit. I’ve been referring to her as Ivanka Trump Lite.

BW: She’s one of those contestants who is “in it to win it,” without thinking about what “winning” really means.

JM: As the Trumps like to say, there are winners and losers in life.

BW: And just like parts of the country were bewilderingly into Trump, Nick seems oddly into Corrine, even though she’d never win the

In episode one’s biggest controversy, “Shark Girl” Alexis showed up at the mansion wearing what she maintained was a dolphin costume. o ABC

popular vote in the Bachelor house. I liked that the girls questioned whether or not Nick was the type of person for them based on his apparent attraction to Corrine.

o MINDY TUCKER

The most dramatic Slack chat ever!

COMEDY

Phoebe Robinson is a quadruple threat

BW: Nick is using the show to raise his public profile so he can go on to be a professional . . . personality? It seems like the wrong word to use for someone who’s as exciting as a piece of toast. A piece of toast that I’m rooting for because I can’t help myself. Sigh. v THE BACHELOR Mondays at 7 PM on ABC

IF PHOEBE ROBINSON ever ends up in the hospital, it will only be for one reason—she broke her hip while having sex with Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson. Even though they’ve never actually met, she plays out this imaginary scenario on a recent episode of 2 Dope Queens, the WNYC podcast she cohosts with Jessica Williams. It’s now more possible than ever for her to be half of a power couple with the Rock, she says, because she’s acquired some powerful credentials of her own: she’s a New York Times best-selling author, for her book You Can’t Touch My Hair: And Other Things I Still Have to Explain; in addition to 2 Dope Queens she hosts the podcast Sooo Many White Guys (also on WNYC); she acts alongside Kevin Bacon in the upcoming Amazon comedy I Love Dick; and she still maintains an active stand-up career. Forget the Rock, Robinson is doing just fine on her own.

Onstage Robinson chats about her dating history, the weight she gained in her vagina, and her hairstyle choices (Afros make her feel important, she says, “like Frederick Douglass”) with an endearingly upbeat energy.

She also lightheartedly addresses gender and race: she feels bad for her white friends, she jokes, because if their kids become astronauts, no one will care. But if Robinson’s future daughter goes into space she’ll end up on a Black History Month stamp. “I’m going to mail out my rent check with her face on it,” Robinson says. “That was Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream.”

On Sooo Many White Guys Robinson features other people in the comedy world who aren’t white men. It’s fitting, then, that she’s in town performing on Tomorrow Never Knows’s ladycentric lineup, alongside fellow headliners Michelle Wolf and Beth Stelling. — BRIANNA WELLEN R PHOEBE ROBINSON Sat 1/14, 7 and

ß @BriannaWellen @jakemalooley

10 PM, Hideout, 1354 W. Wabansia, tnkfest.com, $20, early show sold out.

JM: She reminds him of himself at the dawn of his Bachelor career. She’s also a Bachelor strategist. She knows it’s the villain (which you can’t spell without “Viall”) who’s the star and who has the most potential on future shows. She’s surely on her way to Paradise.

BW: The Bachelor franchise has turned into a vehicle for so much more than one happy ending. It’s not so bad to be a loser because you get to go on a sexy vacation in Mexico or have your own group of 30 singles to choose from. The romance is gone! I think that is why Liz went on the show. Liz, who added the MOST DRAMATIC twist of this season so far: She and Nick met and hooked up at Jade and Tanner’s wedding. She turned down Nick’s request for her phone number, then she didn’t connect with him again until there were cameras involved.

JM: Nick spent the first two episodes questioning Liz’s motives: Was she there to explore a relationship him—or to use him to become a reality TV star? Which was an absolute pot-meet-kettle moment. Nick is the ultimate Bachelor opportunist. Let’s not forget he came aboard midway through Kaitlyn’s season after having some history with her. In the end, I believe Nick saw his worst tendencies in Liz and that’s why he said good-bye.

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ARTS & CULTURE to spare them the horror of a bombing raid.

LIT

Books we can’t wait to read in 2017

By AIMEE LEVITT

DIFFICULT WOMEN (1/3, Grove Atlantic) and HUNGER: A MEMOIR OF (MY) BODY (6/13, Harper) by Roxane Gay Reader writers have loved and admired Gay’s work since her first book, 2011’s Ayiti. This year, we have two new books to look forward to: the short story collection Difficult Women, and Hunger, which Gay described to the Reader’s Brianna Wellen in 2015 as a memoir “about trauma and obesity and what it’s like to live in this world with morbid obesity.”

LILLIAN BOXFISH TAKES A WALK by Kathleen Rooney (1/17, St. Martin’s) Chicagoan Rooney’s new novel is about a New York adwoman on a reflective ten-mile ramble around Manhattan.

WHY?: EXPLAINING THE HOLOCAUST by Peter Hayes (1/17, Norton) Retired Northwestern prof Hayes re-creates his legendary History of the Holocaust course in book form.

LONG SHOT: THE STRUGGLES AND TRIUMPHS OF AN NBA

FREEDOM FIGHTER by Craig Hodges and Rory Fanning (1/24, Haymarket) “With its sharp observations about Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley, and the state of race relations in the NBA, Long Shot is likely to cause a stir,” Ben Joravsky wrote in his Reader profile of Hodges last month.

IDENTITY UNKNOWN: REDISCOVERING SEVEN OUTSTANDING AMERICAN WOMEN ARTISTS by Donna Seaman (2/14, Bloomsbury) Chicago author and critic Seaman explores the lives of seven 20th-century artists who’ve been—unjustly, she argues—forgotten.

LINCOLN IN THE BARDO by George Saunders (2/14, Random House) The Lincoln here is Willie, Abraham’s 11-year-old son, and the bardo is the Tibetan version of purgatory to which he is consigned after his death from typhoid in February 1862. In his experimental first novel, Saunders imagines the commentary of voices from the bardo when the grieving president visits his son’s body in its tomb.

THE BEST WE COULD DO: AN ILLUSTRATED MEMOIR by Thi Bui (3/7, Abrams) In this graphic memoir, Bui tells the story of her family’s escape from South Vietnam and her own discovery of what it means to be a parent.

DEAR IJEAWELE, OR A FEMINIST MANIFESTO IN 15 SUGGESTIONS by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (3/7, Knopf) This is Adichie’s response to a letter from a childhood friend who asked how she could raise her daughter to be a feminist.

THE DEATH AND LIFE OF THE GREAT LAKES by Dan Egan (3/7, Norton) Milwaukee journalist Egan examines how human interference in the Great Lakes has destroyed the natural ecosystem and suggests ways we can preserve them before it’s too late.

WILD NIGHTS: HOW TAMING SLEEP CREATED OUR RESTLESS WORLD by Benjamin Reiss (3/7, Basic) Reiss gave a lecture at the Chicago Humanities Festival this past fall that was partially based on this book, a cultural history of sleep, and it was completely fascinating.

The notion of a good night’s sleep, and who’s entitled to it, is, it turns out, as political as anything else.

SOUTH AND WEST: FROM A NOTEBOOK by Joan Didion (3/7, Knopf)

In two extended excerpts from her notebooks, Didion describes a 1970 road trip through the Deep South with her husband, John Gregory Dunne, and the 1976 trial of Patty Hearst.

UNWANTED ADVANCES: SEXUAL PARANOIA COMES TO CAMPUS by Laura Kipnis (4/4, Harper) After she became the subject of a Title IX complaint at Northwestern, where she’s a professor, Kipnis embarked on an interrogation of campus rape culture and feminist paternalism.

THE IDIOT by Elif Batuman (3/14, Penguin Press) Batuman’s previous book, the essay collection The Possessed, demonstrated a fine sense of the absurd. Her semiautobiographical first novel, about a Harvard freshman’s heroic pursuit of true love, promises more of the same.

BODY HORROR: CAPITALISM, FEAR, MISOGYNY, JOKES by Anne Elizabeth Moore (4/11, Curbside Splendor) Ladydrawer, educator, activist, and former Chicagoan Moore’s latest book examines the toll capitalism takes on women’s bodies, especially where health care is concerned.

THE RULES DO NOT APPLY

by Ariel Levy (3/14, Random House) I must admit, of all the books on this list, this—a booklength version of Levy’s devastating 2013 essay “Thanksgiving in Mongolia”—is the one I most can’t wait to read.

DIG IF YOU WILL THE PICTURE: FUNK, SEX, GOD AND GENIUS IN THE MUSIC OF PRINCE by Ben Greenman (4/11, Holt) Good night, sweet Prince.

CHICAGO: CLASSIC PHOTOGRAPHS by Richard Cahan and Michael Williams (3/15, City Files) Cahan and Williams have assembled 100 photos by some of Chicago’s best photographers, including Vivian Maier, Aaron Siskind, and Art Shay.

THE GREAT CAT AND DOG MASSACRE: THE REAL STORY OF WORLD WAR II’S UNKNOWN TRAGEDY by Hilda Kean (3/22, Chicago) In September 1939, facing war with Germany, thousands of British citizens decided to kill their family pets in order

THE BROKEN LADDER: HOW INEQUALITY AFFECTS THE WAY WE THINK, LIVE, AND DIE by Keith Payne (5/2, Viking) We’ll probably continue to discuss privilege in 2017, so we might as well have an expert like Payne break it down for us.

THE ANSWERS by Catherine Lacey (6/6, FSG) In Chicagoan Lacey’s second novel, a woman who needs money to afford an expensive New Agey pain treatment applies to be part of a Girlfriend Experiment in which an actor pays different women to fulfill different roles in a relationship.

WATCHING PORN: AND OTHER CONFESSIONS OF AN ADULT ENTERTAINMENT JOURNALIST by Lynsey G. (6/6, Overlook) Lynsey G. was a nice girl with an English degree who needed a job to pay the rent, so she started reviewing porn.

As you do.

ONCE UPON A TIME IN SHAOLIN: THE UNTOLD STORY OF WU-TANG CLAN’S MILLION-DOLLAR SECRET ALBUM, THE DEVALUATION OF MUSIC, AND AMERICA’S NEW PUBLIC ENEMY NO. 1

by Cyrus Bozorgmehr (7/11, Flatiron) The long, strange tale of Wu-Tang’s secret album and how it came to be bought by Martin Shkreli.

THE GRIP OF IT by Jac Jemc (8/1, FSG) A haunted-house novel from Chicago author Jemc which, if it’s anything like her previous work, promises to be fascinating and bizarre.

EAT ONLY WHEN YOU’RE HUNGRY by Lindsay Hunter (8/8, FSG) In Chicagoan Hunter’s second novel, a food addict takes a road trip through the weirdness that is Florida in search of his missing son.

BEHIND THE GLASS WALL: INSIDE THE UNITED NATIONS

by Aleksandar Hemon, photographs by Peter van Agtmael (8/22, FSG) As the UN’s first writer-inresidence, Hemon got a chance to explore the institution in all its glory and anxiety and confront his own feelings about the role it played in the Bosnian War, which brought him to Chicago. v

ß @aimeelevitt

JANUARY 12, 2017 - CHICAGO READER 19

ARTS & CULTURE

VISUAL ART

Jeff Zimmerman goes political with The Party

By JEFF HUEBNER

Jeff Zimmerman’s The Party, a mural on a building at the corner of California and Cortez in Humboldt Park o DANIELLE A. SCRUGGS

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ast July, just before the Republican National Convention, Jeff Zimmerman was painting a mural, titled The Party, outside his studio, on the corner of California and Cortez. An African-American man was walking by and stopped to study an image that was already finished. “He asked, ‘Is this a noose?’ ” Zimmerman recalls. “I probably said something like, ‘Yeah, maybe.’ That was the whole interaction.” The man moved on.

Minutes later, two plainclothes policemen in an unmarked car arrived and questioned Zimmerman. They told him they’d gotten a call about a hate symbol. “They asked, ‘Is this some kind of message, is there some kind of meaning here?’ ” Zimmerman says.

Though he prefers to leave his murals open to interpretation, he told the cops it’s obviously an upside-down noose, and no one was in it (except for an image of a resilient Wile E. Coyote, representing “people’s cartoony idea of immigrants,” as Zimmerman would later tell me.) He’d painted ropes and knots and chains in other areas of the wall, so maybe this was a lasso, or a comment on capital punishment, he said. Satisfied he wasn’t some kind of neo-Nazi vandal, the police moved on.

Zimmerman, who’s white, is no stranger to provoking racial misunderstanding in his work. He’s known for his large-scale murals in Pilsen and other neighborhoods and cities featuring portraits, obscure symbolism, and visual puns. In 2009 he was painting A Note

20 CHICAGO READER - JANUARY 12, 2017

for Hope, a monumental mural in downtown Memphis on the theme of interracial unity, when his image of an elderly black woman with a gold front tooth prompted an outcry from members of the local chapter of the National Action Network, Reverend Al Sharpton’s organization. They thought it was “an offensive stereotype,” according to a New York Times article. In fact, it was a real-life portrait of a longtime Memphis resident, 80-year-old Savannah Simmons, whom Zimmerman had photographed. The former factory worker attended the dedication and loved her picture; critics backed down.

“I try not to do propaganda or political art, but I’d like to be a political artist,” Zimmerman says. He’s a 46-year-old native of Westchester, Illinois, who graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with a graphic arts degree. Zimmerman then spent two years with the Jesuit Volunteer Corps in a shantytown in Tacna, Peru, as a social worker for street kids. Returning to the U.S., he took film classes at Columbia College and, as a youth worker, did his first mural, in Pilsen, in 1996. “I try to leave things open using poetic and abstract thinking,” he says.

“I’m more like, ‘Let’s talk about it’ rather than ‘Here’s the solution.’”

If you live in Chicago, you’ve likely seen Zimmerman’s acrylic-paint murals: around 19th and Ashland (where one of his bestknown pieces, the tripartite Familiar, was recently whitewashed), along Lake Shore

Drive at 47th Street, in the Oak Street Beach pedestrian tunnel, or outside the Morse el station. The works mainly fall into two categories. There are corporate or nonprofit commissions, like the prominent $70,000 Conagra Mural (Urbs in Horto), which includes references to the title Chicago-based food giant’s products and was dedicated in October at the Bloomingdale Trail entrance near Leavitt and Milwaukee. Then there are the more personal statements, such as Chainge, a 1998 wall at Chicago and Milwaukee that shows a blind musician and a message in braille (using glued-on pennies).

(Paid Programming, a 1997 piece in Wicker Park about gentrification, was eventually demolished to make way for condos.) With the noncommissioned work, Zimmerman asks building owners for permission to paint what he pleases, pro bono, though he says he won’t do anything in public “too supercharged, like paint a gun.” (He has included gun images in several museum mural installations, including Dark Matter, which was at the Museum of Contemporary Art in 2003.)

While Zimmerman’s big commissioned walls have fairly straightforward imagery, the personal ones largely don’t: you have to stand there for a while and puzzle them out. They’re often deliberately ambiguous, which can complicate the message. (You’d likely never know, for instance, that his images of vanilla ice cream indicate white privilege.)

The 120-foot-long The Party belongs in the

“personal” group—the landlord of Zimmerman’s Humboldt Park studio building was supportive of it. Created during the divisive summer campaign season in the run-up to the conventions, The Party was meant as an indictment of the Republicans’ racist, hate-mongering agenda. But, as Zimmerman cautioned, “both the left and right parties are over, and now what are we left with?” Donald Trump, for one. Now that he and his cohorts will soon occupy the White House, the mural’s implication of a “hanging party” has taken on new urgency.

A l o n g w i t h i m a g e s o f r e v e l r y— crumpled-up red and blue cups, red and blue pills, empty shot glasses, hot dogs, candy— the wall also includes allusions to the new regime’s gilded capitalism and its threats to immigrants, environmentalists, racial minorities, and women’s and LGBTQ rights.

Suggestive gang symbols (top hat and cane) near another noose might be commentary on youth violence, or on the political gang in power assaulting democratic institutions.

Viewers may not get any of this, and to Zimmerman, that’s fine—you can make any kind of associations you want. “Maybe it’s better that people never figure it out,” he says. “It’s better if you’re never sure. If it’s propaganda—you get it, you understand it, then you don’t need to look at it anymore. I hope to get people talking. I don’t want to give people the answer.” Still, later, he e-mailed, “It’s finally a time when politics can again be involved in the art world.” v

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MOVIES

Man out of time

By J.R. JONES

F

ilmmakers who try to replicate The Godfather do so at their own risk. Every few years, during Oscar season, one of the big studios will come along with a wellupholstered period gangster epic—Road to Perdition (2002), American Gangster (2007), Legend (2015)—but none of them ever resonates socially the way the first two Godfather movies did during the institutional corruption of the Watergate era. Live by Night, which writer-director Ben Affleck has adapted from a novel by Dennis Lehane, takes a stab in this direction by portraying the hero, an Irish rumrunner who flees Boston and sets up a new operation in Tampa, as a sort of premulticultural man, finding common cause with the local oppressed blacks and immigrant Cubans. But it’s more concerned with flattering our modern sensibility than truly plunging us into the mores of the 1920s.

Surrounding these cultural notations is the usual welter of shifting loyalties and bloody revenge. Joe Coughlin (Affleck), son of a Boston police captain, runs afoul of Irish mob boss Albert White but ultimately wins protection from Italian mob boss Maso Pescatore, who sends Coughlin to sunny Florida to manage his Cuban-connected bootlegging operations. In Tampa, Coughlin works hand

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in glove with a pious police chief skilled in looking the other way (Chris Cooper), whose brother-in-law is active in the local Ku Klux Klan chapter and whose virginal young daughter (Elle Fanning) makes a circuitous personal journey from aspiring movie starlet to heroin-addicted whore to rousing temperance speaker. Coughlin was raised Catholic but doesn’t give a damn about their old-time religion. He likes hanging out at the black juke joints that serve his demon rum, and he falls madly in love with Graciela Corrales (Zoe Saldana), a smoldering Cuban expatriate.

None of this defies imagination, but Live

by Night, despite all the historical markers Affleck lays down, ultimately seems less concerned with America during Prohibition than with the modern red-blue divide. Matthew Maher, a talented actor whose cleft lip has relegated him to a series of weirdo character roles, plays the Klansman, his vile bigotry delivered in a watery lisp so we’ll know how evil he is. He reviles blacks and Hispanics, but also Jews and Catholics, which gives some white liberals a chance to savor their lost heritage of victimhood and unites immigrants of every race against the joyless white evangelists of the Deep South. One of the great pleasures of fiction is the chance to inhabit another person’s world, but in our age of historical amnesia, we’re more inclined to make fictional characters inhabit our own. v LIVE BY NIGHT ss Directed by Ben Affleck. R, 128 min. For listings see chicagoreader.com

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W WEEKEND NACHOS leave behind a legacy of brutality

These Chicago powerviolence jokers have ripped it up around the world for 13 years, and this weekend they say farewell with two hometown shows.

By LUCA CIMARUSTI

Weekend Nachos, left to right: Andy Nelson, Drew Brown, John Hoffman, and Brian Laude o PETER NELSON

22 CHICAGO READER - JANUARY 12, 2017

hen Chicago powerviolence band Weekend Nachos started playing in 2004, “We honestly had no serious goals,” says front man John Hoffman. “We just wanted to sound like Kungfu Rick, a Chicago grindcore band we all grew up listening to, and we wanted to have chaotic live shows like they did. I definitely feel we accomplished that and so much more.”

Considering what Weekend Nachos have done since then, “so much more” is an understatement. Though they began as a jokey grindcore act in DeKalb, Illinois, they’ve grown into a big name on the worldwide heavy-music circuit, releasing four full-lengths via venerable metal giant Relapse Records, playing to massive festival crowds, and selling out concerts on several continents. But this weekend, in the relatively cozy confines of a Wicker Park club, they’ll play their final two shows.

“This band started out as a complete trainwreck,” Hoffman recalls. “We literally got banned from our first show, and the next ten shows after that were a joke to anyone who witnessed them.” He’d described Nachos’ first gig to me a couple years ago, while reminiscing about their first decade: “I can honestly say I’ll never forget that night. We were asked to ‘destroy the venue’ because the promoter hated booking shows there.

Call Me Lightning headlined. I broke a lot of shit and wore a red bra. The staff banned us forever and refused to pay us. I doubt we played even remotely well.”

Weekend Nachos’ earliest material, which they spread out across a series of demos, splits, and seven-inches, was solid, by-thebooks grindcore, not forgettable but not extraordinary. But by the 2007 release of their first full-length, the band had turned into a monster: Punish and Destroy is bombastic, brutal, and beyond heavy. D-beat frenzies collide with atom-bomb dirges to create a massive, unsettling, dizzying smear of metal, hardcore, and punk, while Hoffman spews nihilistic lyrics in a tortured, guttural grunt. Its terrifying assault must’ve startled quite a few curious record-store browsers who expected something less hateful-sounding from a group named after a buddy’s tongue-in-cheek AOL Instant Messenger screen name.

Hoffman thinks it was a given that Weekend Nachos would evolve from prankish to beastly.

“We’re all actual musicians,” he says. “Most bands in the powerviolence genre don’t really have any interest in sounding different over

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WEEKEND NACHOS FAREWELL SHOWS

Fri 1/13, 7 PM, Subterranean, 2011 W. North, sold out, all ages. With Sick Fix, Sex Prisoner, Mellow Harsher, and Home Alone.

time. We may have had our powerviolence influences, but we never set out to be any specific type of band. So as we continued to write more songs, we just got better at writing and things became more interesting.”

By the time of the next Weekend Nachos album, 2009’s Unforgivable, they’d ended their seemingly constant lineup changes and settled on the personnel they’d stick with for the rest of their career: Hoffman (the sole constant member), founding guitarist Andy Nelson (who left the group and then returned), bassist Drew Brown, and drummer Brian Laude. Unforgivable was the band’s first record on Relapse, which has released every Nachos full-length since—the last one, Apology, came out in May. With the backing of an influential independent label, the band started building a larger audience than they’d ever enjoyed. And even though they toured overseas and earned slots at huge festivals such as Maryland Deathfest and London’s Bloodshed Fest, they stayed true to their punk roots and ideals—as often as they could, they still played gigs at DIY spots and basement venues. In 2016, at the height of their success, they booked most of their hometown shows at a long-running punk house in Rogers Park (which shall remain nameless here to protect it from Trumpist assholes who hope to target underground arts spaces).

Hoffman has a few ideas about what helped Weekend Nachos connect with fans all over the world. “I think it’s just the idea of doing what you wanna do and not giving a fuck,” he says. “The entire idea behind the band, from day one, was to be one big giant middle finger to anything that made sense in the world. It was fast, loud, sloppy, and the live shows were destructive and obnoxious.” He hopes they inspired other people to stand up and follow suit. “People want to ignore it but they can’t, and eventually they realize they wish they could do something like that too.”

The fans were an inspiration to the band too. “Even on our first few tours, there was something people really loved about seeing Weekend Nachos play,” Hoffman says. “To be able to leave home and experience that kind of connection is just absurd, in a good way.

We played in Europe and Japan, and people came out to sing along with my lyrics . . . that is insane.”

A little more than a year ago, 16 months after Weekend Nachos celebrated their tenth anniversary with a sold-out show at Beat Kitchen, they posted some unexpected news

Sat 1/14, 7 PM, Subterranean, 2011 W. North, sold out, all ages. With Harm’s Way, Homewrecker, and Mal Intent.

on their Facebook page: “We would like to announce with both sadness and excitement that 2016 will be the final year as a band for Weekend Nachos. It’s been almost 12 years and we have decided to hang it up.”

When I talked to Hoffman right after that announcement, he explained that Weekend Nachos had said and done everything they’d initially set out to do (and then some). Now he’s able to expand a little on the reasons for the breakup. “We just collectively didn’t want to do the band anymore and we felt it was time to go,” he says. “I think it was a give-and-take for each of us—some of us wanted to end it right away, others would have preferred to keep going even longer. So we compromised and decided to do one last year of shows and one more album.”

In 2016 Weekend Nachos made one last international tour and released their swan song, Apology. Their most punishing record by far (thanks in part to Nelson’s engineering job), it captures the band at their most frenzied and angry, incorporating elements of noise-rock and sludge metal into their usual powerviolence stomp. They’re leaving on a high note—a disturbing, twisted, crushing high note.

On Friday and Saturday, January 13 and 14, Weekend Nachos headline two long-sold-out shows at Subterranean, sharing the bills with wildly heavy brothers-in-arms such as Harm’s Way, Sick Fix, and Homewrecker. Then they’ll be gone, leaving a void that the Chicago hardcore and metal scenes will feel acutely.

“I have zero regrets,” says Hoffman. “I am just thankful for the run that we had.”

The band’s dedicated followers are surely thankful too, but it’s always a bummer when a beloved band splits up—especially a band as big as Nachos.

Most of Weekend Nachos’ members are already involved in other excellent projects, so we’ll continue to hear from them in one way or another. Nelson and Brown play a hybrid of death metal and hardcore in Like Rats, while Hoffman drums in grindcore band Spine and recently started a doom-metal outfit called Ledge. Nelson also fronts Belonger, a shoegazy, grungy trio that pays homage to the likes of Nirvana, Slowdive, and Failure.

“We will all continue to play music, hang out, make ignorant jokes,” Hoffman says. “I imagine there will just be children and wives added to the mix at some point.” v

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Billy Bragg Mbongwana Star Adrian Belew Power Trio with Saul Zonana Mark Eitzel & Howe Gelb

Viv Albertine of the Slits in 2009 o SAMMICH/FLICKR

MUSIC IN ROTATION

A Reader staffer shares three musical obsessions, then asks someone (who asks someone else) to take a turn.

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24 CHICAGO READER - JANUARY 12, 2017

Reader associate editor

Owner of Empire Productions

SHANE MERRILL

JOHN UGOLINI

Uranium Club, All of Them Naturals This brief LP belongs on year-end lists, but because it dropped in mid-December, it was too late for most. Its sharp, tightly wound hardcore postpunk is enlivened by finely polished cynicism and satire—the Uranium Club have a blast methodically deconstructing our monotonous existences. Also known as the Minneapolis Uranium Club Band, they don’t bother with social media and often headline nameless unlicensed venues—and they’re as good a punk group as exists today.

Striker, Stand in the Fire I first heard this record very early in 2016, and I knew it would remain my number one album for the entire year. Edmonton’s Striker are the real deal, and after putting out some promising metal over the past decade, they’ve finally realized their potential with Stand in the Fire. It’s just perfect traditional heavy metal—equal parts Maiden and Anthrax, with a little Dokken tossed in. There are lots of throwback metal records these days, but none of them has this much precision, heart, and fun!

The funkier Bohannon I’m not saying that some of Hamilton Bohannon’s popular disco singles from the late 70s and early 80s aren’t dance-floor scorchers, but the first couple records that this former leader of Motown backing bands made for Dakar, Stop & Go (1973) and Keep On Dancin’ (1974), are funkier jams whose straightforward protodisco elements don’t hit glitz overload. The grooves are deep and never urgent, with plenty of room to get cozy. For the love of all that is holy, dance for Bohannon—it’s all he asks.

Boss Keloid, Herb Your Enthusiasm Like Striker, Boss Keloid deal in a kind of music that’s attracting a lot of bands these days.

Their crowded subgenre is doom metal. This band is from England, and this record is absolutely crushing, with an interesting, distinctive guitar tone and a good soulful singer—both of which help separate them from the pack.

Herb Your Enthusiasm is one of those records where you need to listen to the whole thing in one sitting in order to fully digest its beauty.

The Slits Recently I read Clothes, Clothes, Clothes. Music, Music, Music. Boys, Boys, Boys., a memoir by Slits guitarist Viv Albertine. The goddamn book drove me to an unhealthy obsession with the band. Even today the Slits’ music sounds as progressive, honest, and empowering as it must have in the late 70s. I find something new to take away from each listen. I wish I’d discovered them when I was 13, instead of Blink-182. Don’t get me wrong, I like Blink-182 well enough, but the Slits would’ve inspired me to do more with my life. Blink-182 inspired me to frost my tips.

The Hard Times Though this fake punk-news site has been pushing outside its territory of late with anything-goes Onion-style satire, it’s hardly in danger of exhausting its original niche—the Hard Times had some kind of 2016, with headlines such as “Ceremony Thinks You Were Better in 2006, Too” and “Minor Threat Reference Wasted on Chili’s Waitress.” If you’ve ever played a power chord or hit your head on the way downstairs to a basement show, you’ll approve.

MeTV 87.7 FM This station is everything that’s right with Chicago FM radio, aside from NPR and college operations. You can hear every single song from the 70s that you’re embarrassed to admit you like—plus glorious yachtrock one-hit wonders that you didn’t even know existed, jammers from the 50s and 60s, and the occasional blip of 80s tunes. The absurd amount of variety on this station is enough to keep me coming back. I rarely hear the same song more than once or twice in a month. Get your cheese on.

Owner of Kickstand Productions

Tony Molina Bay Area hardcore stalwart Tony Molina can condense the nuts and bolts of a three-minute pop tune into 60 furious and unrelenting seconds. The songs end on their own terms, leaving you hanging for another chorus, another guitar hook, another solo.

His 2014 album Dissed and Dismissed blends the melodicism of Pinkerton-era Weezer with the guitar theatrics of Thin Lizzy, while 2016’s Confront the Truth is more understated, with some acoustic balladry. But both of them rip.

The Ghost Planet This wild, crazy, and imaginatively subversive variety show happens the third Saturday of each month at Township. I’d liken my Ghost Planet experience to sleeping with Wayne White while watching a Space Ghost Coast to Coast episode. It was wonderful. Producer and host Frank Okay and his crew deliver a show that maintains its responsibility to entertain while challenging and provoking thought. I left feeling excited to be alive and inspired to create.

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Recommended and notable shows, and critics’ insights for the week of January 12 b ALL AGES F

FESTIVAL:

MUSIC

Cross Country o CAITLIN MCCANN

The dependable Tomorrow Never Knows rolls out five days of indie rock, hip-hop, and emo

THURSDAY12 Modest Gryce Through Sunday. 8 and 10 PM, Jazz Showcase, 806 S. Plymouth, $20.

Hotelier o KYLIE SHAFFER

NOW IN ITS 13TH year, Tomorrow Never Knows is back with five days of music and comedy acts spread across five venues (Wed 1/11-Sun 1/15). Lincoln Hall, Schubas, Metro, Hideout, and Smart Bar together host 18 shows, providing an opportunity to leave the warmth of your house for the warmth of a local music institution. Lincoln Hall and Schubas host shows every night, with experimental-rock staple TORTOISE, singer-songwriter EZRA FURMAN, folk-pop artist CAROLINE SMITH, party-rock bros JEFF THE BROTHERHOOD, and hip-hop interpreters BADBADNOTGOOD headlining the former. New York indie rockers BIG THIEF, LA psych-rock masters WAND, electronic indie-pop artist FOXTROTT, dark postpunks CEREMONY (with support from locals NEGATIVE SCANNER), and rapper OPEN MIKE EAGLE visit the cozier Schubas. Big names rolling into Metro include emo revivalists INTO IT. OVER IT., shoegaze-happy posthardcore outfit TITLE FIGHT—with esteemed emo-band opener the HOTELIER (see page 27)—and all-star Bowie tribute act the SONS OF THE SILENT AGE covering the groundbreaking Low front to back. The down-below Smart Bar gets in the action on Friday and Saturday, hosting German electronic producer TENSNAKE and DJ/producer BLACK MADONNA. The Hideout offers comedy from MICHELLE WOLF, PHOEBE ROBINSON (see page 18), and BETH STELLING, while Thursday represents the one-year anniversary of HELLTRAP NIGHTMARE, a monthly variety show of “comedy horror” and “noise music terror.”

Check our listings for full lineups, or visit tnkfest.com. —LUCA CIMARUSTI Wed 1/11-Sun 1/15, Metro and Smart Bar (3730 N. Clark), Lincoln Hall (2424 N. Lincoln), Schubas (3159 N. Southport), Hideout (1354 W. Wabansia), $13-$20 per show, five-day passes sold out, age restrictions vary.

The history of jazz is dotted with figures like Gigi Gryce, an excellent alto saxophonist whose legacy is too often reduced to the handful of classic jazz standards he wrote, pieces like “Nica’s Tempo” and “Minority.” He wasn’t groundbreaking, but he was a superb composer and soloist as well as a savvy bandleader who led several agile, soulful postbop combos throughout the 50s and 60s.

In honor of the overlooked musician, saxophonists Juli Wood and Caroline Davis formed a new quintet that makes its local debut this week. The aptly named Modest Gryce dips into a potent songbook that not only reflects Gryce’s blues-driven elegance but affords soloists as talented as Wood and Davis plenty to work with. The uniformly strong combo includes pianist Rob Clearfield, bassist Dennis Carroll, and drummer Jay Sawyer (who like Davis is based in New York). —PETER MARGASAK Rock, Pop, Etc Craftwerc 9 PM, Whistler F Ezra Furman, Weaves, Dream Version Part of Tomorrow Never Knows. 9 PM, Lincoln Hall, 18+ Great Good Fine OK, Flor 7 PM, Thalia Hall b Khalid 6:30 PM, Reggie’s Rock Club b Atticus Lazenby Group, Nomadic 8 PM, Martyrs’ Kevin Lee & the Kings, Nick Bell Band 7:30 PM, Double Door Liza Anne, P.M. Buys 8 PM, SPACE b Nude Party, Evening Attraction 9 PM, Empty Bottle Owens Room, Rebel Soul Revival 8 PM, Cubby Bear Swingabilly Slim, Famous Unknown USA 9 PM, Red Line Tap V Sparks, Looms, Lovejoy 8 PM, Subterranean Wand, Acid Dad, Flaural, Joe Bordenaro & the Late Bloomers Part of Tomorrow Never Knows. 9 PM, Schubas, 18+

J JANUARY 12, 2017 - CHICAGO READER 25

MUSIC Mother Evergreen o JOHNNY FABRIZIO

continued from 25

Wellthen, Terriers, Faux Co. 8:30 PM, Beat Kitchen Hip-Hop Beatnuts, Rapper Big Pooh 9 PM, the Promontory Dance T. Mixwell, Mike Tupak 10 PM, Smart Bar Folk & Country Devil in a Woodpile 6 PM, Hideout Blues, Gospel, and R&B Buddy Guy, Corey Dennison 7:30 PM, Buddy Guy’s Legends Maurice John Vaughn, Shirley Johnson Blues Band 9 PM, also Fri 1/13 and Sat 1/14, 9 PM, Blue Chicago Jazz Victor Garcia & the Chicago Afro-Latin Jazz Ensemble 8 PM, PianoForte Studios b Charles Rumback Trio, Jake Wark & Bill Harris 9 PM, Elastic b International Devon Brown & Love This 8 PM, Wild Hare Miscellaneous Helltrap Nightmare Part of Tomorrow Never Knows.

9 PM, Hideout

FRIDAY13 Cross Country Deeper headline; Cross Country, Clearance, and Pool Holograph open.

9 PM, Empty Bottle, 1035 N. Western, $8.

Tucked away in cozy college-town Oxford, Ohio— less than an hour north of Cincinnati—low-fi indierock four-piece Cross Country are starting to kick up dirt thanks to their recent album Trials (Infinity Cat). Parquet Courts and 90s-slacker comparisons are easy ones, and they’re fine—Cross Country’s deadpan vocals toasted with cynicism sound right as rain—but the band’s jive ultimately supersedes refers. The melodic play between guitarists Thom Meyer and Ezra Saunier can often resemble intricate needlework, particularly on coolly tumbling-forward tracks like “Alone” and “Beams,” while an upbeat jam like “Grass Stain” is playful and crisp enough to keep a basement of slightly jolted undergrads bouncing off one another till the end of time.

Trials is only eight tracks total and skates by fast— but its replayability can’t go understated, and will no doubt work to make them even more endearing.

—KEVIN WARWICK

26 CHICAGO READER - JANUARY 12, 2017

Khemmis High Priest and Huntsmen open.

9 PM, Reggie’s Rock Club, 2105 S. State, $15, $12 in advance, 17+ This Denver-based quartet dropped their sophomore outing, Hunted (20 Buck Spin), last fall, just a little over a year after their debut full-length, Absolution, and if they stick to that work ethic they’ll go far (even if they climb slowly and heavily). Khemmis are a sort of doom/classic-metal hybrid for an audience that divides its time equally between invoking demons in a cloud of weed smoke and, from time to time, clearing its head and going on a too-fast-forthe-conditions road trip in a beater van full of old Iron Maiden cassettes. It’s a formula that’s hard to fuck up, and Khemmis work it to near perfection.

Once they’ve programmed in the coordinates, their slow-riffing gallop pretty much plays itself through the mood and tempo changes—except during the brief instances when they feel the need to wake the listener up by getting a lot more violent and terrifying, as on “Three Gates.” —MONICA KENDRICK

Mother Evergreen Part of Tomorrow Never Knows (see page 25). Into It. Over It. headline; Pianos Become the Teeth and Mother Evergreen open. 7 PM, Metro, 3730 N. Clark, $20. b Most bands that seek to conjoin emo and postrock aim for epic and don’t look back, but Chicago’s Mother Evergreen is more interested in atmospheric reveries that have the warmth of a log cabin awash in the orange glow of a lit fireplace.

Main man Evan Gale Loritsch, who owns a number of ranks in Chicago emo army Island of Misfit Toys, may have self-released Mother Evergreen’s eponymous debut in May, but the record’s hushed vocals, tender melodies, and glimmering instrumental flourishes are an elixir for winter. On the instrumental “Wend” Loritsch marries nimble and restrained cycling guitars, bulbous and incandescent keys, and pitter-patter percussion—both acoustic and electronic—to create an ambience that’s magical and realistically cozy. Mother Evergreen exude a lot of what can make winter joyful if you’re willing to shield yourself from harsh temperatures and best appreciate what you create during the darkest days. —LEOR GALIL

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Find more music listings at chicagoreader.com/soundboard.

Modest Gryce See Thursday. 8 and 10 PM, Jazz Showcase, 806 S. Plymouth, $20.

Rock, Pop, Etc Arid; Breathing Light; Xille, Xille, Xille 9 PM, Red Line Tap August Burns Red, Protest the Hero, In Heart’s Wake, ‘68 6:45 PM, House of Blues b Boombox Midnight, also Sat 1/14, 8 PM, Concord Music Hall, 18+ Chase Aways, Wistful Larks, Imbecile Missile, Tonic Freight Train 8 PM, Elbo Room J. Davis Trio, Uneq’ka & Flo’s Chaotic Culture 9 PM, 1st Ward Dirkschneider, Cold Bearded Killers, Paradoxx, Hessler 8 PM, Concord Music Hall, 17+ Everyone Leaves, City Mouth, Fossil Youth, Caving, Tiny Kingdoms, Short Handed 7 PM, Beat Kitchen, 17+ Foxtrott, Ian Sweet, In Tall Buildings Part of Tomorrow Never Knows. 9 PM, Schubas, 18+ Gramps the Vamp 9 PM, Emporium Arcade Bar Imelda Marcos, Courtesy, Den 10:30 PM, Subterranean, 17+ Miles Nielsen & the Rusted Hearts, Gavi Moon 8 PM, SPACE b Ohmme 10 PM, Hungry Brain F Caroline Smith, Xenia Rubinos, Overcoats Part of Tomorrow Never Knows. 9 PM, Lincoln Hall, 18+ Sneezy, David Costa, Chicago Loud 9, Namorado, Vandalay 8 PM, Double Door Weekend Nachos, Sick Fix, Sex Prisoner, Mellow Harsher, Home Alone See page 22. 7 PM, Subterranean, sold out b Weepies 8 PM, Thalia Hall b Dance Farley Jackmaster Funk, Colette, Terry Hunter 10 PM, the Mid Gene Farris 10 PM, Sound-Bar Goodsex, Nikho, Cordury Xavier, Sendin 10 PM, Primary Nightclub Tim Penner 10 PM, Spy Bar Push Beats, Uncle El, E. Brown, Hongry Bogart, Elijah Jamal, Remski 9 PM, Double Door Tensnake, Savile Part of Tomorrow Never Knows.

10 PM, Smart Bar Folk & Country Russell Dickerson, Megan & Liz 8:45 PM, Joe’s Bar Blues, Gospel, and R&B Lurrie Bell 9 PM, B.L.U.E.S. Big James & the Chicago Playboys 9:30 PM, Rosa’s Lounge Buddy Guy, Carlos Johnson 9 PM, Buddy Guy’s Legends Freddie Jackson 8 PM, City Winery b Vance Kelly, Nora Jean Bruso 9 PM, also Sat 1/14, 9 PM, Kingston Mines Sevyn Streeter 9 PM, the Promontory, 18+ Jazz George Fludas’s For Funk’s Sake 9:30 PM, also Sat 1/14, 9:30 PM, Andy’s Jazz Club James Morrison Big Band 9 PM, Green Mill International Chicago Afrobeat Project, Swamp Heat 9 PM, Martyrs’ Immigre 8:30 PM, Szold Hall, Old Town School of Folk Music b Tropics 8 PM, Wild Hare Classical Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio 7:30 PM, PickStaiger Concert Hall, Northwestern University b

MUSIC

Katharina Uhde Violin. 6 PM, PianoForte Studios b

SATURDAY14 Bash & Pop The So So Glos open. 8 PM, Cobra Lounge, 235 N. Ashland, $15. 17+ Immediately following the breakup of seminal alternative-rock band the Replacements in 1991, bassist Tommy Stinson (and now-deceased drummer Steve Foley) splintered off to start up the four-piece Bash & Pop. Moving away from bass and stepping into the role of front man, Stinson kept the ’Mats spirit alive on Bash & Pop’s debut LP, 1993’s Friday Night Is Killing Me, playing the boozy, hook-laden, soulful midwestern rock perfected by former bandmate Paul Westerberg. The group’s initial run was shortlived, and by 1995 Stinson had moved on to fronting a band called Perfect before eventually replacing Guns N’ Roses bassist Duff McKagen in 1998—he held down that spot till McKagen returned to GNR for last summer’s Not in This Lifetime . . . tour. As we all know by now, history tends to repeat itself, and the Replacements’ 2012 reunion and quick rebreakup has made way for a Bash & Pop reunion.

Next week their second LP, Anything Could Happen (Fat Possum), sees the light of day as Stinson picks up right where he left off in the mid90s: holding the ’Mats torch high above his head.

—LUCA CIMARUSTI

Hotelier Part of Tomorrow Never Knows (see page 25). Title Fight headline; Hotelier and Cloakroom open. 7 PM, Metro, 3730 N. Clark, $20. b Massachusetts emo group the Hotelier often seem up for a challenge, and with last year’s Goodness (Tiny Engines) they certainly assembled a list of elements that could have sent people scrambling.

There’s the spoken-word piece that opens the album, the interludes speckled with lullabies, the drums that smack away high in the mix, and, most obviously, the album art that consists of senior citizens in the woods wearing nothing but their smiles.

The band didn’t so much win their uphill battle as much as shoot up the incline like Vin Diesel in a tricked-out Dodge Charger—and if Goodness’s potential problems illustrate anything, it’s that the Hotelier is one of the best young, ambitious musical acts around. Earnest, challenging, and euphoric, the record balances the band’s forward-thinking ruminations on life’s complexities with their penchant for pulling off anthemic melodies with visceral bursts, the kind that feel emotionally unmoored to the structures that brought them to life. “Sun” is an antidote to the thought that emo is represented by immature and hostile spins on romantic woe—the song’s approach to the intricacies of love and loss serves as a learning experience for anyone at any age. I feel better for having heard “Sun,” and contemporary music is better because the Hotelier exists. —LEOR GALIL

Modest Gryce See Thursday. 8 and 10 PM, Jazz Showcase, 806 S. Plymouth, $20.

J JANUARY 12, 2017 - CHICAGO READER 27

MUSIC RICH JONES

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28 CHICAGO READER - JANUARY 12, 2017

Find more music listings at chicagoreader.com/soundboard.

continued from 27 Too Hot to Handel See also Sunday.

7:30 PM, Auditorium Theatre, 50 E. Congress, $29-$68. b This annual tribute to Martin Luther King can be counted on to turn up the heat in the exquisite Auditorium Theatre. A trio of megatalented vocalists—soprano Alfreda Burke, mezzo-soprano Karen Marie Richardson, and, especially, tenor Rodrick Dixon—complemented by a jazz combo, full orchestra, 100-voice choir, and the flying fingers of solo pianist Alvin Waddles present a contagiously joyous jazz, gospel, and blues treatment of George Frideric Handel’s famous 18th-century oratorio, biblical text and all. Conceived by Marin Alsop in the early 1990s—before she became music director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra—and arranged/ composed by Bob Christianson and Gary Anderson, the performance transports the sedate and celestial baroque original into swing, scat, and R&B territory, putting the glory into the Glory of the Lord and pulling the audience out of their seats. You’ve never heard Handel like this. —DEANNA ISAACS Rock, Pop, Etc Aftersound, Jetpack Hotline, Beach Bunny 6 PM, Beat Kitchen, 17+ Arriver, RLYR, Luggage 10 PM, Beat Kitchen Donnie Biggins, Dickie, Ryan Joseph Anderson 8:30 PM, FitzGerald’s Ceremony, Negative Scanner, Muuy Bien, Hogg Part of Tomorrow Never Knows, 9 PM, Schubas, 18+ Damosellas, Overclocked, Stay-Alives, David Rokos 9 PM, Red Line Tap Dead Woods, As Giants, Suspicious Fires, David Stout, Wicyc 8 PM, Elbo Room Delta Bombers, Super Sonic Space Rebels 8 PM, Reggie’s Music Joint Fetch the Burn Book 9 PM, Martyrs’ Frizzle Fried, Don’t Speak 11 PM, Reggie’s Rock Club, 17+ G. Love & Special Sauce, Ripe 9 PM, House of Blues, 17+ Frank Guinness, Ginger & Bitters 7:30 PM, Wire, Berwyn Jeff the Brotherhood, Pile, Chastity Part of Tomorrow Never Knows. 9 PM, Lincoln Hall, 18+ Linden Method, Talk to You Never, High Wire, Wayside Story, Freedom Paradox 4:30 PM, Reggie’s Rock Club b Loa Hex, Jackass Magnets, Deadly Bungalows 8 PM, Burlington Ode, Catfish & the Dogstars, Mufga 9 PM, 1st Ward, 18+ Rebirth Brass Band 7 and 9 PM, SPACE b These Guys These Guys, General Joystick, Evacuate the Earth 7 PM, Subterranean Tongues Unknown, American Grizzly, Jennifer Hall 6 PM, Double Door b Weekend Nachos, Harm’s Way, Homewrecker, Mal Intent See page 22. 7 PM, Subterranean, sold out b Werewolves at Hour 30, Bubbles Erotica, Vesperteen, Dead Seeds 7:30 PM, Bottom Lounge, 17+ Dance Black Madonna, DJ Rachel Part of Tomorrow Never Knows. 10 PM, Smart Bar Inphinity, Maison, Lowki, Cinna, Sean Strange, Alex Kislov 10 PM, Spy Bar

Dustin Sheridan, Derek Specs, Karsten Sollors, Mark Matras 10 PM, Primary Nightclub Folk & Country Lee Brice, Justin Moore, William Michael Morgan 7 PM, Rosemont Theater Blues, Gospel, and R&B Buddy Guy, Wayne Baker Brooks 9:30 PM, Buddy Guy’s Legends, sold out Shawn Holt & the Teardrops 10 PM, Rosa’s Lounge A Tribute to Allen Toussaint 8:30 PM, Constellation, 18+ Mike Wheeler 9 PM, B.L.U.E.S. Jazz Chris Foreman & Soul Message 8 PM, Green Mill Mute Duo, Billie Jean Howard 6 PM, Empty Bottle F Milt Trenier 8 PM, the Promontory b International Hurricane Reggae Band 8 PM, Wild Hare Miscellaneous Chris Thile with Andrew Bird, Laura Marling, and Beth Stelling A Prairie Home Companion. 4:45 PM, Symphony Center b Vinyl Emergency A live taping of the podcast. Bob Nanna and Chris Broach perform. 7 PM, Pinwheel Records F b

SUNDAY15 Mabel Kwan & Shanna Gutierrez 8:30 PM, Constellation, 3111 N. Western, $15, $10 in advance. 18+ Local musicians Mabel Kwan and Shanna Gutierrez are both committed to opening up and exploring what classical music can be without sacrificing its technical rigor. Recently Kwan, who plays piano with Ensemble Niente and Pesedjet, made an album that redefined the baroque-era clavichord as a parlor instrument ripe for processing and collage; meanwhile Gutierrez uses extended techniques and lesser-known members of the flute family to stake out new ground. “Dualities,” the program they’ll present this Sunday, is likely to disrupt whatever expectations you might have of a classical pianoand-flute duo. Carolyn O’Brien’s “Kinetic Suite” uses toy instruments and folk-dance gestures to introduce elements of play into music that still rewards the ear with piquant tonalities and subtly dislocated rhythms. They’ll be joined by electronic musician Fredrick Gifford to play his “Shadow Play” and Olga Neuwirth’s “Verfremdung/Entfremdung,” which uses taped electronics, processing, and a six-channel speaker arrangement to transform two acoustic instruments into an immersive aural environment.

Also on the program are Chou Wen-chung’s “Cursive,” Alex Temple’s “Inland,” and Elisabeth Lutyens’s piano solo “5 Bagatelles.” —BILL MEYER

Mint Mile Out headline; Stomatopod, Mint Mile, and Photo Curio open. 8 PM, Township, 2200 N. California, $8.

On The Bliss Point (Comedy Minus One), the second four-track EP from the low-key combo Mint Mile, former linchpin of Silkworm and Bottomless Pit Tim Midyett continues to mine gold from the

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Too Hot to Handel o PAUL NATKIN

aging process. On the beautiful ballad “Youngold,” which is girded by sorrowful pedal-steel washes played by Howard Draper, Midyett addresses the inevitable changes that accompany a curious life as it inches towards its conclusion: “Yes I will regret what I forget / What my memory squanders / And yet some fragment clings.” As austere as the best Silkworm records tended to be, with the harrowing drums of Michael Dahlquist punishing the singing of Midyett or Andy Cohen, there was still a clear admiration for old-school rock, and Midyett makes that more explicit with Mint Mile than he ever has before, whether during the wounded harmony vocals that sneak up on the opening track “In This City of Speed Traps” or the Byrdsian chords that punctuate “Park.” The current lineup includes Draper, Cohen on guitar, Matthew Barnhart on bass, and Jeff Panall on drums. —PETER MARGASAK

Jason Stein, Anton Hatwich, and Avreeayl Ra 9 PM, Hungry Brain, 2319 W. Belmont, $10.

Bass clarinetist Jason Stein is one of the strongest figures in Chicago’s improvised music scene, a musician who’s masterfully tamed his unwieldy instrument in both hard-swinging contexts and raucous free-improvisation settings. Last year he dropped a superb self-titled album with Hearts and Minds— his wiggy trio that includes keyboardist Paul Giallorenzo and drummer Frank Rosaly—drawing inspiration from the astral explorations of vintage Sun Ra but relocating them here in gritty Chicago. By and large, however, Stein’s been absent from local stages—most of his performances take place in arenas and amphitheaters around the world, as his long-running group Locksmith Isidore opens for

Guitar forever.

his sister, comedian Amy Schumer. I’m hoping the debut of this new improvised trio with bassist Anton Hatwich and drummer Avreeayl Ra indicates he’ll be a more frequent presence in town, but even if that’s not the case, I’m intrigued by the lineup—Ra is one of Chicago’s most explosive drummers, and I’m eager to hear how he coalesces with Stein and Hatwich. —PETER MARGASAK

Too Hot to Handel See Saturday. 3 PM, Auditorium Theatre, 50 E. Congress, $29-$68. b Modest Gryce See Thursday. 4, 8, and 10 PM, Jazz Showcase, 806 S. Plymouth, $20.

Rock, Pop, Etc Arvia, Detour North, Weekend Classic, Paper Planes, Rare Candy 6 PM, Subterranean, 17+ Peter Asher 7 PM, Maurer Hall, Old Town School of Folk Music b b August Hotel, Ember Oceans, Beach Bunny 7 PM, SPACE b BadBadNotGood, Mattson 2, Morimoto Part of Tomorrow Never Knows. 9 PM, Lincoln Hall, sold out, 18+ Char 6 PM, Pianoforte Chicago b Lettermen 3 PM, Arcada Theatre, Saint Charles b Muggsy Bogues, Peel, Ryan D & the Village Trustees 8 PM, Burlington Rebirth Brass Band, Tovi Khali 7 PM, the Promontory, 18+ Res, Avery R. Young & De Deacon Band, DJ Mark Flava 6 PM, City Winery b Sons of the Silent Age, New! Part of Tomorrow Never Knows. 8 PM, Metro, 18+

MUSIC

Hip-Hop Open Mike Eagle, Psalm One, Femdot, Crashprez Part of Tomorrow Never Knows. 9 PM, Schubas, 18+ Dance Ralphi Rosario, Derrick Carter, Michael Seafini, Lady D, Garrett David 9 PM, Smart Bar Wayne Williams, Terry Hunter, Mike Dunn, Alan King, Andre Hatchett, Tony Hatchett 10 PM, the Promontory Folk & Country Al Scorch’s Winter Slumber 2 PM, Empty Bottle F Blues, Gospel, and R&B Buddy Guy, Melody Angel 7:30 PM, Buddy Guy’s Legends Jazz Mike Finnerty & the Heat Merchants 6 PM, Red Line Tap Carl Kennedy Trio 9 PM, Whistler F Jason Stein, Anton Hatwich, and Avreeayl Ra 9 PM, Hungry Brain International Indika 8 PM, Wild Hare Kobzarska Sich Bandura Ensemble 5 PM, Szold Hall, Old Town School of Folk Music b

MONDAY16 Meg Baird Steve Gunn headlines; Lee Ranaldo and Meg Baird open. 8:30 PM, Empty Bottle, 1035 N. Western, $20, $18 in advance.

Singer-songwriter Meg Baird established her reputation forging different strains of psych-folk, both in the Espers, where she explored richly textured rock, and as a solo artist, making more rustic and bucolic music. Earlier this year her new San Francisco-based band Heron Oblivion dropped a tremendous album on Sub Pop, serving notice that she works in punishing rock contexts too—like during her drumming stint in Philadelphia’s Watery Love. For her first local solo visit in nearly five years Baird returns to a more gentle side, which she showcases on her 2015 album Don’t Weigh Down the Light (Drag City), a beautifully ethereal effort made with Heron Oblivion bandmate Charlie Saufley. Her voice has never sounded more pure in its airy delicacy, and her presence floats through elegant guitar and J

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COBALT & THE HIRED GUNS, JEFF BROWN & THE NEW BLACK, HEIDI SERWER, LIZ & THE LOVELIES please recycle this paper

Celebrating 60 Years of Making Music!

New adult group classes are now open! Browse our class schedules online at oldtownschool.org

JANUARY 12, 2017 - CHICAGO READER 29

1800 W. DIVISION

Est.1954 Celebrating over 61 years of service to Chicago!

(773) 486-9862 Come enjoy one of Chicago’s finest beer gardens!

MUSIC Meg Baird o AMY HARRITY

THURSDAY, JAN 12 ............... FLABBY HOFFMAN SHOW FRIDAY, JAN 13 .................... AMERICAN DRAFT SATURDAY, JAN 14 ............... LOST IN THOUGHT SUNDAY, JAN 15 .................. TONY DOSORIO TRIO THURSDAY, JAN 19 .............. URIM CHUMIN AND WC MALLARD SUNDAY, JAN 22 .................. DJ WHOLESOME RADIO MONDAY, JAN 23 ................. RC BIG BAND AT 7PM WEDNESDAY, JAN 25 ........... JAMIE WAGNER BAND THURSDAY, JAN 26 ............... KEITH SCOTT BAND SATURDAY, JAN 28 ............... 1ST WARD PROBLEMS EVERY MONDAY AT 9PM ANDREW JANAK QUARTET EVERY TUESDAY AT 8PM OPEN MIC HOSTED BY JIMI JON AMERICA

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piano arpeggios like a specter, leaving a trace that seems to reach back centuries. There’s no mistaking Baird’s investment in British folk tradition, but her haunting melodies sound modern in their timeless grace. —PETER MARGASAK Folk & Country Chicago Barn Dance Company 7 PM, Irish American Heritage Center b Robbie Fulks & Shad Cobb 7 PM, Hideout Kris Kristofferson 8 PM, also Tue 1/17 and Wed 1/18, 8 PM, City Winery b Jazz Paul Bedal Quintet, Paul Giallorenzo Trio 9 PM, Elastic b James Davis Quintet 9:30 PM, also Tue 1/17 amd Wed 1/18, 9:30 PM, Whistler F Classical Chicago Sinfonietta Mei-Ann Chen and Kalena Bovell, conductors. 7:30 PM, Symphony Center b In-Stores Jamison Willams 7:30 PM, Myopic Books F b

TUESDAY17 Rock, Pop, Etc Drab Majesty, Grun Wasser, New Canyons, DJ Philly Peroxide 9 PM, Empty Bottle 40,000 Headmen 8 PM, Martyrs’ Lukas Graham, Hein Cooper 7 PM, House of Blues, sold out b Miss Remember, Numbchuck, Hood Smoke, Charles Otto 8 PM, Schubas Singleman Affair, Kelsey Wild, Fran 9 PM, Hideout Jazz Gunwale, Dave Rempis & Kent Kessler 9 PM, Burlington Greg Ward 9 PM, Hungry Brain F

WEDNESDAY18 Moth Cock DJ Manny headlines; Moth Cock, Sold, and DJ Potions open. 9 PM, Hideout, 1354 W. Wabansia, $10.

This unfortunately named duo from Ohio induces several strains of cognitive dissonance. On many

30 CHICAGO READER - JANUARY 12, 2017

of its releases the group’s two members, Doug Gent and Pat Modugno, are credited, respectively, with clarinet and trumpet, and coupled with their predilection for improvisation, you might think Moth Cock play free jazz. Of course, with such a name, you might also think they traffic in an unholy din of chaotic noise—yet neither of those suppositions is accurate. Each musician’s output is heavily processed by electronic effects, and while there are extended passages where one can hear acoustic instruments, more often than not the gurgling, bloopy attack feels largely synthetic—a day-glo bacchanalia sullied by sudden, thunderous downpours that makes me imagine the Residents essaying the repertoire of Morton Subotnick. On their most recent effort, last March’s split LP with Form a Log that dropped on Chicago imprint Hausu Mountain, Moth Cock are in their most jagged, electronic manifestation yet. Sampled electronic grooves from pop music collide with fractured beats, clarinet squalls, and needling synthesizer lines that feel like nothing so much as a dentist’s drill.

The music is undeniably irritating in its claustrophobia, but at the same time its tightly coiled, twitchy sense of provocation is oddly energizing.

—PETER MARGASAK Rock, Pop, Etc Alkaline Trio 9 PM, also Thu 1/19 and Fri 1/20, 9 PM, Metro sold out, 18+ Code Orange, Youth Code, Lifeless, Bodybag 8 PM, Subterranean, 17+ Even Thieves, Vesper, Orferle, Punting Baxter 8 PM, Beat Kitchen Heavy Dreams, Radio Shaq, Vacuum 9 PM, Empty Bottle One OK Rock 6:30 PM, the Vic b Social Animals 8 PM, Schubas Zigtebra, Gray Bliss, Pushovrs, Gosh 9 PM, Burlington Hip-Hop Taco, Moneytae, Kenyadda, NK, Hollow Exists 7 PM, Wire, Berwyn Folk & Country Cornmeal 9 PM, Martyrs’ Classical Jonathan Johnson & Craig Terry Tenor and piano.

12:15 PM, Preston Bradley Hall, Chicago Cultural Center F b Matthew Polenzani 7 PM, Galvin Recital Hall, Northwestern University b v

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FOOD & DRINK

KNIFE | $$$$

4343 N. Lincoln 773-799-8283 knifechicago.net Timothy Cottini’s idea of shrimp de jonghe is not unappealing: a trio of sweet crustaceans mounted on puff pastry and smothered tableside in hot drawn butter. o DANIELLE A. SCRUGGS

NEW REVIEW

North Center under the Knife

Fork chef Timothy Cottini has opened a small steak house that’s big on showmanship.

By MIKE SULA

L

ast September, chef John Tesar threw a short, Trump-toned Twitter tantrum about Chicago chef Timothy Cottini. The restaurateur, former Top Chef contestant, and “most hated chef in Dallas” (according to a D Magazine story) accused Cottini of attempting to rip off the name, logo, and concept of Tesar’s steak house, Knife. In pretending that there’s anything original to be stolen from any steak-house “concept,” Tesar succeeded only in boosting the profile of Cottini’s modest new North Center meat market—also named Knife to correspond with Fork, his first spot up the street in Lincoln Square.

In these times of steak-house fatigue, Cottini might’ve caused a bigger stir by jumping ahead to the next logical concept: a 24-hour soup kitchen called Spoon. It’s easy to talk a good game about reinventing the steak house, but the only thing you can really do that will surprise anyone is to situate yourself in an underserved area. Neighborhood folk crave a slab of bloody just as often as visiting conventioneers, but it doesn’t mean they want to rub elbows with them.

And so another north-side neighborhood steak house is born, situated among the tattoo removal clinics and shoe boutiques of Lincoln Avenue in the snug space that once

housed Chalkboard. It’s a small environment for grand ambitions: a $95 rib eye for two, enveloping red leather booths, and a predilection for tableside preparation—there’s a tableside Caesar, tableside cocktail service, and desserts set aflame at the table.

Knife’s enterprise in modest surroundings makes minor, if elemental, service issues stand out all the more. On two occasions my party stood awkwardly at the abandoned host stand, peering through a thick meat haze, waiting for someone to notice us. That on one of these evenings the door was thrown open to the night for aeration foreshadowed a laundry load infused with the smell of hot aerosolized beef fat. For now at least, servers occasionally seem unavailable, whether the restaurant is busy or not. It’s a serious liability for a place to be pushing a performative style of service with performers who aren’t all up to speed.

That 28-ounce, 28-day dry-aged rib eye for me was a disaster. Hacked both with and against the grain by nervous, uncertain hands, it was a $94 pile of steaming sadness, not given enough time to rest, and in large spots overcooked to medium and even medium well.

The sides that accompany this mountain of bad butchery, however, are enjoyable, and they demonstrate Knife’s potential—provided that service keeps pace—to evolve into something more than textbook. A scoop of broccoli almondine rests in a mildly sweet almond tuile that provides a disarming garnish to the plate, while the twice-baked potatoes, perched upright like starch barrels, wrapped in crispy bacon and topped with creme fraiche, make up for some of the disappointing knife work.

In fact, the attendant appetizers, sides, and salads consistently show up the meatier part of the menu. Macaroni gratin, a sort of composed mac and cheese, is shellacked with melted Jarlsberg and Parmesan to form a cohesive, scarfable funk, while smoked frites take on a noticeable but not overwhelming kiss of the fire. Onion strings are frazzly and light, and even strong-willed diners will have trouble resisting the urge to shovel them down by the fistful.

Beyond the fried dough exterior of the oxtail doughnuts is a scant but potent core of molten beef. Cottini’s idea of shrimp de jonghe is a trio of sweet crustaceans mounted on puff pastry and smothered tableside in hot drawn butter. It’s not an unappealing presentation, but one that requires the house-made Parker House rolls or focaccia for cleanup.

Salads are a surprising delight. A grilled wedge that looks like it crashed into a J

JANUARY 12, 2017 - CHICAGO READER 31

S P O N S O R E D

N E I G H B O R H O O D

C O N T E N T

Chicago has always been a city of distinct neighborhoods with their own sense of identity and tradition — and each with stand-out bars and restaurants that are worthy of a haul on the El or bucking up for parking. Explore some local faves here, then head out for a taste of the real thing!

RED LINE TAP // ROGERS PARK $3 PBR drafts & well drinks, $5 wine, M-Su Happy Hour 5-7pm

EATALY, LA PIAZZA // RIVER NORTH Tues: 5-9 pm, $15 housemade beer + Margherita pizza alla pala

LINCOLN HALL // LINCOLN PARK All Lagunitas beers are $6

E ATA LY . C O M / C H I C A G O

L H - S T. C O M

PHYLLIS’ MUSICAL INN // WICKER PARK Everyday: $3.75 Moosehead pints and $2.50 Hamms cans

REGGIES // SOUTH LOOP $5 Absolut & Bacardi Cocktails Every Day special

ALIVEONE // LINCOLN PARK Wednesday: 1/2 price aliveOne signature cocktails

7 7 3 . 4 8 6 .9 8 62

REGGIESLIVE.COM

ALIVEONE .COM

FITZGERALDS // BERWYN $5 Shiner Cheer Holiday Ale pints, $7 Tito’s

SCHUBAS // LAKEVIEW All Lagunitas beers are $5.50

MOTOR ROW BREWING // NEAR SOUTHSIDE Thu, Fri, Tue, Wed: Happy Hour noon-6pm, $2 off all beers

FITZGER ALDSNIGHTCLUB .COM

L H - S T. C O M

MOTORROWB REWI NG .COM

R E D L I N E TA P. C O M

R I SV O EU R TNHO LRO TO HP

REGGIES // 2 1 0 9 S S TAT E // R E G G I E S L I V E .C O M

BAKED MAC ’N’ CHEESE

Reggies brings music fans’ ultimate dream to reality with a terrific bar and grill, kickin’ rock club, and a music lover’s record store! Their menu—from amazing jumbo wings to creative burgers and sandwiches—offers comfort food with bit of home in every bite. While you’re at it, don’t miss their just-like-grandma-made Baked Mac ’n’ Cheese with Reggies favorite creamy blend of gourmet cheeses. Complement your meal with a full bar selection of beers, wine, spirits, and liquors.

“Mac ’n’ cheese was awesome. Really cool rooftop deck . . .”

32 CHICAGO READER - JANUARY 12, 2017

— DAN / GOOGLE

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○ Watch a video of David McCabe making this cocktail with snails at chicagoreader.com/food.

continued from 31 wall is tossed with a hunk of blue cheese, strips of bacon, and rubbery but likable lobster mitts, all doused in green goddess. The tableside Caesar, depending on who wheels it over, is an exemplar of the form: the server builds the dressing in the spinning bowl before adding each component with precise deliberation and dishing it out with texturally appropriate portioning.

Other entrees fare more or less well.

Congealed cheese topping the roasted fennel betrayed the amount of time a lamb porterhouse spent on the pass. Ahi tuna with lobster demi-glace is as pink and thin and enjoyable as cold fish can be in a steak house. And a basic boneless 12-ounce rib eye was executed so perfectly medium rare that one could briefly forget, if not forgive, the debacle with the dino-size rib eye on the previous visit.

Cottini offers some of the bells and whistles a larger steak house might make available to accompany the beef: bearnaise, Barolo, hollandaise, and au poivre sauces, as well as additions such as lobster tail, foie gras, and blue cheese.

The desserts are familiar: key lime pie, chocolate layer cake, profiteroles, and a gran torino featuring a layer of sponge cake and spumoni ice cream torched at the table.

For such a small operation, the wine list, covering a number of price ranges, is rela-

tively long. And while the tableside cocktail service is performed rather anticlimactically—four classics made by servers using droppers to fill tinkling rocks glasses—bar manager Tony Munger’s list of obscurely titled cocktails invites some examination.

Taken mostly from the online Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows, a catalog of invented words, the names conjure a sense of melancholy that may have you weeping into your Ellipism, a flute of spherified cognac bubbles suspended in sparkling wine and orange liqueur, which references the feeling of “sadness that you’ll never know how history will turn out.” The Enoument—Journeyman rye whiskey and dry white wine with seasonal fruits and herbs, served in the circular Crucial Detail Porthole vessel popularized by the Aviary—evokes “the bitterness of having arrived in the future, seeing how things turn out, but not being able to tell your past self.”

Onism, the frustration of being stuck in just one place at a time, is dubiously illustrated

by Michter’s rye, nocino, orange curacao, and bitters.

Knife seems like its identity isn’t struggling so much to emerge from under the finger-wagging ego of a distant celebrity chef as from the complications of understaffing and undertraining. But there is potential.

Give it time. v

ß @MikeSula

Macaroni gratin, a sort of composed mac and cheese, is shellacked with melted Jarlsberg and Parmesan to form a cohesive, scarfable funk. o DANIELLE A. SCRUGGS

FOOD & DRINK

COCKTAIL CHALLENGE

Invasion of the ‘land clams’

By JULIA THIEL

o CHRIS BUDDY

O

STERIA LANGHE, the Piemontese restaurant in Logan Square where DAVID MCCABE tends bar, has been serving SNAILS in pastry shells with beurre blanc since it opened in 2014. Until recently, though, McCabe had little to do with the gastropods, leaving them to the restaurant’s chefs. But when CHRISTOPHER MARTY of BEST INTENTIONS challenged him to create a cocktail with escargot (or lumache, as they’re called in Italian), McCabe had some planning to do.

“At first it seemed intimidating,” he says.

“I thought about some sort of martini, but that seems really too gross.” Then he remembered that Clamato, or clam broth mixed with tomato juice, is a key element of Canada’s national drink, the Bloody Caesar.

“I thought, Perfect: land clam in my Bloody Mary mix.” The mix, which McCabe makes in big batches for brunch at the restaurant, includes fresh-ground chile f lakes, pink peppercorns, and black pepper, along with Dijon mustard, horseradish, Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco, lemon juice, and vinegar or pickling liquid. Instead of using celery salt, he juices celery to add a fresh flavor without too much salinity.

What the mix hasn’t included in the past is snails, though they’re popular enough as a dish that Osteria Langhe has a couple of ceramic snail mascots. “Sylvester Snaillone and Snail Earnhardt Jr. are here to root me on,” McCabe said. He put about a dozen snails— ones that the restaurant’s chefs had cooked sous vide with thyme, sage, butter, garlic, and olive oil—in a spice grinder and reduced them to a paste. After adding the paste to a cocktail shaker, along with an ounce and a half of Modest Vodka and the rest of his Bloody Mary ingredients, he shook everything with ice.

Garnishes included a snail-stuffed Castelvetrano olive, leek leaves, and basil (because the snails are fed only basil for the last few weeks of their lives). And for extra authenticity, McCabe mixed up a gel using xanthan gum that he trailed along the outside of the glass. The name of his creation? Snails of the Cocktail.

WHO’S NEXT:

McCabe has challenged JACOB HUELSTER of WAT E R S H E D to create a drink using NUTELLA. v

ß @juliathiel JANUARY 12, 2017 - CHICAGO READER 33

JOBS

SALES & MARKETING Telephone Sales Experienced/aggressive telephone closers needed now to sell ad space for Chicago’s oldest and largest newspaper rep firm.

Immediate openings in Loop office. Salary + commission.

312-368-4884.

Telephone Sales Experienced/aggressive telephone closers needed now to sell ad space for Chicago’s oldest and largest newspaper rep firm.

Immediate openings in Loop office. Salary + commission.

312-368-4884.

TELE-FUNDRAISING: COLD CASH FOR WINTER American Veterans helping Veterans.

Felons need not apply per Illinois Attorney General regulations. Start ASAP, Call 312-256-5035

General SACIA ORCHARDS, INC, in

Galesville, WI is hiring 1 temporary Cook/Chef from 02/20/201705/01/2017: 40 hrs/week. Cook/ Chef, will plan and coordinate menu, prepare breakfast, lunch and dinner, clean and organize kitchen, appliances and dishes. Cook/Chef will coordinate food supply request as well as check in of food/supply orders. In addition, Cook/Chef will ensure to keep clean and organized kitchen, dining and delivery areas at all times.

Will sanitize kitchen services regularly throughout the day. Will maintain knowledge of generally accepted well balanced nutrition guidelines.

Must be able to lift 50 lbs. Must have 3 months verifiable experience. $12.75/hr. (prevailing wage). Guarantee of 3/4 of the workdays. All work tools, supplies, and equipment furnished without cost to the worker.

Free housing is provided to workers who cannot reasonably return to their permanent residence at the end of the workday. Transportation and subsistence expenses to the worksite will be provided or paid by the employer, with payment to be made

34 CHICAGO READER | JANUARY 12, 2017

no later than completion of 50% of the work contract. Send Resume or contact Illinois Department of Employment Security, Migrant/Farm Workers Programs, 33 State Street, 8th Floor, Chicago, IL 60603, (312) 793-1284, (312) 793-1778 FAX, or your nearest State Workforce Agency and reference job order 2002432.

COMPUTER SYSTEMS ANALYSTS ZENSAR TECHNOLOGIES, INC. has openings in Oak Brook, IL.

All positions may be assigned to various, unanticipated sites throughout the US. Job Code USOBIL118 Computer Systems Analyst (BFD/Domains): Req.s & solutions + develop APIs. Job Code US-OBIL119 Computer Systems Analyst (Code/ Defects): coding, testing & maintenance. Job Code: US-OBIL120 Computer Systems Analyst (Technical Solutions):business, functional/non-funtional req.s + support. Job Code US-OBIL121 Computer Systems Analyst (QA/ Technical Lead): analyze + implement design. Mail resume to: Prasun Maharatna, 2107 North First Street, Suite 100, San Jose, CA 95131.

Include job code/s & full job title/s of interest + recruitment source in cover letter. EOE

SHC Direct, L.L.C. d/b/a Inte Q is seeking a Business Intelligence Analyst in Oakbrook Terrace, IL w/the following reqs: Bach deg in Comp Sci, Engg or rel field or foreign academic equiv + 3 yrs rel exp. Prior exp must incl: design, develop, deploy, & support reporting & solutions for end-users by using complex SQL queries & reporting platforms (3 yrs); perform Data Analysis coming from multiple data sources to deliver business strategy & predictions (3 yrs); create Relational Databases and data warehouses, perform ETL (Extract, Transform, Load), & support import and export feeds (ETL) using Microsoft SQL Server (2 yrs); gather/define client business reqs & provide QA for reporting deliverables (3 yrs). To apply, email resume to j obs@inteqinsights.com; subject line must ref S022385.

BUSINESS MANAGER, CORPORATE & BUSINESS STRATEGY (MULT. POS.), PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, Chicago, IL. Provide strategy, mgmt., tech. & risk consulting services to help client anticipate & address complex bus. challenges.

Req. Bach’s deg or foreign equiv. in Acctng, Bus Admin or rel. + 5 yrs post-bach’s prog. rel. work exp.; OR a Master’s deg or foreign equiv. in Acctng, Bus Admin or rel. + 3 yrs rel. work exp. Travel req. up to 80%. Apply by mail, referencing Job Code IL1081, Attn: HR SSC/ Talent Management, 4040 W. Boy Scout Blvd, Tampa, FL 33607

GOLD COAST ANIMAL Hospi-

tal is looking for a few good part time vet assistants! If you love pets, and you love cleaning, this could be an ideal job for you! Help us take amazing care of our hospitalized patients, our boarding pets (this could include swimming with them in our pool!), and keeping the hospital environment clean, inside and out! Some early mornings, evenings, weekends and holidays are required. Please email a cover letter and resume to kristengcah@ yahoo.com. We can’t wait to hear from the right people!

GOLD COAST ANIMAL Hospital is looking for a bright, happy, detail oriented individual to work part time at our Front Desk. If you like pets and people, are dedicated to amazing customer service, and enjoy working as a team, we would love to talk with you! There are some early mornings, evenings, and Saturdays needed. Please email a cover letter and resume to kristengcah@yahoo.com. We look forward to hearing from you!

CAPITAL ONE seeks a Master Software Engineer in Chicago Metro Area (multiple positions available) to lead overall technical design, development, modification, and implementation of computer applications using existing and emerging technology platforms.

Requires a master’s + 2 yrs. or bach. + 5 yrs. of exp. Must pass company’s assessment. See full req’s & apply online:https://www. capitalonecareers.com/ Req # R16018.

CAPITAL ONE SEEKS a Soft-

ware Engineer in Chicago Metro Area (multiple positions available) to perform technical design, development, modification, and implementation of computer applications using existing and emerging technology platforms.

Requires a bach. + 3 yrs. of exp. Must pass applicant assessment. See full req’s & apply online: https://www. capitalonecareers.com/ Req # R15479

CAPITAL ONE seeks a Testing

Specialist in Chicago Metro Area(multiple positions available) to design, develop and execute automated software test plans in order to identify and address user problems and their causes. Requires a bach. + 3 yrs. or no degree + 4 yrs. of exp.

Must pass company’s assessment.

See full req’s & apply online: https:// www.capitalonecareers.com/ Req #R15480.

COMPUTER/IT: Kraft Heinz Foods

Company seeks Associate Director, Performance to work in Chicago, IL. Plan, estblsh, imprv & maintn the Mngmnt by Objectivs (MBO) prgrm, globally. Degree & commensurate exper req’d. For details & to apply see req.#7868BR at: http://www. kraftheinzcompany.com/careers. html.

NUTS ON CLARK POPCORN

stores HIRING FOR NEW LOCATION: Sales, cooks, stock, paid training.

Starts immediately when working with a team. Apply in person @ corp. office, 3830 N. Clark St. Chicago 9 am to 10 am Mon Thru Fri. Must bring ID’s to apply

REAL ESTATE RENTALS

STUDIO $500-$599 Chicago, Beverly/Cal Park/Blue Island Studio $575 & up, 1BR $665 & up, 2BR $885 & up. Heat, Appls, Balcony, Carpet, Laundry, Prkg.

708-388-0170

SOUTH SHORE AREA Newly remod Studios. Near Metra & CTA, appls incl. $500-$525/mo.

Steve 312-952-3901

STUDIO $600-$699

WINTER SPECIAL: STUDIOS starting at $499 incls utilities. 1BR $550, 2BR $599, 3BR $699. With approved credit. No Security Deposit for Sec 8 Tenants. South Shore & Southside. Call 312-4463333

LARGE STUDIO APARTMENT

7022 S. SHORE DRIVE Impecca-

near Metra. 1904 W Pratt. Cats OK. Laundry in building. $695/ month.

Heat included. Available 2/1. 773-7614318. www.lakefrontmgt.com

CHICAGO, HYDE PARK Arms

Hotel, 5316 S. Harper, maid, phone, cable ready, fridge, private facilities, laundry avail. Start at $160/wk Call 773-493-3500

7500 SOUTH SHORE Dr. Brand New Rehabbed Studio & 1BR Apts from $650.

Call 773-374-7777 for details.

STUDIO $700-$899 LARGE STUDIO APARTMENT

near the lake, 1329 W Estes. Hardwood floors. Cats OK. Laundry in building. $725/ month. Heat included. Available 2/1. 773-761-4318. www. lakefrontmgt.com

STUDIO OTHER LARGE SUNNY ROOM w/fridge & microwave. Near Oak Park, Green Line & Buses. 24 hr Desk, Parking Lot $101/week & Up. (773)378-8888 CROSSROADS HOTEL SRO SINGLE RMS Private bath, PHONE,

CABLE & MAIDS. 1 Block to Orange Line 5300 S. Pulaski 773-581-1188

CHICAGO - HYDE PARK 5401 S. Ellis.

1BR. $535-$600/mo.

Call 773-955-5106

Ashland Hotel nice clean rms.

24 hr desk/maid/TV/laundry/air.

Low rates daily/weekly/monthly.

South Side. Call 773-376-5200

1 BR UNDER $700 LARGE,

LOVELY,

HEATED

rooms available: Far South. $400,

$425 & $450/mo + Security. Call John 773-703-8400

bly Clean Highrise STUDIOS, 1 & 2 BEDROOMS Facing Lake & Park.

Laundry & Security on Premises.

Parking & Apts. Are Subject to Availability. TOWNHOUSE APARTMENTS 773-288-1030

MIDWAY AREA/63RD KEDZIE Deluxe Studio 1 & 2 BRs. All

modern oak floors, appliances, Security system, on site maint. clean & quiet, Nr. transp. From $445. 773582-1985 (espanol)

CHICAGO SOUTH - YOU’VE tried the rest, we are the best.

Apartments & Homes for rent, city & suburb. No credit checks.

773-221-7490, 773-221-7493 WEST PULLMAN (INDIANA

Ave) RENT SPECIAL 1/2 Off 1 month rent + Sec dep. Nice,lrg 1BR $575; 2BR $650 & 1 3BR $850, balcony, Sec 8 Welc. 773-995-6950

Chicago 65th & Wood 1+ BR with large kitchen, newly decorated, on quiet block. Available now. $600/mo. Call 847-9933010 BRIDGEVIEW AREA- LG furn Room in a single home. No drugs/ alcohol. Dep Req. Mature working person pref.

708-458-8610 or 708-436-4043

CLEAN ROOM W/FRIDGE & micro, Near Oak Park, Food -4Less, Walmart, Walgreens, Buses & Metra, Laundry. $115/wk & up.

773-637-5957 NEWLY REMOD 1BR & Studios starting at $500. No sec dep, move in fee or app fee. Free heat/ hot water. 1155 W. 83rd St., 773619-0204 79TH

& WOODLAWN 2BR $775-$800 76th & Phillips 2BR $775-$800 Remodeled, Appliances avail. Free Heat. 312-286-5678

SECTION 8 WELCOME

Bronzeville 4950 S Prairie. 1BR. Heat, cooking gas, appl incl. $660 & up.

Call Zoro, 773-406-4841

SECTION 8 WELCOME. No Security Dep., 7335 S Morgan, 5BR house, appliances incl., $1300/mo.

Call 708-288-4510 CHICAGO W. SIDE 3859 W Maypole Rehabbed studios, $425/ mo, Utilities not included. 773-6170329, 773-533-2900 Newly updated, clean furnished rooms, located near buses & Metra, elevator, utilities included, $91/wk. $ 395/mo. 815-722-1212 NICE ROOM w/stove, fridge & bath Near Aldi, Walgreens, Beach, Red Line & Buses. Elevator & Laundry. $130/wk & up. 773-275-4442 BIG ROOM with stove, fridge, bath & nice wood floors. Near Red Line & Buses. Elevator & Laundry, Shopping. $121/wk + up. 773-561-4970

75TH & WENTWORTH, 4BR,

2BA, refrig, carpet, laundry hook-ups. close to transp. $1350/mo. No Sec Deposit. Sec 8 ok. 773-684-1166

û NO SEC DEP û

6829 S. Perry. 1BR. $520/mo.

1431 W. 78th St. 2BR. $605/mo.

HEAT INCL 773-955-5106

4 RM, 1BR, JUMBO $630, clean, 773-405-9361, 24hour security, manager on-site, Gina, 655 w 80th.

1 BEDROOM, 4 Rooms, clean, 651

W 80th , $630/mo, quiet, 773-4059361, 773-467-8200. Ms Gina.

1 BR $700-$799 HUMBOLDT PARK. ONE

bedroom apartment for rent. Newly remodeled. Next door to food store. $800 per month plus security deposit. Near shopping area. Monica, 773-592-2989.

2BR APTS 78TH &

Calumet, $875; 82nd & King Dr. $950. Tenant pays own heat. Credit check fee $50.

Call/text 773-203-9399 or 773-4849250

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AUBURN GRESHAM: 79TH &

Paulina, 1-2 Bedroom, $745-$795, Free heat. Call 773.916.0039

1 BR $800-$899 6824 N WAYNE. One bedroom

apartment near Red Line. Hardwood floors, Pets OK. $850/ month. Heat included. Laundry in building. Available 2/1.

773-761-4318, www. lakefrontmgt.com

1 BR $900-$1099 ONE BEDROOM APARTMENT

near Warren Park and Metra, 6802 N Wolcott. Hardwood floors. Heat included. Laundry in building. Cats OK. $900/ month. Available 2/1. 773761-4318, www.lakefrontmgt.com

CALUMET CITY 158TH & PAXTON SANDRIDGE APTS 1 & 2 BEDROOM UNITS MODELS OPEN M-F, 9AM-5:30PM *** 708-841-5450 ***

CHICAGO-HYDE PARK NO APPLICATION FEE LARGE 1BR $975 Free Heat, newly decorated, hdwd flrs, stove/fridge, laundry Section 8 OK 1-773-667-6477 77TH/LOWE. 2BR. $750 & up. 6 9th/Dante, 3BR. $850 & up. 71st/ Bennett. 2 & 3BR. $795 & up.

New renov. Sec 8 ok. 708-5031366

WESTSIDE BEAUTIFUL 2BR,

Hardwood Floors, New tile Bath, Near Roosevelt & Pulaski, $875/mo call 773-443-6701

VERY NICE 2BR Apt Near 83rd & Hermitage. Nicely decorated, heat incl. Call for an appointment.

No pets, $730/mo. 773-783-7098 COZY 2 BEDROOM apartment.

Available now. Seniors welcomed. $800/mo. + sec.

Call: 773.213.1705.

CHICAGO SOUTH, 66 Winchester, Newly decorated 2.5 BR. Section 8 ok, No Pets. $775/mo + security deposit. Please call 708-439-3652 VICINITY 65TH AND St. Lawrence, modern, tenant heated, 2BR Unit. $725/mo. No Sec Deposit Agent Owned, 312-671-3795

SMOKE FREE BUILDING!!!

SOUTH SIDE 5 rooms, 1BR deluxe.

101st/King Dr. well maint. appls/heat incl. $795/ mo. plus sec. Mr. Ben. 312802-9492.

SPACIOUS-SAFE 773-4235727. BRONZEVILLE, 3BR, heat included. Englewood, 1,2 & 3BR, heat incl. Dolton, 2BR, Gated Parking.

7241-55 S. CONSTANCE Ave., Studio & 1BR, Brand New! Heat, water & appliances included.

Section 8 ok. Call Miro, 312-8891102

Vernon 2BR, 1st flr, remod, hdwd flrs, appl incl, laundry on site. $800 & up. Call Zoro 773-406-4841

1 BR OTHER

AMAZING HOMELY UNIT, 3BR, 5614 W. Division, 2nd flr, new decor, 1BA, marble kitch, wood flrs. $1395 + sec. Sec 8 OK. 708-369-6791

APTS. FOR RENT PARK MGMT & INV. LTD. THE HAWK HAS ARRIVED!!!

OUR UNITS INCLUDE HEAT, HW & CG PLENTY OF PARKING 1BDR FROM $750.00 2BDR FROM $895.00 3 BDR/2 FULL BATH FROM $1200 **1-(773)-476-6000*** APTS. FOR RENT PARK MGMT & INV. LTD. OLD MAN WINTER IS HERE!!!

MOST UNITS INCLUDE..

HEAT & HOT WTR STUDIOS FROM $475.00 1BDR FROM $495.00 2BDR FROM $745.00 3 BDR/2 FULL BATH FROM $1200 **1-(773)-476-6000** APTS. FOR RENT PARK MGMT & INV. LTD. OLD MAN WINTER IS HERE!!!

MOST UNITS INCLUDE..

HEAT & HOT WTR STUDIOS FROM $475.00 1BDR FROM $495.00 2BDR FROM $745.00 3 BDR/2 FULL BATH FROM $1200 **1-(773)-476-6000**

READY TO MOVE? REMODELED 1, 2 , 3 & 4 BR Apts.

Heat & Appls incl. South Side locations only. Call 773-593-4357

RIVERDALE, IL 1 Bedroom

Condo, newly decorated, off st. parking, gated comm. $750 + sec.

Call Mr. Jackson 708-846-9734

SUBURBS, RENT TO OW N! Buy with No closing costs and get help with your credit. Call 708868-2422 or visit www.nhba.com CHICAGO, RENT TO OWN! Buy with no closing costs and get help with your credit. Call 708868-2422 or visit www.nhba.com

MOVE IN SPECIAL B4 the N of this MO. & MOVE IN 4 $99.00 (773) 874-3400 ROYALTON HOTEL, Kitchenette $135 & up wk. Free WiFi. 1810 W. Jackson 312-226-4678

ACACIA SRO HOTEL Men Preferred! Rooms for Rent. Weekly & Monthly Rates. 312-421-4597

2 BR UNDER $900

APTS. FOR RENT PARK MGMT & INV. LTD. THE HAWK HAS ARRIVED!!!

OUR UNITS INCLUDE HEAT, HW & CG PLENTY OF PARKING 1BDR FROM $750.00 2BDR FROM $895.00 3 BDR/2 FULL BATH FROM $1200 **1-(773)-476-6000*** ROUND LAKE BEACH, IL Cedar Villas is accepting applications for subsidized 1BR apts. for seniors 62 years or older and the disabled.

Rent is based on 30% of annual income. For details, call us at 847-546-1899 ∫

CHICAGO, CHATHAM NO SECURITY DEPOSIT Spacious updated 1BR from $600 with great closet space.

Incl: stove/fridge, hdwd flrs, blinds, heat & more!!!

LIMITED INVENTORY ** Call (773) 271-7100 ** CHICAGO - BEVERLY, large 2 room Studio & 1BR Apts. Carpet, A/ C, laundry, near transportation, $650-$765/mo.

Call 773-2334939 ONE OF THE BEST M & N MGMT, 1BR, 7727 Colfax ** 2 Lrg BR, 6754 Crandon ** 2 & 3BR, 2BA, 6216 Eberhart ** Completely rehabbed.

You deserve the best ** 773-9478572 or 312-613-4427

LARGE 3BR $895 LARGE 1BR $725 Section 8 OK, free cooking gas, nely decorated, carpeted, stove/ fridge, laundry, elevator, NO APPLICATION FEE 1-773-919-7102 or 312-802-7301

SECTION 8 WELCOME! 7414 S.

2 BR $900-$1099 CHICAGO - BEAUTIFUL 2BD/ 1BA in a 2 unit bldg, large enclosed

backyard, new carpet, utils incld. $950/mo. Contact 773-680-4174

2 BR $1100-$1299

2-bedroom apartment for rent. Good price. Heat and appliances included.

Section 8 welcome. For further information, call 708-227-4578.

CHICAGO -VICINITY 111TH/ King Dr xtra lrg 2BR, 1st flr, newly remod, Clean/quiet/well maint bldg. $800-$950/mo. Sect 8 ok 773-510-9290 CHICAGO 5246 S. HERMITAGE: 2BR bsmt $400. 2BR 1st floor, $525. 3BR, 2nd floor, $625.

1.5 mo sec req’d. 708-574-4085.

CHICAGO, 3215 W. WASHINGTON, Newly decorated 2BR, heat & appliances included, $745/mo + security.

Call 773-415-8597 CHICAGO, 9121 S. Co t t a g e Grove, 2BR apt. $1050/mo Newly

remod, appls, mini blinds, ceiling fans, Sec 8 OK. No Dep. Call 312-9150100

AUSTIN AREA, Best deal, Senior discount available, 2BR. $695. Credit check required.

6 N. Lockwoood.

Call 708204-8600 79TH & LANGLEY. 5 Rms, 2BR, Decor. beaut. h/w floors, $760+ $400 move-in fee. Close to trans & shpg. Brown Realty 773-239-9566

garage, side driveway. $1100/mo. Appls incl and sec dep req. Call 773-447-1990

CHICAGO 5842 S. Shields, Unit 1, 3BR, 1BA, newly refurbished,new carpet, 1st flr, no pets, fridge, stove. $800 + utils.

773-752-8328 CALUMET CITY, 3BR, 2BA, 2 car gar., fully rehab w/ gorgeous finishes & hdwd flrs.

Beautiful backyard.

Sect 8 ok. $1175/mo. 510-735-7171 CHATHAM-3BR 1.5BA, STOVE /HEAT incl, laundry in bsmt, 7900 block of Langley, Sec 8 Ok. $1140/Mo. Mr. Johnson, 630-424-1403 2BR, 6148 S. Rhodes, LR/DR, encl

porch, appls, lndry, new kitc & bath, $835/mo tenant pays utils. Seniors & sec 8 Welc. 312-504-2008 CALUMET CITY, 3BR, 2 full BA, fully rehab w/gorgeous finishes w/ hdwd floors, appls incl., porch, Sec 8 OK. $1100/mo Call 510-735-7171

SECTION 8 WELCOME. No Security Deposit. 7721 S Peoria, 3BR apt, appls incl. $1050/mo.

708-288-4510

ASHLAND

3 BR OR MORE $1200-$1499

no pets, no smoking or drugs. $1100 + dep. Sec 8 welc. 847-4772790 AUGUSTA

GREYSTONE. 2 bedroom garden apartment. Laundry, walk to downtown train/ buses. $1100 includes all utilities. 773-384-2772

2 BR $1500 AND OVER

LARGE TWO BEDROOM, two

bathroom apartment, 3820 N Fremont. Near Wrigley Field. Hardwood floors. Cats OK. Laundry in building.

Available 2/1. $1595/ month. New Year special: Move in by February 1st, get March rent Free. Parking available. $150/ month for single parking space. $250/ month for tandem parking space. 773-761-4318, w ww.lakefrontmgt.com

4738 W GEORGE St. 1st floor

Large Two bedroom large living and dining room eat in kitchen stove,refrigerator,hooded microwave new white cabinet hardwood floor air/heat alarm system internet access Laundry (coin op) well secured property cctv cameras access $1550.00 plus utility (312-498-1040)

BEAUTIFUL NEW APT! 6150 S. Vernon, 4BDRM 743 E. 72nd St, 2BDRM 8129 S. Ingleside, 2BDRM 7649 S. Phillips Ave 1, 2 & 4BDRM Stainless Steel!! Appliances!!

Hdwd flrs!! Marble bath!! Laundry on site!!

FREE 42IN TV Sec 8 OK. 773- 404- 8926

Villas is accepting applications for Subsidized 2 and 3 bedroom apt waiting list. Rent is based on 30% of annual income for qualified applicants. Contact us at 847-546-1899 for details

FREE HEAT! 73rd & Harvard Ave. nr the Dan Ryan NO SEC OR 1 MO FREE, if qualified!, Small 2BR, quiet bldng. 773895-7247 ENGLEWOOD 2-4BR unit apts in 2 unit gated bldgs, hdwd flrs, pets OK, no sec dep, W/D & appls incl, tenant pays own utils 872-3153900 NEAR BEVERLY Huge 2BR apt, with bonus room on 1st floor. Sect 8 Welc 312.809.6068

FLORIDA GULF COAST . 5BR,

3.1BA single-family home, 4-car garage. Orginally Built in 1925 as Hunting Lodge on The Northwest Corridor of Manatee County!

Throughout it’s updating journey into the 21st Century, the property owners consciously retained this home’s Old Florida Charm while at the same time adding essential updates.... Today the home is equipped with high level impact storm windows --- Weather Shield --throughout. The Gourmet Kitchen is a Cook’s Delight! Featuring Imported Pear Woods (Lacquered) Cabinets, Wolf Range, Subzero Refrigeration Systems and Décor Wall Ovens. The Master Bedroom Suite features a double sided fireplace is positioned between the master and home office.

Master bathroom, features an oversized tub, an open air shower along with two separate sink areas and two separate clothes closets....Stepping outside into the private backyard,

you are surrounded by the best of outdoor living,. The pool along with the fully equipped outdoor kitchen, provide a relaxing space for great outdoor entertaining. $571,900. Call or Text The Listing Agent for more Details at-941-356-4093 or email Jackie@JackieWoodsRealtor.com

MASSAGE TABLES, NEW and

non-residential

and suburbs) Call (331) 305-3959 or see online at [www.ChicagoCars.biz]

SELF-STORAGE

CENTERS.

T W O locations to serve you. All units fully heated and humidity controlled with ac available. North: Knox Avenue.

773-685-6868.

South: Pershing Avenue. 773-523-6868.

roommates

used. Large selection of professional high quality massage equipment at a very low price. Visit us at www. bestmassage.com or call us, 773764-6542.

special. Russian, Polish, Ukrainain girls. Northbrook and Schaumburg locations. 10% discount for new customers. Please call 773-407-7025

DEPENDABLE CARS AVAIL ABLE priced from $995. (Chicago

SERVICES HIDDEN CAMS & Surveillance

Monitor employee’s, children’s phones Fleet vehicle/asset/property tracking Suspect Infidelity? Child/Elderly care?

Contact Mr. Smith at 312**768**0523

SOUTH SUBURBS NICE room.

FOR A HEALTHY mind and body.

European trained and certified therapists specializing in deep tissue, Swedish, and relaxation massage. Incalls. 773-552-7525. Lic. #227008861.

UKRAINIAN MASSAGE. CALLS in/ out. Chicago and sub-

Seniors Welcome, share kitchen and bath or private bath, $400-$450. Call 708-803-0720

urbs. Hotels. 1250 S Michigan Avenue. Appointments. 773-616-6969.

MARKETPLACE

HEALTH & WELLNESS

CLASSICS WANTED ANY CLASSIC CARS IN ANY CONDITION. ’20S, ’30S, ’40S, ’50S, ’60S & ’70S. HOTRODS & EXOTICS! TOP DOLLAR PAID! COLLECTOR. CALL JAMES, 630-201-8122

UNFORGETTABLE, RELAXING, THERAPEUTIC Deep Tissue Massage for your physical, mental, spiritual health.

Returning to business, previous clients welcome. Jolanta 847650-8989. Addison /Laramie. By appointment. Lic.#227000668.

GOODS

FULL BODY MASSAGE. hotel, house calls welcome $90

MUSIC & ARTS

WILMETTE. Beth Hillel Congregation Bnai Emunah. Rummage & Book Sale. Quality merch (500 families). 3220 Big Tree Ln (Edens Lake St, E 1/2 blk to Lavergne, S. to bldng)1/15, 9a-1p. 1/16, 9a-11a

3BR HOUSE FOR RENT, close to schools & trans, 2 car garage, finished bsmt, 84th & Jeffery, $1300 mo plus sec dep 312-8521260 SOUTHSIDE 3BR, 1.5BA, Chicago Landmark, Central Heat/Air, Appliances, $1280/month. 312-375-7295

118 W. 118TH St. Newly rehabbed

5BR, 2BA. Tenant pays utils. Sec 8 OK. $1400/mo. Non-refundable Move-In Fee Req’d. 708-417-6999

Oak Lawn 9631 Parkside, 3BR House, 1.5BA, $1350/mo.

Call 312-804-0830

3 BR OR MORE $1500-$1799 SECTION 8 WELCOME 117th & Loomis, 4BR, 2BA 2 car garage, 1mo sec, $1500/mo rent call Al 847-644-5195

3 BR OR MORE OTHER

87TH & ELIZABETH V E R Y nice 3 bedroom house, laundry service, hardwood floors & new windows. Section 8 welcome. Call 773-315-7008

6142 S. ROCKWELL, 2 flat 3BR /4BR, heat and appls incl, carpet, section 8 OK, $1250-$1300/mo.

CHICAGO, PRINCETON PARK Near trans and school. 773-317HOMES. Spacious 2-3 BR Town- 5947 homes, Inclu: Prvt entry, full bsmt, lndry hook-ups. Ample prkg. Close 8600 S. KINGSTON , 3 BR to trans & schls. Starts at $844/ $1300 & 8130 S Merrill, 4BR mo. $1600, brick updated,new w w w . p p k h o m e s . painted, hdwd flrs, c-fan, unfin com;773-264-3005 bsmt 773-619-9511 ROUND LAKE BEACH, IL Cedar

FOR SALE

SECTION 8 WELCOME Dolton 3BR, 1BA, no basement, no

ROGERS PARK, 7400N & 1900W. Newly Decor 2BR, free gas & heat.

2 BR OTHER

70TH & KIMBARK. Spacious

3 BR OR MORE UNDER $1200

SECTION 8 WELCOME

Chicago 1618 S. Sawyer.

Newly remodeled, nice, huge 4 bedroom, 1st floor apt, Elec incl.

773-799-4416

THE LATEST ON WHO’S PLAYING AND WHERE THEY’RE PLAYING

EARLY WARNINGS

WEEKLY E-BLAST GET UP TO DATE. SIGN UP NOW.

8639 S Kingston, 3BR, formal dining rm, living rm, eat in kitc. bsmt, new rehab & dec. Sec 8 ok Call for appt./lv msg 773-4375816 CALUMET PARK 12946

S Carpenter, 3BR, 1.5 BA, fireplace & basement, 1 car garage, Sec 8 Welc 773-995-9370 or 773-718-1142

GENERAL 1301 W. 71ST PL. 6BR, 1.5BA, fin bsmt, alarm system, appls incl, near schools and trans, no dogs.

Sec 8 OK. Call Roy 312-405-2178

Rogers Park – 1700 W Juneway 773.308.5167. 3-4 bedrooms from $1175 Free heat. No deposit

CHICAGOREADER.COM JANUARY 12, 2017 | CHICAGO READER 35

STRAIGHT DOPE

By Cecil Adams Q : What can you tell me about the

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chicagoreader.com/early 36 CHICAGO READER - JANUARY 12, 2017

A : A botched Soviet plot to kidnap a West

German radio interviewer supposedly hinged on candy laced with scopolamine. Present-day tabloids insist that Chinese gangs in Paris are using it to dope prosperous victims, who then helplessly empty their jewelry drawers on command. Such exotic tales have lent scopolamine a menacing aura and the grabby sobriquet of “the most dangerous drug in the world.” But the milligram and a half in that transdermal patch your GP gave you for motion sickness poses no threat of transforming you into a mindless zombie anytime soon.

Scopolamine is the active ingredient in burundanga, a powder made from the seeds of a tree known locally in Colombia as the borrachero. Because of its hallucinogenic properties burundanga figured in the spiritual practices of some indigenous peoples, and they used it medicinally as well. Synthetic scopolamine wasn’t manufactured till the early 20th century, when it became popular as a childbirth sedative that not only relaxed moms but dimmed their memories of pain after the fact.

And yes, by the 1920s scopolamine had become the first drug billed as a truth serum.

The twilight haze it induced left patients able to converse but seemingly less inhibited; the Texas doctor who pioneered its use in interviewing criminal suspects claimed it impaired reasoning enough to make lying impossible.

Interrogators soon decided, however, that the side effects made scopolamine more trouble than it was worth. The biggest problem?

“The fantastically, almost painfully, dry ‘desert’ mouth brought on by the drug is hardly conducive to free talking, even in a tractable subject,” a CIA analyst reported in 1961. Even moderate doses of scopolamine sound like a bad time, unless you get off on protracted pupil dilation.

But you can get a scrip for it, though it’s not like pharmacies are handing out bottles of pure scopolamine tablets. The clinical name is hyoscine, and its most common usage is in a patch worn behind the ear to ease nausea, whether postoperative or just your basic carsickness type. Scopolamine

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prescription drug scopolamine? Is it the same thing as the South American “zombie drug”? Wasn’t it used as a truth serum? Why would a doctor ever prescribe it? —NICK DAVIS

reduces certain organic secretions (hence the dry mouth) and also dampens nerve signals that trigger vomiting. Under the name Buscopan (widely prescribed everywhere but the U.S.), it’s used to treat abdominal pain. Scopolamine can also provide relief from symptoms of Parkinson’s disease; some researchers believe it can be used as an antidepressant or to combat Alzheimer’s.

That’s not to deny the nefarious uses it’s put to. A dose slipped into a beer or plate of food can disable an unsuspecting mark enough for someone to lift their wallet, and in Colombia this apparently does happen. The claim from a 1995 Wall Street Journal dispatch that burundanga was involved in half of all poisoning cases in Bogotá’s ERs seems a tad on the high side, but the State Department has for years been warning American visitors to Colombia to keep an eye on their drinks, citing “unofficial estimates” of 50,000 scopolamine “incidents” a year.

But though scopolamine in your drink might leave you dopey or knock you out, it won’t rob you of free will, rendering you an ambulatory servant of your assailant. Sure, it’s powerful, but not supernaturally so. That amnesiac quality obstetricians once prized is probably the source for the “zombie drug” myth.

And frankly the horror stories about the use of scopolamine in Europe and the U.S. sound fishy: supposedly someone just hands you a business card that’s been soaked in the drug, or blows a handful of the powder into your face, but that sort of limited contact almost certainly wouldn’t be enough to incapacitate you. It’s also unclear where crooks in Europe or the U.S. would be getting the drug.

With no recreational demand for burundanga, are serious quantities really being smuggled out of Colombia? And amassing enough of the synthetic kind would take more than a few prescriptions—you’d need an inside source at the lab. There are plenty of other nasty drugs out there, after all, and plenty of nasty people passing them around. v Send questions to Cecil via straightdope.com or write him c/o Chicago Reader, 350 N. Orleans, Chicago 60654.

l

l

SAVAGE LOVE

By Dan Savage

Caged up and ready for a lap dance

Is that OK? Plus: the deal with shaved pubes, the use of “faggot,” and more Q : My partner and I have

been playing with male chastity devices. We’ve been considering going to a strip club while his cock is caged up and getting him lap dances. Is there some etiquette for this with the dancers? Do we let the dancer know before she is on his lap? Or do we not mention it? Is it rude to get a dancer involved at all? I’ve not yet found an etiquette guide for this situation.

—LETTING OUR CAGE KINK SHOW

A : “I think I speak for

most dancers when I say I don’t care what’s going on underneath a customer’s pants,” said Bobbi Hill, a lap dancer based in Portland, Oregon. “Grazing over a stiff object in the crotch region is not an uncommon experience when giving a lap dance, and depending on the texture of the device, I might not even give it a second thought.”

While your concern for lap dancers is commendable, LOCKS, the person most at risk of injury is your partner.

The devices are unyielding (ideally) and the cock flesh is weak (even when hard). A dancer who grinds down on your partner’s crotch is likelier to hurt him.

That said, if a dancer grinds down on your partner’s crotch and feels something hard and clunky, “she might go into air-dance mode,” said Hill, “which is essentially a lap dance where you make as little contact with the customer’s crotch as possible.

Try handing her a Benjamin as you explain your situation.”

Q : I recently left my

husband. It’s very liberating, and I have been starting to venture out for some great sex, something missing in my 25-year marriage.

Two weeks ago, I went to a

clubby bar and brought a man back to my place. The guy was in his 40s, lean, and muscular. When we got this stud’s clothes off, I saw that his pubic area was completely shaved. While he was humping away he told me to feel his anus, and that area, too, was shaved. I am wondering if this is common these days. Is there some “meaning” to it? And is anal touching now customary?

—CONFUSED OVER UNDERGARMENT-AREA REGION

A : While I love your signoff,

COUGAR, sleeping with a lean, muscular guy in his 40s who likes to have his anus touched doesn’t earn a woman her cougar whiskers or whatever. You’re going to have to fuck a few boys in their 20s if you want to be a cougar.

In regards to your recent hookup, COUGAR, the removal of pubic hair has definitely become more common over the last 25 years. Studies have found that upwards of 60 percent of women regularly remove most or all of their pubic hair; many men do too. Shaving or waxing doesn’t necessarily mean anything in particular. And while I wouldn’t describe anal touching as customary, there are definitely more straight men around today who aren’t afraid of their own assholes.

Q : I met my boyfriend at a

gay night in a club. But he loves going down on me, the PIV sex is the best I’ve ever had, and I believe him when he says he’s straight.

He’s got an above-average cock, but he likes me to tell him it’s small and compare him unfavorably to other men I’ve been with. I’ve had bigger and I don’t mind degrading him like this. But he also likes to be called a

“faggot” when he’s fucking me. It makes him incredibly horny, but I feel guilty for using an antigay hate term while we’re having straight sex. Is this OK? Is it fuckedup? Should we stop?

—FEMALE ANXIOUSLY GRANTS SLURS

A : It’s not OK, it’s completely

fucked-up, and you don’t have to stop.

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Q : I recently stopped

reading your advice column due to its current focus on homosexuality. Just letting you know the heterosexuals are still alive and doing well.

—BORED READING ENDLESSLY EXPERIMENTAL DEVIANTS EXPLORING RECTUMS

A : Over the last year,

BREEDER, I published 140 questions from readers.

Twenty-six were from gay men (18 percent), 16 were from bisexuals (12 percent), six were from trans people (4 percent), two were from lesbians (1 percent), and 90 were from straight people (65 percent). Almost all of the bisexuals whose letters I responded to were in opposite-sex relationships, and the same goes for half the letters from trans people.

So nearly 80 percent of the questions I answered last year focused on straight people and/or straight sex.

If a sex-advice column that’s about straight people and/or straight sex 65 to 80 percent of the time is too gay for you, BREEDER, then my “current focus” isn’t the problem—your homophobia is. I would say that I’m sorry to lose you as a reader, BREEDER, but I’m not. v Send letters to mail@ savagelove.net. Download the Savage Lovecast every Tuesday at thestranger.com. ß @fakedansavage

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b The XX 5/1, 6:30 PM, Aragon Ballroom, on sale Fri 1/13, 10 AM Yonas 2/11, 9 PM, Subterranean, 17+

UPDATED Dashboard Confessional 1/28, 7:15 PM and 3/1, 6 PM, House of Blues, second show added, on sale Fri 1/13, 10 AM b Vince Staples, Kilo Kash 3/18-19, 8 PM, Metro, second show added b Dale Watson & Ray Benson 1/21, 5 and 8 PM, Maurer Hall, Old Town School of Folk Music, early show added b

UPCOMING Mastodon o TRAVIS SHINN

NEW

Lydia Ainsworth 4/28, 10 PM, Schubas, on sale Fri 1/13, 10 AM Jeff Austin Band 4/4, 8 PM, SPACE, Evanston, on sale Fri 1/13, 10 AM b Bayside, Say Anything, Reggie & the Full Effect 5/5, 6:30 PM, Concord Music Hall, on sale Fri 1/13, noon b Keola Beamer & Jeff Peterson 3/31, 7 PM, Szold Hall, Old Town School of Folk Music b Adrian Belew Power Trio 4/1, 8 PM, Maurer Hall, Old Town School of Folk Music b Biffy Clyro, O’Brother 4/5, 6:30 PM, House of Blues, on sale Fri 1/13, 10 AM Big Sean, MadeinTYO 3/31, 7 PM, Aragon Ballroom, on sale Fri 1/13, 10 AM Bowling for Soup, Runaway Kids 3/31, 8 PM, Bottom Lounge, on sale Fri 1/13, 10 AM, 17+ Billy Bragg 2/21, 7 PM, Maurer Hall, Old Town School of Folk Music b Sam Bush 3/2, 8 PM, Maurer Hall, Old Town School of Folk Music b Chairlift 4/14, 8 PM, Double Door Dead Meadow 3/8, 8:30 PM, Double Door, on sale Fri 1/13, 10 AM, 18+ Dave Douglas Quintet 2/15, 8:30 PM, Constellation, 18+ Mark Eitzel & Howe Gelb 4/15, 8 PM, Maurer Hall, Old Town School of Folk Music b Flat Five 3/24-25, 8 PM, Hideout Foreigner, Cheap Trick 8/9, 7 PM, Huntington Bank Pavilion, on sale Sat 1/14, 10 AM Lauren Giraldo 2/28, 7 PM, Beat Kitchen b

Great Lake Swimmers 4/22, 9 PM, Hideout Ha Ha Tonka 5/20, 9 PM, Empty Bottle Haywyre 3/17, 8 PM, Concord Music Hall, 18+ Wayne “the Train” Hitchcock 2/7, 9 PM, Beat Kitchen Griffin House 4/23, 7 PM, SPACE, Evanston, on sale Fri 1/13, 10 AM b Charlie Hunter Trio 4/8, 10 PM, SPACE, Evanston, on sale Fri 1/13, 10 AM b Ides of March 3/1, 8 PM, City Winery, on sale Thu 1/12, noon b Wanda Jackson 4/1, 8 PM, City Winery, on sale Thu 1/12, noon b Billy Joel 8/11, 7 PM, Wrigley Field, on sale Fri 1/13, 10 AM b Alex Lahey 3/20, 7 PM, Schubas, on sale Fri 1/13, noon b Las Cafeteras 3/3, 8:30 PM, Thalia Hall, on sale Fri 1/13, 10 AM, 18+ David Lindley 4/11, 7:30 PM, SPACE, Evanston, on sale Fri 1/13, 10 AM b Mastodon, Eagles of Death Metal, Russian Circles 5/13, 7:30 PM, Aragon Ballroom, on sale Fri 1/13, 10 AM b Mbongwana Star 3/4, 8 PM, Maurer Hall, Old Town School of Folk Music b Jim Messina 3/26, 8 PM, City Winery, on sale Thu 1/12, noon b Modern Baseball 4/18, 5:30 PM, Concord Music Hall b Nothing 3/2, 8:30 PM, Beat Kitchen, on sale Fri 1/13, 10 AM, 17+ Nouvelle Vague 3/27, 8 PM, Metro, 18+ Maceo Parker 2/12, 5 and 9 PM, the Promontory

38 CHICAGO READER - JANUARY 12, 2017

Pink Talking Fish 3/11, 9:30 PM, Park West, on sale Fri 1/13, 10 AM, 18+ The Relationship 2/19, 7:30 PM, Beat Kitchen Salaam Shalom 4/23, 1 PM, SPACE, Evanston, on sale Fri 1/13, 10 AM b San Fermin, Low Furs 4/12, 8:30 PM, Thalia Hall, on sale Fri 1/13, 10 AM, 17+ David Sanborn 3/26, 6 PM, the Promontory John Sebastian 4/9, 7 PM, SPACE, Evanston, on sale Fri 1/13, 10 AM b Simple Plan, Set It Off 3/31, 5 PM, House of Blues, on sale Fri 1/13, 10 AM William Singe 2/18, 7 PM, Riviera Theatre b Space Jesus 2/10, 10 PM, Bottom Lounge, 17+ Sunsquabi 3/25, 9 PM, Bottom Lounge, on sale Fri 1/13, noon, 17+ Deb Talan 4/2, 7 PM, SPACE, Evanston, on sale Fri 1/13, 10 AM b Aaron Lee Tasjan 4/11, 8 PM, Schubas, on sale Fri 1/13, noon Tchami 3/4, 9 PM, Concord Music Hall, 18+ TFDI 4/13, 8 PM, SPACE, Evanston, on sale Fri 1/13, 10 AM b Butch Trucks & the Freight Train Band 4/7, 8 PM, SPACE, Evanston, on sale Fri 1/13, 10 AM b U2, Lumineers 6/3, 7 PM, Soldier Field, on sale Tue 1/17, 10 AM b UK Subs 4/4, 7:30 PM, Reggie’s Rock Club, 17+ WBEZ Winter Block Party with Jamila Woods, Kaina, Medicine Woman, and more 1/28, 7 PM, Metro b Daniel Weatherspoon 2/6, 8:30 PM, Wire, Berwyn Wray 2/4, 8:30 PM, Beat Kitchen, 17+

Against Me! 2/24, 7 PM, Durty Nellie’s, Palatine b Anvil, Night Demon 4/8, 7 PM, Reggie’s Rock Club, 17+ Architects, Stray From the Path 3/8, 7:30 PM, Bottom Lounge, 17+ Bastille 4/3, 7:30 PM, Aragon Ballroom Black Marble 1/27, 9 PM, Empty Bottle Bon Jovi 3/26, 7:30 PM, United Center Tom Chaplin 1/26, 8 PM, Park West, 18+ Circa Survive, Mewithoutyou 2/11, 7:30 PM, Riviera Theatre b Circuit Des Yeux 2/3, 8:30 PM, Constellation, 18+ Darkest Hour, Ringworm 2/23, 7 PM, Reggie’s Rock Club, 17+ Dead & Co. 6/30-7/1, 7 PM, Wrigley Field Flaming Lips 4/17, 8 PM, Riviera Theatre, 18+ King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard 4/8, 9 PM, Metro, 18+ Laura Jane Grace 2/5, 8 PM, City Winery b Head for the Hills 2/17, 8 PM, City Winery b Lauryn Hill 2/6, 8 PM, House of Blues, 17+ Juicy J, Belly, Project Pat 3/17, 8 PM, House of Blues, 18+ Kings of Leon, Deerhunter 1/23, 7:30 PM, United Center Kreator, Obituary, Midnight 4/7, 7:30 PM, House of Blues, 17+ Hamilton Leithauser 2/15, 8 PM, Lincoln Hall Lemon Twigs 1/26, 9 PM, Empty Bottle Less Than Jake, Pepper 2/8, 7 PM, Concord Music Hall, 17+ The Life and Times 2/10, 9 PM, Empty Bottle Lordi 2/14, 7 PM, Double Door Magnetic Fields 4/19-20, 8 PM, Thalia Hall b Marduk, Incantation 2/10, 7 PM, Reggie’s Rock Club, 17+ Moving Units 3/10, 9 PM, Empty Bottle

ALL AGES

WOLF BY KEITH HERZIK

EARLY WARNINGS

CHICAGO SHOWS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT IN THE WEEKS TO COME

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The Necks 3/1-2, 8:30 PM, Constellation, 18+ Willie Nile 3/17, 8 PM, SPACE, Evanston b Overkill, Nile 2/17, 7 PM, Concord Music Hall, 17+ Pain of Salvation, Oceans of Slumber 2/18, 8 PM, Reggie’s Rock Club, 17+ Red Hot Chili Peppers 6/307/1, 7 PM, United Center Lionel Richie, Mariah Carey 3/25, 7 PM, United Center Andy Shauf 5/13, 8:30 PM, Lincoln Hall Sleaford Mods 4/3, 8 PM, Double Door, 18+ Mavis Staples 2/17, 8 PM, Symphony Center b Livingston Taylor 2/10, 8 PM, SPACE, Evanston b James Taylor & His All-Star Band, Bonnie Raitt 7/17, 7 PM, Wrigley Field b Ryley Walker 2/1, 8 PM, SPACE, Evanston b Roger Waters 7/22, 8 PM, United Center The Weeknd 5/23, 7:30 PM, Allstate Arena, Rosemont Xeno & Oaklander 1/28, 9 PM, Empty Bottle Zombies 4/13, 8 PM, Thalia Hall, 17+

SOLD OUT Adam Ant 1/31, 8 PM, the Vic, 18+ Alkaline Trio 1/18-20, 9 PM, Metro, 18+ Ben Gibbard, Julien Baker 1/19-20, 8:30 PM, Thalia Hall, 17+ Tove Lo 2/16, 8 PM, House of Blues, 17+ Mayday Parade 4/22, 7 PM, House of Blues b Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness, Atlas Genius 3/24, 7:30 PM, House of Blues, 17+ New Found Glory 4/11-13, 8 PM, Bottom Lounge, 17+ Noname, Ravyn Lenae 2/8-9, 7 PM, Metro b Rainbow Kitten Surprise 1/25, 7:30 PM, Lincoln Hall b Maggie Rogers 4/2, 7:30 PM, Lincoln Hall b Run the Jewels 2/17, 8 PM, Aragon Ballroom, 18+ Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue 2/3, 8 PM, Park West, 18+ Frank Turner & the Sleeping Souls, Masked Intruder 1/23, 6:30 PM, House of Blues, 17+ Vulfpeck 5/4-5, 9 PM, Metro, 18+ v

GOSSIP WOLF A furry ear to the ground of the local music scene ON SUNDAY, JANUARY 15, pro-choice activists and women’s health advocates will convene a March for Abortion Rights across the street from Federal Plaza at Dearborn and Jackson, as a counter to the March for Life that’s meeting in the plaza the same day. That night, abortion-rights witness movement #ShoutYourAbortion will throw a fund-raiser at Gman Tavern hosted by comedian Sarah “Squirm” Sherman and featuring DJs such as Rabble Rabble’s Matt Ciarleglio and Absolutely Not keyboardist Madison Moore.

Organizers will raffle off prizes from Sideshow Gallery, home-goods and jewelery designer Leah Ball, local label Eye Vybe Records, and others.

Gossip Wolf accidentally filled in “2016” on January’s rent check—maybe because there’s still so much music to catch up on from late last year! At the Empty Bottle on Tuesday, January 17, locals Grün Wasser and New Canyons open for LA bedroom goth act Drab Majesty, and both have recent releases. Grün Wasser dropped Nein/9 on Maximum Pelt in November, and it’s full of beguiling industrial dance a la the Knife. Last week, synthgaze faves New Canyons self-released an EP featuring single “Never Found” and remixes from the likes of engineer and musician Sanford Parker and synth jammer Wesley Groves (aka Lightpolite).

Last year Chicago writer and publicist Jim Hanke launched the podcast Vinyl Emergency, which features musicians, promoters, and writers talking about records—the debut episode went live January 15, 2015. To celebrate the podcast’s first anniversary, Hanke is taking over Pinwheel Records for a live taping on Saturday, January 14. The episode will feature Braid singer-guitarists Bob Nanna and Chris Broach, who’ll also perform an acoustic duo set; afterward Modern Vinyl will record an episode of its podcast. The free event begins at 7 PM, and you can register in advance at bit.ly/ve_pod. —J.R. NELSON AND LEOR GALIL Got a tip? Tweet @Gossip_Wolf or e-mail gossipwolf@chicagoreader.com.

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onald Trump, the President-elect, has assembled a regime of grave danger. Millions of people in the U.S. and around the world are filled with deep anxiety, fear, and disgust. Our anguish, right and just, must now become massive resistance—before Donald Trump is inaugurated and has the full reins of power in his hands.

It is the fascist character of the Trump/Pence regime and what they are planning to do which renders it illegitimate and an immoral peril to the future of humanity and the earth itself.

Should we fail to rise with determination and daring now to stop this, the consequences for humanity will be disastrous. Our only recourse now is to act together with deep determination outside normal channels. Every faction within the established power structure must be forced to respond to what we do—creating a situation where the Trump/Pence regime is prevented from ruling.

IN THE NAME OF HUMANITY WE REFUSE TO ACCEPT A FASCIST AMERICA! S IGNED BY THOUSANDS , INCLUDING

Bill Ayers • Carl Dix • Kurt Elling Eve Ensler • Lalah Hathaway Vic Mensa • Ted Sirota Alice Walker • Cornel West

REFUSEFASCISM CHICAGO MEETING Thursday January 12 • 7:00 pm Trinity Episcopal Church

125 E. 26th Street @Michigan Avenue

refusefascism.org • 312.933.9586 • facebook: RefuseFascism JANUARY 12, 2017 - CHICAGO READER 39

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