Print Issue of May 4, 2017 (Volume 46, Number 30) by Chicago Reader

C H I C A G O ’ S F R E E W E E K LY | K I C K I N G A S S S I N C E 1 9 7 1 | M AY 4 , 2 0 1 7

New doc

THE ART LIFE

explores David Lynch’s early years. 21

CPS won’t say why it suspended

ACTIVIST TEACHER SARAH CHAMBERS.

MASS EXODUS An East Chicago community dissolves in the fallout from a decades-long lead crisis. crisis. By ALYSSA SCHUKAR 11

The rise and fall of

BAD BOY RADIO

and the birth of the Birthday Line 24

2 CHICAGO READER - MAY 4, 2017

THIS WEEK

C H I C A G O R E A D E R | M AY 4 , 2 0 1 7 | V O L U M E 4 6 , N U M B E R 3 0

TO CONTACT ANY READER EMPLOYEE, E-MAIL: (FIRST INITIAL)(LAST NAME) @CHICAGOREADER.COM

EDITOR JAKE MALOOLEY CREATIVE DIRECTOR PAUL JOHN HIGGINS DEPUTY EDITOR, NEWS ROBIN AMER CULTURE EDITOR TAL ROSENBERG DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY DANIELLE A. SCRUGGS FILM EDITOR J.R. JONES MUSIC EDITOR PHILIP MONTORO ASSOCIATE EDITORS KATE SCHMIDT, KEVIN WARWICK, BRIANNA WELLEN SENIOR WRITERS MICHAEL MINER, MIKE SULA SENIOR THEATER CRITIC TONY ADLER STAFF WRITERS MAYA DUKMASOVA, LEOR GALIL, DEANNA ISAACS, BEN JORAVSKY, AIMEE LEVITT, PETER MARGASAK, JULIA THIEL SOCIAL MEDIA EDITOR RYAN SMITH GRAPHIC DESIGNER SUE KWONG MUSIC LISTINGS COORDINATOR LUCA CIMARUSTI EDITORIAL ASSISTANT CASSIDY RYAN CONTRIBUTING WRITERS NOAH BERLATSKY, MATT DE LA PEÑA, ANNE FORD, ISA GIALLORENZO, JOHN GREENFIELD, JUSTIN HAYFORD, JACK HELBIG, DAN JAKES, BILL MEYER, J.R. NELSON, MARISSA OBERLANDER, LEAH PICKETT, DMITRY SAMAROV, DAVID WHITEIS, ALBERT WILLIAMS INTERNS AUSTIN BROWN, RACHEL HINTON, JIAYUE YU

FEATURES

IN THIS ISSUE

4 Agenda Neil Hamburger, Zine Fest, Malcolm Gladwell, the ﬁlm God Knows Where I Am, and more cultural goings-on

CITY LIFE

PHOTO ESSAY

Mass exodus

An East Chicago community dissolves in the fallout from a decades-long lead crisis. BY ALYSSA SCHUKAR 11

7 Street View Artist Angela Davis Fegan demonstrates “the protester look.” 7 Sure Things Obscura Day, Nasty Women art exhibition, and more of the week’s best bets 8 Joravsky | Politics CPS won’t say why it suspended activist teacher Sarah Chambers.

19 Visual Art Karl Wirsum is still the mayor of Hairy Whoville. 21 Movies A new documentary, The Art Life, explores David Lynch’s early years. 23 Movies Laura Poitras documents her tangled professional relationship with Julian Assange in Risk.

MUSIC & NIGHTLIFE 29 Shows of note Laura Marling, Moonrunners Music Festival, and more recommendations

FOOD & DRINK

---------------------------------------------------------------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

9 Transportation The Navy Pier Flyover is taking longer to complete than the Golden Gate Bridge.

ARTS & CULTURE

16 Theater There’s no need to worry about My Fair Lady at Lyric Opera. 16 Dance Julia Rhoads of Lucky Plush is one of four female choreographers featured in Hubbard Street’s Danc(e) volve: New Works Festival. 17 Theater David Adjmi’s 3C is a dark parody of Three’s Company.

---------------------------------------------------------------DISTRIBUTION CONCERNS distributionissues@chicagoreader.com CHICAGO READER 350 N. ORLEANS, CHICAGO, IL 60654 312-222-6920, CHICAGOREADER.COM ---------------------------------------------------------------READER (ISSN 1096-6919) IS PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY STM READER, LLC, 350 N. ORLEANS, CHICAGO, IL 60654. COPYRIGHT © 2017 CHICAGO READER. PERIODICAL POSTAGE PAID AT CHICAGO, IL. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. CHICAGO READER, READER, AND REVERSED R: REGISTERED TRADEMARKS ®.

ON THE COVER: PHOTO BY ALYSSA SCHUKAR. FOR MORE OF HER WORK, GO TO ALYSSASCHUKAR.COM OR TURN TO PAGE 11.

MUSIC & NIGHTLIFE

The rise and fall of Bad Boy Radio and the birth of the Birthday Line

Mike Love and the Dizz launched their famous WGCI show in 1997, and in its decade-long run it created cultural touchstones that still bring black Chicagoans together. BY TIFFANY WALDEN 24

18 Comedy Character Assassination has cultural ﬁgures in its insultcomedy sights.

35 Restaurant review: Texican Former Dodo chef Kim Dalton rustles up a posse of Tex-Mex classics. 37 Cocktail Challenge: Spaghetti0s The canned kidpleaser comes of age.

CLASSIFIEDS

38 Jobs 38 Apartments & Spaces 39 Marketplace

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

40 Straight Dope What’s the difference between a border adjustment tax and a tariff? 41 Savage Love Does the toe make a good substitute for the penis and other questions from a live audience 42 Early Warnings Andrew Bird, Blondie, Common, and other shows in the weeks to come 42 Gossip Wolf Poison Arrows drop their first album since 2010, and more music news.

MAY 4, 2017 - CHICAGO READER 3

AGENDA The beloved hit musical

READER RECOMMENDED

Send your events to agenda@chicagoreader.com

b ALL AGES

L E R N E R & LO E W E ’ S

Chicago o BRETT BEINER

THEATER

More at chicagoreader.com/ theater

Tickets from $29

Any production of Kander Cabaret An and Ebb’s 1966 Broadway hit would benefit from losing half its score (most of the nonfamous songs stop the action dead d while belaboring the obvious), obvious) but No Stakes Theater Project’s sc scrappy staging would do well to ax them all. The collective efforts of dire director Erin Shea Brady, choreographe choreographer Mollyanne Nunn, musical directors Emili Emilie Modaff and Erick Rivera, and a loose four-piece band never successfully pu put a song across or bring the seedy Kit K Kat Klub credibly to the stage. Fortunat Fortunately, the cast skillfully plumb most o of the depths of Joe Masteroff’s well-crafted book, making the story of doomed romance—and doomed progressive sexual politics—in tthe Weimar Republic’s final days disa disarmingly poignant. In the thankless central role of struggling nov novelist Cliff Bradshaw, Cory Hardin captivates. ca —JUSTIN HAYFORD Thr Through 5/6: Wed-Sat 7:30 PM, Berger Park Cultural Center, 6205 N. Sheridan, Sher nostakestheaterproject.com, $2 $26.50, $16.50 students. Chicag Chicago It’s all about celebrity. R An imprisoned imp starlet, Roxy Hart (Kelly Felthous), Fel fights to become

RICHARD E. GRANT H E N RY H I G G I N S MY FAIR LADY Book and Lyrics by ALAN JAY LERNER Music by FREDERICK LOEWE Original Production directed by

Moss Hart. Production created by the Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris, in co-production with the State Academic Mariinsky Theatre. Photos by Todd Rosenberg Photography.

4 CHICAGO READER - MAY 4, 2017

a celebrity fast fas enough to be able to save her life. Sequins, Seq blaring headlines, and fierce stockings stoc ensue. It’s hard to believe that it’s been 34 years since Kander and E Ebb’s iconic musical last played in its nnamesake town, where audiences will laugh nervously when they hear that “The Cell Block Tango” is set inside Cook C County Jail. But it’s finally back, aand everything works in this razzle-dazzling razzle-daz production directed by William Osetek. Comparisons with the film adaptation are inevitable, but for my money Drury Lane’s version puts the corrupt social order of the play in a much more sober light than the movie does. Felthous, alongside Aléna Watters as Velma Kelly, heads up a superb cast predominantly of out-of-towners. —MAX MALLER Through 6/18: Wed 1:30 PM, Thu 1:30 and 8 PM, Fri 8 PM, Sat 5 and 8:30 PM, Sun 2 and 6 PM, Drury

Lane Oakbrook Terrace, 100 Drury Ln., Oakbrook Terrace, 630-530-0111, drurylaneoakbrook.com, $43-$60.

The Firebirds Take the Field After 25 years away, a neurosurgeon returns to her crumbling, postindustrial hometown when 18 girls, most of them cheerleaders, all come down with the same mysterious ailment. Rivendell Theatre’s world-premiere production of Lynn Rosen’s play works both as a biting critique of how our society treats women and as an insightful rumination on the ways unfulfilled hopes and desires can haunt or even poison one’s life. Though based on an actual case in upstate New York, this story works much better as a metaphorical tale than a medical mystery—the emotions ring true even if the science seems iffy. Directed by Jessica Fisch. —DMITRY SAMAROV Through 5/27: Thu-Fri 8 PM, Sat 4 and 8 PM (4 PM only 5/27); also Mon 5/15, 8 PM, Rivendell Theatre, 5775 N. Ridge, 773-334-7728, rivendelltheatre.org, $38, $28 students, seniors, and military. Forty-Two Stories In Douglas Post’s new comedy, a career philosophy student procrastinates on his dissertation for an eighth year by accepting a maintenance job in the “real world,” namely a Lake Shore Drive high-rise condo. Unsurprisingly, his blue-collar tourism doesn’t sit well with the committed lifers on staff, whose expertise has long been undervalued by the higher-ups. Scott Westerman’s City Lit Theatre production is at its most fun when it gives insight into the inner workings of the business, particularly its awkward positioning between office and residential life. Alongside a broad B story about a building manager prepared to go full-blown Gloria (more literally than is comfortable in an otherwise light whodunit yarn), a more perfunctory romance narrative pumps the brakes on the comedy throughout. —DAN JAKES Through 5/28: Fri-Sat 7:30 PM, Sun 3 PM; also Mon 5/15 and 5/22, City Lit Theater, 1020 W. Bryn Mawr, 773-293-3682, citylit.org, $32, $27 seniors, $12 students and military. Lady X: The Musical Hell in a R Handbag’s prolific David Cerda reworks his 2010 play into an insightfully terrible, noiresque backstage musical.

A gaggle of chorus-girl hookers (dumb, sauced, jaded, or all three) sing and dance their way into and out of gangland trouble under the murderous eye of their nightclub boss, underground queenpin Scarlet Fontanelli. The first half hour is so craftily written, ingeniously tuneful (music by Cerda and Scott Lamberty), wickedly vulgar, and crisply performed that the remaining 90 minutes—which in any other context would be mostly terrific—often seem merely good. This artful cloaking of progressive gender politics under cross-dressing absurdity and big dance numbers deserves judicious trimming and tightening. As the fire-haired, overstuffed Fontanelli, Cerda is an utter horror. —JUSTIN HAYFORD Through 6/10: ThuSat 7:30 PM, Sun 6 PM, Mary’s Attic Theatre, 5400 N. Clark, 773-784-6969, handbagproductions.com, $26-$44. The Liar There’s something R so unusual, like quintuplets, about doing a play in only rhyming

couplets; Promethean Theatre Ensemble somehow pulls this off, which is assuredly nothing at which to scoff. In Pierre Corneille’s 1644 farce, Dorante (Josh Hambrock) captivates the Paris scene with his elegant, dubious fibs, so much so that even he loses all sense of what’s real and what’s a lie: as he says at one point, “The unimagined life is not worth living.” As adapted by David Ives, the repartee comes fast and furious, with plenty of bounce and verve. Ed Rutherford directs. —MAX MALLER Through 5/27: Thu-Sat 7:30 PM, Sun 2 PM; also Mon 5/18, 7 PM, Athenaeum Theatre, 2936 N. Southport, 773-935-6860, prometheantheatre.org, $27, $22 seniors, $17 students and children. My Name Is Annie King Underscore Theatre focuses entirely on nurturing and presenting new musicals—a noble mission, but risky, as this multiflawed premiere production proves. Krista Pioppi’s book starts with infantile twentysomething Lucas fleeing the funeral of the father who never loved him right; drunk and armed with a car, he hits a pedestrian who turns out to be Cash, the alpha-male leader of an end-of-days cult. In an interesting twist, Lucas and Cash form an intense bond. But that’s

the last interesting twist in this 150-minute show. The rest is either predictable, undeveloped (what, exactly, is the story with Cash’s health?), or telegraphed by Alex Higgin-Houser’s clunky staging. A dramaturg might’ve helped, but there’s none listed in the credits. And the “bluegrass” score by Aaron Albert and Katy Rea? Running from vague to trite, it’s not even bluegrass. —TONY ADLER Through 5/28: Fri-Sat 7:30 PM, Sun 5 PM, Mon 7:30 PM, the Broadway at Pride Arts Center, 4139 N. Broadway, 800-7370984, pridefilmsandplays.com, $20-$30. Not About Nightingales Tennessee Williams’s flawed but historically significant 1938 drama was written when he was 27—six years before he broke through with his stunning The Glass Menagerie—but not produced until 60 years later, when it came to Broadway at the urging of Vanessa Redgrave. It’s the story of a group of penitentiary inmates who stage a hunger strike to protest their inhumane treatment by the corrupt warden and his brutal guards (including the ultimate punishment—internment in a 150-degree boiler room known as “Klondike”). Recalling such 30s films as I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang and Each Dawn I Die, it’s a sometimes awkwardly preachy but still potent protest against a callous, abusive incarceration system that has long since abandoned any pretense of social rehabilitation. Raven Theatre’s well-acted production, directed by Michael Menendian, effectively juggles the play’s elements of harsh realism and dreamlike expressionism, using stylized movement choreographed by Breon Arzell and eerily atmospheric lighting designed by Diane D. Fairchild. The cast—including Chuck Spencer as the warden, Brandon Greenhouse as a conscience-stricken “canary” (jailhouse informant), and Sophia Menendian as the warden’s secretary, an outsider who finds herself trapped in a hellish underworld—is excellent. —ALBERT WILLIAMS Through 6/4: ThuSat 7:30 PM, Sun 3 PM, Raven Theatre, 6157 N. Clark, 773-338-2177, raventheatre. com, $43, $38 seniors and teachers, $21 students and military. Tattered and Wincing An uncredited note in the program warns, “If this play

Lady X: The Musical o RICK AGUILAR

Best bets, recommendations, and notable arts and culture events for the week of May 4

Neil Hamburger The bizarro R comic performs stand-up. Wed 5/10, 8 PM, Lincoln Hall, 2424 N. Lincoln, 773-525-2501, lh-st.com, $20.

Visually Hilarious, Gracefully R Stupid The Comedy Dance Collective incorporate traditional and

tive & Social Neuroscience hosts the journalist and author for a discussion of his work. Thu 5/4, 4 PM, Rockefeller Memorial Chapel, University of Chicago, 5850 S. Woodlawn, 773-702-8069, ccsn. uchicago.edu.

VISUAL ARTS

goes on longer than 42 minutes, I am walking oﬀ the stage.” Curious Theatre Branch’s ensemble keeps that promise, curtain call be damned, by way of an alarm clock in this dedication to company collaborator Ryan Wright, who died unexpectedly at the age of 29 in March. Playwright and performer Beau O’Reilly loosely ties together Dylan Thomas recitations, quirky movement pieces, absurdist fragments pulled out of a chest, and metatheatrics with audience plants to create a sober, impressionistic montage of artists feeling lost in the wilderness. The speciﬁcs are largely inscrutable, but as a postmortem among friends, this is one of those rare projects that has value over and above what it communicates to audiences. —DAN JAKES Through 5/14: Fri-Sat 8 PM, Sun 3 PM, Prop Thtr, 3502 N. Elston, 773-5397838, curioustheatrebranch.com, $12 in advance online, $15 or pay what you can at the door.

DANCE

Anarchy Ascendence Dance R Chicago’s contemporary dance performance exploring a post-World

War III existence. 5/5-5/7: Fri 8 PM, Sat 2 and 8 PM, Sun 2 PM, Theater Wit, 1229 W. Belmont, 773-975-8150, ascendencedancechicago.com, $20-$25.

Platinum Anniversary Concerts R Ballet Chicago celebrates its 20th anniversary with a world premiere

by Frank Chaves along with revivals of works by George Balanchine, Dan Duell, and Ted Seymour. Sat 5/6, 2 and 7:30 PM, Harris Theater, 205 E. Randolph, 312-334-7777, balletchicago.org, $25-$50.

COMEDY R

Cocktails and Humor Team Us Comedy hosts this stand-up showcase featuring Vik Pandya, Meghana Indurti, Tyler Fowler, Timmy Whitzell, and Kristen Toomey. Sat 5/6, 8 PM, CH Distillery, 564 W. Randolph, 312-707-8780, teamuscomedy.com, $20 plus two-drink minimum.

Evanston Art Center “Shulin Sun,” a collection of the Chinese artist’s paintings and ink drawings inspired by nature. Opening reception Thu 5/4, 6-8 PM. 5/4-5/28. Mon-Thu 10 AM-10 PM, Fri-Sat 10 AM-4 PM, Sun 1-4 PM. 2603 Sheridan, Evanston, 847-475-5300, evanstonartcenter.org. Filter Space “Post,” Marta Zgierska’s project exploring trauma, inspired by the artist’s own experience surviving a serious car accident in 2013. Opening reception Fri 5/5, 6-9 PM. 5/5-5/27. MonSat 11 AM-5 PM. 1821 W. Hubbard, suite 207, ﬁlterfestival.com. Gallery19 “InHonor:Monoliths,” an exhibition of Ervin Alex Johnson’s photographs and mixed-media work. Opening reception Thu 5/4, 5-8 PM. 5/25/7. Tue-Sat noon-6 PM. 4839 N. Damen, 773-420-8071, gallery19chicago.com. Vertical Gallery “Forgot How to Fly,” work by London-based street artist Word to Mother. Opening reception Sat 5/6, 6-10 PM. 5/6-5/27. Tue-Sat 11 AM-6 PM. 1016 N. Western, 773-697-3846, verticalgallery.com.

LIT & LECTURES

W. Kamau Bell The comedian R and host of United Shades of America discusses his book The Awk-

ward Thoughts of W. Kamau Bell: Tales of a 6’ 4”, African American, Heterosexual, Cisgender, Left-Leaning, Asthmatic, Black and Proud Blerd, Mama’s Boy, Dad, and Stand-up Comedian. Thu 5/4, 7 PM, the Book Table, 1045 Lake, Oak Park, 708-386-9800, booktable.net.

Malcolm Gladwell Michelle Alexander and Naomi R Klein in Conversation The civil rights lawyer and journalist discuss

connections between ecological and economic crisis, racism, mass incarceration, deportation, police violence, and more, moderated by Princeton University African-American studies professor Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor. Tue 5/9, 7 PM, Auditorium Theatre, 50 E. Congress, 800-982-2787, auditoriumtheatre.org, $6.

MOVIES

More at chicagoreader.com/movies NEW REVIEWS Behind the White Glasses Dismayingly shallow, this 2015 documentary about Italian writer-director Lina Wertmüller fails to address what makes her work so controversial—or, for that matter, virtually anything beyond why her friends and collaborators like her. Director Valerio Ruiz, a former assistant to Wertmüller, trots out a series of talking heads to recount stories about the production of her most famous ﬁlms (Love and Anarchy, Seven Beauties, Swept Away) and how they were received upon release. Little is divulged about what inspired

L E R N E R & LO E W E ’ S

Chasing Trane: The John Coltrane Documentary This documentary about John Coltrane provides a fine overview of his career for the uninitiated and plenty of lesser-known information for fans. As one of the latter, I was most interested in the sections covering his tenure in Dizzy Gillespie’s band in the early 1950s, which explains what he learned as a journeyman musician, and his tour of Japan in 1966, which reveals how his spirituality informed his writing in his final years. Director John Scheinfeld (The U.S. vs. John Lennon) nicely balances Coltrane’s biography with explanations of his musical innovations, showing how the two were intertwined. The film offers the standard view that Coltrane found his voice in 1957 when he quit heroin and began to articulate his spiritual side, which reached its apotheosis with his 1964 masterpiece A Love Supreme. The engaging talking heads include friends and associates (among them Sonny Rollins and McCoy Tyner, the latter featured too briefly) and such Coltrane enthusiasts as Common and Bill Clinton. With Denzel Washington reading Coltrane’s words. —BEN SACHS 99 min. Landmark’s Century Centre The Circle In the near future, a young woman (Emma Watson) goes to work for a Google-like corporation that aims to collect

Chicago Zine Fest The annual R fest celebrating small press and independent publishers from all over

the city features workshops, discussions, readings, and an exhibition of more than 250 self-published artists. All Friday events take place at Co-Prosperity Sphere (3219 S. Morgan); all Saturday events take place at Plumbers Union Hall (1340 W. Washington). 5/5-5/6: Fri 6:30 PM, Sat 11 AM-6 PM, various locations, chicagozinefest.org. Gladwell The University R ofMalcolm Chicago’s Center for Cogni-

ON STAGE NOW through May 21

Wertmüller’s anarchist themes or whether her own sexual politics diﬀered from the outrageous notions in her movies. (No one interviewed even acknowledges that viewers can be turned oﬀ by Wertmüller’s rape fantasies and female stereotypes.) At least the subjects are engaging; Wertmüller, appearing here in her 80s, is lucid and wry in discussing her creative process. In English and subtitled Italian —BEN SACHS 112 min. Sat 5/6, 5:15 PM. Gene Siskel Film Center

contemporary choreography into their sketches. 5/5-5/26: Fri 8:30 PM, iO Theater, 1501 N. Kingsbury, ioimprov.com/ chicago, $10.

Collage work by Ervin Alex Johnson is on display at Gallery19 as part of “InHonor:Monoliths.”

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

LISA O’HARE ELIZA DOOLITTLE

Chasing Trane: The John Coltrane Documentary

LY R I CO P E R A .O RG 3 1 2 . 8 2 7. 5 6 0 0 MAY 4, 2017 - CHICAGO READER 5

He lost her once He was not at peace Somehow, somewhere, he had to ﬁnd her.

Rainbow Over Portland:

A Spiritual Journey to Redeem Lost Love.

Alexander Rassogianis. Outskirts Press

By the author of Return to Glenlord: Memories of Michigan Summers and The Entrepreneurial Spirit of the Greek Immigrant in Chicago, Illinois:1900-1930. Available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble and all book stores. For further information contact the author at rassogianis@yahoo.com.

DONATE SHOP SUPPORT big-medicine.org

“One of the best resale shops in Chicago” -Time Out Chicago

6241 N BROADWAY CHICAGO MON-SAT 11-7 SUN 12-7 773-942-6522

Never miss a show again.

EARLY WARNINGS Find a concert, buy a ticket, and sign up to get advance notice of Chicago’s essential music shows at chicagoreader.com/early. 6 CHICAGO READER - MAY 4, 2017

AGENDA B data on every person on the planet; as pet employee of the enigmatic CEO (Tom Hanks), she ultimately becomes the face of the company, little realizing she has to sacrifice her privacy in the process. I haven’t read the Dave Eggers novel on which this flat thriller is based, though I can’t imagine it races through the story the way the movie does. Director James Ponsoldt (who adapted the book with Eggers) barely develops any character besides Watson’s, piling on narrative complications instead. The film introduces some compelling ideas about how the Internet has transformed public and private life, yet it doesn’t spend much time developing these either. This is the rare failure that might have been improved by a longer running time. With Patton Oswalt, Bill Paxton, and Ellar Coltrane. —BEN SACHS PG-13, 110 min. Century 12 and CineArts 6, Lake, New 400 The Dinner A silver-fox congressman running for governor (Richard Gere) and his sharp-edged young wife (Rebecca Hall) meet for dinner at an exclusive restaurant with the congressman’s dyspeptic brother (Steve Coogan) and his spouse (Laura Linney) to discuss their respective sons, who are friends and face trouble with the law. The premise for this chamber drama is inherently suspenseful, but not enough to sustain a movie so languorous that its chapters are demarcated by the various dinner courses, from aperitif to dessert. (After an hour I felt like loosening my belt.) The fraternal conflict grows increasingly murky as the brothers pull up their family baggage, and Coogan, saddled with a relentlessly sour and self-pitying character, retreats into his practiced American accent. Oren Moverman—whose previous collaboration with Gere, Time Out of Mind, far surpasses this one—directed his own script, adapting a novel by Herman Koch. —J.R. JONES R, 120 min. Crown Village 18, Landmark’s Century Centre, River East 21 Finding Oscar Directed by Ryan Suffern, this harrowing documentary focuses on the December 1982 massacre perpetrated by the Guatemalan military against the little village of Dos Erres, whose residents—some 250 men, women, and children—were shot to death and dropped down the village well (if they weren’t thrown in alive). The atrocity occurred shortly after President Reagan flew to Guatemala City to endorse President Ríos Montt, who had taken office in a coup earlier that year and was fighting a guerrilla insurgency. Declassified cables presented in the movie show that U.S. diplomats reported the massacre and implicated the military, though Reagan soon went before Congress to request more funds for Montt’s

My Entire High School Sinking Into the Sea

forces. Among the handful of survivors were two small boys carted oﬀ by the soldiers and raised as adopted children; grown to manhood and tracked down by reconciliation activists, they share their own dim memories of the horror and try to explain the experience of having their childhood wiped away clean. —J.R. JONES 96 min. Suﬀern attends the late screening on Friday, May 5. Fri 5/5-Thu 5/18. Gene Siskel Film Center God Knows Where I Am R Documentary makers Jedd and Todd Wider investigate the sad

but fascinating life of Linda Bishop, a schizophrenic woman who was found dead in an abandoned New Hampshire farmhouse in early 2008, just a few months after her discharge from a state psychiatric hospital. The film presents a heartbreaking portrait of Bishop, with haunting testimony from people who knew her and passages from her journal read movingly by actress Lori Singer. It also conveys how horrifying schizophrenia can be for people with the condition as well as for those around them, showing that even the most well-intentioned friends and professionals were unable to protect Bishop from herself. Inventively structured, the documentary alternates between her early adulthood and her final months, her sad demise casting a shadow over the story and giving the film an air of classical tragedy. —BEN SACHS 103 min. Facets Cinematheque My Entire High School Sinking Into the Sea In this colorful children’s animation from writer-director-artist Dash Shaw, a trio of enterprising school-newspaper reporters uncover documents indicating that their coastal high school has been built below code for earthquakes, and wouldn’t you know it, the Big One arrives, tossing the whole building into the water and forcing the kids to reenact The Poseidon Adventure. Shaw’s script affects the ironic world-weariness common to high school comedy since the 90s TV series My So-Called Life, and his 2-D characters, lavishly outlined

in black ink, are on a loop that makes them shimmy slightly even when they’re standing still. But the animation set pieces scattered throughout the movie are frequently inspired, pulling in all manner of media and materials, and the backgrounds can be dazzling, particularly those that, in keeping with the story, make use of dye blossoming through water and other liquid eﬀects. Plus, the most popular kid in school gets eaten by sharks. —J.R. JONES 76 min. Shaw attends a free screening on Thurday, May 4, part of the opening-night program for CineYouth Festival (see below); RSVP at Eventbrite. Music Box

SPECIAL EVENTS CineYouth Festival This three-day festival collects shorts and features by ﬁlmmakers under 22. Thu 5/4, 7 PM; Fri 5/5, 5 PM; and Sat 5/6, 9:30 AM. Music Box Even Though the Whole World Is Burning Stefan Schaefer directed this 2014 documentary on environmental activist and Pulitzer Prize-winning poet W.S. Merwin. 85 min. Mon 5/8, 6 PM. Film Row Cinema, Columbia College F First Nations Film and Video Festival The annual festival, collecting ﬁlm and video work by Native American artists, continues through next week with programs at Beverly Arts Center, Chicago Cultural Center, DePaul University College of Computing and Digital Media, Mitchell Museum of the American Indian, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and University of Illinois-Chicago Rafael Cintron-Ortiz Latino Cultural Center. Tue 5/2Wed 5/10. Fluxus and Film University of Chicago Film Studies Center presents a two-day symposium on the problems inherent in documenting the Fluxus art movement. Included are works by Wolf Vostell, Eric Andersen, Nam June Paik, Ludwig Schönherr, Paul Sharits, and Carolee Schneemann. Fri 5/5, 4 PM, and Sat 5/6, 9 AM. Univ. of Chicago Logan Center for the Arts v

CITY LIFE Street View

Performative outrage

SURE THINGS ¥

Keep up to date on the go at chicagoreader. com/agenda.

SUNDAY 7

Un insurable A documentary series about the impact of the Aﬀordable Care Act followed by a discussion with health-care expert Colleen McLoughlin and former Obama administration appointee Rachel Rubin Neuhausen. 2:30 PM, Crowd Theater, 3935 N. Broadway, facebook. com/UninsurableDoc, $10 suggested donation.

THURSDAY 4

o ISA GIALLORENZO

ARTIST ANGELA DAVIS FEGAN was sporting what she called “the protester look.” Those red coveralls, she says, “make me feel like a technician or a laborer, which are both things related to producing my body of work.” Fegan was coming from Open Engagement, the itinerant annual conference focused on the practice of socially engaged art that this year was held in late April mostly at UIC. Fegan in collaboration with artist Megan Young made the WE HOLD SPACE FOR poster as part of a performance piece called The Longest Walk. Participants filled in the sign with their own pet causes before setting off on a staged demonstration. Fegan herself put down “QUEER VOICE” because “including as many voices as possible is important, but queer is an identity that applies to me and most of my other work,” she says. “Queer people often manipulate and enhance outward signifiers for survival and to silently communicate among each other. So I am hyperaware of what I am doing with clothing choices at all times.” —ISA GIALLORENZO See more Chicago street style on Giallorenzo’s blog chicagolooks.blogspot.com.

E May the 4th Pa rty In honor of Star Wars Day, this celebration features intergalactic cocktails, a ping-pong tournament pitting the light side against the dark side, food specials, DJs, and a costume contest. 8 PM-midnight, Spin Chicago, 344 N. State, chicago.wearespin.com.

FRIDAY 5

Ô Nast y Women Art Chicago This exhibition and Planned Parenthood fund-raiser features more than 350 works by local female artists, along with performances by Shannon Patino, Nina Donovan, Dianna Tyler, and Red Rover Series. 5:30-10:30 PM, Moonlight Studios, 1446 W. Kinzie, nastywomenartchicago. org.

SATURDAY 6

MONDAY 8

TUESDAY 9

WEDNESDAY 10

p Indie Boots Th eate r Festival This year’s presentation of short plays focuses on underrepresented perspectives. Playwrights include L.C. Bernadine, Adrienne Dawes, Theo Germaine, Richard Paro, June Thiele, and Eileen Tull. Mon 5/8-Wed 5/10, 7:30 PM, Stage 773, 1225 W. Belmont, indieboots. org, $10-$15.

· Th e Ma rtian The ﬁlm screens as part of the Field Trip series, and is followed by a discussion with Philipp R. Heck, the Field Museum’s associate curator of meteoritics and polar studies. 7 PM, Music Box Theatre, 3733 N Southport, musicboxtheatre.com, $11.

p Obscura Day 2017 The Atlas Obscura Society hosts a day of expeditions featuring events at the Oriental Institute and Chicago’s Leather Archives & Museum plus walking tours exploring the city’s early LGBTQ communities and history of disasters. 10 AM-7 PM, various locations, atlasobscura. com/obscuraday, $20 per event.

& Farm to Table D inner A new weekly series featuring an ever-changing fourcourse menu by chef Ricardo Jarquin based on ingredients selected that same day from the Green City Market. Wine pairings available ($20). Through 10/25: Wed 5-10 PM, Travelle, 330 N. Wabash, travellechicago. com, $45.

MAY 4, 2017 - CHICAGO READER 7

CITY LIFE

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

Sarah Chambers speaks against the new CPS budget during a Chicago Board of Education meeting in December 2016. o SANTIAGO COVARRUBIAS/SUN-TIMES

POLITICS

The miseducation of Sarah Chambers

A CPS teacher is suspended after she speaks up against cuts to special ed. By BEN JORAVSKY

s former Chicago Public Schools CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett stood before a federal judge on the day of her sentencing last week, a grammar school special education teacher named Sarah Chambers began the third week of her school board-imposed suspension. There’s a connection between the two cases, as you’ll soon see. Byrd-Bennett was the quintessential goalong-to-get-along bureaucrat, who agreed to be the public face on the city’s decision to close 50 schools in predominantly poor, black communities in 2012. In exchange for her subservience on that racially charged issue, Mayor Rahm Emanuel appointed Byrd-Bennett to the top schools post. Then, in 2013, Mayor Rahm’s school board appointees unanimously approved a $20 million consulting contract to a couple of scam artists who were kicking back some of the money to B-3, as the mayor so affectionately nicknamed her. It took a federal investigation to nail Byrd-Bennett, though it was obvious to just about every onlooker from the get-go that the consulting deal smelled to high heaven.

8 CHICAGO READER - MAY 4, 2017

By contrast, Chambers is an outspoken activist who frequently shows up at school board meetings to thunder her disapproval at cuts to special education funding, which hammer hardest at the system’s most vulnerable children. Generally, Chambers is the one in a T-shirt that reads: “CPS has $$$ for banks but not Special Ed?” In early April, the mayor’s school appointees suspended Chambers from her job at Maria Saucedo Scholastic Academy, a grammar school in Little Village where she’s taught for the last eight years. They still haven’t explained why they suspended her. But in doing so, they effectively sent a “You’d better think twice” message to other teachers who might be considering resisting the mayor’s cuts and policies. So what’s the connection between B-3 and Chambers? As you can see, it pays to be a ﬂunky in Rahm’s Chicago—so long as the FBI isn’t reading your e-mails. Anyway, let’s take a deeper dive into the Chambers case. For the last few years, Chambers has been at the forefront of a spirited resistance to mayor-

al efforts to curtail special education spending by limiting the number of kids identified by the district as special-needs students. To keep costs down, CPS has, among other things, dragged out the time it takes to diagnose students to see if they qualify to be in a separate special ed classroom or have one-onone assistance from a teacher’s aide. Chambers contends that CPS is making it difficult for children to get into special education because the district wants to spend special ed money on other things. But Forrest Claypool—CPS’s current CEO— says they’re just taking longer to diagnose kids because they’re looking out for the best interests of poor, black children by making sure they’re not erroneously placed in special education classes. You know, B-3 also said they were looking out for black kids to justify closing the schools. As a general rule, dear readers, I think it’s a good idea not to believe it when Rahm or one of his school appointees says they’re doing something to help poor, black people. Sure enough, Katie Drews, an investigative reporter for the Better Government Association, did a little digging and discovered that there are proportionately more whites than blacks in special education. So clearly, this isn’t a case of CPS overdiagnosing black students for special education. Looks like Claypool’s going to have to come up with a new explanation. In her speeches before the board, Chambers generally points out that it’s insane to run a system so inadequately funded that it must borrow hundreds of millions of dollars each year to pay for basic services. That means money that might otherwise go for things we want—like special education—winds up being spent paying interest to bankers. And nobody wants that—except maybe the bankers. Well, apparently, folks at CPS got tired of listening to Chambers. On April 6, a bureaucrat in the office of employee engagement sent Chambers a letter that said: “You are temporarily removed from duty at [Saucedo]. You should remain at home pending the result of an investigation of the incident/matter in question. You are prohibited from being on Board premises. You will continue to receive pay until you receive further notice.”

And what exactly is the “incident/matter in question”? The board still hasn’t told her, and Emily Bittner, a CPS spokeswoman, said in a statement only that “Ms. Chambers engaged in misconduct that created cause to move to dismiss her.” It seems as if CPS suspended Chambers while they looked around for a reason to justify having suspended her. It’s straight out of Kafka. Chambers’s theory is that Claypool and Emanuel are trying to send a message to teachers who dare to speak out. “They’re trying to intimidate other teachers,” she says. “People might think, ‘Look what happened to Sarah. I don’t want that to happen to me.’ ” It’s reminiscent of what happened last year to Troy LaRaviere, the former principal of Blaine Elementary School.

“They’re trying to intimidate other teachers. People might think, ‘Look what happened to Sarah. I don’t want that to happen to me.’” —Sarah Chambers, suspended CPS special education teacher

In that case, CPS unceremoniously removed LaRaviere from Blaine after he lambasted the mayor and the board for, among other things, wasting money on privatizing janitorial services that have left schools ﬁlthier than ever. After being removed, LaRaviere was elected president of the Chicago Principals & Administrators Association and is talking about possibly running for mayor in 2019. Ironically, since the board removed Chambers from her classroom, she’s had time to join protests against everyone from Rahm to Rauner to Trump. “I thought they might make me report to a district office,” Chamber says. “But it’s more like I’m under home arrest. I’d rather be in a classroom. But in a weird way, it’s like they’re paying me to be a protester.” Apparently, Rahm and his CPS appointees will do just about anything to avoid spending money on special education. v

ß @joravben

Ô MIKE CENTENO

CITY LIFE

TRANSPORTATION

Pier pressure

The Navy Pier Flyover is taking longer to complete than the Golden Gate Bridge. By JOHN GREENFIELD

hankfully, the 40-year-old bicyclist who was struck by a Suburu driver near the Navy Pier Flyover construction site last week wasn’t seriously injured. But the crash sparked a new conversation about why the $60 million initiative to build an overpass for cyclists and pedestrians, to improve safety near Illinois’s second-most-popular tourist attraction, is taking so damn long. The ﬂyover is meant to relieve crowding on a narrow section of the Lakefront Trail between the Chicago River and Ohio Street Beach. Currently this stretch of trail is just a narrow sidewalk along Lower Lake Shore Drive, with poor sight lines at the busy Grand and Illinois junctions. According to Illinois Department of Transportation data, there were a total of six reported bicycle and pedestrian crashes at these two intersections between 2009 and 2015.

The serpentine overpass, which resembles a spinal column when viewed from below, will widen the path to 16 feet, eliminate dangerous street crossings, and provide breathtaking views of Lake Michigan by taking trail users alongside Upper Lake Shore Drive and back down again. Chicago bike advocates have been pushing for the flyover since before 2001, when the ﬁrst public meeting on the proposal was held. But the project didn’t really get rolling in earnest until Mayor Rahm Emanuel took office in 2011. “We at the city have discussed this, we have debated it, we have deferred it for decades, and now it’s time to build it,” Emanuel said at the 2014 groundbreaking. At the time, CDOT announced that the overpass would be completed in 2018, which means the project is technically still on schedule.

According to police, the cyclist hit last week was riding west on Grand when he was struck by the driver, who was coming from the southbound exit ramp of LSD. That means that, even if the flyover had already been open, it wouldn’t have made a difference in this case. Still, the story inspired a thread on the Chainlink, a social networking site for local cyclists, in which members wondered aloud why, three years after the groundbreaking, the flyover still isn’t finished. For example, a commenter named Jim Reho noted that, incredibly, it’s taking as long to construct the overpass as it took to build the entire Golden Gate Bridge. That massive span was built between 1933 and 1937 with far less sophisticated equipment. Some people also argued that the roughly three-block bikeway is a waste of federal transportation funding that could be better spent on other cycling projects. “It makes me weep to think of how much good could have been done for cyclists and pedestrians in Chicagoland for the $60 million they’re wasting on that ill-conceived boondoggle,” Reho wrote. In comparison, all the hardware for the Divvy bike-share system, including 580 stations and 6,000 cycles, cost about $36 million, according to CDOT. (As with the flyover, most of the money came from federal transportation grants.) The day after the Grand/Lower LSD crash, I got a message from one of the anonymous creators of a new Facebook page called Complete the Navy Pier Flyover. And Soon. The sender told me there are three people involved with the campaign, but they need to remain anonymous to avoid jeopardizing their day jobs. The person said the group was “organized to put pressure on the city to complete the Navy Pier Flyover without further delays. With increased usage on the [existing trail], we are very concerned about public safety.” Active Transportation Alliance director Ron Burke has also expressed concerns about the construction time line, calling the overpass “a worthwhile investment given that it’s such a busy bike/ped corridor,” but adding that he’s “disappointed it’s taking so long.” When I alerted CDOT spokesman Mike Claffey to the recent complaints, he blamed the construction schedule on the project’s complexity and cost. The new bikeway has to snake around on- and off-ramps for the Drive and pass through a Chicago River bridge

house, and construction has required temporary lane closures. Phase one of the project, from Ohio Street Beach to the Ogden Slip (a man-made harbor just north of the Chicago River), will cost $26 million, including $18 million in federal and and $8 million in IDOT funds, and is nearly finished. “We knew from the outset that it . . . would be a challenge to fund [the flyover]—especially without a state capital bill or a dedicated federal funding source,” Claffey says. “In order to get the project completed within our existing resources, we have had to spread it over several years.” While there was a tight deadline to complete phase one, Claffey says the city needed more time to line up funding for phase two— from the Ogden Slip to the river, starting this summer—and phase three—the southernmost flyover portion crossing the river, slated to start this fall. “The three phases started design at different times and have been progressing on separate tracks,” Claffey says. A Chainlink thread commenter named Jorge defended CDOT’s explanation of the project’s cost leading to its seemingly slow completion. “Why is it taking so long? Funding is spread out over years. It is that simple.” He scoffed at the idea that the grassroots Complete the Navy Pier Flyover. And Soon campaign could accelerate the project. “There is no possible way for that to happen,” he wrote. “Might as well pray for it to happen sooner. Same effect, nothing.” Jorge also pushed back at the notion that the $60 million project is a boondoggle, noting that it will prevent crashes and injuries, and improve access to Navy Pier. “When are cyclists ever afforded luxuries in our car culture?” he wrote. Jorge’s got a point. We often take massive expenditures to facilitate driving for granted. Last week, for example, the Illinois Tollway board voted unanimously for a $4 billion expansion of the Tri-State Tollway. That’s the equivalent of 67 Navy Pier Flyovers. It’s about time that bike riders and pedestrians got some Cadillac-quality infrastructure for a change. While it would have been nice to see the flyover project expedited, in about a year and a half trail users’ patience will be rewarded with a first-class facility. v

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

MAY 4, 2017 - CHICAGO READER 9

SIDEWALK SALE OPEN BOOKS WEST LOOP 651 W. LAKE ST.

MAY 12-14

12noon - 6pm Hardcovers $4 Paperbacks $3 Kidsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Books $2

All Used Books In Store

25% Off 10 CHICAGO READER - MAY 4, 2017

www.open-books.org @openbookstores

MASS EXODUS

An East Chicago community dissolves in the fallout from a decades-long lead crisis. By ALYSSA SCHUKAR

The sun sets on Chicago, at top right, and BP’s oil tanks in East Chicago, 80 percent of which is zoned for heavy industry. The body of water at top left is a conﬁned disposal facility, which contains toxic chemicals, waste, and sediment produced by nearby industry.

merican industry disproportionately affects the health of minority and low-income communities, and East Chicago, Indiana—which boasts of having been the country’s “most industrialized municipality” during the industrial revolution—offers a glimpse into the kinds of environmental injustices now plaguing the rust belt. J MAY 4, 2017 - CHICAGO READER 11

Above: Lamont Anderson embraces his son, eight-year-old Lamont Jr. Lamont Jr.’s blood lead levels tested above the CDC’s cutoﬀ for lead poisoning. After living in the complex for more than a decade, the family moved to Gary, Indiana, last summer. Right: EPA contractors test soil at a home near the West Calumet Housing Complex. The EPA has classiﬁed three zones of concern related to the 322-acre Superfund site, which includes the housing complex and two residential areas to its east.

12 CHICAGO READER - MAY 4, 2017

Mass Exodus continued from 11

Top: Lamont Jr. plays with his younger brother, 19-month-old Logan. Bottom: A year ago, nearly all of the homes in the West Calumet Housing Complex were full. Today, only a handful of families remain.

In July 2016, nearly 1,200 people in the West Calumet Housing Complex of East Chicago learned their children’s blood carried levels of lead that tested as much as six times higher than the Center for Disease Control’s cutoff for lead poisoning. In December, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced that some of the city’s drinking water also contains high levels of lead, prompting Indiana governor Eric Holcomb to declare a disaster emergency for the 322-acre site, which includes the housing complex, Carrie Gosch Elementary School, and two residential areas east of the complex. Though the homes were built in the late 1960s and early 1970s, a USS Lead smelting plant operated in the area up until 1985. Contaminants, including lead and arsenic, left in the soil led the area to be designated a Superfund site, which requires a long-term response to clean up hazardous materials. A lead reﬁnery, a copper smelter, and a secondary lead smelter were also active in the area. As part of a legal settlement announced in November, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development advanced plans to help West Calumet’s public housing residents leave their homes. At that time, HUD ruled that residents could stay through the end of the school year, but residents learned in March that they had 14 days to evacuate their homes. J

MAY 4, 2017 - CHICAGO READER 13

Above: Friends since childhood, Janae Peyton, 13, Ashanti France, 12, Irene Wooley, 13, and Tniyah Foxx, 12, swing at a park at the former Carrie Gosch Elementary School, which was turned into an EPA oﬃce. After elevated lead levels were found in a far corner of the school grounds, administrators moved students to the former West Side Middle School. “All my memories are here,” Peyton says. “I’ve got to move away from my friends.” Right: In a nearly abandoned building, one West Calumet apartment shows signs of life.

14 CHICAGO READER - MAY 4, 2017

Left: Claudette Jackson grew up in West Calumet. She moved her young family to the housing complex in 1983. After a fruitless search for an apartment in northwest Indiana, she’s stopped looking. “Everybody’s trying to move out of here at one time,” she says. “Where are you going to go? There’s nowhere.” Below: Stephanie King embraces her son, three-year-old Josiah, whose blood lead levels exceeded what the CDC considers dangerous and in need of intervention. King left Chicago’s south side in 2014 to ﬁnd a safer environment for her ﬁve children. “If I’d have known the dirt had lead,” King says, “he wouldn’t have been out there playing in it.”

Mass Exodus continued from 13 Many struggled to find a place to live in the city of 29,000 people. Some moved to Chicago, others to neighboring northwest Indiana communities. Having filed grievances to delay forced moves, a handful of families still remain at the complex. Once a bustling community, few signs of life remain in the emptied-out homes. “We feel like we’re just being thrown out,” Nayesa Walker says. Her three-year-old daughter’s blood tested high for lead. There’s no safe amount of lead exposure for children. In a July 2016 letter to residents, East Chicago mayor Anthony Copeland wrote, “your health and safety are always my first priority.” But nearly 80 percent of East Chicago’s 11 square miles is zoned for heavy industry, and many renters and home owners say they no longer trust the government for basic services. On the campaign trail, then-presidential candidate Donald Trump promised to get rid of the EPA “in almost every form.” The Trump administration now wants to cut 31 percent of the agency’s funding. Several of the expected cuts—including its environmental justice program, which reduces the burden of pollution on low-income communities—would directly affect East Chicago. Lead cleanups, environmental protection enforcements, and restoration projects are also expected to be cut back

MAY 4, 2017 - CHICAGO READER 15

ARTS & CULTURE

Julia Rhoads o HOLLY DEGARMO

Lisa O’Hare as Eliza Doolittle o TODD ROSENBERG

THEATER

A most fair Fair Lady By JACK HELBIG

ore and more operas are adding Broadway classics to their repertoire, in part to try to attract younger (merely middle-aged) audiences. Lyric Opera has in recent years used a classic musical to close its season, with quite a bit of success. According to Lyric’s website, its 2014 production of The Sound of Music sold the most tickets of any show in its history—71,074 tickets over 30 performances. So I suppose the idea is here to stay. My fear was that the opera’s production of Allen Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe’s musical My Fair Lady would be packed with big-lunged singers who’d crush its charm and spirit (see, e.g., the weighted-down 1984 Deutsche Grammophon recording of West Side Story with Kiri Te Kanawa, Jessye Norman, José Carreras, and Tatiana Troyanos and conducted by Leonard Bernstein). I needn’t have worried. This show is a good ﬁt for Lyric. And in hindsight I see there are many reasons for this. For one, the show al-

16 CHICAGO READER - MAY 4, 2017

ready has impeccable high-brow credentials: it’s a faithful adaption of George Bernard Shaw’s 1913 social comedy Pygmalion and the screenplay Shaw penned for Gabriel Pascal’s 1938 movie version. In adapting Shaw’s original, about a gentleman phonetician, Henry Higgins, who on a bet teaches a cockney ﬂower seller, Eliza Doolittle, to talk and act like a lady, Lerner wisely left most of the original dialogue and story intact. For another, Lerner and Loewe’s witty, intelligent, elegant score can hold its own alongside the best operas in the repertoire. My Fair Lady is very durable. Low budget, no budget, it still ﬂies and sings. But rarely does it soar the way it does at Lyric. And that is all the doing of director Robert Carsen and his team. Carsen directed the original production of this particular version for the Paris-based Théâtre du Châtelet in 2010. The Chicago revival is staged by Olivier Fredj, who worked with Carsen on the original. If you peruse videos of the show on YouTube, you’ll see that Fredj has re-created it with

loving attention to detail. (He previously directed a revival of Carsen’s My Fair Lady at the Mariinksy Theatre in Saint Petersburg, Russia, in 2012.) Fredj’s production combines the work of a fair number of artists from the Théâtre du Châtelet (among them choreographer Lynne Page and costume designer Anthony Powell) and a cast full of fine actor-singers, led by Richard E. Grant as Professor Higgins and Lisa O’Hare as Eliza Doolittle. The sets and costumes at Lyric are always amazing, but rarely are they as tightly tied into the story being told as they are here—they’re no mere eye candy. For example, the scenes set in and around Covent Garden comment on the social distance between Higgins’s posh set and the down-and-out world of the cockneys. The addition of a replica of Brâncuşi’s 1923 sculpture Bird in Space to the decor of Mrs. Higgins’s ﬂat, though anachronistic (the story is set roughly ten years before the sculpture), is a sly comment on how avant-garde both mother and son are. But the casting is what sends this show into the stratosphere. Grant and O’Hare own the roles of Higgins and Doolittle; other, better-known performers may have played them before—Rex Harrison, Julie Andrews, Audrey Hepburn—but from the moment they enter we forget the others. The show is also dotted with many wonderful supporting roles. Helen Carey is spot-on as Henry Higgins’s acid-tongued mother. And Cindy Gold constantly ﬁnds big laughs in the understated comic lines Shaw penned for Higgins’s housekeeper, Mrs. Pearce. The Lyric production, which runs through May 21, is as true to the Broadway spirit of the 1956 hit as any revival could be: well paced, well acted, a feast for the eyes and the ears—and even for the brain. Far from smothering the show with operatic excess, the considerable resources of Chicago’s premier opera company have been used to full advantage to deliver a total theatrical experience. v R MY FAIR LADY Thu 5/4, 1:30 PM; Fri 5/5, 7 PM; Sat 5/6, 1:30 and 7:30 PM; Sun 5/7 and Tue 5/9, 1:30 PM, Civic Opera House, 20 N. Wacker, 312-827-5600, lyricopera.org, $16-$199.

DANCE

Hubbard Street Dance gets lucky

HUBBARD STREET DANCE CHICAGO rarely plays for laughs, but when it does it can be a lot of fun. (Case in point: 2014’s The Art of Falling, the company’s megapopular collaboration with Second City, which was reprised last year.) Hubbard Street’s latest crack at humor comes courtesy of Julia Rhoads, founding artistic director of Chicago’s Lucky Plush Productions. Rhoads is one of four female choreographers featured in Hubbard Street’s Danc(e) volve: New Works Festival this week at the MCA, and if history is any indication, her ﬁrst foray with the company—a world premiere titled Cadence—promises to be a delightfully witty affair. Her last production for Lucky Plush, Trip the Light Fantastic: The Making of Superstrip, imagined a group of has-been superheroes finding redemption at a nonproﬁt think tank. The Queue, from 2014, took place at an airport in which passengers stumbled aimlessly into each other’s lives, a smart blend of slapstick and dance. In Cadence, the secret is in a lot of performer-generated sounds, a mix of dialogue, singing, instrumentation, and whispering that makes up the live score. Rhoads brought in sound designer Michael Caskey and vocal specialist Bethany Clearfield, who worked with the Hubbard Street dancers to hone their speaking skills. The prompt for everyone: “Why does anyone start talking, or singing, or dancing, and what’s the logic of moving from one thing to another?” “A lot of the humor,” Rhoads continues, “is born out of actual relationships and setting up expectations, then subverting expectations.” Three additional pieces—Clan(device) by current company member Alice Klock, Berceuse by former company member Penny Saunders, and Cloudline, another world premiere, devised by Robyn Mineko Williams, another Hubbard Street alum—complete the program. —MATT DE LA PEÑA DANC(E)VOLVE: NEW WORKS FESTIVAL 5/10-5/14: Wed-Thu 7:30 PM, Fri 8 PM, Sat 3 and 8 PM, Sun 3 PM, Museum of Contemporary Art, 220 E. Chicago, 312-2802660, hubbardstreetdance.com, $65.

S AT • M AY 1 3 • 8 P M R READER RECOMMENDED

b ALL AGES

F Sigrid Sutter, Christina Gorman, Jennifer Engstrom, Nick Mikula, and Lawrence Grimm (standing)

Singer · Songwriter · Swingin’ · Sultry · Sizzlin’

featuring Jazz & Blues vocalist

JENIFER FRENCH DAvenPorT’S PiAno S KO K I E T H E AT RBAr E 1383 n. MNlwaukRR AOR., ChNcagS, iL 60622 7924 Lincoln Ave · Skokie, Illinois

o MICHAEL BROSILOW

TiCKeTS $2 8$20 T IC K E T S on O NSALe S A LnoW E N OW www.skokietheatre.org/peggy-lee.html www.daORTpSQtspNaTSbaQ.cSm Enjoy all the hits spanning the lifetime of one of the greatest jazz vocalists and singer/songwriters of the 20th century, Miss Peggy Lee. ALSo Daryl DarylNitz, Nitz,Johnny JohnnyRodgers, Rodgers, ALSOPerForMinG: PERFORMING: AnnMcGregor, McGregor,Joe JoePolicastro, Policastro, Chuck Ann Chuck Christiansen, Christiansen Eric Schneider, and special guest,Monique Jeannie Moyet Tanner!

Visit Jenifer French’s ofﬁcial website: JennyLovesJazz.com

THEATER

‘Come and knock on our door . . . ’ By TONY ADLER

never watched Three’s Company during its eight seasons on ABC (1977-1984), so I googled some old episodes to prep for this review of David Adjmi’s dark parody, 3C, running now at A Red Orchid Theatre. And just . . . Lord. If you’re not familiar, Three’s Company was the one where female roommates Janet and Chrissy agree to share their Santa Monica apartment with Jack, the male stranger they ﬁnd passed out in their bathroom one morning. High jinks ensue, of course—starting with the story the trio tell their landlord, who doesn’t condone cohabitation by unmarried heterosexuals of opposite genders. Jack is gay, they lie, and the landlord is strangely appeased, possibly because he understands that Jack’s tenancy opens the way to loads of faggot jokes. And the faggot jokes do ﬂy, as does smutty humor of all kinds. Three’s Company was considered racy for its time and context— even progressive insofar as the landlord’s bigotry is treated as a gag in itself. But the years have not been kind, as Adjmi obviously noticed. Part of Adjmi’s strategy is to take actual gambits from the series and push them even further into cartoonishness. Ditzy-wise Chrissy is tweaked into ditzy-sociopathic Connie, levelheaded Janet becomes repressed hysteric Linda, and the comically aggrieved landlord, Stanley Roper, is transmuted into a Pinterian thug named Mr. Wicker.

Adjmi’s larger intention, though, is to expose what Marx and Monty Python might call the violence inherent in a homophobic system. By tearing out the sitcom’s cultural safety features—including its assurance that Jack is a conventional horndog at heart—3C means to bare its nasty underpinnings. We’re all telling the truth now. And that truth has power up to a point. Adjmi pours a lot of wit into 3C, but even at a mere 90 minutes, both its satire of TV conventions and its critique of sexual hypocrisy become repetitive. His points made, Adjmi’s left with nowhere new to take us. What gets us through is a stunningly good bunch of actors directed by Shade Murray. Lawrence Grimm’s Wicker is as amiably sadistic as they come, Sigrid Sutter’s Connie suggests how the girl in The Bad Seed might’ve turned out if she’d spent her childhood attending princess pageants, while, as Linda, Christina Gorman ﬁnds a level of crazy the creators of Three’s Company couldn’t have imagined. Jennifer Engstrom has perfected a kind of female drag queen persona that she puts to good use as Mr. Wicker’s missus, Steve Haggard offers a truly creepy depiction of a disco Don Knotts, and Nick Mikula seethes as the Jack substitute, Brad. v R 3C Through 6/4: Thu-Sat 8 PM, Sun 3 PM; also Mon 5/8, 7 PM, A Red Orchid Theater, 1531 N. Wells, 312-9438722, aredorchidtheatre.org, $30-$35.

ß @taadler

FIND HUNDREDS OF

READER-RECOMMENDED

RESTAURANTS EXCLUSIVE VIDEO FEATURES AND SIGN UP FOR WEEKLY NEWS CHICAGOREADER.COM/FOOD

MAY 4, 2017 - CHICAGO READER 17

ARTS & CULTURE COMEDY

Character Assassination has cultural figures in its insult-comedy sights

n 1949, Maurice Chevalier was the first member of the Friars Club to be roasted. The tradition began as a raucous and sometimes obscene way of honoring members of the entertainer fraternity—by making them the butt of the joke. In the 1960s it evolved into a spectacle broadcast as part of The Dean Martin Show, and more recently it became a staple of Comedy Central. The events are no longer contained exclusively within the walls of the Friars Club in New York City or limited just to men, as the club was until the late date of 1988. Now one midwestern comedy show is proving that the target of a roast doesn’t even have to be a real person. The Roast started in Louisville five years ago as a chance for stand-ups to write jokes as a character and try their hand at insult comedy. The guests of honor are always historical figures, celebrities, or fictional characters played by comedians. Local comics Tyler Jackson and Andy Fleming saw the Louisville show and brought the concept to Chicago in 2015 (with the blessing of the Louisville crew), dubbing it Character Assassination. Since then local comics have had the chance to lay into the likes of Kanye West, Darth Vader, the Doctor from Dr. Who, and the entire year of 2016. The

18 CHICAGO READER - MAY 4, 2017

Roast of Harry Potter on May 7 marks the local show’s one-year anniversary and features Louisville’s Kent Carney as the title character, with Adam Burke as Snape, Mary Jordan as Hermione, Dan Drees as Ron, and more filling out the cast. “We have a president who just tweets mean things about people all the time—bullying is really having a moment,” Fleming says while trying to make sense of the roast’s current popularity. (Trump was roasted on Comedy Central in 2011.) “That translates to comedy where we can sort of do that but have fun with it. Roasting, for comedians, has always been a form of love.” For Fleming and Jackson, relevancy plays a part in who will be targeted for Character Assassination. For instance, Wonder Woman will be roasted in June in honor of the release of the latest film based on the DC Comics character. Roasters are chosen based on characters that exist in the target’s world or in adjacent worlds, and local stand-ups are assigned the role they best fit. When Kanye West (Sean Smith) was roasted, Fleming knew that they had to find talent to play hip-hop artists such as Jay-Z (Eli Hamilton) and Rihanna (Brandi Denise), but they also brought in George W.

o COURTESY ANDY FLEMING

By BRIANNA WELLEN

Bush (Danny Maupin) and Steve Jobs (Steven King) to mix things up. Fleming refers to Character Assassination as a “homework show” for comedians, meaning those involved are required to write material outside of their typical open mike or regularly performed sets, a practice that he says has helped him expand as a comic. “I have trouble proliﬁcally writing standup jokes, but when I have an assignment like ‘roast the Terminator as Bill and Ted,’ then I get it,” Fleming says. “It becomes more about getting into character than getting to the roast jokes.” While the Chicago edition is primarily a one-off event in a comedy club, the Louisville show has a level of theatricality that stand-ups rarely get to experience: there are multiple-night runs that allow performers to perfect jokes, elaborate sets

and costumes, and scripted opening and closing scenes (sometimes involving music numbers) to add a narrative structure to the roast. The local shows do include costumes, but Fleming hopes to introduce more elaborate stagecraft as Character Assassination evolves. For now Fleming and his collaborators continue to ﬁnd joy with the postmodern take on the tried-and-true format of the roast. “It’s fun because no one’s hurt by it,” he says. “Plus, when else am I going to get to roast Doc Brown and Marty McFly?” v CHARACTER ASSASSINATION PRESENTS THE ROAST OF HARRY POTTER Sun 5/7, 9 PM, Laugh Factory, 3175 N. Broadway, laughfactory.com/clubs/chicago, $20 plus two-drink minimum, $17 plus two-drink minimum in advance.

ß @BriannaWellen

ARTS & CULTURE VISUAL ART

Karl Wirsum is still the mayor of Hairy Whoville By RUTH LOPEZ

arl Wirsum is an art star. The lowkey member of the Hairy Who—the 1960s art group nestled inside the Chicago Imagists movement— would probably balk at this characterization, and the art market may not have rewarded him as such, but he is one of our homegrown treasures. Born in Chicago in 1939, Wirsum attended the School of the Art Institute, where he got his BFA in 1961. He was invited to participate in three seminal exhibitions that took place at the Hyde Park Art Center beginning in 1966. Curated by artist Don Baum, the shows also included work by Jim Nutt, Suellen Rocca, Art Green, Gladys Nilsson, and Jim Falconer. It was Wirsum who inadvertently gave the exhibits their name—and by extension the informal group of artists. During one planning meeting, the topic of what to call the ﬁrst show was on the table; the artists began talking about a pompous local art critic named Harry Bouras, and Wirsum fortuitously asked, “Harry who?” In the early 70s, Wirsum took a teaching job in California, but after a few years he returned home to stay and was, until recently, on the faculty of his alma mater. The humanoid ﬁgures that dominate his creations, whether paintings or objects, are an energetic and electrifying balance of organic and geometric forms in saturated hues that seem animated even when confined to a surface. They’re cheerfully grotesque. The centerpiece of Wirsum’s current exhibition at Corbett vs. Dempsey is an acrylic painting on Plexiglas, a 1965 portrait of blues singer Howlin’ Wolf titled No Dogs Aloud (wordplay is another feature in Wirsum’s creative universe), presented along with eight preparatory drawings. Wirsum made J

Karl Wirsum, No Dogs Aloud, 1965 o TOM VANEYNDE/CORBETT VS. DEMPSEY

MAY 4, 2017 - CHICAGO READER 19

ARTS & CULTURE Wirsum continued from 19

5920 N. Ridge 773-561-9692 bwgym.info

OCTOBER 36 MONTHS MONTHS 3SPECIAL MONTHS ONLY $199

$129 $129 6 MONTHS

FULL PRICE FULL Fee No Initiation PRICE No Restrictions PRICE FULL NoInitiation Limitations No Fee No Initiation Fee

$169

No Restrictions No Limitations Never miss a show again.

more than 50 sketches for this particular work, a process that was necessary because of the unforgiving nature of the materials, but mostly because by drawing repeatedly, the artist was able to refine his ideas about the subject. For instance, by choosing to include a kitchen strainer in place of a microphone in the portrait, he wasn’t just playing with shape but also thinking about how a mike also acts as a ﬁlter for the voice. Wirsum spoke over the phone recently about his encounters with Howlin’ Wolf in Chicago, Maxwell Street memories, and what inspires his art today. With regard to No Dogs Aloud, what about Plexiglas as a canvas appealed to you? Were you inﬂuenced by the folk art of reverse paintings on glass?

It originally started with the paintings on glass in the city, like at a hot dog place. [Commercial paintings on windows] also appeared in Mexico when I was down there in the early 1960s. I did a number of drawings of the person, Howlin’ Wolf, some done in more graphic style but related to a photograph. I originally was going to do Wolf himself, but I wanted to transform him so it wasn’t a direct relationship to the person. That generated a lot of activity. I kind of had an idea of me connecting to him. I am not a singer at all and I have no musical abilities, but I just had a connection with him from various encounters. I met him at a show at a nightclub on Roosevelt Road and talked to him there, and he mistook my idea of painting and thought that I was an indoor painter and that I would be up for hire to paint his place. Did he see the ﬁnal result?

He never did see it, but he saw the Screamin’ Jay Hawkins. [Wirsum’s 1968 portrait of Hawkins appears on the cover of the singer’s 1970 LP Because Is in Your Mind.]

Karl Wirsum (far left) in 1967 with fellow artists Art Green, Gladys Nilsson, Suellen Rocca, and Jim Nutt o CHARLES KREJCSI

What do you collect today?

Not too much. I really have minimalized. If I go [shopping], it’s once a year to the ﬂea market near downtown on Randolph Street, and I go there with my daughter. We visit a few [dealers] who have things that are done in Mexico. There is a group of family members who paint on metal, mass figures that appear in wrestling, things of that nature. Was there a camaraderie or competitiveness among the Hairy Who?

We all are feeling very good about each other. I feel very positive about the group. We all took our own paths. It was partly Don Baum [the late artist and curator who launched the Hairy Who at the Hyde Park Art Center] who created these groups and homed in on these large exhibitions by putting us together. We did it just for that brief period of time. We did shows as a group and after that we went back to our studios and did our own thing.

The blues seems to be important to you.

EARLY WARNINGS chicagoreader.com/early

I really like the blues, especially the stuﬀ on Maxwell Street. I did [go to clubs], but not as energetically as I attended the blues sessions on the streets. The group activity and the dancing—it was very strong, that aspect of Maxwell, when I was still in high school. Speaking of Maxwell Street, is that where you found additions to your great collection of vintage toys?

I mostly went for the music.

20 CHICAGO READER - MAY 4, 2017

Are you still sketching?

I have a lot of sketchbooks. The drawing aspect is the most influential for me, and I do a lot of drawings that are related to different ideas. I have various ideas going at the same time—it evolves at the sketchbook phase and then it gets translated into the final image. When do you know when you are ready to paint?

It depends on the image. I guess it ﬁnally says “This is it” and I stop and do the painting.

I read that Riverview Amusement Park was a big draw for you before it was demolished in 1967. Is there any place in Chicago these days that inspires you?

Not on the level of Riverview. I mainly do things that are more interior. I am activated by photographs, and that sort of thing sets me oﬀ. The way I develop a piece is through various associations. [That’s how I worked] early on in my career, and I continue in that same way. I have an idea and bring in ideas that relate to that idea so they become very transformed by the end of the journey. Sometimes it takes me a year or more to finish with an idea. I remember reading about Alfred Hitchcock coming up with an idea for a scene in a movie and then maybe seven or eight years later getting a complete ﬁlm out of that original idea. What advice would you give your younger self as an artist?

Search and see what is important to you, and go with that. Don’t be persuaded by the thing of the day, so to speak. Be more directed to yourself and your own inclination to produce an image, whether it be abstract or referential. I try to do that every day. v “KARL WIRSUM: NO DOGS ALOUD”

Through 5/27, Corbett vs. Dempsey, 1120 N. Ashland, third floor, 773-278-1664, corbettvsdempsey.com.

ß @TruthLopez

ssss EXCELLENT

sss GOOD

ss AVERAGE

s POOR

•

ARTS & CULTURE

WORTHLESS

DAVID LYNCH: THE ART LIFE ss

Directed by Jon Nguyen, Rick Barnes, and Olivia Neergaard-Holm. 88 min. Music Box, 3733 N. Southport, 773-871-6604, musicboxtheatre.com, $11

MOVIES

No child of mine

By J.R. JONES

Note: This review reveals who killed Laura Palmer.

avid Lynch has returned. In two weeks Showtime will premiere the ﬁrst part of Lynch’s 18-hour sequel to Twin Peaks, the short-lived mystery series (1990-’91 on ABC) that introduced network television to the avant-garde. This past week Music Box presented a complete retrospective of Lynch’s big-screen work, from his nightmarish 16-millimeter shorts of the late 60s and early 70s to his grandly impenetrable digital-video opus Inland Empire (2006). And this Friday brings the first Chicago run (following a premiere screening at the retrospective) of Rick Barnes, Olivia Neergaard-Holm, and Jon Nguyen’s new documentary David Lynch: The Art Life. According to a directors’ note, the ﬁlmmaker agreed to sit for a series of audio interviews after the birth of his daughter Lula in 2012 left him feeling reflective. His stories about his own youth, illustrated with images from his otherworldly paintings and framed by footage of him and Lula puttering around his studio compound in the Holly-

wood Hills, form sort of a portrait of the artist as a young weirdo. Lynch tries to keep the focus on his professional development, first as a painter and then as an experimental filmmaker, but his occasional anecdotes about his family may provide more insight into what he calls “the art life.” Born in 1946 in Missoula, Montana, Lynch grew up in a straitlaced western home, and many creative people will identify with the anxiety that creeps into his flat, folksy voice on the soundtrack when he speaks about his parents, who couldn’t really understand his chosen calling. For all the dark and chaotic imagery in Lynch’s canvases, the most intimidating figure in The Art Life may be his father, Donald Lynch, whom he recalls with great affection and even greater dread. By every objective measure Don was a kind, supportive father, but for young Dave, struggling to find his artistic voice and gain a professional foothold, every word of disappointment or discouragement fell like a lash. “You really couldn’t ask for a better father,”

Lynch reports in The Art Life. “He didn’t have any kind of deviousness in him. He was really pure. And he was superfair, just naturally honest and fair.” A research scientist for the U.S. Forest Service, Don transferred frequently, moving the family four times before settling down in Alexandria, Virginia, to take a desk job in D.C. In the movie Lynch remembers his father’s many agricultural experiments, which bred in Dave a fascination with the innards of insects, and credits his father’s industrious nature for inspiring him to pursue his own projects. Dave became a Boy Scout and then an Eagle Scout, racking up merit badges. Interviewed by Chris Rodley for the book Lynch on Lynch, the director remembers that when he told his father he was tired of the Eagle Scouts and wanted to quit, Don replied, “One day, you’ll be proud you did that.” Years later Lynch would list his membership in the Eagle Scouts as the sole credential in his professional biography. Lynch has always characterized his childhood as idyllic, and he resists autobiographical readings of his films. Yet The Art Life includes at least one traumatic incident that marked young Dave for life and would inspire one of his greatest works. As Lynch recalls, his father would emerge from their house every evening to call him and his younger brother in for bed, but one evening, right around that time, the boys were stunned to see a nude woman emerge from the dusk. “She had beautiful, pale white skin, and she was completely naked,” says Lynch. “I think her mouth was bloodied. . . . She came closer and closer, and my brother started to cry. Something was bad-wrong with her, and I don’t know what happened, but she sat down on a curb crying.” Lynch would stage the scene in all its perverse horror near the end of Blue Velvet (1986), when the half-crazed heroine, Dorothy Vallens (Isabella Rossellini), appears naked after escaping from her kidnappers and throws herself upon the hero, Jeffrey Beaumont (Kyle MacLachlan). If you’ve seen Blue Velvet, you might remember the twist Lynch added to this memory: Jeffrey and Dorothy have shared a sadomasochistic sexual episode, which Dorothy reveals to Jeffrey’s virginal girlfriend, Sandy (Laura Dern), by blurting out,

“He put his disease in me!” Certainly Lynch was no stranger to shame; in The Art Life he remembers his mother telling him innumerable times, “I am so disappointed in you.” His regard for his parents borders on reverence, and the memory of their disapproval is still devastating to him. Once, he recalls, he got into an argument with his father over staying out late on a school night to paint, and his father cut him short with the chilling declaration, “Fine—you are no longer a member of this family.” Only a phone call from Bushnell Keeler, a local painter and the boy’s ﬁrst artistic mentor, persuaded Don Lynch that Dave was serious about his work and ought to be indulged. Actually The Art Life tells a very common story, of a father and son knocking heads because they’re so alike. Lynch remembers how embarrassed he was as a child (and declares how proud he is now) that his father would walk to his job in D.C. every day wearing his Forest Service uniform and ten-gallon hat. “He was his own guy—he didn’t give a shit about what was going on,” Lynch says. Once Dave began to emulate this single-mindedness, however, the two men found it easier to love than to understand each other. Lynch remembers his father visiting him in Philadelphia, where he had earned his art degree and was living with his girlfriend, Peggy Lentz (she had to clear her things out of the house so Don Lynch wouldn’t know). During the visit, Dave took his dad down to the basement to show off some of his “experiments”—rotten fruit, dead birds, and a mouse wrapped in plastic, all of whose decomposition he was carefully recording. He caught a pained expression on his father’s face, and later his dad remarked, “Dave? I don’t think you should ever have children.” At that point Peggy was already pregnant, and she and Lynch were married by the time she gave birth to their daughter, Jennifer, in 1968. By that time Lynch had discovered cinema, and his father fronted him half the production funds for The Alphabet, a creepy combination of animation and live action starring Peggy as a chalk-faced woman having a nightmare about the ABCs. The short won Lynch a grant from the newly established American Film Institute to produce his next short, The Grandmother (1970), and you have to wonder what his father thought when he saw it. In the opening scene, a man and woman are mating out on a lawn, making guttural noises, and to the man’s dismay, sprouting up out of the ground comes a little boy, a pale, Dickensian ﬁgure in a suit and J

MAY 4, 2017 - CHICAGO READER 21

David Lynch: The Art Life

- %-+) )-'#* .$&%( ,)# $ * " )( %% +,

!-,'+$"(%

,)# ! * %% )( %'-&' +, #2/ .%2(+$4'. 03) 0)*03,' +$,"'+.1 *$.$+ +%'!2&03+%'0+/'-,24

continued from 21

12A SIDEO’CLOCK TRACK SERIES OF JAM WITH YOUR LUNCH EVERY WEEKDAY

THEBLEADER.COM 164 North State Street

Between Lake & Randolph MOVIE HOTLINE: 312.846.2800

NEW FROM LAURA POITRAS, DIRECTOR OF OSCAR-WINNER CITIZENFOUR

AN INTIMATE PORTRAIT OF JULIAN ASSANGE CHICAGO PREMIERE!

RISK May 5 - 11

Fri., 5/5 at 2 pm, 6:15 pm & 8:15 pm; Sat., 5/6 at 3 pm, 6:45 pm & 8:30 pm; Sun., 5/7 at 3:15 pm & 5 pm; Mon., 5/8 at 6 pm & 7:45 pm; Tue., 5/9 at 6 pm & 7:45 pm; Wed., 5/10 at 6 pm & 7:45 pm; Thu., 5/11 at 6 pm & 7:45 pm

MAY 5 - 18 • FINDINGOSCAR• MEMORY, MASSACRE AND JUSTICE IN GUATEMALA BUY TICKETS NOW

22 CHICAGO READER - MAY 4, 2017

www.siskelﬁlmcenter.org

bow tie. Whenever the boy wets his bed, the father hauls him into the bedroom to rub his face in the big orange stain on his sheet. The parents bark at the boy constantly, but the only word they utter is mud. “I’m sure they’ve often wondered where this stuff comes from,” Lynch told Chris Rodley when asked about his own parents’ reaction to the film. Now a father himself, Lynch was presented with a life-changing opportunity in 1971 when he was admitted to the AFI Conservatory; with his wife and child in tow, he moved to LA, took up virtual residence in a collection of stables on the conservatory grounds, and spent the next five years developing the project that would become his midnight-movie sensation Eraserhead (1977). A terror of fatherhood pervades the film; who could forget the scene in which the steel-wool-crowned hero, Henry (Jack Nance), is left alone by his wife one night to care for their newborn child, a pale, slimy, hairless, limbless, reptilian little beast wrapped tightly in a white blanket and covered in a nasty rash. At the climax, Henry snips through the baby’s blanket to expose a mass of raw organs inside; he punctures a bladder at its center, goo spurts out, the baby coughs blood, and from its center erupts a mass of gray sludge. The Art Life also climaxes with a confrontation between father and child. As Lynch recalls, he had divorced Peggy and was living at

the stables when his father and younger brother sat him down for a talk. “The whole thing was, ‘Give up this film and get a job, because you’ve got a child, and this film isn’t gettin’ made, and you’re wasting your time,’ this kind of thing. And it got me really in a deep, deep way, ’cause they didn’t understand. I just couldn’t believe what they were saying to me, and they were totally serious.” With the benefit of hindsight, one might easily side with Lynch, but how could a father have known that something as grotesque and off-the-charts crazy as Eraserhead would make his son an internationally acclaimed filmmaker with a 40-year career? The story is blunted somewhat by Lynch’s vindication, but central to many artists’ lives is the pain of being driven by a creative vision even as those you love the most fail to grasp it or even lose confidence in your ability. Fatherhood hardly figures prominently in the rest of Lynch’s filmography. In Blue Velvet, Jeffrey Beaumont has returned to his hometown to care for his ailing dad, but the father character is peripheral to the action and so f lat he barely registers. There’s a warm father-daughter relationship in The Straight Story (1999), but that atypically wholesome drama, which Lynch directed for Disney, was written by other hands. Apart from Henry in Eraserhead, the most notable father figure in Lynch’s oeuvre would have to be Leland Palmer (Ray Wise), the easygoing small-town businessman in Twin Peaks and its big-screen prequel Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me (1992). An earthly vessel for the demonic Killer Bob, Leland sexually assaults his teenage daughter, Laura (Cheryl Lee), stabs her to death, wraps her in plastic, and tosses her in a lake. Lynch’s art is filled with frightening images, but there’s nothing scarier in his work than a father’s wrath, whether it’s expressed in rape, murder, or just the silent shake of a head. v

ß @JR_Jones

ARTS & CULTURE

RELOADED & Reopened ! Celebrating our

Golden Jubilee th

ANNIVERSARY MOVIES

Up close—and maybe too close— with Julian Assange By J.R. JONES

he film has become a severe threat to my freedom, and I’m forced to treat it accordingly,” wrote WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in a message to Oscar-winning documentary maker Laura Poitras (Citizenfour) that she reads in voice-over near the end of Risk. The movie chronicles her increasingly tangled six-year professional relationship with Assange, who has been holed up in the Ecuadoran embassy in London since June 2012, ﬁghting extradition to Sweden on rape charges, and now faces the renewed efforts of the U.S. Justice Department to arrest him for espionage. Risk lacks the hurtling momentum of Citizenfour, which records Edward Snowden leaking classiﬁed information about U.S. surveillance to her and other journalists in 2013; here there’s a sense of Poitras cleaning out her closet. But her closet is full of unguarded remarks from one of the most notorious men on earth, so who cares? Risk opens with a tense scene, shot in November 2011, in which Assange places a call to the U.S. State Department to inform officials that the diplomatic cables previously published by WikiLeaks in redacted form have now leaked in their original form online. “I can’t believe what Julian is allowing me to film,” Poitras notes, and you might be inclined to agree with her right around the time Assange disguises himself with dyed hair and colored contact lenses, slips out of a private home where he’s under house arrest, and roars across town on a

just steps from the Dempster “L” stop

Risk

motorcycle to his new asylum at the embassy. Risk also captures Assange resisting the advice of counselors to issue a conciliatory statement to his female accusers back in Sweden and dismissing the allegations against him as “a media/feminist political positioning thing.” With the Snowden and Assange films, Poitras is truly reporting from the cusp of history, but such proximity to one’s subject can be disorienting. “This is not the film I thought I was making,” she confesses. “I thought I could ignore the contradictions. I thought they were not part of the story. I was wrong. They are becoming the story.” She might be referring to the role WikiLeaks played in swinging the 2016 presidential election to Donald Trump by publishing embarrassing documents procured by Russian hackers from the Democratic National Committee. Or she might be referring to her own intimate relationship, which she has broken off and discloses in the film, with Jacob Appelbaum, a computer-security expert and activist appearing in Risk who resigned from the nonprofit Tor Project last June amid allegations of sexual and emotional abuse. Journalism may be the first draft of history, but what happens when the drafter gets pulled into the history? v RISK sss Directed by Laura Poitras. 93 min. Fri 5/5–Thu 5/11, Gene Siskel Film Center, 164 N. State, 312-846-2800, siskelfilmcenter.org, $11.

ß @JR_Jones

est. 1967

Tue - Sat 10 - 6

RSM

Get showtimes at chicagoreader.com/movies.

www.BrewView.com 3145 N. Sheffield at Belmont

Movie Theater & Full Bar $5.00 sion admis e for th s Movie

18 to enter 21 to drink Photo ID required

Sat-Sun, May 6-7 @ 3:30pm

The LEGO Batman Movie Sat-Sun, May 6-7 @ 5:30pm Fri, Mon, Thr, May 5, 8 & 11 @ 6:30pm

Life Sat-Sun, May 6-7 @ 7:30pm Fri, Mon, Thr, May 5, 8 & 11 @ 8:30pm

Trainspotting 2

847-475-8665

801 Dempster Evanston

AND SUSAN MAYA LENA REGGIE JASON OLPH SARANDON RUD TTS WA HAM SCHWARTZMAN DUN

THE LATEST ON WHAT’S HAPPENING AROUND TOWN READER RECOMMENDS

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

“AN

INSTANT CULT”

CLASSIC! E

—FILMMAKER MAGAZIN

“A GREAT

DISASTER”

COMEDY! — NERDIST

A FILM BY

DASH SHAW

EXCLUSIVE ENGAGEMENT

STARTS FRI. 5/5 MUSIC BOX THEATRE 3733 N. SOUTHPORT AVE. (773) 871-6604 CHICAGO IN-PERSON Q&AS WITH DIRECTOR DASH SHAW

FRI. 5/5 AFTER THE 7:00PM SHOW & INTRO THE 9:30PM SHOW

MAY 4, 2017 - CHICAGO READER 23

Bad Boy Radio hosts Victor “the Dizz” Blackful (far left) and Mike Love (in blue) with T.I. and Kanye West in 2003 o COURTESY OF MIKE LOVE

In 1994, after Mike Love was let go from WLUM radio in Milwaukee, a friend suggested he send a demo of his radio work to WGCI. MIKE LOVE I didn’t know anyone at ’GCI. I sent in a tape, and I remember they liked it and called me. I interviewed and ended up getting the job. They had an opening for a Saturday-night show called The All Request Show. I did the show with a guy they paired me with. We changed the name to All Request Party, where we basically programmed the hottest songs and acted like every song was a request.

The rise and fall of Bad Boy Radio and the birth of the Birthday Line

Mike Love and the Dizz launched their famous WGCI show in 1997, and in its decade-long run it created cultural touchstones that still bring black Chicagoans together. By TIFFANY WALDEN

n 1997 Mike Love and the Dizz, who’d begun hosting Bad Boy Radio on WGCI earlier that year, launched a segment where they asked any listeners who were celebrating a birthday to call in. It was the sort of thing DJs often did before corporate consolidation made community-oriented commercial radio an endangered species—the two men had no idea they were on the cusp of creating a pop-cultural phenomenon. It’s been ten years since the original Bad Boy Radio went off the air, but Mike Love and the Dizz’s famous question to their callers—“Who’s this on the birthday line?”— remains a deﬁning artifact in the history of Chicago radio. Love has kept the Birthday Line alive, if only barely, with the occasional segment on the stations where he’s worked

24 CHICAGO READER - MAY 4, 2017

since—ﬁrst V100.7 in Milwaukee, then Soul 106.3 in Chicago, where he has a different show called Bad Boy Radio With Mike Love. (The Dizz, aka Victor Blackful, no longer works in radio and lives in Chicago only part-time.) But back in the day, the Birthday Line ran every Monday through Friday night, often enough to become the kind of fixture that people get nostalgic about. Chance the Rapper crystallized this nostalgia on Sunday, April 16, when he called WGCI and persuaded on-air personality Trey White to do the Birthday Line for his 24th. Chano’s rendition was missing two important things, though: the original hosts. When Mike Love and the Dizz left the station in 2007, their classic call-in segments went with them, including the Birthday Line, All Eyes on

Me (where listeners shout out their neighborhoods and area codes), and the Bad Boy Smack (where the hosts deliver sound-effect “smacks” to the no-good people, lousy traffic, and other annoyances that listeners call to complain about). The two haven’t spoken since. Chicago is notoriously segregated by race, but even within its black community sharp lines can exist between fans of dusties, house, ghetto house, and juke music. Bad Boy Radio found ways to bridge gaps between genres and generations, and the Birthday Line became one of many common denominators in black Chicago. For this oral history of Bad Boy Radio, I interviewed Mike Love and the Dizz separately, hoping to learn what brought them to WGCI and how their show came to be.

Love’s partner left WGCI in 1995, and the station began searching for a replacement. At the time, Victor “the Dizz” Blackful was working for D.J. International Records, one of Chicago’s original house-music labels. VICTOR “THE DIZZ” BLACKFUL Rocky Jones, the owner of D.J. International Records, was doing a video show at the time. He was trying to make his own version of the Box. It was called The Hop Shop, a hip-hop video show. Whoever was hosting the show at the time got sick or didn’t show up. Rocky came in and said, “I have to do this interview with [radio personality] Rick Party and ’GCI. Would you be willing to go there and do this interview?” So Rocky took me up to WGCI, and I interviewed Rick Party. WGCI program director Elroy Smith saw the interview and asked the Dizz for his demo. After interviewing with Smith the next day, the Dizz got the J

CHICAGO’S FIRST URBAN WINERY, INTIMATE MUSIC VENUE, RESTAURANT, AND PRIVATE EVENT SPACE 5.8

DENNY LAINE

OF WINGS - THE COMPLETE “BAND ON THE RUN”

5.11

SAMANTHA FISH

1200 W RANDOLPH ST CHICAGO, IL 60607 312.733.WINE | CITYWINERY.COM

JUST ANNOUNCED

ON SALE AT NOON THURSDAY 5.4 ON SALE TO VINOFILE MEMBERS TUESDAY 5.2

8.14 8.17 10.6

ANA POPOVIC ROOMFUL OF BLUES JOHN POPPER (OF BLUES TRAVELER) 10.11-15 THE CITY CHURCH OF THE REVEREND HORTON HEAT 5 NIGHT RESIDENCY W/ SPECIAL GUESTS DONT MISS: 5.7 PAUL THORN

FEAT. NOAM PIKELNEY WITH SPECIAL GUESTS NORA O’CONNOR & SCOTT LIGON

5.16

WHITEHORSE

5.12

THE BLASTERS w/ special guestS THE DELTA BOMBERS

FEAT. CINDY CASHDOLLAR AND SPECIAL GUEST CONNOR KENNEDY

WANDA JACKSON

ANAT COHEN & TRIO Brasileiro 5.18

TAYLOR HICKS

w/ special guests THE LAWRENCE PETERS OUTFIT

w/ special guest brett wiscons

5.24

5.31

5.29

VIVIAN GREEN

5.15

5.17

KEVIN ROSS

w/ special guest CHICAGO FARMER

5PM & 8PM SHOWS

(OF THE DOORS)

AMY HELM

5.19

DONNA THE BUFFALO

ROBBY KRIEGER

5.14

5.13

ROBBIE FULKS

5.9

NORMAN CONNORS

& the Starship Orchestra

5.25

The westies/ heather lynNE HORTON cd release show

6.13-14

micky dolenz the voice of the monkees

OFFICIAL AIRLINE PARTNER

MAY 4, 2017 - CHICAGO READER 25

MUSIC continued from 24

job to be Love’s partner on All Request Party.

MIKE LOVE They just threw us in the studio together, and we made it work.

Though Mike Love and the Dizz had never met before WGCI, they had great on-air chemistry. In 1996 they took over Crazy Howard McGee’s show Old School Sunday after McGee moved to an afternoon shift.

ELROY SMITH I knew something was special about them when they were doing the Old School Sunday show. They knew music and Chicago so well. They really gave that show a strong connection to Chicago.

MIKE LOVE When we took over Old School Sunday, we made it more of a Chicagocentric, disco, house kind of show. In the past, it had been more funk. The Dizz had been raised in the Chicagoland area and knew a lot more about the ins and outs of Chicago house music. We really built our name—Mike Love & the Dizz—and popularity on that Sunday show.

THE DIZZ I’ve always been a house head. I’ve always been a disco connoisseur.

MIKE LOVE We played a lot of songs that people weren’t hearing on the radio. We played the full-length versions of records you only heard in mixes or samples: “Sing, Sing, Sing” by the Charlie Calello Orchestra, “I Can’t Turn Around” by Isaac Hayes, “Funkanova” by Wood Brass & Steel, “Baby I’m Scared of You” by Womack & Womack, “I’ll Stay” by Funkadelic, and “Running Away” by Roy Ayers.

ELROY SMITH The songs were not as far back as what Herb Kent was doing on V103. Many of the songs were from the 1980s, up-tempo party records with a mixture of house music. But Old School Sunday became a huge success for ’GCI.

THE DIZZ We got off work one night. We went to Bennigan’s on Michigan Avenue with, I believe, a record executive. It seemed like everybody in freaking Bennigan’s had a birthday that night. We got to thinking, “If this many people get this excited about doing a birthday jingle in Bennigan’s, what would happen if we put this shit on the radio?”

THE DIZZ Rick Party [who had the 6-10 PM slot on weeknights] decided to take a full-time position in Atlanta. We eventually auditioned for the 6-10 PM spot. I don’t know if Elroy told you, but we weren’t exactly his ﬁrst choice. MIKE LOVE Back in those days, managers in radio would always look outside of the market for big-name professionals to bring in. So they brought in two other people to try out for the job. THE DIZZ We were not Rick Party. We came in with all radical ideas, real street stuff. MIKE LOVE That’s when we started doing the 20-Second Workout. I wanted to have something that set us apart from everyone else. When we were in the clubs, we would play the ghetto-house records like “The Freaks” by DJ Deeon. The club would go up. They would lose their mind. But nobody played these records on the radio. DJ DEEON Chicago is full of haters. “Freaks” was already being played on the radio in Detroit, like, nine months before that. How am I getting play in Detroit but no play here? I thought it made us look bad. THE DIZZ Ninety-nine point nine percent of [ghetto house] was dirty. It was full of curse words. All we did

26 CHICAGO READER - MAY 4, 2017

The Dizz and Mike Love in the WGCI studio in 1997 o VIA THE YOUTUBE CHANNEL MASTERSELLERS

was take the curse words out of it. MIKE LOVE One day, we were going to commercial and I just played a 20-second snippet of “Freaks.” The phones lit up. People would start calling in, asking for a 20-second workout. If WGCI brought in [those outside personalities], their show wasn’t going to be Chicago-centric because they knew nothing about Chicago. DJ DEEON I appreciate those guys. They helped us get [ghetto house] to the masses. Because ’GCI is not just a black station; it gave our sound a larger audience. It went from the streets to the clubs. And when it made it to the radio, that was the epitome. THE DIZZ Elroy was like, “I guess they know what they’re doing. Every time I look at their numbers, they’re ridiculous, and every time I go somewhere, somebody’s

asking about them.” In December 1996, Smith announced that Mike Love & the Dizz would take over the 6-10 PM weeknight spot. MIKE LOVE Rick Party had to pass the torch to us. He called the radio station to congratulate us and said, “They’re really getting ready to turn this shit over to some bad boys.” The name stuck. At 6 PM on January 1, 1997, Mike Love & the Dizz signed onto WGCI as Bad Boy Radio for the very first time. The likes of Puff Daddy, Notorious B.I.G., and Xscape called the station to congratulate them. MIKE LOVE Once we took over, we knew we had to have features on our show that really stood out to people. I had an idea for a feature called All Eyes on Me. It was a flip of Tupac’s “All Eyez on Me.” THE DIZZ I think that was

something Mike was doing when he was at V100 in Milwaukee. It was a calland-response type thing. That went on for a couple of months, and I was like, “OK. This is stupid. It’s catchy and everybody wants to do it, but it’s kind of dumb.” MIKE LOVE Call-and-response was very big back in those days. THE DIZZ I went in there and changed it. We made people do celebrity impersonations with it. That’s when All Eyes on Me started going bananas. I remember someone did Michael Evans from Good Times. “And where you from?” “Cabrini-Green.” “Are you a Bad Boy?” He said, “‘Boy’ is a white racist word.” MIKE LOVE Another thing I came up with to have people listen to the show was the Birthday Line. I went in and reedited Uncle Luke’s “It’s Your Birthday.”

MIKE LOVE I came up with the concept. I wrote it all out, and I gave it to the Dizz. He really couldn’t catch the rhythm of it because it was so fast. I remember doing it and him looking at me like I was crazy. We go on the air. I’m like, “Hey, if you’re celebrating a birthday, we need you to call the Bad Boyz.” For about two days, the Dizz wasn’t with it. By the third or fourth day, he jumped in. ELROY SMITH I think they started to do it on their own and it became a hit. The feature was on at 6:45 every night, Monday through Friday. People were calling in well in advance to get on the Birthday Line. ASHANTI MADLOCK HENDERSON, AGE 37 I literally remember being on hold and really being surprised that I got through. I called for my 18th birthday. I went to Proviso East [in Maywood], and everybody liked the Birthday Line. We had two phones in my house, so I was on one line, and while ’GCI had me on hold, I was calling my friends on the other line, like, “Turn to the radio. I’m about to be on!” JUSTIN CLARKE, AGE 26 I was either 13 or 14 when I ﬁrst called in. It was just dope. I’d been hearing it for so

THE GIVING TREE BAND

MAY 12

EDAMAME

PANTHA DU PRINCE

MAY 17

ZZ WARD

MAY 31

NEW

NEIL COWLEY TRIO

JUN 26

NEW

DAVID COOK

JUN 30

NEW

BETH DITTO OF THE GOSSIP

JUL 17

NEW

VÉRITÉ

AUG 28

NEW

MUSIC

AQUILO

OCT 10

THE CERNY BROTHERS

Mike Love and the Dizz with Destiny’s Child o COURTESY OF THE DIZZ

MIKE LOVE They made us change up the Birthday Line around 2004. It was around the time 50 Cent’s “In da Club” was out. Our bosses were sick of the Birthday Line. [They] wanted us to change the tempo of the Birthday Line. You don’t J

MAY 06

POMO [LIVE]

MAY 16

THE FAMILY CREST

MAY 18

OF SUN CITY GIRLS AND RANGDA

SIR RICHARD BISHOP

MAY 22 JUN 29 JUL 21

VESPERTEEN

AUG 08

MAC AYERS + SAHAR HABIBI

TREVOR SENSOR

NEW

DJ DEEON I put one of my daughters on there one time. She had to be six or seven. She’s 22 now. I ﬁgured, since they’re playing my stuff, I could get her on the radio. I put her on and she choked up on me. I was kind of embarrassed a little bit.

As Bad Boy Radio approached ten years at WGCI, it began to fall apart. Mike Love felt his career was stagnating at the station, and he says new management wanted to do away with the show’s signature segments. After Love left in February 2007, the station tried replacing him on Bad Boy Radio with Frankie Robinson, but the Dizz moved on in December of that year. The show had come to a close.

THE DIZZ Mike left in 2007. I was there for about a year after. I was not happy. We saw the vision of radio changing. I remember when they told us to stop doing [the Birthday Line]. The general manager was like, “You’re playing three minutes of the Birthday Line when we could be playing another Beyoncé song.”

FROTH

CANTER + LAVERNE

FIONA GREY

NEW

MIKE LOVE We had people from Missy Elliott to Usher do it. When celebrities came up to the radio station and were celebrating a birthday, they would do it.

ELROY SMITH As I saw the response to it, I said, we’re going to keep going with this.

TICKETS AT WWW.LH-ST.COM

MIKE LOVE People always ask what happened to the Bad Boyz. Why did it end? I personally felt like we were good enough to do different shifts. After the afternoon shift opened up and we didn’t get the opportunity, I couldn’t do it anymore.

FRATERNAL TWIN AND STOLEN JARS

NEW

THE DIZZ The ﬁrst time I met Barack Obama, he said, “You know what? I always wanted to do that Birthday Line.” And I was like, holy shit.

THE DIZZ I was on Oprah Winfrey’s show once. In the green room, Oprah came in there and told me how the show’s going to go. After all of that, she’s like, “I was wondering, can you do the Birthday Line back here for me so I can do it?” The fact that Oprah Winfrey knew all of the words to the Birthday Line was stunning.

AUGUST HOTEL

NEW

long, but I knew I didn’t want to be one of those people who called in and either forget how it goes or mess up what I wanted to say. Being from Joliet, I wanted to give a little bit of love to what peopled considered the suburbs.

MARIKA HACKMAN

AND

THE BIG MOON

AUG 11

MAY 4, 2017 - CHICAGO READER 27

4544 N LINCOLN AVENUE, CHICAGO IL OLDTOWNSCHOOL.ORG • 773.728.6000

MUSIC

NEW CONCERTS • ON SALE FRIDAY! 7/25 & 7/26 Steve Earle & the Dukes VISIT OLDTOWNSCHOOL.ORG TO BUY TICKETS!

THURSDAY, MAY 11 8PM

The Steel Wheels FRIDAY, MAY 12 8PM

Ali Farka Touré Band / Terakaft Festival Au Desert Caravan 2017

SATURDAY, MAY 13 5 & 8PM

Steep Canyon Rangers FRIDAY, MAY 19 7:30PM

Lucy Kaplansky

In Szold Hall

SATURDAY, MAY 20 8PM

Choir! Choir! Choir! In Szold Hall

FRIDAY, JUNE 2 8PM

Anaïs Mitchell / Grant-Lee Phillips SATURDAY, JUNE 3 7:30PM

National Tap Day Celebration SATURDAY, JUNE 3 8PM

Joan Shelley

with special guest Jake Xerxes Fussell In Szold Hall

SUNDAY, JUNE 4 7PM

Ottmar Liebert & Luna Negra ACROSS THE STREET IN SZOLD HALL

4545 N LINCOLN AVENUE, CHICAGO IL

5/5 5/12 5/26

Milonga Cumparsita at Old Town School • with DJ Charrua and special guests Global Dance Party: Breizh Amerika Collective Global Dance Party: Son de Madera with special guest Patricio Hidalgo

WORLD MUSIC WEDNESDAY SERIES FREE WEEKLY CONCERTS, LINCOLN SQUARE

5/10 Dr. Lena McLin and the Holy Vessel Baptist Church Choir and Chicago Children's Choir 5/17 Trio Balkan Strings

28 CHICAGO READER - MAY 4, 2017

The Dizz and Mike Love with Busta Rhymes o COURTESY OF THE DIZZ

continued from 27 change the theme of Star Wars because it’s 50 years old. That was my mind-set. THE DIZZ [After Mike left] they partnered me with some girl. I was like, well, this is not Bad Boy Radio then. She doesn’t know anything that we do. Her whole vibe was completely not what this show is. ELROY SMITH I left in 2007. I think the Birthday Line ended when the show expired. Sometimes it’s hard for someone to come on after such a successful feature and try to keep it alive, because those two guys were synonymous with that feature. THE DIZZ I remember when they let Elroy go. It was heartbreaking. We had a new management team telling us that our ways of radio are old. Syndication became a big deal. We went

from “We play the hits” to “We’re number one for hiphop and R&B.” That changed the dynamic. MIKE LOVE The Birthday Line has been absent from ’GCI from the time I left until Trey White did it with Chance the Rapper. They were 100 percent on point. The only thing they couldn’t do is the beat. You could never do the Birthday Line today, because there’s so much of a delay on cell phones. There was no delay on the house phone back then. ELROY SMITH I look at [the Birthday Line] as a hit record. It just never dies. THE DIZZ I think it would suck [if WGCI brought it back]. It’s like Derrick Rose leaves Chicago, and they go get somebody else and make him number one after everything Derrick Rose had done.

MIKE LOVE The question people ask me more than anything in Chicago is, “Do you still talk to the Dizz?” I have not spoken to the Dizz since I left ’GCI. We had a very good relationship, but we also had a rocky relationship at times. THE DIZZ I worked with him for 12 years and never had his home phone number. We were kind of like Scottie Pippen and Michael Jordan. You never see them hanging out together. But when it came time to win all the championships, it’s time to roll. DJ DEEON I think [shows like Bad Boy Radio] need to come back. The reason I got into house music was because the mixes were on the radio and that inﬂuenced me. Now, you change the stations and you hear the same songs three times in an hour. That’s sad. There’s so much music out here that could be played. v

ß @Waldens_Block

Recommended and notable shows and critics’ insights for the week of May 4

MUSIC

b ALL AGES F Miss Barbara Cliﬀord o COURTESY THE ARTIST

PICK OF THE WEEK

Laura Marling explores the ambiguity of relationships on her new Semper Femina

THURSDAY4 Big C Jamboree Blowout See also Friday and Saturday. The Amazing Heeby Jeebies perform. 9 PM, Martyrs’, 3855 N. Lincoln, $1.

o COURTESY THE ARTIST

LAURA MARLING, VALLEY QUEEN

Sun 5/7, 8 PM, Metro, 3730 N. Clark, $25. 18+

MOST MENTIONS OF the stunning new album Semper Femina (More Alarming) note that singer-songwriter Laura Marling addresses only women over its nine songs. It’s unclear whether her lyrics are directed toward friends or lovers, but her sharp observations and plainspoken language render this ambiguity irrelevant. The album title comes from a line in Virgil’s Aeneid, “Varium et mutabile semper femina” (“Fickle and changeable always is woman”), and just about every song ﬁnds a doubtful narrator in the midst of a relationship at a crossroads. Over a stuttering groove and

a pair of bass lines that fall in and out of sync during opener “Soothing,” she rebuffs a caller with whom she has a troubled past—though there’s generosity even in her dismissal (“I banish you with love”). On “Don’t Pass Me By” she appears to be uncertain about ending a relationship, singing, “I can’t get you off my mind / Can you love me if I put up a ﬁght?” During the gorgeous “Wild Fire,” where Marling harmonizes beautifully with herself, she reaches the end of her patience with a woman she has a complicated relationship with, alternating between support and contempt. In recalling

a backhanded compliment from the song’s protagonist Marling sneers, “Well maybe some day when god takes me away / I’ll understand what the fuck that means.” The record was produced by guitarist Blake Mills, who toggles between sparse postfolk settings and biting electric arrangements where one element or another serves as a defining detail (e.g., the twined basses on “Soothing” and the stinging slide guitar on “Nothing Not Nearly”). Still, the focal point falls squarely on Marling’s remarkable singing, which has never been stronger or more magnetic. —PETER MARGASAK

Since the 90s, Chicago’s rockabilly scene has been getting bypassed in favor of its older alt-country sibling. In contrast to the likes of Robbie Fulks and Jeff Tweedy, who are well-known across the city, the rockabilly set has remained strangely insular. There’s a good chance other roots-rock communities might know about, say, former Chicagoan Jimmy Sutton, who’s played his doghouse bass with the Moondogs, Mighty Blue Kings, Jimmy Sutton’s Four Charms, and J.D. McPherson. Or perhaps they’ve heard of Miss Barbara Cliﬀord, who might just be the youngest living artist to record for the Bear Family label, which specializes in reissues. But here, rockabilly and its oﬀshoots are often relegated to an overlooked corner of the room. And now, after giving the scene a stage and a spotlight for 25 years, the Big C Jamboree, the monthly open-mike/ hootenanny devoted to early rock ’n’ roll, is coming to an end. Rather than slip away unnoticed, however, founder Gabrielle Sutton has decided to go out with a bang. Tonight is technically the last show in the series, with the Amazing Heeby Jeebies (and special guests) acting as the host band, but over the weekend there will be an all-star jubilee featuring local luminaries past and present. The May 5 lineup includes Clifford; screaming siren Bailey Dee; the Special 20s, a blues band with a retro 50s rock ’n’ roll bent; the North Ave. Stompers (featuring vocalist Eric “Shoutin’” Sheridan); and a reunion of the Moondogs, who rocked the city in the early 90s. On May 6 the Big C rolls out guitarist Mondo Cortez— another crossover from the Chicago blues world— Hillbilly Idle, frat rockers the Bama Lamas, western warblers the Gin Palace Jesters, and the Three Blue Teardrops, another seminal 90s Chicago band reunited. Also expect plenty of other drop-ins over the course of the weekend. —JAMES PORTER J

MAY 4, 2017 - CHICAGO READER 29

Mavericks

MUSIC

o DAVID MCCLISTER

continued from 29

Presley, while the starry-eyed quasi-polka “I Think of You” sounds like it was conceived for Bobby Vinton. The album closer, “For the Ages,” is another ebullient love song that collides Tex-Mex with western swing, one band member laughing in the background a la Bob Wills. At times the production, with gospel vocal harmonies courtesy of the McCrary Sisters and a complement of horns and strings, can be overripe, but in general it suits the songs’ ﬁzzy joy. —PETER MARGASAK

Vibrating Skull Trio TCB open. 9 PM, Elastic, 3429 W. Diversey, $10 suggested donation. b

My faith in Chicago’s improvised and experimental music scene is regularly renewed by a number of factors, but the most important is its reliable infusion of new blood. Bassist Eli Namay and drummer Phillip Sudderberg have been playing out for a couple of years, but I’m only now beginning to catch up with them. This evening they celebrate the release of a new self-titled album by their Vibrating Skull Trio, which also includes clarinetist John McCowen (Wei Zhongle). The music is fully improvised, hurtling from free jazz to noise with howling streaks of dissonance, curdling electronic eﬀects, and production that pushes it toward a metallic harshness. McCowen’s overblown clarinet hits brittle upper-register extremes, and Sudderberg’s exuberant clatter often sounds like he’s knocking over shelves of pots and utensils and rolling around in them like a madman. Namay alternates between electric bass and prepared guitar, and all three players further enhance their standard instruments with an array of noise-generating electronics. Despite the chaos, what distinguishes Vibrating Skull Trio from being just another noise group is their intense and refined interplay—each musician is an adept listener, responding to spontaneous

30 CHICAGO READER - MAY 4, 2017

gestures or phrases with quicksilver alertness. —PETER MARGASAK

FRIDAY5 Big C Jamboree Blowout See Thursday. Moondogs, Special 20s, Miss Barbara Cliﬀord, North Ave. Stompers, and Bailey Dee perform. 8 PM, Martyrs’, 3855 N. Lincoln, $12, $10 in advance. Mavericks 8 PM, Thalia Hall, 1807 S. Allport, sold out. b Quirky Americana band the Mavericks ended a nine-year hiatus in 2012 by picking up exactly where

they left off, embracing a sprawling admixture of styles with more energy and ambition than ever before. Unfortunately their 2013 comeback album, In Time, was a bloated affair, written as though they were desperate to make up for lost time. But now, having recently formed their own Mono Mundo label to release the new Brand New Day, the Mavericks seem to have settled into their strengths. There’s nothing especially novel about the music— unless you count the odd addition of bluegrass banjo to the Tex-Mex that otherwise flavors opener “Rolling Along”—but the hybrids have never sounded or felt so natural, and that’s thanks mostly to the outsize presence of singer Raul Malo, who infuses his soulful pipes with showbiz ham. On the title track he goes for romantic gusto, promising “You’re not the first but you will be my last” in a voice that suggests Roy Orbison emulating Memphis-era Elvis

Moonrunners Music Festival See also Saturday. Legendary Shack Shakers, Scott H. Biram, Hooten Hallers, Jesse Dayton, Stump Tail Dolly, and others perform. 2 PM, Reggie’s Rock Club + Joint, 2105 S. State, $75 two-day pass, $40 Friday pass. Scoring some big stars, year ﬁve of the two-day Moonrunners Festival is a packed aﬀair that will showcase alt-country, rockabilly, bluegrass, outlaw country, and every other nook of Americana and roots music—all of it soaked with a beardy, tattooed flavor. Friday headliner the Legendary Shack Shakers have now been around long enough to justify their name—even as age has left them undimmed—while Saturday brings Shooter Jennings, son of Waylon, who’s an actor and a historian as well as a restless musician who won’t stick to one genre. Returning favorites like

Find more music listings at chicagoreader.com/soundboard.

Scott H. Biram, Rachel Brooke, Pearls Mahone, the Piss Poor Players, Urban Pioneers, and Last False Hope also offer reliable goods. But the real fun of this festival might be in its sheer creative overload: you’re likely to be running back and forth between the Music Joint and the Rock Club to catch side projects, up-and-comers, and possibly a new favorite you haven’t heard of yet. —MONICA KENDRICK

SATURDAY6 Big C Jamboree Blowout See Thursday. Gin Palace Jesters, Mondo Cortez, Hillybilly Idle, Bama Lamas, and 3 Blue Teardrops perform. 8 PM, Martyrs’, 3855 N. Lincoln, $12, $10 in advance. Moonrunners Music Festival See Friday. Shooter Jennings, Joseph Huber, Left Lane Cruiser, Call Me Bronco, Last False Hope, Rachel Brooke, and others perform. 11 AM, Reggie’s Rock Club + Joint, 2105 S. State, $75 two-day pass, $45 Saturday pass, $25 Saturday Rock Club only.

SUNDAY7 I Made You Myself Frail Body, Bristletongue, and Black Nail open. 6:30 PM, Subterranean, 2011 W. North, $8. 17+ Emo-leaning contemporary posthardcore bands such as Touche Amore, La Dispute, and Pianos Become the Teeth have stuck it out long enough to bear fruit and deserve the reverence bestowed on them by younger musicians who proudly namecheck them these days. I Made You Myself, a ﬁveAndy Molholt of Laser Background o NATALIE PISERCHIO

MUSIC

piece from suburban Lake County, list those acts as inﬂuences on their Facebook page alongside Billboard screamo successes Underoath and north-suburban deathcore unit Oceano, and sure enough, on a recent self-released split with Missouri’s Mocklove, the group employ lessons from all of the above—vocalist Jason De Leon growls with metallic fury as they perform with the clean precision of an anthemic rock band aiming for the charts. On “Scare You Away” they showcase their innate grasp of pace and atmosphere, in the process displaying why posthardcore remains a sacred language for the young ’uns. —LEOR GALIL

Laser Background Hecks, Norwegian Arms, and Michael Hilger open. 9 PM, Empty Bottle, 1035 N. Western, $8. Last year Laser Background main man Andy Molholt told music site ThrdCoast that from an early age he’s gleaned inspiration from composer Koji Kondo, who as the architect of the original Super Mario Bros. is one of the most inﬂuential composers in contemporary culture. “Those songs you can hear again and again on a loop,” Molholt explained. The Philadelphia multi-instrumentalist applies the lessons of repetition to indie pop, and his charmingly lo-ﬁ Laser Background songs bridge the gap between the blocky eight-bit world he maneuvered as a child and the guitar-rock realities of his present. Though the pendulum of pop culture has swung away from the kind of music Molholt makes and more toward mainstream pop, hip-hop, and R&B, Laser Background’s new self-released Dark Nuclear Bogs shows there’s still life left in what today might feel like a mid-2000s relic. The chattering percussion and doleful keys that drive early single “Climb the Hill” achieve the same goal Kondo did with his Mario score—the simple, alluring carousel-like melody builds a world that reveals more of itself every time you press play. —LEOR GALIL

12O’CLOCK

TRACK SERIES A SIDE OF JAM WITH YOUR LUNCH EVERY WEEKDAY

THEBLEADER.COM

CAN YOU SING??? Recording choir needs volunteer singers for debut CD and YouTube video projects. ALL VOICES (especially Tenor, Baritone & Bass) for multi-cultural, non-denominational, adult community choir.Widely varied repertoire includes traditional and contemporary gospel, anthems, spirituals, hymns, international, and acappella. Saturday rehearsals, 9:30 am to 11:30 am, Chicago (SE Side) – close to the University of Chicago. Text/Call NOW – slots are ﬁlling quickly. ClaimYour Star Power!

(312) 883-0716

Laura Marling See Pick of the Week (page 29). Valley Queen open. 8 PM, Metro, 3730 N. Clark, $25. 18+

MONDAY8 Jeremiah Cymerman 7:30 PM, Experimental Sound Studio, 5925 N. Ravenswood, $10, $8 members and students. b New York clarinetist and sound artist Jeremiah Cymerman has developed a multipronged artistic practice over the years, working his mixture of improvisational exploration and pure sound into a variety of disparate projects. His curiosity is on display regularly in his terriﬁc, broad-minded podcast 5049 (a name shared by his label), which has run for more than 110 episodes and features discussions with folks like jazz guitarist Bill Frisell, new-music cellist Michael Nicolas, art-rock drummer Greg Fox, and singer Amirtha Kidambi. But though his experimental range is similarly wide, he tends to submerge himself in a dark intensity altered by electronics and postproduction. With the trio Pale Horses he creates a kind of turbulent chamber J

MAY 4, 2017 - CHICAGO READER 31

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! THURSDAY, MAY 4 ................SMILING BOBBY AND THE CLEMTONES FRIDAY, MAY 5 ......................SLINK MOSS 1531 DAMEN SATURDAY, MAY 6 .................1ST WARD PROBLEMS MONDAY, MAY 8 ...................RC BIG BAND TUESDAY, MAY 9 ...................FLABBY HOFFMAN SHOW WEDNESDAY, MAY 10 ...........ELIZABETH HARPER’S LITTLE THING THURSDAY, MAY 11 ..............FLABBY HOFFMAN SHOW FRIDAY, MAY 12 ....................THE DHARMAS WOUNDED BUFFALO SATURDAY, MAY 13 ...............THE POLKAHOLICS SUNDAY, MAY 14 ..................HEISENBERG UNCERTAINTY PLAYERS EVERY MONDAY AT 9PM ANDREW JANAK QUARTET EVERY TUESDAY AT 8PM OPEN MIC HOSTED BY JIMI JON AMERICA

32 CHICAGO READER - MAY 4, 2017

Demdike Stare o COURTESY THE ARTIST

continued from 31

music, his upper-register clarinet lines caressed and battered by the viscous cello lines of Christopher Hoffman and the dynamic kit drumming of Brian Chase; in the free-improvisation trio Bloodmist he conjures an ambience-flooded death-metal vibe with bassist Toby Driver and guitarist/electronics purveyor Mario Diaz de Leon. Still, I’m betting his 2014 album World of Objects (5049) will provide the template for tonight’s solo performance: it’s a live improvised concert recorded at the Stone in NYC with saxophonist Evan Parker and trumpeter Nate Wooley that sounds largely as it was played despite Cymerman’s electronically fried clarinet and subsequent tweaking of frequencies and noises in the mix. Nothing lessens his attuned interaction with his partners—he’s less busy than they are, and his lines often function as bonding agents, his tone an acidic cry that melds Parker’s circular breathing with Wooley’s gnarled ﬂurries. Following his solo performance, which will include music from a forthcoming solo album called Decay of the Angel, he’ll be interviewed by Ken Vandermark. —PETER MARGASAK

Wild Reeds Blank Range and Kellen of Troy open. 8 PM, Schubas, 3159 N. Southport, $14. On “Only Songs,” the opening track from their new album The World We Built (Dualtone), the three bright-voiced singers of Wild Reeds proclaim that “the only thing that saves me are the songs I sing,”

Chicago forever.

MUSIC

a sentiment their ebullient, richly harmonized delivery conﬁrms. Kinsey Lee, Sharon Silva, and Mackenzie Howe perform with a gusto that feels downright therapeutic, but while the trio’s spirit is infectious and they’re lovely to hear, the songs themselves don’t quite measure up—they often push a shinier, bigger sound that glosses the group’s rustic roots with a generic, indie-pop polish. Other songs feel banal and workmanlike in melodic shape or sentiment: “Fall to Sleep” confronts the drag of everyday demands, and the narrator of “Everything Is Better (in Hindsight)” muses over a lover who left her for an ex. If listeners don’t get a kick from the singing of Wild Reeds, there’s not much else to pull them in. —PETER MARGASAK

TUESDAY9 Demdike Stare Suzi Analogue and Stave open. 9 PM, Empty Bottle, 1035 N. Western, $18, $15 in advance. During the early era of Demdike Stare, the Manchester duo of Sean Canty and Miles Whittaker didn’t bother with subtlety in cultivating their mystique. Their interest in horror and the occult was reﬂected in their album-cover art, their name (appropriated from a 17th-century English witch), and their experimental live performances, which were augmented by dark, menacing visuals assem-

bled from obscure ﬁlms. It all went quite well with the ominous qualities of their ambient sound, which is sometimes eclectic in its sampling of unearthed subgenres and sometimes dead still, hinting at the kind of paranoia you might feel if you were alone downstairs in an old-world house and heard a creak from a floorboard above you. Though last year’s Wonderland (Modern Love) keeps to the path they’ve been treading the last couple of years— less soundscape driven, more beat oriented—and though their techno bent on a track like “Hardnoise” conjures a dystopian future rather than a haunted past, Demdike Stare are still keen on making the hairs jump right oﬀ the back of your neck. Swirling, often haphazard glitches and stuttering breakbeats dominate the record, with perhaps its best track, “Animal Style,” proving the duo is plenty adept at creating a chilling, jagged dance cut. —KEVIN WARWICK

WEDNESDAY10 Jaimie Branch Wei Zhongle and Ben LaMar Gay open. 9 PM, Hideout, 1354 W. Wabansia, $10. Jaimie Branch may have moved away from Chicago in 2012, but she’s never severed her roots here. They go so deep on the trumpeter’s first album, Fly or Die, that they could wrap a few times around the Deep Tunnel: not only is it being released by local imprint International Anthem, but everyone who plays on the record is a present or former Chicagoan. The music has a narrative flow that encompasses a series of ongoing exchanges. There’s robust sparring between Branch’s rhythmically adroit lines and Chad Taylor’s intricate drumming, while bassist Jason Ajemian and cellist Tomeka Reid navigate closely attuned shifts between pizzicato chatter and bowed whale song. Plus the core quartet alternates between elaborations on a series of bold, memorable themes, with some punctuating interludes by guitarist Matthew Schneider and a brass chorus that includes Branch and cornetists Joshua Berman and Ben LaMar Gay. In addition to playing with Branch, Gay will play short ambient sets in the Hideout’s front room before and after a performance in the back room by Wei Zhongle. —BILL MEYER v

3855 N. LINCOLN

martyrslive.com

THU 5/4 - THE FINAL BIG C W/ AMAZING HEEBY JEEBIES FRI 5/5 - THE MOONDOGS, SPECIAL 20’S, MISS BARBARA CLIFFORD, NORTH AVE STOMPERS, BAILEY DEE, AND MORE! SAT 5/6 - GIN PALACE JESTERS, MONDO CORTEZ, HILLBILLY IDLE, BAMA LAMAS W/ GABRIELLE SUTTON, & BLUE TEARDROPS, AND MORE!

SAT, 5/6 - 4PM - ALL AGES

WHITNEY YOUNG THIRST PROJECT, THIRD RAIL, BOISE NOISE, 12:59, THE SCHOOL OF ROCK CHICAGO MON, 5/8

KASEY FOSTER’S DANCE TRIBUTE TO… MARK MESSING

TUE, 5/9 - 2ND TUESDAYS W/...

GRATEFUL STRING BAND WED, 5/10

THE STREEMS, THE FOUR THREE, LAURA’S ISLAND THU, 5/11

RAILWAY GAMBLERS, MARK LAVENGOOD BLUEGRASS BAND, BONES JUGS

FRI, 5/12

DASSIT, NICE MOTOR, CALAVERAS LD SAT, 5/13

THE CELL PHONES, NORTH BY NORTH, SUCK THE HONEY, MYSTERY CRASH please recycle this paper

Take a class and celebrate 60 years of making music! New adult group classes are now open! Browse our class schedules online at oldtownschool.org

MAY 4, 2017 - CHICAGO READER 33

Thursday, May 18 • 7-10pm

JOIN US FOR OUR MARQUEE EVENT

Ivy Room • 12 E Ohio • Chicago

THIS YEAR’S THEME IS MENTORS participating chefs pay homage to someone who influenced their own brand of cooking.

Inspired by our JAMES BEARD AWARD-WINNING SERIES, Key Ingredient Cook-off (#KICO) invites you to SAVOR dishes created by some of Chicago's most outstanding chefs, then VOTE for your favorite.

Tickets are on sale now at chicagoreader.com/kico   21+   

34 CHICAGO READER - MAY 4, 2017

FOOD & DRINK

TEXICAN | $

869 N. Larrabee 312-877-5441 texican-chicago.com From left: King Ranch Casserole, breakfast tacos, chili o NICK MURWAY

NEW REVIEW

Texican rustles up a posse of Tex-Mex classics Former Dodo chef Kim Dalton redeems the much-maligned border cuisine. By MIKE SULA

he 1966 paella western The Texican starred Audie Murphy as a former Texas lawman on the lam in Mexico who rides back across the border to avenge his newspaperman brother’s death at the hands of the town’s crooked political boss, Luke Starr, played by a well-lubricated Broderick Crawford. Murphy’s character, Jess Garlin, who up until then was living easy with his Mexican girlfriend, is a good stand-in for the weird border cuisine that developed over the centuries among Tejanos, pre-Republican Texans of Spanish or Mexican descent. For one thing, he’s pretty cheesy. And not very spicy. Tex-Mex has given us chili con carne, chili con queso, chimichangas, hard-shell tacos, Frito pie, and ground beef-stuffed enchiladas smothered in red salsa and melted yellow cheese. It’s also given us Chi-Chi’s, Old El Paso dinner kits, and Taco Bell, corporate behemoths that have incorrectly defined Mexican cuisine for untold numbers of the guileless, all over the world. Tex-Mex, like Hollywood’s history of cultural miscasting, has taken some unfortunate turns over the years.

Texican is also the name of a new counter-service Tex-Mex restaurant on the near north side, a small spot located in a canyon of soulless new high-rise residential developments along Larrabee Street—part of what people used to call Cabrini-Green. Times have changed, but either way, psychically speaking you couldn’t be farther from Mexico than if you were in the Queen Elizabeth Islands. I recently argued that with the return of chef Diana Dávila at Mi Tocaya, Logan Square has become ground zero for progressive Mexican food in Chicago. Here, in the shadow of Groupon HQ, not so much. Instead chef Kim Dalton, formerly of Ukrainian Village’s late, lamented Dodo, is offering a focused menu of iconic Tex-Mex dishes that appeal most in their assured simplicity, and their ability to satisfy the primal craving for chicken enchiladas layered with melted cheddar, sauteed red peppers, and sour cream, all drizzled with crema and enfattened with avocado. That’s the King Ranch Casserole, a kind of Tex-Mex lasagna, that under the appropriate conditions can induce the kind of coma that is the only effective treatment for certain high-grade hangovers. You can find a few of those treatments on the brief breakfast-and-lunch menu. Take it to go or stay at one of the handful of tables where you’ll very likely hear David Byrne and George Jones before Selena or Los Palominos. There’s Topo Chico in the display case along with Mexican Coke and La Colombe coffee on ice, as well as a stretch of Texas sheet cake black as an oil spill. Those enchiladas will probably be of service. Two flour tortillas shelter a molten Wisconsin cheddar core, blanketed in crimson coloradito sauce mingling topside with the external cheese flow. And there’s similar salvation in a coercively ample mound of chili mac: springy pasta elbows enrobed in cheese and Texas chili. Tex-Mex has its rules, and how Dalton approaches them shows that she’s no pedant. To many dogmatic Texans, adding beans to chili is a sin akin to putting ketchup on a Chicago hot dog. In this regard Dalton is an apostate, offering her bowl (or cup) of red with chopped top sirloin, with or without pintos. Cumin, the defining spice of this J

MAY 4, 2017 - CHICAGO READER 35

open now

argentine atmosphere while you dine

FOOD & DRINK

king crab house

Open for Lunch 11 am Friday Through Sunday

Mother’s Day specials: Crab & Slab $29.95, 1/2 Lb. King Crab & Filet $38.95, Lobster Tail & Filet $ 45.95 includes soup or salad & a glass of champagne or house wine. Not valid with any other specials, discount or promotions

restaurant & bar 210 0 we st division st . 7 7 3 . 2 9 2 .1 6 0 0 From left: guisado tacos, chili, breakfast tacos o NICK MURWAY

Make your Mother’s Day reservation now 1816 N. Halsted St. Chicago, IL 60614 312-280-8990

Texican continued from 35

Mon, Tues, Wed and Thur 3:30PM-11PM Fri and Sat 11:30AM-12AM Sun 11:30AM-10PM

Never miss a show again.

EARLY WARNINGS chicagoreader.com/early 36 CHICAGO READER - MAY 4, 2017

Find hundreds of Readerrecommended restaurants, exclusive video features, and sign up for weekly news chicagoreader.com/ food.

particular species, announces its presence in Dalton’s chili, and a bowl sets off at least one alarm: the thick beefy, tomato-based brew lavished with sour cream and cheese will flood your gray matter with glutamates. If the richness of it all gets too exhausting, a pair of punchy sides are on hand as eye-openers: a bowl of esquites proves to be the spiciest thing on the menu, while a pinktinged lime slaw is precisely the sort of drain cleaner your pipes deserve during this sort of workout. Tacos are an essential element of this TexMex survey, with a pair of sauteed shrimp iterants providing some of the menu’s few lighter bites. But it’s the pork guisado tacos that put Texican in the game. Yeah, yeah, they’re on mass-produced flour tortillas—that’s the side of the border you’re on now. But for that, the brick-red pork, slow simmered in tomatillo salsa, showered with cilantro, queso fresco, and pickled red onion, can stand up to the best of them. Dalton pokes the silly Austin-versus-San Antonio breakfast taco hornet’s nest by coming down on the state capital’s side, offering hers “Austin-style” (a distinction without a differ-

ence), one with scrambled eggs, potato, and chorizo, and another a texturally compelling migas taco with scrambled eggs, peppers, onions, cheddar, and crunchy strips of fried tortilla. There’s a fairly tight border between breakfast and lunch at Texican. You likely can’t get those breakfast tacos after 11 AM. Same goes for the chorizo breakfast sandwich lightly tinged cilantro-green on ciabbatta with scrambled eggs and Wisconsin brick cheese (approximating traditional asadero), and the rajas quiche, a slice of egg pie with roasted poblano strips. The only outlier on Dalton’s menu is an alluring french toast bread pudding: light, compressed croissant with lemon curd drizzled in blueberry compote—a wistful reminder of long-gone Dodo brunches. Dalton doesn’t expect to bust open borders with Texican. But aside from the chains there’s currently no dedicated independent Tex-Mex restaurant in Chicago. So in that regard she’s a lot like Jess Garlin at the end of The Texican, the scrappy outlaw plugging big, bad Luke Starr full of holes. v

ß @MikeSula

○ Watch a video of Steve Gleich making this cocktail at chicagoreader.com/food.

NEIGHBORHOOD

SPONSORED CONTENT

COCKTAIL CHALLENGE

Uh-oh, a SpaghettiOs cocktail By JULIA THIEL

PHYLLIS’ MUSICAL INN // WICKER PARK

Everyday: $3.75 Moosehead pints and $2.50 Hamms cans

Uh-Oh by Steve Gleich o CHRIS BUDDY

aking a cocktail with the canned kid-pleaser SPAGHETTIOS “sounds like a nightmare,” says LUXBAR bar manager STEVE GLEICH. But when Nicole Brudd of the Revel Room challenged him to do just that, Gleich got to work. His first idea was a Bloody Mary, which evolved into a Bloody Maria and then sangrita, a drink that’s typically sipped alongside tequila. Though sangrita originally consisted of just fruit juice and chile powder, today it often includes tomato juice as well, which is the route that Gleich went with it. After experimenting with pineapple juice—which he says turned out to be “too weird”—Gleich turned to watermelon juice for both its flavor and color. He also juiced fresh tomatoes in an attempt to temper the processed flavor of the SpaghettiOs, which he mixed with tomato juice before straining out the pasta. “I don’t know the last time you had SpaghettiOs, but when you open it up there’s not a lot of sauce—it’s really thick. To strain just the sauce by itself, it’s not really possible,” he says. The juice served to water down the tomato sauce enough to strain it out as well as add flavor. Gleich also added vinegar, sugar, and a little salt to his sangrita-inspired concoction before incorporating it into a cocktail. Instead of the traditional chile powder, he used paprika, which is listed among the ingredients in SpaghettiOs. The drink, which Gleich named

ALIVEONE // LINCOLN PARK

Wednesday: 1/2 price aliveOne signature cocktails

7 7 3 . 4 8 6 .9 8 62

ALIVEONE .COM

BARRA Ñ // AVONDALE

SCHUBAS // LAKEVIEW

BARR ANCHIC AGO.COM

LH -S T.CO M

$7 La Piña cocktails & $4 Love Punch shots

All Lagunitas beers are $5.50

Uh-Oh, involves tequila, mezcal, lime juice, simple syrup, and is served over crushed ice in a SpaghettiOs can with a pasta straw and a sprinkling of paprika for color. UH-OH

1.5 OZ OLMECA ALTOS REPOSADO TEQUILA .5 OZ DEL MAGUEY VIDA MEZCAL 1.5 OZ WATERMELON-TOMATO SANGRITA* .25 OZ SIMPLE SYRUP .5 OZ LIME JUICE MINT SPRIG PAPRIKA ONE PIECE OF ZITONI PASTA (STRAW-SHAPED) Shake all ingredients with ice and strain into a clean SpaghettiOs can filled with crushed ice. Garnish with a sprig of mint and a sprinkle of paprika and serve with a pasta straw. *Sangrita: Juice three tomatoes and mix the juice with a can of SpaghettiOs, then fine strain. Combine two parts of the mixture with one part watermelon juice, one part white vinegar, one part sugar, a tablespoon of salt, and a pinch of paprika.

WHO’S NEXT:

Gleich has challenged KIEL SCHELICH of MAPLE & ASH to create a cocktail with COTTAGE CHEESE. v

ß @juliathiel

LINCOLN HALL // LINCOLN PARK

All Lagunitas beers are $6 LH -S T.CO M

REGGIES // SOUTH LOOP

$5 Absolut & Bacardi Cocktails Every Day special REGGIE SLIVE .COM

I|O GODFREY // RIVER NORTH

Monday-Friday 4-7pm: $6 La Marca Prosecco I O G O D F R E Y. CO M

FITZGERALDS // BERWYN

Two Brothers Cane & Abel Red Rye Ale $5 pints FITZGER ALDSNIGHTCLUB.COM

WEST LOOP

BOTTOM LOUNGE // 1375 W LAKE // BOTTOMLOUNGE.COM Now open for lunch starting at 11:00 AM Tuesday—Sunday. All new menu and 40+ rotating craft beer selection make for a great time on the rooftop patio.

“Great food and a cool vibe...”

— KELLY G / GOOGLE

MAY 4, 2017 - CHICAGO READER 37

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. TELE-FUNDRAISING MEMORIAL DAY CAMPAIGN American Veterans helping Veterans. Felons need not apply per Illinois Attorney General regulations. Start ASAP, Call 312-256-5035

General

Sr Lead, Job code OCS204 (Opus Consulting Solutions Inc., Schaumburg, IL)Execute full life cycle sw dvlpmt. Interact w/Sw Systs Engr to understand subsyst & component specs & recommnd changes to facilitate efficient & effective dvlpmt. Resp for dvlpmt of new progs, anlyz current progs & processes & make recommendatns. Comply w/projt plans & industry standards. Make presentatns to client audiences/ professional peers. Provide assistance to testers & suppt personnel. Knowl of HP-NonStop Tandem, TAL, TACL, Pathway, Enscribe, SQL, C, C++, Java, Junit, Akka Framewrk. Bach’s in Comp Sci, Eng, MIS or will accept edu equiv of a Bach’s deg prepared by qualified educational srvce in accordance w/8 C.F.R. Section 214.2(h) (4)(iii)(D) +1yr of exp. Loc’n: Schaumburg, IL& various unanticipatd loc’ns w/in the U.S., reloc maybe rqd. Please refer to job code & email res to: h rusa@opusconsulting.com

Sr Lead, Job code OCS203 EMATICS, STATISTICS, AND (Opus Consulting Solutions Inc., COMPUTER SCIENCE AT THE Schaumburg, IL)Gathers IT projct UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT rqmts from the bus teams & dsgns sw solutns in different CHICAGO, located in a large metro- projts for credit card authorizatn, politan area, is seeking a full-time client/srvr applics & TIBCO Lecturer to teach undergraduate prods. Resp for dvlpmt of new courses in the fields of mathematics progs, anlyz current progs & proand statistics, mentor undergraduate cesses & make recommendatns. and graduate students in the depart- Tests sw components us’g white ment, participate in continuing edu- box & black box approaches. Participate in root cause analysis & cation programs, and conduct research in the field. Requirements fraud investigatn. Comply w/projt are a Master’s degree or its foreign plans & industry standards. Make equivalent in Mathematics, Statistics, presentatns to client audiences/ Computer Science, or related field of professional peers. Provide asstudy. For fullest consideration, sistance to testers & suppt personnel. Knowl of TAL, TACL, please submit a CV, cover letter, and SQL, C, C++, Java. Bach’s in 3 references to the attention of the Comp Sci or Engring or Frgn Search Coordinator via email to Equiv +5 yrs of progress exp. search2017@math.uic.edu or via mail Loc’n: Schaumburg, IL & various University of Illinois at Chicago, De- unanticipatd loc’ns w/in the U.S., partment of Mathematics, Statistics/ reloc maybe rqd. Please refer to job code & email res to: hrusa@ Attn: Lectuer Search, and Computer Science/Attn: Lecturer Search, 851 S opusconsulting.com THE DEPARTMENT OF MATH-

Morgan Street, Chicago, IL 60607. The University of Illinois is an Equal Opportunity, Affirmative Action employer. Minorities, women, veterans and individuals with disabilities are encouraged to apply. The University of Illinois may conduct background checks on all job candidates upon acceptance of a contingent offer. Background checks will be performed in compliance with the Fair Credit Reporting Act."

Sr Lead, Job code OCS202 (Opus Consulting Solutions Inc., Schaumburg, IL)Resp for providg EMV solutns for our fin’l & petroleum clients. Interacts w/various bus units & projt teams to anlyz bus probs relt’g to anti-money launderg & real time risk assessmnt rqmts. Involvd in dsgn’g & implementg outdoor Mobile Payment applics. Creatg comprehensive bus case docs &

CAMPAIGN JOBS

tech docs. Uses tools such as Microsoft. Net 4.0, Net 4.5, compact framewrk, TCP/IP Socket. Bach’s in Comp Sci or Eng or frgn equiv +5yrs of progress exp. Loct’n: Schaumburg, IL & various unanticipatd loc’ns w/in the U.S., reloc maybe rqd. Please refer to job code & email res to: hrusa@ opusconsulting.com Sr Business Analyst, Job code OCS201 (Opus Consulting Solutions Inc., Schaumburg, IL)Shall lead sessions & id & validate client’s bus needs & rqmts. Doc current bus processes, bus flows & propose bus processes in the credit cards & payment sw solutns industry. Conduct bus process analysis us’g UML, Visio, Java, .Net, & Oracle. Clarify bus needs & translatg them into applic & operational rqmts. Mnag’g the deliverables thru the entire life cycle of the projt. Master’s deg in Comp Sci/Info tech./ Eng or frgn equiv +12mths of exp. Loct’n: Schaumburg, IL & various unanticipatd loctns w/in the U.S., reloc maybe rqd. Please refer to job code & email res to: h rusa@opusconsulting.com

EDUCATION: ASSISTANT PROFESSOR (Maywood, IL). Engage in teaching in courses in Function of the Human Body and Human Pathophysiology, engage in research including membrane transport mechanisms, molecular neuroendocrinology, neuronal excitability, neurobiological effects of alcohol abuse, and RNA/epigenetic regulation in health and disease. Supervise work of one Research Associate. Ph.D. in Biology, Life Sciences or related. Loyola University Chicago. Apply by mail to: Toni Pak, Chair, Department of Cell and Molecular Physiology, Loyola University, 2160 S. First Ave,. Maywood, IL 60153

CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT MANAGER – Technical Sales. Sell software & related tech. Develop proofs of concept in .Net framework & C# language. Travel to various & unanticipated locations throughout continental U.S. req’d on bi-weekly basis. U.S. Master’s deg. in Computer Science (Applied) or foreign equiv. req’d. Min 2 years’ exp. in sales engineer pos’n(s) involving develop of proofs of concept in .Net framework and C# language req’d. Great Software Laboratory, Inc., Chicago, IL. Resumes to: Recruiting, Great Software Laboratory, Inc., 401 S. LaSalle Street, Suite 801-W, Chicago, IL 60605.

SOFTWARE SOFTWARE ENGINEERING ASSOCIATE MANAGER (Multiple Positions) (Accenture LLP; Chicago, IL): Analyze, design, build, test, implement and/or maintain multiple system components or applications for Accenture or our clients. Must have willingness and ability to travel domestically approximately 30% of the time to meet client needs. For complete job description, list of requirements, and to apply, go to: www.accenture.com/ us-en/careers (Job# 00465038).

SCHNEIDER SOCCER, LLC. 2050 W Hood Ave., Chicago, IL 60659. Additional work-sites around Chicago Metropolitan Area. Responsibilities: digital & IT project mgmt. for full-service marketing, sports mgmt., & digital con sultancy. BA Degree in Engineering, Computer Science, or related field. Send resumes to schneidergroup@outlook.com.

MID-LEVEL LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT sought by Wolff Landscape Architecture, Inc. in Chicago, IL: use sftwr. to dvlp. dsgn. construction docs. Manage landscape projs. & communicate w/clients; Assist in construction admin. Req.: Master in Landscape Architecture; License of Landscape Architecture; Proficient in CAD, Adobe Suite, & SketchUp. Send CV to: T. Wolff, 307 N. Michigan Ave., Suite 601, Chicago, IL 60601

NUTS ON CLARK POPCORN STORES- Paid training, lots of hours & opportunity available. Apply in person between 9 A.M. & 11 A.M. 3830 N Clark St. Must bring state ID & Social Security Card.

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

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

9147 S. Ashland. Lrg Studio, dine -In Kit., laundry, closets. Clean & Secure. $650/mo. You pay utils. No Pets. Avail now! 312-914-8967.

STUDIO $900 AND OVER

FOR 90 DAYS THEN

$15.00/HR APPLY NOW 872.203.9303 38 CHICAGO READER | MAY 4, 2017

(Accenture LLP; Chicago, IL): Analyze, design, build, test, implement and/or maintain multiple system components or applications for Accenture or our clients. Must have willingness and ability to travel domestically approximately 80% of the time to meet client needs. For complete job description, list of requirements, and to apply, go to: www.accenture.com/us-en/careers (Job# 00467981).

INNOVATIVE CONSULTING SOLUTIONS LLC seeks Programm ers/Analysts, Software Engineers, DBAs. Primary worksite is Schaumburg, IL, but relocation is possible. Apply jobs@icscorpusa. com

new sleeping room, all utilities included, furnished. $450/mo. No security deposit. Call 773-354-2819.

CROSSROADS HOTEL SRO SINGLE RMS Private bath, PHONE,

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 gas incl. 2-5BR start at $650 & up. Sec 8 Welc. Rental Assistance Prog. for Qualified Applicants offer up to $ 400/month for 1 yr. (773)412-1153 Wesley Realty

7022 S. SHORE DRIVE Impeccably Clean Highrise STUDIOS, 1 & 2 BEDROOMS Facing Lake & Park. Laundry & Security on Premises. Parking & Apts. Are Subject to Availability. TOWNHOUSE APARTMENTS 773-288-1030

SPRING 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 312-446-3333

CHICAGO 70th & King Dr, 1BR, clean, quiet, well maintained bldg, Lndry + Heat. Section 8 ok. $680/ mo. 773-510-9290. 6930 S. SOUTH SHORE DRIVE Studios & 1BR, INCL. Heat, Elec, Cking gas & PARKING, $585-$925, Country Club Apts 773-752-2200

EXCHANGE EAST APTS 1 Brdm $575 w/Free Parking,Appl, AC,Free heat. Near trans. laundry rm. Elec.not incl. Kalabich Mgmt (708) 424-4216

NOW!!! Studios-3

Beds. Hyde Park & Washington Park Call Megan 773-285-3310

1 BR $800-$899 LARGE ONE BEDROOM near Morse "L". 6826 N Wayne. Hardwood floors. Pets OK. Heat included. Laundry in building. $895/month. Available 6/1. 773-761-4318.

1 BR $900-$1099 SMOKE FREE BUILDING!!! SOUTH SIDE 5 rooms, 1BR deluxe. 101st/King Dr. well maint. appls/heat incl, no pets. $795/mo. plus sec. Mr. Ben. 312-802-9492.

HOMEWOOD- 1 & 2BR new kit, new appls, oak flrs, ac, lndry/stor., $975 -1195/mo incls ht/prkg, near Metra. 773.743.4141 Urban Equities. com

1 BR $1100 AND OVER

1 BR $700-$799 1737 W CHASE. English Tudor building on block of single family homes. Second floor unit, North/ South exposures, very sunny, French windows, formal dr, many closets, hardwood floors, fans, blinds. $775 month-to-month includes heat. 312221-6593. 8322 S INGLESIDE & 8001 S Colfax, 1BR $650, newly remodel, hrdwd flrs, cable. Sec 8 welcome (Laundry Ingleside only) 708-3081509 or 773-493-3500 BURNHAM NICE SIZE 1BR, heat & water incl. 1st & 2nd flr apt w/ balcony in very quiet bldg. $755/mo. Credit check req’d. 708-372-4141

1/2 MONTH FREE Rent!

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

AUSTIN AREA 1-2 BR apts, $800-$1050, heat & appliances incl. Section 8 OK, close to transportation 708-267-2875

Sunny large 1 bedroom with formal Dining Room in Ravenswood! Lovely hdwd flrs, great closet space: close to fabulous Winnemac Park and public transp! Onsite lndry/storage: avail July 1. 5030 North Winchester: $1235 heat incl. www.theschirmfirm.com. (773) 3810150

WINTER SPECIAL $500 Toward Rent Beautiful Studios 1, 2, 3 &

74TH/KING DR. 1BR, 73rd/ Indiana, 2BR, 88th/Dauphin 1 & 2BR. Spac good trans, laundry on site, sec camera. 312-341-1950

2650 N. LAKEVIEW #403, roomy studio in high rise, on site: indoor pool, gym, grocery, prkg. $1300/mo. Rich, 773-621-2045

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

4 BR Sect. 8 Welc. Westside Loc, Must qualify. 773-287-4500 www.wjmngmt.com

FREE HEAT! NO SEC Dep. No Move-in Fee! 1, 2, 3 & 4 BRs, laundry rm. Sec 8 OK. Tiffany 773.285.3310 www.livenovo.com

8053 S. SHORE DRIVE, 3 . 5 Room Basement Apartment for Rent. Appliances incl. $53 5/mo + sec. Call 773-2214547 for more info. CLEAN ROOM W/FRIDGE & micro, Near Oak Park, Food -4Less, Walmart, Walgreens, Buses & Metra, Laundry. $115/wk & up. 773-637-5957 VICINITY OF 77TH & large 4BR, 2BA house, rehabbed, exc cond., lrg back yrd, Sec 8 welcome. 773-510-9290

Never miss a show again.

Evans, newly fenced $1400.

NEWLY UPDATED South Shore 7017 S. Clyde. 2BR, Kit/ BA, hdwd flrs, tenant pays heat, nr Metra & shops. $650/mo. No Sec 630.660.5031

VIC OF 77TH & Blackstone,

SOUTH SIDE LOVELY 4rm apt, living, dining, kitchen, 1BR, 1BA, heat, hdwd flrs. $675 + 1 mo sec. Avail Now. 773-264-6711

studio located 1 block from Metra, Mariano’s grocery, LA Fitness! 4832 North Wolcott: LANDLORD PAYS HEAT AND COOKING GAS! Lovely hardwd flrs, loads of closet space! built-in china cabinets! Lndry, storage onsite. $1,025.00. May 1 and June 1. (773) 381-0150. www.theschirmfirm. com

BIG ROOM with stove, fridge, bath & nice wood floors. Near Red Line & Buses. Elevator & Laundry, Shopping. $121/wk + up. 773-561-4970

MOVE

SPRINGTIME SAVINGS! NEWLY Remod. 1 BR Apts $650 w/

1BR Bsmt apt. $650/mo. No Pets. Gas, electric & appls incl. Credit check req’d. 646-202-3294

RAVENSWOOD HUGE 2 1/2 rm

NICE ROOM w/stove, fridge & bath Near Aldi, Walgreens, Beach, Red Line & Buses. Elevator & Laundry. $130/wk & up. 773-275-4442

1306 N CICERO, Beautiful brand

NEWLY REMOD 1BR & Studios starting at $580. No sec dep, move in fee or app fee. Free heat/ hot water. 1155 W. 83rd St., 773619-0204

SOFTWARE ENGINEERING MANAGER (MULTIPLE POSITIONS)

$12.50/HR

LARGE SUNNY ROOM w/fridge & microwave. Near Oak Park, Green Line & Buses. 24 hr Desk, Parking Lot $101/week & Up. (773)378-8888

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

FULL-TIME DIGITAL MANAGER sought by

STUDIO $600-$699 Database Administrator, Intercultural Montessori Foreign Language Immersion School, dba Intercultural Montessori Language School, in Chicago, IL. Develop & manage admin & academic databases w/web & PCbased apps. Develop, implement & maintain apps. Implement security. Req: Bachelor’s in Comp Sci or Comp Eng, or foreign equiv +1 yr exp in same or computer-related job. Exp must include use of SQL Server, Eclipse & Jquery. Email resume to businessoffice@ interculturalmontessori.org.

STUDIO OTHER

Newly updated, clean furnished rooms, located near buses & Metra, elevator, utilities included, $91/wk. $ 395/mo. 815-722-1212

û NO SEC DEP û

EARLY WARNINGS Find a concert, buy a ticket, and sign up to get advance notice of Chicago’s essential music shows at chicagoreader.com/early.

1431 W. 78th St 1BR. $500/MO HEAT INCL 773-955-5106

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

BRONZEVILLE, BEAUTIFUL REMOD 2 & 3BR Apts, hdwd flrs, custom cabinets, avail now. $1100-$1200/mo + sec. 773-9058487. Section 8 Ok

CHICAGO SOUTH SIDE Beauti-

ELMHURST: D L X 1BR, n e w appl, new carpet, AC, balc. overlook pool, $925-$975 incl heat, prkg, OS Laundry. 773-743-4141 w ww.urbanequities.com

ful Studios, 1,2,3 & 4 BR’s, Sec 8 ok. $500 gift certificate for Sec 8 tenants. 773-287-9999/312-446-3333

1BRS, 1ST & 2nd flrs, Newly rehab, hdwd flrs, spac, appls, lndry facility, Quiet bldg. Gated backyard. Sec 8 ok. 773-344-4050

1/2 MONTH RENT Free!

Super large Wrigleyville 1 bedroom with enclosed front porch! Perfect for al fresco dinners! Dec. fireplace, huge remodeled Kitchen with pantry! Onsite lndry/storage. 4 blocks west of Wrigley Field! 1249 West Waveland: $1350, tenant htd. www.theschirmfirm.com. (773) 3810150

SUBURBS, RENT TO OWN! 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

NO SECURITY DEPOSIT NO MOVE IN FEE 1, 2, 3 BEDROOM APTS (773) 874-1122 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

1/2 MONTH FREE Rent! Beautiful

English Tudor style courtyard building located only 2 blocks from Irving Park “EL”! Hdwd flrs, built-in bookshelves, china cabinet, lndry. storage onsite. 4237 North Hermitage: available June 1: $1335 heat included. www.theschirmfirm.com. (773) 381-0150.

1 BR OTHER APTS. FOR RENT PARK MGMT & INV. LTD. IT’S MOVING TIME!!! 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. SPRING HAS SPRUNG!! MOST UNITS INCLUDE.. HEAT & HOT WTR STUDIOS FROM $475.00 1BDR FROM $550.00 2BDR FROM $745.00 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 ∫

6214 S. EBERHART, O p e n House Sat 11-3pm. beautifuly rehabbed 2 & 3BR Apts, 2BA, $850 & up. Well secured & maintained. Call 773-947-8572 or 312-613-4424

2BR

T.H,

stove, brand new hdwd flrs, remod BA, fin bsmt. $1100. Section 8 Welcome. Kay 773-370-8018

BELDEN & LAVERGNE Lrg 2BR, $1100/mo, Tenant pays Gas & Elec., No Dogs. Call Ken @ 773391-1460 MATTESON 2BR TOWNHOME. Section 8 OK. $1150/mo + 1 mo sec. Call 708-625-7355 for info.

73RD & DORCHESTER, 2BR, refrig & stove, laundry hookups, off street prkg, $1075/mo. No security dep. Sec 8 ok. 773-684-1166 KENWOOD (4900 S) 2BR, new kitc, new appls, FDR, oak flrs, new windows, $1225/incl heat, 773743-4141 www.urbanequities.com

2 BR $1300-$1499 5828 S MICHIGAN. 2BR $1300, 3BR $1400 w/2BA, LR, DR, kitchen, sun and back porches. 773-370-1952

2 BR UNDER $900

2 BR OTHER

CHATHAM: QUIET NONsmoking building. 2 bed, 1 bath, 2nd floor, intercom, $850/month, heat included. 1/2 block to CTA and Metra. 708-261-6566

ROUND LAKE BEACH, IL Cedar 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

CHICAGO, 9121 S. Co t t a g e Grove, 2BR apt. $995/mo Newly remod, appls, mini blinds, ceiling fans, Sec 8 OK. No Dep. Call 312-9150100

80TH & HERMITAGE, s p a cious 2 BR, beautiful hdwd flrs, mini blinds, newly painted, ceramic tile, appls inc, close to trans 773-868-9394

7701 S. South Shore Dr. 2 BDs with 1.5 Baths, Large Combo Living-Dining Rm, FREE Heat & cking gas. Prkng extra. $785-$850, Kalabich Mgmt (708)424-4216

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

CHICAGO

GLENWOOD, Updated lrg 2BR Condo, H/F High School. Balc, C/A, appls, heat /water incl. 2 prkng, lndry. $ 975/mo. 708-268-3762.

7600 S Essex 2BR

$599, 3BR $699, 4BR $799 w/apprvd credit, no sec dep. Sect 8 Ok! 773287-9999 /312-446-3333

RIVERDALE APT FOR RENT, 2 bedroom, newly decorated heat included $825/mo. plus security. Please call 773-852-9425

2 BR $900-$1099 HUGE 2 BEDROOM , 2 bathroom, approximately 1500S.F. Must see! Ideal location. Close to all public transportation & expressways. 1.5 blocks to Brown Line. Well maintained 3-unit building, laundry in building, near North Park University. $1075/mo + utilities. Credit check & security deposit required. Available June 1. 773-775-7228 9am-6pm.

773-715-1591

COACH HOUSE FOR RENT. 107th/Wentworth. 2 Small Bedrooms. Appls incl, available now. Jerry. 708-699-7602 CHICAGO 1048 W. 81ST ST. Newly Decor 2BR, stove, fridge, carpet, c-fans, tenant pays heat. Sec 8 Welc. 312-608-7622, 10a-5p NEAR COLES PARK and Dan Ryan, 1BR apt. New appls, new carpet, excellent transportation. Free heat. $850/mo. 773-846-4077

3 BR OR MORE UNDER $1200 SECTION 8 WELCOME $200 Cash Move-In Bonus, No Deposit 6227 S. Justine 3BR/1BA & 225 W 108th Pl, 2BR/1BA, $1100; 7134 S Normal, 4BR, 2BA, $1150. Heat & appls incl. 312-683-5174

96TH & MERRION, 3BR Townhouse with appls, hdwd flrs, no pets. Section 8 Welcome. $1200/ mo. Move in Ready. Call 312970-4157

10215 S. PERRY, 3BR, 1BA, hdwd floors. 130 E. 120th Pl., 6BR, 2 full Bath, hdwd floors. Section 8 Welcome. Call 708296-5477

11740 S. LASALLE, 4BR, hdwd flrs, stove, fridge. Newly remod. $1300 / mo. No Security Deposit. FREE heat. Sect 8 welc. Will accept 2BR Voucher, 773-221-0061

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

SECTION 8 WELCOME. SOUTHSIDE Newly rehab, 5 bed, single family. $1400/month. Please Call 773-406-1213

5551 W. CONGRESS PKWY. Newly renovated, Huge 3BR, tenant pays all utils. Asking $1000/ mo. Section 8 Welcome. 773-617-2538

SECT 8 OK, 2 story, 4br/2ba w/ bsmt. New decor, crpt & hdwds, ceiling fans, stove/fridge, $1465. 11243 S. Eggleston, 773-443-5397

WRIGHTWOOD, Spacious 3BR apt, fully carpeted, heat and appls incl. 8049 S. Artesian. $1100 /mo + dep. 773368-5971

3 BR OR MORE $1500-$1799

4200 BLOCK OF W. Grenshaw, 2nd floor 3BR Apt, newly decorated, heat & ceiling fans incl., $975/ mo + 1 mo sec. Call 773-7855174 7651 S DREXEL, 1st fl, 3BR, liv rm, kitch., newly remodeled, ceramic tiles, heat not incl, $ 950/mo plus 1 mo sec. 708-474-6520 DOLTON - 3BR, 1BA, side driveway. $975/mo. Available Now! Appliances incl. & security deposit required. Call 773-447-1990 CHICAGO - NEAR 104TH Street & Indiana, 3BR, 1.5 BA, LR, DR,& basement, $800/mo + utils., requires 1 mo rent & 1 mo sec. 773315-1824 SOUTHSIDE 62nd/May 3BR, 2BA, heat incl. $900. 68th/ Hermitage, 2BR. 725. 3BR. $850.70th /Normal, 3BR. $825. 847-977-3552

CHATHAM AREA 8242 S. Langley. Luxurious 3BR, 2 full BA, Avail. immed., Section 8 welcome. 773220-8803 and 773-881-1416

8001 S. DOBSON. 3BR $950 New Kitchen and Bath. Heat and appliances incl. 312.208.1771 or 773. 916.0039

114TH & KING DR. 3BR, 2nd flr, carpeted, great transp., garage, Secure buildling, $880/mo + 1 month security. Call 708-889-6128 SECTION 8 WELCOME. No Security Deposit. 7721 S Peoria, 3BR apt, appls incl. $1050/mo. 708-288-4510 8222 S. MARSHFIELD 3BR, Showing Sat only 11AM – 2PM $925. + sec, tens. pay utils, Call 773-426-0280

3 BR OR MORE $1200-$1499 LOGAN SQUARE: THREE bed-

rooms, hardwood floors, 9’-6” ceilings. Includes heat, water, dishwasher, stove, refrigerator. Laundry on site. $1450. Call 773-914-8576.

BLUE ISLAND 3BR, 1.5BA, 2nd CHATHAM, 720 E. 81st St. Newly remodeled 2BR, 1BA, hardwood floors, appliances & heat included. Call 847-533-5463.

flr duplex, appls, heat incl, tenant pays light and gas, off street parking avail, no pets. $1250/mo. Call Toni 708-715-0721

ADULT SERVICES

BEVERLY/MORGAN PARK. 3BR brick ranch house. C/A, $1,500/ mo + 1.5 mo sec dep req. No pets/ smoking, 3BR Vouchure Pref. 708-647-9737

PARK MANOR: 7825 S Champlain, beaut rehabbed 4BR, 2BA house, granite ctrs, SS appls, fin bsmt, 2-car gar, $1500/mo. 708288-4510 WRIGLEYVILLE 2BR, 1100SQFT, new appls, FDR, oak floors, cac. OS lndry, $1495 + utils. Prkg avail. 773-743-4141 urbanequ ities.com

CALUMET PARK 12946

86TH & JUSTINE, Newly remodeled, 5BR, 2BA, hardwood floors, appliances incl. Near trans. Sec 8 Welcome 773-430-3100

Beautifully renovated 3-5BR Single Family Homes, new kit, fridge & stove incl, hdwd flrs, cash & Sec 8 Wel 708-557-0644 CHICAGO HOUSES FOR rent. Section 8 Ok, w/app credit $500 gift certificate 3, 4 & 5 BR houses avail. 312-446-3333 or 708-752-3812

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

NEWLY REMODELED 4BR 1BA

Home nr 104th/Wabash. Large kitchen w/enclosed back porch! Utilities not included. 773-750-3749

FOR SALE

3 BR OR MORE

FURNISHED ROOM 10154 S. State St. Close to trans, Use of Kitchen, LR & BA. $350/mo. No Sec. Ms. Harris 773-403-7297

PSYCHIC

HEALTH & WELLNESS FULL BODY MASSAGE. hotel, house calls welcome $90 special. Russian, Polish, Ukrainain girls. Northbrook and Schaumburg locations. 10% discount for new customers. Please call 773-407-7025

KNEADING HANDS DAY SPA CHICAGO 67TH AND Emerald -

SOUTHSIDE - 55TH & Ashland,

3446 N. Pulaski Chicago, IL. 60641 (773) 283-3003

UKRAINIAN MASSAGE. CALLS in/ out. Chicago and suburbs. Hotels. 1250 S Michigan Avenue. Appointments. 773-616-6969.

Clean Rooms, use of kitchen and bath. Available Now. Call 773-434-4046

MUSIC & ARTS WEST SIDE - 5126 W. Madison, single rm, utils incl, $400/mo. prk avail, shared BA & Kit stores/shops, sec dep. neg. 773-988-5579

READING & BOOK Release Party, Offbeat/Quirky, and Festival of Language, Sunday, May 7, 1 pm, Frugal Muse Books, 7511 Lemont Rd., Darien.

MESSAGES

MARKETPLACE GOODS

EVANSTON 2BR, 1100SQFT, New Kit/ oak flrs, new windows, OS Lndry, $1295-$1350/incl heat, 773-743-4141 urbanequities.com

ROGERS PK 2000 sft/ 3BR2BA: new kit, SS appl, FDR, oak flrs, new windows, private deck & sunroom, nr lake/Red Line; $1995/ inc ht 773-743-4141 urbanequities .com

1 WEEK FREE. 96th & Halsted & other locations. Large Rooms, shared kitchen & bath. $100/week and up. Call 773-673-2045

ASTOUNDING

READER & Love Specialist. You tell nothing, she tells all! Will tell you what has been, what is now, & what will become. Seeing is believing and with one call you will believe. 424-224-8866

Southside, Rooms for rent Newly remodeled, bkyd,appls incl quiet block, $125/ week utilities included 773-407-1736

EVANSTON: 3BR TOP corner, 1100sft, New eat-in Kit, SS appls, oak flrs, Redline, $1495/incl heat, 773-743-4141 urbanequities.com

LOGAN SQUARE Turn Of The Century 9 room boulevard apartment, 3BRs, hardwood floors, 2fireplaces, modern kitchen & bath, breakfast room. $1800/mo. includes heat. 773-235-1066

AVAILABLE NOW! Spacious Rooms for rent. $400/mo. Utilities and bed incl. Seniors Welcome. No Sec Dep. 312-973-2793

furn. rooms, 45 + pref, share kitchen and bath, util. included, cable ready. From $350. 773-358-2570

GENERAL

SECTION 8 WELCOME. No Security deposit. 7047 S. Aberdeen, 4BR, 2BA house, appls incl, $1200/ mo. 708-288-4510

3 BR OR MORE $1800-$2499

SOUTH SHORE, Senior Discount. Male preferred. Furnished rooms, shared kitchen & bath, $550/ mo. & up. Utilities included. 773-710-5431

$132,900, 2BD/1BTH,

CHARISMATIC

professionallyrehabbed Georgian in the Sought after Auburn-Gresham neighborhood w/ seller cc for serious offers. Call Deanna 773-621-3139

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

KILL TEED!

ROACHES-GUARAN-

non-residential

Buy Harris Roach Tablets. Odorless, Effective, Long Lasting Available: Hardware Stores, The Home Depot, homedepot.com

SELF-STORAGE CENTERS. T W O locations to serve you. All

MASSAGE TABLES, NEW and

units fully heated and humidity controlled with ac available. North: Knox Avenue. 773-685-6868. South: Pershing Avenue. 773-523-6868.

OTHER

roommates

10841 S. HOXIE. (1 blk E of Torrence Ave) 5BR Hse, 1BA, newly remod, stove & fridge incl. Hdwd flrs throughout, $1 400/mo. No Sec Dep. Sec 8 Welc. 773-221-0061

FAR SOUTHSIDE: ROOM w/air cond. newly remodeled & decorated, nice, quiet area, Sr Citizen welc. $500 Demetry Armstrong 773-812-2037.

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.

SHARED APT, PRIVATE BEDROOM, male pref, No drugs or alcohol, 7300 block of S. Vernon, Chicago, IL, 60619. 773-580-4141

ADULT SERVICES

SPIRITUAL PSYCHIC READER TELLS you past, present and future, helps with all problems, could do where others have failed. Call now for FREE consultation 630-408-4789

legal notices NOTICE IS HEREBY given, pur-

5 WITCHES RITUALS Love Spells

suant to “An Act in relation to the use of an Assumed Business Name in the conduct or transaction of Business in the State,” as amended, that a certification was registered by the undersigned with the County Clerk of Cook County. Registration Number: D17150452 on April 12, 2017 Under the Assumed Business Name of CALABASH REALTY AND INVESTMENTS with the business located at: 8806 S. MAY ST., CHICAGO, IL 60620. The true and real full name(s) and residence address of the owner(s) /partner(s) is: JENNIFER L JONES 8806 S. MAY ST., CHICAGO, IL 60620, USA

ADULT SERVICES

SERVICES

SOUTH SUBURBS, 4BR, modern kitchen & bath, dining room. Sect 8 OK, 2 car garage. $130 0/mo & up + sec. 847-9091538.

ART AREA STUDIO 51 51 S. SPRING ST. ELGIN, IL 60120 MAY 6th, 2017 KENTUCKY DERBY PARTY Pony rides & more 2:30pm IVY FORD BLUES BAND rsvp 224-356-0686

& Rituals Performed by 5 powerful witches! Owner Snow Adams has created and recruited the most powerful and most experienced witches of our time. Helps in Love-Career-SuccessFamily Finding true love and reuniting broken relationships. Results within 48 hrs! For more info Call (702)-7212783 Instagram @5witchesrituals

2BR, 1 BA UNIT , updated beautiful condo, new floor, 119th St & Pulaski, Alsip, IL. 2 covered parking stalls. Near ammenities. 773-600-1544 SECTION 8 OK, 71st /Francisco 2BR, walk-in closet, hdwd flrs, appls incl, 2 unit building. nice neighborhood, $9 00/ mo. 773-259-6687

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

93RD/JEFFREY.

ALL NEW APT , 5 BR, 2BA, 1st fl, hardwood floors, granite countertops, Section 8 Welcome 773-616-3615

2 BR $1100-$1299 EAST ROGERS PARK, steps to the beach at 1240 West Jarvis, five rooms, two bedrooms, two baths, dishwasher, ac, heat and gas included. Carpeted, cable, laundry facility, elevator building, parking available, and no pets. Non-smoking. Price is $1200/mo. Call 773-764-9824. 5024 W. JACKSON, 2BR, fin bsmt, 1.5BA, W/D, tenant pays all utils. Asking $1200/mo. Sec 8 Welcome. 773-617-2538

COLLEGE GIRL BODY RUBS $40 w/AD 24/7

224-223-7787

MAY 4, 2017 | CHICAGO READER 39

HEROIN AND PAIN PILL ADDICTION LOW COST & CONFIDENTIAL *$20.00 TRANSPORTATION CREDIT FOR JOINING with mention of this ad.

• Same Day Dosing • FREE Gourmet Coffee • Compassionate Staff • FREE Phone Use (local & long distance) • All Public Transportation • FREE Week of Services on Your Birthday at Front Door

Sundance Methadone Treatment Center

4545 BROADWAY, CHICAGO • (847) 744-0262 • WWW.SUNDANCECHICAGO.COM

'-.,'& 1',)!% 1+#1"& -) %/, '-(/%2 0$% %/," 1', 1+#1"& *'1(-+,2

Check our website for road sharing tips.

40 CHICAGO READER - MAY 4, 2017

ota.org

By Cecil Adams Q : What’s the diﬀerence between a border

adjustment tax and a tariff? The New York Times says a BAT of 20 percent on imports would “satisfy Trump’s protectionist impulses without imposing punitive, and potentially even more disruptive, tariffs.” A tax is a tax, right? How is a tariff punitive while the BAT isn’t? —FRANK CAPLICE

A : A tax is a tax? Maybe, Frank, and maybe

*Some Restrictions Apply

0/-#0!"&0,0/%*(!$'.)&'-+

STRAIGHT DOPE

orthoinfo.org

not. Team Trump made noises early on suggesting an inclination toward protectionist tariffs, but (naturally) details and follow-up have been nonexistent. Some Republicans in Congress, on the other hand, have done more of their homework, and they’re calling instead for a drastic overhaul of how we tax businesses in the first place—which, incidentally, might have many of the effects on our trade balance Trump seems to want. As economic-policy weaponry goes, a tariff is a blunt instrument, used to bonk a targeted problem over the head—a trade partner who’s squashing some domestic industry or otherwise acting up. If the U.S. government wants to dissuade me from cutting labor costs by moving my widget company overseas, threatening to zap me with a 35 percent reimport tariff—as then-president-elect Trump suggested back in December—is one way to do it. And levying a tariff on Chinese widgets would give a boost to those widget makers who loyally remain on American soil. But China would be likely to retaliate by imposing its own tariff on American widgets, which certainly wouldn’t help the U.S. makers compete in the lucrative Chinese widget market. Want a trade war? You got one. Beyond the often-deserved “punitive” tag, tariffs just have a lousy rep: Econ 101 professors tend to bad-mouth them, as they distort the workings of the smooth-running, rational free market that economists like to think the world resembles. So how does the congressional GOP’s border-adjustment plan work? It’s complicated (as you’d hope, really), but very basically the idea is to retool our current corporate tax system, where income is considered income, pretty much, into one where (1) everything sold in the U.S., domestic or imported, gets taxed, meaning American companies would now pay taxes on all goods, parts, and materials they ship in from elsewhere; but (2) their sales revenue from exports is no longer taxable. In effect, companies would be taxed primarily on the basis of where they sell their stuff rather than where they make it. Suddenly my offshore widget factory isn’t saving me the bundle it once was, since I’m paying to bring the product back to the U.S.; meanwhile, state-

SLUG SIGNORINO

WE ARE HERE TO HELP! NOT JUDGE!

side manufacturers have a new edge in foreign markets, where they won’t have to bundle income tax into their prices. The U.S. trade deficit being second to none, plenty of tax money gets generated on imports, and American companies have less reason to leave foreign revenue overseas. Significantly too from an international comity perspective, a border adjustment tax doesn’t have that punitive-tariff smell—instead of singling out one class or source of imports, it’s applied across the board. And it shouldn’t cause harmful distortions in trade, say the economists: the tax relief on exports will cancel out the effects of the hike on imports. That’s great, you say, but hang on: Doesn’t all this mean I’m going to be paying more for widgets? So one might think, at least in the short term. Intuitively, a border adjustment tax could mean saying good-bye to all those cheap foreign-made clothes, appliances, and other goodies we’ve been buying at Walmart for years. It’s no surprise that one of the leading Republican voices against an import tax is Senator Tom Cotton, who represents the retail giant’s home state of Arkansas. Not to worry, say the plan’s supporters. The incentive this new scheme creates for American manufacturing will strengthen the dollar so much that imports will stay comparatively cheap and retailers won’t need to raise prices. But let’s look at the fine print here: to achieve the effects they’re predicting, we’d need to see a 20 percent boost in the dollar’s value. You’ll be surprised to learn there’s some difference in expert opinion about how likely this is to happen. Of course, Republican infighting between BAT advocates and no-new-taxes hardliners may doom the whole thing from the start. As of deadline, the House Ways and Means chairman was insisting BAT is still on the table, though, and maybe foes will determine instead that a compromise is the only way to avert the trade war Trump has often appeared to be hankering for. Then the only wars we’ll have to worry about are all those bombing and shooting ones suddenly looming on the horizon. v Send questions to Cecil via straightdope.com or write him c/o Chicago Reader, 350 N. Orleans, Chicago 60654.

SAVAGE LOVE

By Dan Savage

Uncle Dan takes questions from a live audience in Portland Open relationships, squirting, big boobs, butt sex, and more I took to the stage at Revolution Hall in Portland, Oregon, for a live taping of the Savage Lovecast on Easter weekend. Audience members submitted their questions on cards, but there were many we didn’t get to. So in this week’s column I’m going to reply to as many as I can.

Q : We’ve been sleeping

with another couple for three months (ﬁrst time my BF and I opened our relationship). How do I suggest full penetration with the opposite partner? At this point, we just do oral and that’s the “groove” we’re in.

A : This couple’s preferred

groove may be to only do oral with others. If they’re only up for the “soft swap,” as it’s known in swinging circles, penetration isn’t gonna happen. But you should feel free to ask for what you want—at the very least, you’ll get some longoverdue clarity about their boundaries.

Q : Is squirting pee? We know that chemically it’s similar, but is it REALLY? A : I’m tired of this debate, so consider this my ﬁnal answer: So what if it is pee? Q : My girlfriend asked me to make out with another guy. Her fantasy. We met a really pretty gay boy at a house party, and so I made out with him. I got hard, and my girlfriend made a huge scene. She says it was supposed to be for her pleasure, not for mine, and she’s still angry six months later and constantly questions whether I’m really straight. (I am!) What do I tell her? A : Good-bye.

Q : When do you know if it’s

OK to insert your ﬁnger in your boyfriend’s butthole? Without fear of freaking him out?

A : After you’ve applied

lube to your finger and his butthole—which you’re allowed to do only after you’ve asked him if you can insert your finger in his butthole and after he’s consented to having your finger in his butthole.

Q : I want to try anal, but

I’m scared of getting poop on my partner. Is an enema enough?

A : Properly administered, an

enema should be more than enough. But with anal, as with liberal democracy, a good outcome isn’t guaranteed. Sometimes you do your homework and your prep, and everything still comes to shit.

Q : I love my man, but we’re both tops. What should we do?

A : Spit-roast very special

guest stars if you’re in an open relationship, take turns/ one for the team if you’re in a monogamous relationship, explore and enjoy your nonbutt-penetrative options.

Q : How do we play around with opening up our relationship as parents of a one-year-old? We barely have enough time or enough sleep to keep our own relationship juicy. A : Play around in theory

for now—lots of dirty talk— and put theory into practice after your kid is a toddler and you’ve landed a reliable babysitter.

Q : My girlfriend and I are pretty grossly in love and

very aﬀectionate, especially after we’ve just had sex. Should we make an eﬀort to tone it down a bit around a third we’ve just fucked around with? Or should we just be ourselves, and if they don’t like it, oh well?

ADMIRAL ★★ #$!%#"! ★★

A : Be yourselves—but make

an eﬀort to include your third in those oxytocininfused displays of postcoital aﬀection. Unless your third was inconsiderate or creepy during the sex, or is anxious to go immediately after the sex (a sign you may have been inconsiderate or creepy), your third helped get you to that blissed-out state and deserves to bask a bit in the afterglow too.

3940 W LAWRENCE

OPEN 7PM TO 6AM ADMIRALX.COM (773) 478-8111

Q : Does the toe make a good substitute for the penis?

A : No. Q : I have large breasts. My partners are either like “YAY BOOOOBS!” or they ignore my breasts entirely. What is it with that? How do I get people to interact with my breasts like they’re another nice body part and not a bizarre thing? A : By using your words. If

there was a way you didn’t like to be kissed, presumably you would speak up rather than endure lousy kisses. Same applies here: “‘YAY BOOOOBS!’ makes me feel like I’m only my tits, which isn’t a nice feeling. That said, I don’t want my boobs ignored, either. The sweet spot really isn’t that hard to hit—enjoy my boobs like you would any other nice body part.” v Send letters to mail@ savagelove.net. Download the Savage Lovecast every Tuesday at thestranger.com. ß @fakedansavage

MAY 4, 2017 - CHICAGO READER 41

Bobby Bare Jr. o JOSHUA BLACK WILKINS

NEW

Afghan Whigs, Har Mar Superstar 9/23, 9 PM, Metro, on sale Fri 5/5, 10 AM, 18+ Alphaville 8/6, 7 PM, Chicago Theatre, on sale Fri 5/5, 11 AM b Aquilo 10/10, 7 PM, Lincoln Hall, on sale Fri 5/5, 10 AM b Arkells, Irontom 6/9, 7 PM, House of Blues, 17+ Atrophy, Cross Examination 6/17, 5 PM, Reggie’s Rock Club, 17+ Bobby Bare Jr. 6/14, 9 PM, Hideout Beach Boys, Temptations 7/2, 6 PM, Ravinia Festival, Highland Park, on sale Tue 5/9, 10 AM b Tony Bennett 8/4, 8:30 PM, Ravinia Festival, Highland Park, on sale Tue 5/9, 10 AM b Tim Berne’s Snakeoil 9/16, 8:30 PM, Constellation, 18+ Andrew Bird, Esperanza Spalding, Mucca Pazza 7/23, 7 PM, Ravinia Festival, Highland Park, on sale Tue 5/9, 10 AM b Biters 5/19, 7 PM, Cobra Lounge, 17+ Blondie, Garbage 7/22, 6:30 PM, Ravinia Festival, Highland Park, on sale Tue 5/9, 10 AM b Michael Bolton, Gladys Knight 9/1, 7:30 PM, Ravinia Festival, Highland Park, on sale Tue 5/9, 10 AM b Common 6/24, 7:30 PM, Ravinia Festival, Highland Park, on sale Tue 5/9, 10 AM b David Cook 6/30, 8 PM, Lincoln Hall, on sale Fri 5/5, 10 AM b Neil Cowley Trio 6/26, 8 PM, Lincoln Hall, on sale Fri 5/5, 10 AM

Cranberries 9/28, 8 PM, Riviera Theatre, on sale Fri 5/5, 10 AM, 18+ Sheryl Crow 7/7, 7:30 PM, Ravinia Festival, Highland Park, on sale Tue 5/9, 10 AM b Darwin Deez 6/10, 6:30 PM, Subterranean, 17+ Dashboard Confessional, All-American Rejects 8/15, 7 PM, Ravinia Festival, Highland Park, on sale Tue 5/9, 10 AM b Beth Ditto 7/17, 8 PM, Lincoln Hall, on sale Fri 5/5, noon, 18+ Lila Downs 7/1, 7:30 PM, Ravinia Festival, Highland Park, on sale Tue 5/9, 10 AM b Steve Earle & the Dukes 7/25-26, 8 PM, Maurer Hall, Old Town School of Folk Music, on sale Fri 5/5, 8 AM b Earth, Wind & Fire; Chic 7/26, 8 PM, United Center, on sale Fri 5/5, 10 AM Lauren Flax 6/3, 10 PM, Smart Bar Forest Swords 11/15, 8:30 PM, Lincoln Hall, 18+ Aretha Franklin 6/17, 8:30 PM, Ravinia Festival, Highland Park, on sale Tue 5/9, 10 AM b G-Dragon 7/21, 8 PM, United Center, on sale Fri 5/5, noon Guided by Voices 7/28, 8 PM, Beat Kitchen, on sale Fri 5/5, 11 AM Buddy Guy, Booker T. Jones 7/6, 7:30 PM, Ravinia Festival, Highland Park, on sale Tue 5/9, 10 AM b Sammy Hagar & the Circle 6/19, 8 PM, Ravinia Festival, Highland Park, on sale Tue 5/9, 10 AM b Inter Arma 8/6, 9 PM, Empty Bottle, on sale Fri 5/5, 10 AM Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit 9/1, 8 PM, Chicago Theatre, on sale Fri 5/5, 10 AM b

42 CHICAGO READER - MAY 4, 2017

Janet Jackson 10/26, 8 PM, Allstate Arena, Rosemont, on sale Fri 5/5, 10 AM Jay Som 9/14, 8 PM, Subterranean, 17+ Seu Jorge 6/15, 8 PM, Ravinia Festival, Highland Park, on sale Tue 5/9, 10 AM b Margarita La Diosa de la Cumbia 7/13, 8:30 PM, House of Blues, on sale Fri 5/5, 10 AM, 17+ Lany 10/20, 7 PM, House of Blues, on sale Fri 5/5, 10 AM b Stu Larsen 8/15, 7:30 PM, Schubas, on sale Fri 5/5, 10 AM John Legend, Gallant 6/10, 7:30 PM, Ravinia Festival, Highland Park, on sale Tue 5/9, 10 AM b Lifehouse, Switchfoot 8/29, 6:30 PM, Ravinia Festival, Highland Park, on sale Tue 5/9, 10 AM b Arto Lindsay 10/20, 8 PM, Fullerton Hall, Art Institute of Chicago b Meg Mac, Noah Kahan 6/20, 8 PM, Schubas Major & the Monbacks 7/6, 8 PM, Schubas MattyB 7/15, 7 PM, the Vic, on sale Fri 5/5, 10 AM b Michael McDonald & Boz Scaggs 6/27, 7 PM, Ravinia Festival, Highland Park, on sale Tue 5/9, 10 AM b Meat Bodies 6/16, 9 PM, Empty Bottle John Mellencamp 8/26-27, 7:30 PM, Ravinia Festival, Highland Park, on sale Tue 5/9, 10 AM b Melvins 7/25, 8 PM, Metro, 18+ Pat Metheny 6/14, 7:30 PM, Ravinia Festival, Highland Park, on sale Tue 5/9, 10 AM b Mew 8/12, 8 PM, Park West, on sale Fri 5/5, 10 AM b

b Moody Blues 6/30, 8 PM, Ravinia Festival, Highland Park, on sale Tue 5/9, 10 AM b Alanis Morissette 8/25, 8 PM, Ravinia Festival, Highland Park, on sale Tue 5/9, 10 AM b Willie Nelson & Family 6/16, 7:30 PM, Ravinia Festival, Highland Park, on sale Tue 5/9, 10 AM b Stevie Nicks 9/9-10, 7:30 PM, Ravinia Festival, Highland Park, on sale Tue 5/9, 10 AM b Obisoulstar 6/3, 9:30 PM, House of Blues, 17+ OK Go 6/29, 7:30 PM, the Vic, on sale Fri 5/5, 10 AM b Onerepublic, Fitz & the Tantrums 7/14-15, 6:30 PM, Ravinia Festival, Highland Park, on sale Tue 5/9, 10 AM b Otep 6/22, 6:30 PM, Wire, Berwyn Pentatonix 8/28, 7:30 PM, Ravinia Festival, Highland Park, on sale Tue 5/9, 10 AM b Picosa 6/4, 8:30 PM, Constellation Pig 6/30, 9 PM, Reggie’s Rock Club, 17+ Pink Talking Fish 7/1, 11 PM, the Vic, on sale Fri 5/5, 10 AM, 18+ Ana Popovic 8/14, 8 PM, City Winery, on sale Thu 5/4, noon b John Popper 10/6, 8 PM, City Winery, on sale Thu 5/4, noon b Punchline, Showoﬀ 8/12, 8 PM, Reggie’s Rock Club, 17+ Hugh Ragin 6/2, 8:30 PM, Constellation, 18+ Dalton Rapattoni 8/23, 6:30 PM, Wire, Berwyn Reverend Horton Heat 10/11-15, 8 PM, City Winery, on sale Thu 5/4, noon b Smokey Robinson 9/15, 8 PM, Ravinia Festival, Highland Park, on sale Tue 5/9, 10 AM b Roddy Romero & the Hub City All-Stars 7/15, 9 PM, FitzGerald’s, Berwyn, on sale Fri 5/5, 11 AM Roomful of Blues 8/17, 8 PM, City Winery, on sale Thu 5/4, noon b Darius Rucker 8/5, 7:30 PM, Ravinia Festival, Highland Park, on sale Tue 5/9, 10 AM b Sacred Reich 9/20, 7 PM, Reggie’s Rock Club, on sale Fri 5/5, 10 AM, 17+ Santana 8/11-12, 7:30 PM, Ravinia Festival, Highland Park, on sale Tue 5/9, 10 AM b Sir Sly 7/19, 8:30 PM, Bottom Lounge, on sale Fri 5/5, 10 AM, 17+ Ski Mask the Slump God 6/20, 7 PM, Concord Music Hall, 17+ Stephen Stills & Judy Collins 7/26, 8 PM, Ravinia Festival, Highland Park, on sale Tue 5/9, 10 AM b

ALL AGES

WOLF BY KEITH HERZIK

EARLY WARNINGS

CHICAGO SHOWS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT IN THE WEEKS TO COME

Never miss a show again. Sign up for the newsletter at chicagoreader. com/early

Harry Styles 9/26, 8 PM, Chicago Theatre, on sale Fri 5/5, 10 AM b Sundowner 6/24, 7 PM, Township b Ultimate Painting 7/25, 9 PM, Empty Bottle Vanna 8/11, 7 PM, Beat Kitchen, 17+ Verite 8/28, 8 PM, Lincoln Hall, on sale Fri 5/5, 8 AM, 18+ War on Drugs 10/19, 8 PM, Riviera Theatre, on sale Fri 5/5, 10 AM, 18+ Daphne Willis 6/15, 7:30 PM, Schubas, 18+ Rachael Yamagata, Joshua Radin 7/29, 8 PM, House of Blues, on sale Fri 5/5, 10 AM, 17+

UPCOMING All Tomorrow’s Impeachments with Shellac, Tar, Dianogah, Lardo, and more 7/21-22, 7:30 PM, Bottom Lounge, 17+ Body/Head, Diamond Terriﬁer Cipher 6/24, 7 PM, Bohemian National Cemetery Gerald Clayton Trio 5/15, 8:30 PM, Constellation, 18+ Descendents 10/7, 7:30 PM, Riviera Theatre b Fleet Foxes 10/3-4, 7:30 PM, Chicago Theatre Don Henley 6/17, 7:30 PM, Huntington Bank Pavilion Norah Jones 5/21, 8 PM, Chicago Theatre King Crimson 6/28, 7:30 PM, Chicago Theatre Mark Lanegan Band 8/22, 9 PM, Thalia Hall, 18+ Meat Puppets, Mike Watt & the Jom & Terry Show 5/19, 8 PM, Lincoln Hall Neurosis, Converge, Amenra 7/28, 8 PM, Thalia Hall, 17+ Pixies, Mitski 10/8, 7:30 PM, Chicago Theatre Real Friends, Tiny Moving Parts 6/9, 4:30 PM, Concord Music Hall b Taake 6/1, 7:30 PM, Reggie’s Rock Club, 17+ Roger Waters 7/22, 8 PM, United Center Ann Wilson 6/16, 8 PM, House of Blues, 17+ Woods, John Andrews & the Yawns 7/10, 9 PM, Empty Bottle Xasthur 6/1, 8:30 PM, Beat Kitchen, 17+ Dweezil Zappa 7/7, 8 PM, City Winery b Hans Zimmer 8/4, 8 PM, Allstate Arena, Rosemont v

GOSSIP WOLF A furry ear to the ground of the local music scene IN THE SEVEN YEARS Gossip Wolf has covered local music (that’s 63 wolf years!), it’s become clear that bands returning from hiatus often disappoint their old fans. Who hasn’t gotten a case of the reunion blues from a former fave? Luckily, local trio the Poison Arrows have bucked the curse. The band returned in 2015, and since then this wolf has seen them drop some major ordnance live. On Friday April, 28, they released their first full-length since 2010, No Known Note (via File 13, the label run by guitarist Justin Sinkovich). Former Reader staffer Miles Raymer has written that the Poison Arrows “trace the edges of the free-floating dread that will come to stand for America’s postmillennial years,” and the new album maintains those dark vibes with guests including Brian Case of Facs, Tony Lazzara of Bloodiest, and Scott McCloud of Girls Against Boys. On Saturday, May 6, the Poison Arrows play the Hideout with Facs and Matchess. Drag City has already reissued two LPs of far-out 70s and 80s material by rediscovered Florida glam-rock weirdo Frederick Michael St. Jude, and at 3 PM on Wednesday, May 10, the label throws a party at Soccer Club Club to celebrate a St. Jude archival EP called Almost Lost. Drag City released it last week in partnership with Neil Hamburger’s label, Million Dollar Performances. Hamburger (or his alter ego, Gregg Turkington) will host the festivities, which include a screening of Here Am I, a new short documentary on St. Jude directed by Major Entertainer Mike H, aka Mike Hickey. That night at Lincoln Hall, Hamburger and Hickey will perform their comedy. For years Dark Matter Coffee has collaborated with musicians, usually releasing a special roast in conjunction with a cassette or CD, and last week it dropped a doozy: Squaredancing, which comes with a double seven-inch of the same name by Chicago house hero Derrick Carter. It’s available at the Mothership (738 N. Western). —J.R. NELSON AND LEOR GALIL Got a tip? Tweet @Gossip_Wolf or e-mail gossipwolf@chicagoreader.com.

Â®

THE JESUS AND MARY CHAIN

SPECIAL GUEST:

THE COBBS NEXT WEDNESDAY! MAY 10

PURCHASED FOR VIC THEATRE TICKETS THE RIVIERA HONORED

NEXT THURSDAY! MAY 11 PARK WEST

SATURDAY MAY 13 PARK WEST

THURSDAY, JUNE 29 VIC THEATRE

ON SALE THIS FRIDAY AT 10AM!

SATURDAY, AUGUST 12 PARK WEST

ON SALE THIS FRIDAY AT 10AM!

THURSDAY OCTOBER 19 RIVIERA THEATRE

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 28 RIVIERA THEATRE

ON SALE THIS FRIDAY AT 10AM!

BUY TICKETS AT MAY 4, 2017 - CHICAGO READER 43