Chicago Reader print issue of August 8, 2024 (Vol. 53, No. 27) by Chicago Reader

THIS WEEK

FRONT

04 Readers Respond

04 Editor’s Note The Century and Consumers buildings are spared from demolition.

05 Street View The world is her oyster.

& DRINK

06 Triche | Feature Pookie Crack Cakes sells out every day.

07 Reader Bites Kahlo Margarita at Nobody’s Darling NEWS & POLITICS

08 Investigation Oﬀ-duty cops target day laborers at a Chicago Home Depot.

11 Report First-time voters face a chaotic election season.

COMMENTARY

12 Isaacs | On Culture A new exhibit at the Chicago History Museum highlights the iconography of protest.

ARTS & CULTURE

13 Graphic novel Darya Foroohar’s graphic novel tackles the gaze.

THEATER & DANCE

14 Dance photography William Frederking’s archive of images of Chicago dancers ﬁnds a permanent home at the Newberry Library.

19 Plays of Note Magical Thinking, In His Hands, and Peter and the Starcatcher

FILM

20 Cover story | South-side history At the 95th Bud Billiken Parade, the South Side Home Movie Project will feature archival footage from the

Ramon Williams Collection.

22 Moviegoer Sweet revenge

22 Movies of Note Crossing brings depth and eloquence to a simple premise; Dìdi is a melancholic, rewarding coming-of-age ﬁlm.

MUSIC & NIGHTLIFE

23 Chicagoans of Note Jason Stein, bass clarinetist and myofascial trigger point therapist

26 Shows of Note Previews of concerts including Holy Joke, Steve Roach, Teke::Teke, and Casa Desmadre

29 Gossip Wolf Humboldt Park art space Leisure opens its doors with a one-day exhibit, arts and culture magazine Gush throws a party for issue two, and more.

CLASSIFIEDS

30 Jobs

30 Professionals & Services 30 Auditions

Matches

Clockwise from top le : Tre Daniels (2015); Michelle Haskell (2022); Edson Cabrera (2014) WILLIAM FREDERKING

ON THE COVER

FILM STILLS OF THE BUD BILLIKEN PARADE, CIRCA 1940 TO 1955, FROM THE RAMON WILLIAMS COLLECTION, COURTESY OF THE SOUTH SIDE HOME MOVIE PROJECT, AN INITIATIVE OF ARTS + PUBLIC LIFE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO.

DESIGN BY JAMES HOSKING

COVER PULL QUOTE SAID BY JACQUELINE STEWART IN “A PARADE OF MEMORIES” BY MAXWELL RABB, P. 20.

THANK YOU TO LIU YANG AT ARTS + PUBLIC LIFE

CEO AND PUBLISHER SOLOMON LIEBERMAN

ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER AMBER NETTLES

EDITOR IN CHIEF SALEM COLLO-JULIN

MANAGING EDITOR SHEBA WHITE

ASSISTANT MANAGING EDITOR

SAVANNAH RAY HUGUELEY

ART DIRECTOR JAMES HOSKING

PRODUCTION MANAGER KIRK WILLIAMSON

SENIOR GRAPHIC DESIGNER AMBER HUFF

THEATER & DANCE EDITOR KERRY REID

MUSIC EDITOR PHILIP MONTORO

CULTURE EDITOR: FILM, MEDIA, FOOD & DRINK TARYN ALLEN

CULTURE EDITOR: ART, ARCHITECTURE, BOOKS, LITERARY ARTS KERRY CARDOZA

NEWS EDITOR SHAWN MULCAHY

ASSOCIATE EDITOR & BRANDED

CONTENT SPECIALIST JAMIE LUDWIG

DIGITAL EDITOR TYRA NICOLE TRICHE

SENIOR WRITERS LEOR GALIL, DEANNA ISAACS, BEN JORAVSKY, MIKE SULA

FEATURES WRITER KATIE PROUT

SOCIAL JUSTICE REPORTER DMB (D-M BROWN)

STAFF WRITER MICCO CAPORALE

SOCIAL MEDIA ENGAGEMENT

ASSOCIATE CHARLI RENKEN

ART DEPARTMENT INTERN SHIRA FRIEDMAN-PARKS

EDITORIAL INTERN JOJO WERTHEIMER

VICE PRESIDENT OF OPERATIONS

ANN SCHOLHAMER

CHIEF DEVELOPMENT OFFICER JIM STRUTHERS

VICE PRESIDENT OF PEOPLE AND CULTURE ALIA GRAHAM

DIRECTOR OF MARKETING AND STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS CHASITY COOPER

MULTIMEDIA CONTENT PRODUCER SHAWNEE DAY

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MARKETING ASSOCIATE MICHAEL THOMPSON GRANTS MANAGER JOEY MANDEVILLE

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Reader Letters m

Re: “Bò kho in front, party in the back,” written by Leor Galil and published in the July 25 issue (volume 53, number 25)

“I would’ve been hard-pressed to tell you about a single Chicago concert I’d seen with an aquarium in the venue.” Does the ﬁsh tank at Phyllis’ Musical Inn count? —Nick Hussong, via Facebook

Re: “Extremists with badges,” written by D-M Brown and published in the July 18 issue (volume 53, number 24)

Here’s a thing folks might like to know: Mike Nowacki was previously at District 22 where he posed as a cop who empathized with the newly arrived migrants and spent time on a private thread with activists and supporting neighbors. Then poof, he disappeared, and this story broke. There was a supremacist listening in on community mutual aid, no doubt with problematic intentions. Point: don’t trust this clique EVER. Other point [for] organizers and activists: cops never ever belong in movement spaces. —Britt, via Instagram

This is why you can’t trust the Chicago police. You don’t know how many and which ones are white supremacists until it’s too late . . . like being stopped for a seat belt and then murdered. —Pat Matthews, via Instagram

Find us on socials: facebook.com/chicagoreader twitter.com/Chicago_Reader instagram.com/chicago_reader threads.net/@chicago_reader linkedin.com search chicago-reader

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

Another busy week of news has flown by since our last issue was distributed.

One very local story that you may have missed was that the fates of two landmark high-rise buildings downtown are now not as precarious as we thought at this time last year. The Consumers Building (220 S. State) and the Century Building (202 S. State) were both listed on several years of Preservation Chicago’s “Most Endangered” list of buildings and public assets threatened by development or neglect. In 2023, both buildings were under a “signiﬁcant threat of demolition,” according to the organization. At that moment, the buildings had been allowed to sit empty under the ownership of the federal government’s General Services Administration (GSA) for 17 years. The GSA used its power of eminent domain in 2005 to start the process of taking control of the buildings due to security concerns following the events of September 11, 2001.

After a yearslong fight for preservation and continued maintenance of the buildings, architecture advocates and historians alike rejoiced last week when the GSA finally released its last environmental impact report for Century, Consumers, and the smaller building between them at 214 S. State. The agency has chosen to explore e orts to reuse all three buildings rather than demolish them.

While the jury’s still out about what exactly the government will allow in there (security issues still exist, according to the report, and the buildings’ proximity to the Dirksen Federal Courthouse means that the GSA’s argument for keeping access limited to the buildings might be easy for some to understand), one of the more promising ideas o ered last year

by Preservation Chicago and a mix of local religious entities and other organizations was a proposed Chicago Collaborative Archive Center. This would convert both the Century and Consumers buildings into a small campus of archival storage and be open to local museums, historical societies, and more. Windows facing Dirksen could be sealed off and the nature of how archives are accessed demands a semblance of protection that could speak to the GSA’s concerns.

I’ve been following what happens to these buildings since they were absorbed by the GSA in 2005. In my previous life, I was a member of the art group Temporary Services, and we rented an o ce space in the Century Building from February 2000 until August 2001.

We used the space, a generous grouping of three small rooms with access to an oldfashioned fire escape, as both a work studio and a gallery open to the public. And we weren’t the only creative types in the building: a few floors above, a couple produced films and TV shows (of which, I became most familiar with their Afrocentric talk show on CAN TV as sometimes one of the artists would record sound for it in one of the bigger shared restrooms). Visual artists like Carlos Rolón (aka DZINE) and James Jankowiak rented o ces as studios as well. And there was a strange group of anarcho-communists who refused to use the elevator bank.

We were all using the building because of a generous and energetic rental manager who wanted to keep “good people” around and tended to rent to creative types and artists. And each day when I put our little sandwich board sign on the sidewalk on State Street to tell passersby that there was a weird art gallery up on the sixth ﬂoor of this building, I felt

like I was doing something very important. Which I was: creating third space in the middle of the business district and standing on the shoulders of past Chicago artists and creative citydwellers.

I’d be happy if those buildings become an archive, and happier still if experimental activity can continue there. Maybe 214 can become a practice space for musicians. If a young art group can be allowed to make a year’s worth of programming in the middle of downtown Chicago, anything is possible. v

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

CORRECTIONS

The Reader has updated the online version of S. Nicole Lane’s August 1 print feature for the Food and Drink section, “Stussy’s Diner opens in Bridgeport with high hopes.” The story has been updated to more clearly establish that Dahlia Beckett is an owner of Stussy’s along with restaurateur Erik Nance. We also added language to clarify Nance’s relationship with Quiana, his child’s mother.

The Reader has also updated the online version of the article “Iilaatawiaanki (We speak a language),” written by Paul Dailing and published in our August 1 print issue. The printed story mistakenly listed a language spoken in Ireland as Gaeltachtaí, which now has been corrected to Gaeilge. Additionally, George Strack (a subject in the story) is 76 years old, not 77, and was an Air Force mechanic, not a pilot as we previously printed. The Reader regrets the errors. v

Moments from early in the history of the Bud Billiken Parade, from the Ramon Williams collection. This year’s parade is scheduled

CHLOÉ CABRALES instagram.com/sunnychloeee

GILLIAN BUTCHER instagram.com/otherwise.art

STREET VIEW

In her oyster era

Chloé Cabrales gives happy preppy vibes at Wicker Park Fest.

By ISA GIALLORENZO

Having a little salad before the beginning of Wicker Park Fest, which happened in the last weekend of July, Chloé Cabrales, 22, epitomized the perks of being young. “I’m waiting for a friend to arrive, so we can hang out, get some drinks, enjoy city life,” she said.

As a senior stylist at Free People and a model, Cabrales understands the power of fashion. “I feel like how you dress is telling people a story—expressing who you are without actually saying it,” she explained. According to Cabrales, her story is, “I’m young, free, and the world is my oyster!” Wearing a chic

CITY LIFE

leather pu sleeve dress she got at Bu alo Exchange for only $15, she clearly conveyed that message; “I feel like I’m giving very preppy chic vibes,” she said, in her pair of Mary Jane shoes and long socks.

For clothes shopping, Cabrales recommends the neighborhood in which she was photographed. “I really like Wicker Park in particular because there are so many vintage shops here. I love Vintage Underground. They have a lot of vintage jewelry and really good statement pieces. The people there are really nice,” she said.

As for the shop she works at, Cabrales said she tries to make her customers feel right at home, “so they can comfortably find what

suits them best and feel conﬁdent.”

Also creating a cozy (yet somewhat otherworldly) environment, installation artist Gillian Butcher provided the backdrop for Cabrales’s photos. A veteran at making interactive spaces for music festivals, Butcher said she enjoys “creating intimate environments within the chaos.”

“I wanted it to be a little transformative experience. You can go to a Grecian island, a bubblegum fantasy land, some grassy hills, or even another planet. I hope people can catch some shade too,” Butcher said. “You gotta think about the people.” v

m letters@chicagoreader.com

Cabrales in front of an installation made for the festival by Gillian Butcher

Cabrales is represented by SCE Agency and has walked runway in local fashion shows.

ISA GIALLORENZO

FOOD & DRINK

APookie Crack Cakes sells out every day

The name gets patrons in the door, and Dedra Simmons’s glaze-soaked bundt cakes keep them coming back.

By TYRA TRICHE

s I stood in line on 47th Street, just east of Michigan Avenue, I heard a lady a few spots ahead of me exclaim, “They’ve been selling out every day!” It was a sunny Thursday morning in the middle of a hot July, shortly after 11 AM, the time Pookie Crack Cakes is scheduled to open. Those a bit closer to the woman smiled and nodded their heads in approval, as we all waited patiently for our turn to see what the hype was about.

According to the owner, Dedra Simmons, that’s been the everyday routine at Pookie Crack Cakes for more than a year now. “In the morning, there’s always a line,” she says. “Then once that disappears, they come in increments. It’s like when you see one person come to the door, you’ll dip down to pull a cake out the case, and [then] it’s six or seven more customers in the lobby.” Conﬁrming that what I overheard was true, Simmons says that her business has sold out of cakes every single day since it opened its doors in July 2023. The approximately 600 cakes that she and her sta hand-make daily sell out so fast that the store

is typically closing before 1 PM. Simmons—who started cooking at age six while growing up watching her grandmother make everything from scratch—says the popularity of Pookie Crack Cakes has not been a surprise to her. She knew that if nothing else, the name of the establishment would garner plenty of attention.

“I got a lot of ﬂak about the name,” Simmons says, sitting by the store’s window adorned with the name and logo—a bundt cake with pink icing and sparkles. “That’s why we have the signage up to explain the meaning behind this is nothing derogatory. It’s nothing promoting drug use or drug sales.” On the vibrant pink walls of Pookie Crack Cakes’s lobby are two signs: one explains the word “pookie” is a term of endearment, and the other explains the origin of crack cakes.

“I grew up on crack cakes—this is not something that I created,” she says. “My great-grandmother made these cakes all the time. It’s nothing but a bundt cake; when the cracks form at the top, you poke holes in it and you pour your rum glaze and everything

inside, and you let it seep into the cake. That’s all a crack cake is.”

Simmons is a west-side native, but she says her husband, Doug, who doubles as her business partner, is from Bronzeville. “Once I became familiar with the area, and I saw how the Black businesses were over here really thriving, I wanted to be a part of it,” she says. When she decided to look for a brick-andmortar space, she knew Bronzeville and Hyde Park were among her top choices. Simmons previously worked full-time in the pharmaceutical industry, specifically in quality control. But her early love of cooking never left her, and it became her ambition to become a skilled baker by trade. She began by baking cakes at home for special occasions and holidays. She credits her family for providing continued support that helped her expand her business over the years. When her cakes got popular, her brother, Shundell Johnson, worked as her “street team,” she says. He would “go door to door to di erent businesses, beauty salons, barber shops, and he would sell the cake. That brought a lot of business our way.”

Simmons also used to sell her cakes at various restaurants across the city, but since opening her own storefront, she has stopped doing so. If you get to Pookie Crack Cakes early enough, you’ll find a case full of small loaf cakes at the store’s entrance. There are at least eight ﬂavors to choose from daily, including her signature, butter pecan praline, the cake that she says started it all. “That was the only flavor that I made for four years, from 2014 to 2018,” she reﬂects. She created an original recipe for the bundt cake but continues to use her great-grandmother’s glaze recipe to top it o . Along with the butter pecan praline, she also makes red velvet, strawberry lemonade, Chocolate Oreo Dream, caramel, key lime, and lemon cakes.

Simmons says she expands the ﬂavor range based on customers’ requests. “We have special days where we do, instead of a pineapple upside-down, I do a fresh pineapple glaze on top of the cake,” she says. That specialty cake is called the Pineapple Paradise, and it’s only available on Wednesday and Saturday. On Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday, the

Clockwise from L: the interior of Pookie Crack Cakes; a crack cake being glazed by hand; a long line of people waiting outside the bakery

SHIRA FRIEDMAN-PARKS

R105 E. 47th

Tue–Sat, 11 AM until sold out facebook.com/pookiecrackcakes

Peach Crack Cobbler is on the menu. “I do a peach-flavored cake and then a homemade peach cobbler sauce with the peaches, and I smother it all over that cake,” she says. “That is also a fan favorite.”

Simmons is supported by a team that includes many of her family members, but she says she’s still in the kitchen and is very hands-on with the business. “Because, again, my background is quality,” she says. “So I’ve got to make sure the quality and the integrity of the product is good.”

Keeping control of quality is why Pookie Crack Cakes does not provide delivery services, nor does Simmons want to expand to creating

Kahlo Margarita at Nobody’s

Darling

There’s a ﬁne line between pleasure and pain. I hate the sound of people lip smacking as they chew, but I love food and drink that requires a robust, sticky intimacy between the imbiber and the imbibed. Pomegranates, shellfish, artichoke hearts; you can use a tool to crack or cleave, but the best utensils are your hands and teeth. I don’t want a second fork—I want to lick my fingers. I don’t want a straw—I want my lips on the salted rim!

FOOD & DRINK

other baked goods. She says that she’d rather “extend my hand to other businesses.” She’s worked to collaborate with local entrepreneurs, allowing them to sell their products in Pookie Crack Cakes, and recently started selling her brother’s Mitch on da Move fresh lemonades.

With the combination of murmurs about the business name and a few viral TikToks, Simmons says that she’s had customers coming from around the world.

Simmons quips, “Now that I have your attention, come and get some of this delicious cake.” v

m ttriche@chicagoreader.com

Tajín o their margarita glass like a lizard as their friend trauma dumps. I thought of this video while at Nobody’s Darling recently. I ordered their Kahlo Margarita, a perfect drink that I desire always, and tried hard not to get disgusting with the Tajín while my friends and I exchanged increasingly horriﬁc family memories.

Margaritas invite this kind of multisensory experience, and if you’re anything like me, the mainstreaming of Tajín on the rim of your cocktail, especially a margarita, has made the last few years a little more joyful. Tajín is a Mexican spice mix composed of dried and granulated chiles de arbol, guajillo, and pasilla, plus dehydrated lime and salt. In one popular TikTok, “POV: you’re telling me the most traumatic story but there’s tajin on the rim,” a margarita drinker does their best to look empathetic and engaged while continuously licking

But the drink—warm pink in color and made of Jon Basil Tequila Reposado, passion fruit liqueur, triple sec, and agave— made me ﬂush. It tastes like lying by the pool and watching your lover’s hair curl and lift in the humidity; like a pregnant Rihanna in a glittering sarong, dipping mango in the ocean and then eating it. Squeeze the slice of lime and drop it in your glass. Leave the tips of your fingers lightly puckered with citrus. Get a little messy; slurp and overshare. It’s OK to bear the peaks and valleys, Tajín and traumas, with your friends. Soon, my margarita was making its way around the table, and no one used the straw. —KATIE PROUT

NOBODY’S DARLING 1744 W. Balmoral, $13, 312-544-0993, nobodysdarlingbar.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.

OFFICIAL INFORMATION REGARDING APPRENTICESHIP OPPORTUNITIES

I.B.E.W. Local 134 and the Electrical Contractors’ Association sponsor apprenticeship programs in Cook County, Illinois through the Electrical Joint Apprenticeship and Training Trust (EJATT). EJATT has permission from the U.S. Department of Labor to open a registration for new applicants for its Electrical and Communications Programs For more information on these programs, please go to our website at www.ejatt.com.

I. B. E. W. Local 134 and the Electrical Contractors' Association sponsor apprenticeship programs in Cook County, Illinois through the Electrical Joint Apprenticeship and Training Trust (EJATT). EJATT has permission from the U.S. Department of Labor to open a registration for new applicants for its Electrical Program. For more information on this program, please go to our website at www.ejatt.com.

REGISTRATION INFORMATION

Registration for the ELECTRICAL & COMMUNICATION PROGRAMS* will take place at the IBEW-NECA Technical Institute

6201 W. 115th Street, Alsip, Illinois EVERY WEDNESDAY 9:00 A.M. until 11:00 A.M.

Registration for the Electrical Program will take place at the IBEW-NECA Technical Institute 6201 W. 115th Street, Alsip, Illinois EVERY WEDNESDAY 9:00 A.M. until 11:00 A.M.

All applicants must report in person and bring the following documents in order to register:

1. Your valid Driver’s License.

1.Your valid Driver’s License.

2. Your original Social Security Card.

2.Your original Social Security Card.

You must provide copies of the following documents that will be kept by EJATT (No documents will be copied in our ofﬁce or returned to you):

You must provide copies of the following documents that will be kept by EJATT (No documents will be copied in our o ce or returned to you):

3. A $50 non-refundable registration fee (Money Order only made payable to EJATT).

1.A $50.00 non-refundable registration fee (Money Order only made payable to EJATT).

4. To prove employment eligibility, you must provide a copy of your U.S. Birth Certiﬁcate, U.S. Passport, Certiﬁcate of U.S. Citizenship or Naturalization, or Permanent Resident Alien Card. (Minimum age of 17 at registration).

2.To prove employment eligibility you must provide a copy of your U.S. Birth Certiﬁcate, U.S. Passport, Certiﬁcate of U.S. Citizenship or Naturalization, or Permanent Resident Alien Card. (Minimum age of 17 at registration).

5. To prove High School Graduation (HS), you must provide a copy of your HS transcript (official or unofficial with a graduation date posted), or a copy of a HS Diploma, or GED Certificate. College transcripts do not satisfy this requirement. HS seniors in their last semester prior to graduation may register with acceptance contingent upon graduation.

3. To prove High School Graduation (HS), you must provide a copy of your HS transcript (o cial or uno cial with a graduation date posted), or a copy of a HS Diploma, or GED Certiﬁcate. College transcripts do not satisfy this requirement. HS seniors in their last semester prior to graduation may register with acceptance contingent upon graduation.

6. To prove one full year of HS level Algebra with a grade of at least “C” or better, or one post HS level Algebra course or higher level course with a grade of at least “C” or better, you must provide a copy of a transcript. Note: The GED Math Certiﬁcation does not satisfy this requirement.

4.To prove one full year of HS level Algebra with a grade of at least “C” or better, or one post HS level Algebra course or higher level course with a grade of at least “C” or better, you must provide a copy of a transcript. Note: The GED Math Certiﬁcation does not satisfy this requirement.

*If you wish to register for both programs, you will need (2) $50.00 payments and (2) copies of all above listed documents.

Upon an o er of apprenticeship, you must be able to demonstrate that you can perform the essential functions of an apprentice electrician with or without a reasonable accommodation. In addition, a drug screen, physical exam, and background check will be required.

Upon an offer of apprenticeship, you must be able to demonstrate that you can perform the essential functions of an apprentice electrician with or without a reasonable accommodation. In addition, a drug screen, physical exam, and background check will be required.

EJATT will not discriminate against apprenticeship applicants or apprentices based on race, color, religion, national origin, sex (including pregnancy and gender identity), sexual orientation, genetic information, or because they are an individual with a disability or a person 40 years old or older. The EJATT will take a rmative action to provide equal opportunity in apprenticeship and will operate the apprenticeship program as required under Title 29 of the Code of Federal Regulations, Part 30.

EJATT will not discriminate against apprenticeship applicants or apprentices based on race, color, religion, national origin, sex (including pregnancy and gender identity), sexual orientation, genetic information, or because they are an individual with a disability or a person 40 years old or older. The EJATT will take afﬁrmative action to provide equal opportunity in apprenticeship and will operate the apprenticeship program as required under Title 29 of the Code of Federal Regulations, Part 30.

NEWS & POLITICS

‘THEY

GRABBED ME LIKE I WAS A DOLL’

By SEBASTIÁN HIDALGO, CITY BUREAU

This article was originally published by City Bureau, a nonproﬁt journalism lab reimagining local news.

Five recently arrived migrants say criminal trespassing enforcement at a southwest-side Home Depot has escalated to alleged physical assaults by security personnel, including multiple o -duty Chicago police o cers.

The allegations are at the heart of a federal lawsuit ﬁled Tuesday, which names two Chicago police o cers, two Home Depot employees, and other unnamed security personnel and police officers, in addition to the city and Home Depot, as defendants. In the course of

its six-month investigation into the treatment of migrant laborers, City Bureau learned of the pending suit.

The five migrants were choked, thrown around, punched, slapped, and otherwise struck after they were handcu ed and brought into a security room at the Home Depot, the lawsuit alleges. The incidents took place between October and May, involving Venezuelan and Colombian migrants between 26 and 45 years old. Each individual plaintiff endured xenophobic and racial insults while detained by off-duty police officers and Home Depot security, the lawsuit states.

“These abuses, while horrifying, are not new,” the lawsuit states.

Four of the ﬁve either were not charged or had criminal trespassing charges later dismissed in court, according to the lawsuit. The fifth man has a court hearing scheduled for later this month.

In the federal lawsuit, ﬁled Tuesday by Raise the Floor Alliance and the People’s Law O ce, Latino Union of Chicago joined with the ﬁve migrants in alleging off-duty Chicago police violated the migrants’ constitutional rights against excessive force, unlawful search and seizure, and detention, and accusing o cers and Home Depot employees of conspiring to deprive them of those rights, false arrest, and malicious prosecution based on the migrants’ country of origin.

The lawsuit also accuses the Chicago Police Department (CPD) and Home Depot of working together to interfere with the day laborers’ right to seek work, with the city allegedly signing o on Home Depot recruiting additional off-duty Chicago police officers beginning in October, when a greater number of Venezuelans began showing up at the Home Depot at 4555 S. Western, it states.

In response to the allegations ﬁrst detailed to City Bureau in the spring, both Home Depot and the Civilian O ce of Police Accountability (COPA) launched investigations. As of July 24, the COPA investigation was still in progress, according to a spokesperson.

Mayor Brandon Johnson’s o ce pledged in

A group of day laborers wait for contractors to enter on the Western Boulevard entrance of the Home Depot at 4555 S. Western on Thursday, April 4, 2024.

April that every allegation of police misconduct would be “thoroughly investigated” and misconduct would be “swiftly addressed and adjudicated.”

In April, Home Depot said its internal investigation found no evidence the allegation against its security personnel took place on company property. The company enforces a nonsolicitation policy, it said in an email.

“This is a complex community issue, and we cooperate with local law enforcement o cials in addressing trespassing issues on our property,” a Home Depot spokesperson said in an April 24 statement.

Luis, a 29-year-old day laborer, had been frequenting the Home Depot parking lot since arriving in Chicago just over a year ago, hoping to earn enough cash to pay for rent and eventually open his own small business.

In a 26-second video clip obtained by City Bureau and recorded by a fellow day laborer, Luis is seen on the ground before two men pull him up by his arms, place him in handcu s, and walk him toward the Home Depot building. One of them wears a dark-colored vest bearing a “POLICE” patch on the back and an embroidered star on the front. This vest, known as an overshirt carrier, is in line with uniform speciﬁcations laid out in CPD directives.

Luis, who requested his last name be withheld because he feared retaliation for speaking publicly about the alleged assault, told City Bureau he did not see the trespassing signs and received no verbal warning before he was dragged into a security room and allegedly beaten by an off-duty police officer working security at the hardware big-box chain on January 10.

“When I was in the room, he hit me on the ribs and the chest like four or ﬁve times,” Luis said in Spanish. “They grabbed me like I was a doll. He threw me, and I ﬂew, saying, ‘Oh, God, what’s going on?’”

When arresting o cers arrived at the scene, the o -duty o cer told them he had given Luis prior verbal warning earlier in the day before Luis returned and was detained, according to the arrest report. Luis denies he received that prior warning, but he was still arrested and charged with criminal trespassing.

Trespassing arrests are a risk migrant day laborers increasingly face in Chicago as they maneuver the challenge of obtaining legal work authorization—a process that typically takes at least six months and can take more than a year.

In the interim, many look for work in Home

Depot parking lots—and are often the target of trespassing arrests as they do so, deterring them from scraping out a living with daily gigs in construction, demolition, or other physical labor.

But as more than a dozen day laborers say they’ve been verbally harassed or physically assaulted, labor advocates are taking legal action.

“Seeking happy [and] healthy lives should be something that anybody [who] resides in the city should be able to do. Unfortunately, a lot of those things . . . are criminalized,” said Miguel Alvelo Rivera, executive director of Latino Union of Chicago, a community-based worker center that organizes day laborers and household workers. “In situations like this, we see the seeking of work as a crime, surviving as a crime—because of who is trying to do it.”

Off-duty allegations

In the second alleged incident detailed in Tuesday’s lawsuit, Alfonzo Gabriel Arias, 26, was asked to leave the Home Depot parking lot on December 27 and complied, his lawyers said.

After moving to the public sidewalk, Arias was approached by three men, including off-duty police officer Eric Gaytan, the lawsuit alleges. The two others also wore vests marked “POLICE,” according to the complaint.

One man threw Arias to the ground before he was handcuffed and “forcibly dragged” into the store and taken to a room, according to the lawsuit. While still handcu ed, he was shoved into a bench; struck in the face, ribs,

and stomach; and choked as the men laughed and threatened to have him deported, the complaint states.

At one point, one of the men told the man choking Arias to stop or “he would kill Mr. Arias,” according to the lawsuit.

Along with Luis, several migrants point to o -duty o cer Angel Martinez as being one of the main aggressors in the physical assaults at the Home Depot, they told City Bureau.

“I’ve met other people who were assaulted by the same person who assaulted me,” Luis said in Spanish to City Bureau.

Martinez is also listed as the complainant on Luis’s arrest report. The federal lawsuit only directly connects Martinez by name to Luis’s arrest.

In additional videos and screenshots recorded in December and May, along with the one showing Luis’s arrest, Martinez wore a dark colored vest sporting an embroidered star and his name patch while working at the store. Characteristics of the vest are consistent with CPD directives regulating embroidered patches. City Bureau reporters also spoke to Martinez in person at the Home Depot and observed him wearing his CPD badge number.

That badge number corresponds to 13 Bureau of Internal A airs and COPA complaints against Martinez, according to CPD and COPA documents obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request.

Five of the complaints are still under investigation, including the January 10 incident involving Luis at the southwest-side Home Depot. Two of the 13 complaints against

Martinez were sustained—resulting in additional training and a reprimand in 2019. Martinez was a defendant in a federal civil lawsuit concerning false arrest and seizure and malicious prosecution. The lawsuit was ultimately settled and dismissed in May 2023. Martinez declined to comment in person and through Chicago police media a airs.

“Selective enforcement”

Public records show trespassing arrests have increased signiﬁcantly at the Home Depot at 4555 S. Western. The uptick came after trespassing signs were posted some time after November 2022, according to an analysis of Google Street View images. This coincides with the arrival of the ﬁrst bus carrying migrants from the Texas border to Chicago, on August 31, 2022, according to the city.

For someone to be found guilty of criminal trespassing in Illinois, they must first be warned that their presence is forbidden, either verbally or in writing, which can include a “no trespassing” sign posted at the property’s main entrance.

If they remain on the property or return, they can be charged with trespassing, a misdemeanor that can carry a punishment of up to six months in prison and a ﬁne of up to $1,500. At the Western Boulevard location, the signs, posted in English and Spanish, are small and located approximately 12 feet above the ground on every light pole in the parking lot, with at least one near the entrance and several along the gate framing the parking lot.

As more than 45,000 migrants arrived via Texas buses and airplanes to Chicago over the past two years, conﬂicts with police are turning violent and feel discriminatory toward the largely Venezuelan population of recent arrivals, according to City Bureau interviews with more than a dozen day laborers.

The accusations of mistreatment known to City Bureau stem from the Western Boulevard Home Depot, which is located near the borders of the New City, Back of the Yards, and Brighton Park neighborhoods.

Criminal trespassing enforcement has skyrocketed there since August 2023, according to a City Bureau analysis of CPD data. From 2002 to 2022, a total of 31 arrests took place there, averaging 1.4 arrests per year. In 2023, 24 arrests took place, all within the last ﬁve months of the year—more than 16 times the previous 20-year average. The rate of arrests continued to outpace previous years in the

A day laborer displays his hands on May 18, 2024, to show the calluses from daily construction work. SEBASTIÁN HIDALGO FOR CITY BUREAU

NEWS & POLITICS

continued from p. 9

first few months of 2024, according to CPD data.

Of those arrested for trespassing at the Home Depot site from August 18, 2023, to March 25, 85 percent were Venezuelan, although the country of origin was unknown for seven of the 34 arrests.

Four of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit are Venezuelan. The ﬁfth, Betuel Castro Camacho, is Colombian, but was told he “was lying and that he was Venezuelan” while three security personnel allegedly assaulted him inside a room on the western side of the Home Depot, the lawsuit states.

“The selective enforcement of criminal trespassing laws against migrants when they are seeking work as day laborers is a means of criminalizing a person’s status for simply being a migrant,” said Kathleen Arnold, director of DePaul University’s refugee and forced migration graduate program.

“It’s a misunderstanding of why they are in Home Depot parking lots in the first place,” she said. “These individuals seek work, which is a life-sustaining function, not criminal activity.”

Arnold said she believes this amounts to discrimination based on perceived nationality because the police statistics indicate significant selective enforcement of trespassing based on country of origin.

“That amounts to racism, because you’re assuming that because they’re from Venezuela, they must be committing a crime,” she said.

“A very speciﬁc kind of racist interest”

Five additional recently arrived migrants told City Bureau they have been verbally harassed by Home Depot security personnel and what appear to be off-duty officers wearing body armor vests labeled “POLICE.” Off-duty officers are sometimes contracted by third-party companies to work as security personnel at the Home Depot, a practice allowed within the CPD guidelines for secondary employment.

In a March 27 video obtained by City Bureau, security personnel shout in English and Spanish as they approach a group of mostly Venezuelan day laborers standing on the sidewalk adjacent to the hardware store’s parking lot—public property beyond the store’s property line.

“Fuck o , get out of here,” they jeer. “Get the

fuck out. I don’t care that you are recording.” They call the day laborers pendejos, Spanish for “idiots.”

Alexander, who recorded the video and requested his last name be withheld out of fear of being targeted by law and immigration enforcement, has been frequenting the Home Depot hiring site since late 2023. While migrants from other countries—Mexico, Colombia, Honduras, and Ecuador—cluster in other parts of the parking lot, he said he believes the security personnel are speciﬁcally targeting Venezuelans.

The latest incidents follow a long-standing pattern of using trespassing charges or other means to target migrant workers in the Chicago area.

In 2003, then alder Margaret Laurino (39th) forced day laborers to vacate a defunct CTA bus station in Albany Park. When the station was ultimately demolished, local advocates accused Laurino of race-based motivation for the teardown and subsequent displacement of the mostly Latino workers.

A few years later, Home Depot officials in west suburban Cicero called police on day laborers, which, according to a 2005 Chicago Tribune report, kicked o a chain of 55 arrests for misdemeanor trespassing.

In 2007, the Chicago Committee for the Right to Work ﬁled a federal lawsuit against Chicago police, the city, and a business owner on the grounds of false arrests, wrongful detention and imprisonment, and a violation of First Amendment rights, after three men were arrested for trespassing on a manufacturing company’s site, which day laborers frequented.

The civil lawsuit was ultimately dismissed in court.

Trespassing enforcement used against migrants follows a pattern in the United States, said Kevin Herrera, legal director at Raise the Floor Alliance, a Chicago-based workers rights organization and law o ce.

He said enforcement is typically on “private property with poor signage, where people reasonably believe that places like a Home Depot parking lot are open to the public because customers come and go as they please.” The rules are selectively enforced, “which reﬂects a very speciﬁc kind of racist and xenophobic interest,” he added.

Certain day laborers, such as older Mexican workers, are seemingly una ected by the harassment from Home Depot security personnel, migrants and advocates said.

“Then rules are selectively enforced for arbitrary reasons, usually centered around which people are deemed acceptable and which people are not,” Herrera said.

Workers rights advocates say the latest incidents underscore a wave of escalation in both the targeting of migrants looking for work and the violent response by sworn police o cers hired as security personnel, a form of secondary employment commonly known as moonlighting.

Off-duty officers working second jobs still need to follow the CPD rules of conduct, which say o cers must identify themselves by name, rank, and star number upon request; avoid unnecessary verbal and physical confrontation with anyone, excessive use of force, and physical or verbal maltreatment of any citizen.

It is also against state law for off-duty officers working security to imply they are an employee of a government entity such as the CPD; to wear a badge, identiﬁcation card, or police emblem; or wear uniforms with the words “police,” “sheriff,” “highway patrol,” “trooper,” or “law enforcement” while on the job.

City-backed solutions

As for the larger question of how day laborers can safely solicit employment in private business with strict solicitation policies like at the Home Depot parking lots, the city can do more, said Alvelo Rivera, executive director of Latino Union of Chicago.

“We believe that there is not only potential,

but a need for the city to respond to the situation,” he said.

After the alleged January 10 beating inside the Home Depot security room, Luis was charged with criminal trespassing. Luis said he was photographed and forced to sign a pretrial form, despite the form being written in English, which he cannot read.

Luis initially appeared in court on January 31. Worried the arrest would negatively affect his 2025 asylum hearing, Luis completed 25 hours of community service at Saint Rita of Cascia Parish in the Back of the Yards neighborhood. Luis returned to court on April 10. At that hearing, the charges were dismissed, according to the lawsuit.

He continues to visit the Home Depot site looking for work, despite knowing the risk of a second arrest, he said.

“I came here to work,” he said, “nothing else.”

When he came to Chicago in May 2023, fleeing economic hardship in Venezuela, Luis hoped he’d be able to eventually open his own business. But the trauma of his violent arrest and the difficulties finding steady employment without a work permit has left him feeling hopeless and depressed, he said.

“I’m trying to do everything the right way,” he said.

But first, he has to see if Chicago—the Welcoming City he hopes to call home—will give him the chance v

m letters@chicagoreader.com

Many day laborers do not qualify for work authorization and rely on the daily gig work contractors provide SEBASTIÁN HIDALGO FOR CITY BUREAU

ELECTIONS

First-time voters face chaotic election

A er a dizzying election season that’s included last-minute candidate changes and an assassination attempt, young voters will cast ballots for the ﬁrst time.

By KATHERINE FRAZER

In the days since Joe Biden exited the presidential election and Vice President Kamala Harris became the Democratic Party’s nominee, there has been renewed interest in November’s election among some ﬁrst-time voters.

Young Chicago voters Alexandria Porter and Elisabeth Snyder remember discussions from before Biden dropped out about the election.

interest many of her peers felt prior to the change to the presidential ticket. “I think that, at least for a while before Joe Biden stepped down and Kamala Harris became the presumptive nominee, it deﬁnitely felt like a lot of students were kind of exhausted or not super excited about the options and maybe weren’t as interested in being involved,” she says.

Snyder is a voting ambassador with

motivated them to vote, not a sense of duty to or interest in any of the candidates. “I think there’s definitely a sense among some students that their vote doesn’t matter,” Snyder says.

That disconnect was on display during elections in 2023. According to data from the Chicago Board of Elections (CBOE), 18,175 people between the ages of 18 and 24 voted during that year’s municipal election, representing slightly more than 3 percent of the more than 563,300 ballots cast. In 2023, about 16.5 percent of the eligible voting population were in this age group. Max Bever, public information director at the CBOE, calls that a turnout issue.

NEWS & POLITICS

this fall. With so much emphasis placed on the president, she finds it hard to keep up with local races and ballot measures. Although she considers herself to be politically active, she says almost all of the discussion, from what she sees on the news to what she talks about with others, focuses on who will be the next president.

“I feel like the presidential election always overshadows the locals, and I feel like, as a new voter, that’s something that I want to pay more attention to . . . because they arguably may be more important to a ect change in my life more immediately,” Porter says.

Despite the election on November 5 deciding more than the executive o ce—including ten school board members and many judgeships— both said there was little excitement in their community this year about voting.

Snyder, a fourth-year student at the University of Chicago, remembers the dis-

UChiVotes, a nonpartisan group on campus where she helps classmates register to vote. As she worked to register students over the past year, she noticed little enthusiasm among them about the upcoming election. They shared that it was speciﬁc issues—like abortion access or the threat of Project 2025—that

Although it is common to have lower voter interest in these elections, he says young people vote at higher rates when they’re passionate about the candidates and issues on the ballot, something he expects to see in November.

“It’s another situation where election officials and authorities can only go so far in telling people to do their civic duty. And letting them know what is available to them really only goes so far, versus . . . an issue that ﬁres somebody up,” Bever says. “I think, heading into the presidential election, that’s usually what we see. We do expect to see a lot of younger voters turn up in November.”

This rings true for Porter, a college student who is voting in her ﬁrst presidential election

In what she calls “solidly blue” Illinois, Porter has no doubt Democratic candidates like Governor J.B. Pritzker would win in races she previously voted in. With less than 100 days until voting begins, Porter says that this election season feels different. “I was excited to vote, but I didn’t feel like it was anything super serious,” she says of past elections. “I feel like the presidential election is always a bit more contentious . . . I’m a little nervous, but I’m a little excited to see how it all plays out. I feel like the stakes are higher.”

As Democrats have started to organize around a new candidate, Porter has embraced the unlikely path toward Harris. Like other young people, she felt like two older white male candidates were not representative of herself and her community in Chicago. Before Biden left the race, many of her friends had discussed not voting at all. Amid international war and genocides, inflation hitting grocery stores, book bans, and racism in the criminal justice system, many people she encountered didn’t see Biden or Trump as the solution.

“Some people think that that’s a cop-out or that’s just people not caring. I think it’s not that people don’t care. I think people are just kind of exhausted and basically don’t like picking the one they like the least, and I think that some people miss that.”

When Harris became the Democrats’ presumptive nominee, Porter noticed friends were reassessing their plans to sit the election out. “With Kamala entering the race and Biden dropping out, I feel like it’s generated a lot more excitement because of a fresh, new candidate, and the incumbent isn’t running again,” Porter says. “I know for me personally, I’m excited for if she is the nominee, which I’m pretty sure will happen. It’s exciting for me, for my ﬁrst person I vote for to be someone who looks like me and who is a Black woman.” v

m letters@chicagoreader.com

Locked ballot box used in Carson, North Dakota, on October 30, 1940

ON CULTURE

The art of protest

Design as change agent at the Chicago History Museum

By DEANNA ISAACS

Want to move people to action? Call in the designers. Need to right the ship in a hurry? Same.

On the Sunday in July when Joe Biden announced he was passing the torch, the Biden/ Harris design team leapt into emergency responder mode, rebranding the campaign within hours with a “Harris for President” logo fashioned to convey both continuity and a fresh start.

A smooth transition in the candidacy and an orderly Democratic National Convention (DNC) required an immediate visual identity for the party to grab onto and rally around.

“Designing for Change: Chicago Protest Art of the 1960s–70s,” the Chicago History Museum’s current exhibition, makes a case for our town as an epicenter for protest movements and the design that mobilizes them. It includes more than 100 artifacts and artworks from the years before, during, and after the notorious 1968 DNC.

Chicago has long been a hub for what’s now called artivism, says Olivia Mahoney, the exhibition’s curator. She retired from the museum in 2019 after nearly 40 years there but returned for this project, which took three

years to research and develop.

Mahoney says that while the process might be akin to creating the corporate logos so abundant today, artists working for social movements then were unlikely to be on any payroll. “Committed to their causes, they tended to be students or recent art school graduates. We had several art schools and a community of artists, which helps explain why we produced so much protest art. And with the city’s numerous colleges and universities, the student movement here was also really strong.”

“These were mostly graphic artists,” Mahoney says. “Chicago has a very rich history of graphic art, both protest and commercial. And we were a major printing center. All of that fed into it. Chicago produced some really important material over the decades, but it usually gets overshadowed by the ﬁne artists, making unique, one of a kind work. This is art that is mass produced for the masses.”

In the 2024 spring/summer issue of the museum’s magazine, Chicago History, which functions as a catalog for the exhibit, Mahoney writes, “Coupled with mounting casualties, Chicago’s artistic output helped change American views toward the [Vietnam] war, a profound shift in public opinion that eventually led to the U.S. withdrawal from Vietnam. . . . Yet, these works are usually absent from most historical accounts of the time.”

The exhibition is divided into five main sections, each focused on the art of a social movement. They are the Chicago Freedom Movement (which fought for open housing in the 1960s and was led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.); the Black Power/Black Arts movement (including the Organization for Black American Culture, or OBA-C, and AfriCOBRA); the anti–Vietnam War movement; the women’s liberation movement; and the battle for LGBTQ+ rights.

There’s a lot to see, not all of it locally created. The iconic peace symbol is here, of course (did you know it was originally designed for a British nuclear disarmament campaign?), as is the Venus symbol (a circle

“Designing for Change: Chicago Protest Art of the 1960 s–70 s” Through 6/28/2025 : Tue-Sat 9:30 AM- 4: 30 PM, Sun noon- 5 PM, Chicago History Museum, 1601 N. Clark, chicagohistory.org, $19 ($17 seniors 65 + and students 19-22 , members and Illinois residents 18 and under free)

dangling a small cross) that was the emblem of the Chicago Women’s Liberation Union and—especially doubled and interlocked— lesbian organizations. Mahoney says it was here in Chicago that the doubled Venus was linked with a doubled Mars image to represent the united gay liberation movement before the arrival of the west coast–born rainbow logo. There are buttons, posters, flags, and banners, along with some striking Ebony magazine cover portraits and the memorable political art of the Chicago Seed (I can’t shake its February 1, 1970, death’s-head Statue of Liberty cover by Karl-Heinz Meschbach.)

is another unshakable image.

An additional concluding section features a small selection of more recent work, including Carlos Barberena’s powerful 2020 linocut portrait of George Floyd; Tonika Lewis Johnson and Janell Nelson’s 2024 Folded Map Action Kit; and William Estrada’s 2023 Education Is a Right poster (featuring a sunburst with a big clenched ﬁst at its center), in support of public schools.

Buttons from 1960s Chicago Freedom Movement and anti-war movement

But the symbol that moved most prevalently through decades of protest art is the image of a raised clenched ﬁst. It appears in the exhibit’s brief introductory section, in a 1917 Industrial Workers of the World journal illustration, The Hand That Will Rule the World, and then reappears too many times to mention, on behalf of everything from gay liberation to environmental justice—but most notably as a symbol of the Black Power movement. Barbara Jones-Hogu’s intense and dynamic 1968 screen print, Unite, for example,

There’s nothing here about the ongoing wars in Gaza and Ukraine, but Charles Bethea, the museum’s director of curatorial affairs, says he’s hoping visitors can see the “through lines, the commonality” with current events. Especially, he adds, “since you’re talking about movements that were in full swing in the 60s and early 70s, and some of these issues we’re still arguing and addressing today.”

section, in a 1917 Industrial and

Says Mahoney: “I just wanted to make the statement that this work continues. Some of the issues are the same, some are different, but artists and designers are continuing to play a role in social movements.” v m disaacs@chicagoreader.com

Display of more recent protest art at Chicago History Museum COURTESY CHICAGO HISTORY

Welcome Home, linocut by Carlos Cortez, 1965

MUSEUM

RMY EYES, YOUR GAZE by Darya Foroohar Bridge, hardcover, $25,

bridge-chicago.org/bridge-store/p/my-eyes-your-gaze

GRAPHIC NOVEL

Against objectiﬁcation

In My Eyes, Your Gaze, Darya Foroohar

By XIAO DACUNHA

“The body is confined. The body is surveilled. The body is torn apart,” writes Darya Foroohar, a fourth-year student at the University of Chicago. Illustrated and written by Foroohar, the graphic novella My Eyes, Your Gaze is many things: an introduction to various queer, anti-colonial, and feminist theories; a journal full of private thoughts and personal contradictions; and a manifesto of a woman who is tired of being treated as an object.

The book begins by describing the awkwardness Foroohar feels when looking at her body—or rather, when she establishes the awareness of herself as an autonomous, independent being.

She stands with her back to a full-length mirror. Instead of showing her reﬂection, the mirror grows eyes and stares back at Foroohar, who cautiously turns her head for a quick glimpse.

“My body has changed so much that no version of me looks right anymore. I’ll always be unsatisﬁed,” the text reads. “Maybe it’s because I don’t know who I should be.”

Foroohar eventually accepts that she finds comfort in being the detached observer: a concept known as “the ﬂaneur.” The Paris Review describes the ﬂaneur as a male wanderer who “removes himself from the world while he stands astride its heart.”

probes cultural perceptions of the body.

Citing various academic, pop cultural, and real-life examples, My Eyes, Your Gaze o ers vignettes of those whose bodies are constantly observed by another’s gaze.

Foroohar talks about how Baudelaire’s women characters only exist in boxes—the prostitute, the widow, the lesbian, the murder victim. “Even the mystery woman cannot escape her box. Her mystique becomes her.”

A few pages later, Foroohar retells an eviction documented by Ta-Nehisi Coates in Between the World and Me. Here, an evicted Black man was yelling in the street while his wife stood in silence. Foroohar comments: “The insidious stereotype of the ‘angry black woman’ makes it difficult for black women’s feelings and concerns to be taken seriously.” Therefore, the Black woman chooses to stand quietly under the gaze of “white o cers” who carried out the eviction.

In reality, a ﬂaneur represents the utmost cultural superiority, allowing one to move freely in modern society and observe the bustling crowd from a safe and una ected position. The ﬂaneur has the option to be invisible: tall or small, white or Brown, bu ed or lean, in ragged clothes or tailored suits. It is the possibility to exist in undisturbed comfort. Such an option is often inaccessible to women.

The most powerful example in the book, however, is Tomie, the evil female antihero created by Japanese horror manga artist Junji Ito. Tomie is a temptress with irresistible beauty. Her suitors, falling under her charm and manipulation, eventually kill her to free themselves from her inﬂuence. Except Tomie can respawn.

Killing Tomie, a supernatural monster in a ﬁctional world, may seem justiﬁable, Foroohar suggests. But what about women who are raped, hurt, and murdered in real life because of their bodies or how they look?

As Foroohar writes: “Tomie regenerates because she never deserved to be murdered in the ﬁrst place. Real women don’t have that luxury. Real women, people of color, queer people—when they are murdered, they stay dead.” She compares the victim’s ultimate immobility to the abusers who often walk away, writing of the “freedom of movement

ARTS & CULTURE

that some will never experience.”

When someone cannot escape the gaze, they eventually become part of it. We learn to adapt and alter to stay in conformity with the observers. We allow the gaze to influence how we think, regardless of how hard we try not to. We even turn against our own bodies.

In one section, Foroohar admits that while “there’s always been a spark of excitement, of pride, of joy, at being mistaken for a boy,” part of her “worries about giving up my beauty.” She continues: “Is this shallow? For sure. But it’s a reasonable worry” because of how male-deﬁned beauty standards have historically a ected women’s treatment. Hence, Foroohar’s people-pleasing makes sense, as does her self-denial. Foroohar presents a vulnerability that is rarely discussed out of shame and guilt, but it exists within almost every woman. We hate being called pretty but also enjoy it. We mock the dress code, but many of us abide by it when we’re expected to. Some of us even turn against each other, labeling our sisters as “pick-me girls,” “sluts,” “skanks.”

The outside gaze fills the observed with feelings of shame, guilt, and hatred. Survival of the sweetest. Survival of the prettiest. The scrutinizers teach us to scrutinize ourselves. Thankfully, My Eyes, Your Gaze doesn’t end on a hopeless note.

While we may not be able to wander freely in this world yet, we can create our safety and freedom in different ways, even if these solutions are temporary and imperfect. As Foroohar writes: “A lot of activism requires realizing you can’t make a perfect world, but

trying anyway.” In this compact, 53-page graphic essay, Foroohar constructs a gaze-free space with handwritten texts, casual, childlike illustrations, and a loose narrative structure. It provides reassurance to any woman, queer person, or person of color whose body is constantly observed, interpreted, and consumed. My Eyes, Your Gaze is Foroohar’s visualization of herself as a ﬂaneuse, the female form of ﬂaneur. For some, this book may be nothing more than an endless rant. Others may find certain claims to be biased or untrue. A few may wonder what this essay is about altogether, and more could question its overall integrity, given that Foroohar’s hand-drawn style often resembles a child’s doodle.

Each person will judge this book in their gaze. Yet none of that affects how Foroohar views her work. As she concludes, “Your art is for your eyes and by your eyes and is your eyes, and no one can take that away from you.”

So wander freely, physically, or metaphorically, as Foroohar urges. Be the ﬂaneuse this world didn’t allow to exist. v

Darya Foroohar CHLOE TAN

THEATER

PHOTO ESSAY

History in motion

William Frederking’s dance photography ﬁnds a permanent home at the Newberry Library.

By IRENE HSIAO

Caught in the blink between ﬂight and fall, strands of hair aloft, clothes billowing from the gale force of human motion, the halted vibration of sound mid-scream, vectors intersecting and colliding, an impulse like a waterslide, a parachute, a whisper. We think of dance as motion, fundamentally—and yet, in William Frederking’s photography, we know we are seeing dance distilled into embodied expression, as fleeting presence intercepted by the lens.

“Photographs lie,” Frederking used to tell his students at Columbia College Columbia, where he taught photography from 1983 to 2017. “You control every aspect of the frame, you aim the camera, you select the lens, and you’re the one who presses the shutter—whatever you’re photographing is maybe visually true for 1/30th of a second.”

Yet part of the magic of live performance is its inherent risk—perhaps most so in dance, where the instruments evolve with every pulse and breath and thought. It cannot be controlled. It is simply happening once, now, and never again; it is a moment in history that can never be retrieved. A life is short, and a dancer’s life is shorter: individuals and companies emerge, present, and vanish, a flicker of flash on film.

In recognition of the decades of Chicago dance history preserved in his photography, the Newberry Library is assembling a digital archive of Frederking’s photos. At present, the collection contains about 4,000 selected and scanned images originally shot on film from 1979 to 2006. Eventually, the archive will include his selections from an estimated 300,000–400,000 photographs of Chicago dance to the present day. On August 7, Frederking speaks about his work in the Newberry Colloquium “Transcendence: The Dancer

Clockwise from top le : Mark Schulze and Sabine Fabie Parzer (1995); Jessica Deahr NeVille (2022); Chicago Moving Company (from top) Wendy Taylor

Appling, Julie Schiller Daly, Holly Quinn Rothschild (1995); Darrell Jones (2014) WILLIAM FREDERKING

Portrait Project,” with brief remarks by Alison Hinderliter (the Lloyd Lewis curator of modern manuscripts and selector for modern music at the Newberry), former DCASE commissioner Mark Kelly, and dancers Bril Barrett, Chicago Dance History Project executive director Michael McStraw, and me. Though he began his practice in commercial photography and still lifes, once Frederking began shooting dance, he never stopped.

He has photographed companies such as Hubbard Street, River North Dance Chicago (now defunct), M.A.D.D. Rhythms, Hedwig Dances, the Seldoms, and others, both in the studio and onstage—photographs that, in the 1990s, appeared nearly weekly in the Reader’s “Critic’s Choice” column. (“That was like a badge of honor—I always wanted to be in the Critic’s Choice, because it was usually a bigger picture.”)

Frederking’s dance photography has forever been a passion project, one for which he has never accepted payment. (“It sets up expectations that create di culties for me and I think di culties for the dancers.”) He continues to create in his ongoing Dancer Portrait Project, begun at Links Hall in 2013—one-hour portrait sessions with Chicago dancers in every genre. Frederking first experimented with momentary arrangements of human bodies in a

project he called “Couplings,” in which he took pairs of photographs of couples posed to appear intimate in one and distant in the other.

“Photography was very good at describing the literal space between people,” he notes. Sensing his project’s relationship to choreography, Columbia dance professor Deborah Siegel encouraged him to shoot dance. Frederking began with fellow Columbia faculty member Jan Erkert, whom he remembers remarking, “Bill, you know, I do like what you’re doing, but what’s mainly important is that they’re in focus.”

About his process, he says, “I can’t think. If I’m thinking about whether the next shot is going to be good, I can’t shoot. I have to just say, ‘I’m here. I’ll get what I get.’ A big part of this project for me is letting go of perfection and enjoying the experience of being present.” His words could also describe the practice of dancing. In a dance, I sense everything and remember nothing. The dance passes through me, shapes me, leaves me. Afterward, when we look at the photos, we are both surprised. Neither of us saw it happen, yet there it is.

“I feel like this is the most honest work that I’ve ever made,” says Frederking. “There’s a genuineness and, I guess, transcendence in ephemerality. When I was trying to get perfection, the lies were aplenty—I knew that they had to be at that angle and that moment. In this project, I feel the energy of anybody who’s really, fully present.” v

m letters@chicagoreader.com

Clockwise from top le : Meghann Wilkinson (2014); Marianne Kim (le ) and Peter Carpenter of Xsight! (1995); Carrie Hanson (1999); Haley Marcin (2024); Irene Hsiao (2024) WILLIAM FREDERKING

THEGREENPAGES

Chicago’s dispensaries, products, and resources for the cannabis consumer

THEATER

OPENING

Soulful sweetness

In His Hands explores spirituality and same-sex attraction.

One of the sinister knock-on eﬀects of religious institutions rejecting queer people is how it encourages so many of them to negate inner faith altogether—to throw out the spiritual baby with the holy bath water, if you will.

And then there are people like Daniel (Yuchi Chiu), a young, openly gay Yale Divinity School graduate who views same-sex attraction as part of the same divine tapestry as everything else in God’s creation. His progressive understanding of sexuality is technically recognized by the Lutheran ministries he’s applying to work at, but the reality is a little murkier. It’s also a fraught subject for his crush at his day job, Christian (Alex Benito Rodriguez), a secular gay programming engineer whose relationship with the church has been purely punitive.

Micah Figueroa directs the Chicago premiere production of Benjamin Benne’s one-act romantic drama for First Floor Theater, and by and large, it’s a love story that’s easy to fall in love with. Over reception-desk candy bowl rendezvouses and modern dance Mario Kart 64 sessions (choreography by Emily Brooks), Rodriguez and Chiu maneuver around each other’s needs and their own vulnerabilities on a (sometimes literal) high beam.

But there’s nothing remote or academic in his persona. He’s thoughtful and engaging in his crowd work, whether working with cards or performing rope tricks (framed here as a kind of “time travel” as a cut rope somehow returns to its intact form from moments earlier). He’s played big rooms (he won the coveted trophy on Penn & Teller: Fool Us a few years ago in Vegas), but the intimacy of the Magic Lounge feels tailor-made for this smart and witty evening. —KERRY REID MAGICAL THINKING

Through 9/25: Wed 7 PM; Chicago Magic Lounge, 5050 N. Clark, 312-366-4500, chicagomagiclounge. com, $42.50-$47.50

Reformation

when they kissed us gave us medallions diplomas marked us diﬀerent unlike the others

when they asked where we’re from how we’d learned to speak so good evenings when they called us easy company a soft sunday psalm civility a celebration how they’d saved us from ourselves we laughed shattered glass tickling the backs of our throats

we knew we were wild things and that they hadn’t a clue.

By Kiayla Ryann

—DAN JAKES IN HIS HANDS

Audience mileage, though, is going to vary depending on whether or not viewers can get on board with Benne’s lyrical style of writing and Figueroa’s hyperarticulated style of direction, which both dabble in the tropes of black box preciousness—not quite a dance show, but lots of movement; not quite poetry, but lots of verse. But ultimately, there’s some real soul to be found in the sweetness, and In His Hands makes a compelling case for opening one’s heart, be it to a higher power or just a cute boy down the hall.

Through 8/24: Thu-Sat 8 PM, Sun 3 PM; Den Theatre, 1331 N. Milwaukee, 773-697-3830, firstfloortheater.com or dentheatre.com, $5-$35 (limited number of free tickets available each performance), 16+

R Magical Thinking is smart and entertaining

David Parr makes a welcome return to the Chicago Magic Lounge.

We’re spoiled for choice when it comes to magic practitioners in Chicago, but David Parr is always a good bet for a fun and thought-provoking night out. His current Wednesday-night show at the Chicago Magic Lounge, Magical Thinking, draws a little bit on folklore and history as he outlines the two kinds of thought processes embodied in the title.

There’s sympathetic magical thinking (basically believing that an effect resembles its cause) and contagious, which suggests that whatever is done to an object will affect the person who comes in contact with it. For the latter, Parr pulls out a straw “poppet” or doll, like the one that figured in the Salem witch trials. When it stands up seemingly on its own in his palm, it’s more than a little creepy—and suggests why the contagion of hysteria overtook the Puritan settlement so easily.

Parr, who cocreated the long-running The Magic Cabaret back in 2007 and was the ﬁrst artist in residence at the Magic Lounge when it opened in 2018, has written and lectured extensively on the history of magic.

A little short of celestial Peter and the Starcatcher overstays its welcome.

Because theater lovers love to be dramatic, we constantly divide shows into hits and ﬂops, shows that soar and shows that don’t. But what about all those mid shows—shows that sometimes entertain, but also go a bit long? Such is the case with the current revival of Rick Elice’s 2009 stage adaptation of Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson’s 2004 novel, Peter and the Starcatchers. This modern prequel to J. M. Barrie’s perennially popular 1904 play, Peter and Wendy, is full of charming and witty moments, well-realized in Nate Cohen’s sometimes spritely production.

The show is peppered with terriﬁc actors. Nick Sandys kills as the show’s campy villain, Black Stache. And Shelbi Voss makes a very plucky protagonist; from the moment she steps on stage she wins us over. Voss also has great chemistry with her costar, Terry Bell, who captures perfectly the gawky, awkward, ambivalence of an adolescent boy who does not want to grow up.

What scenic designer Myra G. Reavis does with the stage is a master class in how to use the plainest of materials—planks, simple props, long sheets—to create a multiplicity of diﬀerent settings: the deck of a ship, the open sea, a deserted island. And who could fault Kotryna Hilko’s colorful, eye-pleasing costumes?

But then, when you least expect it, the production loses steam and just lays there. I don’t know if the problem is the material—which is so steeped in Barrie’s original play it becomes predictable—or if it is the production itself. There are just some parts of the play that seem to unfold too slowly. I would not not recommend this show. But I would never tell someone they have to drop everything to see it. Just a few things. And only if it ﬁts in your schedule and budget. —JACK HELBIG PETER AND THE STARCATCHER Through 9/1: Wed 1:30 and 7 PM, Thu 7 PM, Fri 8 PM, Sat 2 and 8 PM, Sun 1 and 5:30 PM; ASL interpretation Fri 8/30; Paramount Copley Theatre, 8 E. Galena, Aurora, 630-8966666, paramountaurora.com, $40-$55 v

Kiayla, a womanist poet, somatic yoga instructor, and performance artist from Chicago’s south suburbs is conducting “liberation experiments”. She explores how embracing one’s authentic self propels collective freedom. Currently ﬁnalizing her ﬁrst poetry collection, Kiayla is also the co-curator of Poet’s Tea and Pleasure, a popup evening of poetry celebrating the liberating power of pleasure. kiaylaryann.com

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

Summer Hours

Wednesday–Saturday: 11:00 AM–5:00 PM

A Bigger Table: 50 Years of the Chicago Poetry Center Celebrating CPC’s ﬁve historic decades, this exhibition will feature 50 broadsides, 50 iconic vintage poetry event posters, archival materials and ephemera, and the premiere of a documentary ﬁlm. Open through September 14, 2024

Learn more at PoetryFoundation.org

Magical Thinking SARAH ELIZABETH LARSON

BUD BILLIKEN PARADE

Sat 8/ 10

Kicks off at 10 AM at Pershing and S. King Drive, heads south to 51st Street in Washington Park, where the It Takes A Village Back to School Festival runs until 4 PM. The parade will also air live on ABC 7 Chicago and abc7chicago.com. budbillikenparade.org

HISTORY

A parade of memories

At the 95th Bud Billiken Parade, the South Side Home Movie Project will feature archival footage from the Ramon Williams Collection.

By MAXWELL RABB

Chicago’s beauty pageant queens, jazz pianist Dorothy Donegan, Chicago Defender paper boys, and professional boxer Joe Louis are just some of the unwitting stars scattered in the archival home movies of Bronzeville electrician Ramon Williams. With a Kodachrome film camera in hand, Williams ventured beyond his doorstep to immortalize the daily life of his community. The amateur filmmaker first picked up the camera in 1943, documenting Chicago and, most poignantly, his south-side neighborhood. Much of this personal footage remained unseen until 2020, when the Williams family donated some 300 archival films to the South Side Home Movie Project (SSHMP), a project of Arts + Public Life (APL) at the University of Chicago. The SSHMP team cataloged a box titled “8–9–48” with an attached Century Centre Cinema business card. Inside the box was a 16 mm film, featuring a lively procession of floats, local businesses, community organizations, and performances by Bronzeville’s youth at the 1948 Bud Billiken Parade—one of many archived reels focused on the largest African American parade in the U.S.

An intimate window into midcentury Bronzeville, Williams’s three-decade archive, spanning 1943 to 1975, is both a monument to amateur ﬁlmmaking and, now, a historical touchstone for south-side Chicago. In par-

ticular, Williams’s footage of the Bud Billiken Parade from the 40s to the 60s underscores the importance of the annual celebration.

On August 10, SSHMP will premiere these ﬁlms as part of the 95th anniversary parade. The organization is scheduled to debut these never-before-seen historical snapshots using large mobile screens driven along the parade route.

“We hope the films will amaze people when they see the luminaries who have walked the parade over the years,” says Jacqueline Stewart, director of APL and a professor at the University of Chicago’s Department of Cinema and Media Studies. “We also hope they spark memories—maybe someone will see themselves or relatives on the big screen!”

After nearly 100

years, the Bud Billiken Parade remains a tentpole for Black communities in Bronzeville and all of Chicago. Its origins trace back to Robert Sengstacke Abbott, founder of the Chicago Defender, who created the parade to celebrate his newsboys—the young boys employed to distribute the papers—and to encourage education and literacy among the youth. This week, the long-standing tradition will be supplemented with a ﬁrsthand perspective: a testament to the enduring spirit of the parade and its community.

“The south side has always been a place with great pride in its families, businesses, arts, and culture,” Stewart says. “Mr. Williams has left us powerful visual reminders that can inspire us today.”

As Williams’s films play along the parade route from Pershing and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive to 51st Street in Washington Park, spectators will encounter more than a few familiar faces. During his time at the parades, Williams witnessed scores of local and international celebrities, such as the aforementioned Donegan playing the piano in Washington Park or boxer Louis as the

parade’s grand marshal in 1948.

Other films capture director-actor Sidney Poitier promoting the release of his 1958 film The Defiant Ones or a parade-going Herman Roberts of the famed south Chicago club Roberts Show Lounge.

Still, Williams was most eager to point his lens at his neighbors—people and events that might otherwise fade from memory. His videos from the parade days feature young people playing at the Chicago Park District’s Madden Park, which no longer exists today, and glimpses of then–small businesses such as Parker House Sausage. His nearly forgotten vision of Chicago summer has become a valuable resource for both historians and community members, helping them better preserve the lives and stories of Bronzeville.

The SSHMP will also move along the parade route, displaying banners handcrafted by students from the Teen Arts Council, an educational endeavor of APL. Led by instructor Simone Scigousky, the students engaged with the historical backdrop of the south side before being tasked to translate their ﬁndings into art forms such as embroidery, applique, and weaving. The work “celebrates themes of Pan-Africanism, Black pride, self-love, and community,” according to a press release.

Besides the parades, Williams videoed several key historical moments, like Althea Gibson clinching her landmark U.S. Nationals win in 1956 and Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie’s

Williams was most eager to point his lens at his neighbors—people and events that might otherwise fade from memory.

A er nearly 100 years, the Bud Billiken Parade remains a tentpole for Black communities in Bronzeville and all of Chicago. RAMON WILLIAMS/SOUTH SIDE HOME MOVIE PROJECT, UCHICAGO ARTS Jazz musician Duke Ellington at the parade in 1955

noteworthy visits to the U.S. in 1963. He filmed the Miss Bronze America pageant in 1943 and the Harlem Globetrotters playing in 1957. Unlike many other archives at SSHMP, Williams’s films cover a broad scope while simultaneously capturing an intimate portrait of Bronzeville’s spirit. As these films are now shown to a new audience, they act as a bridge from the past to the present, ensuring that these rich histories are cherished for generations to come.

In a press statement, Stewart remarks, “The home movies from the Ramon Williams collection offer a window into the past, showcasing the joy, energy, and community spirit that have always defined this parade.” v m letters@chicagoreader.com

Joe Louis and his wife, Marva Trotter, in 1948

For whatever reason, there was a one-nightonly screening at the Alamo Drafthouse last Tuesday of a 4K restoration of Hong Kong ﬁlmmaker Ann Hui’s 2002 drama July Rhapsody. My husband is an especially great admirer of Hui’s ﬁlms, and I’m always eager to see more of them, so to the Drafthouse we went.

The film has Hui’s characteristically quiet grace as it follows a schoolteacher, Lam, who, in the throes of a midlife crisis, develops feelings for a student. But there’s more than meets the eye to this almost peculiarly unassuming family drama. Lam is a teacher of ancient Chinese literature with a personal interest in poetry, and it’s this passion that underlies the otherwise prosaic and potentially sensationalistic happenings—and Hui balances these conﬂicting modes exquisitely. To convey all of this, Hui employs a delicate flashback structure that evokes the past and present concurrently. There’s also an element of national identity that makes this deceptively plain ﬁlm a multilayered consideration of everyday life and the various elements—the poetry, essentially—that su use it.

On Wednesday, I went to see the Highs & Lows revenge-driven double feature of Abel Ferrara’s Ms. 45 (1981) and Jack Hill’s Blaxploitation classic Co y (1973) at the Music Box Theatre. Ms. 45 stars Zoë Tamerlis Lund as a mute New York City garment worker who’s raped twice in one day, after which she goes on an all-male killing spree. It’s decidedly sinister and intense—though both in a “good” way, as it’s a masterwork of a ﬁlm and a high point of exploitation cinema in particular—while Coffy is somewhat lighter, owing to Pam Grier’s “kick ass, take names, and look amazing while doing so” character. Thus, the Coffy chaser was much needed after the particular brutality of Ms. 45, but both are visions to behold on the big screen, and the connection between them leaves much to consider long after viewing.

I was again taken with a film by Agnieszka Holland— A Woman Alone (1981, sometimes translated as A Lonely Woman), which screened at Doc Films on Saturday. Going back to my assertion last week that Holland’s films are brutal, this may be even more so than Ms. 45 or Co y, as it follows a single mother in communist Poland whose myriad problems are relentless. There’s no revenge to be had here, just bitter acceptance of life’s cruelty. These three films track the plight of women in oppressive circumstances, and while it can be cathartic and even fun to watch them get revenge, it’s all the more sobering to realize those scenarios are often based solely in the alternate reality a orded by cinematic invention.

I watched another Polish film, Krzysztof Zanussi’s The Structure of Crystal (1969), before it expired on Mubi; like July Rhapsody, it’s more cerebral than reactive. In the ﬁlm, two friends, both physicists, reunite after a time apart at the rural cottage of one of the men, where he works as a local meteorologist. The other is more of a hotshot and is visiting partly as a ploy to get his friend back into the more glamorous world of Big Science.

The Structure of Crystal predates the cinema of moral concern that deﬁned the most potent of Polish ﬁlms starting in 1976. Its considerations, then, are less explicitly morality focused in that it’s centered on the idea of vocation and what makes for a meaningful life. That’s definitely something this writer can relate to, as I just recently crossed into the second half of my 30s and am wondering what the future holds. Whatever it is, I’m sure it will include cinema.

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.

NOW PLAYING

R Crossing

Unfolding against the backstreet cobblestones and packed tenements of Istanbul, Levan Akin’s sophomore feature Crossing tells a quietly evocative—if familiar—tale of regret and unforeseen connections.

Retired Georgian teacher Lia (Mzia Arabuli) sets out to fulfill her sister’s dying wish of finding her long-lost transgender niece, Tekla, years a er her transphobic parents disowned her. In Lia’s search, she’s saddled with an unlikely companion when a former student’s scrappy, ne’er-do-well younger brother, Achi (Lucas Kankava), hungry to leave his tiny Georgian town behind, offers her Tekla’s new address—on the condition that she take him with her to Istanbul.

Despite their easy chemistry, the ﬁlm’s premise runs the risk of falling into a tired, outdated trope: centering a trans person’s well-meaning yet ignorant cisgender loved ones at the expense of more nuanced explorations of queerness.

It’s the introduction of Crossing’s third lead, trans sex worker–turned–legal volunteer Evrim (Deniz Dumanli), that ultimately elevates it from its more formulaic trappings. Dumanli brings a lived-in warmth to Evrim, whose realistic day-to-day scenes serve as a direct counterpoint to Lia’s assumption that Tekla’s community is deﬁned by isolation and debauchery.

Get showtimes and see reviews of everything playing this week at chicagoreader.com/movies

R Dìdi

In Dìdi, writer-director Sean Wang creates a low-stakes but high-emotion dramedy about the all too familiar pains of coming of age. Thirteen-year-old Taiwanese American boy Chris (Izaac Wang), nicknamed “Dìdi,” precariously navigates the transitional summer from middle to high school, creating videos with his old friends, jumping into skate culture with his new ones, and clumsily navigating social media and budding romance.

It’s a relatable story of a pivotal time in a typical American life. Director Wang weaves the narrow path of presenting his characters through a sympathetic lens but not a saccharine one. Tonally, Dìdi is o en more melancholic than much of the existing coming-of-age fare; there are few grand revelations or sweeping moments. Wang is careful to not create mere empty vessel characters out of Chris’s family. We see true moments of insight and self-reﬂection on the inner lives of sister

It’s Lia who is most o en alone, roaming her niece’s new city like a specter until her two younger companions draw her into the bustling subcultures around her. As Achi enlists Evrim to help them in their search, they ﬁnd themselves in the homes of Istanbul’s tight-knit trans community, and Lia has no choice but to confront the ways in which she could have showed up for Tekla had she confronted the conservative rationale proliferating around her sooner.

As an opening title card points out, Georgian and Turkish languages are gender-neutral. So if gender is inconsequential in our characters’ languages, why should it matter so much in the real world?

An on-the-nose fantasy-realist climax aside, the ﬁlm isn’t interested in pat resolutions for its protagonists’ wanderings. Thanks to Akin’s eloquent character studies, Crossing lingers in the mind far longer than its rudimentary setup would suggest. —ABBY MONTEIL 105 min. Gene Siskel Film Center

Dìdi is about both the words we should say but can’t quite ﬁnd and the times we do speak up but manage to say the wrong thing. It’s about trying to ﬁnd yourself and create an identity, and the varied and shi ing roles we play in the lives of others. It’s a period of trying on new personas and balancing the updated versions of ourselves with the comfort of the familiar roles we play. Chris learns a lesson that many of us eventually realize—exploring and deepening our relationships with close friends and family can be more rewarding than trying to shi who we are to match what we think others want us to be.

And while not everything turns out all right for Chris, time keeps moving forward. As viewers, we’re able to look back with the gi of experience, knowing that these moments—sibling squabbles, friendship ri s, awkward dates—that feel so insurmountable at the time tend to ﬂow past us as we skate along the paths of our lives. —ADAM MULLINS-KHATIB R, 94 min. Limited release in theaters v

Vivian (Shirley Chen), mother Chungsing (Joan Chen), and grandmother Nai Nai (Zhang Li Hua).

Dìdi

A still from Ms. 45 (1981)

MUSIC BOX THEATRE

JASON STEIN TRIO WITH JOSHUA ABRAMS AND GERALD CLEAVER

CHICAGOANS OF NOTE

Jason Stein, bass clarinetist and myofascial trigger point therapist

“The idea of working in the healing arts and being a musician and improviser just makes complete intuitive sense to me.”

As told to BILL MEYER

Many committed improvisers have to work other jobs to survive, but not Jason Stein. The Chicago bass clarinetist stopped giving lessons in December 2015, when his trio Locksmith Isidore (now dormant) began a lengthy series of stadium dates opening for his sister, comedian Amy Schumer. Ever since then, the money he’s made from hometown gigs and tours with Joshua Abrams’s Natural Information Society has kept him free of the need for a side hustle. A versatile support player, Stein has worked with reedist Ken Vandermark, trumpeter Russ Johnson, and drummer Mike Reed, among many others. He also plays in a couple ongoing collaborative ensembles: the electric jazz combo Hearts & Minds (with keyboardist Paul Giallorenzo and drummer Chad Taylor) and a leaderless free-improv trio with bassist Damon Smith and drummer Adam Shead. As a bandleader, he’s made four records with Locksmith Isidore and three more under his own name since 2008—a modest number in a field where some musicians put out records every other month.

This year, though, Stein is taking on a new line of work—not out of necessity but as a calling. In spring 2024, he graduated from the Soma Institute in Chicago with a diploma in clinical massage therapy. This summer he’ll begin a practice treating chronic pain out of a north-side office he shares with Sharon Sauer, founder and director of the Myo Pain Relief Center. She will supervise Stein’s progress as he becomes a certified myofascial trigger point therapist (CMTPT).

Stein continues to grow as a musician as well. On Anchors , his first album as a leader in six years (due in September via New York–based label Tao Forms), he plays with more emotional range, technical nuance, and purpose than he ever has. Produced by Stein and mononymic guitarist-composer Boon, Anchors is mainly a trio record with bassist Joshua Abrams and drummer Gerald Cleaver. The turbulent “Cold Water” takes its name from an immersion practice Stein has used to build resilience and confidence; “An Origin” uses a seething mass of sound to evoke the muscle tension that causes chronic pain, then releases it by easing into a patiently varied groove. The trio will play a concert at the Hungry Brain on Tuesday, September 10, to celebrate the record’s release.

The history of trigger point therapy goes back to Janet Travell, who was JFK’s White House doctor. She discovered these trigger points in muscles, coined the phrase, and did a bunch of research. She worked in rehabilitation. I think she became JFK’s doctor because he had pretty severe back issues. She was fully convinced that [trigger point therapy] was going to become integrated into our culture, that everyone would know how to do it on themselves, do it on other people—it would just become a part of our normal world. It hasn’t really become that. Part of what I’m interested in doing is to help the practice along.

What drew me to trigger point therapy was dealing with an injury on my own body and pretty simultaneously an injury on my expartner’s body as well. It seems to be the case with a lot of people: You can have a chronic injury. You see a doctor. There’s no clear explanation—it’s a statistical analysis based on your symptoms to determine what you might have going on. Then maybe you see a physical therapist, and for a lot of people, that doesn’t really take care of the problem. A lot of times there’s no clear solution that makes sense exactly of what you have going on.

I had a problem where my jaw hurt all the time. It was clearly playing related. I saw a bunch of di erent people. Everybody explains the problem through their own practice, and nothing helps, so I was kind of like, OK, I’m going to have to sort this out on my own or it’s not going to get sorted. I found my way to this thing called trigger point therapy, which deals with tight muscle patterns and figuring out what muscles are contributing to the pain that you’re having.

A huge part of that has to do with what’s called referred pain, which is the idea that you can have pain in a certain part of your body, but the primary muscles that are contributing to the pain might be localized somewhere else. That really spoke to me. It’s really clear and rational and scientiﬁc, and so there’s ways to experiment with it on your own. I just [found] this pattern of muscles that, when I ﬁgured out how to release them, my pain went away. It was really clear and quick and e ective.

A very similar thing happened with my ex-partner. She had extremely debilitating lower back episodes where she wouldn’t be able to walk for ﬁve days, she’d be in bed for

MUSIC

continued from p. 23

two weeks, she’d be out of work for almost a month. And it was the same deal. She saw a million different specialists. She had a few bulging discs in her lower back that was kind of the active thing to deal with, but then dealing with that didn’t help.

She eventually saw a spinal surgeon who was really cool. He was like, “I’m going to be honest with you. Yeah, you have some bulging discs in your back, and I can tell you that that’s the nature of your problem. But the reality is, somebody else could come in with exactly the same MRI, same bulging discs, and have absolutely no pain. Honestly, we don’t really understand anything about the back. So I can

“Becoming a myofascial trigger point therapist in no way moves me away from my relationship with or practice of music. I see this practice as an expansion of the desire to connect and heal in community, which feels like the core of music at its best.”

give you the surgery—maybe that would help. I’m not really sure what else to tell you.” And it was the same deal—like, no one can help. And so eventually, I was like, maybe I can help you figure it out, in a similar way to what happened with my jaw. We worked with somebody else who was a trigger point specialist, and it was the same deal. She had these trigger points, and I helped her release those muscles. Once we did that, she never had an issue again.

I’ve always been interested in the body and medicinal stu and problem-solving in general. The fact that it worked so well for both of us really drew my attention, and I would just bring it up with people. Seventy-five percent of people that I talk to, if we talk long enough, they’ll tell me about some kind of pain that they have and it sucks, but they’ve just decided it’s just a part of their life, and that’s how it has to be. So I would mess with that with other people and expand on it, and it just became a part of my world. But I never thought of it as something that I wanted to do professionally.

And then about two years ago, just partly be-

cause of changed circumstances, partly because I got more interested in stuff, I decided to go to school to get a clinical massage license in order to be able to focus on actually being a trigger point specialist—really work with people and integrate it into more of a professional kind of situation. But it started with trying to solve my own problem.

Trigger points are tight bands of muscle fibers that get kind of tangled up, like yarn gets tangled up, and make a little knot. When that knot happens, it traps chemicals, pretty speciﬁc chemicals, and you can’t get oxygen into that part of your muscle. That tightness can create a pattern where your muscle yanks on other muscles and tendons in this kind of chain of events.

So the practice itself is finding where you have these trigger points: One, figuring out what the pattern is that’s in your body that’s contributing to where you’re having pain. And then two, the manual process of releasing the trigger points that you have.

A part of playing an instrument is causing tension in the body. It doesn’t have to be debilitating, but show me an instrument and I’ll tell you where the tension is happening. With something like saxophone or the instrument that I play, the bass clarinet, that involves a neck strap—you have a strap that’s yanking on the back of your neck, and a lot of people lean over forward. You’re supporting the instru-

ment at least partially with your arms; that involves muscles in your chest and your shoulder, your arms and hands. You have to work in order to even move your ﬁngers to play it.

And drummers are sitting the entire time they’re playing and moving their thigh up and down, which causes tension in this muscle in

the top of your thigh called your iliopsoas muscle. When that muscle gets tight, it yanks forward on your spine and can cause you really severe pain in your lower back. A lot of drummers have lower back pain. I’ve heard this over and over again: “Oh, my back hurts all the time. It’s because I have to carry all this equipment—it’s brutal.” Carrying equipment can definitely cause lower back issues, but a lot of times, it’s because of what drummers are having to do with their legs while they’re playing. So you work on the speciﬁc muscles in the front of the upper thigh, and it changes the situation in their back. Tension patterns are involved in playing di erent instruments, and it’s different for every instrument, but it’s pretty easy to see once you think about it.

One of my inspirations is Milford Graves, who I was around for a while when I went to school at Bennington years ago. The idea of working in the healing arts and being a musician and improviser just makes complete intuitive sense to me. It feels like a calling, and that’s similar to being an improviser and working hard to improve at an instrument.

I have the space in my world to take on a practice like this and work pretty consistently during the day. But I have no intention of slowing down as a musician at all. I’d love to integrate it with touring, to see people while I’m out of town. The more that I can integrate working as a trigger point therapist into being a musician, the better for me.

The way that I’m playing on Anchors has to do with continuing to learn and improve on my instrument. Especially over COVID [lockdowns], I really studied and experimented with how I can control airspeed on my instrument, and I made some slight changes in my

This summer Jason Stein begins his practice treating chronic pain in an oﬃ ce he shares with Sharon Sauer of the Myo Pain Relief Center. ASH DYE

embouchure to control my sound a lot more. There was more room for me to be expressive and deal with content that was meaningful to me at a wider range of volumes and intensities. So part of the nature of that record is me just being able to play more the way that I’ve always wanted to, maybe trying to play a little bit more poetically, less sheerly energetically. But also the record is about my relationship with these things that I call “anchors,” that are physical practices that I’ve been doing for some years now that help me as a musician. I’m giving musical representation to some of these practices that I do.

“Being

MUSIC

could be shaped to emulate my practices and ideas.

When Steven Joerg first approached me about making a record for Tao Forms, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do. I was most likely going to do another record that didn’t dig into anything personal or poetic, out of habit. In talking to Boon about the opportunity to make this record, she had the idea of making it more of a personal expression, dealing with my own evolution as a person and musician and the practices I’ve leaned on in times of transition that have sustained me.

These practices, or anchors, include trigger point therapy (“An Origin”), a breath-holding exercise I do every day that allows me to hold my breath for up to four minutes while completely relaxing (“Holding Breath”), ice water baths (“Cold Water”), tending to the fragile balance between relationships and stagnation (“Crystalline”), and the way little blessings and moments of luck can grace our path when we least expect it (“Boon”).

This idea of making a different sort of record resonated tremendously with me. I had been disenchanted about the idea of consistently making music about music itself and wanted to express a more personal statement about my development. So Boon and I experimented with different sounds I was able to get on my horn and how those sounds

And then she wrote conceptual compositions. These were descriptions of ideas for the musicians to consider when playing the individual pieces and descriptions of sounds to consider dealing with in order to emulate speciﬁc feelings and concepts—similar in style to composers like Pauline Oliveros or John Cage, who wrote entire compositions using very specific, succinct, and well-chosen language without musical notation. And I wrote music in traditional notation to work alongside the descriptions, to give specific content for us to play. Before digging into any written music in the recording, Josh and Gerald read Boon’s conceptual compositions to gain an understanding of what the music means and signiﬁes. This record is about the interwoven relationship between the body and music. And it is about reaching a place where I can help others in their healing process in the ways others have helped me. Becoming a myofascial trigger point therapist in no way moves me away from my relationship with or practice of music. I see this practice as an expansion of the desire to connect and heal in community, which feels like the core of music at its best.

I have great admiration for artists who weave spiritual practice into the bloodline of their work and take their growth as a person as seriously as—and impossible to separate from—their artistic expression. I think that’s lost for a lot of people. I think it was lost in me for a time. Being able to play an instrument well, with no intention or meaning, is usually not so interesting. What’s the point of being good with a tool if you don’t know what you’re making? I’m asking for more from myself, and I’m grateful to have arrived at that pursuit. v

Anchors is Jason Stein’s ﬁ rst album as a bandleader in six years.

Chicago’s Holy Joke make wistful alt-country on a new EP

Recommended and notable shows with critics’ insights for the week of August 8

THURSDAY8

Part of the Hideout series the Singer and the Song. Fri 8/9, 9 PM, Hideout, 1354 W. Wabansia, $12, $15.25 in advance. 21+

NEWISH CHICAGO FOUR-PIECE HOLY JOKE , assembled by singersongwriter Greg Taylor, has been building up steam for the past year with a busy gigging schedule and a smattering of Bandcamp singles. Taylor recorded the ﬁrst Holy Joke EP, 2023’s No Way Home, as a solo a air, but for the project’s self-titled second EP, which came out last month, he’s joined by guitarist Max Berg, drummer Jonah Penningroth, and bassist Mike Vendiola. Holy Joke celebrated the EP with a release party at Cole’s—and with a set at one of the “Secret River Shows” hosted by the self-proclaimed King of the River, Lawrence Tome, on a concrete bridge pile in the middle of the Chicago River at Belmont. Holy Joke’s heartfelt, wistful alt-country recalls Wilco and Blitzen Trapper. It has the vibes of a long-distance road trip, but it’s also steeped in the musical life of Chicago. (Is that an Uncle Tupelo shoutout I hear in “Quiet on Division”?) Taylor adapts to the full-band dynamic on Holy Joke, developing a fresh songwriting style that explores

what his comrades can do. “Calico Socks” has a playful shu e reminiscent of the Grateful Dead, and “Oregon’’ moves with a slow, eerie heft and surprising crunch. Berg’s heartstring-plucking pedal steel is the MVP on “Wouldn’t Call It Love,” which feels so taut with yearning that it could explode at any second. Holy Joke have shown they know how to leave us wanting more—their most substantial release so far is six songs long—and I’m already looking forward to their ﬁrst full-length, whenever it may come.

This show is part of the Hideout’s the Singer and the Song series, where three local Americana acts (broadly defined) each perform a full set, share stories, cover a song by another Chicago artist, and present a new original tune inspired by a word prompt supplied in advance. Joining Holy Joke on the bill are up-and-comer Nikki Morgan and beloved Chicago country mainstays the Lawrence Peters Outﬁt.

—MONICA KENDRICK

Phil Yates & the Affiliates XYZXYZ and Surgery Cult open. 8 PM, Cobra Lounge, 235 N. Ashland, $18.50, $15 in advance. 17+

Some singer-songwriters like to bask in their dark sides. Not Phil Yates. With his band the Affiliates, this Chicagoan makes indie rock and power pop where he comes across like a generally nice guy who wears his heart on his sleeve and finds joy in the little things. On “My Favorite Bag,” off 2018’s Party Music!, he compares a romantic relationship to the dependable comfort of a trusty knapsack: “Wherever I go, I want you beside me,” he sings, “or me with you, wherever that might be.” Yates started the Affiliates in 2010 in Burlington, Vermont, before relocating here and relaunching the group (he’s also an associate professor in the mathematical sciences department at DePaul). The Chicago lineup, with Richard Bandini (guitar, percussion), Jay Lyon (bass, keyboard, guitar), and Bill Urban (drums), make their first album appearance on 2022’s A Thin Thread , pushing the band’s sound away from its early folk leanings and more toward straight-ahead rock. A Thin Thread also features some of Yates’s catchiest hooks yet, whether in a sugary power-pop tune (“I Can’t Wait”), a dusky ballad (“Ode to a Café Waitress in Montréal”), or a smoldering confessional (“Smithereens”). Last year, Yates released a collection of basement recordings, Short Corner , via Pittsburgh label Unread Records, and he’s been traveling out east to play some acoustic solo dates. For this Cobra Lounge show, the Affiliates will be a four-piece (Bandini, who’s le the group, will return for the occasion), and they say they’re working on new material—maybe we’ll get a preview.

—JAMIE LUDWIG

FRIDAY9

Casa Desmadre Fuerza Bruta headline; Callejera, Killmoves, and Repent open. 8 PM, Schubas, 3159 N. Southport, $20, $15 in advance. 18+

Casa Desmadre upstairs DJ sets by Blesstonio, La Dancy Nancy, Vales Madre, and SadBXIII. 9 PM, Schubas, 3159 N. Southport, $10, free with admission to downstairs show (subject to capacity). 21+.

HOLY JOKE, NIKKI MORGAN, THE LAWRENCE PETERS OUTFIT

HANNAH FARAJPANAHI

Phil Yates LUKE AWTRY PHOTOGRAPHY

MUSIC

This Friday, Chicago art collective Ruidosa! takes over both floors of Schubas with Casa Desmadre (“messy house”), which promises to be a rager you’ll still be talking about next summer. The downstairs bill showcases Latine rock bands from Chicago and elsewhere in the midwest, and there’s not a buzzkill in the bunch. Chicago trio Repent play noisy, fuzzedout punk with irreverently salacious lyrics about bodily fluids and deicidal daydreams. Local fourpiece Killmoves swing for the ra ers with stadiumsize alternative rock, metal, and hardcore. Indianapolis five-piece Callejera combine an explosively feisty mix of stripped-down punk, shoegaze, emo, and hardcore with the mighty pipes of Mia Rivas, who has the range to soothe your soul, taunt her haters, and summon demons from the netherworld. To close the night, Chicago scene veterans Fuerza Bruta tear down the house with adrenaline-soaked hardcore spiked with street punk and oi—if you’re not bouncing off the walls and shouting choruses along with the crowd, you’re doing it wrong. The upstairs lounge at Schubas hosts the other half of Casa Desmadre, a dance party DJed by local artists Blesstonio, La Dancy Nancy, Vales Madre, and SadBXIII. It’s free if you’ve already paid for the rock show, $10 if you haven’t, and it should be just the thing if you’re more a lover than a fighter (or a little of column A and a little of column B).

—JAMIE LUDWIG

Holy Joke See Pick of the Week on page 26. Part of the Hideout series the Singer and the Song. Nikki Morgan and the Lawrence Peters Outﬁt open. 9 PM, Hideout, 1354 W. Wabansia, $12, $15.25 in advance. 21+

Knumears Big|Brave headline; Jeromes Dream, Spiritual Poison, and Knumears open. 8 PM, Beat Kitchen, 2100 W. Belmont, $20, $26.96 in advance. 17+

Los Angeles screamo trio Knumears take their name from “You and Me, Screaming Numb Ears,” a thrash-

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UPCOMING SHOWS

AUG 17

ing monster of a track by 90s emoviolence pioneers Honeywell. Their wonky spelling of the title nods to Knumears’ careening, overwhelming style of screamo—and acknowledges that even the best screamo vocalists sing in shredded smears, as though they’re vomiting swarms of bees. (The lyrics to “Screaming Numb Ears” are hard to decipher, but last fall, Honeywell bassist Bobby Sell told Tone Glow founder and Reader contributor Joshua Minsoo Kim that the song is about sexism.) Knumears guitaristvocalist Matthew Cole explained in a May interview with YouTuber TakeBreakKazu that his lyrics draw heavily on the close relationship he had with his grandmother. I can’t reliably understand him while the band are in motion, but he launches his verses with such force and heart that I really wish I could.

Knumears started posting music online in 2020, and their earliest formal releases, from early in 2022, sound like they were recorded in a concrete

WITH LEE FIELDS

AUG 11 IRATION AND PEPPER .... . THE SHED WITH DENM AND ARTIKAL SOUND SYSTEM

AUG 13 THE MAR Í AS ....... .FAIRGROUNDS WITH AUTOMATIC

AUG 15–16 PARTYNEXTDOOR ...... . THE SHED AUG 23 UMPHREY’S MCGEE .. .FAIRGROUNDS WITH EGGY AND STOLEN GIN

AUG 24 THE DILLINGER ..... .FAIRGROUNDS

ESCAPE PLAN WITH TRASH TALK, SECRET CHIEFS 3, THE WORLD IS A BEAUTIFUL PLACE & I AM NO LONGER AFRAID TO DIE AND NO MEN

AUG 28 GLEN HANSARD ........ . THE SHED WITH TROUSDALE ON SALE NOW

Callejera play as part of Casa Desmadre on Friday. COURTESY THE ARTIST

Knumears MATT BRADY

MUSIC

bunker. Their jarring outbursts and comforting melodic interludes immediately got a lot of people curious about the band, and the cavernous lo-ﬁ murk of those recordings ampliﬁed the intrigue. At the end of 2022, Knumears self-released their debut album, A Shout to See, and it’s quite a bit clearer— which paradoxically makes their propulsive thrashing feel even rawer by sharpening all its rough

edges. It’s easier to parse Cole’s words, though his vocals are just as blown-out and ragged: his voice cracks on “Wish I Was,” and his harried bleating on “Wednesday” sounds like he’s trying to claw his way out of a ravine. In April, Knumears released “No Count” on a four-way Larry Records screamo split with three bands in their orbit: Catalyst, Party Hats, and Vs Self. The track opens with a doomy, rumbling melody and then explodes into a ﬁreball freakout—just what you want out of a screamo band. —LEOR GALIL

Steve Roach 9 PM, Epiphany Center for the Arts, 201 S. Ashland, $53.05. 21+

Does the desert have a sound? For more than 40 years, ambient pioneer Steve Roach has attempted to translate the arid breezes, pastel skies, and mutant landscapes of the rural Southwest into imaginative treats that melt languidly into the ears like devotional candles. As a teenager in the 1970s, he’d carve lines in the sand while motocross racing—an experience he says taught him to be present and alert and helped him develop the ability to tune in to a moment with all his senses. Roach was born in southern California, and he’s spent much of his life in rough but picturesque places, including Joshua Tree and the Sonoran Desert, where he relocated in the early 1990s. He’s always been grounded by parched mountains set against expanses of water and sky, and he’s written dozens of electronic albums about beholding the magnificence of nature. While Roach has remained loyal to these themes, he’s also exercised a vast freedom to experiment in his approach, and as a result he’s been on the forefront of many sonic trends. In the 1990s, for instance, he helped popularize the use of the

didgeridoo in electronic music—and it soon leaked into the club-music space via songs such as Aphex Twin’s 1992 single “Digeridoo.” But Roach’s biggest contribution to the ambient canon has come from his explorations with structure.

Roach’s third album, 1984’s Structures From Silence, became a landmark in electronic music for the way it wandered aimlessly, defying all traditional logic of beat and melody while capturing something curious and ethereal. The album art has the lowtech but futuristic quality of early CGI, reminiscent of the cover of an 80s math textbook; it’s a ﬂat blue frame around a gradient blue surface, above which rise pixelated red, green, blue, and white diamonds, with one breaking the top of the frame. But the music on Structures From Silence is as free-form and magical as the spirit at the heart of an epic fantasy ﬁlm (and The Neverending Story was, coincidentally, released the same year). The album is intensely introspective and warm, with currents that shimmer, glide, and cascade to create a constant sense of discovery and renewal. This 40th-anniversary celebration of Structures gives us the chance to experience Roach’s work in a space of worship (the Epiphany Arts Center was originally a church), enhanced by architecturally mapped video projections—an ideal setup for the kind of deep-listening exercise this music was made for. —MICCO CAPORALE

SATURDAY10

Hannah Frances See also Sun 8/11. Whitney headline. 8 PM, Thalia Hall, 1807 S. Allport, advance tickets sold out. 17+

I’ve been lucky enough to have spent quality time in Vermont over the past few years. Accustomed as I am to Chicago’s dinner-plate ﬂatness, I ﬁnd it helps me reset just to see the green hillsides roll by on the stretch of Interstate 89 between Burlington and Montpelier. I wonder if Chicago-based singer-songwriter and guitarist Hannah Frances felt something similar when she decamped to Vermont to write and record her breakout album, March’s Keeper of the Shepherd (Ruination). Frances’s lush,

refined folk transports me to those verdant rural landscapes. On the title track, her busy tumble of dry guitar picking evokes the crackling of a campﬁre, while subtle scene-setting touches—pedal steel guitar that weeps in the background, pitter-pattering drums that skip and dance like stray sparks— seem to illuminate the natural world that’s just outside the ring of light and warmth. Death haunts Frances’s lyrics; her father died early in the writing of Keeper of the Shepherd , and she wrestles with the impermanence of our lives and the vulnerability of the natural world. She’s a powerhouse vocalist and a precise performer, and she conveys the many moods of her grief in a broad but tightly controlled vibrato. Frances’s command of every detail on Keeper of the Shepherd allows the beauty and sadness at the core of her songs to ﬂower. —LEOR GALIL

SUNDAY11

Hannah Frances See Sat 8/10. Whitney headline. 8 PM, Thalia Hall, 1807 S. Allport, $32.50, $50 balcony, opera boxes sold out. 17+

MONDAY12

Teke::Teke Helicopter Leaves open. 8 PM, Schubas, 3159 N. Southport, $18, $16 in advance. 18+

Imagine music made by the bitter ghost of a Japanese schoolgirl who’s been ripped in half by a runaway train and now drags her torso around seeking vengeance—that’s Teke::Teke. OK, the music isn’t actually as dark as the Japanese urban legend behind the band’s name, but these Montreal-based psychedelic rockers have the beguiling menace of a

spectral schoolgirl who could bisect you on a whim. The group, composed entirely of Japanese expats, initially formed as a trio paying tribute to Takeshi Terauchi, the god of Japanese surf rock, then grew to be a seven-piece melting pot fronted by mischievous multidisciplinary artist Maya Kuroki.

Even acknowledging the wide variety of Japanese psych rock, it’d shortchange the breadth of Teke::Teke’s inﬂuences to consider them just a Japanese psych-rock band. Writing for Range , critic Stephan Boissonneault argues that the band could only have arisen from Montreal’s DIY scene, where a punk sensibility guides a robust ecosystem of classically trained musicians who produce wildly experimental music. Last year’s Hagata (Kill Rock Stars)—a word for the dental impression le a er a bite—opens with the blistering, rollicking “Garakuta,” which colors its jolly grotesqueries with the kick of Japanese folk rhythms and flourishes of trombone and traditional flute. Kuroki maniacally spits lyrics, her distorted voice warbling and weaving, then switches up in the breakdown to speak plainly in Japanese—she sounds like an answering-machine message that might appear in the middle of a 90s Britpop song.

Teke::Teke are especially distinguished by how they foreground the flute, which comes through best in “Me No Heya.” This short instrumental track opens with a serene, jazzy flute solo punctuated by lightly plucked acoustic guitar and smeared with mild rushes of horns. It’s cinematic in a nostalgic way—it’d feel at home alongside Henry Mancini’s orchestrations in a contemplative scene from Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Then the flute fades, and the track surges in a more modern direction with pensive guitar strumming and Kuroki’s quiet, eerie wail. This quick but remarkably emotive journey ends by bringing back the flute, its quiet fluttering as anxious as it is beautiful. Teke::Teke are mostly so and surprising, but they’re absolutely lethal where it counts.

—MICCO CAPORALE v

Steve Roach COURTESY THE ARTIST

continued from p. 27

Hannah Frances GABRIELLE GREENBERG

Teke::Teke COURTESY THE ARTIST

A furry ear to the ground of the local music scene

ON SATURDAY, AUGUST 10 , a new experimental multimedia space opens its doors in Humboldt Park. Visual artist and computer scientist X.A. Li and sound artist and composer Estlin Usher will inaugurate Leisure with a one-day exhibit of time-based work called “Day of Leisure,” which brings together six local artists in diﬀerent mediums. Li and Usher are married, and since 2019 they’ve been collaborating on experimental media artwork and what they call “artiﬁcial industrial” sounds under the name Post Consumer Material . The couple built Leisure in part to serve as their own studio between events.

“We wanted to have a platform to help artists try out new things, to showcase the very diﬀerent practices across media that are happening around the city,” Li says. “Our vision is not so much having regular programming every single week but having a platform for very infrequent, very unusual, but also very special shows—where people can see exciting new art, where people can build community.” Li and Usher’s approach to Leisure draws on their own work. “Our practices are spanning so many different media,” Li says. “We have this fun privilege of seeing diﬀerent slices of the Chicago artistic scene. We’ve done things in music venues before, we’ve done things in art galleries before, and I’m really inspired by taking things that might be atypical in one context and fusing them in a syncretic way—across context, across media.”

“Day of Leisure” features interdisciplinary performance artist Rin Peisert, sound artist Oliver Beltrán-Mendoza, experimental composer and improviser Norman W. Long, interdisciplinary artist Nayeon Yang , improviser and composer Molly Jones , and audiovisual artist Hunter Whitaker-Morrow. “Everyone’s been very excited,” Usher says. “Once they get in the space, they start thinking about what they could do that’s maybe a little diﬀerent than ‘It’s a gig, I’m gonna set up and play.’ It’s really exciting to see the gears turning.”

“Day of Leisure” runs from 4–10 PM. It’s free, though donations are encouraged; when you RSVP online at leisure.place, you’ll get an email that includes the space’s address.

CHICAGO ARTS AND CULTURE magazine Gush published its ﬁrst issue earlier this summer, with coverage of local fashion, visual art, puppetry, and music (including proﬁles of DJ Tommaso and posthardcore band Ira Glass) alongside poetry, a crossword puzzle, and an essay about skating in Chicago. On Friday, August 9, the Gush team host a launch party for issue two. “The joke dra title right now is ‘It’s Summer and All Anyone Cares About Is Music Issue,’” says founder and edi-

tor in chief Travis Alex “We didn’t really plan on that.”

Alex got the idea for a bold, full- color magazine with glossy covers in part from reading zines made by their friends in the arts—they liked the contents, but they wanted to include more things and reach more people. “I met Travis through the music scene and I really like their ideas—how they approach the stuff that they were involved in,” says Jackson Fabiyi , director of photography for Gush . “I was like, ‘Cool, let’s see if there’s actual, you know, work in progress.’” Fabiyi plays in indie-rock trio Inkjet with Alex (and in punk band Brinstarr with rapper-producer Sidaka). Alex hosted the first Gush planning meeting in January, though they say it was more of a party. In the ensuing months, they’ve assembled a core group of ten who convene biweekly to shape the magazine’s editorial vision. Gush publishes once every two months, though Alex hopes to make it monthly; they’ve received enough feedback to know that the magazine has a healthy pool of potential readers eager to see their artistic communities in print. “It’s this very visceral, human thing to put something in someone’s hands,” Alex says, “as opposed to just, like, the same thing as a show poster that’s on Instagram that you’re just gonna blow by.”

GOSSIP WOLF

Quimby’s has copies of the debut issue, and the Gush team plan to distribute the magazine more widely soon. Issue two (with a cover profile of Precocious Neophyte in English and Korean) will be available at Friday’s launch party, where the ﬁrst 40 guests get a free copy. The party is being held at a DIY space, and you can message Gush on Instagram (@gush.mag) for the address.

ON THURSDAY, AUGUST 8 , Salt Shed ’s outdoor grounds host the World’s Largest Karaoke with help from Amber Mueller and Ryan Murphy, who run Cafe Mustache’s karaoke nights. The idea came from Empty Bottle Presents, and Murphy got wind of it from Bottle managing partner Matt Ciarleglio. “He asked me if I would host it,” Murphy says. “I don’t even think I paused. I was just like, ‘Yeah, OK, so what are the details?’”

Murphy works as Cafe Mustache’s bar man-

ager and fronts local rock band Vamos ; he started hosting Sunday karaoke at Crown Liquors , then took the show to Cafe Mustache after the venue expanded into the space next door (and added a stage and a PA system) in spring 2015. Fans threw themselves into karaoke nights with almost religious fervor.

“There was a line out the door,” Murphy says. “That went on for a while. It was always fun; people treated it like it was a mass or a service. Everyone would show up, ’cause it was a really nice outlet for musicians and artists to kinda fuck oﬀ.”

Murphy and Mueller emphasize gooﬁ ness at their karaoke nights, which sometimes involve a fog machine and a leaf blower. To prepare for the World’s Largest Karaoke, they’ve hosted four satellite events, with two winners from each guaranteed a spot at the Salt Shed blowout. Otherwise, Murphy says, anyone who shows up Thursday has a shot of performing, regardless of when they arrive. He hopes to turn the World’s Largest Karaoke into the same sort of party he knows how to start at Cafe Mustache; admission is free (though it’s a good idea to register), and the singing starts at 5 PM. —LEOR GALIL Got a tip? Tweet @Gossip_Wolf or email gossipwolf@chicagoreader.com.

CLASSIFIEDS

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 Bus Admin or a rel ﬂd + 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].

Installers Needed NOW

Seeking experienced installers for windowswindows,siding siding, and doors. Must have liability + workers comp insurance, truck and tools. Apply now! Polish speakers welcome!

Contact: 773-800-9466

TECHNICAL

Yum Connect LLC is accepting resumes for the following position in CHICAGO, IL: Sr. Software Engineer REF7306490: Design, develop and support a critical front-end React web application. Telecommuting permitted. Send resume to Yum Connect LLC Yum.Recruitment@yum.com. EOE. Must include REF code.

Chuangyi Metals Corp is seeking an Operations Manager to maintain constant communication with president, staﬀ, and vendors to ensure proper operations of the company; Develop, implement, and maintain quality assurance standards and etc. Position requires a Master’s degree in Business Administration or related, any interested applicants can mail their resume with code CY24 to: Chuangyi Metals Corp, 3939 S. Karlov Ave, Chicago, IL 60632.

Project Manager Project Manager: Responsible for success of project through the system development lifecycle. Manage project timelines, track & measure project status, ensure quality deliverables are produced; manage project budget, scope, & backlog, & manage project risk, blockers, & escalations. Manage communication w/clients & act as the liaison between client & development team. Participate in kickoﬀ, requirement, status, demonstration, & training meetings w/clients. $61,900.00/yr.

Reqd: Bach’s deg in Computer Science, Computer Engg, or rel. ﬂd. Resumes to: Americaneagle.com,

Attn: HR, 2600 S. River Rd., Des Plaines, IL 60018

Health Care Service Corporation seeks Lead Data Scientist (Chicago, IL) to provide advanced math & stats concepts & theories to analyze & collect data & construct solutions to business problems. REQS a bachelor’s in a related ﬁeld (3 or 4 yr degree). Hybrid 2 days a week. Email resume to hrciapp@bcbsil. com & ref Lead Data Scientist / # R0034528. EOE.

Associate Attorney Associate Attorney, Baker & McKenzie LLP, Chicago, Illinois - Remain current on corporate law; draft memoranda, legal opinions, & client-related documents; conduct corporate legal research; advise on cross-border corporate projects. Must have a JD, LLM, or foreign equivalent & 6 months exp. in corporate law, incl.: researching ﬁnancial transactions, coordinating client projects related to financial investments, & developing related clients. Must be licensed to practice law in Illinois. Experience may be gained concurrently. Eligible for telecommuting 2 days per week within commuting distance of Chicago. Apply online at www.bakermckenzie. com/careers

ENGINEERING Fortinet, Inc. has the following opening(s) in Chicago, IL: Tech Sppt Engr [2040706TS] Anlyze & rslv iss & f/u on tech cases til closure. Sal: $130K-$135K/yr. Email resume to hekim@ fortinet.com. Must ref. job title w/code.

Investment Analysts

RiverNorth Capital Management, LLC seeks Investment Analysts for our oﬃce in Chicago, IL. Employ core fin. math & markets theory. Use VB code integrations w/ Excel (“macros\”), PowerPoint, Bloomberg, FactSet, Morningstar Direct, & Adobe InDesign. Appy exp. w/ arbitrage strategies, long-short strategies, fund-of-funds & investment strategies. Apply exp. w/ securities, asset classes & structures incl. hedge, closed-end, exchange-traded, openend mutual & interval funds, & bus. dev. companies, stocks, special purpose acquisition companies, master ltd partnerships, warrants, rights, preferred shares, bonds, options, futures, swaps & tender option bond trusts. Must show CFA cert. or progress toward CFA. At times, must work outside of normal bus. or mkt hours, including weekends. Must have master’s in finance, MBA, related or equiv. + 1 yr. exp. Email

resume to hr@rivernorth. com. No calls. EOE.

Investment Analyst

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Sr. Food ScientistPerform formula commercialization, ingredient substitution, clean label formulations & adapt formulations. Present initial feasibility factors. Utilize quality improvement methodology. Determine mfg process flow. Organize production trials. Innovate R&D process flow. *Work is at the Employer’s HQ office - 238 Tubeway Dr, Carol Stream, IL 60188; no travel involved. Min Reqs: Master’s in Food Sci, Food Process Engnrng, or closely rltd field + 1 yr exp in occupation rltd to Food Scientist. Must possess 1 yr exp in the following: Developing clean label food products per FDA regs; Conceptualizing & creating acidified food & condiment products per 21 CFR Part 114; Replacing chem preservatives w/ natural additives to food products; Creating food products in compliance with FSPCA; Organizing safety & mfg records in compliance with HACCP regs; Calculating mass balance equations to obtain yield, cycle time, & cost reduction on food products; Performing food consistency measurements using a Bostwick Consistometer or Brookfield Viscometer; Taking acidity measurements using a pH Potentiometer; Creating nutritional labels using a nutrition label software such as Recipal or Formulator. Resume to Fresh Factory Manufacturing LLC at info@thefreshfactory.co

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TheMathCompany is seeking a Associate Principal – Customer Success for Chicago, IL office. Manage existing client engagements & drive growth in new tech & accts. Pos is ﬁxed based

in Chicago, IL office; however, telecommuting is permitted 100% of the time. To apply, send cover letter & CV to Yuvaraj.r@ themathcompany. com. Req. #6878012

TECHNICAL HYDY, Inc. is accepting resumes for Senior Analyst, Operations Data Science in Chicago, IL. Design, develop and maintain key operations processes, data models, and templates to enable Operations team to scale. Telecommuting Permitted. Send resumes to: people@heyday.co. Must reference: REF#JE-SAN.

Kodai Capital Management LP (Chicago, IL) Seeking Data Scientist to scope requirements to assist investment decisions based on analysis of complex data sets. Must have a Bachelor’s or foreign equivalent in Mathematics, Engineering, Quantitative Finance, Applied

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SAVAGE LOVE

SEX AND RELATIONSHIPS

Big ask

A snorer seeks peace; a sadist with a dream

By DAN SAVAGE

Q: I’m a 26-year-old cisgender woman who works from home. I’m going on the second business trip of my career later this month. The first time, I had a hotel room to myself. This time, I’ll be sharing a room with one other person. The thing is, I snore. Not an insane amount, but I’m definitely a snorer. Should I tell my roommate before going to sleep on the first night so they can prepare? Maybe buy some earplugs or something if needed? Or am I overthinking this?

I don’t think it’s a see-adoctor level of snoring, and I don’t know if I could get to a doctor and cut down my snoring time in just a few weeks anyway. I just don’t want to mess up someone’s sleep for the event we’re running dusk until dawn for four days straight. What are your thoughts? —SEEKING NOTES ON RESPECTFUL ETIQUETTE

a: I don’t think this is a Savage Love question. There are advice columnists and podcasters out there who specialize in matters of etiquette (Miss Manners; the Awesome Etiquette podcast), SNORE, and advice columnists and podcasters out there who specialize in workplace issues (Ask a Manager, Work Friend at the New York Times). Perhaps you meant to send your question to one of them?

Actually, you probably did send your question to one of them. Email has made it easy for people to send their questions to more than one advice columnist, which

is why you sometimes see the same question appear in different advice columns at roughly the same time. I recently responded to a question from a frustrated straight male sub that Dr. Nerd Love responded to a few days later. I’m not suggesting our readers are doing anything wrong by sending their letters to more than one advice columnist—I have no right to expect exclusivity from anyone, given my body of work—but it’s a little weird when I receive a question that was clearly meant for (and doubtless already sent to) a very different kind of advice columnist. But I appreciate everyone who sends me a question, SNORE, even when I suspect it was copied and pasted from a letter meant for someone else, so here’s some advice for you. Tell the person you’re bunking with about your snoring before the trip so they can get buy some earplugs and/or make a case to your bosses for private rooms. As a courtesy, SNORE, you should also pack some earplugs. That way you’ll be able to offer them to your roommate if they assumed your snoring couldn’t be that bad and it turned out to be that bad. And don’t pack those useless little foam things, SNORE, but some of those silicone plugs you’re not supposed to roll up and jam into your ear canals, even though that’s literally what everyone who uses them does. Good luck!

Q: My very good friend is a gay man with extreme sexual interests involving

domination, submission, and body modiﬁcations. He identiﬁes as a sadist, but he is not a sociopath. He is a very nice person who only wishes to hurt people who enjoy receiving pain from him. He worries he will never meet his “dream sub” because he wants to partner with a man who is willing to undergo a “nulloplasty” and become his personal “nullo.” (A nullo is a cisgender man who has had his penis and his testicles surgically removed.)

I suggested he could expand his pool of potential partners by dating trans gay men who haven’t had bottom surgery. A trans man who loved him might be willing to role play being his personal nullo. He would not consider it. While he agrees that trans men are men and many trans men are his type, his dream sub is cis man willing to make the ultimate sacrifice for him and give up his genitals, and this rules out men who never had male genitalia in the first place. He just turned 30 and he longs for a committed relationship. I think he might have more luck finding someone if was at least open to the idea of dating one of the many gay trans men active in the large kink community in the city where he lives. Am I correct? —THE ULTIMATE SACRIFICE

a: Now that’s a Savage Love question. v

Read the rest of this column, see archives, and/or record a question for the Savage Lovecast at the URL savage.love/askdan. m mailbox@savage.love

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