Chicago Reader print issue of July 4, 2024 (Vol. 53, No. 22) by Chicago Reader

THIS WEEK

LETTERS

04 Readers Respond

04 Editor’s Note On ﬁreworks, and some corrections FOOD & DRINK

06 Feature Glassware at local bars is o en carefully curated, so think before you thieve.

07 Reader Bites Muki hotate (Hokkaido scallop) at 312 Fish Market

NEWS & POLITICS

08 CTA The CTA’s missing riders 12 Feature Chicago’s lead pipe problem

CITY LIFE

16 Street View Chicago Fashion Week is coming.

ARTS & CULTURE

18 Books Banal Nightmare is a darkly comedic take on the pursuit of happiness.

19 Cra Work Improvisational patchwork quilting for queers at a workshop in Rogers Park

THEATER

20 Preview Taylor Mac and J. Harrison Ghee on the Goodman’s

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil

22 Review The Hot Wing King celebrates Black men’s lives and loves.

FILM

23 Review MaXXXine is an electrifying return to form.

24 The Moviegoer Silence and surprise

MUSIC & NIGHTLIFE

25 Proﬁle Radius grows beyond Chicago beat battles.

27 Gossip Wolf Elastic Arts hosts Independence Day improvisations that center Black folks, the Whistler throws a dance night for the immunocompromised, and more.

28 The Secret History of Chicago Music Jackie DeShannon

launched her rareﬁed music career in Batavia.

30 Shows of Note Previews of concerts including Etran de L’Aïr, Teairra Marí, Grails, and Whitney Johnson & Lia Kohl

CLASSIFIEDS

33 Jobs

34 Housing

34 Professionals & Services

34 Matches

34 Marketplace

OPINION

35 Savage Love Making room for feederism

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Reader Letters m

Re: concert preview of the Logan Square Arts Festival, written by Monica Kendrick and published in the June 27 issue (volume 53, number 21)

I have been with my son and his wife at this festival and it was so much fun to see all that they oﬀer for us to enjoy and perhaps buy. Logan Square rocks! —Eileen Quinn Knight, via X

Re: “Palacios para la gente,” written by Daniella Mazzio and published in the June 20 issue (volume 53, number 20)

A magniﬁcent article and valuable contribution to Chicago’s movie history. —Alejandro A. Riera, via X

Re: “Reader Bites: Cohasset Punch,” written by Mike Sula and published in the June 27 issue

At the Chicago Cocktail Summit in (I think) 2018, cocktail historian David Wondrich did a session on local cocktail history which included a tasting of a mixed Cohasset Punch. I believe his recipe included dark rum, brandied peaches, and vermouth. Essentially a fancy rum Manhattan. Looking forward to trying this revived bottled version. —Matt Strong, via Facebook

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The Chicago Reader accepts comments and letters to the editor of less than 400 words for publication consideration.

m letters@chicagoreader.com

EDITOR’S NOTE

You might think of sun, the beach, the ice cream truck guy. Perhaps it’s your tradition to run out to the Indiana Dunes, or hike downstate. Maybe this season just means breaking out the capri pants. But when we Chicagoans think of how summer sounds, we often think about the booms and the pops. And then we look up yet another article that quotes a gun expert, or a ﬁreworks engineer, or even a random scientist. “How to tell the di erence between ﬁreworks and gun shots” has got to be a popular Google search in Chicago in summer, especially during early July.

I’ve mentioned Chicago comedian Dwayne Kennedy’s joke about summer being “shooting season” before (I wrote about it in an editor’s note in July 2022, to be exact) but it’s still a perfect commentary on where we’re at. Kennedy says, “I don’t know what it is about the warm weather in Chicago that just brings everyone out. ‘Hey, it’s 79 degrees!’” and then makes shooting noises. “I haven’t seen you all winter, dawg! [pow, pow, pow] How’s your aunt?”

I recently received an actual letter mailed to me, which is a lovely way to communicate but the envelope held some serious and heartfelt criticism. The writer called me to task for what they heard me say, I think, at a Reader event: “there’s not many people around here who seem to bother making noise complaints.”

While I don’t think that’s actually what I said (and by around here, I most likely was thinking of my own neighborhood), it’s obvious from the rest of the writer’s letter that my meaning wasn’t clear—and that they took this statement to mean that I was inferring that more citizens should call the police with noise complaints. And they were not happy with that thought.

To clear things up, this isn’t my stance. I’m happy that most of the time on my block if a neighbor is making a racket . . . nothing else happens. No one raises a fuss. This is what I like, and that’s one of the reasons I am very happy with my several-block radius.

If there is a loud party a few doors down, they continue to party. If there are ﬁreworks

going o in our back alley, I just go inside. If there’s just loud, blaring noise, I’m happy to ignore it. If someone is in trouble, I go to help. This in itself is a privilege: I know my neighbors and also have a cell phone, some first aid training, and I’m brave or stupid enough to get involved when things seem like a crisis situation. But I won’t call the police based on something being loud.

The letter writer stated, “Neither of us have any idea how many noise complaints are made but it’s certain that it’s far fewer than the number of people disturbed by it. I don’t personally make a noise complaint because I don’t want to involve the police in anyone’s life if I don’t have to.” Me either. Sorry for any confusion. Hope this helps clear that up. Oh, and the difference between gun shots and ﬁreworks? Sometimes a ﬁzzle, sometimes a repetition of sound. Either way, please stay safe. v

—Salem Collo-Julin, editor in chief m scollojulin@chicagoreader.com

CORRECTIONS

The Reader has updated the online version of Charlie Kolodziej’s June 27 print feature “A half century of poetic possibilities,” about the Chicago Poetry Center. The story has been updated to clarify that Kenneth Koch was a poet and teaching artist based in New York. The previously published version of this story implied he was a teaching artist at the center.

The Reader has also updated the online version of the article “DIY nights at the library,” written by Emma Oxnevad and published in our June 27 print issue. A previously published version of this story misstated the number of teen interns involved in the Craft and Concerts series at the Chicago Public Library’s Little Village branch. After publication, library associate Sara Heymann clarified that there are four teen interns involved, not 14. The story has been updated with the correct number. The Reader regrets the errors. v

Roo op gardening class at McCormick Open Air School, Chicago, 1912 COURTESY

FOOD & DRINK

Broken glass and sticky ﬁngers

Glassware at local bars is o en carefully curated for a certain aesthetic and drinking experience, so think before you thieve.

By ANDY VASOYAN

Say you’re at a suave cocktail lounge, a few drinks in, with a gorgeous martini glass sitting comfortably in your hand. Maybe you start thinking, “Damn, this would look really good on my home bar.” Do you happen to take the glass with you when you go?

If you said “yes,” shame on you—though I understand the temptation. At local bars, the glassware can sometimes steal the show, but the curation and investment was probably even more meticulous than you realize. Before you get sticky fingers, start by just asking if the piece is available; it might be for sale or even free.

“People do ask for our glasses, for sure,” says Peter Vestinos, bar consultant and partner at Sparrow and the newly opened Bisous. “At least they’re nice enough to ask and not just steal it. We’ll sell it to you!”

I spoke to Vestinos after one of my favorite West Loop bars posted a picture on Instagram of a cocktail in a lavish, faceted, art deco martini glass. When I emailed the bar to track it down, the beverage director told me that they had rotated them out of use—but if they had any left, he would have just given me a few, free of charge. In most cases for glassware in odd volumes, he said they offer them to sister properties and then to sta and guests if there are any left. Is that standard practice? Multiple follow-up requests to the beverage director for an interview were stonewalled, so I took an informal poll at some of my favorite bars in the city: Spilt Milk, the Gatsby, Sco aw, Delilah’s. Most o ered a variation of “no way,” though one said that they might be open to handing out a glass to worthy customers, because they were “old school.”

Vestinos, who has been in the bar industry for two decades, says, “Unless that business has accounted for it in their costs, I think the owners would be kind of surprised if a glass was being given away . . . unless it’s built into some sort of, like, souvenir cup program, or you’re in New Orleans where

those are plastic cups intended to be taken.”

When pricing cocktails, Vestinos does include some padding for external costs, like napkins, garnishes, and breakage. He says that while it’s hard to distinguish breakage from thieving customers, glasses “walk” all the time; friends have been gifted glassware stolen from his own bar, and remorseful larcenists have even returned cups after the heist.

“When we do our Tom and Jerrys [a warm, eggnogish holiday cocktail at Sparrow]—I stupidly do this, but I’m willing to do it—I use vintage Tom and Jerry mugs from post–World War II Japan,” Vestinos says. “They’ve been stolen, but I’ve had a few people bring them back after several years. That’s happened three times. They felt bad after a while.”

Obviously, vintage transcontinental mugs are harder to replace than your average Nick and Nora, and local cocktail places are more likely to lean toward curated glassware. Taking a handpicked piece from a selection like that hits harder than, say, lifting a beer glass from a large restaurant chain, but even the big boys had problems for a while after the pandemic, when supply chain issues and general scarcity made sourcing even generic glassware a point of serious concern.

While it’s hard to distinguish breakage from thieving customers, glasses “walk” all the time. GETTY

“I had one client that had multiple venues across the country, and there was a lot of breakage because they were high-volume spots. They wanted to keep everything the same across every venue,” Vestinos says. “It was just a struggle like anything else. They chose the road of sometimes throwing out a lot of glassware to make sure everything was uniform.”

Finding glassware in that pandemic period

took as long as six months, according to Vestinos—not impossibly long but deﬁnitely not great when around a half-dozen pieces break every night, according to his estimates. Of course, that number ﬂuctuates a lot from place to place; the bar at Maple and Ash, for example, probably wouldn’t have the same losses as Sluggers in Wrigleyville.

Durability also comes down to the glassware itself, which ranges in quality from machine-pressed or molded to full-blown

crystal. The latter is more delicate and expensive, while the former is usually heavier and thicker with visible seams from the manufacturing process. A thick and unwieldy glass might sit awkwardly in your hand, and it also plays a part in the mouthfeel and taste of a cocktail.

“When you drink ﬁner liquids out of glassware, if you have something with a thick lip, it doesn’t do the spirit justice. It needs to be a little bit thinner,” Vestinos says. As he was opening Bisous in Fulton Market earlier this year, Vestinos tested the menu with various glasses—some he chose for cocktails he already had in mind, while some glasses he liked so much that he developed drinks to ﬁt the pieces. Others conformed to the reality of the bar industry, which is that the customer always seems to want a splash more tipple.

“There’s a lot of considerations: there’s how the drink looks in the glass, where it lands— and then you’ve got to think about your ice,” he says. “A lot of customers are very pourconscious. ‘Am I getting the right amount of liquor in my glass?’”

As glassware and drink trends have changed over the years, Vestinos says the Chicago bar scene is entering a renaissance, ripe for experimentation with cocktails and the vessels that hold ’em. He only has one personal bugaboo: the stemless wine glass.

“The worst thing ever invented. It feels cheap, it looks cheap, nothing smells good out of it, nothing tastes good out of it,” he says. “It is the worst piece of glassware.” v

m letters@chicagoreader.com

Find more one-of-a-kind Chicago food and drink content at chicagoreader.com/food

In the midwest, many tend to cut their teeth on sushi rolls that are almost exclusively covered in spicy mayo and deep-fried tempura ﬂakes. Even once your palette manages to progress to something like spicy tuna rolls and other raw o erings here and there, it can be hard to find fish fresh enough to warrant trying sashimi.

Enter 312 Fish Market, a smallish stall inside 88 Marketplace in east Pilsen. They have some of the freshest ﬁsh I’ve ever had—in Chicago or elsewhere— and a waitstaff who will happily talk you through the surprisingly robust and reasonably priced menu.

FOOD & DRINK

Glossary of terms

There are lots of great sashimi and nigiri options to choose from, as well as some traditional rolls, but we’re here to talk about the star of the menu: the muki hotate. It’s a raw scallop so fresh, delicious, and delicately prepared that it’d be a disservice to stu it in a roll or add toppings other than a little lime zest, charcoal salt, and maybe a dab of soy sauce.

It’s split down the middle, perfectly tender and mellow, with a touch of char and a hint of citrus. As daunting as a whole raw scallop may seem, it’s a remarkably clean bite with no tendons or weirdness to chew through. And did I mention it’s super fresh?

—COURTNEY SPREWER 312 FISH MARKET 2105 S. Jefferson, second floor, $6.50 per piece, 872-222-7288, 312fishmarket.com v

Reader Bites celebrates dishes, drinks, and atmospheres from the Chicagoland food scene. Have you had a recent food or drink experience that you can’t stop thinking about? Share it with us at fooddrink@ chicagoreader.com.

By S. J. Ghaus

We envision a thriving Israel where underrepresented populations have equal access to the country’s high-tech sector and its promising career and economic opportunities.

CFP’s Israel grantmaking strategy is focused on diversifying Israel’s high growth, high-tech sector to promote equity and reduce fractures within Israel’s socially and economically divided society. This requires intentionally expanding entry point opportunities to the sector—particularly amongst the Arab, Druze, Bedouin, and Ethiopian Israeli populations. Through the Israel portfolio, we also maintain commitments to supporting core civic and education institutions, as well as promoting a shared society.

— Crown Family Philanthropies Website

A genocidaire’s portfolio requirements: generally dynamic.

An analysis of proﬁt: blood money.

A legacy of horror: crowning achievement.

A refusal of accountability: art-washing.

A poppy ﬁeld reseeding: land back.

An erasure of form: truth telling.

An intent to rebel: solidarity.

An awakening of poets:

ﬁght back.

S. J. Ghaus is a poet and organizer based in the Midwest. They are a member of Chicago Cultural Workers for Palestine and co-founder of In Water & Light, a virtual poetry series in solidarity with Palestine and struggles for liberation everywhere.

Poem curated by Bindu Poroori (@himabindu). Bindu wishes for the annihilation of class, caste, and race. They are Interim Director of Community Organizing at Arts Alliance Illinois, an organizing member of @chicagodesiyouthrising (CDYR), an organizer with UChicago Alumni for Palestine (@uchialum4palestine), and part of the surf punkBollywood cover band, Do The Needful (@dtn_chicago). She would love to talk to you about green mango dal.

A weekly series curated by the Chicago Reader and sponsored by the Poetry Foundation.

Summer Hours

Wednesday–Saturday: 11:00 AM–5:00 PM

Chicago Literary Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony: Patricia Smith

The ceremony will present Chicago poet Patricia Smith with the Fuller Award for her lifetime contributions to literature.

Chicago Poet Laureate avery r. young will lead a lineup of presenters that includes Nora Brooks Blakely, Reginald Gibbons, Poetry Out Loud National Champion Niveah Glover, Adrian Matejka, Marc Smith, and Jamila Woods. Lynne Thompson will moderate a conversation with Ms. Smith at the end of the program.

Thursday, July 11 at 7:00 PM CT

Exhibition Opening: A Bigger Table: 50 Years of the Chicago Poetry Center

In celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Chicago Poetry Center (CPC), this event features a ﬁlm screening, live performances, and an exhibition of historic broadsides, event posters, and treasures from the CPC archive.

Saturday, July 13 at 2:00 PM CT

Learn more at PoetryFoundation.org

Muki hotate (Hokkaido scallop) at 312 Fish Market

NEWS & POLITICS

APUBLIC TRANSIT

The CTA’s missing riders

A

er a steep drop in ridership, passengers are slowly returning to the CTA. But some Chicagoans have put down their Ventra cards for new ways to travel the city.

By REEMA SALEH

bierre Minor has been a commuter since she was ﬁve years old, taking the 79 bus daily to her elementary school. Public transit has always been the main way she gets around the city but, over the past few years, she’s felt she can’t rely on it to get places on time.

“Connectivity issues have always been a thing. But ghost buses have deﬁnitely stopped us and hindered our ability to navigate the city. I’ve had several experiences where I’ve essentially been waiting at a bus stop, looking at my transit app, expecting the bus to come, but then it never came.”

She remembers one time when she was headed from the Loop to a phone-banking event on the south side. She waited for the 6 bus for over an hour, but the bus tracker app kept saying the bus was three minutes away. Eventually, she gave up and took a rideshare

service home.

That’s what brought her to organize town halls with the People’s Lobby on how poor transit access impacts Chicago’s communities of color. “The cost is great, depending on why you’re on the bus and the environment at your stop. Because you’re essentially stuck in that space until you can get on the train. You’re taking people’s ability to navigate the city of Chicago and people’s ability to show up for work or to be reliable or plan to be in whatever spaces they’re called to be in.”

For some longtime riders, ghost buses and late-arriving trains drove them away from train platforms. Service cuts in recent years, largely due to ongoing staffing challenges, have also made it harder for passengers to rely on transit to get to places on time.

“There’s a potential negative feedback loop of ghost buses or long gaps between buses and

trains. People get discouraged and don’t want to ride, and that’s less fair revenue for the system,” says Kate Lowe, associate professor of urban planning and policy at the University of Illinois Chicago. “There’s a lot of human cost to unreliable service that is distributed unequally.”

In recent years, Chicago has seen big shifts in how people travel. Ridership plunged during the pandemic. It’s been slow to recover. By 2023, about two-thirds of riders had returned to the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA).

But the rise of remote work cut down on trips to the o ce. Meanwhile, biking has doubled in the past ﬁve years, and rideshare services like Uber and Lyft have stayed popular since their inception, possibly drawing some passengers away from public transit.

A written statement from CTA says, “We have seen ridership grow in recent months

as service has been added as a result of our aggressive hiring efforts. 2023 was a year marked by breaking post-pandemic ridership records and building o that growth, 2024 has been no di erent . . . We do believe we will get our ridership back over time, but it’s not going to happen overnight.”

There’s no single factor that explains why these missing riders have so far continued to shirk public transportation. But a Reader analysis of transit data and interviews with organizers and experts unpacks how recovery has squared across the city.

In May of this year, the CTA saw an average of one million weekday riders for the ﬁrst time since the start of the pandemic. But ridership has yet to rebound to 2019 levels. The CTA recorded an average of about 913,000 weekday riders this March, compared with more than

The CTA lost tens of thousands of passengers as the COVID-19 pandemic took hold. But unlike transit agencies in other cities, service—and ridership—has been slow to rebound. JAMES HOSKING

1.4 million during the same month in 2019.

For comparison’s sake, each year captures ridership data from March to the following February. This is so ridership data in 2020 isn’t biased by including the ﬁrst two months of pre-pandemic ridership and so we can include a full year, since ridership changes are often seasonal.

The Pink, Orange, and westbound Green Line trains made the most progress in closing the gap between pre-pandemic and post-pandemic ridership. Compared with 2020, they all saw recoveries of 60 percent or more in 2023. Meanwhile, the Blue Line train west to Forest Park lags at just 42 percent of its pre-pandemic ridership. The Yellow Line and Red Line south to 95th also saw weaker recoveries.

“I think a lot of Oak Park and Forest Park folks are shifting [transportation] modes,” says Lowe of the westbound Blue Line’s lagging ridership. “But one other factor is the majority of that corridor is a rail slow zone, so that’s pretty discouraging. Sometimes, there are some really long waits, so people are opting out.”

Slow zones are areas where trains operate at slower speeds (15–35 miles per hour) because of deteriorating track quality or to allow construction on the tracks. As of May, the Blue Line had more slow zones than any other CTA rail line—encompassing almost three-quarters of the ride to Forest Park. While there have been slow zones there since 2012, the share of slow zones on the Forest Park line has nearly doubled from 2019 to today.

Much of the line’s tracks were built in the 1950s and have long needed significant upgrades. But slower and, thus, fewer trains mean longer wait times for passengers, which might be pushing them toward other options. Many neighborhoods along the Blue Line are also near the Green or Pink Lines, suggesting people could’ve also moved their commutes to another route.

the problem, making it di cult for residents in economically disconnected areas to get to work on time.

“Black residents are more likely to use transit to make these trips,” says Craig Heither, principal analyst at the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP). “But by transit, by walking, by driving: in every case, it took Black residents longer to get where they needed to go.”

Alder Will Hall, 6th, has seen longtime riders on the far south side become frustrated with unreliable service. “The ghost buses

commuting and getting anywhere because there might be unexpected delays. If I miss the bus by 30 seconds, the next one’s not coming for 20 minutes now. So I add so much more bu er time than I used to because there’s such a high chance that one thing goes wrong and it o sets my entire journey.”

Usually, she sticks it out and waits on the Green Line train platform. But recently, she’s resorted to canceling plans with friends or trips outside her neighborhood. Once, on her way to a fitness class on the north side, she got so frustrated with the amount of time she

NEWS & POLITICS

ride; more people riding helps you feel safe,” Lowe continues. “A lot is beyond the CTA’s control. But providing frequent, reliable, quality service can have a positive feedback loop.”

In 2023, total annual ridership surpassed 60 percent of 2019 ridership. Interviews with experts and transit riders indicate riders’ slow return to transit could be a result of a little bit of everything.

For many who’ve swapped their Ventra cards for something else, their travel changes started before the pandemic. Remote or hybrid work was already on the rise in 2019. A CMAP survey of workers that year saw 14 percent of residents in northwestern Illinois telecommuting at least once a week—a jump over the past decade.” We’re still seeing higher rates of people working from home than we did before COVID,” Heither says, but “a lot of that is not people working from home all the time. It’s people doing more of a hybrid schedule where they’re going to their place of work at least some days of the week.”

For many who’ve swapped their Ventra cards for something else, their travel changes started before the pandemic.

The southbound Red Line’s struggle to attract riders back is more complicated. Even before the pandemic, Black residents in the south-side neighborhoods it served faced longer commutes to work—but also longer trips for groceries and health-care visits— than their white neighbors on the north side. Transit unreliability may have compounded

[and] trains . . . they have really made life inconvenient. There have been instances in which people have to prove ten times over that they were not late for work because they were unprofessional but mainly because of CTA. I think that we need to continue to listen to people that ride the trains—including myself— and I think we can see basic improvements.”

Sativa Volbrecht lives in Bronzeville. She never considered buying a car; she’s concerned about its impact on the environment. That’s one of the things that pushed her to colead Sierra Club Chicago’s transportation team. Since the start of the pandemic, she says, “I’ve had to increase my bu er time for

spent waiting for the train that she decided to eat the cost of the class and went home. “It’s really difficult to gauge how busy the trains will be,” she says, “and part of that is because of delays.”

The best way to win back riders, according to Lowe, is more frequent and reliable service. That’s something the CTA has struggled with, especially as it deals with sta ng shortages that have impacted transit systems across the country. “Some transit systems, such as New York and Washington, D.C.’s, have recovered. But right now, the CTA is still understaffed. We don’t have enough operators in the CTA system to run service levels that match our pre-pandemic service.”

“More frequency encourages more people to

Working from home also doesn’t necessarily mean fewer trips on public transit, says W. Robert Schultz III, campaign organizer with the Active Transportation Alliance. “A lot of the literature and talk around using public transportation is about commuting to jobs. But a great deal of where people use public transportation is to go shopping and meet their medical needs, education, and recreational activities.”

Most Chicago residents who work from home live downtown or on the north and northwest sides, according to 2021 census data. Yet rail ridership has had lower rates of return on the Red and Green Lines going south and the Blue Line going west, where remote work is less common.

Working from home might only be one part of the picture. “Sixty percent of the jobs in the Chicago region still have to be performed in person. They can’t be performed remotely,” says Kendra J. Freeman, vice president of programs and strategic impact at CMAP. “There were service cuts dating back to before COVID, and they’ve only gotten, in some cases, worse.”

CTA ridership in 2023 surpassed 60 percent of its 2019 level. JAMES HOSKING

NEWS & POLITICS

continued from p. 9

Rideshare services may also be drawing folks away from public transit. “Sometimes, if they have the economic wherewithal, they’re substituting those trips with Uber or Lyft . . . [or they] are using their own personal bikes,” Schultz says.

Chicago’s rideshare apps took a big hit from COVID-19. Trips in 2020 dropped by 55 percent compared to the year before. But they’ve rebounded a bit faster than public transit. In 2023, rideshare apps logged nearly three-quarters of the trips they lost.

“What we don’t want to see is a continual uptick in people getting in cars, especially when they’re taking single-vehicle rides,” says Freeman, “because that not only has traffic implications but also environmental implications. People are concerned about being able to have transit be there to get them where they need to go, on time.”

Jack Hamilton moved to Chicago in 2021. He wanted a car-free lifestyle, one he couldn’t have in Atlanta where his options were limited. But on the days he has to go into the office, he dreads his commute. During the morning rush hour, sometimes train cars pass by without any room to take on new passengers.

Floylice Lawnicki ﬁrst started biking seriously during the pandemic. Breezing through bike lanes was her way of spending more time outdoors and avoiding COVID-19 on the train. But when the lockdown ended and people began returning to the CTA, she stayed on her bike.

“I live a totally di erent lifestyle now. I still

CTA ridership recovery

Haley Wilson remembers the day she stopped taking the CTA quite vividly. She stopped riding regularly during 2020’s protests against police violence, a day after former mayor Lori Lightfoot infamously raised the bridges to the Loop and suspended transit services downtown. She was on the 80 bus headed to work when the bus driver stopped

Riders

Source: Chicago Transit Authority

“It is just packed in there like sardines. . . . I’ve sat there on the bench and seen people miss four trains because they are completely packed full. Nobody on there is having a comfortable ride.”

He doesn’t like the idea of getting in a car, but he’s using rideshare apps more often. Just as often, though, he’ll just forgo the trip entirely. Lately, he says it’s started to feel like the CTA is pushing him away.

“It frustrates me that I can’t make a good argument for why we should take the train when somebody’s like, ‘Let’s just do Uber,’” he says. “Because at the end of the day, it’s going to take longer, [and] it’s going to be kind of uncomfortable.”

For some, biking has replaced trips they would have normally taken on public transit.

Year

like public transportation, but my bike is going with me. My bike goes on the front of the bus, on the train,” she says. “Everything is planned around my bike.”

She loves zipping past cars stuck in tra c on DuSable Lake Shore Drive and navigating the city on her own. Her bike has become her prized possession, her main mobility option.

“Public transit became less reliable, and I just don’t like depending on anybody. I depend on my bike. We have no boundaries; I can go anywhere.”

Chicago’s bicyclists have more than doubled in number in the past four years, according to a study by the Chicago Department of Transportation and mobility data company Replica. They saw a surge in people without cars resorting to bikes for transportation in every neighborhood.

at Western and told everyone to get off. “I, literally that day, was like, ‘I’m just going to dump my savings account and buy a bike.’ Because by that point . . . service had already started being cut.”

“Now, I bike everywhere,” she continues. “I get a lot of my time back, which gives me more freedom.”

It’s also possible that some south-side commuters substituted their CTA trips with Metra, especially as pilot programs beginning in 2021 halved ridership fares for passengers. Like the CTA, Metra also saw signiﬁcant ridership declines since the pandemic. Its strongest recovering line is Metra Electric, where its stations on the south side hit an average of 90 percent of pre-pandemic ridership in 2023, according to data received via a Freedom of Information Act request.

“Public transit became less reliable, and I just don’t like depending on anybody. I depend on my bike. We have no boundaries; I can go anywhere.”

NEWS & POLITICS

Every day, Chicago sees hundreds of thousands of people move through the city. It shapes access to employment, space, and education. From an equity standpoint, public transit matters because, when you don’t live near “opportunity,” getting there as fast as possible matters.

“Ridership growth is affected by many factors outside of CTA’s control. However, we expect that more people will continue to choose public transit because it is still the most cost-effective, time-saving way to get across Chicagoland and it’s better for the environment,” says CTA in a written statement.

“There’s a lot at stake for Chicago collectively,” says Kate Lowe. “Because if people opt out of transit and are on the roads driving, that’s terrible for the environment [and] . . . terrible for safety. . . . Poor-quality transit is devastating from an equity perspective.”

Chicago’s public transit agencies are nearing a ﬁscal cli . When ridership shot down during the pandemic, $3.5 billion in federal COVID-19 relief funding kept the CTA afloat. The state legislature continued to dole out federal aid for the past couple of years. But now, the Regional Transportation Authority (RTA)—responsible for CTA, Metra, and Pace—faces a $730 million shortfall when it expires in 2026.

lawmakers hoped to impose “ﬁscal discipline” on transit boards. It’s made the CTA sensitive to ridership changes over the decades—and, since the pandemic drove riders away, compliance has been impossible without drastically cutting service.

The RTA and CMAP, along with transit advocacy groups, have been lobbying the state legislature to reassess and reduce the farebox recovery ratio throughout the pandemic. New legislation on the horizon seeks to merge CTA, RTA, Pace, and Metra into the Metropolitan

Chicago rideshare usage

[and] operators, they wouldn’t have to worry about getting home or being late to work.” There’s a lot up in the air for ridership recovery at the moment. If the CTA’s ridership falls because of permanent shifts to the status quo—like remote work—it may still struggle to rebound to 2019 levels. But if people are leaving public transit behind because they feel like they can’t count on its reliability, what wins them back is more frequent, reliable service.

Some commuters feel that the CTA hasn’t

“Transit agencies have been living on that because ridership has been down, not only here but across the country. So those funds are going to run out in 2026, and a lot of people have not come back to transit,” says Jacky Grimshaw, senior director of transportation and policy at the Center for Neighborhood Technology. “We need to have a new way of funding transit. We can’t just rely on fares.”

Source: City of Chicago

Mobility Authority and completely change how the current CTA is funded, securing an extra $1.5 billion in funding each year.

Part of the problem is how Illinois funds public transit. By relying so heavily on fare revenue to support the agencies’ budgets, the transit systems under the RTA are more vulnerable to ridership changes.

Illinois law requires Chicago’s transit agencies to earn half of their revenue through ridership fares—one of the highest “fare box recovery ratios” in the country. The statute has been on the books since 1974, when state

But many advocates think it’s a moment to rethink how public transportation is deﬁned—whether that means luring drivers o the road, competing with other options for getting around the city, or reestablishing trust with people who’ve opted out of the system.

“We’re hoping that [by] providing better and more frequent service, people will start to recognize the advantage of using transit, rather than using automobiles,” Grimshaw says. “People use cars because they can’t count on transit. But if we had enough frequent transit

been held accountable for lagging service or performance issues. Twenty-nine alders signed on to a resolution in May calling for CTA president Dorval Carter to be ﬁred—but he’s still at the helm.

Organizers feel the time is ripe for change. “Our public transportation needs to be safe; it should be reliable, a ordable, and e cient,” says Abierre Minor. “I believe that some of the connectivity issues we see on the south and west sides are intentional, and the cost is great. I believe the residents of Chicago are demanding more. And they have a right.” v

m letters@chicagoreader.com

JAMES HOSKING

NEWS & POLITICS

When Congress banned the installation of new lead pipes in 1986, Chicago was the only city that still required their use.

CHICAGO’S LEAD PROBLEM

With some 400,000 lead service lines, oﬃcials say it could take four decades to get lead out of our water supply.

By MILES MACCLURE

In July 2021, Erika Chavez helped her mother ﬁll out a lengthy application for the Equity Lead Service Line Replacement program. The program, offered through the Chicago Department of Water Management (DWM), replaces lead service lines for low-income homeowners free of charge, which could otherwise cost upwards of $16,000. When Chavez didn’t hear back from the program for a year, she emailed them for an update and a city

worker said their application was still under review. Eventually, in February 2023, the city approved Chavez’s mother to participate in the program. The lead service line replacement was completed that May.

Chavez’s story is merely a microcosm of what Chicago faces in the coming years and decades, as the city reckons with the ongoing legacy of lead pipes installed in the 20th century.

only replaced 3,777.

Lead, a heavy metal, was commonly used for plumbing in the United States in the 19th and 20th centuries due to its low rate of corrosion, malleability, and durability. Throughout the 1900s, scientific studies cemented lead as a highly toxic material, with symptoms including cardiovascular issues, difficulty reproducing, decreased cognitive abilities, and learning disabilities like ADHD, among others. It fell out of use in most of the country as knowledge of its toxicity spread.

While lead in drinking water had been known to be toxic by doctors and public health officials since at least the 1800s, advocates working on behalf of the Lead Industries Association (LIA) lobbied city and state o cials nationwide to adopt lead as the material of choice for drinking water pipes. LIA lobbyists successfully convinced the plumbers union in Chicago to support lead as the sole material for service lines, ultimately leading the city to mandate that all service lines be made from lead in the early 20th century.

As reported by the Guardian, Stephen Bailey, the leader of the plumbers union in Chicago, was a close associate of Mayor Richard J. Daley. The plumbers union is suspected to have inﬂuenced the city to require lead pipes as the standard for service lines.

In 1986, Congress banned the installation of new lead pipes. Other cities still used lead pipes in 1986, but Chicago was the only city that still mandated their use at the time. By contrast, New York City stopped installing lead service lines in 1961, and Madison, Wisconsin, stopped installing new lead service lines in 1928.

A limited budget has strained the DWM as it faces replacing over 400,000 lead service lines in Chicago. Lack of funding means that only a small number of service lines are replaced each year, although that number has increased since former mayor Lori Lightfoot’s administration introduced the Equity Lead Service Line Replacement program. The city set a goal of replacing 40,000 service lines by 2027, but as of December 2023, o cials have

Madison was once again ahead of the curve when it became the ﬁrst municipality to implement a citywide initiative to remove all lead pipes in 2000, an e ort that lasted more than a decade. Newark, New Jersey, has been hailed in recent years as the gold standard for lead service line replacement programs. After struggling with high lead levels in the water, Newark managed to replace 23,000 service lines in under three years.

Chicago’s service lines, which run from private residences to a water main in the middle of the street, are half-owned by the city and half-owned by the property owner.

A shuto valve located in the middle divides the privately and publicly owned sides. Prior to 2022, home renovators or city contractors working on water mains occasionally replaced only half of a service line, which in some cases

caused lead levels in the water to increase. An Illinois law that took e ect in 2022 outlawed this practice and now mandates that when a lead service line is replaced, the entire line must be replaced.

In November, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) introduced proposed revisions to its Lead and Copper Rule. One significant change would require most water systems to replace lead service lines in ten years. The original Lead and Copper Rule, implemented in 1991, greatly tightened regulations surrounding lead pipes, but it didn’t call for their replacement. The proposed new rules would not apply to Chicago, as replacing 400,000 service lines within ten years isn’t feasible in terms of budget or manpower. Under current estimates, the new rule would give Chicago four decades to replace all lead service lines. “The city is not moving fast enough, and we need to get all the best thinkers together,” says Rachel Havrelock, director of the Freshwater Lab at

the University of Illinois Chicago. “Forty years is not acceptable.”

“ THE CITY IS NOT MOVING FAST ENOUGH, AND WE NEED TO GET ALL THE BEST THINKERS TOGETHER. FORTY YEARS IS NOT ACCEPTABLE. ”

Until recently, Chicago homeowners who wished to replace a lead service line on their own dime had to pay thousands of dollars in construction permit fees to dig up the sidewalk, adding an additional expense to an already costly repair. The city now waives up to $5,000 in permit fees for homeowners who pay out of pocket to replace both their and the city’s halves of the service line. But the waiver comes as a tax credit applied at the end of the year, rather than savings up front, according to a homeowner who recently elected to replace their service line during renovations.

Despite immense funds required to replace lead pipes in Chicago and nationwide, the projected savings for health-related costs are well worth the price tag. Replacing lead lines would save the U.S. $9 billion annually, according to Ronnie Levin, instructor in environmental health at Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of

Is there lead in my drinking water?

If you live in a single-family or two-ﬂat home built in Chicago prior to 1986, there’s a high likelihood your water service line is made of lead.

You can order a free testing kit online at chicagowaterquality.org or by dialing 311. It should arrive within 30 days.

You can also request an in-person visit from a Department of Water Management (DWM) technician.

If your home's test results exceed the EPA's "action level" of 15 ppb, DWM will dispatch a team to make recommendations.

Even at low levels, lead-contaminated water can cause adverse health eﬀects. The EPA has set a maximum contaminant goal of zero.

NEWS & POLITICS

continued from p. 13

Public Health, and Joel Schwartz, professor of environmental epidemiology at Harvard.

Late last year, the EPA loaned Chicago $336 million to help replace 30,000 lead service lines. The funds will be allocated over the course of four years, but Chicago hasn’t received any of the funds yet. In May, the EPA granted the state an additional $240 million to replace lead service lines statewide, although it isn’t clear how much of that will be allocated to Chicago.

Through President Joe Biden’s Investing in America program, the EPA allocated $15 billion nationwide to replace lead service lines. $15 billion might be just enough to cover Chicago’s replacement costs alone, says a spokesperson for the DWM.

Under the EPA’s current Lead and Copper Pipe Rule, municipal water agencies are required to test for corrosion control if a water source indicates lead levels above 15 parts per billion (ppb), known as the lead action level. The proposed revisions to the rule would slightly tighten the standard to 10 ppb. However, some experts—including Benjamin Huỳnh, assistant professor in the Department of Environmental Health and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University—believe this number isn’t strict enough. Huynh suggests 5 ppb as a better standard to strive for, the same standard bottled water is held to. Maintaining levels of 10 ppb or lower in water delivered via lead pipes is possible due to corrosion control measures implemented by water agencies. Water municipalities introduce phosphates into the water supply, which run through the water system and coat the interior of lead pipes. The coating protects against corrosion and creates a protective layer between the lead and the water. “The science of corrosion control and testing

could certainly support a lower number than ten,” says Levin.

The EPA mandates a lead action level rather than something more concrete, like a maximum contamination level, because “water utilities said that they could not deliver a single number because di erent people had di erent water piping in their houses,” Levin says.

So, while scientists maintain that no level of lead is safe to consume, it’s generally accepted that some lead will be present in the water. It’s far from an ideal scenario, but that’s because “it’s a compromise,” says Levin.

A LIMITED BUDGET HAS STRAINED THE DWM AS IT FACES REPLACING OVER 400,000 LEAD SERVICE LINES IN CHICAGO.

Lead-Safe Chicago, a city-run program, offers a free water testing kit for Chicago residents to test their water for lead. If the test indicates lead at 15 ppb or higher, the city will send a plumber, electrician, and sanitation worker to conduct further testing, free of charge. If the homeowner is eligible for the equity-based program, they’ll receive a free replacement line. However, if further testing shows that the lead service line needs to be replaced and the homeowner doesn’t qualify for one of the city’s equity-based programs, the homeowner would have to pay out of pocket to replace the line.

While the equity-based program is a start in replacing service lines for low-income homeowners, the Lead-Safe Chicago website indicates that budgetary constraints may place applications on hold until 2025. For Chavez, she wishes the application process for the equity-based program was easier to navigate. “They basically stop short of asking you for a DNA sample,” she says. v

m letters@chicagoreader.com

CITY LIFE

FASHION FEATURE

Chicago Fashion Week is back

Inclusivity is key to the city’s revamped focus on fashion.

By ISA GIALLORENZO

The overall sentiment from the local fashion community about an official Chicago Fashion Week seems to be: “It’s about time.” On May 28, an energized group of fashion professionals and city o cials, including Mayor Brandon Johnson, got together at the Four Seasons Hotel in the Gold Coast to announce the launch of a new, o cial Chicago Fashion Week (CFW). The city-hosted celebration is scheduled for 12 days in October, with events in locations all across town. The hope is to bring more attention—and hopefully sales—to our city’s talented and often overlooked fashion designers.

the proﬁle of Chicago fashion,” Gerard said. “I think we achieved all of those things on a small scale with the Curio, but to have a bigger, citywide impact, we knew that it required a bigger program with support from all corners of the Chicago fashion community.”

“This industry has been ignored for too long and is ﬁnally going to get its just due. It’s time for fashion to take its real place in Chicago,” Johnson told the audience. “Whether it’s the architecture, the theater, the music, the culinary arts: all of these di erent entities and disciplines get national representation, and fashion deserves that as well. . . . Let’s make Chicago truly the fashion capital of the world,” said Johnson, who admitted to be a fashionista himself. Fashion designers Sheila Rashid and Jamie Hayes (Production Mode) showed their designs at the event alongside Maria Pinto, I Am Studios, Koush, Gréyvi, and Sujata Gazder. Rashid and Hayes share a realistic—yet still enthusiastic—view of the city’s potential. “I

think we need to understand and appreciate what makes Chicago unique and di erent versus NYC, Paris, Milan. . . . We have a lot more in common with a fashion capital like Antwerp than with Paris. We have the luxury to create at a slower and more intentional pace here, since we’re not as much in the spotlight and the cost of rent and labor is a little cheaper here,” said Hayes. Rashid added, “I would say Chicago is a fashion capital within its own right. We’d at least need to start with the ocial Chicago Fashion Week being a consistent thing annually. I mean, to be called the fashion capital of the world, New York would have to freeze over, but at least I believe we do come in second.”

Ian Gerard of the Curio, fashion writer Maggie Gillette, and hospitality entrepreneur John Leydon are spearheading the fashion week effort in partnership with the mayor’s office as well as the city’s tourism bureau, Choose Chicago.

Before conceiving of CFW, Gerard and Gillette had been doing grassroots work connecting the city’s fashion industry for over two years via the Curio, an organization they created to promote local fashion. “The mission of the Curio was to unite the Chicago fashion community, to showcase the best Chicago talent working in all genres of design, and to raise

The steering committee Gerard and Gillette created to devise CFW includes fashion leaders from multiple fields and socioeconomic backgrounds. Many of them have extensive experience in the Chicago fashion industry, such as designer Anna Hovet Dias, formerly the executive director of Chicago Fashion Incubator (CFI), and professor and writer Melissa Gamble, who was the city’s director of fashion arts and events during the Daley administration in the 2000s, and launched CFI. “Before this year, most of the major fashion organizations were disparate,” said Hovet Dias. “While Chicago has a comparatively supportive fashion scene, the designers, event businesses, and educational resources often kept to themselves. Chicago Fashion Week is taking all these individual talents and resources and highlighting them as a group. This is especially advantageous for emerging designers and fashion talent in neighborhoods that aren’t typically included in the Chicago fashion press.”

Marketing veteran and entrepreneur Christine Gri th is a member of the CFW steering committee and the founder of the small business platform BLK + BRWN Market. Griffith said, “Chicago has streetwear on lock and plays in the luxury space well. It’s both luxurious and approachable. It’s gritty and sophisticated at the same time.” Gri th points to e orts like CFW as a possible testing ground for new and underrecognized designers and fashion organizations. “Like this city itself, there is a divide where creativity lives, who gets access and funding. The opportunity for Chicago is really to put capital behind the talent that’s here. With technology advancing in the way it is, there’s also an opportunity for a resurgence . . . of Chicago being a manufacturing town for the fashion industry.”

“CFW is very much in the spirit of the fashion industry in the city of Chicago: collaborative rather than competitive,” Hayes told the

Reader . “We all want to raise the profile of the industry so that our work can be seen and appreciated by more people within the city, and also so that it can be appreciated beyond Chicago.” v

This story was condensed for space in our print edition. A full version is readable online.

m letters@chicagoreader.com

Mayor Johnson and the CFW steering committee COURTESY CHICAGO FASHION WEEK

Top: a look from Greyvi; bottom: Sheila Rashid (right) with a model wearing her designs

TOP: ALEX CALLEJO; BOTTOM: ENRIQUE V

ARTS & CULTURE

Naming our existential crises

Halle Butler’s Banal Nightmare is a darkly funny examination of how art is not made.

By JEANNINE BURGDORF

It’s 2018, the #MeToo movement is in the cultural vernacular and Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearings take up everyone’s Twitter feeds. Margaret Anne “Moddie” Yance, the protagonist in Halle Butler’s third novel, Banal Nightmare, returns to her college town in the midwest after living in Chicago, where she worked as an art teacher while developing her own visual art. As a woman artist, Moddie (I can’t help thinking it’s short for modern girl) faces different challenges than the male artists she knows.

As in Butler’s previous novels, Jillian (2015) and The New Me (2019), the men occupy background character roles without interiority; mostly they are talked about at parties where they self-segregate to the basement. Butler is a master at constructing a detailed social hierarchy of educated women, and this novel centers those tensions at its heart. Everyone in the college-town group is dissatisfied in their careers and in their relationships. Their

stuckness comes up again and again; they’re not creating a future, they’re waiting for one to show up.

Nina, Bethany, and Pam are Moddie’s childhood friends who never left the small town. Pam is an administrator in the college’s art department in charge of running a new artist-in-residence program. At the suggestion of Moddie and Moddie’s big-city friends, Pam hires an artist, David, who hasn’t shown his work in nearly a decade but was then “making the most interesting work of all,” according to the group. Amid the college’s sexual misconduct cases, David’s reputation isn’t investigated and isn’t called into question, nor does Pam do any work to ﬁnd out if David is still producing interesting work. He made good art once and that’s good enough for the yearlong teaching/ personality parade the job requires.

The social group includes Pam’s boyfriend, Craig, who also works at the college and has a crush on his intern, Petra. Craig molests Petra.

RBANAL NIGHTMARE BY HALLE BUTLER

Penguin Random House, hardcover, 336 pp., $28, penguinrandomhouse.com

Everyone talks about the sexual abuse at the school like gossip and only with the subtle paranoia that it could lead to bigger scandals. No one does anything to address the problem or the deeper reasons for the spike in young women being abused—not even Moddie, who emails Alan, her ex-boyfriend Nick’s friend, about sexually assaulting her when she was a teacher in Chicago. (Moddie’s decision comes from her gained self-confidence rather than learning about Craig’s abuse, which is revealed later in the book.)

Her confrontation with Alan is a turning point in her self-awareness and another example of the disconnect of personal vs. collective responsibility that makes the novel funny and horrifying. Though she has personal experience with assault, she doesn’t care about the school’s scandal. No one has any sense of how what they do matters because they are all trapped in these existential nightmares of their own making.

Alan acknowledges her feelings but not his responsibility in creating them: “I am so sorry that you have carried around so much anger.” He ends with an o er to talk on the phone so that he may give Moddie closure. Freed from suppressing her feelings about the assault, and with support from Nina and Bethany, Moddie can “liv[e] back in reality.”

Later in Alan’s inner monologue, he reflects on Moddie’s email as “shitty and selfish,” and “a false accusation,” at the same time a rming to his fiancee that he wants to have a baby. Here, and throughout the novel in other characters’ inner thoughts, the disconnect of the internal and external realities is so stark that I laughed out loud. Butler’s observance of this dissonance makes her successful in writing about horrific things in a way that is absurd to the point of comedy, just on the edge of satire. Butler is especially sharp when delving into Moddie and her aspirations. Everyone works a day job except Moddie (even David in his visiting, glad-handing academic role), who cashed in her savings account to a ord her time to figure out how to jump-start her art career. She’d been a teacher as a way to support her art but she found that teaching art eventually stifled it. Pam o ers Moddie a chance to talk to David’s students about how to make a living as an artist. In her talk, she references “the brotherhood” of art and with equal loftiness declares that making art is a way “to manifest a tangible version of the soul, and that not all souls were equal.” Moddie’s high aspirations that art can exist in harmony with commerce as long as one has the right attitude are comically naive.

As in Butler’s earlier work, women’s struggles are compounded by the fact that they have more education and less opportunity than men in addition to having to navigate the economic reality of earning less money. By the end of the book, Moddie’s material circumstances have changed, though she’s made few strides in changing her life. She receives an unexpected inheritance and, urged by her parents to live modestly, plans to live o the investment income. Moddie is afforded the time and energy to make art, but unlike at the beginning of the novel, there’s no pressure to do so for money.

Her funniest tirades, voiced internally and at the many parties the group attends, arrive in critiques on canonical art and its institutions: The House of Mirth is overrated and Saturday Night Live contributes to the ﬂattening of culture. But she still isn’t making art. After confronting Alan, Moddie orders a stack of books online and a subscription to the Criterion channel, all of which serve to cultivate her existing opinions about art while doing nothing to stir her to create something new in the world. She is inspired to buy and comment, not to imagine and create.

Butler seems to be asking, “Is it possible to have success and achieve a contented inner state or ‘have it all’ in the highly competitive and cutthroat art world?” It helps to have a little luck. In Moddie’s case, it helps to have a pot of gold at the end of her shit rainbow. And even if she does hide away from the madding crowd, art still requires an audience whose tastes and attention are constantly shifting. Money may not be enough to jolt her awake from the nightmare so that she can make art again.

“Real life and real satisfaction come from inside, from the things you learn to do for yourself,” reasons one of the women in Moddie’s circle. Moddie is a woman whose creative and personal development are stunted—and not just from past trauma. She has internalized cultural norms that reinforce messages like women aren’t trustworthy, their contributions are worth less than men, or they’re asking for it. What is most important is to do the work of creation and to measure your worth on standards you set, irrespective of reputation and awards or what anyone at the party thinks. Perhaps Moddie’s existential nightmare will end once she creates a life for herself. v

m letters@chicagoreader.com

The cover of Banal Nightmare features “Yelling” by John Wesley, 1994 COURTESY PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE BOOKS

RQUILTING CHICAGO

Workshops run Sat-Sun and Tue, 1756 W. Lunt, masks required, attendance capped at 11, eventbrite.com/o/queer-quilting-chi-75287689373, elizafernand.com

CRAFT WORK

Quilting into queer ritual

Community and freedom are found in improvisational patchwork workshops guided by interdisciplinary teaching artist Eliza Fernand.

By AMANDA DEE

Ifirst found artist Eliza Fernand through a flier in a north-side coffee shop. Next to a menu for lattes and cold brews was a half sheet of paper promoting a workshop in hand-drawn cursive; it read “queer quilting.” When I visit one of these workshops, where sewing machines stitch new shapes of fabric into being, I meet others who have followed the sign to Fernand’s Rogers Park studio. This small flier, Fernand tells me, is how many “quilt-curious queers” ﬁnd the space. It’s an appropriate entry point into Fernand’s interdisciplinary art practice, which revolves around accessibility. The queer quilting bee, of sorts, is open to all levels of sewing experience in a COVID-cautious environment; they could be seen as another thread of the contemporary queer artist Ginger Brooks Takahashi’s quilting forum series, An Army of Lovers Cannot Fail (2004–2013). For years, these forums brought people together in galleries, homes, and gardens to collaborate in the craft and politics of quilting.

Quilting has long been an accessible practice for marginalized groups. For warmth in colder seasons, antebellum women in the U.S., particularly enslaved women, revived odds and ends of fabric destined to be discarded into one layer (patchwork) of a quilt. Quilting also charged domestic spaces with political possibility, making room for women to exchange and recognize each other’s ideas, stories, and identities.

Fernand updates this tradition for our society of screens, using what they call multiple “methods of interaction or delivery.” One of the artist’s patchworks or quilts can live many lives as part of another and reappear in their work with online video or on public access TV. Fernand is new to Chicago’s cultural fabric. They moved to the city from western Michigan, where they primarily worked on video installations for planetarium domes, ran an art residency, and studied for an MFA in a low-residency, interdisciplinary art program. Chicago, and the workshop, o ered the queer community and art ecosystem they had been missing.

At this May workshop, quilters describe what they’ve been piecing together, ﬁguring out work-arounds to problems as Laura Branigan’s “Gloria” pulses from a speaker. Sunlight illuminates shelves of Fernand’s sculptures, slip-cast (hollow ceramic) cones topped with witch ﬁngers. My eyes keep drifting from the quilters’ projects back to a corner wall, where 12 patchwork faces, human and ghost, stare back at me.

The workshop is a “queer ritual” to Fernand, who was inspired by Richard Aslan’s book Drycleaners of the Soul. “A ritual happens in a non-ordinary space,” Aslan writes. “The transition from ordinary to non-ordinary space is marked by the crossing of a boundary.”

In their studio, Fernand places three rocks in front of me, like the start of a ceremony. A small wave of anticipation washes through me. When I pick up a rock, it’s lighter than I expected. Fernand has been creating these ceramic “rocks” to hand out at a series of events hosted by Roman Susan gallery or as Easter eggs left at beaches and parks for whoever’s looking. Turning the “rock” in your palm, you’ll see “1-833-NATR-XXX,” the number for their toll-

ARTS & CULTURE

free erotic nature hotline—a crossing of the boundary of “normal” intimacy. Call it to hear Fernand’s impersonation of a phone sex operator guide you through sensual experiences with a houseplant or bowl of water, among other natural elements.

“Intimacy and transformation and access are allied in a way,” the artist says. “The familiarity of quilts or ceramics and the intimacy of objects of use have a lot to do with my interest in access.”

While Fernand’s formal training in sculpture and photography started early at an arts high school in Michigan, their formative artistic memories are marbled with wild honey, llama ﬁber, and leather scraps. “I was a kid in the mountains,” they recall. “I had a lot of time for imaginative play and running around, ﬁnding rocks and mushrooms.” The child of hippie shoemakers during the 1980s and ’90s, they were steeped in a culture of resourcefulness. “We didn’t always have money,” Fernand says. Their mom, who herself was always making art, saved toilet paper rolls so Fernand could make robots or whatever else they could think of.

Their family also moved often. “It’s hard to be the new kid,” they say. “I could not conform. I wasn’t interested in it, and I knew if I tried I would fail. Whenever I tried, I failed.”

As Fernand grew up and went to an arts college in Portland, Oregon, to continue studying sculpture, they gravitated to DIY punk spaces until that scene began to feel too restrictive for them. Traditional quilting is also bound by many rules and patterns, which Fernand found “stressful” and “intimidating” until their mid-20s when a mentor introduced them to improvisational quilting. There was freedom in realizing they only needed a few pieces of

fabric and some thread. “There’s something about the adaptability, the ability to transform, in patchwork and improvising, that sort of diverts failure,” Fernand says.

In 2011, Fernand quilted a tent and hit the road. They traveled across the country to learn and teach quilting stories. “Fieldwork,” they call it. Their approach to teaching today, whether it’s for the workshop, after-school programs, high school, or college, taps into a similar spirit of collaboration and experimentation.

After a year and a half of attending these workshops, quilter Shai Karp responds di erently when something interrupts his plans. “How can you either accept it,” he asks now, “or turn it into something else?”

This summer, they are partnering with textile artist Eric Guy on a six-week series for the “dye-curious,” which Fernand hopes will be an ongoing expansion of the quilting workshop. The series will focus on using natural color techniques with quilting.

Fernand has a recurring dream of ﬁnding a large room that becomes their studio. In their waking life, big rooms bring visions of bigger quilts. When I look around their spacious studio, where the patchwork “wall” I mistook for the end of the room has been drawn back, revealing more space, materials, and art in progress, I can’t help but feel I’m standing in Fernand’s dream. Or that maybe queer space feels like crossing into a room you’ve been dreaming of with someone you don’t yet know.

“We need to be together. People are going to deﬁne [queer space] how they deﬁne it,” they say. “People want to build this space together. I’m not doing it on my own.” v

m letters@chicagoreader.com

Queer quilters at work during a workshop in Eliza Fernand’s Rogers Park studio ELIZA FERNAND

An in-progress patchwork quilt that Eliza Fernand made as part of a garment collaboration with Kristin Abhalter Smith for a DiscarDisco fashion show at a WasteShed fundraiser ELIZA FERNAND

MIDNIGHT IN THE GARDEN OF GOOD AND EVIL

Through 8/ 11: Tue-Wed and Fri 7: 30 PM, Thu and Sat 2 and 7: 30 PM, Sun 2 PM; also Sun 7/ 14 7: 30 PM and Wed 7/31 2 PM; no show Thu 7/4; ASL interpretation Fri 7/ 19, touch tour and audio description Sat 7/27 2 PM (touch tour 12 : 30 PM), Spanish subtitles Sat 7/27 7: 30 PM, open captions Sun 7/28 2 PM; Goodman Theatre, 170 N. Dearborn, 312- 443 - 3800, goodmantheatre.org, $25 -$175

PREVIEW

Savannah songs

Taylor Mac and J. Harrison Ghee talk about the Goodman’s Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.

By KERRY REID

John Berendt’s nonﬁction novel, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, became a cultural sensation on its release 30 years ago. (When I hear the phrase “nonfiction novel,” I think of Huckleberry Finn talking about Mark Twain’s Tom Sawyer : “He told the truth, mainly. There was things which he stretched, but mainly he told the truth.” For his part, Berendt has said, “The only ﬁctional character in the book is the narrator, me, until I catch up with myself midway through the book.”)

Berendt’s story did play loose with the timeline about Jim Williams’s 1981 shooting of his much younger lover and employee, Danny Hansford, and the aftermath. Williams (an antique dealer and society maven) went to trial for the murder four times and ﬁnally was acquitted in 1989, then died from a heart attack a few months later. Berendt also changed the names or created composites of other supporting characters. In the process, he turned Savannah, Georgia, (the city he adopted as a second home during the research process) and its gossipy eccentrics into cultural touchstones while giving the city’s tourism industry a huge boost.

And he made a legend out of The Lady Chablis, the Black trans performer whose delicious observations and ability to cut through societal bullshit turned her into one of the ﬁrst trans icons in America. Lady Chablis, who died in 2016, published her own memoir, Hiding My Candy: The Autobiography of the Grand Empress of Savannah, in 1996, and played herself in the (otherwise forgettable) 1997 Clint Eastwood ﬁlm version of Berendt’s book.

Chablis is also the reason Taylor Mac, book writer for the world-premiere musical version of Berendt’s story, now in previews at the Goodman Theatre, became interested in the project.

Mac is a multivalent force as a writer, performer, singer, and director who received the MacArthur Foundation’s “genius grant”

in 2017. Mac notes that Berendt’s book came out “the year I moved to New York City, so I was a young’un coming to New York to make musicals. That’s what I was doing. I didn’t know anyone in New York at that moment. And the book was just—I just fell in love with it. I’d never seen America embrace queerness before, really. There’d been little bits—I think RuPaul had a hit single, and before that, there had been other musicians that had little hit singles here and there—but it just felt like a di erent moment.”

For that reason, Chablis is central to the new musical, which features a score by Jason Robert Brown, recipient of three Tony Awards for The Bridges of Madison County and Parade . (The latter also focuses on a famous Georgia murder trial in telling the story of the eventual lynching in 1915 of Atlanta Jewish factory manager Leo Frank for the death of Mary Phagan, a 13-year-old girl who worked at his factory.)

J. Harrison Ghee, who made history last year as one of two nonbinary performers to win a Tony Award (Ghee won for Some Like It Hot , while Alex Newell won for Shucked ) plays Chablis. And they ﬁnd many similarities between Chablis’s personal history and their own as “a Black queer human being, and knowing how I was received or how any queerness was received growing up in Fayetteville, North Carolina, which is a military town.”

They add, “The south is good for, as we say, ‘a nice nasty.’ A ‘bless your heart’ and ‘oooh, ain’t she sweet’ kind of way. And I picked up on that very early as a child of how people viewed and moved through the world. And it deﬁnitely helped me in the character study and in the building of my iteration of Chablis. Because everybody has something to say or a thought towards her. Meanwhile, she’s just walking in her freedom and in her joy and trying to show other people that they have access to that as well.”

Mac says that the show (directed by Rob

Ashford) doesn’t turn Chablis into a narrator as she walks in her freedom, though. “I didn’t want her to be the narrator because in my experience that’s what queer people always get cast as. They don’t know what to do with us, so they make us the narrator. Or the best friend, you know? I wanted to make sure she wasn’t put in that position.” Instead, Mac notes, “Everyone’s trying to get into this book that the author is writing. They’re all trying to tell the story of Savannah—the story they want it to be. Hers is just one of the more powerful ones.”

There was an earlier attempt a dozen years ago to musicalize Midnight. Playwright Alfred Uhry (author of Driving Miss Daisy and the book writer for Parade ) was tapped as the adapter, with Brown composing and Ashford also attached as director. Reportedly, that version drew inspiration from Johnny Mercer (whose songs also ﬁlled the score for the Eastwood ﬁlm). Williams owned a Savannah house built by Mercer’s great-grandfather and where Hansford was killed, though the songwriter himself never lived there. (The house passed

Top: J. Harrison Ghee (le ) and Shanel Bailey; Taylor Mac in rehearsal LIZ LAUREN

THEATER

into the hands of Williams’s sister, Dorothy Williams Kingery, after his death. Kingery, who died last fall, opened the home, now known as the Mercer-Williams House Museum, for tours.)

But Mac, whose own encyclopedic knowledge of music was demonstrated in 2016’s A 24-Decade History of Popular Music (a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in drama), says that Brown’s new score draws on many inﬂuences, with different styles providing signatures for the range of characters inhabiting the show.

the musical.)

“I feel like a lot of people operate out of fear and love,” notes Ghee. “And Jim and Chablis are those representations—operating out of fear and love. You make choices accordingly. A lot of people in Savannah are operating in a lot of fear. And they’re operating out of fear of freedom. And it’s wild to me that people are so afraid to be free.”

“We have a lot of Jims in our culture. And it’s because of this system that we’ve had to grow up in.”

“The choice to have a variety of musical styles was something that we talked about the very ﬁrst day we met to see if we even wanted to do it. But what was chosen for each person was completely his decision,” says Mac.

Ghee found inspiration in archival footage of Chablis in creating the character. “I’m not doing an imitation of her. But I’m pulling from the essence and the spirit of her,” they say, adding, “The amount of times I really do ﬁnd myself feeling her in scenes and things she would say—I’m like, ‘Ah, oooh, that was NOT ME at all!’” Which seems appropriate for a story that also draws in some measure on the spirit world of Savannah. (Brianna Buckley plays Minerva, the root doctor based on real-life Savannah resident Valerie Boles, in

the show uses Williams (played by Broadway vet Tom Hewitt) and Chablis as two sides of queerness in America at a moment when queer people (especially trans people) are under renewed attack. Williams, the antiquarian and historic preservationist, wants to ﬁt in and be accepted by Savannah’s blue-blooded upper crust. (The real Williams threw legendary Christmas parties that were a hot ticket for Savannah’s high-society set.) Chablis just wants to live her truth.

“We have a lot of Jims in our culture,” says Mac. “And it’s because of this system that we’ve had to grow up in. And so it’s really about saying, ‘Here are these two options for you. What do you want? You’re at midnight in the garden of good and evil, and which direction are you going to go?’”

m kreid@chicagoreader.com

Starts July 5

By Richard Greenblatt and Ted Dykstra

Directed by Rob Lindley

Matthew McGloin and Adam LaSalle,

photo by Je Kurysz

Cast members rehearse Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil LIZ LAUREN

THE HOT WING KING Through 7/21: Wed 3 and 7: 30 PM, Thu-Fri 7: 30 PM, Sat 3 and 7: 30 PM, Sun 2 and 6 PM; Wed 7/37: 30 PM only, Sun 7/21 2 PM only, no show Thu 7/4; open captions Thu 7/ 11, ASL interpretation Fri 7/ 19; Writers Theatre, 325 Tudor Ct., Glencoe, 847-242- 6000, writerstheatre.org, $ 35 -$ 90

REVIEW

Community kitchen

The Hot Wing King celebrates Black men’s lives and loves.

By KERRY REID

Cooking as the crucible for family and friendship, as well as self-discovery, is familiar territory in theater and film. Whether it’s Jenna in Waitress working out her personal angst through creative pie recipes, or the brothers running a struggling Italian restaurant on the Jersey Shore in the 1996 ﬁlm Big Night deciding just how much authenticity they’re willing to sacriﬁce for success, character is often revealed through culinary triumphs and crises. Which makes sense: we all gotta eat, so why wouldn’t the way we cook become a matrix for our shared stories?

Katori Hall’s The Hot Wing King , now in a sweet and spicy local premiere at Writers Theatre under Lili-Anne Brown’s empathetic direction, adds to that canon of stories that use cooking as a metaphor for struggle and growth. Set in Memphis, where most of Hall’s plays take place, Hot Wing (which won the

2021 Pulitzer Prize after a COVID-truncated 2020 run on Broadway) concerns a group of Black men bent on winning a prestigious local wings competition. The food storyline provides the background for fear, guilt, resentment—and abiding love—to combine and simmer in a show that reveals itself in small and sly ways underneath the rat-a-tat dialogue at the outset.

Cordell (Breon Arzell) is the master wings chef who has assembled his team (the New Wing Order) for another shot at the top title. His lover, Dwayne (Jos N. Banks), manages a Memphis hotel and supports Cordell, who left his wife and two sons in Saint Louis behind for Dwayne. (He hasn’t told them that he’s gay.)

Their friends, barber Big Charles (Thee Ricky Harris) and walking (and dancing, and tumbling) one-liner machine Isom (Joseph Anthony Byrd) have joined them to help, though

the former would rather watch his beloved Memphis Grizzlies on television, and the latter seems bent on providing play-by-play and steaming hot tea rather than helping with the prosaic kitchen chores. As another character tells him, “Stirring the pot is your specialty.” (Isom’s one major “contribution” to the recipe provides a somewhat predictable but enjoyable twist to the story.)

Dwayne’s seemingly sunny disposition hides its own darkness. His troubled sister died in a chokehold after he called police to do a wellness check on her. Her teenage son, Everett (Jabari Khaliq), is trying to hold it together. Everett’s father, TJ (Kevin Tre’von Patterson), a small-time hustler and thief, wants Dwayne to let his nephew live with him to ﬁnish out high school, so he might be able to make it to college on a scholarship.

Cordell isn’t too happy about that idea, though the house (beautifully rendered here in Lauren M. Nichols’s two-level design) is plenty big enough. In part, it’s because he believes that Everett has stolen from them in the past. But as the two-act play unfolds, it seems clear that Cordell also has his own guilt about his sons and being financially dependent on Dwayne. Winning the wings competition is a way of getting his groove back. (Finding his wings, if you will.)

This is lighter fare than the other Hall plays I’ve encountered, including The Mountaintop, which imagined a meeting between Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and a maid at the Lorraine Motel the night before the former’s assassination, and Hoodoo Love , set during the Great Depression and Jim Crow. Hall reportedly turned to playwriting from acting because she couldn’t ﬁnd enough plays with Black women speaking to each other for extended periods of time. Here, she’s giving space and grace and love to a group of Black men, gay and straight, to just simply hang out and work it out together—cooking, playing basketball, and singing Luther Vandross’s “Never Too Much.” There are dashes of sorrow and guilt amid the comedy, especially for Dwayne and Cordell, who share a perceived failure to be there for family in the past. But as Hall noted in a 2020 interview with Harvard Magazine, “With this play, I wanted to embrace the articulation of black life and not necessarily black trauma, so the piece is infused with joy and love and jokes.”

Brown’s production is also infused with stellar performances. Arzell is the right mix of rigidity and doubt as he tries to master his latest recipe (“spicy Cajun Alfredo, with bourbon-infused bacon”) while figuring out how to be honest about his new life with his old family. Banks reveals the stress Dwayne feels being the reliable go-to for everyone else in small but aching moments. Byrd goes to town with the campy comic relief, while Harris provides some choice ripostes for Big Charles from his preferred spot on the sofa.

There is drama here onstage, but not life-altering tragedy. Brown’s ensemble believably embodies men who have known each other for a long time and are accepting of each other’s foibles, even though they can’t resist getting in the occasional dig. The Hot Wing King reminds us that you may not always get what you think you’re looking for in life, but trusting in a beloved community and your own talents may take you further than you ever dreamed possible. v

The ensemble of Writers Theatre’s The Hot Wing King ; Jos N. Banks and Breon Arzell MICHAEL BROSILOW

RREVIEW

MaXXXine is an electrifying return to form

The conclusion of Ti West’s trilogy draws inspiration from 80s horror, giallo, and the deadly ambition of its own protagonist.

By MAXWELL RABB

of the genre that fuels not only MaXXXine but also its two predecessors.

We’re catapulted six years from where we left Maxine in X , the gritty Texas Chainsaw Massacre –inspired slasher where the wannabe star and her “friends,” looking to shoot a porno at a secluded Texas farmhouse, unwittingly become targets to a murderous recluse, Pearl (also played by Goth). We learn more about this titular villain in the prequel, Pearl, which West ﬁlmed secretly alongside X. Jumping back to the 1910s, soaked in Technicolor (or something close), we witness Pearl’s

“Y’all might as well go home, ’cause I just fucking nailed that!”

An adult movie star sensation teetering on the brink of Hollywood stardom, Maxine Minx (Mia Goth), hollers these words after delivering a bone-chilling audition for a new horror picture, The Puritan II . It’s 1985 Los Angeles, and Ti West’s third installment of his X trilogy, MaXXXine , pulsates with the neon glow, enchanting glamor, and gritty charm of 80s blockbusters. Maxine strides to her white Mercedes, license plate reading “MAXXXINE,” with big

hair and a two-piece jean outfit. The opening scene alone screams, They’re going to fucking nail the finale.

A love letter to pulp horror, MaXXXine is drenched in genre tropes, insider Hollywood jokes, and, well, plenty of blood. Countless critics will likely lambast the film as superficial or derivative, overflowing with references, such as the Bates Motel set or a perverted Buster Keaton, and I won’t be able to fully blame them. MaXXXine is puppeteered by the annals of horror history, and yes, this is often tiresome. Yet, it’s this unapologetic embrace

chilling evolution from aspiring actress to sinister matriarch, steeped in desperation and madness, as she copes with the crushing pressure of unmet dreams.

Unmet dreams. It is the desperation to avoid becoming a washed-up B-lister (or worse) that drives Maxine. The paranoia is the same that already pushed Pearl to insanity. And what’s most bloodcurdling is realizing that it’s the same innate impulse that allows Maxine to kill Pearl during X ’s final slaughter-fest. Maxine refuses to settle for anything less, regardless of other people’s predispositions or precon-

FILMFILMFILM

ceptions of her, firmly declaring, “I will not accept a life I do not deserve.”

This mantra propels our (anti)heroine into stardom in MaXXXine . To the delight of her sleazy adult film agent, Teddy Knight Esq. (Giancarlo Esposito), she lands the part in The Puritan II (a take on The Exorcist), directed by an austere Elizabeth Bender. (Elizabeth Debicki plays this part with such imposing force that she, momentarily, draws our attention away from Goth’s performance.) It is Maxine’s big break—a fail-safe passage to the red carpet, away from porn, and away from the evangelical preacher, searching for his daughter, whom we learned to be her father at the end of X.

However, Maxine’s path to stardom is shadowed by the faceless serial killer known as “The Night Stalker.” Girls close to Maxine start disappearing, including her close companion and porn star colleague, Tabby Martin, played by Halsey, but Maxine remains unfazed in her cold pursuit of fame. In fact, it appears the only thing that worries—or even scares her— is the memory of Pearl. This isn’t guilt; it’s a threat, one that is ampliﬁed when a VHS tape containing footage from the adult film she made during X appears on her doorstep, and when she’s confronted with the greasy Louisianan private eye, John Labat (Kevin Bacon), who knows someone who knows something about her real past. Instead of relying on the authorities—namely a pair of bumbling cops played by Bobby Cannavale and Michelle Monaghan—Maxine takes matters into her own hands, particularly when the faceless murderer kills her only true friend, Leon (Moses Sumney), who works in the video store below her apartment.

It’s a dime-store murder mystery imbued with the heat and intensity of an 80s slasher. This bloody spectacle, where a shadowing figure donning Dario Argento–style leather gloves executes a gruesomely cinematic kill to synth, is a pure homage to giallo. The name of the subgenre, meaning “yellow” in Italian, comes from the yellow covers of pulp crime and thriller novels. So, here, West doubles down on his love for the pulp by showcasing his attention to giallo: the sultry neon lights, the simmering paranoia, the tormented yet resilient protagonist, and the stark, stylized violence hark back to the Italian horror tradition. One watch of Argento’s Deep Red (1975) will reveal just how much the giallo genre is a blueprint for West and Goth’s horror tribute, with plot twists, striking colors, and a nonstop series of suspense. Likewise, there are elements from sleazier iterations, like Mario Bava’s model

A still from MaXXXine A24

murder movie Blood and Black Lace (1964). It’s saturated. It’s seductive. And more than anything, it’s an electrifying cinematic experience.

MaXXXine deftly pulls in the essence of American 80s horror to bolster the giallo tropes. Nods to sophisticated, sexy thrillers like Body Double (1984) or Dressed to Kill (1980) celebrate the Americana craze over amateur investigations, where protagonists spiral deeper and deeper into a conspiracy as if pulled in by an irresistible undertow. It’s this visceral thrill that framed the cinematic zeitgeist of the decade, one that would be nothing without the concept of the “ﬁnal girl.” There’s never a shadow of a doubt Maxine fucking Minx is going to be anything but that. This is possibly why, at some points, the ﬁlm can feel slow. What are the stakes? But really, have we gotten so jaded by “breaking genre stereotypes” that we can’t appreciate a return to form?

No. And Mia Goth is the powerhouse that keeps MaXXXine moving. She embraces Maxine as capably as she embraced Pearl in the prequel. It’s her performance that elevates

the drugstore horror story into a memorable salute to an often underappreciated genre. She understands the motivations of the characters, portraying them both with a ﬁ ercely relentless determination, a presence so intense it’s as though she would kill anyone to achieve her ends. In short, she would. The X trilogy takes the conventional mindset of the psychokiller and injects the murderous impulse into the final girl. Though we confront a barrage of references and inspirations, West and Goth still somehow deliver something new.

MaXXXine and its predecessors make no pretense of being contemplative. They are, plain and simple, bloody thrillers and a celebration of the genre. That said, this pronounced reverence for pulp horror isn’t just about shock value; it blurs the lines between high and low art, ensuring the cheap terrors are not easily discarded. Like Maxine Minx when she yells, “I will not accept a life I do not deserve,” West and Goth won’t let pulp horror be relegated to the shadows. v

m letters@chicagoreader.com

This weekend, I watched approximately 550 minutes of Stan Brakhage films. That’s roughly nine hours, accounting for 44 of the 51 films that screened during Inventing Eternity: The Undersung Films of Late-Era Stan Brakhage, curated and presented by (fellow Reader contributor) Joshua Minsoo Kim at Sweet Void Cinema in Humboldt Park.

Most of the avant-garde luminary’s films were silent; two of the programs screened in the festival had sound, but overall, the weekend reflected that truism about Brakhage’s preferred aural mode. Silent films, however, are never really silent. Traditional silent films, for example, were and still are accompanied by music. That’s not the case with Brakhage’s films, but regardless of how silent the film in question may be, there will always be sound accompanying it in the setting where it’s being screened: the whirring of the projector, for instance, and people shifting in their seats, coughing, clearing their throats. I revel in this kind of environment, where the images onscreen and the ambient noise meld into a liminal experience akin to meditation.

Those 550 minutes passed quickly. I felt I was one with the images, with time unburdened by any discordance inherent to narrative cinema. My favorite of the films screened were the Vancouver Island Quartet, inspired by the formative years of Brakhage’s second wife, Marilyn. Though it did contain some hand-painted sequences (hand-painting onto the film strip itself being one of his enduring motifs), the images of the water were what transfixed me. I asked myself, is this how Brakhage saw it? Is what I’m

seeing not sublimely distorted imagery born of a visionary artist but a document of his actual vision, an entirely new way of seeing the world? I wonder if Brakhage’s films aren’t just “movie magic,” but actual magic. I missed the first night of screenings to experience Trust Fall at the Davis Theater, a film event in which the cinephiles behind the Oscarbate Film Collective (who also program the Highs & Lows series at the Music Box Theatre) welcomed viewers to watch a film without first knowing what it is. I can’t disclose the title here—the only thing I’ll say is that it was a Hong Kong action movie from the early aughts centered on women assassins, with a coy lesbian subplot. I loved it. Not only was the film great, but the not-knowing aspect of it provided a pleasant tension that heightened the mindset with which I viewed it.

And at the end of Inventing Eternity, Joshua read the following quote from Marilyn about Brakhage’s own moviegoing habits: “He went to practically every movie he could, not because he thought they were ‘art’ in the sense that he was striving for in his own work—but because he just liked movies . . . felt most connected to the rest of the society when he was at a movie, etc.” If I can never truly understand a Brakhage ﬁlm—just as one can never really understand another person, though art is often our truest attempt at doing so—I can at least understand that.

Until next time, moviegoers. —KAT SACHS v

The Moviegoer is the diary of a local ﬁlm bu , collecting the best of what Chicago’s independent and underground ﬁlm scene has to o er.

A still from Stan Brakhage’s 23rd Psalm Branch: Part II (1978) SIGHT & SOUND

BOOKS & BEATS WITH CHAD KOURI AND RADIUS

Featuring art workshops in monoprints, papermaking, and zine making. Sat 7/20, 2–4:30 PM, McKinley Park, 2210 W. Pershing, free, all ages

Nomad with deep roots

Radius grows beyond Chicago beat battles.

By JACOB ARNOLD

Producer and performer Ramon Norwood, 42, aka Radius or Radius Etc, is a self-described nomad, and not just in terms of musical style. While he has deep Chicago roots, when I spoke with him in mid-June, he’d just returned from gigging in Los Angeles and was working on tracks in Michigan. He’s recently performed and recorded in Rotterdam and Barcelona, and in 2015 he visited Japan. In 2021 and 2022, he traveled around Central and South America, partly for music and partly to study Indigenous cuisine, after a brief stint in Brooklyn ended with his belongings in storage.

Toward the end of June, Radius returned to Chicago for several shows—he’s already played two of them, but you can still see him (and fellow Chicagoan Chad Kouri) at the free Books & Beats event presented by the Chicago Printers Guild in McKinley Park on the afternoon of Saturday, July 20.

Unlike many producers, Radius doesn’t work a day job. Lately this has been giving him trouble—his living situation is unstable, despite his best e orts to improve it. He makes music to soothe his own soul, hoping to break through to a more sustainable existence.

Radius’s latest project is Infinite Roots Vol. 2, due July 20, and it showcases the musical versatility he’s developed over the past two decades. (The ﬁrst volume is a seven-inch from 2013.) He made a name for himself crafting hip-hop beats in the early 2000s, but he soon expanded into up-tempo material that fits well into a house or techno set. In fact, in 2019 inﬂuential French DJ Gilles Peterson played a track from one of Radius’s projects, Dia.L (a collaboration with Chicago vocalist Lailah Reich), on a radio show distributed by his London-based broadcast platform Worldwide FM. Radius’s experiments with dub and vocal elements further prove he’s not bound by genre.

Radius was born and raised in Chicago, spending most of his youth in the South Chicago and Ashburn neighborhoods. His 88-yearold grandfather, Ronald Wheeler, gigged as a jazz bassist from the 1960s through the ’80s, accumulating a deep knowledge of the city’s jazz history—he remembers playing with

Muhal Richard Abrams before the pianist cofounded the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians in 1965. “He’s the first person I ever seen holding an instrument,” Radius recalls.

In the late 80s, when Radius was a kid, his mother used to sing to him (she loved soul and gospel), and his aunt let him raid her record and tape collection. His Nigerian stepfather exposed him to Afrobeat music. By the time Radius was in college, he was spinning records by James Brown and the Stylistics at family gatherings to get the older folks moving.

He graduated in 2000 from Kenwood Academy High School in Hyde Park, a magnet school with a respected arts program.

“I used to draw a lot growing up,” Radius explains.

“Comic book drawing.” In 2004, he earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts at the Illinois Institute of Art in Chicago.

From as early as elementary school, Radius was immersed in hip-hop. In high school, he began buying his own records and learning to scratch. “I got really into that turntablism element early on,” he says. His primary focus, however, was B-boy dancing and drawing. At Promontory Point in Burnham Park, he hung out with inﬂuential gra ti artists and muralists, including Rahmaan Statik, Max Sansing, and Vyle.

Around 2000, as Radius entered college, he moved to a house in Uptown, where future Nacrobats producer Overflo (then going by Jubilee) was making beats. There Radius could observe his work and score a copy of Acid Music 2.0, a sample- and loop-based music-

production tool. A producer and DJ named Fokis hooked Radius up with FruityLoops (a software sequencer) and let him play with his Akai MPC hardware sampler.

In the early 2000s, Radius began making instrumental hip-hop beats and invested in his own sampler, an Akai MPC 1000, which he bought on layaway. That’s when “things really ampliﬁed,” he says. Around this time, multiple producers were sharing beats on MySpace and at club nights in Chicago and LA. Radius doesn’t identify with the “beat scene,” since he considers it a regional term, but that’s what was coalescing. “The ‘beat scene’ name really emerges from LA,” he explains. “My earliest times getting my chops up in Chicago, I beat battled.”

The ﬁrst beat battles Radius can remember

were in 2006 and 2007 at music store Sam Ash, where producers would bring in CD-Rs to play. From there, better artists went on to more structured nights, among them Dance to the Drummers dB (launched by Tone B. Nimble of All Natural in 2005) and Push Beats (founded in 2010), held at venues such as Sonotheque and Double Door’s basement space Door No. 3. Producers played live and were judged on their skills, sometimes by an actual panel of judges and sometimes by audience reaction. Initially Radius went to these battles as a dancer. “I would see people like Kenny Keys and Memo [from] the Molemen and Brother El,” he recalls. “I was itching to get up there, ’cause I’m like, they sound great. I’m making music all of the time. I know I got it.” Radius began battling in 2006, enduring the

Radius (aka Ramon Norwood) with his kalimba inside Garﬁ eld Park Conservatory

DANIEL DELGADO FOR CHICAGO READER

MUSIC

continued from p. 25

typical barrage of trash talk. “I dealt with that stu ,” he says. “Oh yeah, ‘Nobody know who you are, you better come hard!’ I’d take that stu coming in, so I had stu to prove in that time.”

Radius started winning battles against known producers such as Coolout Chris and 1120, so he decided to check out what was going on in other cities, in particular LA. He played Low End Theory, a weekly night at the Airliner in Lincoln Heights, nine times in 2009 and ’10, and he developed connections with Daedelus, Ras G, Flying Lotus, Madlib, and other well-known west-coast artists. “There was a moment when a lot of us were listening to each other,” Radius explains.

Radius began distributing CD-Rs of his work in 2006, and his first proper album, Neighborhood Suicide , came out in ’08 via Chicago label the Secret Life of Sound. Radius started his own label, ETC Records, in 2013. Its first vinyl release was the seven-inch Infinite Roots Vol. 1 , manufactured and distributed by Crosstalk International. Originally Radius envisioned a seven-inch series called Infinite Roots, but he couldn’t make the finances work. Instead he invested in projects with other artists, releasing music in a variety of formats, including cassette tape, 12-inch, LP, and digital. Infinite Roots Vol. 2 is a vinyl LP collecting compositions Radius recorded over the past nine years, most of them previously available as digital downloads. Radius made a deal with Mother Tongue Records in Italy to distribute half of the 300 copies. To raise funds for the pressing, he accepted preorders via crowdfunding site Indiegogo.

released it under his alias 400+, which he says he uses for his more up-tempo solo work.

On “Freejazz From a Blackbox,” acoustic bass and snare speed along with a brash 90s hip-hop feel. This cut comes from the compilation RAWS:Chicago , which documented a 2015 beat competition at the Whistler where the Junius Paul Trio played live and then producers had 90 minutes to create beats using samples of their set.

“Space March Dub” drops in enormous subbass that sucks the air out of the room. Radius sings in a roots-reggae style to accompany downtempo 2000s-era synth sounds. It’s a potent mix which strikes me as the album’s focal point—perfect summer-afternoon listening.

“Educate the Children” is a sampler jam session with off-kilter triggered beats and bleeps. “One4Siifu 101” follows in a similar vein, with a snare beat that he’s chopped, pitched, filtered, and echoed. Radius has known LA-based rapper and singer Pink Siifu for a long time, and he’d set that beat aside for a collaboration with his friend that has yet to come together.

In recent years, Radius has moved away from sampling, but even his pieces with samples sound like they were constructed live. “One thing that I’ve always maintained, no matter what devices I create with, when I record stu out of it, I do it in takes,” Radius explains. “The

“I’ve made a lot of my music on buses, trains, planes, in different countries—forests, houses. I think that carries through in my overall sound.” —Radius

The LP spans hip-hop, dub, and house. It begins with a couple of downtempo broken-beat numbers. On “A New Infrastructure,” reverberating chords provide a sense of uneasy movement. “Interstellar Danceo ” adds short, pitched vocal samples.

An edit of “Interstellar Danceo ” was part of Radius’s EP Metamorphosis in 2018, but the version here is more than a minute longer. Last year, producer Hugo LX sent Radius footage of a crowd dance battling to the track at Djoon in Paris.

“Whatupjoe . . . Whatupdoe?!? (I94)” features an intricate synth melody over a house beat and roving bass line. Radius originally

erally don’t use field recordings, frequent rhythmic and melodic changes can make them feel like mini journeys.

Live performance is also an important part of his practice. “I learned my first live PA elements being in Chicago—how to do extended sets, not just do ‘you play a beat,’ ‘you play a beat,’” Radius explains. “The longest I ever played with all of my gear, improvising and playing stuff, was three to four hours. Most people don’t do that.”

I sometimes run into Radius at Elastic Arts, Sleeping Village, or Dorian’s, and I’m always struck by his distinctive appearance—he’s tall and thin, with locs past his knees—and even more so by his seriousness. Though music is his life, as a side business he offers holistic health and wellness coaching under the name Ra’s Natural Abundance, teaching clients how to make fruit juices, practice cleanses, and improve their diets. In summer 2020, he cofounded mutualaid organization the Love Fridge to help neighbors struggling with food insecurity.

sequences and the samples and everything are in the device, but I’m recording it in real time, [as] if I had a tape cassette doing it.”

By contrast, many modern producers working in software lock in multitrack mixing as part of their process, which allows less variability in the end result.

As a result of his unsettled lifestyle, Radius has composed much of his material on the road. “I’ve made a lot of my music on buses, trains, planes, in di erent countries—forests, houses,” he says. “I think that carries through in my overall sound and how I present it.” He’s made these autobiographical connections clear with titles such as “Time Traveling 101 (Oahu to Osaka),” and though his tracks gen-

“I’ve been trying my best to do my own things for a long time, and it has been very di cult, very di cult,” he says, sighing. “It’s been hard to ﬁnd proper living spaces to thrive within. I’ve been more or less in between houses, spaces, trying to pay rent somewhere, trying to get money, not to be on the street. It’s been like that lately.”

At the time of our Zoom interview in June, Radius was staying with DJ Moppy near New Buffalo, Michigan, and they were making music together. (They work with a variety of collaborators under the name Beyond Luck.) Radius also has work in progress with Miamibased multidisciplinary artist MikeFlo, Chicago MC Sense, Michigan-based producer Raj Mahal, and DJ-producer Kajan Chow in Rotter-

dam, with whom he’s formed the duo KA∞RA. Radius explains that he doesn’t like labeling his music as hip-hop, house, or techno, not just because to him it’s all autobiographical reality music but also because his practice encompasses singing and acoustic instruments as well. He works in electronic music, but he can make music without any electronics or even electricity.

“The other day I was going to it irritated because of my current living situation,” he says. “I had to get myself out of that, so I went to ﬁnd the nearest park, burrow my feet in the soil, in the grass. I had my thumb piano—my kalimba—with me. I had my claves with me. And after I did some breathing and gave thanks and gratitude for just being here, I began to practice. And once I spent an hour, I’m like, all right, we got this, we’re going to keep it moving.” v

m letters@chicagoreader.com

Radius on the conservatory grounds

DANIEL DELGADO FOR CHICAGO READER

A furry ear to the ground of the local music scene

THIS JANUARY, Elastic Arts announced the four new curators for its long-running weekly Improvised Music Series: Ishmael Ali, Molly Jones , Ben Zucker , and Angel Bat Dawid The Improvised Music Series hosts a show every Thursday, and though it usually skips holidays, this Independence Day is an exception. On the curators’ shared calendar, Dawid noticed the date blocked off, and she considered her feelings about it. “I want to deal with centering how Black people feel about this holiday—a lot of us don’t like the Fourth of July,” she says. “When I was thinking about it, I was like, ‘Well, where is a place where Black peoples’ feelings about this holiday can be centered?’” She convinced the team to open Elastic on Thursday, July 4, for an Improvised Music Series concert in tribute to Frederick Douglass’s 1852 speech “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?” The night will begin with a video recording of Douglass’s descendants reciting his words.

“A speech like that would be hard for a Black person to deliver now— and he delivered that when we were enslaved, when my ancestors were enslaved,” Dawid says. “I feel like the speech would be appropriate, and I want to curate some bands that I know who would resonate with that and can really play music to that.”

First on her list of artists: saxophonist David Boykin , one of her mentors. “One thing that I always loved about him is that he always centers Blackness,” Dawid says. Boykin oﬀered to bring his fusion ensemble Sebau, which in 2020 released score selections from his “avant-garde jazz hip-hopera” titled The Lynching of (Insert the Name of Any White Killer of an Unarmed Black Here).

feel comfortable,” she says, “so that it also gives permission to young Black people, ‘Hey, use your voice.’”

THE HALLOGALLO SCENE is throwing its third annual festival, which has leveled up by expanding into Milwaukee, “I’ve always loved the Milwaukee scene—it feels like an extension of the Chicago scene,” says fest founder Kai Slater, who fronts Lifeguard and has a solo project called Sharp Pins. The Hallogallo Midwest Pop Fest travels from Chicago’s Color Club on Saturday, July 6, to Milwaukee’s Falcon Bowl on Sunday, July 7. Horsegirl , Sharp Pins, and Twin Coast represent Chicago; rounding out the bill are Milwaukee’s Living Johnsons and New York’s Autobahn

GOSSIP WOLF

on a sentimental level—thinking about what party would I want to throw if I passed away,” Starka says. “Like, ‘How would I want to be remembered? How would I want to orient my end-of-life celebration?’” They evolved Mutualism from those thoughts as a way to support people in the dance scene who are especially vulnerable to COVID-19 and other communicable diseases.

Starka got hooked on dance music while studying in Europe in the mid-2010s. While at Indiana University Bloomington, they started spinning records and organizing queer, underground dance parties, and a er graduating in 2018 they moved to New York. They dove into the dance scene there until the pandemic confined their DJing to their bedroom. Two and a half years ago, Starka’s cancer went into remission, and they’ve since dedicated themselves to making nightlife safer for immunocompromised people. Last fall they started volunteering with Clean Air Club , helping handle logistics for the group’s inventory of free-toborrow air-puriﬁcation gear.

The rest of the lineup emerged fortuitously. Beat-scene producer Hameedullah works as a sound engineer for Elastic, so the curators didn’t have to look far to ﬁ nd his name. Detroit multi disciplinary artist King Sophia happened to be in town with an open date on July 4, and their arty fusion sound complements Dawid’s vision for the evening. She also wants to bring in more DJs to spin between sets at Improvised Music Series shows, so she booked HourNine collective cofounder CtrlZora for this special occasion. Dawid hopes the concert will forge new bonds among performers and attendees. “I’m hoping that this event can . . . make white people uncomfortable and make Black people

Slater says the ﬁrst two Hallogallo festivals reaﬃrmed his commitment to all-ages shows. “It feels like it’s a really special time to build community,” he says. “Every year we find a lot of new people that maybe their friend dragged them to it or their friend is selling zines, and it allows them to be inspired by other young bands.” Slater says the fest still has open spots for young zine makers: email hallogalloinc@gmail.com

ON SUNDAY, JULY 7 , the Whistler hosts the debut of Mutualism , an inclusive club event designed for immunocompromised ravers. DJ and Mutualism founder Starka came up with the idea a er receiving a cancer diagnosis in 2021. “It has pretty deep origins

“I think people, regardless of what they’re going through, should have access to all sorts of spaces, including arts and cultural spaces,” Starka says. “I’m trying to just help build that space out, especially when it comes to immuno compromised people, other disabled people, other higher-risk people, people who just want to mitigate risk.”

Starka sees the Whistler as a great space for the debut of Mutualism. The bar is close to public transit and ADA accessible, and its patio lets folks who want a drink take it outside to unmask. Mutualism requires attendees to wear high-quality masks inside, and if you forget one, the venue will have some on hand.

Starka shares the bill at the party with Panty and Ariel Zetina . “I’m just excited to see people dance hard to Ariel Zetina while masking,” Starka says. “That’s such a full fantasy.” Mutualism runs from 6 PM till midnight.

—LEOR GALIL

Got a tip? Tweet @Gossip_Wolf or email gossipwolf@chicagoreader.com.

Hameedullah performs at Elastic Arts’ tribute to Frederick Douglass’s famous 1852 speech

GIANNI ANDREATTA

THE SECRET HISTORY OF CHICAGO MUSIC

Jackie DeShannon launched her rareﬁed music career in Batavia

Thanks to a recent archival release, you can still hear the author of “What the World Needs Now Is Love” singing country tunes on her teenage radio show.

By STEVE KRAKOW

Since 2005 Plastic Crimewave (aka Steve Krakow) has used the Secret History of Chicago Music to shine a light on worthy artists with Chicago ties who’ve been forgotten, underrated, or never noticed in the first place.

Chicago, like any city, likes to claim beloved artists as its own, even if they weren’t born or raised here or they moved away before becoming stars—Sun Ra, Nat King Cole, and Charlie Musselwhite, to name just three, came up or had their first successes in the Windy City. Even when an artist is identified with another town, the Secret History of Chicago Music likes to shine a light on the years they spent in or near Chicago.

I recently found Jackie DeShannon’s fantastic 1968 LP What the World Needs Now Is Love at a local thrift shop, and it spurred me to revisit the singer and songwriter’s career. Thanks to the excellent Illinois Music Archives site, run by fellow historian Ken Voss, I knew that DeShannon had grown up in the Chicago area, but I’d forgotten how pivotal those years were for her.

County, the erstwhile Windmill City (Batavia once hosted six windmill factories, but the last one closed in 1951).

In May 1955, when she was in junior high, the precocious DeShannon was featured in the Batavia Herald. At age 13, the story said, she had almost 11 years of voice training. She’d already toured most of the south, sung on the radio with a band for two years, and appeared on television three times.

DeShannon sang at community centers, schools, hospitals—almost anywhere people

Ferlin Husky, Patsy Cline, George Jones, and Webb Pierce. You can still hear some material from Breakfast Melodies , because DeShannon’s mother taped the programs off the radio. Last year the Sundazed label released a double LP of those recordings called The Sherry Lee Show

Country music has a rich tradition in Chicago, including on the airwaves: the famous National Barn Dance radio show began airing on WLS in 1924, shortly before the venerable Grand Ole Opry launched in Nashville. For a deep dive, check out the 2023 book Country & Midwestern: Chicago in the History of Country Music and the Folk Revival by journalist, historian, and Reader contributor Mark Guarino. Rural transplants to Chicago found ample opportunities to create new identities for themselves and ﬁnd new audiences for the music they brought with them—and that fits DeShannon’s story to a tee.

DeShannon sang some huge hits—you probably remember “Put a Little Love in Your Heart”—and she wrote many more. But she doesn’t enjoy the stature of her peers in countrified white soul (Lulu, Dusty Springfield) and refined pop (Petula Clark, Cass Elliot).

DeShannon was born Sharon Lee Myers on August 21, 1941, in Hazel, Kentucky, where she lived on a farm with her musically inclined

family. Back then she went by Sherry Lee, and by the time she was six, she was singing on a local radio station.

Farm life got too hard, so the family relocated. DeShannon’s mother, Sandra Jeanne LaMonte, was from Aurora, so they moved there ﬁrst, then settled in Batavia in the early 50s. DeShannon’s crucial musical development would happen in the oldest town in Kane

could gather. She also hosted her own local radio show, a Saturday-morning segment called Breakfast Melodies. It aired on Aurorabased AM radio station WMRO, where longtime Chicago TV anchor John Drury got his start in the late 1940s (it became WBIG in 1991).

On the radio and at her gigs, DeShannon sang hard-core country tunes by the likes of

The teenage DeShannon’s TV appearances included the countryand-western show hosted by Pee Wee King (of “Tennessee Waltz” fame), which aired in Chicago on WBBM. Another Batavia Herald article, this one from 1956, mentions DeShannon playing three shows on one Sunday at West Aurora Junior High School, at 2 PM, 4 PM, and 8 PM. Given all this activity, DeShannon’s days at Batavia High School were numbered, and in 1957 she dropped out after two years to pursue her musical destiny.

DeShannon began her recording career at age 16. Her ﬁrst single as Sherry Lee appeared in 1956 on the scrappy Mar-Vel label from Hammond, Indiana, which helped nurture a busy country and rockabilly scene around that small steel town (owner Harry Glenn drove from radio station to radio station and sold records out of his trunk). The hub label billed DeShannon as “Miss Country Music,” and on the A side, “I’m Crazy Darling,” she appeared with country singer Shorty Ashford. Billboard magazine reported on June 10, 1957, that the “16-year-old C&W singer of Batavia, Illinois” had signed to George Goldner’s Gone label in New York, and that her management had christened her “Jackie Dee.”

STEVE KRAKOW FOR CHICAGO READER

MUSIC

If she had fans hunting for her releases at that point, they had to pay close attention: she was subsequently “Sharon Lee” on a single for the Excellent label and “Jackie Shannon” on a 1959 single for Fraternity Records in Cincinnati.

skyrocketed to number seven in the U.S. and number one in Canada. (Just a few months ago, a version performed by Sammy Davis Jr. and Tom Jones appeared in the teaser trailer for Joker: Folie à Deux.)

In 1960, DeShannon settled on the name “Jackie DeShannon,” in part because she hoped she’d get more airplay if radio people couldn’t tell she was a woman from her name.

In 1958, Liberty Records sent DeShannon to Nashville to record “Buddy,” an ode to Mr. Holly (again as Jackie Dee). She caught the ear of rock star Eddie Cochran, who approached DeShannon after a Chicago concert. He introduced her to his girlfriend at the time, Sharon Sheeley, a singer-songwriter in Los Angeles. The two women hit it o and formed a long-running professional partnership, writing for the likes of Brenda Lee, the Ronettes, and UK band the Searchers.

In 1960, DeShannon settled on the name “Jackie DeShannon” (a fusion of “Jackie Dee” and “Jackie Shannon”), in part because she hoped she’d get more airplay if radio people couldn’t tell she was a woman from her name—sexism in the biz was even worse back then. Now based in LA, DeShannon released the single “Lonely Girl” on Liberty, which reached number 37 on the WLS Silver Dollar Survey back in Chicago that December.

DeShannon began cracking the national charts in 1963 with a take on Sonny Bono and Jack Nitzsche’s “Needles and Pins” and her own excellent tune “When You Walk in the Room.” (Both were bigger hits for the Searchers in 1964, and Pam Tillis reached number two on the country singles chart with the latter in 1994.)

By 1964, DeShannon’s career was in full swing. That year she opened for the Beatles on their ﬁrst U.S. tour, and she and Sheeley wrote “Breakaway” for Irma Thomas (the B side of her biggest hit, “Wish Someone Would Care”). In 1965 she wrote “Come and Stay With Me” for Marianne Faithfull (which Cher also recorded that year), and during a brief stay in England she began a songwriting collaboration with a young Jimmy Page.

That year she also scored one of her career- defining hits: DeShannon’s delicate cover of the Burt Bacharach and Hal David number “What the World Needs Now Is Love”

During this period DeShannon began a writing partnership with Randy Newman, which contributed to her decision to move to New York. In 1969 she had her second smash, the timeless “Put a Little Love in Your Heart,” which she wrote with her brother Randy Myers and R&B singer Jimmy Holiday. (Annie Lennox and Al Green’s 1988 version appeared on the Scrooged soundtrack.)

Up to this point, DeShannon’s hits had all appeared on Liberty or sister label Imperial, but in the early 70s she signed to Capitol, Atlantic, and then Columbia Records. She also returned to Los Angeles. She released the well-regarded LP Jackie through Atlantic in 1972, following it with Your Baby Is a Lady in ’74 and the Columbia release New Arrangement in ’75. The latter inadvertently produced her third huge success: it included “Bette Davis Eyes,” which DeShannon wrote with Donna Weiss. The tune didn’t blow up at the time, but in 1981 it would become a transatlantic number one for Kim Carnes—and in ’82 it won DeShannon and Weiss the Grammy for Song of the Year.

DeShannon has released an album of new recordings as recently as 2011. In 2020 she dropped the single “Vanished in Time,” and since the late aughts she’s been delivering Beatles news on the SiriusXM show Breakfast

With the Beatles . In 2010, she was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

This story isn’t about DeShannon’s wellknown triumphs, though. It’s to remind you that she launched her career making pop country in Batavia. She went on to work on both coasts and rub elbows with stars—the Beatles, Randy Newman, Eddie Cochran, even rumored boyfriend Elvis Presley—but the world of music is richer for her teenage midwestern journey. v

The radio version of the Secret History of Chicago Music airs on Outside the Loop on WGN Radio 720 AM, Saturdays at 5 AM with host Mike Stephen. Past shows are archived at outsidetheloopradio.com/tag/secrethistory-of-chicago-music.

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Make time to learn something new with music and dance classes at Old Town School! We oﬀer ﬂexible schedules for all skill levels both in-person and online.

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

Etran de L’Aïr bring the world the happy desert blues

ETRAN DE L’AÏR, DILES QUE NO ME MATEN

Tue 7/9, 9 PM, Empty Bottle, 1035 N. Western, $20. 21+

NIGERIEN BAND ETRAN DE L’AÏR (“Stars of the Air”) aren’t as wellknown in the West as Tuareg desert-blues superstars such as Tinariwen, Mdou Moctar, and Bombino. But in their hometown of Agadez, where bandleader Aghaly Migi formed the group in 1995, they’re long-standing legends. They started out playing local weddings and have since drawn international recognition, both for their live shows and for their two albums on Portland’s Sahel Sounds label, 2018’s No. 1 and 2022’s Agadez. For their earliest gigs, the band consisted of Migi and a couple of his younger brothers, an acoustic guitar, and makeshift percussion, but today they’re a four-piece with drums and electric guitars (and at home they often play with additional musicians).

Etran de L’Aïr’s sound doesn’t have the classic-rock improvisatory fi re of Mdou Moctar or the trancelike sweep of Tinariwen; instead, they take a lighter, more relaxed approach to desert blues. Their boogie-filled grooves roll out one after the other with uninterrupted facility, while their electric guitar lines and interspersed choral vocals provide bright, uplifting accents. This is music for celebration and good times, and while it’s amplified for contemporary audiences, it cheerfully dances with tradition too. The band recently announced they’ll release their third record in September, and with any luck, audiences on their current tour will get to hear some of the new material early. —NOAH BERLATSKY

FRIDAY5

Interlay Killusonline, She’s Green, High, and Harvey Waters open. 9 PM, Sleeping Village, 3734 W. Belmont, $17.51. 21+

Shoegaze’s fog has saturated indie rock over the past couple years, and while I love hearing new bands ﬁnd their own ways to make out-of-this world guitar ambience with phalanxes of pedals, for every one that succeeds there seem to be a dozen indistinguishable also-rans. Thank goodness for Interlay, one of the few new acts I’ve encountered who know how to wield heaviness as a vital part of shoegaze. They’ve taken notes from some modern masters: in 2022, Tone Madison music editor Steven Spoerl pointed out that Interlay had played a “convincing” cover of De ones’ “Be Quiet and Drive (Far Away)” at an outdoor show in James Madison Park. Interlay formed in Madison in 2018, and they’re now based in Chicago. Guitarist and singer Alexandria Ortgiesen, the sole consistent member, is the white-hot center of Interlay’s music. On the band’s new EP, Hunting Jacket , Ortgiesen’s voice swings from breathy coos to ragged howls to mirror the songs’ plunges into turbulent guitar noise. Guitarist Sam Eklund, bassist Kayla Chung, and drummer Henry Ptacek propel tumultuous lead single “Medic” and thrashing opener “Virgin Mary” with volcanic fury, a perfect antidote to shoegaze’s somnambulant tendencies. Interlay’s volume and violence threaten to blot out their melodic gifts and songwriting sophistication—in other words, they totally slay.

—LEOR GALIL

Whitney Johnson & Lia Kohl Sunday Cruise open. 6 PM, Kilbourn Park, 3501 N. Kilbourn. F b

Whitney Johnson makes music that asks to be excavated. On the Chicagoan’s latest solo album as Matchess, 2022’s Sonescent (Drag City), she sculpts two long-form pieces that patiently evolve into dreamy fantasias. She begins “Almost Gone” with a piercing sine tone that acts as a palate cleanser and a directive for the casual listener: proceed with complete openness in order to have the most enriching experience. A thick drone soon arrives, and other musical forms occasionally peek through the sustained ambience: here’s a psychedelic string arrangement amid oceanic synths, there’s a steady indie-rock song lodged beneath the noise. In the past, Johnson has made loose, diaphanous tracks that veer into synth-pop and feel like they’re conjuring a gothic spirit. She channels a similarly spectral atmosphere on “Almost Gone,” morphing snatches of diﬀerent compositions into one another to create a sense of wading through a hall of one’s memories.

“Through the Wall” is equally intent on rupturing continuity, with ASMR-like whispers and a flurry of high-pitched tones that dances around the track’s foundation of strings. The way it ebbs and flows is unpredictable yet cozy—it’s like a busier and brighter take on The Sinking of the Titanic by minimalist composer Gavin Bryars. Johnson is a prolific collaborator, and on Sonescent she’s joined by several fellow Chicago musicians, including Haley Fohr and Tim Kinsella—and her decision to have them serve as a hallucinatory house band makes for a surreal experience.

ABDOUL MOUMOUNI HAMID

MUSIC

Johnson also reads poetry across Chicago-based synth artist Kikù Hibino’s skittering glitch LP, January’s Sky Trajectories (Superpang), and in May she released an album of Krautrock jams, Big Hotel (12XU), with her band Winged Wheel (whose lineup includes Steve Shelley from Sonic Youth and Fred Thomas from Saturday Looks Good to Me). Johnson has recently been on the road with cellist and sound artist Lia Kohl , performing a duo set they developed at Chicago’s Experimental Sound Studio. This Kilbourn Park concert is the ﬁnal date of their tour, and they’re sure to deliver a mesmerizing hometown show that displays their ambition and ingenuity.

SATURDAY6

Teairra Marí Stevia Smoke, GakTrizzy, ThizzMarley, Aki da Rapper, Cash da Trapper, and OK’Jaycen open. DJ sets by Gucci Roxx and DJ Brice. 11:59 PM–5 AM, Metro, 3730 N. Clark, $30, $25 in advance, $50 VIP. 21+

The music industry can be a harrowing place that chews people up and spits them out, but it remains attractive to plenty of artists pursuing commercial success. R&B songstress Teairra Marí Thomas, who makes music as Teairra Marí, has had her

—JOSHUA MINSOO KIM

Interlay COURTESY THE ARTIST

Whitney Johnson performs in a duo with Lia Kohl at Kilbourn Park. MARZENA ABRAHAMIK

MUSIC

continued from p. 31

share of ups and downs in the unforgiving universe of labels, hit records, and public opinion.

Born in Detroit, Thomas was 16 years old when she was recruited and signed to Def Jam by Jay-Z in 2004. Her first single, 2005’s “Make Her Feel Good,” attained chart success, entered heavy rotation on BET, and even had a Ye- assisted remix. Despite her achievements, though, she was dropped by Def Jam right before she completed her second album, rendering her a free agent navigating the business on her own.

As a musician, Thomas has worked with rappers and producers such as Gucci Mane and HitMaka, but she’s become somewhat infamous for her role on the longrunning reality show Love & Hip Hop . In 2011, she spent a season as a supporting character on the New York franchise, and in 2014 she began a ﬁve-year run on the Hollywood iteration, where she fought alcohol addiction and relationship blowups as well as a highly publicized court case with 50 Cent (which she lost in 2019).

Thomas continues to sing above the noise. Her latest single, January’s “Take Me Out,” is a warbly, midtempo R&B jam that reminds a comfortable lover that they’re not exempt from treating her to hot dates. She’s also started touring again, so bring your bestie and get ready to twerk and sing along to her latest (or forever bop “Sponsor,” my personal favorite) when she headlines this late-night post–Pride month shindig at Metro. —CRISTALLE BOWEN

TUESDAY9

Etran de L’Aïr See Pick of the Week on page 30. Diles Que No Me Maten open. 9 PM, Empty Bottle, 1035 N. Western, $20. 21+

WEDNESDAY10

L’Eclair Girl Named Golden opens. 9 PM, Sleeping Village, 3734 W. Belmont, $21.63. 21+

Six-piece Swiss ensemble L’Eclair specialize in a style of instrumental funk that sounds unstuck in time. Their smooth, precise breaks evince the far-reaching inﬂuence of hip-hop, but their dreamy, hypnotic melodies sound like they might’ve been assembled from the same mythical trove of forgot-

van and creating a legend” was less of a gamble than it is today. Grails are “dudes rock” music in the most literal sense; they’re just some guys excited to rock for a crowd.

ten private-press recordings that DJ Shadow mines for his kaleidoscopic beats. Last year, Les Disques Bongo Joe, a label based in L’Eclair’s hometown of Geneva, reissued the band’s first two albums, 2017’s Cruise Control and 2018’s Polymood . Both LPs showcase L’Eclair’s ability to graft the feel of fanciful, driving Krautrock onto chill library music that might score an extended dialogue-free shot in a brooding 70s ﬁlm noir—particularly “Safari in D” on the former and “Coke Mountain” on the latter. L’Eclair favor an easygoing mood, and this nonchalance makes the band’s complex interplay feel even more impressive. You might mistake their vibe for Spotify wallpaper, but if you actually pay attention, you’ll hear how they create tension and intrigue by hinting at a cathartic release that they never actually deliver. L’Eclair’s songs direct most of their energy toward the dance ﬂoor, and I suspect everyone at this Sleeping Village show will give in to the band’s serene but relentless grooves. —LEOR GALIL

Grails Verity Den open. 9 PM, Empty Bottle, 1035 N. Western, $25. 21+

Grails are a band meant to be experienced live. Their recordings serve up a heady shot of 70s- flavored instrumental guitar rock, but when the musicians can be corralled onto a stage (they live in five different places across the U.S.), they reveal a chemistry that can’t be neatly distilled. In an interview with Willamette Week last year, drummer and guitarist Emil Amos explains that Grails were conceived when the idea of “getting in the

Grails have gone through several lineup changes since they formed in 1999 (Amos and guitarist Alex Hall are the only consistent members), and their various collaborations have allowed their sound to detour into diverse sonic territory. They’ve borrowed generously from the aesthetics of 70s grindhouse pictures, 80s soap operas, 90s thrillers, and psychedelic rock past and present while championing a spirit of improvisation and bombast. While Grails wield plenty of virtuosity, it’s not the selfcongratulating kind, and that makes for an adventurous but not self-indulgent sound. The band can channel the serenity of slowly skating across a frozen pond in the middle of nowhere as well as they can capture the tension of a pickpocket navigating a crowded subway platform in hundreddegree heat. Grails are currently on tour in support of their eighth full-length, last year’s Anches En Maat (named for Maat, ancient Egyptian goddess of truth, balance, and universal order), whose seven

slow-burning tracks feature shivers of synthesizer and melancholia sure to impress anyone who loves unsettling cosmic minimalism. Dudes just keep on rocking.

Teairra Marí COURTESY THE ARTIST

—MICCO CAPORALE

L’Eclair NICOLE MILLER

Grails COURTESY THE ARTIST

JOBS

Health Care Service Corporation seeks Business Analyst (Chicago, IL) to work as a liaison among stakeholders to elicit, analyze, communicate and validate requirements for changes to business processes, policies and information systems. REQS: This position reqs a Bach deg, or forgn equiv, in Tech or us Admin or a rel d + 2 Yrs of exp as a proj mgr, sys analyst, or a rel position. Telecommuting permitted. Applicants who are interested in this position should submit a complete resume in English to hrciapp@bcbsil.com, search [Business Analyst / R0026599. EOE].

Clinical Psychologist: Chicago, IL location. Send resume to: David Hoover, PsyD, PC d/b/a Chicago Clinical Associates, 111 N Wabash Ave, Ste 1400, Chicago, IL, 60602, Attn: D. Hoover.

Commercial Insurance Business Development Manager (ACE American Insurance Company (Chubb)) (Chicago, IL): Est rltnshps thru cntct, knwldg of Co stratgy & sales plnng w/ Undrwrtg tms; Drive Accnt Retentn, Entrprs Trgt Engagmnt & sell btwn lines; Dvlp tactics to grow business w/ Chubb; Trck mtrcs; Mng grwth, profit & retentn acrss assgnd BUs; Facilitate rltnshps btwn Clnt Execs, Prdcrs & Undrwrtrs; Wrk w/ teams to rmv roadblcks; Undrstnd indstry chrctrstcs & prdct offrg & use to positn prdcts; Mng assgnd distrbtn: Maintn knwldg of competitor offrgs & mrkt trnds; Rslv cmplnts. Communicate custmrs needs; Execute stratgy & lds business twrds financl plans. Exp reqd: techncl risk assumptn & ﬁnancl forecstg nwldg of cmmrcl undrwrtg & insrc indstry theories & prctcs; sales skills; Ablty to interact w/ business partnrs; & high-lvl knwldg of M ﬃce uite. e s Bachelor or frgn equiv in Business Admn, Mgmt or rltd & 3 yrs exp as Cmrcl Insrc Undrwrtr or rltd Cmrcl Insrnc Sales or Mrktg role. Trvl reqd 25%: 1-2 trips/mth to Midwest. Infrqt trvl to states outside Midwest may be reqd. Prtl WFH avlbl. Slry: $125,000 - $145,000.00. Send C.V. to elena. chang2@chubb.com

Sr. Program Manager

CTC Trading Group, LLC seeks a Sr. Program Manager in Chicago, IL, to promote and facilitate communications with key partners across functions to drive timely completion of key deliverables. Apply at https://www.jobposting today.com/Ref #49292.

(Schaumburg, IL) NLI Chicago Inc seeks General Manager w/Bach or for deg equiv in Bus, Bus Adm, Bus Mgmt or rltd d & 5 yrs exp in job offered or in mngr role incl exprenc in fild of pckg mchnry & tech, shpg bag machn, baggng machn & indus sewng machn. Occ intl & dmstc trvl reqd (50% intl & 50% dmstc). Apply to HR, 1701 E. oodﬁeld d., chaumburg, IL 60173 or online at https://nlichicago.com/

Senior Solutions Engineer Senior Solutions Engineer, AbbVie US LLC, North Chicago, IL. Work with sales, marketing and commercial operations leadership and other key stakeholders to develop and maintain all the reporting requirements of the sales organization. Automate recurring analytics reports, build data pipelines for internal clients. Acquire, organize, and transform data into actionable structures. Work with Data Technology team to develop and maintain backend systems and ETLs that support sales, marketing and commercial operations audience reporting and analysis. Create and maintain custom web applications and dashboards using PowerBI & SFDC. Analyze business operations requirements for data, evaluate existing data quality, and recommend improvement opportunities. Develop, debug, and test reports across the portfolio. Process unstructured data into a form suitable for analysis. analyze, solve, and correct issues in real time, providing problem resolution end-to-end. Identify and define new PIs. Coordinate with internal stakeholders (Marketing, Business Technology, Incentive Compensation) to translate business requirements into actionable, systems oriented solutions. eep leadership to date on the status of issues and analyses, including known problems being worked on and perceived risks. Lead reporting initiatives across multiple business units. Most possess a Bachelor’s degree foreign academic equivalent in Information Technology, Computer Science or a highly related field of study with at least 5 years of experience in: (i) Creating and maintaining custom web applications and dashboards using SAP BO, Microsoft Power BI, Snowflake Data Cloud, ThoughtSpot and Figma UI Design tool; (ii) acquire, organize, and transform data into actionable structures, identify and define new PIs. 1 telecom-

muting permitted. Pay Range: $170,692.50 - $181,500.00. Apply online at https:// careers.abbvie.com/en & reference REF24414I.

Software Developers-Robotic Process Automation Software Developers-Robotic Process Automation, Oak Brook, IL: Design & Dvlpmt of robotic process automations tasks using UiPath & Automation Anywhere. Monitor robotic process tasks during dvlpmt & testing phases. Debug & fix defects found in integration & user acceptance testing. Travel/reloc to various unanticipated U.S. locations. Send res to: Maxil Technology Solutions, Inc., 2625 Butterfield Rd., Suite 138S, Oak Brook, IL 60523.

BASES Group Inc, d/b/a Bases Autism Services seeks Financial Operations Analysts for Elk Grove Village, IL location to perform financial forecasting & reporting of medical therapy expenses. Bachelor’s in Econ/Finance/Financial Mgmt/related ﬁeld +2yrs exp req’d. Req’d skills: Oracle, Fusion Middleware, PLSQL, BPEL, Web Logic, OAFramework, OUM/AIM Methodology, SQL, Data Analysis, R, Data Visualization, Power BI. Send email to: HRBASES@BASES GROUPINC.COM REF: ATA

Greek Teacher Plato Academy seeks a Greek Teacher to teach students how to speak, write & understand the Greek language. Reqs a Bach’s Deg in education or foreign equiv. Send resume, dipl & transcripts to Plato Academy, c/o HR management to 915 Lee St., Des Plaines, IL 60016.

Transportation Engineer Transportation Engineer (Deerfield, IL), Review application construction standards, regs, & contract reqmnts necessary for projs such as designing roads, highways, sidewalks, retaining walls, steel structures, & bridge inspection. Conduct ﬁeld inspection of Tollway, IDOT, CDOT, CCDOT, & other ﬁrm projs. eview & prep structural drawings & cost estimates using MicroStation updt the changes if needed before submittal. Comply w/ all applicable safety & environmental reqmnts. Contribute to schedules, track proj progress, & keep contract conflict from escalating into a problem. Reqs Mstr’s in Civil Engrg. Mail resumes to HR, Atlas Engineering Group, Ltd, 710 Estate Dr., Deerfield, IL 60015

Accountant Accountant (1pos.avail): Olkhon, Inc (Park Ridge, IL) Maint bkkg rec. mng payr, iss 1099, usg QuickBooks;Prep tax rets, Ens complce w/ reg, Anlyz Bus Op Dev Budgt & prep Fin Rep to mgmt. From $54974/ yr Min.BS in Acctg/Bus/ reltd +24mo exp. Res to olkhoninc@gmail.com

Computer programmer Write, analyze, review, and rewrite programs, using work ow chart and diagram, and applying knowledge of computer capabilities, subject matter, and symbolic logic; Correct errors by making appropriate changes and rechecking the program to ensure that the desired results are produced; Perform or direct revision, repair, or expansion of existing programs to increase operating efficiency or adapt to new requirements; Write, update, and maintain computer programs or software packages to handle specific jobs such as tracking inventory, storing or retrieving data, or controlling other equipment; Consult with managerial, engineering, and technical personnel to clarify program intent, identify problems, and suggest changes; Compile and write documentation of program development and subsequent revisions, inserting comments in the coded instructions so others can understand the program; Coordinate and review work and activities of programming personnel; Develop Web sites. Mail résumé to Amgaa Purevjal, iCodice LLC, 5005 Newport Dr, Suite# 505, Rolling Meadows, IL 60008

Senior Data Science Lead Reveal Data Corporation is seeking a Senior Data Science Lead in Chicago, IL who will design & implmnt modules leveraging ML algrthms & apprches. Pls snd resume 2 hr@reveal data.com, ref#vjhdtkdafu

Operations Associate (Chicago Reader) The Reader is seeking a part-time Operations Associate; hybrid position with compensation of $21-$25/hour, average 20 hours/week. The OA will work on administrative & advertising sales tasks. The Operations Associate is required to work in the Reader office (at 2930 S. Michigan Ave. in Chicago) on Wednesdays. All other days may be remote. To apply, visit chicago reader.com/jobs & apply through application link.

GCP DevOps Engineer Chicago, IL – 66degrees,

a data and AI solutions co seeks GCP DevOps Engineer to conduct ticket, incident & problem management activities & contribute to continuous operational improvement. Build/maintain tools & dashboards to support internal ops & customer visibility into GCP environment. Add’l job duties avail. On request. Duties may be performed remotely from anywhere in the U.S. REQ: MS in CS, Engineering or closely related degree OR Bach degree in CS, Engineering or closely related degree + 24 mos exp. EMAIL résumé to Human Resources, Director at Recruiting@ 66degrees.com. EOE.

Data Architect Chicago, IL- 66degrees, a data and AI solutions co. seeks Data Architect to design & implement migration strategy to Google Cloud; Design solution architecture on Google Cloud; perform migration activities; provide workshops, arch. Recommendations, & tech. reviews. Work with native Google Cloud & 3rd party tools. Add’l job duties avail. On request. Duties may be performed remotely from anywhere in the U.S. REQ: BS in CS, Engineering, IT, MIS or related + 24 mos exp.; Certification in Google Cloud Certified Professional Cloud Architect OR Google Cloud Certified Professional Data Engineer. EMAIL résumé to Human Resources, Director at Recruiting@ 66degrees.com. EOE.

Move, Inc. in Chicago, IL is seek’g Sr. Data Scientist(s) to dvlp & monitor PIs to drive biz initiatives. No trvl. WFH benefit avail. Must be able to work in oﬃce days/ wk. Apply at: data_scientist__s r_f86db2873us@ fern. greenhouse.io

Sr. Technical Lead Sr. Technical Lead (Master’s w/ 3 yrs exp or Bach w/ 5 yrs exp; Major: Info. & Communications Tech (Concentration: S/W Design & Programming), or equiv.) – Chicago, IL. Job entails working w/ & reqs exp incl:Selenium, Java, Python, JavaScript, Groovy, JUnit, TestNG, Docker, Jenkins, TeamCity, Eclipse, IntelliJ, Git, Bit-Bucket, SharePoint, Putty, Mind Term, Cucumber, Spira, Jira, Agile, WaterFall, Confluence, Appium, Android , AccelQ, X-Code, AWS, Fiddler, Postman, ReadyAPI, JQuery, Oracle, SQL Developer, XML, HTML, JSON, Protractor, Tosca, Apache Tomcat, Anaconda Navigator, PyCharm & NumPy. Analyzing & developing applications. Various Worksites - Relocation & travel to unanticipated locations within USA possible. Send resumes

to WindyCity Technologies Inc., Attn: HR, 3601 W. Devon Ave, Ste. 306, Chicago, IL 60659.

Sr Marketing & Operations Analyst sought by Chowbus, Inc. in Chicago, IL to dvlp quantitative analysis, tools, & models to support city operation & mktg planning. Reqs: Master’s in Bus. Communications, Mktg Analysis, or rltd Social Sci field. Must possess course work or work exp w/ Consumer Behavior, Precision Mktg & Mktg strategies, Operation Mgmt, Cost & Mgmt Acctg, Enterprise Resource Planning, & etc. 100% telecommuting from home allowed from anywhere in U.S. Apply at: https://www. chowbus.com/ careers

Outreach and Administrative Coordinator Oversee the program and policies regarding Home Care Aide involvement, program requirements, and benefits. Job description at https://www. chinesemutualaid.org/ work-with-us Full-time position located at Chinese Mutual Aid Association, 1016 W. Argyle St., Chicago, IL 60640. 40 hours/week. Salary is $51,688. Requires: Bachelor’s Degree in Business or Marketing Please send resumes to: Chinese Mutual Aid Association Attn: Recruitment 1016 W. Argyle St. Chicago, IL 60640

Thoughtworks seeks Lead Data Engineer (Professional Services) to work in Chicago, IL & various unanticipated U.S. locations to develop modern data architecture approaches for largescale, custom-designed, enterprise-level business intelligence and analytics projects using software development languages, such as Python and Java, and cloud-based data management technologies. Must have Bachelor’s in Computer Science, Computer or Electrical Engineering, Information Systems, or related ﬁeld. Must have 5 yrs exp in the job oﬀered, Consultant, Software Architect/Engineer, or related IT position. Must have at least 36 mos: (1) Participating at all stages of the software delivery life-cycle, including analysis, development, testing and deployment; and (2) Leading a team of software and data engineers to oversee project activity, manage project deliverables and progress, prioritize plans for future iterations, and manage team performance. Must have at least 24 mos: (1) Developing applications that are cloud ready/ cloud-native using at least one of the primary cloud providers (AWS, GCP, or Azure). Must

have at least 12 mos: (1) Using Agile development methodologies including Continuous Integration, Extreme Programming, Continuous Delivery, Test-Driven Development and pair programming; and (2) Coaching and mentoring junior developers and data engineers in all aspects of data solution development, including Agile development methodologies. At least 80% travel across U.S. Email resume to ijobs@thoughtworks.com w/ Job ID LDEVS-2024.

Huron Consulting Services, LLC,Inc has an opening for Salesforce Consulting Associate in Chicago, IL. Job duties include: Shape and create user friendly, interactive, and cutting-edge web applications from the ground up based on the Salesforce Platform. Administer, configure, customize, and develop applications within Salesforce. 80% travel to unanticipated worksites throughout the U.S. Telecommuting allowed when not traveling. Individuals may reside anywhere in the U.S. and will report to U.S. headquarters. To apply, email resume to apply@hcg.com. Must reference job 21756.15.4

RISK MANAGERS Chime’s Chicago, IL office has multiple openings for I MAAGERS (various types/ levels) Make recommendations to limit risk. Must be available to work on projects at various, unanticipated sites throughout U.S. Telecommuting permitted. Starting base salary range is $186,600 - $233,300; salary is one part of competitive package oﬀers based on candidate exp & geographic location. TO APPLY: Email resume to apply@ chime.com & indicate job code JS0040. Proof of U.S. work authorization req’d if hired. Chime is an Equal Opportunity Employer & fully supports afﬁrmative action practices.

Thoughtworks seeks Lead Infrastructure Consultant (Professional Services) to work in Chicago, IL & various unanticipated U.S. locations to lead the design, planning and execution of complex technical implementations for Infrastructure projects. Must have Bachelor’s in Computer Science, Computer or Electrical Engineering, Information Systems, or related ﬁeld. ill accept a single degree or any combination of degrees, diplomas, professional credentials or professional experience determined to be equivalent by a ualiﬁed evaluation service. Must have 5 yrs exp in the job offered, Consultant, Developer, or related IT position. Must have at least 3 yrs: (1)

CLASSIFIEDS JOBS HOUSING

Automating infrastructure in at least one of the primary cloud providers (AWS, GCP, or Azure).

Must have at least 1 yr:

(1) Playing a leading role in the design, planning and execution of complex technical implementations for Infrastructure as Code. (2) Setting up key delivery infrastructure across the entire lifecycle of software, including Continuous Delivery pipelines and Observability tooling for production operations; (3) Coaching and mentoring junior developers in all aspects of software development, including Agile development methodologies; and (4) Working on projects with distributed teams, including coordinating across countries and time zones. At least 80% travel across U.S. Email resume to ijobs@ thoughtworks.com w/ Job ID LICER-2024.

(Naperville, IL) Phoenix Instruments Inc seeks Operations Engineer w/ Mstr or for deg equiv in Ind Eng, PE, Eng Tech, EE or rltd fld & 1 yr in job oﬀer or in prod proc. Must have exp in eng tech, prod/oper mngmt. Apply to adnan.javed@ phoenixinstruments.com or to HR, 2368 Corporate Ln Naperville IL 60563

Technical Project Manager Technical Project Manager: Manage complex projects involving all areas of technology & trade. Initiate, plan, schedule, control, & execute info tech projects. Direct & oversee the work of project engineer team, incl Comp Software Engineers & Web Application Developers. Maint & upgrade both the security of the networks as well as info security of clients. $83000/ yr. Reqd: Mstrs deg in Comp Sci, Comp Engg, or rel. fld. Resumes to: Americaneagle.com, Attn: HR, 2600 S. River Rd., Des Plaines, IL 60018

Quality Assurance Engineer/Tester Quality Assurance Engineer/Tester: Develop & execute test cases, procedures, & expected results, to identify problems, causes, & solutions in applications in E-commerce Dept. Analyze biz & tech docs, & conduct functional, regression, & system integration testing. Maint logs, track & verify resolution software & speciﬁcation defects, & communicating test results to Project managers & Web Application Developers. $66K-$83K/yr depending on exp. Reqd: Bach’s deg in Comp Sci, Comp Engg, or rel. fld. or 36 mnths exp in Comp Sci, Comp Engg, or rel. fld. Resumes to: Americaneagle.com, Attn: HR, 2600 S. River Rd., Des Plaines, IL 60018

Director of Rooms, Paciﬁc Langham Chicago Corp., Chicago, IL. Manage & motivate all Rooms Div. managers w/daily supervision to include staffing, training, disciplines, scheduling, visual monitoring, performance & adherence to all standards. Req. bach. deg. (or work and/or educ. equivalent of a Bach. deg. as determined by a professional evaluation service) in Hotel Adm., Hotel Mgmt., Hospitality Mgmt. or rel. ﬁeld + 5 yrs. exp. in hotel ops. & and 2 yrs. exp as Director of Rooms in luxury/upscale hospitality operation. To apply, email resume to christine.wilsek@ langhamhotels.com

ABN-AMRO Clearing USA, LLC seeks Associate, Settlement Processing Oﬃcers for Chicago, IL location to research & perform deep-dive analyses & determine solutions for scalable course of action. Bachelor’s or foreign equivalent in Finance/Accounting/related field+2 yrs exp req’d. 2 yrs exp must incl: Handling Salesforce, Tableau, & SQL; Handling exchange, clearing & regulatory sys portals incl Depository Trust Clearing; Using Confluence apps; Working in a Project Mgmt based role/initiative; Reviewing trade details on highly regulated trade allocation & clearing process; Documenting standards & procedures for dealing w/ client issues; Analyzing ﬁnancial info to proactively dev solutions to reduce risk; Reporting monthly & quarterly key risk indicators to Mgmt Team; & Reviewing & confirming trade allocation process for tax reporting. Remote work may be permitted w/in a commutable dist from worksite Apply Online: https:// www.linkedin.com/ jobs/view/3891343172, REQ ID: 3891343172

ABN-AMRO Clearing USA, LLC seeks Compliance Officers for Chicago, IL location to perform compliance tasks incl providing reg advice, drafting & implementing policies & procedures, communicating w/ regulators & conducting compliance testing & reporting. Bachelors or foreign equivalent in Accounting/Econ/ related field +5yrs exp req’d. Must have 5 yrs exp w/ Securities & commodities reg bodies & dif reg regimes in a global financial services firm; identifying reg change, conducting impact analysis & communicating w/ the business; Designing & implementing revised processes in response to reg change; mgmt of reg & exchange inquires, Testing & monitoring of compliance controls; Dev of compliance training

plans & courses, Drafting & implementation of Written Supervisory Procedures, Supervisory Control Procedures & Standard Operating Procedures in alignment with global policies, Conducting reg reviews and/or risk assessments, Coordinating a ﬁrm’s compliance w/ its record keeping (Books & Records) obligations; & Reviewing client onboarding ﬁles & monitoring client activities. Apply online: https:// www.linkedin.com/ jobs/view/3895277307 REQ: 3895277307

Northwestern Memorial Healthcare seeks Sr. Analytics Developers for various & unanticipated worksites throughout the U.S (HQ: Chicago, IL) to deliver solutions by writing ETL packages. Bachelor’s in IT/Info Sys/ related field +4yrs exp req’d. Req’d: 4yrs w/ SQL for data extraction, manipulation, & reporting; 2yrs: SQL Server DB: create complex queries & stored procedures; Tableau/PowerBI/CrystalR/SSRS. Exp must incl: SSIS, SSAS; SSMS; gather & scope req’s & rec analytical solutions to meet business needs; mentor/train junior staff on analytics tools & solutions; serve as analytics subject matter expert; Agile environment; solution analysis, design, dev & support; structured programming. May telecommute. Background check & drug screen req’d. Apply online: http://jobseeker.nm.org/ Req ID: REF66828O

Manager, Statistics Manager, Statistics, AbbVie Inc., North Chicago, IL. Responsible for design, analysis and reporting of clinical trials and other scientific research studies. Develop protocols, statistical analysis plans, and/or product safety analysis plans/integrated summary of safety analysis plans/analysis plans for GMA evidence generation with details for programming implementation. Implement statistical methodology in scientific investigations. Identify scientiﬁcally appropriate data collection instruments. Identify and report data issues or violations of study assumptions. Provide programming specifications for derived variables and analysis datasets. Partner with Data Science in preparing for database lock. Perform statistical analyses per the analysis plan. Collaborate with Statistical Programming to ensure the delivery of high-quality outputs according to timelines. Conduct experimental and RWE study design, descriptive statistics, inferential statistics, statistical modeling, and statistical programming . Identify and anticipate

issues in the study design, and conduct and propose scientifically sound approaches. Evaluate appropriateness of available software for planned analyses and assess needs for potential development of novel statistical methodology. Perform statistical analyses including, but not limited to, ANOVA, statistics inferences, survival analysis, logistic regression, linear regression, and categorical data analysis . Develop strategy for data presentation and inference. Collaborate in publication of scientific research. Ensure accuracy and internal consistency of reports and publications, including tables, listings, and figures. Ensure that study results and conclusions are scientifically sound, clearly presented, and consistent with statistical analyses provided. Collaborate with multifunction teams. Clearly explain statistical concepts to non-statisticians. Provide responses to questions, and pursue analyses suggested by data. Support communications between assigned product teams and functional management. Build/ drive cross-functional relationships and collaboration. Collaborate with cross functional team for benefit-risk planning and assessment. Contribute to cross-functional development of output specifications to address both preplanned safety analyses and ad hoc requests. Develop analysis datasets and perform statistical analyses to ensure that protocol objectives are achieved . Collaborate/lead within the Safety Statistics Group to implement strategic initiatives that address processes related to interpreting, monitoring, assessing, and reporting safety data to characterize the safety profile of products, improve efficiencies, and provide consistency across therapeutic areas. Collaborate with GMA, Clinical Statistics, Data Sciences, Statistical Programming and other stakeholders to evaluate existing databases, both clinical studies and real-world databases, conduct feasibility assessment to identify fit-for-purpose data sources to address research questions, and develop detailed and actionable analysis plans for evidence generation to deliver high quality, patient-centric evidence and insights to drive decisions. Must possess a PhD degree or foreign academic equivalent in Statistics, Biostatistics, Mathematics, or a highly related field of study with an academic or industrial background in: (i) experimental and RWE study design, descriptive statistics, inferential statistics,

statistical modeling, and statistical programming; (ii) performing statistical analyses including, but not limited to, ANOVA, statistics inferences, survival analysis, logistic regression, linear regression, and categorical data analysis; and (iii) developing analysis datasets and performing statistical analyses to ensure that protocol objectives are achieved. Apply online at https://careers. abbvie.com/en. Refer to Req ID: REF26523R.

Quantitative Developer HTAA Holdings LLC Chicago, IL Responsibilities: Develop portfolio analytics and integrate new data and models into a low/mid-frequency trading system. Perform statistical analyses to verify and optimize innovations and enhancements to portfolio models. Design and implement deployment integration and unit testing pipeline to ensure the quality of update and iterations of the trading system. Optimize and refactor existing execution algorithms with emphasis on compliance with FINRA rules and regulations. Maintain and manage linux environment. Design and optimize risk monitoring system. Design and enforce best-coding practices to supervise and improve the overall code quality of the system. Review code from others. Research on and adapt newer technologies that increase development efficiency. Remote work is allowed 40% of the time. Must have a Master’s degree in Financial Mathematics, Financial Engineering or related field. Must have a Series 24 license. Must have one (1) year of experience as a Junior Financial Engineer. Must have one (1) year of experience in Spiderrock, Grafana Dashboard Tools, Rundeck Monitoring Platform and Python Supervisor Monitoring platform. Qualiﬁed candidates should send their resumes to resumes@ hulltactical.com and reference job code QD1403.

Specialist w/ McKinsey & Co, Inc. US (Chicago, IL) Design & implement ETL pipelines leveraging modern data eng architecture patterns. Telecommuting permitted. Reqs Bachelors in Applied Maths, Comp Sci or rel, or foreign degree equiv & 2yrs of exp developing data analytics solutions. Email your resume to CO@mckinsey.com and refer to Job # 7124826

Research Specialist The Dept of Medicine, at the Univ of IL Chicago, located in a large metropolitan area, is seeking full-time Research Specialist to assist the department with the following responsibilities: Under

direction and supervision, contribute to design and delivery of research projects and collaborate with researchers to develop, execute, and investigate and interpret research projects; Implement refined and/or new research approaches as needed; Formulate and conduct research studies related to Public Health, specifically in study protocols that investigate lifestyle and behavioral health interventions for adults with chronic diseases; Develop and implement processes and procedures for participant recruitment and retention; Maintain and enforce IRB guidelines related to the study’s participants for quality control processes; Collect and process data; Evaluate and monitor projects’ processes and propose changes as needed; Other University service and duties as applicable. No travel is required for this position. This position minimally requires a Bachelor’s degree or its foreign equivalent in Public Health or related field of study and 3 yrs of Behavioral Lifestyle research experience. For fullest consideration, please submit CV, cover letter, and 3 professional references by July 23, 2024 to Dept of Medicine HR, University of IL Chicago, 840 S Wood St, Suite 1020S (MC 787), Chicago, IL 60612 or via email to medicineHR@ uic.edu The University of Illinois System is an equal opportunity employer, including but not limited to disability and/or veteran status, and complies with all applicable state and federal employment mandates. Please visit Required Employment Notices and Posters (https://www.hr.uillinois. edu/cms/one.aspx? portalId=4292&page Id=5705) to view our non-discrimination statement and find additional information about required background checks, sexual harassment/misconduct disclo-

sures, and employment eligibility review through E-Verify. The university provides accommodations to applicants and employees. Request an Accommodation (https:// jobs.uic.edu/requestand-accomodation/)

Accurate Group, Inc. seeks Project Engineers II for Lincolnshire, IL location to independently create CADD sheets for roadway & structural projects. Bachelor’s in Civil Eng/related ﬁeld +1yr exp req’d. Req’d Edu/exp w/ MATLAB, AutoCAD, Solid Works, CADD drawings & Sign panels, SAP 2000, Revit, Microstation. Send resume to: A. Ramos, hr@ accgi.com, REF: SUR

Sr. Data Engineer I Cars.com d/b/a Cars Commerce Inc. seeks Sr. Data Engineer I in Chicago, IL. Build, deploy and support data pipelines and ML models into production. Telecommuting permitted. Apply: https:// www.jobpostingtoday. com/ Ref # 53897.

HOUSING

Intentional Community

Interested in voluntary simplicity in response to climate change and hyper-consumerism?

Consider the affordable residency of GreenRise in Chicago at Uptown: www.ica-usa.org/live

PROFESSIONALS & SERVICES

CLEANING SERVICES

CHESTNUT ORGANIZING AND CLEANING SERVICES: especially for people who need an organizing service because of depression, elderly, physical or mental challenges or other causes for your home’s clutter, disorganization, dysfunction, etc. We can organize for the downsizing of your current possessions to more easily move into a smaller home. With your help, we can help to organize your move. We can

organize and clean for the deceased in lieu of having the bereaved needing to do the preparation to sell or rent the deceased’s home. We are absolutely not judgmental; we’ve seen and done “worse” than your job assignment. With your help, can we please help you? Chestnut Cleaning Service: 312-332-5575. www. ChestnutCleaning.com

MATCHES

All romantic dates women wanted All romantic fun dates all requests 24.7 Call (773) 977-8862 swm

Mature Spanish guy seeking Bearded bro for chill times Mature 54; Handsome latin man; seeking bearded bro/ Linebacker for friendship & laid back times. into 420; a great drink; fun conversation; worshiping & giving a great foot massage & maybe more. Seeking a masc guy with nice, big, well taken care of feet, for my big hands to massage away your long week! Wanting a regular thing :) Please be under 50ish; straight or bi totally great; athletic also a plus. Let’s get together and kick back! Reach out; chillatinguy@gmail.com. Let’s check things out!

MARKETPLACE

Three Puppy Golden Labradoodles Looking for their 4ever PAWrents Born 3/25/24 3 sweet GIRLS. Multigen Doodles Home-raised. Received 1st shots/ meds/deworming and vet checked. $1200. Text/Call 773.414.6808. Serious Inquiries Only.

SEX AND RELATIONSHIPS

Allowances

Dealing with partners who don’t share your kink

By DAN SAVAGE

Q: For the longest time I’ve been into the feederism kink. It’s speciﬁcally the weight gain aspect of this kink—making myself or others bigger—that turns me on.

I’ve always felt uneasy about this due to the health risks and have kept it hidden. I recently got a wonderful girlfriend, our relationship is great, and we have really great sex. She’s curvy but wants to lose weight.

I also want to lose weight with her and for both of us to be healthy. But occasionally I’m overcome with the urge to get into weight gain kink play. I told my girlfriend about my kink, and although she accepts it and accepts me, she doesn’t want to pursue anything related to it. When I feel the need to indulge this fetish, I scratch the itch with strangers I meet online.

I wish I could just turn this part of me oﬀ and enjoy the wonderful relationship that I have. Can a fetish like this be made to fade over time or am I just going to try and focus on other things when these urges come on? —CAN I YUCK MY OWN YUM?

a: For a kinkster, finding a romantic partner who shares your kink is wonderful but rare; finding a romantic partner who doesn’t share your kink but who’s willing to indulge you—finding someone who’s good, giving, and game (GGG) and being GGG in return—is the next best thing. But people with truly niche kinks typically wind up in relationships with romantic partners who don’t share their kinks and

are unwilling or unable to indulge them. Some kinks are too extreme for even the most GGG partner and in some cases a kink—however mild—may be a libido killer or an emotional trigger for a vanilla partner. Someone who suﬀers from claustrophobia can’t spend the night in a bondage box, someone with food issues won’t be able to indulge a feeder or gainer kink. (For the record: I’m not suggesting your partner has food issues just because she wants to lose a little weight.)

But, CIYMOY, unlike old soldiers—kinks don’t fade away. And like Fatal Attraction’s Alex Forrest, they will not be ignored. So, a kinky person—particularly a kinky person in a relationship with a vanilla partner who can’t or won’t go there—needs an outlet that allows them to explore their kinks in a safe and controlled manner. Without that outlet—without that allowance—a kinkster will seize or create an opportunity to get their kink on, often with a disinhibiting assist from drugs and alcohol, and these seized opportunities have a much greater chance of blowing up lives and destroying relationships. Seeing as your girlfriend already knows about your kink, CIYMOY, she must know (at least, she should assume) that you’re having a wank about it once in a while. And if not getting to act out your fantasies IRL is the price of admission you’re willing to pay to be with her, allowing you to explore your kinks with strangers on the Internet—allowing you to swap feeder/gainer stories and memes with people you’re

never going to meet IRL—is the price she should pay, and pay happily, to be with you.

Q: My husband is into fetish and BDSM. I am not. I tag along with him to kink events and play parties—at his request—and sometimes play matchmaker by striking up conversations with guys he thinks are hot.

The issue is that some of these guys only want to “play” with me or with us if we’re a package deal. This doesn’t happen that often, but it hurts my husband’s feelings when it does, and since he can’t take his disappointment out on some guy who walked away, he takes it out on me.

He’s very socially awkward, which seems pretty common among the kinky gay men I’ve met through him, so he doesn’t want to go to these events alone. But I don’t want to go if he’s going to blow up at me because some random rubber twunk wasn’t into him.

There have been plenty of times when I played matchmaker successfully and he wound up having a great time with someone, but he obsesses about the times he got rejected and will be—if I may be blunt—kind of an insufferable asshole about it for weeks.

A big fetish event is coming up, and I have to decide whether to go. I’m leaning against it. If it matters, I never play with anyone else, as I have a very low libido and I’m satisfied with the vanilla sex I have with my husband. So, it’s not like I’m getting anything out of this sexually. I’m content to let

him do his thing and to help out. I’m fine being the “bait,” I’m just sick of being the bad guy. —VANILLA

WHIPPING BOY

a: There’s a middle ground between going to these events with your husband to play the matchmaker and not going to these events at all, and that would be going to these events and refusing to play the matchmaker. But if you were to go to this upcoming event and

chatted people up and didn’t include your husband in conversation, he’s almost guaranteed to blow up at you about that. So, as trivial as the issue might seem, I’m gonna suggest booking a session or two with a kinkpositive couples counselor. Hearing from someone else—a credentialed expert he’s paying hundreds of dollars to see—that he should be showering you with gratitude for tagging

along to these events and not giving you grief when some rubber twunk isn’t into him, might help your husband realize how good he’s got it (you’re the good thing he’s got) even when he doesn’t get it (the rubber twunk who wasn’t interested). v

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ANDRA DAY

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MAGDALENA BAY THE IMAGINAL MYSTERY TOUR

JOYWAVE PERMANENT PLEASURE TOUR + HUNNY

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