Chicago Reader: print issue of August 18, 2016 (Volume 45, Number 45)

C H I C A G O ’ S F R E E W E E K LY | K I C K I N G A S S S I N C E 1 9 7 1 | A U G U S T 1 8 , 2 0 1 6

Music

Food & Drink

The Era move footworking into the spotlight. 23

Ema’s Mediterranean offerings are all over the map. 39

“I thought to be charged with murder you had to kill somebody” A controversial Illinois law allows police to evade charges for killing civilians by casting blame on others.

It may also be hiding police misconduct.

By ALISON FLOWERS AND SARAH MACARAEG 12

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THIS WEEK

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

FEATURES

IN THIS ISSUE 21 Movies Hell or High Water is a modern-day crime thriller that feels like a tale of the Great Depression.

22 Lit Drawn & Quarterly reintroduces Marlys Mullen, Linda Barry’s teenage misfit.

MUSIC 4 Agenda A Bette Midler tribute, stand-up from Chappelle’s Show cocreator Neil Brennan, and more recommendations

CITY LIFE CRIME & PUNISHMENT

Charged with murder, but they didn’t kill anyone—police did

8 Transportation In Chinatown, cycling is favored by the young and old, but not always those in between.

9 Chicagoans Author Amy Krouse Rosenthal invites readers to text her new book, Textbook Amy Krouse.

10 Politics The odd couple of Open Meetings activists teams up against a closed City Council.

A Reader investigation found ten cases since 2011 where police killed a civilian in Chicago and charged an accomplice with the murder.

BY ALISON FLOWERS AND SARAH MACARAEG 12

30 Shows of note Milemarker returns with a new album of synthheavy posthardcore.

FOOD & DRINK

39 Restaurant review: Ema Lettuce Entertain You’s new “Mediterranean” spot is all over the map.

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11 LGBTQ Illinois pastors sue for exemption from the state’s conversion therapy ban.

ARTS & CULTURE

41 Key Ingredient: Ant eggs Honey Butter Fried Chicken chefs offer up wings with a sticky Thai glaze and a “pop” of ant.

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ON THE COVER: TIMOTHY JONES’S HANDWRITTEN LETTER TO REPORTER SARAH MACARAEG

MUSIC

The Era move footworking into the spotlight

The dance crew mount their first stage production.

BY LEOR GALIL 23

16 Visual Art Is this a Peter Doig painting? A court decides.

17 Theater Kristiana Colón’s Good Friday gives campus violence a twist.

18 Dance Chicago Dancing Festival celebrates its tenth anniversary.

19 Small Screen In Take My Wife, comic couple Cameron Esposito and Rhea Butcher put their relationship front and center.

44 Straight Dope Long before the Internet, FDR grasped the truth of the maxim “Pics or it didn’t happen.”

45 Savage Love A Londoner named Dan Savage fills in for the vacationing advice columnist.

46 Early Warnings Bad Religion, Vic Mensa, Yo La Tengo, and more shows in the weeks to come 46 Gossip Wolf Garage pop band Soft Candy’s HoZac Records debut, and more music news

AUGUST 18, 2016 - CHICAGO READER 3

AGENDA R

READER RECOMMENDED

Send your events to agenda@chicagoreader.com

b ALL AGES

F each new venue, but judging from what I saw, each will showcase spirited portrayals, less theatrical than documentary, of Chicago’s most dire realities. —MAX MALLER Through 8/27: Fri-Sat 7 PM, various locations, collaboraction.org. F Relatively Meaningless WritR er-performer Gina DeLuca is cognitive dissonance made flesh. Her

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

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Friday, August 19 @ 8:00pm Sat-Sun, August 20-21 @ 6:00pm Saturday, August 20 @ 10:00pm Mon-Thr, August 22-25 @ 7:00pm

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Friday, August 19 @ 10:15pm Sat-Sun, August 20-21 @ 8:15pm Mon-Thr, August 22-25 @ 9:15pm

Mike & Dave Need Wedding Dates Friday, August 19 @ 6:00pm Sat-Sun, August 20-21 @ 4:00pm

Finding Dory

THEATER

More at chicagoreader.com/ theater Beauty Is in the Eye of the Beeholder In a postapocalyptic world, nothing will grow except honey, and the best and brightest are trained to become beekeepers. That’s the premise of Beauty is in the Eye of the Beeholder at the Annoyance Theatre & Bar. The nemesis in this screwy tale is a giant mutant hornet that wants to kill scientists offstage with its big stinger. If this sounds hokey, that’s because it is. If you think plotwise it sounds like a recipe for disaster, you’re right. The only thing Beeholder has going for it is some improvisatory banter from Kristen Tallon and Nate Dicken. But even this is odd. I couldn’t figure out if the show had an actual script; my guess is it did and that nobody took the time to memorize it. From the silly title to Dicken and Tallon’s cringeworthy romance, this play makes no sense and probably only exists as a way to sell “bee”-r. —MAX MALLER Through 9/6: Tue 8 PM, Annoyance Theatre, 851 W. Belmont, 773-6979693, theannoyance.com, $8.

Bette, Live at the Continental R Baths This loving tribute to Bette Midler and her days as a young

performer in the early 70s stars Hell in a Handbag “diva” Caitlin Jackson. Midler credits her shows at New York City gay bathhouse the Continental Baths with helping her develop her iconic Divine Miss M persona, and it’s this that the captivating Jackson, full of sass and power, channels here. David Cerda’s graceful, mildly campy adaptation, based in part on Midler’s 1971 farewell performance, gives Jackson lots of room to play Bathhouse Bette to the hilt.

Jeremy Ramey plays accompanist Barry Manilow to Jackson’s Midler. —JACK HELBIG 8/19-9/10: Fri-Sat 8 PM, Stage 773, 1225 W. Belmont, 773-327-5252, handbagproductions.org, $26.

Crushed If you happen not to be R interested in the Cubs, just down the street from Wrigley Field you’ll find this show, a series of tales of love and loss. However overdone the premise

4 CHICAGO READER - AUGUST 18, 2016

might be, the work here is lively and smart. Six actors enact a range of characters and scenarios, from a May-December pair to a girl-dog romance to the most excruciating proposal fail ever.

My favorite was a younger man hitting on an older woman, assuring her that his sister taught him to stay “woke” because he believes “females should have agency.” “Please don’t say ‘females,’” she replies quickly. This is just one of many lines in a script as funny as it is surprising. However fashionable it is to trash millennials these days (um, guilty) there’s wisdom here, and insight into the ways an evolving (or devolving) culture shapes the contemporary experience of finding and losing love. —SUZANNE SCANLON Through 8/25: Thu 8 PM, Public House Theatre, 3914 N. Clark, 800650-6449, pubhousetheatre.com, $10.

A Hero’s Journey The Forks & Hope Ensemble derives inspiration from classic folklore, their own lives, and Joseph Campbell’s monomyth to create this movement-heavy montage piece. Set in a blanket fort, the show ranges from tales about forest creatures, Odysseus, Sejong the Great, and Psyche to stories about addiction, living up to the family name, and learning to appreciate elders’ faith. A few kid-friendly bits, like an animal chorus accompanied by composer and sound designer John Szymanski’s ethereal music, achieve fanciful heights.

Much, though, is lost to the forced twee aesthetic, and a lot of the personal anecdotes come off as tenuous. —DAN JAKES Through 8/21: Thu-Sat 7:30 PM, Sun 2 PM, the Frontier, 1106 W. Thorndale, forksandhopeensemble.com, $15.

Peacebook I saw Peacebook, Collaboraction’s festival promoting peace through dance, theater, spoken word, and music, on a rainy night in the heart of Englewood. “This rain is about peace,” performer and emcee Ray of Light told the audience. “You know how many shootings are not happening tonight?” Of the seven pieces on the bill that night, some were more polished than others, but I sense that the majority came from worlds where violence is the norm, and where Ray of Light’s statement is nothing but ordinary realism.

Peacebook will change its program with

onstage persona is disarming and understated, more restaurant hostess than aggressive comedian. But her material, which she both reads and performs in this brilliant solo show, is savage and smart and relentlessly honest. No one escapes her incisive wit. Family, friends, old boyfriends, customers at work—all provide her with comedy fodder, though she performs her cruelest and most killing deconstructions on herself. One of her funniest stories recounts an overseas trip that goes awry when she develops a case of vaginitis so extreme she believes she must be sprouting a penis. —JACK HELBIG Through 8/27: Sat 8 PM, CIC Theater, 1422 W. Irving Park, 773-865-7731, cictheater.com, $10.

Strike 3* Cast member/coauthors Benjamin Vigeant and Stephen Winchell deploy their own idiosyncratic comic vocabulary in this baseball-movie parody. Vigeant stars as Phil, the very picture of haplessness. His mom is dead, his stepdad runs him down, he lacks a pronounceable last name, and though he works for his favorite baseball team—the San Francisco Trolley Cars—he spends all his time cleaning the stadium chimney under the gaze of a sadistic boss. But one day when Phil is pressed into service selling peanuts, the team’s manager discovers his phenomenal pitching arm. The rest is a pageant of tropes from every diamond epic you’ve ever seen. What makes the show fun is its kids-in-the-rec-room aesthetic. Naive line readings, semaphore-style acting, conscientious efforts to make every joke last too long, plus a director in a black beret (Zack Mast) who wanders in from time to time to explain his method and lose his train of thought—it’s all kind of goofy sweet. —TONY ADLER Through 8/31: Wed 8 PM, Public House Theatre, 3914 N. Clark, 800-650-6449, pubhousetheatre.com, $12.

Three Hotels This 80-minute R one-act by Jon Robin Baitz (who wrote the screenplay for Stonewall)

chronicles the rise and fall of the career and marriage of Ken Hoyle, vice president of a transnational corporation clearly modeled on Nestle. Ken is in charge of marketing infant formula to African women as a substitute for breast milk, with scant regard for the consequences in nations with unsafe water supplies. His soul-rotting job—jetting around the world to cavalierly fire employees, knowingly using irresponsible sales practices in the Third World (such as dressing sales reps in nurses’ uniforms)—is eroding his relationship with his wife, Barb, who’s torn between loyalty to Ken and disgust for the man he’s become. The play is structured as a series of monologues, each set in a different hotel room, in which Ken and Barb recount—and relive—their crisis.

Baitz’s theme of moral responsibility and his critique of global corporate bottom-line ruthlessness is, if anything, harder-hitting today than when the play premiered off-Broadway in 1993. Directed by Luda Lopatina Solomon, this Bluebird Arts production features imaginative multimedia visual and sound design, and actors Dave Belden and Jaimelyn Gray bring fierce conviction to their storytelling. —ALBERT WILLIAMS 8/18-9/17: Thu-Sat 8 PM, Sun 2 PM (no show 9/4), Athenaeum Theatre, 2936 N. Southport, 773-935-6860, bluebirdarts. org, $25, $14 students and seniors.

The Wizangamot: A Harry R Potter Debate! Folks who already know what a Wizengamot is

(the wizarding world’s high court, for the uninitiated) have a leg up at this forensics league-style competition at Under the Gun Theater. Two Potterheads square off and argue positions centered on J.K. Rowling’s franchise, like which book in the series is the worst and whether or not the Sorting Hat is an antiquated enabler of segregation.

Comedic debates tend to be funniest when they’re taken the most seriously, and these company members really do know their stuff. Even more impressive, though, was a group of young kids on opening night who came dressed in costume and showed off PhD-level

Three Hotels o ANTHONY LA PENNA

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mastery of arcane Potter trivia during an audience participation lightning round.

—DAN JAKES Through 8/28: Sun 6 PM, Under the Gun Theater, 956 W. Newport, 773-270-3440, undertheguntheater.com, $15.

DANCE R

Dance for Life The annual production benefiting the AIDS Foundation of Chicago celebrates its 25th year with performances from Giordano Dance Chicago, Joffrey Ballet, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Visceral Dance Chicago, and Chicago Dance Crash, plus two world premieres choreographed by Harrison McEldowney and Randy Duncan. Sat 8/20, 7:30 PM, Auditorium Theatre, 50 E. Congress, 800-982-2787, chicagodancersunited. com, $15-$75.

Inoffensive Family Series R Cerqua Rivera Dance Theatre presents a performance exploring the

history of dance in America, from the swing dancing of the 30s to the funk of the 70s and beyond. Sun 8/21, 2 PM, Stage 773, 1225 W. Belmont, 773-327-5252, cerquarivera.org, $10.

Thrust! Tapman Productions R opens its 2016-’17 season with a “unique double feature of tap and modern dance.” 8/19-8/28: Fri-Sat 7 PM, Sun 3 PM, Stage 773, 1225 W. Belmont, 773327-5252, tapmanproductions.com, $20.

Neil Brennan o ERIC MICHAEL PEARSON

COMEDY

Neil Brennan: 3 Mics The comeR dian and co-creator of Chappelle’s Show presents his three performance styles in one show: one-liners, emotional stuff, and stand-up. Fri 8/19, 8 PM, Thalia Hall, 1227 W. 18th, 312-526-3851, thaliahallchicago.com, $27, $25 in advance.

Not From Here Not From Here, an improv and sketch duo featuring Rob Johnson (from Michigan) and Jordan Kulow (from Texas), suffered from some less-than-stellar opening acts on the night I attended. Three-man improv group Junior Varsity tried to take the vanilla audience suggestion of “Cubs”

into a unique direction, but extended scenes of bear hunting fell flat. Stand-up comedian Sohrab Foroozesh followed with a set centered on his experience of racism as someone of Middle Eastern descent. The jokes were personal, but for better or worse, we’ve heard them before. Johnson and Kulow’s closing set is a mix of improv, sketch, and a heartfelt original song entitled “It Always Feels Better Without a Condom.” While they could work on pacing and transitions, Kulow’s impressions are spot-on and Johnson’s goofiness is infectious. — MARISSA OBERLANDER Through 8/25: Thu 9 PM, Under the Gun Theater, 956 W. Newport, 773-270-3440, undertheguntheater.com, $12.

VISUAL ARTS Bridgeport Art Center “Hard to Believe: Visual Illusions of Reality,” a group exhibition featuring realist works

by Anthony Adcock, Javier Chavira, Jennifer Cronin, Tracy Frein, Russell Harris, Roland Kulla, Jack Nixon, Kyle Surges, and Zespo. Opening reception Fri 8/19, 7-10 PM. 8/19-9/30. By appointment.

1200 W. 35th, 773-247-3000, bridgeportart.com.

Chicago Artists Coalition “Ethno / graphic,” a Hatch Projects exhibition curated by Brett Swinney and featuring work by Yaloo, Jon Chambers, and Cassandra Stadnicki. Opening reception Fri 8/19, 6-9 PM. 8/19-9/8. Mon-Thu 9 AM-5 PM, Fri 9 AM-noon. “Start Together,” Chicago-based Jaclyn Jacunski exhibits work from her time as a Bolt resident artist. Opening reception on Fri 8/19, 6-9 PM. 8/19-9/8. Mon-Thu 9 AM-5 PM, Fri 9 AM-noon. 217 N. Carpenter, 312-491-8887, chicagoartistscoalition.org. F College of DuPage Gahlberg Gallery, McAninch Arts Center “Long View / Long Game,” an exhibition displaying work acquired by the College of DuPage Permanent Art Collection over the last 30 years, including pieces by William Wegman, Jenny Holzer, Rashid Johnson, Cindy Sherman, and Richard Tuttle. Opening reception Fri 8/26, 6-7:30 PM. 8/22-10/1. Mon-Thu and Sat 11 AM-3 PM (also Thu 6-8 PM). 425 Fawell, Glen Ellyn, 630-942-2321, cod.edu/gallery.

LIT R

Mortified Extra Special Tenth Angstiversary Extravaganza!

The shame-inducing live-lit series celebrates ten years of diary entries, love letters, and more with a two-show extravaganza with performances from guests like Dan Sheehan, Tyler Snodgrass, Christine Wolf, Brooke Allen, Philip Dawkins, and more. Sat 8/20, 6 and 9:30 PM, Lincoln Hall, 2424 N. Lincoln, 773-525-2501, getmortified.com, $25, $40 for two-show pass.

o KAYLEIGH MCCOLLOM

Best bets, recommendations, and notable arts and culture events for the week of August 18

Therese Huston The cognitive R psychologist shares snippets and strategies from her book How Women Decide. Thu 8/18, 6:30-8 PM, City Lit Books, 2523 N. Kedzie, 773-235-2523, citylitbooks.com.

Wit Rabbit Weekend #6 This R iteration of the reading series features poetry and prose from Holly

Amos, Elissa Cahn, Russell Jaffe, and Matthew Kolb. Sat 8/20, 2 PM, Township, 2200-2202 N. California, 773-384-1865, townshipchicago.com.

MOVIES

More at chicagoreader.com/movies NEW REVIEWS The Caged Bird: The Life and Music of Florence B. Price Funded by the University of Arkansas, this 2015 documentary portrait of Florence Price, the first African-American woman recognized nationally as a symphonic composer,

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

and was buried in an unmarked grave in Lincoln Cemetery; she deserves to be better known, and this profile succeeds as a modest act of witness. —J.R. JONES 57 min. Sun 8/21, 3 PM. Gene Siskel Film Center Dying to Know: Ram Dass and Timothy Leary When Timothy Leary and Richard Alpert (aka Ram Dass) met at Harvard in the early 1960s, they were products of the buttoned-down Eisenhower era; only a few years later, through their respective exploration of psychotropic drugs and Eastern spiritual practices, they opened up a new world for themselves and their many followers. This 2014 documentary by Gay Dillingham pays loving tribute to the two men; the few dissenting voices belong to Richard Nixon and other enemies of 60s radicalism. Some of the graphics used to evoke mystical and psychedelic states look like head-shop decor, but otherwise this is a worthy introduction to two men who blew minds like few have before or since. —DMITRY SAMAROV 95 min. Fri 8/19, 2 and 8:30 PM; Sat 8/20, 3 PM; Sun 8/21, 5:30 PM; Mon 8/22, 6 PM; Tue 8/23, 8:30 PM; Wed 8/24, 8:30 PM; and Thu 8/25, 6 PM. Gene Siskel Film Center

Dying to Know: Ram Dass and Timothy Leary seems more like a curriculum vitae than a narrative. Writer-director James Greeson revisits Price’s early years as a piano prodigy in Little Rock but then slips into a dry chronology of her professional accomplishments—there’s so little personal material that she never emerges as an individual, only as her race and her gender. Taking a cue from filmmaker Phil Grabsky (In Search of Beethoven, In Search of Mozart, et al), Greeson fills out his skeletal story with stirring performances of Price’s work and thoughtful commentary from the players, as well as some routine material about the Great Migration that took the Prices from Arkansas to Chicago in the late 1920s. Florence Price died broke

Florence Foster Jenkins The story of Florence Foster Jenkins, a New York socialite who became known as the world’s worst soprano, has been told many times before—and beautifully, in the French drama Marguerite (2015)—but this is the version that will stick, because it stars Meryl Streep. Ironically, Streep is the movie’s biggest liability: long considered the alpha and omega of American movie actresses, she seems to wink at the viewer from her trophy room every time she unleashes one of Jenkins’s screeching arias. Jenkins, who died in 1944, was a poignant figure, incurably afflicted with syphilis and apparently unaware of how badly she sang. This makes her an ideal subject for direc- W

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AGENDA B tor Stephen Frears, who’s always had a special place in his heart for the lonely and vulnerable (Philomena, My Beautiful Laundrette), and he elicits a remarkably tender and mature performance from Hugh Grant as St. Clair Bayfield, the two-bit Shakespearean actor who became Jenkins’s longtime companion and musical enabler. —J.R. JONES PG-13, 110 min. Landmark’s Century Centre Jerico This slapstick comedy set in the Jim Crow south marks the promising directorial debut of former Chicagoan Seckeita Lewis.

The story—written by Lewis’s husband, Brandon, who also stars as the goofy title character—centers on two black men, bound by a childhood tragedy, as they outwit their angry, racist white neighbors in rural Mississippi the day the Civil Rights Act of 1964 becomes law.

Mixing farce with melodrama can be tricky, and many of the actors, whose deliveries range from wooden to hammy, aren’t up to the task.

Yet the Lewises make up for this, their low budget, and their own lack of experience with raw talent and cheeky revisionist humor that flips the darkness of that era into a bright, theatrical light. With Anthony Fort, Gregg Daniel, and Irma P. Hall. —LEAH PICKETT 98 min. Hall and the Lewises attend the screenings. Sat 8/20, 6 PM, and Sun 8/21, 5 PM. Gene Siskel Film Center Kubo and the Two Strings R Another stunning achievement from the Laika animation

studio (Coraline, The Boxtrolls), this 3-D stop-motion fantasy concerns an 11-year-old boy in late Edoperiod Japan seeking a magical suit of armor that his late father, a Samurai warrior, wore to protect himself against his immortal in-laws, the boy’s maternal aunts and grandfather. These gods, incensed that the boy’s mother conceived him with a mortal, snatched the boy’s left eye when he was a baby and want the other one now so that, as his mother says, he’ll be as blind to humanity as they are.

Intensely creepy villains aside, this is Laika’s brightest film to date, in both its dazzling colors and its core of irrepressible joy. The hero, an Orpheus-like figure who plays a samisen to charm origami paper into flying creatures, is sensitive and kind, and his adventure becomes a beautiful and nuanced allegory about maturing into adulthood. Travis Knight directed; with outstanding voice work from Charlize Theron, Art Parkinson, Rooney Mara, and Matthew McConaughey (really). —LEAH PICKETT PG, 101 min. ArcLight Chicago, Century 12 and CineArts 6, Cicero Showplace 14, Crown Village 18, Ford City, River East 21 Monsieur Gangster A mobster (Lino Ventura) comes out of

Kubo and the Two Strings retirement at the behest of a dying friend and to the chagrin of other insecure heavies in this French crime comedy, which flopped upon its 1963 release but has since won an enthusiastic cult following.

Michel Audiard wrote the screenplay, adapting a novel by Albert Simonin, and many of the quips in the slangy, metaphorical dialogue seem to lose their bite in translation. But the kooky sound design, the supple direction, and the thugs’ rubber-faced reactions generate plenty of chuckles on their own.

In the most memorable scene, recalling Quentin Tarantino’s calmbefore-the-storm dinner tableaux, the gangsters take a break from their shoot-outs to share nastytasting liquor around a kitchen table. Georges Lautner directed.

In French with subtitles. —LEAH PICKETT 112 min. Sat 8/20, 5:45 PM, and Thu 8/25, 6 PM. Gene Siskel Film Center My King Writer-director Maïwenn (Polisse) was married to action-movie mogul Luc Besson, and one wonders how much of their relationship found its way into this tempestuous tale of a couple’s courtship, marriage, and divorce.

Vincent Cassel plays the husband, an irrepressible cut-up who charms everyone to his will, and Emmanuelle Bercot is the emotionally undernourished attorney who falls blissfully under his spell. Before long these impetuous young lovers (they have sex on a restaurant prep table, whoa!) are hitched and expecting a child, but the pregnancy inspires the husband’s volatile former girlfriend (Chrystèle Saint Louis Augustin) to attempt suicide and his renewed allegiance to her begins to undermine the marriage.

For some reason Maïwenn has decided to frame all this with a baldly metaphorical sequence in which the attorney, newly single again, wipes out in a skiing accident and mulls over the past as she learns to walk again at a posh rehabilitation center. In French with subtitles. —J.R. JONES 124 min. Fri 8/19, 2 and 6 PM; Sat 8/20, 8 PM; Sun 8/21, 3 PM; Mon 8/22, 8 PM; Tue 8/23, 6 PM; Wed 8/24, 6 PM; and Thu 8/25, 8 PM. Gene Siskel Film Center Sausage Party In this quasi-spoof of Toy Story, items in a big-box supermarket believe that being purchased by one of “the gods” will lead them to “the great beyond”

outside the store; then a sausage (given voice by Seth Rogen) and his hot-dog-bun sweetheart (Kristen Wiig) are told by a jar of honeymustard sauce (Danny McBride) that they’re worshiping false idols, and they set out to discover the truth. Rogen and his frequent collaborator Evan Goldberg dreamed up the story with actor Jonah Hill, and though it might sound like a critique of religion, they opt instead for a lowbrow, sporadically funny celebration of hedonism. It’s not Pixar, but when was the last time you saw a taco giving cunnilingus to a hot dog bun while other foodstuffs watch and masturbate?

Greg Tiernan and Conrad Verdon directed; with Hill, Salma Hayek, Bill Hader, and Edward Norton. —TAL ROSENBERG R, 89 min. New 400 This Is Not Chiraq Produced as a TV pilot, this 2015 drama opens with a montage of Chicago’s architectural gems, set to Sinatra singing “My Kind of Town,” that seems more appropriate to a travel website. But the city’s class and ethnic divisions become evident as the action shifts to several beleaguered south-side neighborhoods.

A turf war between two street gangs heats up when the leader of the Black Hustlers (Eric Lane) is released from prison and returns home, just as the head of the Spanish Angels (José Santiago) draws flak for botching a million-dollar cash drop. How ordinary, lawabiding citizens navigate their relationships with these gangbangers differentiates the movie from other crime stories, and the ex-con’s decision to start a Cease Fire-type organization adds local flavor.

Lawrence Lee Wallace directed.

—ANDREA GRONVALL 70 min. Filmmakers attend the screening. Fri 8/19, 8:30 PM, and Wed 8/24, 8:30 PM. Gene Siskel Film Center

SPECIAL EVENTS Noir City: Chicago 8 Presented by the Film Noir Foundation, this festival features revivals of noir rarities and classics; for a full schedule, visit musicboxtheatre.com. Fri 8/19Thu 8/25. Music Box Silent Summer Film Festival The Silent Film Society of Chicago presents a weekend of silent features with live musical accompaniment. For a full schedule, visit silentfilmchicago.com. Fri 8/19-Sun 8/21. Filament Theatre v

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651 W. Lake St. 12noon - 6pm Open Books Members: 20% off Sidewalk Sale books AND regular used books

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AUGUST 18, 2016 - CHICAGO READER 7

CITY LIFE From left: Xing Hua Wu transports groceries to his sister’s house; Henry Guan and Daniel Lau in the plaza of Chinatown Square; Tang Hou shops by bike on Wentworth; so does Bao Ju Huang; Kevin Kwong also uses a bike to get around. o JOHN GREENFIELD

TRANSPORTATION

In Chinatown, a cycling generation gap

Upwardly mobile boomers in search of the American dream seem to eschew cycling in favor of driving.

By JOHN GREENFIELD

O

ften, as I’ve strolled past the colorful storefronts of Chicago’s Chinatown, I’ve noticed many cheap department-store-type mountain bikes—Huffys, Murrays, and Magnas—cable-locked to racks, poles, and fences along Cermak Road and Wentworth Avenue. I wondered if they belonged to recent immigrants to the neighborhood, toiling at blue-collar jobs in pursuit of the American dream.

So I set out to find out more about who’s riding bikes in the midwest’s largest Chinese community. I learned that while lots of new arrivals, as well as seniors and children of immigrants, are getting around on two wheels, unfortunately there seems to be a cycling generation gap. It seems that many adults who’ve moved to the U.S. and worked their way up the economic ladder are choosing to drive instead.

Biking appears to be fairly widespread in Chinatown and other

nearby neighborhoods with sizable Chinese populations, even more so than in the city as a whole. A transportation survey done as part of the Chinatown Community Vision Plan, a neighborhood blueprint published last year by the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning in cooperation with local stakeholders, examined the habits of residents of “greater Chinatown,” including neighborhoods like Bridgeport, McKinley Park, and Brighton Park.

It found that 10 percent of respondents use bikes for trips of any kind, including work commutes but also errands and other excursions.

A similar study commissioned by the Active Transportation Alliance estimated that, citywide, biking accounts for roughly 2 percent of all kinds of trips. (U.S. Census data suggests the percentage of work trips made by bike may be lower in Chinatown than in the city as a whole, with 1 and 2 percent respectively, but it’s possible that data

8 CHICAGO READER - AUGUST 18, 2016

omits some of the neighborhood’s undocumented immigrants.)

“Many residents, and especially workers in Chinatown’s core, use bicycles as their main form of transportation,” according to the vision plan. The plan calls for adding more bike infrastructure to “help Chinatown evolve into one of Chicago’s most bike-friendly neighborhoods.”

David Wu, director of the nonprofit Pui Tak Center, says anecdotal evidence also suggests plenty of recent arrivals are bicycling. “When we hold our morning English classes, it’s common to see a dozen bikes locked outside,” Wu says. “About 60 percent of our students are restaurant workers.”

With this information under my belt, I hit the pavement to interview folks in the neighborhood about their biking habits. I had translation help from Debbie Liu, a community development coordinator for the Coalition for a Better Chinese American Community who’s responsible

for implementing the vision plan and who grew up in Chinatown as the daughter of immigrants.

On a side street off of Wentworth, we encountered 61-year-old Kent Moy, who’d set up a makeshift bike repair shop with plastic buckets for chairs. He was fixing a flat for a buddy, inflating the tire with a foot pump. Moy, a native of the southern Chinese city Taishan, said he moved to the U.S. 34 years ago, first living in New York City and then Detroit, before coming to Chicago. Moy told us he rides for his health and for environmental reasons, and said he doesn’t charge for repairs.

“I do it for God, and for my heart,” he said in English.

At Sun-Yet-Sen Park at 24th and Princeton, we saw men playing Xiangqi, a board game also known as Chinese chess. Near the park we flagged down 75-year-old Xing Hua Wu, pedaling from the grocery store to his sister’s home. A former employee of Chinatown restaurant Lao

Szechaun, Wu is also from Taishan, and said he rides his bike everywhere he goes.

“It’s convenient,” he said in Cantonese.

Back on Wentworth, we encountered severa l other older immigrants pedaling slowly on the sidewalk with grocery bags hanging from their handlebars.

One of them was Bao Ju Huang, 62, who immigrated from the southern province of Guangdong four years ago with her husband, sponsored by their daughter. As retirees, they help look after their young grandchildren. Both of them do errands by bike “for convenience,” she said. (Liu noted that bike lanes are planned on Wentworth as part of an upcoming project to straighten out its kinked, confusing intersection with Cermak, adding that the lanes should help people like feel comfortable biking in the street.)

There also seem to be plenty of younger first- and second-generation Chinese Americans pedaling sleek single-speed road bikes around the neighborhood. American-born Jason Wu, 13, was slowly riding on the Wentworth sidewalk with a smartphone strapped to his bars, playing Pokémon Go. He said his immigrant parents don’t own bikes.

During another visit I spoke with 25-year-old Henry Guan and his cousin, 14-year-old Daniel Lau, from McKinley Park and Brighton Park respectively, taking a breather in the plaza beside Chinatown Square mall. While they were born in Chicago, their parents immigrated from rural southern China decades ago.

“It’s pretty common for immigrants to use bikes to get around,” said Guan, who’s studying to be an occupational therapist at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. “Biking has always been a big form of transportation in China so, for many people, when they come here, it’s the same thing.”

However, the guys said their parents no longer ride bikes either.

When I visited the Chinese American Service League, another nonprofit that contributed to the neigh-

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CITY LIFE borhood vision plan, youth coordinator Kevin Kwong told me that most middle-aged, middle-class Chinese people, both in the old country and the diaspora, are uninterested in cycling. Kwong, who’s 67, grew up in Hong Kong and immigrated to Chinatown in 2003. He lives a ten-minute pedal away in Bridgeport, and rides daily for transportation and recreation.

Kwong also said the 20th-century phenomenon of vast crowds of bike riders in the streets of large Chinese cities is no longer a reality. “Bicycling is getting less and less popular there, because people are getting richer and richer—they don’t have to rely on bikes like they used to,” he said. “My impression is the motorists are taking over Beijing. The air quality is so bad.”

Angela Chan, 38, agrees that cycling has become unpopular w it h m idd le-a ged, upwa rd ly mobile Chinese people, despite its continuing popularity with elderly and young folks. Chan worked at Rapid Transit bike shop in nearby University Village until the store closed last fall, and now does art restoration. She occasionally works at the Bridgeport shop Blue City Cycles, which is coowned by her fiancé, 37-year-old Owen Lloyd.

Chan says a large chunk of Blue City’s repair business comes from Chinese immigrants, mostly retirees who moved here to help care for grandkids and who ride bikes because they never learned to drive back home. She adds that

trendy single-speed bikes are increasingly popular with high school students and young adults who are the children of Chinese immigrants.

But, Chan says, the parents tend to shun bikes and drive instead.

That was her experience as the child of immigrants from Hong Kong who opened a restaurant in Milwaukee. She says her folks have had a hard time understanding why she would want to ride a bike instead of driving in a big city.

“I think part of that comes from a concern for my safety,” she said.

“But part of it comes from their own ideas of what I should have in life as a measure of success. For my parents it was part of the American dream to come to the U.S., get a good job, a house, and a car, so [those values were] supposed to be passed on to me.”

It was disheartening to hear that many Chinese people are rejecting the bicycle as they become more affluent, both in China and as immigrants to the midwest. But it was encouraging to talk with young people and youthful seniors who still see the value of twowheeled transportation. Hopefully as Chinatown’s bike infrastructure improves, more neighborhood residents from all walks of life will embrace the practical and pleasurable aspects of cycling. v

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

Chicagoans

The author

Amy Krouse Rosenthal I DON’T WRITE gorgeous, masterful, sweeping novels. I don’t know how. So I’m doing the thing that feels the truest to me, writing in these short little bursts. I didn’t know that could actually count as writing until I discovered The Pillow Book, which is a book written by a Japanese woman named Sei Shōnagon around the year 1,000, and which uses that same format.

There’s a word we both end up using quite a bit: “lovely.”

My book Textbook Amy Krouse contains thoughts about being human, organized by subject—history, geography, social studies, music, art, etc. The entries range from a sentence to a few pages. I try to cover the full experience of what it means to be a Homo sapien. The mundane and the trivial and the profound and the not-trivial and the happy and the sad and everything in between, mushed together in one big smorgasbord of being.

The word “textbook” in the title works on multiple levels. There’s the academic interpretation. And then there’s the making-fun-of-myself thing, like, “Oh, that’s so textbook Amy to do that,” because this is a follow-up to a book I wrote [Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life] that’s organized like an encyclopedia.

And the other meaning is texting.

Textbook Amy Krouse has its own phone number, which allows readers to interact with the book via text message. o SUNSHINE TUCKER

The book has its own phone number, and throughout it are prompts where you, the reader, can text a certain word, and you receive something that goes with the passage you just read, like a piece of music or a video clip. Or you are invited to send something back, like a photo, that gets fed onto the book’s companion website, which is intended to be a community for readers.

The interactive thing with readers is something I’ve been doing since pre-Internet. I used to have a PO box, and I’d say, “Mail me your thoughts, and I’ll mail you back a

penny,” and then I would. I feel like it’s one of the most important things I’m doing with my work, the connecting thing. For me, it feels like the opposite of a gimmick.

I wrote the entire book before my diagnosis, 100 percent. I think it’s important for readers to know that, because then the words matter more than, “Oh, she’s writing this because she has cancer.” But even for me, some of the stuff is eerie, looking back at it. The “Bye, I love you, thank you” stuff. I’m like, “OK, I didn’t write that to be that meaningful.” —AS TOLD TO ANNE FORD

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

SURE THINGS THURSDAY

FRIDAY

SATURDAY

SUNDAY

MONDAY

TUESDAY

WEDNESDAY

- Wizard World Comic Con Four days of science fiction, fantasy, and more, with Bruce Campbell, Rosario Dawson, and David Duchovny.

8/18-8/21: Thu 3-8 PM, Fri noon-7 PM, Sat 10 AM-7 PM, Sun 10 AM-5 PM, Donald E. Stephens Convention Center, 5555 N. River, Rosemont, wizardworld.com, $40-$60, $105 for weekend pass.

C atzilla 4: A Cat Fest A feline festival featuring cat-inspired dance performances, spoken word, music, and more, plus the feature act starring real cats: Science Fiction Cats. Proceeds benefit Harmony House. Fri 8/19-Sat 8/20: 8 PM, Prop Thtr, 3502 N. Elston, propthtr.org, $20.

♀ SlutWalk Ch icago A march calling for an end to rape culture, victim blaming, and slut shaming. Noon, Millennium Park, Michigan and Randolph, facebook.com/ slutwalkchicago. F

{ South Shore Summer Festival A one-day fest that includes local food and drink along with dance performances and music from Chosen Few DJs. 11 AM-8 PM, South Shore Cultural Center, 7059 S. South Shore, chicagoparkdistrict. com/parks/South-ShoreCultural-Center. F

Th eate r Zuidpool ’s Ma cbet h Shakespeare 400 Chicago presents a musical version of the Bard’s classic featuring Mauro Pawlowski and Tijs Delbeke combining rock, folk, alternative, and operatic musical styles to re-create the play’s dialogue.

Sun 8/21-Mon 8/22: 8:30 PM, Thalia Hall, 1807 S. Allport, chicagoshakes.com, $28-$48.

¥ Pu rpl e Rain The Millennium Park Summer Film Series winds down with the Prince rock musical about a rising Minnesotan musician.

6:30 PM, Millennium Park, Michigan and Randolph, cityofchicago.org. F

Ch icago Turkish Festival Celebrate Turkish culture with live music, traditional food, and exhibits that shed light on the region’s history and heritage. Wed 8/24-Sat 8/27: 10 AM-6 PM, Daley Plaza, 50 W. Washington, chicagoturkishfestival. org. F

AUGUST 18, 2016 - CHICAGO READER 9

CITY LIFE

Ô DANIEL FISHEL

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

POLITICS

Open meetings outcry

The odd couple of activists team up against a closed City Council.

By BEN JORAVSKY

F

or those who say I’m too tough on Mayor Emanuel, I’d like to take the time to credit him for doing something I never thought possible: uniting Andy Thayer and Rick Garcia around a common cause.

So, OK, the cause that binds these two longtime activists is a lawsuit they’ve filed against the city for packing City Council chambers with payrollers and schoolkids, thus blocking them from attending a pair of recent council meetings.

I guess one can’t be too picky when searching for ways to praise the mayor.

10 CHICAGO READER - AUGUST 18, 2016

As activists go, Thayer and Garcia are as different as day and night. Thayer’s an unapologetic rabble-rouser who’s been on the front lines of almost every left-of-center street demonstration for the past two decades, including protests against war and police torture as well as protests for marriage equality—an issue he championed long before it was fashionable.

He’s generally the guy in the T-shirts and jeans bellowing into the bullhorn while the cops haul him away to jail. He’s been arrested for civil disobedience so many times he’s lost count.

In contrast, Garcia favors Brooks Brothers suits and building clout through his political connections, usually with members of the Democratic Party, to help advance the cause of gay rights.

Generally, one disdains the tactics of the others. Yet they’re coplaintiffs in a lawsuit, filed last month, charging the city with violating the state’s Open Meetings Act. Here’s how they allege it went down.

At 8:30 AM on May 18, Thayer says he arrived at City Hall to attend a council meeting.

The meeting didn’t start until ten, and Thayer says he and his allies were first in line, waiting for guards to open the doors and let them into the chambers.

He was there to protest a TIF deal under which the mayor proposed to spend about $16 million on an upscale high-rise at Montrose and Clarendon, just a few blocks from the lake.

But by ten, the full council meeting had started, and “the guards still made us wait in line even though there were empty seats in the chambers,” says Thayer. “I thought, ‘This is ridiculous. It’s a clear violation of the Open Meetings Act.’” As the name suggests, the Open Meetings Act is the state law that requires public bodies like the City Council to open their meetings to the public.

Finally, after 11 AM, Thayer was let into the chambers. “There were empty seats with signs on them that said RESERVED,” Thayer says. “I don’t know who they were reserved for.”

The council didn’t discuss the TIF deal—it was directed to the finance committee. But looking to draw press attention, Thayer and his allies unfolded a banner that read NO TIFS FOR tHE RICH. “We weren’t arrested,” Thayer says. “They just kicked us out of the meeting.”

One month later, at the June 22 council meeting, Garcia showed up with several friends. Ironically, they came to praise, not protest, city policy.

The council was set to pass a transgender rights bill. “We were there to see a historic event, clap, shake hands, and go to lunch,” Garcia says.

They arrived early—about 8:45 AM—and were among the first in line to be admitted to the chambers. Coincidentally, this was the meeting when the council actually passed the $16 million TIF deal, and the lobby soon filled with protesters.

Garcia says he and his friends should have been the first people let into the council cham-

bers. Instead, the guards made them form a line behind the metal detector. There, they watched as a steady stream of latecomers, many of them schoolchildren, were ushered in ahead of them.

“I stayed in line until about noon and then gave up—I don’t think they let anyone into that meeting who had been waiting in line,” Garcia says. “They used those kids to keep people out of the chambers—probably because the mayor didn’t want to take the chance that he’d have to hear people protesting that TIF.” Though he wasn’t there to protest the TIF deal, Garcia says he was upset. “I’m very much a mainstream guy—I put on my Brooks Brothers suit and I play by the rules. Well, if I play by the rules, the mayor has to play by the rules. And the rules say a public meeting has to be open to the public, even if they’re there to protest the mayor.”

Through a mutual friend, Thayer learned that Garcia had not been allowed into the meeting. Eventually, they met to talk about filing a lawsuit. “Andy and I have not always agreed about tactics over the years,” says Garcia. “But when he asked if I’d join his lawsuit, I said, ‘Absofuckinglutely!’ I’m sorry, but even the mayor can’t keep the public out of a public meeting.”

As they see it, blocking access to the council is akin to routinely denying public records requests—as the Emanuel administration has frequently done in the last few years.

“You’re keeping the public in the dark,” says Thayer.

Thayer and Garcia’s suit charges that the City Council “violated the Open Meetings Act by holding a closed meeting on May 18 and June 22.”

The city’s Law Department said it couldn’t comment on pending litigation—but also said the city “fully and completely complies with the Open Meetings Act.” The case has come before circuit court judge Diane Larsen. Because they claim the meetings were illegal, Thayer and Garcia are asking the judge to void all the council actions taken on May 18 and June 22. That includes the TIF deal and the transgender ordinance—another irony that’s not lost on Garcia.

“They’ll just have to pass it again,” Garcia says. “I’ll come down to watch.”

Presumably, on that day the mayor will let ordinary citizens into the chambers on a first come, first seated basis. v

ß @joravben

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

o BOBBY SIMS

CITY LIFE

IDENTITY & CULTURE

You can’t pray the gay away

Illinois pastors don’t deserve exemption from the state’s conversion therapy ban.

By DERRICK CLIFTON

B

eing lesbian, gay, or bisexual is not a disease, disorder, illness, deficiency, or shortcoming.”

That’s the affirming statement at the outset of the first full section of a recently passed Illinois law banning so-called conversion therapy for minors. These services, which attempt to turn queer people into heterosexuals, have historically ranged from one-on-one counseling to shock and aversion therapy, hypnosis, and even “corrective” rape.

Conversion therapy has been widely discredited and deemed abusive, because it’s based on the mistaken belief that queerness is an undesirable life choice.

Unfortunately, for some, the veracity of queer identity remains in dispute. The Youth Mental Health Protection Act, which went into effect on New Year’s Day, now faces a legal challenge from

a group of Illinois pastors. In a lawsuit filed in U.S. district court August 11, Pastors Protecting Youth argued that the law “unconstitutionally restricts a young person’s right to make personal choices regarding his or her own choice of sexual identity” as well as the pastors’ rights of free speech and exercise of religion. They also claim to represent young people who may want to actively change their sexual orientation.

The pastors want the court to declare them exempt from legal penalties, including those that punish consumer fraud. They deserve no such protection for endangering the lives of queer young people in Illinois.

More than two dozen national medical and mental health organizations—including the American Psychiatric Association, the American Medical Association, and the National Association of Social Workers—have taken

positions against the practice of conversion therapy. Such efforts, they note, “have serious potential to harm young people because they present the view that the sexual orientation of lesbian, gay, and bisexual youth is a mental illness or disorder, and they often frame the inability to change one’s sexual orientation as a personal or moral failure.”

As a young queer person who was raised Christian, I know that feeling all too well.

During my adolescence and early teenage years, images of gays and lesbians became increasingly visible. Ellen DeGeneres declared, “Yes, I’m gay” on an iconic 1997 Time magazine cover. Shows like Will and Grace hit the airwaves. And the now-settled issue of samesex marriage entered the fray. I knew my inner truth, yet the backlash kept me from sharing my full, authentic self for years. Church communities that I’d long considered a refuge suddenly became toxic and suffocating.

At the time, I remember sinking into the pews as ministers climbed into pulpits and denounced the news that Massachusetts could become the first state to legalize same-sex marriage. One Sunday afternoon, a visiting pastor at my church exhorted, “If God could destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, what’s stopping him from killing off all these fags and homosexuals today?” A few other church members shouted “Amen!”

I hid my emotions as best as I could, until I collapsed into my pillow that evening, silently weeping, praying fervently to not be gay anymore. I believed the ministers who said that prayer could cure “homosexual urges,” and that without repenting, I’d be bound for hell.

Several weeks later, alone at home, I attempted suicide. It was a shoddy and failed attempt. And for that failure, I’m grateful.

Unfortunately, stories like mine are much too common. According to research published by the American Academy of Pediatrics in 2009, lesbian, gay, and bisexual teens who reported high levels of family rejection—including admission to conversion therapy—were more than eight times more likely to attempt suicide, nearly six times more likely to report high levels of depression, and more than three times more likely to use illegal drugs or have unprotected sexual intercourse.

And beyond this, conversion therapy simply doesn’t work. In March, the World Psychiatric Association, the largest international body of psychiatrists, announced that there is no sound scientific evidence that innate sexual orientation can be changed. “The provision of any intervention to ‘treat’ something that is

not a disorder is wholly unethical,” the organization declared.

So, to be clear, a fringe group of Illinois pastors believes it’s within their rights to advertise and promote services that don’t work, that rely upon false pretenses, and that could cause immense harm to clients. That’s the very definition of consumer fraud—and their status as clergy shouldn’t allow them to potentially profit from a bold-faced lie that also doubles as theological violence.

“Conversion therapy is an act of violence against LGBT persons, especially LGBT youth . . . this is not about religious freedom,” says Eliel Cruz, executive director of Faith in America, a group that aims to educate the public about the harm religious bigotry does to queer youth. “Sexual orientation is natural and, as scripture says, we are ‘fearfully and wonderfully made.’ These pastors are trying to fit their outdated theology into the narratives of LGBT people.”

On the whole, LGBT young people have no protections from these predatory practices.

Only Illinois, California, Vermont, Oregon, New Jersey, and Washington, D.C., have laws that ban conversion therapy for minors. According to the Movement Advancement Project, that leaves 76 percent of the LGBT population living in states without such measures.

But fortunately, in other states with conversion therapy bans, similar legal challenges have failed. In a press release, Equality Illinois CEO Brian Johnson said, “Courts have unanimously rejected legal challenges to these laws, recognizing that the state has a duty to regulate medical and mental health providers to protect patients from harmful and fraudulent treatments.”

Indeed, young people who may struggle with understanding their sexuality should feel empowered to seek counseling if they so desire. The Youth Mental Health Protection Act doesn’t prevent them from processing these issues in a therapeutic setting. It does, however, hold mental health providers and other counselors accountable for potentially endangering them with the message that queer sexuality is inherently deficient and must be changed.

Young queer people in Illinois deserve that protection—and all the love and safety we can offer them. v

If you are dealing with thoughts of suicide, you are not alone. You can reach the U.S. National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255.

ß @DerrickClifton AUGUST 18, 2016 - CHICAGO READER 11

CHARGED O WITH MURDER, BUT THEY DIDN’T KILL ANYONE— POLICE DID A Reader investigation found ten cases since 2011 where police killed a civilian in Chicago and charged an accomplice with the murder.

By ALISON FLOWERS AND SARAH MACARAEG

12 CHICAGO READER - AUGUST 18, 2016

n July 8, 2012, as the summer sun rose over the Auburn Gresham neighborhood on the south side of Chicago, police hauled a distraught 19-year-old named Tevin Louis away from a murder scene. The victim was Louis’s best friend, Marquise Sampson. The shooter was a veteran police officer, Antonio Dicarlo.

For the previous five years, Louis and Sampson had been inseparable, drawn together by rough childhoods marked by foster care and poverty. In good times, Sampson made Louis laugh. In hard times, Louis made sure Sampson had food and a place to stay. As the boys became young men, they began to work the streets together, as they did everything, for better and for worse.

The day Sampson died, the pair had allegedly robbed a local gyros shop of approximately $1,250. Louis then ran from the restaurant. Sampson soon followed, then crossed paths with police.

After spotting Sampson running, Dicarlo and his partner gave chase, according to the Chicago Police Department’s case report, pursuing the teen for a quarter mile as he ran to the block where he often stayed with Louis and his cousin. But Louis never saw his friend alive again.

Louis didn’t arrive on the scene until after Dicarlo shot Sampson three times—in the shoulder, chest, and back, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s autopsy report. Louis attempted to cross the police line to be at his friend’s side. He was promptly arrested for disorderly conduct and has been locked up ever since.

“Marquise was like a brother—like he came from my momma’s womb,” Louis told the Reader by phone from Lawrence Correctional Center in southern Illinois.

“It was heartbreaking. I lost somebody I be with every day.”

In a statement given to the Independent Police Review Authority, the agency that investigates police shootings and allegations of misconduct, Dicarlo described in detail the lead-up to Sampson’s death, claiming the teen had pointed a weapon in his direction, prompting him to fire. That Dicarlo fatally shot Sampson is also acknowledged in Chicago Police Department reports.

Yet it’s Louis whom the Cook County criminal justice system has held responsible. Following Louis’s initial arrest, the charge of disorderly conduct evolved to include robbery and first-degree murder.

In the subsequent months, he was found guilty of each.

Under a controversial legal doctrine known as the “felony murder rule,” the teen’s prosecution relied on a theory of accountability enshrined in Illinois’s criminal code: that while committing a felony, a person can set in motion a chain of events that lead to the death of another person.

“I cried,” Louis admitted, remembering the moment he learned that he was being charged with murder for his friend’s death. “It was unreal. I didn’t know what was happening.”

But Louis’s prosecution was no fluke.

Rather, a Reader investigation finds that his case was one of at least ten in Cook County in the past five years in which killings by Chicago Police Department officers and Cook County Sheriff’s Office personnel have resulted in felony murder charges for civilians. In particular, the Reader found three cases in which police fatally shot passengers in fleeing vehicles—an act that’s come under intense scrutiny since the fatal shooting of 18-year-old Paul O’Neal in late July—before holding a surviving passenger responsible.

Although these prosecutions are sanctioned by Illinois law, these cases raise difficult questions about the law’s use and impact—especially when felony murder charges stem from situations involving possible police misconduct.

At trial, Louis refused a plea deal on the murder charge. Presiding judge Jorge Alonso instructed the jury to consider Louis’s murder and robbery charges as interdependent, explaining that under the law it’s “immaterial whether the killing in such a case is intentional or accidental or conflicted by a third person.”

The jury found Louis guilty. He’s now serving a 32-year sentence for armed robbery and an additional 20-year sentence for Sampson’s death. He’s also appealing his case.

“I’m not perfect,” he says. “But I don’t deserve this.”

While in prison, he had “Marquise 7-812” tattooed on one hand, and his best friend’s birthday on the other.

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From left: Tevin Louis and Marquise Sampson; Sampson, Louis, and Louis’s younger siblings, Kevin and Olivia, at Kevin’s high school graduation. o COURTESY WINTHER POLK

And while Louis is serving time for his friend’s murder, the officer who actually pulled the trigger has been commended for his actions. For fatally shooting Sampson, Dicarlo received a 2013 Superintendent’s Award for Valor, which honors “an act of outstanding bravery or heroism,” according to CPD. Mayor Rahm Emanuel presided over the ceremony.

CPD spokesman Anthony Guglielmi deferred to IPRA for comment on specific cases, although IPRA did not respond to three detailed interview requests. In a statement, Guglielmi said that “when wrong doing [sic] or intentional misconduct is discovered, CPD holds individuals accountable,” and that the department’s “commitment to the highest levels of integrity and the highest levels of professional standards is unwavering.”

Attempts to interview the individual officers named in this story, including Dicarlo, made through requests sent to personal e-mail addresses, phone numbers, and via CPD and the Fraternal Order of Police (the police union), yielded no response from the officers. The FOP didn’t

respond to other requests for comment, nor did the Cook County Sheriff’s Office.

Based on Dicarlo’s account, IPRA found the shooting of Sampson justified in February 2014, as it has in nearly all of the 238 closed shooting investigations detailed on the organization’s website.

In dashcam video obtained by the Reader via a Freedom of Information Act request, Dicarlo’s encounter with Sampson is obscured, visible only through the windshields of a car parked between Dicarlo’s police vehicle and the officer and suspect. Their interaction lasts just a few seconds before Sampson appears to collapse.

Dicarlo’s 15-year career with CPD has been marred by at least 21 misconduct complaints, including four excessive force complaints, one of which alleged improper use of a weapon, according to documents obtained via FOIA request and from the Citizens Police Data Project. Misconduct complaints also accuse Dicarlo of conduct unbecoming an officer, unnecessary physical contact, illegal search, illegal arrest, and five separate

instances of failure to provide service.

The city has settled at least two civil lawsuits against Dicarlo—for a total of $55,000—including one that alleged the officer had beaten a man so badly he was left bleeding from the head, that he then tried to convince fellow officers to forgo calling an ambulance, and then lied to a health-care provider about the cause of the man’s injuries.

For his part, Louis doesn’t believe his friend would have pulled his weapon on police.

“There’s a difference between doing something wrong and just being fucking stupid,” Louis says. “Marquise wasn’t stupid. I think [Dicarlo] murdered him in cold blood.”

T

he felony murder rule has its roots in English common law, under which all felonies were punishable by death, and any participant in a violent crime could be liable for a killing by an accomplice. Starting in the 19th century, most American states enacted laws

imposing murder liability for killing in the course of the most serious felonies— robbery, rape, arson, and burglary. These laws didn’t require intent, but in practice they were generally limited to cases in which one of the accused fatally attacked a victim with a weapon.

Today, almost every state has some form of felony murder liability. The laws vary as to which felonies can give rise to murder charges and how directly the arrestee must be involved in the death in order to be charged. Many felony murder laws—including those in California, Pennsylvania, and Maryland—contain a separate rule that requires the killer to be a participant or “agent” in the felony. Other states, such as New York and Kansas, have a “protected person” rule that prevents an arrestee from being liable for the death of a co-arrestee. But in Illinois and other states, the felony murder rule features an even more controversial component: If death is a foreseeable result of the crime, then a participant in the felony can be liable for any death—even if the bullets were J

AUGUST 18, 2016 - CHICAGO READER 13

Felony murder continued from 13

fired by the police, and even if the victim is the accused’s partner.

Guyora Binder, a professor at the University at Buffalo Law School and the author of a scholarly book on felony murder, sees charges filed under these circumstances as a red flag for police misconduct.

“A felony murder charge for an arrestee where a police officer has killed somebody is an indicator that the police officer probably engaged in misconduct,” Binder says, explaining that in situations where police have behaved irresponsibly and caused death, prosecutors will often turn around and charge an arrestee with the killing.

But in a statement, the Cook County state’s attorney’s office said that the way it applies the felony murder law is legally appropriate and justified, adding that it “does not base felony murder charges against a defendant charged with murder . . . upon irresponsible police conduct. The murder charges are well founded under established law.”

Still, because Illinois law lacks either an “agent of the defense” or “protected person” rule, there are fewer hurdles to

stemmed from police crashing into the car of a bystander during a chase.

In August 2015, Rafael Cruz Jr. died from a single gunshot wound to the back of the head. At the time he was driving a car away from police commander Francis Valadez and officer Kristi Battalini, who both fired at his vehicle. Officers claimed that Cruz and his companion, Erik Martinez, had been exchanging gunfire with another car immediately prior—an alleged felony that later allowed prosecutors to charge that Martinez had set in motion a chain of events that led to Battalini and Valadez killing Cruz. Martinez has been locked up in Cook County Jail awaiting trial since the incident. Valadez pulled the trigger in three previous fatal civilian shootings, according to city documents.

In April 2012, John Givens and Leland Dudley, both 37 years old, each sustained multiple gunshot wounds while attempting to flee Chicago police officers following a robbery. According to court records, the officers shot “30 to 40 bullets” in total at the car, while both Givens and Leland were unarmed. Afterward, they were convicted on felony murder charges for the death of a third

“A felony murder charge for an arrestee where a police officer has killed somebody is an indicator that the police officer probably engaged in misconduct.”

—Legal scholar Guyora Binder

charging arrestees with felony murder after a police shooting.

As a result, “you get a surprising number of cases of police-inflicted death for felony murder in Illinois,” Binder says.

A

mong the ten recent felony murder cases studied by the Reader, three stem from police officers firing at fleeing vehicles in apparent violation of the department’s “deadly force” policy, which since February 2015 has forbidden the practice. In another case, charges

14 CHICAGO READER - AUGUST 18, 2016

companion, David Strong, and are currently serving 20- and 25-year sentences respectively.

And in the 2013 case of 23-year-old Timothy Jones, a felony murder charge came after police in his pursuit fatally crashed into a car belonging to an innocent bystander, 56-year-old Jacqueline Reynolds.

According to the Chicago Tribune, at Jones’s trial, a close friend of Reynolds’s asked for mercy on his behalf. Reynolds’s family refused to submit victim impact statements, which are typically used

to evoke a harsher sentence from the judge. Still, Jones was found guilty and is required to serve the corresponding 28-year sentence in full.

“It took all my dreams away from me,” Jones wrote in a letter sent from Menard Correctional Center in southern Illinois in June. “And now I’m labeled a murderer.”

“I think of Jacqueline Reynolds everyday,” he added, “’cause not only was her life lost that day, but mine was too.”

In contrast to the state’s aggressive prosecution of Jones, an NBC 5 investigation revealed in May that none of the 70 Chicago police chases that have resulted in death or injury since 2013—including the crash that killed Reynolds—had been reviewed by the Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board, the state agency that investigates fatal police chases. The investigation implies that while the board reviews the cases it receives, it receives few reports. NBC 5 found that the organization never received a report on Reynolds’s death from CPD. Asked to explain how the actions of officers who embark on fatal police chases are reviewed within the department—if they are not being investigated by an outside agency—CPD’s Guglielmi said the department has a traffic-pursuit review committee that “meets regularly to thoroughly review traffic pursuits,” but he was not able to share the committee’s finding regarding the pursuit that led to Reynold’s death or the number of cases that have resulted in discipline since 2013.

F

or Tristan Scaggs, the incident started with a police pursuit and ended with scores of bullets. In November 2006, 19-year-old Scaggs woke up in pain, shackled to a hospital bed, and surrounded by Cook County Sheriff’s deputies.

“You must be somebody,” he remembers a nurse remarking.

(Although Scaggs’s case took place prior to the years the Reader examined in detail, the particulars of the case seemed to warrant further scrutiny.)

Slowly, Scaggs remembered how he’d gotten there: On October 30 he and two

Timothy Jones’s prom photo with godbrother Amari Hatch o COURTESY CARMEN HATCH

friends had been driving in Humboldt Park in a stolen Pontiac Grand Prix. Police followed them for many blocks, then curbed and surrounded the car, firing into it more than 60 times, according to state appellate court records.

Officers shot his friend William Tyler, the driver of the car, at least 24 times, according to ballistics reports from the medical examiner’s office. They also shot a passenger, his friend Marcus Thomas, at least six times, according to reports.

Both young men died.

Scaggs also took a shot—in the back.

As he slowly came to at the hospital, a deputy informed him that he had been charged with his friends’ murders— along with several other charges, including attempted murder and conspiracy to commit murder.

“At first I thought it was a lie,” Scaggs said in a recent phone interview from Stateville Correctional Center. “I thought to be charged with murder you had to kill somebody.”

During the initial investigation, hospital staff kept Scaggs’s family members at

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From left: Tristan Scaggs with his godsister Maria Mitchell; Scaggs’s aunt Shirley Carter o COURTESY SHIRLEY CARTER; SUNSHINE TUCKER

a distance, according to his aunt, Shirley Carter. Scaggs was listed under an alias at the hospital, making it hard to track him, Carter recalls. She was the first person to see him because Scaggs’s mother is deaf and cannot speak.

“It was crazy to me to hear that [he had been shot] and to try to explain to my sister what had happened,” Carter says. “It was like, ‘Oh my god, is my nephew going to make it?’”

Scaggs is now serving a 38-year-sentence. In a recent conversation, he recalled the traumatic encounter that put him in the hospital and then in prison.

After seeing Tyler get shot in the head, Scaggs says he raised his hands and exited the car, crawling on the ground. He could see one officer’s boots from where he lay. They belonged to Michael Bocardo, then a 20-year police veteran.

“Officer Bocardo was standing there with an assault rifle, and then he shot me in the back,” Scaggs wrote in an 2013 affidavit. “I felt it down in my hip. I was rocking back and forth trying to breath [sic]. I said, ‘Why the fuck did you shoot

me.’ He said, ‘Because you are fixing to die mother-fucker.’”

Bocardo—a CPD sergeant—has ten known misconduct complaints against him, according to the Citizens Police Data Project. Half of those complaints are for use-of-force allegations, for which Bocardo has received no discipline, according to city data. None of the complaints were sustained in favor of the citizens’ account of events. Rather, the department has commended Bocardo dozens of times, with honors such as the Life Saving Award the year after he shot Scaggs and the Superintendent’s Award of Valor.

Within days of Scaggs’s shooting, CPD issued a press release describing the scene as a fatal shoot-out in which officers had foiled a murder plot by members of the New Breed street gang.

Scaggs says he was never a New Breed gang member, although he admits to being friends with some of the gang’s members and holding weapons for them for a couple of bucks. As a young teen, he had been part of the Four Corner Hus-

tlers, he says, but his ties dwindled as he grew older, became more interested in school, and fostered career ambitions of working as an EMT. CPD’s press release stated that the young men in the car “brandished weapons.”

But the shell casings found at the scene all came from police weapons, and officers had fired at least 69 times from at least ten different guns, according to uncontested forensic evidence presented at trial.

In addition, no officer saw Scaggs exit the car with a weapon, according to trial evidence. Police reports indicated that three officers gave statements supporting Scaggs’s account, but these officers were never called to testify at his trial—a fact highlighted in Scaggs’s appeal, along with his assertion that CPD allowed the Grand Prix to be salvaged after the defense filed a motion to inspect the car.

While Scaggs was ultimately found not guilty of killing his friends, a jury convicted him of attempted first-degree murder of a police officer and conspiracy to commit murder.

“I know I didn’t do nothing. I shouldn’t have been in that situation,” Scaggs said.

“I’m locked up for something I didn’t do.”

Scaggs’s words echo Jones’s: “I don’t feel I should serve 28 years of my life for a car accident that I was not involved in,” wrote Jones, who had a scholarship to play football at Lincoln University in Jefferson City, Missouri. “I feel as if I wasn’t given a second chance, seeing that I was actually on a path that was leading me somewhere. . . . I feel as if the police could have told the truth at my trial, and I would have been found not guilty. I feel the judge could have done more to help too. But the system was built to destroy.”

For others convicted of felony murder, like Tevin Louis, the road ahead is their focus.

“Right now, I’m just living to go home,” he says. “I want what every other human being wants: have some kids, make a family, do the small things that matter the most. I’m still living. I’m alive.” v

ß @flowersalison ß @seramak AUGUST 18, 2016 - CHICAGO READER 15

ARTS & CULTURE 1976 acrylic painting by Pete Doige

VISUAL ART

Doig versus Doige

By DEANNA ISAACS

O

ne of the art world’s most bizarre cases has been quietly playing out this month in district court judge Gary Feinerman’s courtroom, located in the Dirksen Federal Building in

the Loop.

In a bench trial that’s attracted only a smattering of observers, international art star Peter Doig has been fighting to prove that he didn’t create the finely detailed, surrealistic desert landscape that’s currently being displayed on an easel at one side of the courtroom.

The painting’s owner, former Canadian corrections officer Robert “Bob” Fletcher, and his art dealer, longtime Chicago gallerist Peter Bartlow, are suing Doig for denying that he was the artist.

Why do they care enough to make a federal case out of it? In 2015 a Doig painting sold for $25.9 million.

16 CHICAGO READER - AUGUST 18, 2016

According to expert testimony heard in court last week, if Doig owned up to this one, it would go for $6 to $8 million.

Fletcher and Bartlow hoped to sell the painting through Leslie Hindman’s Chicago auction house—a plan that was thwarted, they say, when the artist refused to acknowledge the work. Their complaint, filed three years ago, seeks damages, costs, and the right to attribute the artwork to Doig.

If this story sounds familiar, it might be because you read about it here, in the Reader, when I first came across it four years ago.

There wasn’t any lawsuit at that point, but Bartlow and Fletcher were giving the account they’ve reiterated in court: Fletcher bought the painting for $100 in 1976 from a teenager who painted it while he was incarcerated at the Thunder Bay Correctional Centre, where Fletcher worked.

Fletcher knew the kid as Pete Doige—with

an e on the end—which is the signature that appears on the painting. Many years later a friend told him it could be the work of someone famous, and Fletcher’s brother, who lived in the Chicago area, did some online research.

Nothing turned up for Pete Doige—but Peter Doig, who was born in Scotland but grew up in Canada, was, in fact, a wildly successful contemporary artist.

After checking out images of Doig’s work, Fletcher’s brother made some inquiries at the Art Institute and was referred to Bartlow by someone there.

Bartlow agreed that the painting did look like the work of Peter Doig (mostly because of some similar shapes), and Fletcher thought pictures he saw of the famous artist resembled the Doige he’d known. Speculating that Doig might not want the world to know that he’d been in prison, Bartlow contacted him offering to sell him the painting. The response he received came from Gordon VeneKlasen, the artist’s dealer at New York’s Michael Werner Gallery: a vehement denial, and a threat of legal action against any further attempt to attribute the work to Doig.

In court last week, Bartlow testified that the strength of that denial convinced him that he was right, and he insisted he was only after the truth. But in a lengthy cross-examination, Doig attorney Tibor Nagy read from e-mails Bartlow had written in which he alluded to “something hidden that should remain hidden,” and suggested, “We can make a deal and sign a nondisclosure agreement and this thing can go away forever.”

Doig’s defense team consists of the Chicago firm of Agrawal Evans, working with the New York firm Dontzin Nagy & Fleissig, which is doing the heavy lifting; they’ve had eight or more attorneys, assistants, and assorted others buzzing around their table. Facing off against them: William F. Zieske, of Zieske Law, and his two clients.

Bartlow claims that the painting Fletcher bought contains a “visual repertoire” of shapes that the artist used repeatedly in his subsequent work, perhaps copying elements from a photograph of the painting. In some of the trial’s strangest moments, Nagy applied what he called the Bartlow Method—laying a transparency of one painting on top of anoth-

er—in order to demonstrate that he too could get the shapes to match with the disputed painting—and on a Magritte and the Mona Lisa. Also, on “every other painting I tried it on.”

Doig himself testified that he does, regularly, use “photographic projection of various types in the beginning of making a painting,” tracing the lines of a projected photograph or drawing in charcoal or paint. That has led Bartlow to revise his theory of Doig’s motivation for denial: he now thinks the artist won’t acknowledge it because he doesn’t want the public to know that he’s been using it over and over again.

On Friday the defense produced the sister and the former common-law wife of a man named Pete Doige, a Canadian who died in 2012. He had done some painting, they each said, and also had told them he’d served time in prison. Peter Doig denies that he was in prison during the period in question, and his mom testified that in 1976 he was living at home in Toronto.

“Nagy applied what he called the Bartlow Method—laying a transparency of one painting on top of another—in order to demonstrate that he too could get the shapes to match with the disputed painting . . .”

The defense also produced Ernie Adams, who taught an art class at the prison in 1976.

Adams said he recognized the desert painting, and recalled watching, during a period of months, as one of his inmate students, Pete Doige, created it.

After closing arguments on Tuesday, the judge said he’ll need some time to go over the case but hopes to review a decision next week. v

ß @DeannaIsaacs

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THEATER

READER RECOMMENDED

b ALL AGES

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Aurora Adachi-Winter and Bella Bahhs o JOE MAZZA/BRAVE LUX

Big gun on campus

By TONY ADLER

I

n Kristiana Rae Colón’s Good Friday, an abused soul does the unconscionable in response to the unforgivable, exacting vengeance (or administering justice, take your pick) by shooting students on a college campus.

The play’s bravest stroke is allowing the shooter room enough to build a case for the massacre, despite the intense discomfort that’s likely to cause your average audience member. Its greatest weakness is in resorting to leftist boilerplate to argue the case. Much of what people say in Good Friday sounds like it was issued by some political action collective out of Oberlin College. Appropriate as that may be given the academic setting, the rhetoric ends up obscuring personal choices that lie at the heart of the piece.

There are even bigger directorial problems.

Tara Branham’s staging tries for a sense of immediacy but achieves chaos instead.

Much worse, it fails to exploit the black comedy that’s aching to be released from Colón’s script. Where this world premiere cries out for a bold sense of absurdity, it comes across as merely grim.

That’s the nutshell. Any further discussion requires giving away a crucial secret or two, which I’m about to do. So here’s my spoiler warning: Abandon all surprise, ye who read further.

Good Friday opens on a feminist studies class analyzing Ibsen’s A Doll’s House. The real subject, however, is the preoccupations of the four female students and their nominal mentor, an adjunct named Asha.

Shots and screams are heard. Asha and her students make the horrifically reasonable assumption that some man has gone berserk with an automatic weapon. But when their barricaded door is breached, the shooter turns out to be a woman, Emme, who’s decided to bypass a misogynistic judicial system and mete out her own punishment for the gang rape she suffered at the hands of some athletes. Her victims were apparently all perps.

Emme’s mission generates surprisingly little debate in itself. What’s more important for the others is (a) whether they’ll be next and (b) how this fits in with their various ideologies—a particularly fraught issue inasmuch as Emme’s accomplice, Natalie, wants to turn the rampage into a social-media event. Her idea is to get campus women to read Emme’s confession into their smartphone video cameras, put the result online, and expect viral clicks. A sort of ice-bucket challenge for mass murder.

Colón—also an activist at the helm of the ongoing occupation of “Freedom Square”— takes on a vast array of issues in Good Friday, from gun violence to rape culture to the folly of academia. But her central message concerns the dangers of expecting anything worthwhile to come from the echo chamber of the Internet. She’s found a bitterly funny way to send that message. Problem is, nobody involved is laughing. v GOOD FRIDAY Through 9/17: Thu-Sat 8 PM, Sun 7 PM, Mon 8 PM, Oracle Productions, 1802 W. Berenice, 252-220-0269, publicaccesstheatre.org. F

ß @taadler AUGUST 18, 2016 - CHICAGO READER 17

ARTS & CULTURE

DANCE Will Von Vogt (front), Michael Buono, Jeri Marshall, Dawn Bless, and Aida Delaz o MATTHEW GREGORY HOLLIS

THEATER

The Good Person gone bad

By JUSTIN HAYFORD

A

human being, Bertolt Brecht once wrote, is the sum of his social circumstances. In mounting Brecht’s great 1943 drama The Good Person of Szechwan, Cor Theatre has managed, against all odds, to create a world in which social circumstances barely exist.

Of course, it’s a tricky thing to create Brecht’s Szechwan, as it bears no more resemblance to a region that might ever have existed in China than his city of Mahagonny bears to, well, anywhere on earth. It’s simply—or not so simply—the land where parables play out. And as parables go, The Good Person of Szechwan is a humdinger.

Three despairing gods have been dispatched to earth, ordered to prove there still exist human beings worthy of divine protection (Brecht’s parable is, on one level, an ironic subversion of the Sodom and Gomorrah myth). When they appear to local water seller—and swindler—Wang, asking for nothing more than a place to spend the night, Wang can’t find a single home owner willing to display an ounce of hospitality. Ready to give up on humanity, the gods change their terms: if they can find just one good person on earth, they’ll be appeased.

It turns out that Shen Te, a prostitute, is the only one in town who’ll take the gods in

18 CHICAGO READER - AUGUST 18, 2016

for a night (in director Ernie Nolan’s rarely subtle production, Shen Te is smack in the middle of getting fucked by a client when Wang comes calling). After a night’s rest in Shen Te’s hovel, the gods are ready to retreat to the shadows, admonishing Shen Te to above all be good. But how can she possibly manage that, she interjects, when everything in Szechwan is so expensive? At first the gods insist they can’t meddle in economics but then decide to punt, handing her a thousand silver dollars to pay for their night’s lodging.

In contemporary parlance, they’re incentivizing goodness.

Shen Te uses the money to open a tobacco store, and almost immediately a swarm of neighbors and relations descend upon her, all eager to exploit her good fortune for their personal gain. Despite her natural eagerness to help all who come to her, she’s pushed to the financial brink, at which point her stern taskmaster cousin Shui Ta arrives. He kicks the freeloaders out and eventually puts them to work in his dreadful tobacco factory. Shui Ta is ultimately revealed to be Shen Te in disguise, which in turn reveals the plays central moral conundrum: to do good, a person must have means, but in order to maintain adequate means, a person can’t stay good.

In true parable fashion, the social cir-

cumstances in Szechwan are simple and straightforward: poverty abounds and goods are in short supply, making everything costly and poverty worse (not coincidentally, Brecht wrote the play during his exile in America as World War II raged). Nolan hopes to duplicate these circumstances on what appears to be a particularly dicey New York City block, where petty thieves, officious landlords, small business owners, streetwalkers, cross-dressers, and hustlers collide.

The effort to contemporize Brecht’s world is thorough, from the street fashions the characters wear to the cell phone Shui Ta wields.

All of the numerous songs in the play (some interpolated from other of Brecht’s works) are redone as hip-hop.

On first blush Nolan’s updating seems particularly apt, as the increasing wealth disparity in America leaves people on the lower end of the economic spectrum little option but to feed off one another. But the production rarely creates a convincing sense of deprivation. The stage world never seems to be a place where shortage is the order of the day, despite many characters’ frequent protestations about the hard times in which they’re living. Instead, the cast focus almost exclusively on creating broad—and often overly broad—caricatures which seem, due to divergent acting styles, to be plucked from disparate universes. This is less a social world than a collection of comic types. It may make the crushingly cynical play go down easier, but it provides a distinctly fuzzy lens through which to view its ethical dilemmas.

Further, it makes many moments ring false. In a contemporary urban setting, how can anyone ask with a straight face, Do you know what a pilot is? Or long for an exorbitant salary of $250 a month? Or care about the difference between dollars and silver dollars? Brecht’s parable may be timeless, but its specifics are rooted in his time (specifics which Tony Kushner’s fluid, faithful translation preserves).

As Shen Te/Shui Ta, the always engaging Will Von Vogt makes a brave effort. But he’s acting in a void that gives little context to his struggles. It’s tough to watch a performance so admirable mean so little. v THE GOOD PERSON OF SZECHWAN Through 9/11: Thu-Sat 7:30 PM, Sun 3 PM, A Red Orchid Theatre, 1531 N. Wells, cortheatre.org, $25, $10 students.

Dance within reach

Rennie Harris Pure Movement at Chicago Dancing Festival 2014 o CHERYL MANN

EVERY SUMMER SINCE 2006, the Chicago Dancing Festival has tried to put dance within reach of everyone. The citywide extravaganza, on the cusp of its tenth anniversary, is billed as “the nation’s largest dance fest” and remains entirely free. It’s come a long way from a decade ago, when cofounders Jay Franke and Lar Lubovitch didn’t know if the concept would make it past year one.

“Lar and I used to turn to each other at the end of every festival and say, ‘Are we doing this again?’” says Franke. “We obviously said yes. I’m not sure where the ten years have gone.”

The same could be said about this year’s advance ticket reservations, most of which have been snapped up. But thanks to expanded programming in honor of the anniversary, you can enjoy the three-hour Planet Chicago at Navy Pier (a CDF first) without a ticket (Fri 8/26, 5 PM). The world-themed showcase features Forward Momentum Chicago, a group of 80 young dancers who’ll perform a traditional South African gumboot dance, plus Chicago Human Rhythm Project, Natya Dance Theatre, and Muntu Dance Theatre of Chicago. Dancing Under the Stars at the Pritzker Pavilion (Sat 8/27, 7:30 PM) doesn’t require a reservation either, and features a new piece by choreographer Randy Duncan and the festival debut of the Pennsylvania Ballet along with Hubbard Street Dance, the Joffrey, and more.

So what’s in store for the next ten years?

“Truthfully, my hope is to get through the tenth anniversary,” Franke jokes. “The hope is that we achieve a beautiful starry night at the Pritzker on Saturday, get through the eye of the needle, and then address what happens next.” —MATT DE LA PEÑA CHICAGO DANCING FESTIVAL Tue 8/23-Sat 8/27, various locations, chicagodancingfestival.com. F

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Two wives are better than one

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O

n December 12, 2015, stand-up comedians Rhea Butcher and Cameron Esposito got married onstage at the Hideout.

The pair met at an open mike at Cole’s Bar that Esposito was hosting; they moved to LA together two years later. Season one of the autobiographical show Take My Wife, airing on NBC’s comedy-streaming app Seeso, follows the couple during the time between their move and their engagement as they try to balance their relationship and careers.

What sets Take My Wife apart from recent comedian-centered TV shows like Louie and Maron is the unique set of challenges that Butcher and Esposito face as women, lesbians, and a couple working in comedy.

In the first episode Esposito sits down for a podcast interview and is asked, “If you’re not in comedy for that sweet D, then why do you do it?” This portrayal of male behavior in the comedy circuit feels all too real—I wouldn’t be surprised if someone actually asked Esposito that question.

Throughout the series the pair implicitly convey their support for female comedians: all the women stand-ups are celebrated and referred to by their real names (Maria Bamford, Eliza Skinner, Sam Jay, Mary Lynn Rajskub) while most of the male performers who appear end up playing deplorable characters.

Often, the male roles are setups for Butcher and Esposito to prove a point. Matt Braun- J

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ARTS & CULTURE Jeff Bridges and Gil Birmingham

Small Screen continued from 19 ger, for example, takes to the stage as a shock-and-awe comedian who tells rape jokes for the entirety of his set. What follows is a gracefully amusing exploration of why rape jokes aren’t funny, and a demonstration of how many survivors of assault could be affected by his words.

But the emotional force of Take My Wife stems from the relationship between Butcher and Esposito. Even if you didn’t know these two are a real-life couple, their chemistry is so natural you might guess that anyway. One moment captures a conversation the two have after sex about whether or not they would show themselves having sex on their hypothetical TV program about their lives; they conclude that they should so that young girls like them will see it and know it’s a normal act. In any other context, a scene like this could be considered meta, but here it feels less tongue in cheek and more like an intimate dialogue.

I’ve been a fan of these two and their stand-up show-slash-podcast Put Your Hands Together for years—it’s great to see what’s been happening behind the scenes during that time—whether it’s their personal relationship or their professional growth. The dynamic between an established comedian (Esposito) and an up-and-comer (Butcher) is a tricky one to balance, especially when you have to share a bed every night. It’s rare to see that tension on TV, and I hope we get to see more of it from Butcher and Esposito, up to the wedding on the stage of the Hideout and beyond. v R TAKE MY WIFE Streaming on Seeso

ß @BriannaWellen

MOVIES

Chronic Depression

By J.R. JONES

I

n David Mackenzie’s crime thriller Hell or High Water, two brothers in modern-day west Texas set off on a spree of low-skilled bank robberies, hitting little branch banks in small towns and bypassing the safes to scoop up whatever cash the tellers have on hand. Tanner Howard (Ben Foster), a loose cannon just released from prison, has thrown in with his more responsible younger brother, Toby (Chris Pine), to steal $43,000 so they can pay off a lien on their late mother’s ranch. There’s something anachronistic about all this—as one robbery witness notes, we’re long past “the days of robbing banks and living to spend the money.”

Hell or High Water feels like something from the depths of the Great Depression, when farm and ranch foreclosures swept over the plains states and popular wrath against the banking industry in Texas and Oklahoma protected such desperadoes as Machine Gun Kelly, Pretty Boy Floyd, and Bonnie and Clyde.

Hatred of the banks is evident from the first scene, when Toby and Tanner roll up at their first target. A message spray-painted on the building’s back wall, and glimpsed only in a panning shot, reads 3 tours in Iraq but ssss EXCELLENT

sss GOOD

no bailout for people like us. Over the course of the movie, as the brothers cruise down the highway, they pass more than one billboard for debt relief. Screenwriter Taylor Sheridan (Sicario) has knit the post-2008 economic resentment into the plot as well. When the mother died, she left the ranch to Toby’s two sons, and now oil has been discovered on the property. But the bank holds a lien on the ranch after paying the mother’s back taxes, and foreclosure is imminent. In a streak of poetic justice, Toby resolves to rob the bank’s branches and repay the bank with its own money. “I been poor my whole life,” he fumes late in the film. “It’s like a disease, passes from generation to generation. . . . But not those boys. Not anymore.”

More subtly, the movie feels like a throwback to the 1930s because so much of it transpires on the road, as Toby and Tanner drive from town to town and a pair of Texas Rangers, Marcus Hamilton (Jeff Bridges) and Alberto Parker (Gil Birmingham), chase after them, trying to guess where they’ll strike next. Scottish director Mackenzie (Starred Up, Mister Foe) has never shot a movie in the American heartland before, and like so many

ss AVERAGE

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Europeans who come to the U.S., he’s transfixed by the vast, rugged spaces and the pull of the open highway. In the flat, arid country of west Texas the endless ribbons of concrete take on the force of destiny; the brothers are constantly hurtling toward their fate, and sometimes their fate is hurtling toward them from the other direction.

Gun laws are eroding everywhere, but Texas is practically reverting to the Wild West, which reinforces the impression that Hell or High Water takes place in an earlier century. Everyone is packing heat, adding another layer of tension when the brothers burst into bank lobbies with pistols drawn.

At their second early-morning stickup, Toby and Tanner subdue a bank teller and her only customer. They ask the patron if he’s carrying a gun. “Of course I’m carrying a gun,” he snaps with Lone Star defiance. Toby takes it off him but stupidly lays it on a counter; no sooner have he and Tanner fled the lobby than a bullet comes crashing through the plate glass at them. Later, at a gas station, Tanner gets into an altercation with a badass in a muscle car who brandishes his pistol for emphasis before Toby comes up from behind and knocks him senseless. When the brothers’ final robbery spins out of control, they burst out of the bank lobby and face gunfire from citizens on the street as they race for their car.

When a filmmaker connects the present to the past, the result can feel like it’s taking place outside of time. Mackenzie tells a story of two outlaws and two lawmen, casually observing their friendly but more often fractious relationships before each partnership terminates. “You’re lucky,” Alberto tells Marcus, who’s scheduled to retire in a few weeks. “You made it through to the end.” That’s the sort of dialogue that sends chills down a movie fan’s spine, though it’s oddly appropriate for a story in which, thanks to the banks, everyone seems to be down on his luck. In Hell or High Water the New Deal is over and the only deal that matters comes out of the card feeder at a casino gaming table. Whether the movie takes place now or in the 1930s hardly matters—the economic forces are as immutable as the landscape. v HELL OR HIGH WATER sss Directed

by David Mackenzie. R, 102 min. See chicagoreader.com/movies for listings.

ß @JR_Jones

WORTHLESS

AUGUST 18, 2016 - CHICAGO READER 21

ARTS & CULTURE

LIT

Marlys’s greatest strips, again

By JANET POTTER

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y nda Barr y’s landmark comic strip Ernie Pook’s Comeek appeared in 70 papers nationw ide (including this one) during its nearly three-decade run, which started sometime in the late 70s and ended in 2008. The most beloved character to emerge from that title was spunky Marlys Mullen, a freckled, bespectacled eightyear-old with pigtails pointing in opposite directions. Loosely based on Barry’s own childhood years, Marlys lives in a trailer park with her teenage sister Maybonne, her younger brother Freddie, and her cousins Arna and Arnold.

The Greatest of Marlys, originally released in 2000 and reissued this week by Drawn & Quarterly, collects 226 of the four-panel strips. Subjects addressed in the book include substitute teachers, science fair projects, family vacations, Arna and Marlys’s worst haircuts (performed

by Marlys’s mom with dog clippers), an inventory of teenage Maybonne’s cool bedroom, and “the night we all got sick.” Barry has a knack for capturing the universal experiences of childhood (or at least midwestern childhood in the 70s) and communicating the kids’ personalities with perfectly drawn details. One series of three strips describes what the

kids ordered from the Sears catalog: Arna, a shy bookworm, chose a baby doll that could cry; Marlys selected “molded rubber glamour wigs,” which turned out to look like “a bathing cap with a bad infection” and were ultimately used for dressing up as monsters; Arnold, the oldest and a frequent troublemaker, purchased plastic army men and then set them on fire.

The point of view shifts among the kids, but Marlys is frequently the star of the show. An enthusiastic oddball, she gets all A’s but doesn’t get invited to birthday parties. On the first warm day of the year, she climbs out her bedroom window onto the roof and sings “Jeremiah Was a Bullfrog” while doing “the butt dance in her pajamas.” When a car honks at her, she sticks her arm in the air and shouts “Black power!”

(It’s her grandma.) “Marlys’ Guide to Queers” is a gut punch, an outline of how poorly her uncle John and his partner Bill are treated, and how she thinks they should be: “If you know other queers tell them ‘Marlys says hi.’ Say ‘Right on from Marlys.’”

I n M a rly s ’s world , t he re ’s drama everywhere, and beauty in unexpected moments, like the last kickball game on the night before school starts, the one “even the teenagers who could drive”

22 CHICAGO READER - AUGUST 18, 2016

played i n—ever ybody ignored their moms’ calls to come home, and Arna kicked the last ball of the game right as the streetlights came on. Barry thanks Marlys in this collection’s afterword for being “the imaginary friend I never had.”

Since concluding the strip she has written best-selling illustrated novels, memoirs, and how-to books on writing and drawing, and The Greatest of Marlys shows some of the earliest iterations of the weird, warm, boundless energy that has characterized her career. It also helps preserve a character who was considered by millions of readers (and hopefully now by millions more) a great friend. v R THE GREATEST OF MARLYS By Lynda Barry (Drawn & Quarterly)

ß @sojanetpotter

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hen Save Money rapper Towkio got invited to play his first Lollapalooza set this summer, he knew he wanted to make a statement—to show the fans who’d converge on the festival from all over the country what he loves about the city that shaped him. So he reached out to footwork dance crew the Era.

J

o WILLS GLASSPIEGEL

AUGUST 18, 2016 - CHICAGO READER 23

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“The Era’s flexed wrists echo a variation of the Ghost as deployed by the late DJ Rashad when he danced,” says the crew’s historian, Wills Glasspiegel.

From left to right: Steelo, Chief Manny, Dempsey, P-Top, and Litebulb at 49th Street Beach. o WILLS GLASSPIEGEL

The Era continued from 23 Footwork music began evolving in Chicago in the early 90s, drawing on ghetto house and juke but adding complex layers of odd, almost compulsively frenetic rhythms; it grew hand in hand with the athletic, high-octane dance style that shares its name. Towkio had become a fan of footwork dancing as a kid, and in 2015 he enlisted DJ Spinn—cofounder of Teklife, the most important collective of footwork producers anywhere—to open for him at a mixtape-release show. Spinn in turn brought Litebulb, cofounder of the Era, to dance during his set. Towkio already knew about the Era, and that concert helped cement their connection. “I was like, ‘I gotta link up with them, because they’re the only ones holding it down,’” Towkio says. “There’s not really another crew that holds down the footwork culture like them.”

Members of the Era appear in the video for Towkio’s “Clean Up,” which came out in February—among the crowd of friends shaking it on the sidewalk, the footwork dancers stand out, firing off quick kicks on tiptoe or neatly

spinning in circles. “The Era are the best footworkers I know,” Towkio says. “I had to have that bang in my set, so I’m going to hire the best people.”

And the Era are arguably among the best footwork dancers in the world. The crew’s five core members are Jemal “P-Top” DeLa Cruz, 27, who grew up in Uptown; Brandon “Chief Manny” Calhoun, 25, from the southeast side; Dempsey Barney, 25, raised all over the south side; Sterling “Steelo” Lofton, 25, who grew up around East Chatham; and Jamal “Litebulb” Oliver, 26, from the Chicago Lawn area. The Era also includes one nondancer: Wills Glasspiegel, a filmmaker, footwork documentarian, and PhD candidate in African-American and American Studies at Yale.

The five of them founded the Era in 2014, at which point footwork dancing (and footwork music) had been flourishing for decades in underground spaces and neighborhood spots—roller rinks, house parties, school auditoriums, even tennis courts. The Era’s dancers sharpened their skills in places like these, including an important footwork arena called

THE ERA PRESENT IN THE WURKZ

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Battlegrounds, which since 2008 has occupied a vacant room in a Chatham insurance office.

They also built their reputations at a series of dance battles called War Zone, organized by an important booster and documentarian of the scene named Wala Williams, whose show Wala Cam launched on CAN TV in 2003.

Beginning in the early 2010s, DJ Spinn and his late friend and Teklife cofounder DJ Rashad helped bring footwork aboveground, touring the States and Europe—and sometimes they’d bring future members of the Era with them on the road. This increase in visibility has since helped the Era make inroads into cultural spaces far from footwork’s humble grassroots origins—they’ve entered the world of grants, art galleries, private universities, and city-sponsored music-industry showcases.

In 2014 the Era launched a partnership with Pilsen gallery High Concept Laboratories, which hosts the crew’s Lab Sessions (basically parties where fans can learn moves from the pros) as well as straight-up dance lessons taught by its members. In 2015 the University of Chicago awarded Litebulb and Glasspiegel a Crossing Boundaries artists’ residency, which they’ve used to archive the history of footwork. That same year, Vice’s electronic-music site, Thump, released a short documentary on the Era made by Glasspiegel. In May 2016, the city booked the crew as a marquee act at its Lake FX Summit & Expo, where they shared the bill with Rhymefest, BJ the Chicago Kid, and Jamila Woods. The Era have performed extensively outside Chicago too, including in New York, at South by Southwest, on a 2015 tour of Latin America with DJ Spinn, and as part of a corporate-sponsored festival that flew them to Kuwait this April.

Chicago Dancemakers Forum named Litebulb one of its 2015 Lab Artists, giving him and the Era a $15,000 grant to work on a stage show—the group’s first. After two years of labor, In the Wurkz is premiering this month, and it’s a rare chance for the Era’s dancers to be the center of attention onstage. The show uses a variety of media—dance, poetry, film— to tell the story of footwork through the eyes of the crew.

The Era are putting on the show for free in a turn-of-the-century auditorium on the grounds of Hamilton Park in Englewood, not far from where a majority of the crew’s members live. It’s important to them to do something for their community. “We feel like debuting on the south side for free is huge, because we don’t even have shit over here,” Litebulb says. “Every time it’s a huge event, like Lollapalooza or anything, it’s downtown.”

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AUGUST 18, 2016 - CHICAGO READER 25

The Era continued from 25

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ootwork as the Era practice it wouldn’t exist today without Englewood native Anthony “Ant” Brown—“the Michael Jordan of footwork,” as Litebulb puts it.

Brown says footwork had already been around for ages when he started dancing in 1991. “There’s a beginning, but it’s not with me,” he explains. “Footwork started way before me, because I looked up to other people as well—I’m just the person that probably got it exposed and got it out here to where it’s like bananas now.”

Brown’s contributions to local streetdancing culture pushed footwork toward its present fast-paced, improvisational style—he

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was responding to the raunchy ghetto house that DJs had begun playing at house parties and dance performances. Chicago label Dance Mania helped popularize the sound, which eventually evolved into juke and footwork music. “Everything is based off of the DJs and what they could put towards the dancing industry and how they made tracks,” Brown says. “There were certain tracks that I liked— west-side-type tracks.”

Brown made his first big innovation in 1992 or ’93. “DJ [Eric] Martin, he made the ‘Erk n Jerk’ track, and then I made the dance to that track,” he says. “I think that’s what set it off, as far as the game of footworking.” Brown’s move is a sort of rapid seesawing series of straightlegged sideways kicks, alternating right and

left legs, with the other leg bent underneath so that the dancer rocks busily back and forth.

The Erk n Jerk became one of footwork’s foundational moves, alongside others such as the Shake n Bake, Dribbling, Mike n Ikes, and Ghost. Dancers used these steps to develop their own styles as footwork spread. One important vector was neighborhood dance groups, many of whom showed off their newest routines at the annual Bud Billiken Parade—the largest African-American parade in the country, launched by the Chicago Defender in 1929.

One popular group that served as an early-90s incubator for footwork was Houseo-Matics, founded by Englewood resident Ronnie Sloan in 1985. About when Brown developed the Erk n Jerk, a dancer named Kavain Space joined House-o-Matics—but because he also made music, Sloan encouraged him to focus on one or the other. Space picked music, making tracks as RP Boo that were custommade for the footworkers he knew. His late90s cut “Baby Come On,” with a vocal sample played in a stuttering loop and a drum pattern that keeps shifting one of its main accents from an upbeat to a more straightforward backbeat, demonstrates some of the features of the template he laid down for future footwork producers—its competing, overlapping rhythms let dancers pick and choose which one to follow as they improvise their moves.

The symbiotic connection between footwork music and footwork dancing helped the culture flourish during the 2000s. Many of the best producers and DJs also danced, and they not only continued making tracks for dancers but also made direct reference to specific moves, performers, and battle cliques. “That was the DJ’s job in some respects—to memorialize and pay tribute,” Glasspiegel says.

According to Glasspiegel, one of the genre’s quintessential tracks is “Ghost” by DJ Rashad, who danced in House-o-Matics as a teenager and cofounded one of the first footwork battle cliques, Wolf Pac. It combines whooshing, melodic bass, a hiccupping sample of Rashad saying “ghost,” and the magical fusion of sweetness and grime that characterized footwork’s sound during its international breakthrough six or seven years ago—the track was first released on 2011’s Just a Taste Vol. One, which dropped just as Rashad and Spinn began to ramp up their overseas touring. Glasspiegel discussed “Ghost” in a 2014 Pitchfork feature on footwork, pointing out an important feature of the song: “Rashad recognizes four crucial Chicago dancers: ‘Poo, AG, Q, Litebulb,’ he repeats.”

Litebulb had been footworking for roughly six years when Just a Taste Vol. One dropped.

He’d learned about the dance as a kid by watching people footwork in the neighborhood, including a local group called Below Zero. “I just never could do it till I got in high school,” he says. He was a percussionist in the band at Tilden High in Canaryville, where he also played on the basketball team and danced in a school group called Total Impact, aka TIP. He joined TIP in 2005 and began to immerse himself in footwork, dancing at talent shows and making up his own moves by studying online videos: “I just hopped on YouTube and started watching people that I thought was good,” he says. “I just started taking they shit, as anybody would starting off, and doing it my own way.”

Some other members of TIP were involved in an off-campus dance group called Alpha & Omega, which Litebulb had joined in 2004.

Two years later he joined another group called 3rd Dimension, whose leader knew the members of Terra Squad, one of Chicago’s best battle cliques. “Terra Squad came to the practice one day, and I battled the two heads,” Litebulb says. The two Terra Squad members were AG (one of the footworkers Rashad shouts out on “Ghost”) and TY, who invited the teenager to try out for their group. As Litebulb puts it, “The rest was history.”

Joining Terra Squad in 2006 brought Litebulb deeper into footwork. “That’s when I met Spinn, Rashad, everybody else like that—I was making a name for myself, and I was learning from AG and people like him who was actually in the direct lineage from Spinn and the Wolf Pac,” Litebulb says. “We was directly tied to the people who started footworking, who created all the moves, who created battle cliques and all that shit. I didn’t realize I was in that world until later on.” In February 2008 Litebulb made it to the final round of King of the Circle, an important footwork battle.

Today he says he wasn’t that good back then, but his name began to spread.

The following year, new arrivals on the Terra Squad roster included three more future cofounders of the Era: Chief Manny, Steelo, and Dempsey. (Of the five current members, only P-Top didn’t pass through Terra Squad.) The trio became friends in 2005 and ’06, during their freshman year at Bowen High School.

Manny had started dabbling in magic in middle school after watching David Blaine (“I was like, ‘Damn, let me try some of this magic—let me try to get these reactions’ ”), and he bonded with the other two in an art class. Steelo had done a drawing of Goofy that impressed Manny. “He was just like, ‘Damn, this shit raw,’” Steelo says. “That was one of the first times me and Manny ever really talked.”

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P-Top, Chief Manny, Litebulb, and Steelo demonstrate footwork moves. As Litebulb explains: “P-Top looks like a set breakdown into a Ghost. Manny’s is a high Ghost into a low Ghost that lands in a knee drop. Mine is more of a new movement combination, and Steelo’s looks like a crossover skate combination.” o WILLS GLASSPIEGEL AND THE ERA

Manny and Dempsey soon joined the school dance team, Untouchables. Manny’s friends call him “the Plug” due to his many social connections, and his older sister led the team.

Dempsey had learned about footworking from his godsister and an older cousin before he turned ten. “I wanted a little attention in high school, so I was like ‘OK, I wanna dance,’” he says. “It’s how people [will] know my name in high school.”

Steelo remembers that an older cousin had tried to get him into footwork when he was seven or eight. “He’s trying to teach me footworking, like, ‘Where your Ghost at?,’ ” he says. “Every time he see me at a family function or whatever, he like, ‘Where your Ghost at? Where your Ghost at?’ ” That early encouragement didn’t work, but when Steelo saw Dempsey and Manny test their developing footwork skills by battling in the halls at school, something finally clicked for him.

After a brief move to Indiana in 2007, in ’08 Steelo joined Dempsey in the footwork battle clique BTS, aka Breakthrough Squad.

Manny had been in a couple groups outside

school (including 3rd Dimension, where he met Litebulb), but he didn’t join a battle clique till he became part of Terra Squad in January 2009. He’d gone to try out because his friend City was already a member and he knew they were one of the best. “OK, if I don’t get with Terra Squad,” Manny remembers thinking, “I’m not getting with another group.”

Several years earlier, City had cofounded a battle clique called Goon Squad, which P-Top joined in late 2006. Previously he’d dedicated much of his time to football. “Maybe it was because it was a contact sport—it released my anger,” P-Top says. “But it helped me escape, and it had unity at the same time.” He first dipped his toes into footworking at age 15, during his freshman year at Senn High School in Edgewater. His younger brother, Malcolm, was already a member of Goon Squad, and his sisters were in a group that competed at big community shows called dance downs. The footworkers in any given group would come out last to perform by themselves, and they got P-Top’s attention. “They were soloing, going crazy for the crowd—the crowd is going

nuts,” he says. “I was like, ‘Damn, that shit’s kind of cool. I like that!’”

P-Top’s first son was born when he was 17, and he quit football so he could work after school. He stuck with footwork, though, even while he picked up any gig that could pay him.

Since turning 16, P-Top has worked for all sorts of bosses—After School Matters, KFC, Boys & Girls Club, Sam’s Club, Chicago Public Schools, a private security company—but he stayed in Goon Squad. “It was something that I was so excited about—like I was a kid in a cartoon factory or something. I was so excited to watch everything,” he says. “It made me feel good.”

P-Top’s love of footwork led him all over the city, both to watch footworkers whose reputations had reached him and to compete on his own—he went to Chatham (venturing into Battlegrounds), to the Hundreds, and to the south suburbs. “It gave me a different picture and a different outlook on things with footworking,” he says. “Like, ‘Damn, look at this style! Look at that style compared to my style.’ ” P-Top also started to feel like he had

rivals on the scene—specifically Litebulb and Terra Squad.

Once Manny and Steelo made the Terra Squad team in early 2009, they were eager to work—Manny remembers pulling Litebulb aside to ask for his help. “I’m like, ‘Hey, show me something—you’re one of the top people out here right now. Really show me a move right now,’” he says. “I think that mind-set of really wanting to learn from people who came before you is what helped me and what helped develop my style and craft.”

Dempsey didn’t come aboard with them—he was still loyal to BTS, where he’d met his girlfriend Dana—but he was impressed by how quickly Steelo and Manny were growing. “I was like, ‘Man, I think I should’ve joined the group,’ ’cause I see how much better they was getting in weeks,” he says. All three graduated high school in 2009, and that summer Dempsey danced during the Bud Billiken Parade, where he caught the eye of Terra Squad. Within weeks he’d received his own invitation to join.

Litebulb remembers clicking with Manny, Steelo, and Dempsey as soon as they joined.

“When they came around, they was my age,” he says. “It was like an automatic connection.”

Litebulb had other friends his age in Terra Squad, including Jeremiah Sterling, who shared his enthusiasm for taking footwork beyond battles and into more formal performances. “He was like, ‘We gonna be in Camaros off of footworkin’,” Litebulb says. Sterling moved away in late 2009 to live with an older brother in Denver, and when he came back to spend the summer of 2010 here, he was shot in a West Pullman alley a block from his mother’s house. He died July 15 at age 16.

In the early 2010s, tensions began to fester between Terra Squad’s younger members (including the four future Era cofounders) and its more senior dancers. Litebulb left the group in 2011, about the same time he started touring Europe with Spinn and Rashad. Manny, Dempsey, and Steelo stayed in Terra Squad, but in late summer 2011 they launched a new group with Litebulb. “We decided to still be with the battle clique but break off into this performance group called Nu Era,” Manny says. “Our goal was to perform throughout the city—I guess have a stage show or whatever.”

Nu Era fizzled out after about a year, but Manny, Dempsey, Steelo, and Litebulb didn’t give up on their dream of a performance group—and fortunately for them, they got to know Glasspiegel right around that time. He’d become entrenched in the local footwork community in 2009, working for NPR as a freelance journalist and radio producer. He spent most of his time with DJ Rashad, DJ Spinn, DJ J

AUGUST 18, 2016 - CHICAGO READER 27

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28 CHICAGO READER - AUGUST 18, 2016

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The Era continued from 27 Earl, Traxman, and the rest of the Teklife crew (then known as GhettoTeknitianz), who introduced him to the dancers.

Glasspiegel remembers hearing DJ Spinn talking to Litebulb after DJ Rashad’s performance at the 2013 Pitchfork Music Festival, encouraging him to start a dance collective as a foil to Teklife. “When Spinn tapped Litebulb as somebody who could pioneer the dance movement to go forward, I said, ‘What can I do to help?’” he says.

Glasspiegel even brought P-Top into this nascent group, albeit inadvertently: a movieproducer friend asked him to find a couple of dancers to appear in a film called Manglehorn, a 2014 release that stars Al Pacino as a woebegone locksmith, and he picked Litebulb and P-Top. At first P-Top didn’t believe Glasspiegel’s Facebook message was real, but he took the gig—despite his old rivalry with Litebulb.

“That used to be my arch enemy,” he says.

When P-Top and Litebulb went to Texas to film their scene in 2013, they realized they had a lot in common. “We had the same vision when it came to the culture—of trying to push it beyond Battlegrounds, beyond War Zone, beyond just running into each other and battling,” P-Top says. Upon their return to Chicago, Litebulb invited P-Top to a meeting with Manny, Dempsey, and Steelo, and the Era was born.

When the Era began in March 2014, several other dancers were involved, but the group soon slimmed down to the core five—along with Glasspiegel, who plays an advisory role.

“If I can help talk to them about contracts, ownership, self-determination, or issues that come up when you start to form a business, I want to provide support for that,” Glasspiegel says. “At the same time, they teach me so much about footwork, about what it means— it’s really been an amazing relationship and friendship.”

The feeling is mutual. “He’s not no outside person,” Litebulb says. “I know his daddy.”

The Era made their first big splash during DJ Spinn’s 2014 Pitchfork festival performance; when P-Top, Steelo, Dempsey, and Litebulb jumped into their coordinated routine, the crowd erupted in cheers. (Manny missed the show because he was teaching animation at a kids’ summer camp in Connecticut.) The Era played a crucial role in Spinn’s life-affirming set, which was especially emotional given that he’d originally been scheduled to play alongside DJ Rashad, who’d passed away that April at age 34.

But despite the great first impression the Era made at Pitchfork (and the many other

Steelo at Battlegrounds in Chatham o WILLS GLASSPIEGEL

successes that have followed), footwork dancing is nowhere near as well-known as footwork music. Since the late 2000s, when several chic European labels took an interest in the genre, it’s been attracting immoderate critical praise from a surprising variety of publications—including high-profile nonspecialists such as Playboy and Rolling Stone. But even as the likes of Hyperdub and Planet Mu have spread footwork music across the world, the dance that evolved alongside it has often fallen by the wayside—for one thing, it’s hardly as portable as an MP3. You can’t get a sense of how someone might move to a footwork track if all you have is a copy of DJ Rashad’s Double Cup. This is part of the reason Glasspiegel wants to document dancers in Chicago. “You want to show all the important parts—when something gets commodified, those parts get erased, and those are often the most import-

ant and essential parts,” he says. “This music and dance was made by people who were not served—and still aren’t, in many ways—by capitalism. If we’re just reading them through products often created outside of Chicago, what does that do to the cultural history?”

Some footwork dancers have had success outside the city, of course—but not on the scale that the producers have. Missy Elliott featured local dance group Full Effect in her 2005 video “Lose Control,” and Chicago’s FootworKINGz appeared on America’s Got Talent in 2009 and America’s Best Dance Crew in 2011—one of their members, King Charles, also toured as a backup dancer for Madonna in 2008 and ’09. The Era aren’t interested in dancing on anybody else’s stage, though—they want to be headliners. “The vision we trying to push here is you don’t have to dance behind no other person to be respected or to get cut

the same check that the singer is getting cut or the rapper is getting cut,” Dempsey says. “The whole vision of us spreading the stage performance and bringing the music, it’s something very new.”

That “us” is a key part of the Era’s philosophy. Its members try to direct attention to the collective, not to any one person; as Glasspiegel points out, DJ Rashad pursued a similar ethic with Teklife, making sure his fellow producers got their due even as people outside the scene heralded him as footwork music’s biggest star. And for the Era, “us” doesn’t just mean the collective but rather footworkers as a whole. In May, when the Era teamed up with Rebuild Foundation’s Black Cinema House for a weekly series focused on footwork, they screened a documentary about one of the best women footworkers, Jasmine “Apps” Applewhite.

The Era debut their stage show, In the Wurkz, on Saturday, August 27. Litebulb says it’s been in development for about two years— as long as the Era has existed. “On and off,” Manny adds. “It’s like scrapping stuff—like, ‘No, we don’t want to do this. Startin’ over.’”

Footworking is so physically demanding that even a relatively brief show (this one lasts half an hour) can’t consist entirely of dancing unless a huge number of performers take shifts.

To sidestep this problem, the Era have made In the Wurkz a multimedia production, incorporating not just music and dance but also documentary filmmaking and poetry. “We can’t just go out there and solo for 30 minutes,” Manny says. “That’s not a show.”

Within the past year, members of the Era have also started to work on their own music.

They’ve recorded themselves rapping over footwork tracks, and in a snippet that Litebulb played for me, the vocals move with the same fluid rhythms as the dancers’ bodies. “That’s footworkin’ with words,” he says. “That’s what we callin’ it—we not trying to be no rappers.”

The Era decided to do this in part because, as Manny says, so little music out there describes the life of a dancer. “As a dancer, when you wake up, you don’t have nobody to say, like, ‘Man, we finna go burn these niggas, we finna battle, we gotta practice now,’” he says.

What it’s like to be a footworker is a big part of the message of In the Wurkz. “I want people to feel what we go through,” Steelo says. “We go through regular shit, and we use dance as an expression—that’s what I want to show people. And footworkers, they gonna already get it, ’cause they goin’ through what I go through every day.” v

ß @imLeor AUGUST 18, 2016 - CHICAGO READER 29

MUSIC

Recommended and notable shows, and critics’ insights for the week of August 18 b

ALL AGES

F

PICK OF THE WEEK:

The return of Milemarker is packaged with a new album of synth-heavy posthardcore

Jonathan Biss o BENJAMIN EALOVEGA

THURSDAY18 Jonathan Biss See also Saturday and Monday. 6 PM, Bennett-Gordon Hall, Ravinia, Green Bay & Lake Cook, Highland Park, $10. b

o PIXTUR

MILEMARKER, SWEET COBRA, POISON ARROWS

Fri 8/18, 9 PM, Empty Bottle, 1035 N. Western, $14, $12 in advance.

STYLISTICALLY SLIPPERY POSTHARDCORE unit Milemarker have changed home base nearly as frequently as they’ve altered the mood of their music. Born in 1997 in Chapel Hill, the group eventually set up camp in Chicago, and the two foundational members, Dave Laney and Al Burian—who writes the perzine Burn Collector—now live in Germany. OK, so maybe Milemarker have changed their style a little more frequently than the members have switched postal codes.

Their catalog is cut with a furious, anxious energy molded with ominous riffing and punk bile. The new Overseas (Lovitt), Milemarker’s

30 CHICAGO READER - AUGUST 18, 2016

first album since 2005’s brooding Ominosity, is a return to a more synth-heavy sound, though unlike the up-front, biting melodies on 2001’s Anaesthetic, the keys control the ambience and paint the background. Some of the brightest moments on Overseas are atmospheric, including the postindustrial thrust of “Conditional Love” and the sinister, slow-burning “The Dreamer,” which bears resemblance to both Swedish posthardcore legends Refused and Chicago nu-metal titans Disturbed without falling prey to either act’s cheesiest choices. —LEOR GALIL

Jonathan Biss is halfway through fulfilling a lifelong dream of recording all 32 of Beethoven’s piano sonatas. He not only distinguishes himself through his thoughtful playing but is also a gifted writer (Beethoven’s Shadow) and teaches at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, where his online Coursera class Exploring Beethoven’s Sonatas reaches students in 135 countries. And in a series of concerts at Ravinia, he’ll perform all of them over the course of three years (he told me in a phone interview he regards this as “training wheels” in preparation for performances of the entire cycle in 2019). Each recital, Biss says, is intended to reveal the “maximum breadth of form, language, and character” within the works while highlighting Beethoven’s tremendous transformation, which in his view is “probably greater than any artist, of any discipline.” Tonight, the first of three performances, he’ll begin with Sonata no. 1 in F Minor and end with the majestic no. 21 in C Major, the “Waldstein.”

Saturday’s concert includes two other famous sonatas, no. 17 in D Minor, the “Tempest,” and no. 23 in F Minor, the “Appassionata,” which Biss feels “breaks with history in an unbelievable way; its level of violence was never expressed before.” The concluding concert Monday includes no. 14 in C-sharp Minor, the “Moonlight,” famous for its moody first movement, and concludes with no. 29 in E Major, the first of the last three late sonatas. He’ll end this season with the next in line from that remarkable group of compositions. —BARBARA YAROSS J

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SEPTEMBER 3RD UMPHREY’S MCGEE

NO EXPERIENCE NECESSARY

NCMF AFTER PARTY

Slick Rick o ERIKA GOLDRING/GETTY

FESTIVALS

The southeast side celebrates with house, the west side with Slick Rick Glenwood Avenue Arts Fest Rogers Park’s addition to the street-fest scene features more than 40 acts, including local rock staples White Mystery, Radkey, and Absolutely Not. 8/19-8/21, Glenwood and Morse, glenwoodave. org. F

Chicago Westside Music Festival Now in its fifth year, this festival was created to shine a spotlight on the cultural reach of the city’s west side. Performances by Slick Rick, Kelly Price, and MC Lyte should do just that.

8/20, 4 PM, Douglas Park, 1401 S. Sacramento, chicagowestsidemusicfestival.com. F

Comfort Station Annual Fundraiser White Mystery (again), Vamos, the Yolks, Flesh Panthers, Dumpster Babies, and other local garage and punk acts perform to benefit Comfort Station, a multidisciplinary art space in Logan Square. The music is free, and $20 gets you all the Revolution beer you can drink.

8/20, 3 PM, Illinois Centennial Monument, 2595 N. Milwaukee. F

3 Yards Bangin’ House Fest Mike Dunn, Steve “Silk” Hurley, Fiddy Millz, and 19 more DJs come together to celebrate the southeast side’s long tradition of house music.

See Gossip Wolf on page 46 for more. 8/20, noon, 87th and Anthony, snschicago.com, $20.

SEPTEMBER 4TH VULFPECK & TAUKING MCGEE: NCMFAFTER PARTY

SEPTEMBER 9TH

COON E W/ PORN AND CHICKEN, BIZERK,

NO EXPERIENCE LIKE IT

OLIVIA OUTRAGE

SEPTEMBER 10TH WORLD MUSIC FESTIVAL CHICAGO2016 SEPTEMBER 15TH

THE SPECIALS

RIOT FEST AFTERSHOW

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BAD RELIGION

RIOT FEST AFTERSHOW

SEPTEMBER 21ST

ANTHRAX

W/ DEATH ANGEL, DEVIL LAND

SEPTEMBER 23RD

MOE NIGHT ONE W/ THE WERKS

SEPTEMBER 24TH

MOE NIGHT TWO W/ MUNGION

SEPTEMBER 29TH

SKILLET

W/ THOUSAND FOOT KRUTCH & DEVOUR THE DAY

Learn to play guitar this fall.

Set your own tone. Get in your own groove. Join up with people from all walks of life, from all over Chicago and the world. Play a song in your very first class. Play your favorite songs in no time at all. Find your folk at the Old Town School of Folk Music.

Daytime, weekend and evening classes begin August 29.

Sign up at oldtownschool.org

Mad Decent Block Party Thrown by Diplo’s Mad Decent label, this dance party returns with sets from Rae Sremmurd, Kesha, Drezo, Gryffin, and Diplo (naturally).

8/21, FirstMerit Bank Pavilion, 1300 S. Linn White, maddecentblockparty.com, $45.

WWW.CONCORDMUSICHALL.COM 2047 N. MILWAUKEE | 773.570.4000

LINCOLN SQUARE • LINCOLN PARK

AUGUST 18, 2016 - CHICAGO READER 31

Find more music listings at chicagoreader.com/soundboard.

MUSIC

Go-Go’s o CARL TIMPONE

continued from 31 Psychic Temple Furr, Tuff Slang, Eamon Fogarty, and Trippers & Askers open. 8 PM, Schubas, 3159 N. Southport, $12, $10 in advance.

Guitarist and singer Chris Schlarb is an inveterate studio rat: he not only runs his own recording studio (Big Ego) but loves creating music in collaboration with a wide cast of musicians, presenting himself as a kind of nonbloated indie equivalent to Steely Dan. But as heard on the gorgeous new III (Asthmatic Kitty), the latest album from his primary outlet, Psychic Temple, he retains imperfections, almost savoring the grain formed by quiet mistakes. In the end what makes Schlarb stand out is his good taste and writing skills—not to mention that he’s a strong jazz player, evinced by his old duo I Heart Lung and his contributions to the Invisible Astro Healing Rhythm Quartet’s 2015 album 2 (Trouble in Mind). Psychic Temple’s new record opens and closes with some atmospheric, jazz-flavored instrumentals that would be perfect accompanying credits to a narrative film, but in between Schlarb serves a rich variety of pop-rock songs marked by gorgeous playing from the likes of bassist Mike Watt, guitarist Aaron Roche, Memphis keyboard great Spooner Oldham, Chicago baritone saxophonist Elliot Bergman, singer Nedelle Torrisi, and modern pedal-steel whiz Dave Easley.

Again, the caliber of his help matters: his playing helps enable the leader to reach remarkably seamless stylistic depths, whether it’s the sun-parched twang of “Getting Home” or the 70s-AM-radio beauty of “Feral Children of the Canyon.” For this tour Schlarb travels light, aided by his own acoustic guitar and New York singers and guitarists Eamon Fogarty and Jay Hammond. He promises a selection of old and new Psychic Temple songs (including some from the next record), as well as covers of tunes from Randy Newman, Bobby Charles, and the Louvin Brothers. —PETER MARGASAK

32 CHICAGO READER - AUGUST 18, 2016

FRIDAY19 Forfeit Lurking, Belonger, and Even Thieves open. 7 PM, Subterranean, 2011 W. North, $8. 17+ Few fourth-wave emo records sound as stoked on the 90s as Numb (Still Chill), the debut from Chicago’s Forfeit. Maybe it’s the band’s name in cursive on the manila-colored square insert, or the forlorn, slightly off-key singing that hangs over the lone, fragile guitar riff that kicks off the record, but Numb would fit snuggly into either Crank! or Caulfield’s storied catalog (fun fact: John Rejba, the bassist for recently reunited 90s emo group Boy’s Life, is the man behind the Still Chill imprint). But as much as its careening melodies sound reminiscent of Mineral, Numb isn’t an exercise in nostalgia, as Forfeit’s finest moments are informed by an ambition and near reckless energy that places the music in the present. The patient, complex arrangements and quasi-symphonic touches of “Escape” balance the band’s gritty imperfections and build on an expansiveness present throughout. —LEOR GALIL

male band that wrote its own material and played its own instruments. The group produced some great songs on its subsequent two records (“Vacation,” “Head Over Heels”), and its 2001 comeback record was OK, but nothing comes close to the perfection of the debut. It blends irresistible guitar pop, fizzy attitude, and sophisticated song craft—songs like “Automatic” and “Lust to Love” hint at 60s rock touchstones while still sounding contemporary— with a bounce and shine all its own. It’s unfortunate that this farewell tour is without bassist Kathy Valentine, who joined in 1980—only a couple years after

Go-Go’s Best Coast and Kaya Stewart open.

7 PM, Ravinia, Green Bay & Lake Cook, Highland Park, $38-$80. b It’s hard to imagine a band maintaining a career for three-and-a-half decades—breakups and reunions notwithstanding—based on only four studio albums (one of them a wan comeback from 15 years ago), and it’s even more remarkable that only one of those records still holds up. But Beauty and the Beat (I.R.S.), the 1981 debut by LA’s Go-Go’s, is great enough to explain the mystery. Topping the Billboard charts for six weeks, the album not only transcended the new-wave scene from which it emerged, but it set a standard—easily forgotten now—that there was nothing weird about an all-fe-

Lion Babe o RALPH ARVESEN / FLICKR

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MUSIC half of Lion Babe and the band’s full-time producer, Lucas Goodman isn’t quite on Williams’s level, because the rest of their 2016 debut album Begin (Interscope) never manages to replicate that single’s superness. Still for R&B fans there’s plenty to enjoy. On the dance thumper “Impossible” Goodman takes a cue from Timbaland and chops up a brief hummed vocal sample; he also uses a clapping loop as Hervey harmonizes with herself on the sensuous mid-tempo ballad “Treat Me Like Fire.” Hervey, whose voluminous hair must have helped inspire the duo’s name, is an energetically charismatic live performer—so expect the band to put on a show. —NOAH BERLATSKY

Trevor McSpadden Matt Campbell opens.

9 PM, Hideout, 1354 W. Wabansia, $12, $10 in advance.

Amarillo native Trevor McSpadden moved to Chicago in 2005 expecting his love for old-school honky-tonk to go undernourished, but within a few years he found kindred souls and landed a gig that would launch his career. Between 2008 and 2013 McSpadden served as lead singer for local country institution the Hoyle Brothers, pushing a solid band toward greatness (the combo managed to survive his loss, though his departure has certainly

the group started—but was unceremoniously fired in 2013 after a wrist injury prevented her from touring. I certainly don’t have the stomach to take in this final nostalgia cash-in, but nothing can take away my love for that first record. —PETER MARGASAK

Lion Babe Jaclyn Rachelle and Chai Tulani open. 8 PM, Double Door, 1551 N. Damen, $18-$28.

18+

Lion Babe’s 2015 single “Wonder Woman” epitomizes retro-nerd cool. Guest producer Pharrell Williams provides a sparse, honking, supercatchy hook, while Jillian Hervey lets rip a Chaka Khan-worthy blast of girl-power comic-book lyrics. “You don’t want to see what happens when I get provoked / See me spin around / See me spin my golden rope.” It’s funky, giggle-inducing, and, especially on the little nasal sting when Hervey sings “Provoked!” sexy as hell. The other

stung). Following a brief stint in Nashville, McSpadden packed his bags for San Diego and just recently dropped his second solo album, The Only Way (Chaparral Street Music). A blast of soulful twang, with frequent Tex-Mex flavors, the record was produced by Pete Anderson, the guy who guided Dwight Yoakam’s sound for many years. It shows again that McSpadden has no interest in reinventing honky-tonk, instead preferring to find new wrinkles deep within the genre—here a crisp rhythm attack in combination with the woozy pedal steel and flanged rhythm guitar of the 70s surrounds his unfussy singing. Most of his songs deal with familiar strains of heartbreak, infidelity, and romantic longing: “His Wedding Ring Is Gone” employs a Hangover-like conceit, with the subject regretfully waking up to realize he’s hawked his wedding ring for a night of drunken sex, while “Write a Song for You” cleverly finds the narrator wagging his finger at an ex, betraying his indifference while singing, “I’ve wasted enough time / Why would I waste a rhyme?”

For his latest visit McSpadden will rejoin the Hoyles.

—PETER MARGASAK

Milemarker See Pick of the Week on page 30.

Sweet Cobra and Poison Arrows open. 9 PM, Empty Bottle, 1035 N. Western, $14, $12 in advance.

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SUNDAY, AUGUST 28 UNITED CENTER

BUY TICKETS ONLINE AT TICKETMASTER.COM • UNITED CENTER BOX OFFICE OR CHARGE-BY-PHONE: 800-745-3000

AUGUST 18, 2016 - CHICAGO READER 33

Find more music listings at chicagoreader.com/soundboard.

MUSIC continued from 33 Bryan Nichols P & Dp open. 8:30 PM, Constellation, 3111 N. Western, $10. 18+

In the press materials for his recent solo album Looking North (Shifting Paradigm), Minneapolis pianist Bryan Nichols emphasizes his interest in regional styles, embracing his midwestern roots. So it’s a little surprising that, in contrast to the blunt, bluesy working-class vibe common in this part of the country, his music is so introspective and delicate. All the same, the pianist (who also lived and worked in Chicago for a number of years in the early aughts) digs beneath the surface, generating a contemplative, impressionistic portrait of the lakes surrounding his hometown on “Lake View”; he brings out an enigmatic splendor even on the gritty ballad “Lonesome Tremolo Blues,” by Minneapolis indie-folk group the Pines. But there’s more to Nichols than lyric reflection: a number of the pieces deploy ambiguous constructions, turning form into an absorbing riddle, harmony into oblique atmosphere, and mood into something exquisitely pensive. On the aptly titled “Fractures,” ideas swell up and dissolve into new motifs, careening between Bill Evans-like quietude and Marilyn Crispell-inspired grandeur.

—PETER MARGASAK

SATURDAY20 Jonathan Biss See Thursday. 6 PM, BennettGordon Hall, Ravinia, Green Bay & Lake Cook, Highland Park, $10. b Frankie & the Witch Fingers Uh Bones and Son of a Gun open. 9 PM, Empty Bottle, 1035 N. Western, $8.

On their 2015 self-titled LP, Los Angeles-based psych-rock four piece Frankie & the Witch Fingers crank out generic, kinda freaky Oh Sees-lite fare. It’s by no means a bad record—it just won’t blow anyone’s mind. Luckily the brand-new Heavy Roller, out on LA-via-Chicago record store and label Permanent Records, is quite a different affair.

The album shows the band boiling over with joyous fun, playing with fresh, raucous energy and a blast of spirit. This time around, Frankie & the Witch Fingers specialize in spaced-out, garagey rave-ups, heavy on fuzzed-out guitar, heavy organ, and trippy melodies. They certainly aren’t breaking any psychedelic molds, but Heavy Roller is the type of record that so effortlessly blends the farout with the catchy, you’ll keep finding yourself coming back to it. This show is the release party.

—LUCA CIMARUSTI

JUST ANNOUNCED

ON SALE AT NOON THURSDAY 8.18 ON SALE TO VINOFILE MEMBERS TUESDAY 8.16

9.12

10.5

THE NEW STEW FEAT. COREY GLOVER: PRESENTING BILL WITHERS LIVE AT CARNEGIE HALL IN ITS ENTIRETY END OF SUMMER CELEBRATION W/ MOSHE BONEN & HATAKLITIM STORY SESSIONS BRUNCH “PASS/FAIL” THE ALTERNATE ROUTES

8.21

DON’T MISS...

HOT RIZE

9.14 9.18

Wilco o ZORAN ORLIC

SUNDAY21 Roomful of Teeth 6 PM, Bennett-Gordon Hall, Ravinia, Green Bay & Lake Cook, Highland Park, $10. b Last year New York octet Roomful of Teeth solidified its standing as one of the most remarkable

COMING SOON 8.24

Buffy Sainte-Marie w/ special guest Donovan Woods

8.30

Eighth Blackbird w/ special guest Peter Ferry

8.31

Frank McComb

vocal ensembles at work with Render (New Amsterdam), a joyous sophomore album of stunning precision and nonchalant audacity. A bunch of the composers commissioned for it remark in the liner notes that they sought to capture the ensemble’s range and dazzling extended techniques—they were let loose in the candy store knowing that nothing seemed beyond the realm of possibilities.

Missy Mazzoli wrote “Vesper Sparrow” to blend an

8.20 8.23 8.25-27 8.28 9.1

VIVIAN GREEN - 7PM& 10PM SHOWS THE HIGH KINGS ERIC ROBERSON W/ SPECIAL GUEST PHONTE GARFUNKEL & OATES - 6:30PM & 9PM SHOWS SHOW MS. LISA FISCHER & GRAND BATON 7PM & 9:30PM SHOWS 9.2 PAUL REISER - 7:30PM & 10PM SHOWS 9.4 DEACON BLUES (THE ALL-STAR TRIBUTE TO STEELY DAN) FEAT. GRAMMY® WINNERS PAUL WERTICO & SUGAR BLUE 9.5 RECKLESS KELLY 9.6 DAVID RYAN HARRIS & GABE DIXON 9.7 PEDRITO MARTINEZ GROUP 9.8 CHARLIE MUSSELWHITE 9.9 SOLAS: ALL THESE YEARS - 20TH ANNIVERSARY TOUR! 9.11 MARY FAHL (FORMERLY OF THE OCTOBER PROJECT) 9.13 RAUL MIDÓN 9.15-16 JON MCLAUGHLIN 9.18 CARLENE CARTER W/ SPECIAL GUESTS THE GRAHAMS 9.19 AMANDA SHIRES W/SPECIAL GUEST RUSTON KELLY

1200 W RANDOLPH ST, CHICAGO, IL, 60607 | (312).733.WINE

34 CHICAGO READER - AUGUST 18, 2016

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MUSIC imaginary kind of birdsong with Sardinian overtone singing, while William Brittelle’s “High Done No Why To” avoids becoming a checklist of the group’s technical capacities, thanks in part to the singers’ commitment to the whiplash shifts over the course of five spellbinding minutes, from serene harmonizing to guttural rhythmic undulations to the violent gasps of Inuit tradition. Tonight Roomful of Teeth, which is led by singer-conductor-composer Brad Wells, gives the local premiere of The Ascendant, a three-part suite by Australian composer Wally Gunn that sets the poetry of Maria Zajkowski to music that deploys as much stylistic and rhythmic variety as Britelle’s piece and gets extra juice from beats played by So Percussion’s Jason Treuting (a role filled by Matthew Gold for this performance), while embracing a more songlike vibe. The program will be rounded out by newer works from Ted Hearne, Michael Harrison, and group member Caroline Shaw. —PETER MARGASAK

Wilco Twin Peaks open. 6:30 PM, Pritzker Pavilion, Millennium Park, Michigan and Randolph, $30-$85. b On their forthcoming album Schmilco (due from dBpm on September 9), Wilco pull a 180 from the jacked-up sound of last year’s Star Wars, stripping things down with a largely acoustic vibe. Still, in its

own way the record—its title a clear tip of the hat to Harry Nilsson’s classic Nilsson Schmilsson—feels just as immediate yet casual as its predecessor. Opener “Normal American Kid” applies Dylan-esque charm employing nothing more than Jeff Tweedy’s simple acoustic strumming gently embroidered by the sweet probing of Nels Cline’s electric lines. It’s one of several songs where Tweedy faces middle age with a mix of candor and wit. He looks back on his awkward, misanthropic youth—turning against his peers more from a lack of knowing himself than hating anyone—and realizes he just couldn’t figure out how to be one of those normal kids. Using the barest of materials, the new songs generally revolve around simple acoustic guitar patterns, but there are plenty of flourishes and details that give the music subtle depth. The dissonant harmonies of the quietly needling “Common Sense” could sound like another U.S. Maple tribute (a la the last record’s “EKG”) if less restrained, while the drumming of Glenn Kotche frequently rejects a straight backbeat, or even 4/4 time. (On “Quarters,” a sweet remembrance by the narrator of cleaning up a bar while thinking only of the tavern’s jukebox, Kotche drops a great shuffling part, like a side conversation.) The richness of the new record comes in such sneaky details, with hushed textures and countermelodies creeping up after numerous spins. Wilco have ditched grand statements, but these smaller ones speak just as loud. —PETER MARGASAK J

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THU

8/25

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8/22 TUE

8/23

SAT

8/28

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MON

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RYLEY WALKER (

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8/29

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8/30: SURF CURSE, 8/31: VOMITFACE, 9/1: FULL OF HELL + THE BODY, 9/2-9/3: SCORCHED TUNDRA VI FEAT. BONGRIPPER • MONOLORD • THE ATLAS MOTH • FALSE & MORE!, 9/4: ARIISK, 9/5: RADAR EYES, 9/6; XENIA RUBINOS, 9/7; BRIAN COSTELLO’S ENTHRALLING CAVALCADE OF REMARKABLE ANYBODIES, SPECIAL SOMEBODIES, AND INCREDIBLE ANYBODIES, 9/8: VARAHA, 9/9: MIND SPIDERS, 9/10: MYSTIC BRAVES, 9/10 @ ARAGON BALLROOM: EMPTY BOTTLE & LIVE NATION PRESENTS EXPLOSIONS IN THE SKY, 9/11: HALF GRINGA,9/12: ASHELL, 9/13: WILL COURTNEY NEW ON SALE: 9/29: GOOCH PALMS, 10/1: ROYAL BANGS, 10/8: OWEN @ CHICAGO ATHELETIC ASSOCIATION, 10/15: SQUASH BOWELS, 10/30; LA SERA + SPRINGTIME CARNIVORE, 10/19: TRUE WIDOW

AUGUST 18, 2016 - CHICAGO READER 35

MUSIC Powell o COURTESY XL RECORDINGS

THIRDSTORY LOLO

SKYLAR GREY MORGXN

09/07

10/06

JOSEPH

WILLIAM WILD

10/27

ASTRONAUTALIS 09/09 CALIFORNIA HONEYDROPS 09/10 WILD CHILD 09/17 ROGER CLYNE 09/18

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10/28

TOKYO POLICE CLUB 09/22 ALOHA 09/23 ASH 09/28 BRONZE RADIO RETURN 09/29

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continued from 35

MONDAY22 Jonathan Biss See Thursday. 6 PM, BennettGordon Hall, Ravinia, Green Bay & Lake Cook, Highland Park, $10. b

WEDNESDAY24 Powell Elon Katz and Not Waving open; DJ Beau Wanzer spins. 9 PM, Empty Bottle, 1035 N. Western, $12.

ROCKY VOTOLATO

THE DESLONDES

09/08

09/15

WHISKEY SHIVERS

TALL HEIGHTS

10/14

10/21

CHRIS STAPLES

GUEST

MATTHAUS 09/01 BRIGHT LIGHT BRIGHT LIGHT 09/02 MELODIME 09/03 CRIMINAL HYGIENE 09/03

36 CHICAGO READER - AUGUST 18, 2016

ESTHER ROSE

THE LAWSUITS

LILLY HIATT 09/05 HALEY BONAR 09/06 DRIVIN N CRYING 09/07 DICKIE 09/09

No interaction with Steve Albini shall go underappreciated—even if that interaction is contained within a simple e-mail exchange. Last year UK producer Oscar Powell (aka simply Powell) hit up Albini for permission to release a 12-inch single for XL, “Insomniac,” which contains a snippet sample of vocals from a live Big Black show. Albini obliged, but not before oh-so-ceremoniously offering his two cents about how much he’s “always detested mechanized dance music, its stupid simplicity, the clubs where it was played,” and so on. He even admits to not listening to the songs Powell sent him links to—which is all the more unfortunate because of how well the producer skates the fringes of what could even be considered prototypical dance music.

Take “Insomniac,” for instance. At its beginning, well before any sort of rhythmic structure is unveiled, Powell pours out a foundation of bassless, glitchheavy forms that gel together, eventually forming a sort of ouroboros that painstakingly devours itself.

That mass dissipates into a wayward, truncated beat that’s at one point zapped into total submission before again regaining a semblance of momentum.

Like Powell’s other 2015 single, “Sylvester Stallone,” it’s an innovative, techno-blended jaunt, and Albini might be served by finding out just how clever the producer actually is (not only did he splice the e-mail into the video for “Insomniac,” he also gave the OK to XL to post a billboard in London projecting Albini’s response in full). The producer’s upcoming double LP, Sport, drops on XL on October 14.

—KEVIN WARWICK v

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S P O N SO R ED CO NTENT

DRINK SPECIALS LINCOLN PARK

ALIVEONE

2683 N Halsted 773-348-9800

LINCOLN PARK

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FITZGERALD’S

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7006 N Glenwood 773-274-5463

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2337 S Michigan 312.624.8149

1800 W Division 773-486-9862

Happy Hour 4-6pm, $2 off all beers

Moosehead pints $3.75, Hamms cans $2.50, Special Export Bush Longneck bottles $3, Foster Big cans $5

$4 Hell or High Watermelon

Bombs $4, Malibu Cocktails $4, Jack Daniel’s Cocktails $5, Tanqueray Cocktails $4, Johnny Walker Black $5, Cabo Wabo $5, PBR Tallboy cans $2.75

Happy Hour noon-6pm, $2 off all beers

Moosehead pints $3.75, Hamms cans $2.50, Special Export Bush Longneck bottles $3, Foster Big cans $5

$5 Stella, $3 mystery shots

Wine by the Glass $5, Jameson $5, Patron $7, Founders 12oz All Day IPA Cans $3.50, Mexican Buckets $20 (Corona, Victoria, Modelos)

Moosehead pints $3.75, Hamms cans $2.50, Special Export Bush Longneck bottles $3, Foster Big cans $5

$3 Corona and $3 mystery shot

Heineken Bottles $4, Bloodies feat.

Absolut Peppar Vodka $5, Original Moonshine $5, Corzo $5, Sailor Jerry’s Rum $4, Deschutes Drafts $4, Capt. Morgan cocktails $5

THU

$4 Lagunitas drafts, $4 Absolut cocktails, “Hoppy Hour” 5-8pm = 1/2 price IPAs + pale ales

50% off wine (glass & bottle) and salads.

Happy Hour 5-6:30pm: half off appetizers, $5 pints of bud light, and $6 shots of Jameson

$6 Firestone Walker Opal pints, $6 Finch Vanilla Stout 16 oz. cans, $7 house wines, $8 Few Spirits

FRI

“Hoppy Hour” 5-8pm = 1/2 price IPAs + pale ales

$6 Jameson shots, $5 Green Line; 50% off chicken sandwich.

Happy Hour 5-6:30pm: half off appetizers, $5 pints of bud light, and $6 shots of Jameson

$6 Firestone Walker Opal pints, $6 Finch Vanilla Stout 16 oz. cans, $7 house wines, $8 Few Spirits

S AT

$6 Jameson shots $3 PBR bottles

Brunch 11am-2pm, Bottomless Bloody Mary’s & Mimosas $15 w/food purchase, 50% off nachos and $15 domestic/$20 craft beer pitchers. Happy Hour 5-6:30pm: half off appetizers, $5 pints of bud light, and $6 shots of Jameson

$6 Firestone Walker Opal pints, $6 Finch Vanilla Stout 16 oz. cans, $7 house wines, $8 Few Spirits

SUN

$4 Temperance brews, $5 Absolut bloody mary’s

Brunch 11am-2pm, Bottomless Bloody Mary’s & Mimosas $15 w/food purchase, 50% off appetizers & $3 Bud Light pints. Industry Night 10% off all items not discounted.

Happy Hour 5-6:30pm: half off appetizers, $5 pints of bud light, and $6 shots of Jameson

$6 Firestone Walker Opal pints, $6 Finch Vanilla Stout 16 oz. cans, $7 house wines, $8 Few Spirits

$4.75 Bloody Mary and Marias

Moosehead pints $3.75, Hamms cans $2.50, Special Export Bush Longneck bottles $3, Foster Big cans $5

$5 Rolling Rock $4 Benchmark, Evan Williams, or Ezra Brook

Buckets of Miller & Bud Bottles (Mix & Match) $14, Guinness & Smithwicks Drafts $4, Bloodies feat, Absolut Peppar Vodka $5, Ketal One Cocktails $5

MON

$4 Half Acre brews, FREE POOL, “Hoppy Hour” 5-8pm = 1/2 price IPAs + pale ales

all beer 50% off, $5 burgers.

Happy Hour 5-6:30pm: half off appetizers, $5 pints of bud light, and $6 shots of Jameson

CLOSED

$1 off all beers including craft

Moosehead pints $3.75, Hamms cans $2.50, Special Export Bush Longneck bottles $3, Foster Big cans $5

$5 Oberon, $5 Moonshine

All Draft Beers Half Price, Makers Mark Cocktails $5, Crystal Head Vodka Cocktails $4

TUE

$2 and $3 select beers

all specialty drinks 1/2 off, White Rascal $5, PBR and a shot of Malort $4, $2 tacos. Happy Hour 5-6:30pm: half off appetizers, $5 pints of bud light, and $6 shots of Jameson

$6 Firestone Walker Opal pints, $6 Finch Vanilla Stout 16 oz. cans, $7 house wines, $8 Few Spirits

$2 off all Whiskeys and Bourbons

Happy Hour 4-6pm, $2 off all beers

Moosehead pints $3.75, Hamms cans $2.50, Special Export Bush Longneck bottles $3, Foster Big cans $5

$4 Founders All Day IPA

Jim Beam Cocktails $4, Jameson Cocktails $5, Cabo Wabo $5, Malibu Cocktails $4, Corona Bottles $3.50, PBR Tall Boy Cans $2.75

WED

1/2 price aliveOne signature cocktails, $4 Goose Island brews, “Hoppy Hour” 5-8pm = 1/2 price IPAs + pale ales

50¢ wings (minimum 10), selection of 10 discounted whiskeys. Happy Hour 5-6:30pm: half off appetizers, $5 pints of bud light, and $6 shots of Jameson

$6 Firestone Walker Opal pints, $6 Finch Vanilla Stout 16 oz. cans, $7 house wines, $8 Few Spirits $10 classic cocktails

Happy Hour 4-6pm, $2 off all beers

Moosehead pints $3.75, Hamms cans $2.50, Special Export Bush Longneck bottles $3, Foster Big cans $5

$2 PBR, $5 wine

Stoli/Absolut & Soco Cocktails $4, Long Island Iced Teas $5, Herradura Margaritas $5, Stella/ Hoegaarden/Deschutes Drafts $4, Goose Island 312 Bottles $3.50

$5 Martinis, Lemon Drop, Cinnamon Apple, Mai Tai, French, Cosmo, On the Rocks, Bourbon Swizzle, Pomegranate Margarita

OUR READERS LOVE GREAT DEALS! CONTACT A READER REPRESENTATIVE AT 312.222.6920 OR displayads@chicagoreader.com FOR DETAILS ON HOW TO LIST DRINK SPECIALS HERE.

PHOTO: ALEXEY LYSENKO/GETTY IMAGES

AUGUST 18, 2016 - CHICAGO READER 37

Join us for a night of crafted cocktails, food and fun!

COCKTAIL CHALLENGE THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 15 | 7-10PM | SALVAGE ONE 1840 W Hubbard · Chicago

— PARTI CI PATI N G E STAB LI S H M E NTS — • PUNCH HOUSE • MONEY GUN • 312 CHICAGO • ATWOOD • TWO KITCHEN • BOLEO • THE BETTY • SOUTH WATER KITCHEN • CARNIVALE SABLE KITCHEN & BAR • LUXBAR • PERENNIAL VIRANT • and more!

FIG CATERING

For more information visit chicagoreader.com/cocktailchallenge2016

38 CHICAGO READER - AUGUST 18, 2016

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FOOD & DRINK

EMA | $$$

74 W. Illinois 312-527-5586 emachicago.com From left: htipiti, lamb-and-beef kebabs, hummus, and tzatziki o JEFFREY MARINI

NEW REVIEW

Ema, the Israeli restaurant that’s not Israeli Lettuce Entertain You’s new “Mediterranean” spot is all over the map.

By TAL ROSENBERG

M

y family and I used to have an inside joke. We wanted to open a restaurant that would showcase my Israeli mother’s cooking, and we’d name all the dishes after her. There’d be the “Get Out of Bed” chicken soup, the “Please Pray for Parking” schnitzel, and of course, the “Water the Garden” salad. And we’d name the new establishment after the queen of our household, the Hebrew word for “mom”: ema.

So imagine my surprise when I turned the corner of Clark and Illinois and saw the announcements for a new restaurant from Lettuce Entertain You called, of all things, Ema. The cuisine would be “Mediterranean.” There were pictures of hummus and fresh vegetables on the signs— the food looked Israeli. I texted my family in haste: They stole our idea! “We waited too long,” my brother wrote. I felt cheated. But I was dying to eat there.

Because of its name, it’s fair to assume that Ema would be an Israeli eatery. The city could use one—aside from Skokie’s Taboun Grill, a pious kosher spot that’s closed on Saturdays, and local small-scale fast-food chains Benjyehuda and Naf Naf Grill, Chicago is lacking a quality outlet for

Israeli cuisine, a mashup of Middle Eastern staples and eastern-European fare brought over during the Jewish diaspora, with an emphasis on Israel’s bounty of fresh produce. Not to mention that Ema chef C.J. Jacobson, fresh off of a stint at the inaugural helm of LEYE’s rotating-restaurant concept Intro, spent time in Israel as a professional volleyball player.

Yet as is typical of an LEYE project, any sense of exoticism or ethnic variety is downplayed to near nonexistence. Located on a stretch of River North where the skunky smell of Axe body spray is only marginally less prevalent than it is in other parts of the neighborhood, Ema is bright and spacious, with exposed brick walls painted white, wooden furnishings and columns, and leafy branches on the ceilings. In other words, it looks almost exactly like LEYE’s Summer House Santa Monica. It sounds like it too—the din of blase EDM and the loud chatter of douchebags drown out any possibility of having an audible conversation. The decor is impressive considering that Ema is located virtually inside of the lobby of a Hyatt Hotel. It isn’t just a “hotel restaurant,” though patrons have to go past the check-in counters, then through what is apparently a service hallway in order to access the restrooms.

The menu is divided up into various sections of small plates plus a couple of main courses. The spreads are the most consistently pleasurable, indicative of Ema’s potential.

I tried plain hummus for my first dinner and it tasted like it came right from Trader Joe’s, but the “spicy hummus” I had the second time was much better, thick and creamy with a nice harif-style spice. The real standouts, however, were two dishes with no Israeli connection at all: a spring-onion tzatziki that tasted like French onion dip (I mean that as a compliment) and htipiti, a spread the server told me was Ethiopian (a quick online search reveals it’s Greek). Whatever, it was great, a cool red-pepper salad that paired nicely with the tzatziki. But the accompanying house bread was a letdown: smushed and lukewarm thin pita with a light za’atar coating, lacking the sumac tang essential to the spice.

A good rule of thumb at Ema is the lighter the dish, the better the food. A simple watermelon gazpacho featured citrusy, fragrant watermelon juice with spare touches of J

AUGUST 18, 2016 - CHICAGO READER 39

A UTH E NTI C PH I LLY C H E E S E STEA KS!

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chicagoreader.com/early 40 CHICAGO READER - AUGUST 18, 2016

FOOD & DRINK Greek frozen yogurt topped with olive oil ! JEFFREY MARINI

continued from 39 feta, mint, and radish. Bulgur risotto with sweet corn, almost like an elote-flavored jam, had a tart edge that undercut the heaviness.

A cauliflower mezze had a spongy bite antithetical to the way the vegetable is typically prepared nowadays, but its honey-and-yogurt base provided a sour, sugary rush as unexpected as it was welcome. The two seafood courses I tried—mussels in a pungent broth with cumin and dill, and lemon-doused charred octopus with crispy potatoes and kale—were each superb, just the kind of thing that would actually be served at a place on the Mediterranean.

Unfortunately there aren’t just disappointments at Ema, but outright duds. A spread of avocado and sweet peas had the texture of baby food, while a salad of basmati rice and beluga lentils sorely needed seasoning.

Fried eggplant was soggy and bland, and the

broccoli tasted like, well, just broccoli. When it comes to kebabs, the kefta style of chicken and a mixture of beef and lamb were as strong as those I’d had in Israel, but the salmon variation was underseasoned and undercooked; meanwhile beef tenderloin was well seasoned but horribly overcooked. And all the kebabs were accompanied by a mound of plain bulgur that tasted as beige as its color. An entree, braised lamb shoulder, was sweet to the point of being inedible, as if baked under a layer of grape Fruit Roll-Ups. The most interesting and adventurous items I ate at Ema were pastry chef Yasmin Gutierrez’s desserts, such as a salted chocolate torte and Greek frozen yogurt topped with olive oil, the latter of which I would gladly eat every morning. I took home one of the sweets—a funky halva with cherries and candied nuts, and actually ate it for breakfast the next day. As for the drinks, the cocktails were fine, but I recommend sticking to the wine list. The majority are Mediterranean bottles, a by-no-means insignificant number coming from atypical wine countries like Lebanon and Morocco.

So I guess LEYE didn’t rip off my family’s idea—Ema isn’t Israeli, but more generally Mediterranean. Yet in a weird way I kind of wish Melman and company had: I wonder if sticking to one country’s culinary traditions would have provided the focus Ema currently lacks. There are certainly signs Jacobson and his staff could get there. For now, they can at the very least rest assured that my mom liked it. v

" @talrosenberg

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○ Watch a video of Christine Cikowski and Josh Kulp working with ant eggs in the kitchen—and get the recipe—at chicagoreader.com/food.

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CHICAGO TRANSIT AUTHORITY is seeking a Sr Revenue &

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ca, Inc. is seeking an Applications Engineer in Arlington Heights, IL w/ the following requirements: 7 yrs related experience. Provide applications training and support for 2D and 3D laser manufacturing cells both CO2 and Fiber Optic, using software: CENIT FASTRIM, CATIA, SI-CAM, AUTO CAD, SOLID WORKS; provide applications training and support for C AD/CAM and Si-CAM CAD/CAM programming software; train application engineers on periodic start-up and commissioning assistance, for the integration for automated delivery and removal of raw materials and finished parts, for system sheet metal working covering all applications: fiber optic laser processing, CO2 laser processing, punching, shearing, bending automation; Locate new application solutions to improve machine production time and quality for all sheet metal systems laser, punching, shearing and bending. 50-60% travel required; must live within normal commuting distance to Arlington Heights, IL. Send resume to us. personnel@primapower.com. Subject line must reference K021382.

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Use proficiency w/ forensic techniques & the most commonly used IR toolsets, such as Pstools, Volatility, EnCase, & FTK Suite. Use strong shell, C, C++ &/or Java prgmg skills & proficiency in Assembler langs. Use proficiency w/ MS Office Applics, & familiarity w/ Windows, Macintosh & Linux operating systms. Bachelor’s deg in Comp Sci, Comp Engg or Comp Info Systems + 1 yr exp in job offd or as Associate Consultant. Send resume to: M. Scarola, Stroz Friedberg, LLC, 32 Avenue of the Americas, NY, NY 10013

Fish-sauce-caramel wings with ant-egg crumble and ant-egg mayo o JULIA THIEL

E

ating ANT EGGS is common in Mexico, where they’re called escamoles, and in Thailand, where they’re used as a tart accent to salads, omelets, and other dishes.

In Chicago, though, the ant eggs and pupae of the type usually consumed are few and far between. So when TONY LOMANTO and ANTHONY ALFONSI of KUMA’S CORNER challenged CHRISTINE CIKOWSKI and JOSH KULP to create a dish with ant eggs, the HONEY BUTTER FRIED CHICKEN chefs had to do some searching.

After looking online with no luck, they started asking other chefs for sources, which led them to Iliana Regan of Elizabeth. “I thought that made perfect sense because she does a lot of foraging,” Cikowski says. “In the back of my head I thought, ‘Maybe she’ll go find us some out in the nature.’ But she had some dried ones.”

Kulp says that while fresh ant eggs are white and creamy (a conclusion he reached from reading about them, since he’s never actually seen fresh ant eggs), the dried ones are small and dark. “The bag we have seems to be a mixture of ant eggs and actual ants,” he says.

Cikowski adds, “You can kind of see the little bodies—they’re like little friends in there.”

The eggs taste salty and tart, Cikowski says, and smell oddly like coffee beans. She and Kulp used them two ways, sticking to what they

know best: fried chicken wings. For a Thai twist, they made a fish-sauce caramel with jalapeño, red onion, garlic, lemongrass, and sugar cooked together until sticky; after being fried the wings were glazed with the caramel and tossed with ant eggs and fried garlic bits.

On top went a garlicky aioli made with lemongrass and ant eggs (crushed together with a mortar and pestle, which Cikowski says makes the eggs smell like cumin), egg yolk, and the oil in which the garlic was fried, plus a bit of salt and vinegar.

You really can taste the ant eggs in the chicken wings, the chefs say, particularly in the aioli.

“Especially if you get one of the crunchy bits, it’s kind of this pop of . . . ant,” Cikowski says.

But while both chefs agree that the dish is delicious enough to go on the menu, they’re not sure people would order it. “Maybe if we don’t mention the ant-egg component,” Kulp says.

WHO’S NEXT:

Kulp and Cikowski have challenged SARAH JORDAN of JOHNNY’S GRILL to create a dish with VITAL WHEAT GLUTEN. “She’s known for her burgers, so we thought it would be good to give her something that’s a meat alternative,” Cikowski says. v

ß @juliathiel

GRAPHIC DESIGNER (Print/Video) The Chicago Sun-Times is looking for an experienced graphic designer who can craft compelling visual brand narratives for print and video.

We are looking for an innovative thinker with the ability to manage a high volume of individual projects under challenging time constraints.

Our ideal candidate is tech-savvy and efficient with great attention to detail and the ability to solve problems quickly and creatively. (S)he will work closely with the Creative Director and other in-house marketing team members to develop and create brand messages, advertisements, marketing collateral and digital/video stories for B2B and B2C audience segments. This role will help manage critical initiatives to support the growth of print, digital and experiential products.

Essential Functions: - Work closely with the Creative Director and other marketing team members to conceptualize, design and execute promotional programs and marketing materials, both print and digital.

- Design print advertisements and collateral for sponsors and in-house clients.

- Create presentations for meetings either from scratch or using existing templates.

- Shoot, edit and produce video stories for advertising.suntimes.com and other B2B, B2C projects - Participate in research and brainstorm sessions with internal clients and marketing team.

- Understand business objectives and become a master at identifying client expectations and needs.

- Independently manage, document, and prioritize workload to meet deadlines - Communicate with internal clients and manage creative process through completion of marketing projects.

- Other duties and projects as assigned Qualifications: Education and Experience - College degree, preferably in Communication Arts/Graphic Design/ Digital Art - 2-3 years professional office experience Skills - Excellent written and spoken communication skills for customer service, presentations, and coordination between internal and external stakeholders - Strong organizational skills - Experience shooting video with Canon 7D or comparable cameraStrong video editing, production and photography skills essential - Strong knowledge of Adobe Creative Suite (including After Effects) - Exceptional typographic skills, and photo retouching - Sound understanding of design print techniques/processes - Basic HTML/CSS skills and familiarity with WordPress - Ability to handle multiple projects with strict deadlines Resumes can be mailed, emailed or faxed to the following address: The Chicago Sun Times Attn: Human Resources – Graphic Designer 350 N. Orleans, 10S Chicago, IL 60654 Fax: (312) 321-2288 Email address: hr@suntimes.com – Please note Graphic Designer in the subject line.

The Chicago Sun Times is an Equal Opportunity Employer

VISUAL THERAPIST NEEDED

(with or without experience) Seeking a college educated individual for a permanent part-time employment in Evanston working with children and adults in a Behavioral Vision Training program with Dr. Jeff Getzell, O.D. Experience preferred but not required for the right individual. Dr. Getzell is willing to work with an individual at an entry level, should there be no previous medical experience.

Requirements: -Exceptional problem solver -Bright -Curious -Open minded Work schedule: -Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays 2pm-6pm -Saturdays 8am-12pm Please note that the employment hours are not flexible.

Resume submission options: -Email: behavioraloptometry@gmail. com -Fax: 847-866-9822 No phone calls please.

THE FREE ENTERPRISE SYSTEM is currently hiring F-T, P-T and Seasonal shuttle drivers and Experienced Diesel Mechanics for our Hammond, IN and Chicago, IL locations! We have varied shifts available, including overnights and weekend shifts.

Drivers require: CDL Class B with Airbrake & Passenger Endorsements.

Please bring a current driving record, (30 days or less) and fill out an application at one of our facilities: 2345 Summer Street, Hammond, IN 46320 Mon. through Fri.from 8:30a-4p 2322 S. Throop Street, Chicago, IL 60608 Mon through Fri from 10:30-3p EOE/Drug-Free

DATA SCIENTIST – Increase impact of data science and modeling techniques for Nat Gas Indust; execute tasks on projects that require modeling/data science skills; develop capabilities readvanced m odeling/big data; drive modeling/ data science integration with other offerings; participate in scoping, devel, analysis, design, coding, and testing re next gen of adv software. Reqd: MS in Comp Sci plus 1 yr exp in data analysis and modeling, Bayesian Networks, NoSQL, Java Script, R, JAVA and Python; in lieu of MS plus exp, PhD in Comp Sci accepted; perm US work auth. Send cvr Itr and res to: Institute of Gas Technology d/b/a Gas Technology Institute, 1700 S. Mount Prospect Rd., Des Plaines, IL 60018, Attn: J. Otahal, Dir., HR.

PHYSICIAN: NORTHWESTERN MEDICAL F A C U L T Y FOUNDATION (d/b/a Northwest-

ern Medical Group) (Chicago, IL) seeks Instructor/Hospitalist with an MD degree and completion of 36 months medical residency training.

Applicants must have completed residency and obtained an IL state medical license. Must have experience with: 1) development of oncology related medical design templates using Epic; 2) treating oncology patients using CHOP, EPOCH regiments; 3) treating multiple myeloma using CDEA and VD TACE; 4) delivering end of life care; and 5) handling critical care treatment for oncology patients. Apply at www.NMFF.org.

Quantitative Researchers - Master’s Deg or foreign deg equiv in Financial Eng, Comp Sci or Math and 6 months’ exp in position, Data Analyst or Quantitative Analyst (or Bach Deg + 5 yrs exp); and exp with: Java, Matlab, developing quantitative models and algorithms, and analyzing algorithms. Apply to (inc Ref #10025) HR, Allston Holdings, 440 S. LaSalle, 12th FL, Chicago, IL 60605

AUGUST 18, 2016 - CHICAGO READER 41

OPERATIONS

RESEARCH

ANALYST: Addison IL. Formulate, apply math/ financial modeling optimizing methods to develop/ interpret info for decision making, policy formulation, managerial functions. D evelop/supply optimal time, cost, logistics networks. Formulate math, fin ancial/simulation models of problems, relating constants, variables, restrictions, alternatives, conflicting objectives & their numerical parameters. Prep reports. MBA + 5 yrs of exp. Fax res: LDS Industries LLC, 866-287-3312

REAL ESTATE

BRITE LOGISTICS, INC. seeks Logistics Coordinators for Cicero, IL. Bachelor’s in Logistics or Business w/ conc. in Logistics +2yrs exp req’d.

Exp must incl: freight weight calc., monthly logistics reports, accounts receivable, use of trucking sw, QuickBooks. Send resume to: Larry larry@ britelogistics.com Ref: AG

CHICAGO, HYDE PARK Arms

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

RENTALS STUDIO $600-$699 ROGERS

TEACHER ASSISTANT, PERFORM duties that are instructional in nature. Provide assistance to elementary school students w/ math homework after school. Tutor & assist individually or in small groups to help them master math assignments. No teaching of special edu. Job in Schaumburg, IL. HS diploma & 2 yrs exp req’d.

Res to: JSK Business Services, Inc. dba Eye Level Learning Center, 191 W. Golf Rd., Schaumburg, IL 60195

STUDIO OTHER

PARK!

7455

N. Greenview. Studios starting at $625 including heat. It’s a newly remodeled vintage elevator building with on-site laundry, wood floors, new kitchens and baths, some units have balconies, etc. Application fee $40.

No security deposit! For a showing please contact Samir 773-627-4894 Hunter Properties 773-477-7070 www.hunterprop.com

ROGERS PARK! 1357-67 W

Greenleaf. Studio starting at $695 including heat! Close to transportation, laundry on premises, beautiful courtyard building. One block to Loyola Beach! $40 application fee. No security Deposit. For a showing please contact Samir 773-627-4894 Hunter Properties 773-477-7070 www. hunterprop.com

EDGEWATER! NUTS ON CLARK POPCORN

Stores now hiring in Chicago for all locations...Earn $ while working with a team. Get paid while training.

Jobs Available Now Midway/O’Hare Airports. Apply in person @ corp. office: 3830 N. Clark St. Chicago.

9am-10am Mon-Fri. Must bring ID’s and Social Security Card to apply.

DENTAL LAB TECHNICIAN, Design dental products using CA D/CAM. Create crowns, bridges, dentures. Req’s HS diploma & 1 yr exp. Job in Barrington, IL. Res to: Studio of Master’s Touch, Inc., 111 Lions Dr., Ste 206, Barrington, IL 60010

JAPANESE CHEF, Direct the preparation & cooking of Japanese foods. 2 yrs exp. req’d. Job in Park Ridge, IL. Res to: Four Sushi Boys, LLC dba Bluefish Sushi Bistro, 130 N. Northwest Hwy., Park Ridge, IL 60068

1061 W. Rosemont. Studios starting at $625 to $675, All Utilities included! Elevator building! Close to CTA red line train, restaurants, shopping, blocks to the lakefront, beaches and bike trails, laundry onsite, remodeled, etc. For a showing please contact Jay 773835-1864 Hunter Properties, Inc. 773-477-7070 www.hunterprop.com

CROSSROADS HOTEL SRO SINGLE RMS Private bath, PHONE,

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

1 BR UNDER $700 MELROSE PARK: CASA Heritage Apartments Now Leasing Newly Renovated Apartments. 1 Bedrooms $690; Studios starting at $550. Current Special on Studios - Required Application Fee Waived - $150 Rent Credit. Minutes from O’Hare, shopping, public transportation and expressways. Office Hours: M-F 9am5pm and Saturday 10am-2pm.

(847)455-3020. Income restrictions may apply. Managed by The Habitat Company. Equal Housing Opportunity. Handicap Accessible.

79TH & WOODLAWN 2 B R Basement $750-$800; 76th & Phillips Studio $575-$600, 1BR

$650-$700 & 2BR $750-$800. Remodeled, Appliances avail.

Free Heat. Section 8 welcome. 312-2865678

QUALITY

APARTMENTS,

Great Prices! Studios-4BR, from $450. Newly rehabbed. Appliances included. Low Move-in Fees. Hardwood floors. Pangea - Chicago’s South, Southwest & West Neighborhoods. 312-985-0556

SUMMER SPECIAL: STUDIOS starting at $499 incls utilities. 1BR $550, 2BR $599, 3BR $699. With

approved credit. No Security Deposit for Sec 8 Tenants. South Shore & Southside. Call 312-446-3333

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

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

2BR SPACIOUS CONDO - 535 N. Michigan., SS appls, new BA, 24hr doorman, hdwd flrs, A/C, Incl heat, water, exercise rm & pool, No pets. $ 2650/mo. Avail 9/1. 312-952-2323

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

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

773-221-7490, 773-221-7493

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

773-637-5957

WEST PULLMAN (INDIANA

Ave) Nice, lrg 1 & 2BR w/balcony.

1BR $550, 2BR $650. Security deposit $650. Sec 8 Welcome. 773-9956950

STUDIOS AND 2 BRS 7022 S. SHORE DRIVE Impecca-

9147 S. ASHLAND. Lrg Studio, dine -In Kit., hdwd flrs, laundry, closets. Clean & Secure. $650/mo.

No Pets.

Avail now! 312-914-8967.

HYDE PARK

1 BR, 1st floor. $925 Newly decorated, hdwd floors, stove, fridge, FREE HEAT, laundry facilities.

Free Credit Check.

773-667-6477 or 312-802-7301

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

Laundry & Security on Premises.

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

LARGE STUDIO APARTMENT

ROGERS PARK STUDIOS Clse to Public Trans & Lake. Updatd Kitchns Hrdwd flrs Heat Incl 1Yr Lease $350 Movein Fee. $650. 773-562-6878

near lake. 1339 W Estes. Hardwood floors, cats OK, laundry in building. $ 695/ month, heat included. Available 10/1.

773-761-4318, www. lakefrontmgt.com

MARQUETTE PARK: 6315 S California Studios from $600. Free heat and appliances. Free application fee. Call +1(312)208-1771

CHICAGO HEIGHTS - Newly Remod , FREE HEAT, gas & parking, Section 8 OK! Studio, 1, 2 & 3 BR’s. $550-$800/mo.

(708)300-5020.

67th/ Jeffery & 56th/Wabash UPDATED UNITS! NO MOVE IN FEE! ONE MONTH FREE! Free Window AC. livenovo.com or Call 312-445-9694

SUMMER SPECIAL $500 To-

ward Rent Beautiful Studios 1, 2, 3 & 4 BR Sect. 8 Welc. Westside Loc, Must qualify. 773-287-4500 www. wjmngmt.com

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

708-388-0170

1BR 1ST FLR apt, newly rehab,

hdwd flrs, spac, appls, lndry facility, Quiet bldg. Sec 8 ok. $650/mo. 773-344-4050

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

CHICAGO 12055 S. Parnell. 3BR,

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

WOODLAWN 1525 E 67th Pl, spacious 2 BR, 3rd floor, formal DR, carpet, $800 w/heat, close to transportation appl. 773-375-3323

CHICAGO - SOUTH SHORE Large 1BR, $660/mo. Free heat.

Near Transportation. Section 8 Welcome. Call 708-932-4582

RIVERDALE - NEWLY decor,

1.5 ba, newly remod, tenant pays utils, $1100/mo + $500 Move-In Fee Req. Sec 8 ok. 773-562-7583

2BR, appls, heated, A/C, lndry, prkng, no pets, near Metra. Sec 8 ok. $795.

630-480-0638

D & M Props 9036 S. Bishop & 6156

S. Washtenaw. Beaut, spac, new remod, 1BR $675, 2BR $875. No Sec Dep. Free Ht 773.507.6239

1 BR $800-$899 LARGE ONE BEDROOM apart-

NEWLY DECOR. LYNWOOD

3BR, 2BA. $900.CHICAGO 76th/ Drexel. 2BR. $700. Heat Incl.

773-874-9637 / 773-493-5359

75TH & EBERHART. 1 & 2BR apts ceiling fan, appls, hdwd flrs, HEATED, intercom. $650/mo & up Call 773-881-3573 70th/ Maplewood. 2BR, appls, hardwood flrs, ceiling fans, laundry facilities, intercom system. $800& up. 773-881-3573

CHATHAM 80TH/EVANS, 1BR, 2nd flr, hdwd flrs, heat and appl incl. $650. $300 Move-In Fee. Call John 847-877-6502

CHICAGO - $299 Move In Special! 110th & Michigan, Studio & 1BR Apts, $470-$560/mo. Available now Secure building. 1-800-770-0989 HYDE PARK -SGL.FURN.RMS. With Refrig & Microwave, Utils. Inc. Close to Lake and Trans.$515-$550.

Ldry&24hr sec. 773-577-9361

97th & Oglesby 3BR, 2BA $1200/month plus 1.5 mo sec, background ck, no pets 773-660-9305 CHICAGO SOUTH. 7931 Kimbark, 4BR. 9629 S Forest, 2BR. 8426 S Paxton, 4BR. 630-461-7777

1 BR $700-$799 ALSIP: 1BR. $740/mo. 2BR, 1BA, $830/mo & 3BR, 1.5BA, $1040/mo.

Parking, appliances, laundry & storage. Call 708-268-3762 SOUTH SHORE AREA Newly remodeled Studio & 1BR, Near Metra & CTA, appls incl. $500-$750/mo. Ray 312-375-2630

ment near Warren Park and Metra, 6802 N Wolcott. Hardwood floors, Heat included. Laundry in building.

Cats OK. $825/ month. Available 9/1.

Garden unit available 10/1 for $795/ month. And larger one bedroom available 10/1 for $900/ month. 773761-4318, www.lakefrontmgt.com

Ravenswood 1BR: 850sf, great kit, DW, oak flrs, near Brown line, onsite lndy/stor., $925-$1095/heated 773-743-4141 www.urbanequities. com

Kildare (2400N) corner 1BR & 3BR, new kitchen and bath, oak flrs, on-site lndry/storage/prkg $900-$1100+util 773-743-4141 w ww.urbanequities.com Wrigleville 2BR, 1400sf, new kit/ deck, FDR, oak flrs, Cent Heat/ AC, prkg avail. $1495 + util, Pet friendly, 773-743-4141 www. urbanequities.com HOMEWOOD- SUNNY 900SF

1BR Great Kitc, New Appls, Oak Flrs, A/C, Lndry & Storage, $950/mo Incls heat & prkg. 773.743.4141

1 BR $1100 AND OVER TIMBER LOFT/WEST LOOP,

LAKESIDE TOWER, 910 W Lawrence. 1 bedrooms starting at $895-$925 include heat and gas, laundry in building. Great view! Close to CTA Red Line, bus, stores, restaurants, lake, etc. To schedule a showing please contact Celio 773-3961575, Hunter Properties 773-4777070, www.hunterprop.com

1BR, 1BA, in unit washer/dryer, A/C, lots of closet space, professionally outfitted/nook, perfect for home office. Beautiful hardwood floors, industrial size windows bring in lots of light. Balcony, includes garage parking, cable & internet. No pets.

Available immediately. $2000/mo.

773-484-7666.

SECTION 8 WELCOME SOUTHSIDE, Recently renovated, 1, 2 & 3 BR Apts.

OPEN HOUSE SUN 8/21, 12-3,

$800-$1250/mo. Call Sean, 773-410-7084

SOUTHSIDE TWO 1BRS,

recently renov. all appl. 1st floor, ceramic & hardwood flr’s, heat incl. $800-$900/mo. 773-981-2731

451 W. St. James Pl. 2500N. Available September 1. $1500/mo. Large 1 bedroom, updated, vintage condo, features old world charm, oak & hardwood throughout, walk-in closet, formal dining room, rent includes bike room, storage shed, laundry facility & heat. 773-750-6338

LAKEVIEW AREA/ 2 flat resi-

1 BR $900-$1099 Hyde Park West Apts., 5325 S. Cottage Grove Ave., Renovated spacious apartments in landscaped gated community. Off street parking available. Sutdios $950, 1BR $1150 - Free Heat, 2BR $1400 - Free heat; 4BR Townhome, $2200 Call about our Special. Visit or call 773-324-0280, M-F: 9am-5pm or apply online- ww w.hydepark west.com. Managed

by Metroplex, Inc

LARGE ONE BEDROOM apart-

ment near Red Line. 6822 N Wayne.

Hardwood floors. Pets OK. Laundry in building. $900-$925/ month. Heat included. Available 10/1. 773-7614318, www.lakefrontmgt.com

APTS. FOR RENT PARK MANAGEMENT & Investment Ltd. SUMMER IS HERE BUT IT WON’T LAST! OUR UNITS INCLUDE HEAT, HW & CG Patio & Mini Blinds Plenty of parking on a 37 acre site 1Bdr From $750.00 2Bdr From $925.00 3 Bdr/2 Full Bath From $1200 **1-(773)-476-6000** CALL FOR DETAILS

dential area: 1st floor 1 Bedroom, living and formal dining room. Hardwood & tiled floors, laundry facility. Remodeled bath. 4 closets. Backyard Heat included $1,100.00.

Call 773-369-1525 Available Sept

LOGAN SQUARE BLVD Carriage

House, 2-story LR with fireplace, loft, 1 bedroom & sitting room, modern kitchen & bath, utils included. $1250/ mo. Non-smoking. 773-235-1066

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

APTS. FOR RENT PARK MANAGEMENT & Investment Ltd. SUMMER IS HERE BUT IT WILL SOON BE GONE!!

Most Include HEAT & HOT WTR Studios From $475.00 1Bdr From $550.00 2Bdr From $765.00 3 Bdr/2 Full Bath From $1200 **1-(773)-476-6000** CALL FOR DETAILS

ROUND LAKE BEACH, IL Cedar Villas is accepting applications for subsidized 1BR apts. for seniors 62 years or older and the disabled.

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

142 LOWE 3&1, FIN BSMT, $1125.

144 Emerald 2&2 plus $1150. new reno. Open House, Appt Only.

773.619.4395 Charlie 818.679.

1175

LARGE 1 BEDROOM, $725 Nr Metra & shops, Sec 8 OK. Newly decor, dining room, carpeted, appls, FREE heat & cooking gas. Elevator & laundry room, free credit check, no application fee, 1-773-919-7102 or 1312-802-7301

CHICAGO, 7727 S. Colfax, ground flr Apt., ideal for senior citizens. Secure bldng. Modern 1BR $595. Lrg 2BR, $800. Free cooking & heating gas. Free parking. 312613-4427

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l

l

82/WOODLAWN, STUDIOS $525+, 1BR $625+. 773-577-0993.

68/Michigan, 1BR $625+, 2BR $775. 773-744-1641. Lrg units, heat, appls, ckng gas incl. New wndws, lndry. No dep/app fee.

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

newly rehab, 1 BR, h/w flrs, sec alarm, heat & hot water incl, laundry, Sec 8 & Seniors Welc. Call for appt (773)418-9908

NO SECURITY DEPOSIT No Move-in fee! No Dep! Sec 8 ok.

1, 2 & 3 Bdrms. Elev bldg, laundry, pkg. 6531 S. Lowe.

Call Ms. Williams. 773-874-0100

LARGE SUNNY ROOM w/fridge & microwave. Near Oak Park, Green Line & Buses. 24 hr Desk, Parking Lot $101/week & Up. (773)378-8888 PULLMAN AREA, Newly remodeled 111th St., East of King Dr. $450-$550. Close to shopping & 1/4 block to metra. 773-468-1432

mo, heat incl. Sect 8 ok. Pete, 312.770 .0589

79TH & LANGLEY. 5 Rms, 2BR, Decor. beaut. h/w floors, $760+ $400 move-in fee. Close to trans & shpg. Brown Realty 773-239-9566 78TH & WOOD

1BR, LR, DR, EIK, ceramic tile, ceiling fan, lndry. Heat inc. $725/mo. 773-497-1497

û NO SEC DEP û 1431 W. 78th St. $2BR. $600/mo 6829 S. Perry. 1BR. $520/mo.

HEAT INCL 773-955-5106

1043 E. 80TH St.: 2BR $775 Large apartment, stove, fridge, heat included. Call 773.916.0039

FREE HEAT 1518 E. 82ND

2 BR $900-$1099

furn, 2100sf, incl conf room, storage, kit, parking, huge gated yard. Rent Neg. 773-220-0715

SUBURBS, RENT TO OWN! Buy with No closing costs and get help with your credit. Call 708868-2422 or visit www.nhba.com CHICAGO, RENT TO OWN! Buy with no closing costs and get help with your credit. Call 708868-2422 or visit www.nhba.com CHATHAM- 718 E. 81st St. Newly remodeled 1 BR, 1 BA, Dining room, Living room, hdwd flrs, appliances. & heat included. Call 847-533-5463

CHATHAM BEAUTY XL 2BR, 1700sf, hdwd flrs, sep Liv & Din rms, heat incl. $995.

SK Properties Grp. 773-493-7000

CHICAGO SOUTH SIDE Beauti-

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

MOVE IN SPECIAL B4 the N of this MO. & MOVE IN 4 $99.00 (773) 874-3400 Ashland Hotel nice clean rms.

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

Low rates daily/weekly/monthly.

South Side. Call 773-376-5200

7600 S Essex 2BR $599, 3BR $699, 4BR $799 w/apprvd credit, no sec dep. Sect 8 Ok! 773287-9999 /312-446-3333

East Chicago, IN, 2BR $675 Ht. Incl., 1 mo. free rent w/ lease. Call MIKE 773-577-9361

Chicago - 2BR, 1st flr, $995/mo, ap pls/heat, A/C, carpeting, blinds incl. near 91st/Cottage Grove. Sec 8 ok. No Pets. Smoke Free bldg 773-429-0274

BEVERLY, Modern 2BR, newly decorated, new carpet, stove & fridge, intercom, pvt parking, laundry room. $870/mo + sec.

Vicinity of 111th & Western. 773238-7203

JUMBO,

EXTRA LARGE 4.5 sunny rooms, remodeled, hwfl, 1-2 bedrooms. Two blocks Brown Line.

Near Lincoln Square. $840 heat included. 773-710-3634.

LARGE TWO BEDROOM, two

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

Available 10/1. $1775/ month. Parking available. $150/ month for single parking space. $200/ month for tandem parking space. 773-761-4318, w ww.lakefrontmgt.com

LINCOLN

PARK/

DEPAUL

area. 2103 N Kenmore,. Garden apt, 2 bedrooms, hardwood floors, cac, dishwasher, washer/ dryer in building. Available October 1. Rent $1900 plus one month security and references. Call 773-550-9951 or 773-3488181.

LARGE BRIGHT LINCOLN PK

2Bd, 1Bth, In Unit W/D, Roof Deck, Back Porch, HVAC, Fireplace, DW, Hardwood Flrs, Available Immediately. $2000-$2500 Call: 773 472 5944

2 BR OTHER CHICAGO, PRINCETON PARK HOMES. Spacious 2-3 BR Townhomes, Inclu: Prvt entry, full bsmt, lndry hook-ups. Ample prkg. Close to trans & schls. Starts at $844/ mo. w w w . p p k h o m e s . com;773-264-3005

dep. Michael Britton 773-297-7755

75 S.E. Yates - 2 BR, Fam Rm, 1.5BA, LR, DR, Eat in Kit, 2nd flr apt in 3 flat. Ten. pays heat. $925 No Increase. 773-375-8068

2 BR $1100-$1299 EAST ROGERS PARK, steps to the beach at 1240 West Jarvis, five rooms, two bedrooms, two baths, dishwasher, ac, heat and gas included. Carpeted, cable, laundry facility, elevator building, parking available, and no pets. Non-smoking. Price is $1200/mo. Call 773-764-9824.

RIVERDALE, 2BR, 1BA, CAC, all appliances, W/D, stove, fridge.

Available for immediate occupancy. $1200/mo + sec. 708-214-1990 2-4BRS. NEW, great school and area, Sec.8 ok, $1150-$1400 Cal Heights & Chatham. Also have Rent to Own Prop. 312-501-0509 EVANSTON 2BR, 1100SF, great kit, new appls, DR, oak flrs, lndry, $1250/mo incls heat. 773743-4141 www.urbanequities.co Elmhurst: Sunny 1/BR, new appl, carpet, AC, Patio, $895/incl heat, parking. Call 773-743-4141 www.urbanequities.com

2 BR $1500 AND OVER

2 BR UNDER $900

LAKEVIEW. 3240 N Southport.

2nd floor apt. completely renovated, 2 bedrooms, 1 bath, very bright, 20’x20’ lr, cac, hardwood floors, wbfp, dw, security system, storage, porch, laundry in building, one (1) car garage. Available October 1. Rent $2100 plus 1 month security and references. Call 773-550-9951 or 773348-8181.

ROUND LAKE BEACH, IL Cedar Villas is accepting applications for Subsidized 2 and 3 bedroom apt waiting list. Rent is based on 30% of BELLWOOD 2BR, 2nd flr East, annual income for qualified applino pets, W/D in bsmt, tenant pays cants. Contact us at 847-546-1899 elec/gas. Avail Now. $900 + 1 mo for details

ROYALTON HOTEL, Kitchenette $135 & up wk. 1810 W. Jackson 312-226-4678

FREE HEAT!! NO Deposit!!

2 & 3BR. Section 8 Welcome !!!

773-955-1133 Or 773-288-6771

SOUTHSHORE, STOP LOOKING this is it! Newly decor 2-3BR. 7820 S. Constance, start at $850/

LAKEVIEW NEAR BROWN Line Studio Apartment Garage Parking $850 call 847-5587584 MASSIVE 4BR/2BA, 3BR/2BA, 3BR/1BA, new hd fl, cm tile, C/A & ht, rc light, fans, chrrywd cbnts, grnt cntrs, nr trans, 773-410-3892

CALUMET PARK. NEW remod,

CHATHAM AREA New Renovated 1 & 2BR apts, appls incl.

Near transportation & Coles Park.

No Pets. 773-846-4077

Loc in quiet secure clean bldg. $850 + sec tenant pay own heat.

773-488-2283

CHICAGO

CHICAGO - BEVERLY, large 2 room Studio, 1 & 2BR Apts. Carpet, A/C, laundry, near transportation, $650-$975/mo. Call 773-233-4939

LOVELY 5 room apt: living rm, dining rm, Kitchen, BA, 2BRs. heated, hdwd flrs 773-264-6711

CHATHAM 78TH/WABASH 5RMS 2BR, ceiling fans, hdwd flrs

58th & Campbell, 1 & 2BR, modern kitchen & bath, dining room.

Starting at $650/mo & up. Heat included. Sec 8 ok. 847-9091538

ST . 3 large rooms, 1BR, 2nd flr. $775/ mo + 1 mo sec. Tenant pays utilities.

773-785-5492

SOUTHSIDE

CHICAGO 5246 S. HERMITAGE: 2BR bsmt $400. 2BR 1st floor, $525. 3BR, 2nd floor, $625.

1.5 mo sec req’d. 708-574-4085.

LINCOLN PARK. 2340 N. Greenview. 2 bedroom, 2 bath, jacuzzi in master bath, hardwood floors, wbfp, cac, dishwasher, washer/ dryer in apt, deck, 2 parking spaces (tandem). Available October 1. Rent $2400 plus security and references.

Call 773-550-9951 or 773-248-8181.

NEWLY REHABBED 2, 3, 4BR single family homes with 1- 2BA, Sect 8 Welc, located in Southside Chicago & South Suburbs.

847-962-0408 or 224-800-4480 BROADVIEW: NEW REHAB 2BR, heat, appls & parking incl.

On site lndry. $895+sec. Avail now. Also, 1BR Avail. 312-4044577 MATTESON, 2BR, $990$1050; 3BR, $1250-$1400.

Move In Special is 1 Month’s Rent & $99 Sec Dep. Sect 8 Welc. 708-748-4169 CHICAGO WEST SIDE

ATTN: Sec 8 holders! rNo Sec Dep + $100 Back 2-5 Bdrms. Everything New + Lndry & A/C. Call 312-493-6983

CHATHAM, 736 E. 81st (Evans), 2BR, 5 rms, 2nd flr $800/mo. Call Mr. Joe at 708-870-4801 8941-43 S. COTTAGE Grove,

1st / 3rd flr, 2BR Apts. Ten htd, lndry /appls incl. Credit check $700 mo + $350 move in fee 773-721-8817

3 BR OR MORE UNDER $1200 CHICAGO, 3BR APT. A l l vouchers welcome including 1 or 2BR vouchers. Section 8 OK, fenced yard, $9751100/mo. 708-250-0748

3 BR OR MORE $1200-$1499 7 ROOM, 3BR apt for rent, near Roosevelt Rd, 2 blocks from school.

3 blocks from Blue Line & 290. 1BA, heat, hot water & stove incl, hardwod flrs, $1250/mo + 1 month sec. Avail.

9/1. 312-320-0203 or 773-330-0712 CHICAGO: E. ROGERS PARK

6728 N. Bosworth Ave. Beautiful, large 3BR, 2BA, DR/LR, Hrdwd flrs.

Nr trans/shops. Heat, appls, laundry included. $1450. Available now.

847-475-3472

62ND & MAPLEWOOD, 4BR, 2BA, newly remodeled, large LR, DR, kitchen, utilities not incl, Sec 8 ok. No sec dep, $1200. 773-4060604 SOUTH SHORE - 6815 S. Merrill,3BR 2 full BA, 3rd fl,c-fans, cent heat & air, hdwd, $1100 + 1 mo sec. Ten pays utils. Credit check. 773-643-1970

3 BR OR MORE $1800-$2499

CALUMET CITY, 3BR, 2 car

Chicago, Nr Marquette/ Hermitage, 5BR brick house, 2 full ceramic BA, hdwd flrs, new kit. big bsmt. $1270/mo.

Neg. Call 773-386-0736

CALUMET CITY: 3BR, 1BA C/A, garage, appliances incl no basement, $1125/month plus 1 month security 773-374-6782

LINCOLN

PARK/

DEPAUL

area, 2103 N Kenmore. 2nd floor completely rehabbed rear apt. 3 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, oak floors, wbfp, cac, dw, washer/ dryer in apt, two decks, skylights, storage, one car garage incl. Available Sept 1. Rent $3500 plus security and references.

Call 773-550-9951 or 773-348-8181.

3 BR OR MORE OTHER

HUGE, immaculate 3BR, 1BA Newly remod, close to trans & shopping, quiet block. Must See! Sec 8 welcome Call 312-7700795

RICHTON PK, 4BR 1.5BA full fin bsmt, 2 car att gar. 3BR TH, 1.5BA, full fin bsmt, pool & prkng. Must verify income. Bad Crdt OK. 708.

633.6352

83 ELIZ.. HUGE 3BR remod, ce-

newly remod, hardwood floors. $850/month. Call for showing 773-758-0309

3 BR OR MORE $2500 AND OVER

122ND & ABERDEEN, 4 B R , 2BA, stove & fridge incl., wood floors, full unfin. bsmt, lrge yrd. Sect 8 preferred.

Call Joe, 708-476-5946

3BD./1BA. CHI HTS, cer tile kit. /ba. fans, plenty clts, laun. rm, lg yd, side dr. & alm sys. $940. cre. chk dep. req. Calls only 708.275.

1451

78TH & BURNHAM 3 bedroom,

bath condo. Hardwood floors throughout, ss appliances, storage included, in-unit laundry. Porch deck balcony. Garage parking space available $100/ month. Available 9/1.

Open house 8/20 1-3pm. $2100. 773491-4904.

6117 S. CAMPBELL, newly decorated 4BR Apt. Heat included.

Stove & refrigerator. $1000/mo + $1000 sec dep. Sect 8 welc. 312719-0524

garage, fully rehab w/ gorgeous finishes & hdwd flrs. Beautiful backyard. Sect 8 ok. $1200/mo.

510-735-7171

ramic & beaut. wd flrs, lndry on site, no pets / smoking. Ten pays heat. $1050+sec. Crdt chk. 773.354.9750

7028 N RIDGE #3S. 3 bedroom, 2

WELL KEPT APARTMENT In Logan square 3 bedrooms, 2 bath, wood floors, free laundry, parking optional

HOUSE FOR RENT. 2929 N 78th

Court, Elmwood Park. $2300. 5 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, 3 levels, 2 car garage, finished basement, 2300 sf, inunit laundry, 2 family rooms. 773491-4904.

CHICAGO 3BR, 3BA home, wet bar, bsmt, fncd bck yrd, garage, accross from elem, avail now, not sec 8 ready. $1350/mo. Move in fee $850.

847-289-2889

CHICAGO SOUTH SIDE ATTN: SECT 8 HOLDERS NO SEC DEP + $100 BACK 5BR DUPLEX, LAUNDRY. 312493-6983

SAUK VILLAGE NICE 3BR Home + den, C/A, attached garage, $ 1100/mo + 1 month security. Section 8 Welcome Call 312-231-6972 RIVERDALE 13923 MICHIGAN.

Newly Decorated 3BR, 1BA, range, fridge, dryer, sec 8 OK. Call Gordon 708-868-0873

CHICAGO 12328 S. Normal, newly remod 3BR, 1BA, low security deposit. Near elementary schl. 708-275-1751 CHICAGO, 6111 S. Normal 2BR apt, stove/refrig., 6101 S. Normal 4BR T/H apt, newly decor. Sec. 8 welc. Call 773-422-1878.

GENERAL 1100 SF - Western at Montrose.

10’ ceilings, DiD, slop sinks, very clean small flex space. Call NOW! 312.385.0999

CHICAGO - SOUTH SIDE. 5435 May. Free Heat, Section 8 ok.

1st floor, quiet 3BR, hdwd flrs.

773-925-1188

FOR SALE

CHICAGO 10205 S. Wentworth, 5BR, 2 full BA House. Hdwd flrs, ceramic tiles, fenced yard, no appls, Section 8 welcome 708-296-5477

72ND AND ABERDEEN, Newly rehab 5BR, 1.5BA, new kitchen, cabinets, granite, carpet & windows. Sect 8 OK. 773-407-0005 DOLTON 3BR, 1.5BA, garage,

tenant pays utils. Section 8 Welcome. Avail 9/1. Contact Mr. Nathan 773-230-8665

South Shore: 3BR 1.5 bath & 2BR: newly remodeled. Hrdwd flrs, heat & hot water incl. No Sec Dep. Sec 8 welc.. Call 9am-5pm 773-731-8306

NEAR 83RD & Yates. 5BR, 2BA, hdwd flrs, fin basement, stove & fridge furn. Heat incl. $1600 + 1 mo sec. Sect 8 ok. 773-978-6134

SALE OR TRADE UP/DOWN for condo, loft, T-House, House.

Have a Historic Vintage Victorian 3-story SFH zoned commercial-B2 - Morris, IL (Live/Work) More pics at: www.woelfehouse.com $259K. 815-228-4468

REHAB/TEARDOWN IN QUIET Neighborhood. This 1,071 square

foot property sits on a 3,780 square foot lot . Near the Dan Ryan, Metra Train, and the Lakefront. 312-391-1467

MATTESON, SAUK VILLAGE &

UNIVERSITY PARK. 4, 3 & 2BR, House/Condo, Section 8 ok.

For information: 708-625-7355

CHICAGO HOUSES FOR rent.

Section 8 Ok, w/app credit $500 gift certificate 3, 4 & 5 BR houses avail.

312-446-3333 or 708-752-3812

3117 N. CHRISTIANA, Victorian SFH newly renovated 4BR, with new kitchen appls, C/A & central heat. $479,000. Call 773-8995769.

CHICAGO 8457 S Brandon, 4BR

apartments, 1st & 2nd flr. 2 or 3BR voucher ok; 847-926-0625

CHICAGO 2707 E 93rd St.

6BR apartment, 1st flr, 4 or 3BR voucher ok; 847-926-0625

2 Flat bldg: 7 rooms & bath. SW Auburn Park, close to police, school, bank & transp. Don Thompson, Hunter Realty co.

708-628-2900

SOUTHSIDE- 68/EMERALD, 68/HERMITAGE, 65/Aberdeen 3BR, $800/mo. 5BR, 2BA, $1050.

Call for more info: 847-977-3552

DOLTON - 3BR, 1BA, garage, $1300/month & security Section 8 Welcome.

773-454-7441 CHICAGO SOUTH: 114 E 119th

St. Newly decorated 4BR. Laundry facility in bsmnt. Heat included $1200 /month. 773-317-0479

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

708-288-4510 Chicago, 120th and Normal. 5BR, 2BA, hardwood flrs, full finished basement, island kitchen. $1150/mo + sec. 708-369-3997

78th & Sangamon St - 2 flat, 3BR apt, $990-$1200/month. Heat included. Section 8 Ok. 708-596-6771

LRG 3BDRM, LVNG Rm, Dng Room, 1 bath. 7941 S. Woodlawn, 2nd Floor. $900 month. 773-936-4808

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

224-223-7787

AUGUST 18, 2016 | CHICAGO READER 43

SERVICES

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

HEALTH & WELLNESS

WEB DESIGN / hosting. Personal

non-residential units fully heated and humidity controlled with ac available. North: Knox Avenue.

773-685-6868.

South: Pershing Avenue. 773-523-6868.

touch, affordable, professional.

Blog, business/corporate, artists, e-commerce, anything in-between. www.hbswebdesign.com

FOR A HEALTHY mind and body.

roommates Vicinity of 56th & Laflin, furnished room, shared kitchen, bath & living room. Preferably 50 years+, $325/mo. Tommy 773397-4225

MARKETPLACE

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

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

urbs. Hotels. 1234 S Michigan Avenue. Appointments. 773-616-6969.

GOODS

"ARONIA BERRIES" Organically Grown, BerryView Orchard - Mt. Morris, IL. Pick-YourOwn Aug 27-28 & Sept 10-11 Weekdays by appt. Closed Labor Day weekend. www.berryvieworchard. com or 815-734-7551

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

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

ADULT SERVICES DANIELLE’S

LIP

SERVICE.

Adult Phone Sex and Web Cam Provider. Ebony Beauty. Must Be 21+. All Credit Cards Accepted.

773-935-4995

MUSIC & ARTS I AND YOU: A Staged Reading ~ By

Lauren Gunderson, Directed by Laura Sturm ~ Open Call Auditions. Seeking one 17 year old boy and one 17 year old girl. Actors of all ethnic groups encouraged to audition. 8/30 & 8/31; 6 – 9 p.m. No appointment necessary.

Prepared monologues and cold readings heard. www.oakton.edu Park in Lot A. For more info, call 847.635.1897.

legal notices NOTICE IS HEREBY given, pursuant to “An Act in relation to the use of an Assumed Business Name in the conduct or transaction of Business in the State,” as amended, that a certification was registered by the undersigned with the County Clerk of Cook County.

Registration Number: D16147712 on August 5, 2016 Under the Assumed Business Name of EARNEST EARTH with the business located at: 1618 N HUMBOLDT BLVD APT 2F, CHICAGO, IL 60647. The true and real full name(s) and residence address of the owner (s)/partner(s) is: FRANCESCA REINISCH, 2839 N WHIPPLE ST APT 2, CHICAGO, IL 60618, USA, KEREM SENGUN 1618 N HUMBOLDT BLVD APT 2F, CHICAGO, IL 60647, USA NOTICE IS HEREBY given, pur-

suant to “An Act in relation to the use of an Assumed Business Name in the conduct or transaction of Business in the State,” as amended, that a certification was registered by the undersigned with the County Clerk of Cook County. Registration Number: D16147653 on August 4, 2016 Under the Assumed Business Name of MCW DESIGNS with the business located at: 7236 W 153RD ST, ORLAND PARK, IL 60462. The true and real full name(s) and residence address of the owner (s)/partner(s) is: SHARON G SHERIDAN, 7236 W 153RD ST, ORLAND PARK, IL 60462, USA

NOTICE IS HEREBY given, pursuant to “An Act in relation to the use of an Assumed Business Name in the conduct or transaction of Business in the State,” as amended, that a certification was registered by the undersigned with the County Clerk of Cook County. Registration Number: D16147553 on July 26, 2016 Under the Assumed Business Name of TIM’S BARBERSHOP with the business located at: 420 E. 87TH ST., CHICAGO, IL 60619. The true and real full name(s) and residence address of the owner (s)/partner(s) is: TIMOTHY E. RAGIN, 8600 S. VERNON AVE, CHICAGO, IL 60619, USA

NOTICE IS HEREBY given, pur-

suant to “An Act in relation to the use of an Assumed Business Name in the conduct or transaction of Business in the State,” as amended, that a certification was registered by the undersigned with the County Clerk of Cook County. Registration Number: D16147704 on August 5, 2016 Under the Assumed Business Name of ENACTZ CONSULTING with the business located at: 2941 N WHIPPLE ST #1, CHICAGO, IL 60618. The true and real full name(s) and residence address of the owner (s)/partner(s) is: MARIA ASTUDILLO 2941 N WHIPPLE ST #1, CHICAGO, IL 60618, USA

By Cecil Adams Q : One thing I’ve heard over and over again

NOTICE IS HEREBY given, pur-

suant to “An Act in relation to the use of an Assumed Business Name in the conduct or transaction of Business in the State,” as amended, that a certification was registered by the undersigned with the County Clerk of Cook County. Registration Number: D16147678 on August 4, 2016 Under the Assumed Business Name of D2 with the business located at: 1711 S HALSTED #1, CHICAGO, IL 60608.

The true and real full name(s) and residence address of the owner (s)/ partner(s) is: ANNA MORT, 1711 S HALSTED #1, CHICAGO, IL 60608, USA

NOTICE IS HEREBY given, pur-

suant to "An Act in relation to the use of an Assumed Business Name in the conduct or transaction of Business in the State," as amended, that a certification was registered by the undersigned with the County Clerk of Cook County. Registration Number: D16147701 on August 5, 2016, under the Assumed Business Name of POREQPINE with the business located at 4461 W Hutchinson, Chicago, IL 60641. The true and real full name(s) and residence address of the owner( s)/ partner(s) is: Giancarlo Mancuso, 4461 W Hutchinson, Chicago, IL 60641, USA.

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44 CHICAGO READER - AUGUST 18, 2016

STRAIGHT DOPE SLUG SIGNORINO

REAL ESTATE

is that FDR concealed his dependence on a wheelchair, and the American public was unaware that he was physically disabled. Is that true? —KEL

A : If a president sits in a wheelchair and no

one’s there to photograph him, is he really paraplegic? Franklin Delano Roosevelt never explicitly denied that he’d lost the use of his legs, but he sure did his damnedest to keep people—especially of the camera-toting variety—from seeing him wheel around. When rare 1944 footage of FDR rolling onboard the U.S.S. Baltimore surfaced three years ago, the Associated Press claimed “Roosevelt’s disability was virtually a state secret during his presidency,” echoing an assumption popularized by Hugh Gregory Gallagher’s 1980 book FDR’s Splendid Deception. That doesn’t quite cover it, though. Long before the Internet, FDR evidently grasped the truth of the information-age maxim “Pics or it didn’t happen.”

It was in August 1921 that Roosevelt, the Democratic candidate for vice president just the year before, became mysteriously paralyzed from the waist down and was diagnosed with polio. (Scrutinizing his symptoms posthumously, modern doctors have suggested that what he really had was the immune-system disorder Guillain-Barré syndrome.) A vigorous 39-year-old, Roosevelt threw himself into a series of recuperative regimens, and by the time he was called upon to nominate Al Smith at the party’s 1924 convention, Roosevelt was capable of hauling his lower body across the stage on crutches.

Roosevelt went on to run for Smith’s seat as governor of New York, and his Republican opponents were quick to target his disability. Smith cut them off at the pass, insisting “a Governor does not have to be an acrobat. We do not elect him for his ability to do a double backflip or a handspring.”

Preparing for his first presidential campaign, Roosevelt addressed the subject head on. In 1931, Liberty magazine ran a story titled “Is Franklin D. Roosevelt Physically Fit to Be President?” Roosevelt was remarkably candid, and submitted to examination by three physicians.

And then, once Roosevelt was elected, his disability was, for the most part, no longer under discussion. How’d he manage it? For starters, credit White House press secretary Steve Early. Throughout FDR’s tenure, Early banned anyone from snapping pics of the

president in his wheelchair; Secret Service agents more than once yanked film or plates from cameras. As for inquiries into Roosevelt’s physical condition, they were invariably met with a single response: “It’s not a story.”

Roosevelt’s public appearances were carefully stage-managed to similar effect. The president rarely emerged from his limousine in the view of the public; his legs were supported with steel braces, and when he spoke, he would grip the podium forcefully with both hands (his lecterns were often special-built heavy-duty models) and emphasize his points with a jaunty, vigorous thrust of his head.

But neither did his condition go wholly overlooked. Time and the New Yorker both casually mentioned FDR using a wheelchair in 1934, as did a 1941 Life profile. Yet not even his political adversaries harped on Roosevelt’s disability. More remarkably, Roosevelt’s overseas enemies rarely attempted to exploit his disability, with minor exceptions courtesy of Mussolini and a German propagandist who called FDR “a physically broken person who is constantly venting his hysteria.”

When he ran for his fourth term in 1944, Roosevelt was 62, and his health became an issue for the first time in a decade. He also appeared publicly in his wheelchair. “I hope that you will pardon me for this unusual posture of sitting down,” Roosevelt told Congress after returning from Yalta, “but I know that you will realize that it makes it a lot easier for me not to have to carry about ten pounds of steel around on the bottom of my legs.”

FDR was perhaps the most effective American politician of all time, and throughout his career he managed his disability with a hardnosed pragmatism that, as with so much of his presidential style, could be classified either as take-charge leadership or outright manipulation, depending on your perspective. Think about it, though: today there’d be a treacly ten-minute documentary at the DNC about Franklin’s polio, set to soft but stirring music, with poor Eleanor forced to gaze dewy-eyed into the distance. v Send questions to Cecil via straightdope.com or write him c/o Chicago Reader, 350 N. Orleans, Chicago 60654.

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SAVAGE LOVE More sex-and-relationship advice from Dan Savage*

*A 32-year-old Londoner also named Dan Savage does the honors this week.

D EAR READERS: I’m on

vacation—but you won’t be reading old columns in my absence. You’ll be reading new columns, all of them written by Dan Savage, none of them written by me.

Our second guest Dan Savage is 32 years old, single, and living in London. Dan Savage got his professional start working in promotions at the legendary London nightclub G-A-Y. He’s now ten years into a career in theater arts marketing and currently works for some of the West End’s biggest hit musicals. Dan has never written a sex-advice column before, but he occasionally gets angry tweets that were meant for me.

Take it away, Dan!

Q : I’m an early 30s bi woman. As I have more relationships, I’ve started to see a pattern in that I find sex much hotter when there is some degree of confusion or forbiddenness. So relationship sex can get boring quickly.

Any suggestions on what to do about this? I want to have great sex with a partner for life! I know it’s not always going to be crazy passion, but how can I sustain amazing sex in a relationship? —PASSION FADES FROM THIS

A : A problem you and I

share! The fun is in the chase, the excitement of someone new, and that first time. You may return for a second or maybe a third time—but then what or who is next?

I believe the secret to a good relationship—besides love and passion—is keeping it downright dirty! It’s about keeping that spark alive. If the fun starts to fade, spice it up with toys, games, risky locations, additional people, rubber dog masks—you can’t

know what will excite you both until you give it a try!

But that’s the key, that you both like it.

There are millions of people all over the world in longterm relationships that on the face of it maintain a fun and healthy sex life—can it really be that hard? Or maybe longterm relationships aren’t for you, PFFT!

Q: I am a 65-year-old male

new to gay relationships.

I placed a listing on SilverDaddies and have had a LOT of responses from great young guys. I’ve met only one so far. He’s 23 and says he has had only a few girlfriends and has not had any gay experiences.

He is so passionate. Very oral. Long kissing sessions, and he puts his tongue EVERYWHERE. Very submissive and insatiable. I asked him what he gets out of this. He said he gets an intensity he can’t explain over pleasing an older man that he doesn’t get from sex with a female. Being a sub makes him rock hard, and with a woman, he has to be the performer. In any case, he’ll be back at grad school soon, and I will no doubt have another partner. I have never had an STD. I don’t want to get one now. I’ll be seeing young guys who are sexually active. Should I get the HPV vaccine? —THIS OLD POP

A : As long as you are safe

and wear a condom, you shouldn’t put too much stress on yourself regarding STDs. But my personal opinion is this guy may not be being as honest with you as you’d have hoped. A 23-year-old straight guy, in his first homosexual encounter, being “very oral” and “only a bottom” and putting “his tongue everywhere”—that sounds to

me like someone who knows what he’s doing.

Regardless, he is soon to leave, TOP, and you will find a new sexual partner. Go with the flow and be safe, but most of all enjoy it! (And to older gay gentlemen who think you can’t get any: TOP is! You can!)

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

Q : I am 39 years old and my

husband is 51; we’ve been together nine years and married four. This morning, he was jacking off on my arse during foreplay and watching porn on his phone. The problem is, when I looked to see what he was watching, he got a little mad. I let it go, but when he got in the shower, I looked and saw that he’d been watching gay porn.

I don’t think I have a problem with that, but it kind of threw me. Should I be worried that he is secretly on the down low? When I’m giving him a blow job, he also enjoys me licking his arse. —PERSPIRING

OVER RELATIONSHIP NOW

A : People look at all sorts

of things online and are turned on by others. Why not suggest that you watch gay porn together and see what happens? If he’s hiding the fact he’s gay or bi, I’d be surprised that he’d blatantly flaunt it like this, but perhaps he wanted you to catch him?

He wants you to know what else he’s into but doesn’t know how to tell you?

A lot of straight men like the odd finger or tongue in the bum. It’s not a sign of homosexuality! Maybe this could be taken further? You could go all out and strap one on and dominate him like a bitch! v Send letters to mail@ savagelove.net. Download the Savage Lovecast every Tuesday at thestranger.com. ß @fakedansavage

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4/C+ >1'/C45?>/1 51- 5-<510+- ?>0;+?A 9 5-4>C587)0/4 AUGUST 18, 2016 - CHICAGO READER 45

b Never miss a show again.

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Dillinger Escape Plan o COURTESY WINDISH AGENCY

NEW

Agent Orange 9/14, 8 PM, Cobra Lounge, on sale Fri 8/19, 10 AM Pepe Aguilar 10/15, 8 PM, Rosemont Theater, Rosemont, on sale Fri 8/19, 10 AM Alternate Routes 10/5, 8 PM, City Winery, on sale Thu 8/18, noon b Anne-Marie 10/13, 8 PM, Beat Kitchen, on sale Fri 8/19, 10 AM, 18+ Bad Religion 9/17, 10:30 PM, Concord Music Hall, on sale Fri 8/19, 10 AM, 17+ Dave Barnes 11/4, 8 PM, SPACE, Evanston, on sale Sat 8/20, 11 AM b Basement 9/16, 9:30 PM, Double Door, on sale Fri 8/19, 10 AM Black Foxxes 9/17, 11 PM, Township, on sale Fri 8/19, 10 AM, 17+ Moshe Bonen & Hataklitim 9/14, 8 PM, City Winery, on sale Thu 8/18, noon b Bric-a-Brac Scummer Slam with Tweens, Savage Beliefs, Cowboys, Slugs, Soda Boys, Hemingers, Muff Divers, Gymshorts, and more 8/27, 1 PM, East Room David Bromberg 11/11, 8 PM, Maurer Hall, Old Town School of Folk Music, on sale Fri 8/19, 8 AM b Peter Case 10/5, 8 PM, FitzGerald’s, Berwyn, on sale Fri 8/19, 11 AM Richard Cheese & Lounge Against the Machine 12/2, 9 PM, Thalia Hall, on sale Fri 8/19, 10 AM, 17+ Cookers 10/20, 7:30 and 9 PM, Constellation, 18+ Dillinger Escape Plan 9/16, 11 PM, Cobra Lounge, on sale Fri 8/19, 10 AM

Fu Manchu 9/17, 10 PM, Cobra Lounge, on sale Fri 8/19, 10 AM Skylar Grey 10/6, 8 PM, Lincoln Hall, on sale Fri 8/19, 10 AM, 18+ Amy Helm & the Handsome Strangers 11/10, 8 PM, SPACE, Evanston, on sale Sat 8/20, 11 AM b Honeyblood 10/28, 8 PM, Subterranean, on sale Fri 8/19, 10 AM Mark Hummel’s Golden StateLone Star Revue 11/17, 8 PM, SPACE, Evanston, on sale Sat 8/20, 11 AM b Mason Jennings 10/22, 7 and 10 PM, SPACE, Evanston, on sale Sat 8/20, 11 AM b KB 9/25, 6 PM, Reggie’s Rock Club b Bill Kirchen & Austin De Lone 11/5, 9 PM, FitzGerald’s, Berwyn, on sale Fri 8/19, 11 AM Lotus 11/4-5, 8:30 PM, the Vic, 18+ Mana 10/22, 8 PM, Allstate Arena, Rosemont, on sale Fri 8/19, 10 AM Megadeth, Amon Amarth 10/5, 6:30 PM, Sears Centre, Hoffman Estates Vic Mensa 8/27, 8 PM, the Vic b Motion City Soundtrack 9/18, 10 PM, Double Door, on sale Fri 8/19, 10 AM New Mastersounds 11/25, 9:30 PM, Park West, 18+ New Orleans Suspects 10/28, 9 PM, FitzGerald’s, Berwyn, on sale Fri 8/19, 11 AM New Stew 9/12, 8 PM, City Winery, on sale Thu 8/18, noon b Nonpoint, Escape the Fate 12/3, 6:30 PM, House of Blues b Palm, And the Kids 10/13, 7 PM, Subterranean, on sale Fri 8/19, 10 AM, 17+

46 CHICAGO READER - AUGUST 18, 2016

Madeleine Peyroux 11/13, 6 and 8:30 PM, SPACE, Evanston, on sale Sat 8/20, 11 AM b Willy Porter 11/3, 7:30 PM, SPACE, Evanston, on sale Sat 8/20, 11 AM b Red Elvises 10/1, 9 PM, FitzGerald’s, Berwyn, on sale Fri 8/19, 11 AM Tim Reynolds 12/16, 8 PM, SPACE, Evanston, on sale Sat 8/20, 11 AM b Porter Robinson & Madeon 10/5, 7 PM, Aragon Ballroom, on sale Fri 8/19, 10 AM b Jeff Rosenstock 11/6, 6:30 PM, Beat Kitchen, on sale Fri 8/19, 9 AM b Saigon Kick 12/2, 8 PM, Reggie’s Rock Club, 18+ Richard Shindell 11/11, 7 PM, SPACE, Evanston, on sale Sat 8/20, 11 AM b Sleeping With Sirens, State Champs, Tonight Alive, Waterparks 11/4, 6 PM, Concord Music Hall b Specials 9/15, 8 PM, Concord Music Hall, on sale Fri 8/19, 10 AM, 17+ Squash Bowels, Malas 10/15, 9 PM, Empty Bottle Starfucker, Gigamesh 11/20, 8:30 PM, Thalia Hall, on sale Fri 8/19, 10 AM, 17+ Swingin’ Utters, Off With Their Heads 9/18, 11 PM, Cobra Lounge, on sale Fri 8/19, 10 AM Taking Back Sunday 9/16, 11 PM, Metro, on sale Fri 8/19, 10 AM, 18+ Paul Thorn 10/9, 6 PM, FitzGerald’s, Berwyn, on sale Fri 8/19, 11 AM Thursday 9/17, 10 PM, Double Door, on sale Fri 8/19, 10 AM Tijuana Panthers 9/18, 9 PM, Empty Bottle Timeflies 11/4, 7 PM, Bottom Lounge, on sale Fri 8/19, 10 AM b

Trap Them 11/15, 7 PM, Subterranean, 17+ True Widow 11/19, 9 PM, Empty Bottle Vanic 11/6, 8 PM, Lincoln Hall, 18+ Vektor, Black Fast 11/5, 9 PM, Beat Kitchen, on sale Fri 8/19, 10 AM Wax Tailor 1/26, 8 PM, Thalia Hall, on sale Fri 8/19, 10 AM, 17+ Whiskey Shivers 10/14, 9 PM, Schubas, on sale Fri 8/19, noon, 18+ Xylouris White 12/3, 10:30 PM, Beat Kitchen, on sale Fri 8/19, 10 AM YG 11/7, 8 PM, Concord Music Hall, on sale Fri 8/19, 10 AM, 18+ Yo La Tengo 9/9, 7 and 10 PM, Maurer Hall, Old Town School of Folk Music, on sale Fri 8/19, 8 AM b

UPDATED Crystal Fighters 10/4, 8 PM, Park West, canceled Tim Reynolds & TR3 10/22, 8 PM, SPACE, Evanston, canceled

UPCOMING American Football 10/29, 7:30 PM, the Vic b Anderson Wakeman Rabin 11/5, 8 PM, Chicago Theatre Baauer 9/2, 10 PM, the Mid Band of Skulls 9/10, 10 PM, Metro, 18+ James Blake 10/9, 7:30 PM, Cadillac Palace Theatre Car Seat Headrest 9/23, 7:30 PM, Thalia Hall b Cold Cave, TR/ST 9/14, 9 PM, Metro, 18+ David Crosby 8/31, 7:30 PM, Thalia Hall, 17+ Deerhunter, Aldous Harding 10/21, 9 PM, Metro, 18+ Devil Wears Prada, Memphis May Fire 10/13, 6 PM, Bottom Lounge b Dinosaur Jr. 10/8, 9 PM, Metro, 18+ Ace Enders, Aaron Gillespie 9/28, 9 PM, Beat Kitchen, 17+ Explosions in the Sky 9/10, 8 PM, Aragon Ballroom, 17+ The Faint, Gang of Four 9/30, 9 PM, Metro, 18+ Ms. Lisa Fischer & Grand Baton 9/1, 7 and 9:30 PM, City Winery b Foals, Bear Hands 11/9, 7 PM,

ALL AGES

WOLF BY KEITH HERZIK

EARLY WARNINGS

CHICAGO SHOWS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT IN THE WEEKS TO COME

F

Riviera Theatre b God Is an Astronaut 9/3, 9 PM, Lincoln Hall, 18+ Guided by Voices 9/3, 9 PM, Metro, 18+ Haken 8/30, 7 PM, Reggie’s Rock Club, 17+ Handsome Family 9/18, 7 PM, Maurer Hall, Old Town School of Folk Music b If These Trees Could Talk 9/1, 8 PM, Beat Kitchen, 17+ Jai Wolf 11/5, 11 PM, Metro, 18+ Jesu, Sun Kil Moon 11/13, 8 PM, Park West, 18+ Kaleo 10/14-15, 7:30 PM, House of Blues, 17+ King 10/11, 7 and 9:30 PM, SPACE, Evanston b Langhorne Slim & the Law 9/20, 8 PM, SPACE, Evanston b Local Natives, Charlotte Day Wilson 9/26, 8 PM, Riviera Theatre, 18+ Lordi 2/14, 7 PM, Double Door Majid Jordan 11/6, 9 PM, Metro, 18+ Frank McComb 8/31, 8 PM, City Winery b Cass McCombs 10/21, 9 PM, Empty Bottle Muffs 8/28, 9 PM, Empty Bottle Nihil 10/24, 8 PM, Cobra Lounge Nots 10/20, 9 PM, Empty Bottle Oh Wonder 10/27, 7:30 PM, Metro b Shel 10/9, 8 PM, Schubas KT Tunstall 9/21, 8:30 PM, House of Blues, 17+ Phil Vassar 10/23-24, 8 PM, City Winery b Vulfpeck, Tauking McGee 9/4, 10 PM, Concord Music Hall, 18+ Ryley Walker 8/25, 9 PM, Empty Bottle Butch Walker, Suzanne Santo 9/10, 8 PM, House of Blues, 17+ White Fang, No Parents, Birth Defects 10/16, 9 PM, Empty Bottle ZZ Top, Gov’t Mule 9/17, 7 PM, Rosemont Theater, Rosemont

SOLD OUT Bear vs. Shark 10/29, 8 PM, Subterranean, 17+ Bear’s Den 9/23, 8 PM, Beat Kitchen, 17+ Bill Callahan 9/25-26, 7:30 and 9:30 PM, Constellation, 18+ Echo & the Bunnymen 9/17, 8 PM, Metro, 18+ Failure 10/21, 9 PM, Double Door, 17+ Lukas Graham 1/17, 7 PM, House of Blues b Jason Isbell 11/18, 7:30 PM, Thalia Hall b Lush 9/18, 8 PM, the Vic, 18+ Mekons 9/19-20, 8 PM, Hideout Stabbing Westward 9/22, 8 PM, Double Door Tricky 10/30, 7 PM, Double Door v

GOSSIP WOLF A furry ear to the ground of the local music scene GOSSIP WOLF IS STOKED for the upcoming seven-inch from Chicago psychgarage pop band Soft Candy, their debut for HoZac Records—stoked enough, in fact, to debut the A side, “Bixarre Luv Pyramids.” Find this column at chicagoreader.com and you can give a listen to its chiming Beatles-style guitars and catchy Kinks-y melodies. On Saturday, August 20, Soft Candy celebrate with a free record-release show at Cole’s; opening are Electric Sheep and Shah Jahan, who released a similarly psych-poppy self-titled EP on Eye Vybe Records last month.

In 2004 southeast-side house head Joseph “Pepe” Porter threw a party in his Calumet Heights backyard—and in his two neighbors’ backyards—that doubled as a celebration of the neighborhood’s contributions to house music. He called it 3 Yards Bangin’, and after building it into an annual tradition, Porter went legit, securing permits and moving the party to the grounds of Chicago Vocational Career Academy last August. Renamed 3 Yards Bangin’ House Fest, it went over so well that it’s returning Saturday, August 20. This year 3YB will have two stages and 22 acts, including Chosen Few DJ Mike Dunn, 5 magazine editor Czboogie, and southeast-side house hero Steve “Silk” Hurley, who was given a heritage award at last year’s fest. The festival starts at noon at CVCA, near 86th and S. Chappel.

On Friday, August 19, local indie-soul group Bassel & the Supernaturals headline Schubas to celebrate the release of their new single, “Lost.” The woeful, snaky funk tune was inspired by the devastating losses they’ve endured—a cousin of front man Bassel Almadani was murdered, and bassist Mason Cormie recently died. The band will donate a portion of the proceeds from “Lost” to Karam Foundation, a Chicago-based nonprofit that provides support to Syrian families. “Lost” will also appear on the group’s forthcoming album, Elements, which is due early next year. —J.R. NELSON AND LEOR GALIL Got a tip? Tweet @Gossip_Wolf or e-mail gossipwolf@chicagoreader.com.

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AUGUST 18, 2016 - CHICAGO READER 47

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