Print Issue of August 31, 2017 (Volume 46, Number 47) by Chicago Reader

C H I C A G O ’ S F R E E W E E K LY | K I C K I N G A S S S I N C E 1 9 7 1 | A U G U S T 3 1 , 2 0 1 7

Did an accused killer lose his academic due process? 14

Can shooting hoops keep gang members from shooting each other? 10

T H E C H I C A G O JA Z Z F E S T I VA L The compelling characters on this year’s lineup include avant-garde elder Roscoe Mitchell, indefatigable experimenter Mary Halvorson, and deﬁantly joyful South African survivor Louis Moholo-Moholo. BY JOHN CORBETT, PETER MARGASAK, AND BILL MEYER 21

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THIS WEEK

C H I C AG O R E A D E R | AU G U ST 3 1 , 2 01 7 | VO LU M E 4 6 , N U M B E R 4 7

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EDITOR JAKE MALOOLEY CREATIVE DIRECTOR VINCE CERASANI CULTURE EDITOR TAL ROSENBERG FILM EDITOR J.R. JONES MUSIC EDITOR PHILIP MONTORO ASSOCIATE EDITORS STEVE HEISLER, KATE SCHMIDT SENIOR WRITER MIKE SULA SENIOR THEATER CRITIC TONY ADLER STAFF WRITERS MAYA DUKMASOVA, LEOR GALIL, DEANNA ISAACS, BEN JORAVSKY, AIMEE LEVITT, PETER MARGASAK, JULIA THIEL SOCIAL MEDIA EDITOR RYAN SMITH GRAPHIC DESIGNER SUE KWONG MUSIC LISTINGS COORDINATOR LUCA CIMARUSTI FILM LISTINGS COORDINATOR PATRICK FRIEL CONTRIBUTING WRITERS NOAH BERLATSKY, MATT DE LA PEÑA, ANNE FORD, ISA GIALLORENZO, JOHN GREENFIELD, ANDREA GRONVALL, JUSTIN HAYFORD, JACK HELBIG, DAN JAKES, BILL MEYER, MICHAEL MINER, J.R. NELSON, MARISSA OBERLANDER, LEAH PICKETT, BEN SACHS, DMITRY SAMAROV, DAVID WHITEIS, ALBERT WILLIAMS INTERNS PORTER MCLEOD ---------------------------------------------------------------VICE PRESIDENT OF BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT NICKI STANULA VICE PRESIDENT OF NEW MEDIA GUADALUPE CARRANZA SENIOR ACCOUNT MANAGER EVANGELINE MILLER ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES FABIO CAVALIERI, BRIDGET KANE MARKETING AND EVENTS MANAGER BRYAN BURDA DIRECTOR OF DIGITAL JOHN DUNLEVY ADVERTISING COORDINATOR HERMINIA BATTAGLIA CLASSIFIEDS REPRESENTATIVE KRIS DODD

FEATURES

4 Agenda Comedian Chris Condren, Poetry in the Parks, the ﬁlm Crown Heights, and more goings-on about town

CITY LIFE

MUSIC & NIGHTLIFE VIOLENCE PREVENTION

Can shooting hoops keep gang members from shooting each other?

When Englewood gang members convene for a week in August to compete in the Battle of the Blocks basketball tournament, residents report a marked drop in violence in the neighborhood. Why aren’t there more programs like it? BY LEE V. GAINES PHOTOS BY JEFFREY MARINI 10

7 Chicagoans Cerebral palsy can’t silence this motivational speaker. 8 Joravsky | Politics The Illinois school funding “compromise” smells like Democratic betrayal.

ARTS & CULTURE

14 Crime & Education Former Northwestern professor Wyndham Lathem has a lot more problems than unemployment. 16 Movies Marriage is too close for comfort in After Love and I Do . . . Until I Don’t. 18 Theater Peacebook 2017 tackles Chicago’s “epidemic of inequity.”

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MUSIC & NIGHTLIFE

Seven portraits of the Chicago Jazz Festival

ON THE COVER: PHOTO OF ROSCOE MITCHELL BY JOSEPH BLOUGH.

19 Visual Art “Woman as Warrior,” though uninspired, is a step in the right direction for women artists.

7 Street View A spiritual coach oﬀers advice on drawing energy from the color of your clothes.

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IN THIS ISSUE

The compelling characters on this year’s lineup include avant-garde elder Roscoe Mitchell, indefatigable experimenter Mary Halvorson, and deﬁantly joyful South African survivor Louis Moholo-Moholo. BY JOHN CORBETT, PETER MARGASAK, AND BILL MEYER 21

19 Theater Timeline’s The Audience gives us 64 years and a dozen prime ministers in the life of Queen Elizabeth II.

30 Shows of note SZA, Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit, Wizkid, and more of the week’s best 33 The Secret History of Chicago Music Evanston new wavers the Front Lines exemplify the richness of the overlooked midwestern scene.

FOOD & DRINK

35 Key Ingredient: Manischewitz Turns out, the traditional, overly sweet Jewish wine makes for a great complement to brisket pizza.

36 Restaurant review: Margeaux Brasserie Celebrity chef Michael Mina drops his latest on the Gold Coast—but it’s not a restaurant for Chicagoans.

CLASSIFIEDS

38 Jobs 38 Apartments & Spaces 39 Marketplace 40 Straight Dope How the hell did coﬀee come into our lives? 41 Savage Love Advice for the broken-hearted—and those sick of hearing about it. 42 Early Warnings Lightning Bolt, Lydia Loveless, Swet Shop Boys, and more shows you should know about in the weeks to come 42 Gossip Wolf After a three-story fall, Continental bartender Greg Shirilla needs help getting back on his feet, and more music news.

AUGUST 31, 2017 - CHICAGO READER 3

AGENDA RSM

READER RECOMMENDED

Send your events to agenda@chicagoreader.com

b ALL AGES

F Electrodide: Ancient Electronic Goddess Enter the twisted mind of Bryant Smith, whose sketch show incorporates funk music, beatboxing, a kazoo choir, and animation. The members of the ﬁve-piece band accompanying the show all play characters in the narrative, and audience members are occasionally called on to guide the weirdness. Through 9/27: Wed 8 PM, iO Theater, the Mission Theater, 1501 N. Kingsbury, ioimprov.com/chicago, $12.

www.BrewView.com 3145 N. Sheffield at Belmont

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

18 to enter 21 to drink Photo ID required

Fri, Tue-Wed, Sept 1, 5-6 @ 6:30pm Sat, Sept 2 @ 3:30 & 8:30pm

The Big Sick

The Fancy Beer Comedy Hour A monthly stand-up showcase that oﬀers a lineup of local comedians and a menu of craft beer specials. Open run: First Friday of the month, 9 PM, Pint, 1547 N. Milwaukee, 773-772-0990, pintpub.com, $5 suggested donation.

Fri, Tue-Wed, Sept 1, 5-6 @ 8:45pm Sat, Sept 2 @ 6:00pm

Valerian & the City of a Thousand Planets

Friday, September 8 @ 7:00pm

L7: Pretend We're Dead

Tickets: http://L7movie.bpt.me

I Shit You Not! Local comedians R and monologists share personal stories of inadvertent defecation.

The Tragedy of He-Manlet, Prince of Eternia

THEATER More at chicagoreader.com/theater

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Still Dance the Stars There’s one thoroughly decent moment in Jayme McGhan’s play, getting its world premiere now in a coproduction by Chicago Dramatists and the New Light Theater Project. That’s when Anne, a dance teacher and bereaved mother, performs a pas de deux with Hope, the embodied spirit of her stillborn baby. It works because it’s plain, clear, organic in the sense that dance is Anne’s natural mode of expression, and because Bethany Geraghty’s Anne and Ariana Sepúlveda put Ashlee Wassmund’s choreography over with such easy grace. The rest of the 90-minute show, however, is an awful mess, largely because McGhan piles conceit after coy conceit atop the essentially simple story of a couple unable to cope with their mourning. There’s the one piece of business about a viral video, the other about a heartless TV reporter, the third about stuﬀed animals come to life, the fourth about quirky relatives—all of them simultaneously overwritten and vague, none able to mask the fact that McGhan has nothing unique to say about his core subject. —TONY ADLER Through 9/16: Tue-Sat 7:30 PM, Sun 6 PM, Chicago Dramatists, 1105 W. Chicago, 312-633-0630, chicagodramatists.org, $35. The Tragedy of He-Manlet, Prince of Eternia If you only get to see one revenge tragedy inspired by an action ﬁgure turned Saturday-morning cartoon this summer, let it be Adam “Roz” Rosowicz’s concoction for New Millennium Theatre Company at Stage 773. Be aware, though, that it’s terrible, a show to be laughed at and not with. What happens in Hamlet, give or take everything interesting about that play and its main character, is here mapped onto the superfolks of Castle Grayskull, where no loincloth dispensary or Span-

dex merchant ever went out of business. The script is death by thee and thou; to do the dialogue in what some might call “Shakespearean language” was a bad move yielding bastardized lines like “To he or not to he.” Alex B. Reynolds brings passion (and an incredible mask) to his rendition of Skeletor, Eternia’s usurping bad guy. —MAX MALLER Through 9/10: Thu-Sat 8 PM (except Sat 9/2, 3 PM), Sun 3 PM (no show 9/3), 1225 W. Belmont, 773-327-5252, nmtchicago.org, $20.

DANCE Chicago SummerDance WhethR er you’re an experienced dancer or have two left feet, come to SummerDance and learn—or merely watch—sick moves that’ll score you points at bar mitzvahs. Through 9/10: Fri-Sun, Spirit of Music Garden, Grant Park, 601 S. Michigan, 312-742-4007, cityofchicago. org/city/en/depts/dca/supp_info/chicago_summerdance6.html. F

records his ﬁrst album, blending comedy and music. Condren’s known for unironically belting out tunes like “Space Time Warp” and a two-minutelong hip-hop track about being hit by a car on Belmont that repeats “Hit by a car!” for its entirety. He’s also trigger happy when it comes to the button on his keyboard that simulates applause, so the album will have a laugh track even if nobody’s clapping. Wed 9/6, 7 PM, Timothy O’Toole’s, 622 N. Fairbanks, 312-642-0700, timothyotooles.com, $5 in advance, $10 at the door. The Costa Coast Cabaret The Annoyance Theatre stays true to its reputation of irreverent, occasional oﬀ-brand humor with a show combining comedy, circus, and burlesque performances. Bring those whips to tame the tigers. Hosted by Costa Lapaseotes. Sun 9/3, 8 PM, Annoyance Theatre, 851 W. Belmont, 773-697-9693, theannoyance.com, $10.

Michael Sanchez and Monte LeMonte host. Open run: Thu 8 PM, Logan, 2646 N. Milwaukee, 773-252-0628, ishityounotshow.com, $5. Laurie Kilmartin Kilmartin finds humor in the morbid, sharing tales of caring for her dying father peppered with oneliners like: “Knock knock.” “Who’s there?” “Not my dad because he’s dead.” She’s been on the Conan writing staff since 2009 and in stand-up comedy since 1990. 8/31-9/2: Thu 8:30 PM, Fri 8:30 PM and 10 PM, Sat 7 PM and 9 PM, Zanies, 1548 N. Wells, 312-337-4027, zanies.com/ chicago, $25. The New 40 This sketch comedy revue tackles difficult questions about the birds and the bees—not the animals—and why it is the subject of sex has become taboo. Through 9/19, Tue 8 PM, Annoyance Theatre, 851 W. Belmont, 773-6979693, theannoyance.com, $8. OPIE Vol. 2 Back for a second stint at iO Theater, duo Olivia Nielson and

Prakriti: A History of the PresR ent Melding traditional Indian dance, Western-world movement, and

the martial art form kalaripayattu, this show explores our unwillingness to accept views, beliefs, or behavior that diﬀer from our own. Fri 9/1, 8:30 PM, Congressional Church of Jeﬀerson Park, 5320 W. Giddings, $10.

COMEDY Bard Dogs In the same vein as the excellent Improvised Shakespeare Company, this comedy troupe improvises a tale by the Bard—here with a bit more frantic energy. Through 9/23: Fri-Sat 8:30 PM, Cornservatory, 4210 N. Lincoln, 773-650-1331, cornservatory.org, $10. Chris Condren One of Chicago’s R kookiest stand-up comedians

Chicago SummerDance o ASHLEE REZIN/SUN-TIMES

Best bets, recommendations, and notable arts and culture events for the week of August 31

members. Guest groups join each week. Through 9/22: Fri 11 PM, Cornservatory, 4210 N. Lincoln, 773-650-1331, cornservatory.org, $10.

Group and Photography Gallery, 1310 1/2 Chicago Ave., Evanston, 224-200-1155, perspectivegallery.org.

Wet Cash Stand-up with a very R big twist. Each week, performers at this showcase can do anything they

Ping Tom Memorial Park is the last stop on the Poetry in the Parks tour. Patriac Coakley bring their earnestness, sense of absurdity, and overwhelming desire to connect with the audience to sketch comedy. Through 9/30: Sat 10:30 PM, iO Theater, 1501 N. Kingsbury, ioimprov.com/chicago, $10.

Told Before you accuse iO of shameless audience grabbing by including special guest Rick Bayless in this weekly improv experiment, consider Told’s modus operandi: invite people with interesting experiences (so far a wigged-out psychic’s client, a cannabis dispensary employee, and a failed SNL auditioner, among others) to tell a team of improvisers a personal story, which becomes fodder for scenes invented on the spot. It’s not a novel approach (Under the Gun did a nearly identical show recently), but it’s an astute way to circumvent the improv world’s occasional penchant for navel-gazing. And Bayless exuded improbable charm recounting a condescending tale of surviving Taco Bell. Given the level of craft, ingenuity, and chutzpah in the rotating ensemble, the show’s likely to soar no matter who’s on the special guest list. —JUSTIN HAYFORD Open run: Fri 8:30 PM, iO Theater, 1501 N. Kingsbury, ioimprov.com/chicago, $16.

M.C. Escher-style paintings in which patterns and shapes are repeated. The works on display are more grounded than Escher’s, but still require some study to understand. Cocurated by Allison Wade. Opening reception: Fri 9/1, 5-8 PM. Through 10/13: Mon-Fri 9 AM-4 PM, Sat noon-4 PM, Arts of Life, 2010 W. Carroll, 312-829-2787, artsoﬂife.org.

want. One time, they ran a show where everybody on the bill and in the audience was named Derek. Plus, all donations beneﬁt the ﬁshbowl they toss their money in—hence the title. Expect, well, everything. Open run: Fri 8 PM, Dark Tower Comics, 4835 N. Western, 773-6541490, darktowercomics.net, donations accepted. F

LIT & LECTURES R

David Masciotra The cultural critic’s new book Barack Obama: Invisible Man is, in a broader sense, about how America banged its collective head against Trump Tower after last year’s election, no longer able to believe in the kind of change Obama had brought to the Oval Oﬃce. He touches on issues not often raised, such as race, privilege, and Obama’s demeanor. Masciotra has previously written about John Mellencamp and Bruce Springsteen, but needless to say this is his most controversial topic. Wed 9/6, 6:30 PM, City Lit Books, 2523 N. Kedzie, 773-235-2523, citylitbooks.com.

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

Alicia Porter, Playing in the Woods #2, on display as part of “Something Else” Kate McQuillen: Meet Me on the Astral Plane The Brooklyn-based artist’s work is inspired by the astral plane, long thought to be the home to the stars and planets serving as a link between realms. McQuillen uses this otherworldly imagery to create smooth, celestial, and seemingly brushless paintings. Through 9/30: Sat noon-4 PM or by appointment, Goldﬁnch, 319 N. Albany, 708-714-0937, goldﬁnchgallery.org.

MOVIES

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More at chicagoreader.com/movies NEW REVIEWS Beach Rats With It Felt Like Love (2013) and now this second feature, writer-director Eliza Hittman comes across as a milder, less provocative version of Larry Clark (Kids, Bully). Like Clark, she explores the sexuality of adolescent and young adult characters in a manner that feels more closely related to still photography than narrative cinema; unlike Clark, she’s too timid to confront her prurient interests head-on. Her main character, a teenage

Poetry in the Parks The name R is slightly misleading. Board the Chicago Water Taxi at 400 N. Michigan

and set sail for Chinatown; local poets will share their work on the windy barge as it moves through the Windy City. The ride ends at Ping Tom Memorial Park, where the poets continue to read and a bike bookmobile oﬀers rare tomes for purchase. Thu 8/31, 5-8 PM, Ping Tom Memorial Park, 300 W. 19th, 312-8508440, pingtompark.org, $2.50 for the day. Reagan M. Sova In his recent R novel Tiger Island, Sova weaves the abstract with the tangible. Island is

a coming-of-age tale about an orphaned soccer prodigy who must save Tiger Island from total economic downfall. He’ll be reading from the novel and ﬁelding questions about the seemingly disparate worlds of sports and ﬁnance. Thu 8/31, 7 PM, Open Books-Pilsen, 905 W. 19th, 312-243-9776, open-books.org.

VISUAL ARTS A photo from “Persepolis: Images of an Empire” o COURTESY OF THE ORIENTAL INSTITUTE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO

Water Bear and Friends Water Bear, an improv troupe that formed at iO in 2016, hosts a late-night BYOB show combining traditional improv comedy with a whole bunch of stories about its

A Southern Diary Photographer Donna Wesley Spencer’s southern roots are captured in this gallery of photos snapped in Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and North Carolina, among other southern states. Though Spencer currently lives in Evanston, her work is drawn from the curiosity she harbors for southern charm. Opening reception Thu 8/31, noon-6 PM. Through 10/1: Thu-Sat noon-6 PM, Sun noon-5 PM. Perspective

Beach Rats Persepolis: Images of an Empire Flashback to the years 550-330 BC, when the Achaemenid Persian Empire was thriving in what is now Iran. Its citizens were adept at etching artwork into stone—murals of former rulers, immaculate details highlighting columns in expansive castle halls, and the like. Photos of these wonders were captured between 1931 and 1939, and this exhibition of that work closes after nearly a two-year run. Sun 9/3, 8 AM-10 PM, Tue-Sat 10 AM-6 PM (Wed till 8:30 PM), Sun noon-6 PM. Oriental Museum at the University of Chicago, 1155 E. 58th, 773-702-9514, oi.uchicago.edu, suggested donation $7 adults, $4 kids under 12. Something Else Six visual artists play around with the concept of “space” via

boy in Brooklyn, hangs out with macho delinquents, picking pockets and doing drugs; he also has sex with strange men, though he can’t admit to his pals (or himself) that he’s gay. Hittman, trying to pass oﬀ her sensationalistic tale as a study in grief, suggests that the teen misbehaves only because he can’t cope with his father’s terminal cancer. —BEN SACHS R, 97 min. Landmark’s Century Centre Crown Heights This indie R drama tells the gripping—and all-too-common—story of an innocent

man incarcerated for decades. In 1980, police arrested Colin Warner, a Trinidad native living in Brooklyn’s Crown Heights neighborhood, and charged W

AUGUST 31, 2017 - CHICAGO READER 5

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Footnotes

B him with having killed a local teenager in a drive-by shooting; convicted on the scantest of evidence, he spent more than 20 years in prison before he was exonerated. Writer-producer-director Matt Ruskin hangs his plot on Carl King, a childhood friend of Warner’s who never gave up on him and rallied the community to his defense; the two men’s relationship, and others in the film, might have been explored in greater depth, but Ruskin rightly keeps his focus on the judicial system as it fails Warner again and again. With Lakeith Stanfield, Nnamdi Asomugha, and Bill Camp as William Robedee, the dogged attorney who finally got Warner’s conviction vacated. —J.R. JONES R, 94 min. Landmark’s Century Centre Footnotes A delightful film R about serious matters, this 2016 musical comedy uses the

winning story of a successful labor strike at a shoe factory to consider the impact of France’s ongoing recession on the working class. The young protagonist, laid oﬀ from her clerk job, hires on at the factory, only to learn that the CEO wants to close it and transfer production to China. She and her coworkers protest, cementing their camaraderie with upbeat song-and-dance numbers, and the celebratory attitude is infectious. The performances, songs, and choreography are all charmingly low-key, giving the ﬁlm a handmade quality that suggests pride in a job well done. Paul Calori and Kostia Testut directed their own script. In French with subtitles. —BEN SACHS 83 min. Fri, 9/1, 2 and 6 PM; Sat 9/2, 8:15 PM; Sun 9/3, 3 and 6:30 PM; Mon 9/4, 4:45 PM; Wed 9/6, 6 PM; and Thu 9/7, 8 PM. Gene Siskel Film Center

REVIVALS

rhythms that vary from the elegiac to the spontaneous. This 1962 western flaunts its artificiality, both in its use of studio interiors and in the casting of an aging James Stewart as a young, idealistic lawyer who comes to the frontier. For some, the stylization is a crippling flaw, but I find it sublime: the film takes place, through elegant flashbacks, in a past that is remembered more than lived; essences are projected over particulars. With John Wayne, his tragic qualities movingly unveiled; Lee Marvin; Woody Strode; Vera Miles; and key members of the Ford stock company. —DAVE KEHR 123 min. 35mm. Sat 9/2-Sun 9/3, 11:30 AM. Music Box Monterey Pop The Monterey International Pop Festival in June 1967 is usually cited as the first public flowering of the Summer of Love, but musically it was more important for demarcating the studio pop that preceded it from the live rock that would follow. Chart-topping acts like the Byrds, whose set was embarrassing, and the Beach Boys, who copped out at the last minute, were immediately eclipsed by artists who could deliver the goods in concert, fiery vocalists such as Otis Redding and Janis Joplin and powerhouse bands such as the Who and the Jimi Hendrix Experience. Released two years later, D.A. Pennebaker’s 88-minute sampler from the three-day festival intersperses scenes of the beatific festivalgoers, who now seem as archaic as tintype portraits. With the Jefferson Airplane, the Animals, the Mamas and the Papas, Booker T. and the MG’s, Country Joe & the Fish, Simon & Garfunkel, Canned Heat, and Ravi Shankar. —J.R. JONES 78 min. Sun 9/3, 8:15 PM, and Mon 9/4, 4:45 PM. Gene Siskel Film Center

The Man Who Shot Liberty Mulholland Dr. I’m still tryR Valance A great ﬁlm, rich in R ing to decide if this piece of thought and feeling, composed in hocus-pocus (2001) is David Lynch’s

6 CHICAGO READER - AUGUST 31, 2017

best feature between Eraserhead and Inland Empire. In any case, it’s immensely more likable than his other stabs at neonoir (Blue Velvet, Wild at Heart, Lost Highway), perhaps because it likes its characters and avoids sentimentalizing or sneering at them (the sort of thing that limited Twin Peaks). Originally conceived and rejected as a TV pilot, then expanded after some French producers stepped in, it has the beneﬁt of Lynch’s own observations about Hollywood, which were fresher at this point than his puritanical notations on small towns in the American heartland. The best-known actors (Ann Miller, Robert Forster, Dan Hedaya) wound up relatively marginalized, while the lesser-known talents (in particular the remarkable Naomi Watts and the glamorous Laura Elena Harring) were invited to take over the movie (and have a ﬁeld day doing so). The plot slides along agreeably as a tantalizing mystery before becoming almost completely inexplicable, though no less thrilling, in the closing stretches—but that’s what Lynch is famous for. —JONATHAN ROSENBAUM R, 146 min. Sat 9/2, 3 PM, and Wed 9/6, 7:45 PM. Gene Siskel Film Center Serie Noire A 1979 adaptation by French writer-director Alain Corneau of the Jim Thompson thriller A Hell of a Woman (which Orson Welles once adapted for an unrealized feature)—one of those tales of desperation escalating into madness and murder that Thompson seemed to specialize in. Patrick Dewaere stars as an unsuccessful salesman living in a Paris suburb whose wife leaves him; he then becomes involved with a woman, played by Marie Trintignant, whose aunt is hiding a small fortune in her house. You can already hear those James Cain wheels turning. Georges Perec collaborated on the script. In French with subtitles. —JONATHAN ROSENBAUM 111 min. 35mm. Mon 9/4, 7 PM. Music Box v

CITY LIFE Street View

The motivational speaker

ò ISA GIALLORENZO

Denzel Henderson, 23, person with cerebral palsy

Street View

True colors, shining through

“PUTTING INTENTION BEHIND what you wear will aﬀect how you show up in the world,” says spiritual coach and energy healer Tori Washington. “This doesn’t mean spending hours picking out what to wear but empowering yourself to wake up, inquire around how you want to feel, and dress yourself in a way that will draw that energy into your life.” Each color, for instance, holds a certain frequency that can “protect and elevate your mood,” she says. White is “cleansing and protective,” shades of blue and turquoise are “purifying,” red and peach are “for inspiration and increasing energy,” and black “is very protective, with a sense-grounding energy.” —ISA GIALLORENZO See more Chicago street style on Giallorenzo’s blog chicagolooks.blogspot.com.

CEREBRAL PALSY IS kind of like, I can’t control my muscles. I’ve had it since birth. My mother had me at ﬁve months. They had to put me in an incubator because one side of my brain wasn’t developed yet. Mostly it affects my transportation. I can’t go places because we don’t have the right equipment. I can’t ride a bike. And transportation is limited with Pace. It’s tough. It’s very tough. My average day is watching motivational speakers all day on YouTube and on television, and sometimes I watch WWE. I have control of the right-hand side of my body; the left-hand side is not so good. So sometimes I play video games, and sometimes I watch the game play itself. I became a motivational speaker after I was going through a deep depression. I wanted to give up. I was watching some motivational speakers who brought me back, so I wanted to do what they were doing. Nick Vujicic is one of the speakers I watch a lot. He’s the guy who has no arms and no legs. Basically, if my family goes somewhere, I want to go, so I won’t feel

“People are not out here living to their full potential,” Henderson says. “I only have the right side of my body and I’m still trying to do better.” ò JIAYUE YU

left out. That’s why I have a GoFundMe for a wheelchair van. I want to go to different schools and events to tell my story to people. I want to visit Saint Jude Children’s Hospital to give them hope. I always stress that people are not out here living to their full potential. I only have the right side of my body and I’m still trying to do better, so most people should do better since they have control of all their limbs.

I want people to know that when you have a disability, it doesn’t mean you can’t do anything. You can do what God created you to do. God created me to motivate people. People have been talking to me on Facebook, and I’ve been bringing them out of their depression too. Sometimes they cry on the phone with me. Because I gave them hope. I want to travel the world. It’s possible. —AS TOLD TO ANNE FORD

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

SURE THINGS THURSDAY 31

FRIDAY 1

SATURDAY 2

SUNDAY 3

MONDAY 4

TUESDAY 5

WEDNESDAY 6

J Ch icago Fringe Festi va l Running through September 10, this annual theater takeover invites 50 local, national, and international innovative performing arts acts to the Windy City. We’ll be covering the fest as it plays, so visit chicagoreader. com for ongoing reviews and more. Various venues, times, and prices.

æ The Great American Lobste r Fest Chicago ﬂies in east-coast crustaceans (the cockroaches of the sea) so the midwest can enjoy some Chesapeake summer. More than 25 bands rock as the lobster shells crunch. Noon-10 PM, Navy Pier, 600 E. Grand, 312-5957437, americanlobseterfest. com.

V Puck Your Face So ur Fest Sour beers, the ones that taste like they’re not quite fermented enough, take the taps at this brewha-ha. Featuring Upland Peach Sour, New Belgium Transatlantic Kriek, and the ominously named Firestone Walker Krieky Bones. 11:30-3 AM, Links Taproom, 1559 N. Milwaukee.

r Annual Mushroom Show Mycology, the study of mushrooms, is a noble profession subject to unjust ridicule from hippies and fungi pun masters alike. Learn more about diﬀerent cap sizes from Chicago’s mycologists at this annual convention of all things not veggie. 10 AM-4:30 PM, Chicago Botanic Garden, 1000 Lake Cook Rd., Glencoe. F

( He rold An all-women cast performs iO’s signature long-form improvisational style the Harold—in which an opening abstract scene inspires more grounded scenes that tell recurring stories throughout the roughly half-hour-long set. 8 PM, iO Theater, 1501 N. Kingsbury, 312-929-2401, ioimprov.com, $12.

« Base Camp Darkness envelops the Field Museum when scientists and explorers visit to discuss caves, archaeological digs underground, and a rundown of what it might feel like to live underground (and lack vitamin D). Lights out. 6-9 PM, Field Museum, 1400 S. Lake Shore, 312-922-9410, ﬁeldmuseum.org. F

f Co uch Slut Reader contributor Kevin Warwick describes the noise-rock band’s sound as akin to “getting your ﬁngers slammed in the hatch of a tank or your bare toes gnarled under a bundle of bricks dropped from three stories up. That help?” 9 PM, Empty Bottle, 1035 N. Western, 773-2763600, emptybottle.com, $8.

AUGUST 31, 2017 - CHICAGO READER 7

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The great Democratic sellout The private scholarship tax credit deal “saves” the schools by bankrupting them and forces Chicago to raise its property taxes to fund education. By BEN JORAVSKY

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t’s fitting that the Democratic reversal on school funding occurred on the eve of the Mayweather-McGregor bout. In a lot of ways, the state Dems’ endorsement of scholarships for private schools reminds me of Conor McGregor: lots of talk before the fight and not much resistance once it got going. On August 28, 36 Democratic legislators in the Democrat-controlled house supported the private school scholarship subsidy, enabling the measure to pass by three votes. The following day, the senate passed the measure with heavy Democratic support. The scholarship subsidy contradicts pretty much everything the Democrats supposedly believe in when it comes to education ﬁnances. For the last few years, almost every Democrat in the state—especially the ones running for governor—has called for more progressivity in school funding, generally in the form of a progressive income tax, as opposed to the current ﬂat tax. In other words, the state would raise more tax dollars by increasing the rate that the wealthiest citizens must pay. Then the revenue would be fairly distributed so that poorer school districts would get more aid. Presumably this would help break the dependency of schools on property taxes, which favor wealthy communities over poor ones. But last week, house speaker Michael Madigan and senate president John Cullerton threw progressivity out of the window, signing on to a deal that gives a tax break to the rich, alienates their teachers’ union allies, and takes money away from public schools. This latest struggle began a few weeks ago, when Governor Bruce Rauner vetoed the school funding bill known as SB1. It was part of his larger plan to coerce Democrats into signing on to his anti-union legislative agenda—you know, kill the unions or the schools go bankrupt.

The senate overrode Rauner’s veto and the house was heading for its own veto override vote. That’s when Madigan and Cullerton cut their deal with Rauner. It largely keeps SB1 intact but adds what alderman Scott Waguespack calls a “poison pill”—the private school scholarship tax credit. As I write this, it’s unclear what’s in the ﬁne print, but the tax credits would amount to about $75 million a year for the next ﬁve years, or $375 million total. If an individual donates $100,000 to a private or parochial school’s scholarship fund, that person would get $75,000 in tax credits. Tax credits come right off the amount paid in state income taxes. So, say, a Republican billionaire named Bruce owes $100,000 in state taxes. With $100,000 in tax credits, he’d pay zero dollars to the state.

The scheme fits right in with the strategy of antigovernment Republican ideologues, who argue that the best way to kill government is to starve it.

This option is open to anyone. But let’s face it: only people who owe a lot of money to the state, like Bruce the billionaire, would be tempted (or even able) to take advantage of it. Proponents say it’s all about giving lowincome kids school choice, so they don’t have

Children hold signs outside Feitshans Elementary School in Springﬁeld during a rally for Senate Bill 1. ò AP/JOHN O’CONNOR

to attend the chronically broke neighborhood schools. That’s great for a student who gets a scholarship to a private school. But let’s say a student gets “encouraged” to leave because his test scores are dragging down the total (as has been known to happen in charters or private schools). He’ll wind up at that chronically broke local public school, which will have even less money to spend thanks to the millions siphoned off by the scholarship tax credits. The scholarship fund gives the rich incentive to divert their money away from government. Thus, the state has less money to cover everything from road repairs to education. The scheme ﬁts right in with the strategy of anti-government Republican ideologues, who argue that the best way to kill government is to starve it. Or as such an ideologue, Grover Norquist, the founder and president of Americans for Tax Reform, once put it: “I’m not in favor of abolishing the government. I just want to shrink it down to the size where we can drown it in the bathtub.” In particular, there’s less money for unionized public schools and more money for nonunion private ones. So the plan is a blow to the teachers’ union and the Democratic Party the unions love. Now you can see why so many Republicans—chief among them Education Secretary Betsy DeVos—are fond of these scholarship tax credits. You didn’t really think it was because of the kids, did you?

Democrats’ stated reasons for signing on to the deal vary. In the case of Madigan and Cullerton, it’s obviously a gift to Archbishop Blase Cupich, head of the Archdiocese of Chicago. Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s got hundreds of millions of reasons. As a part of the agreement, the Chicago Public Schools gets the hundreds of millions of dollars it needs to pay its most immediate teacher pension obligations. The state deal also lifts the cap on property taxes, which means that Rahm will be able to raise the tax rate to fetch more money for the schools. And that brings us to the tax increment financing program, the ultimate destination in any story regarding Chicago and taxes. The TIF is in effect a surcharge that gets slapped on your property tax bill. You think it’s going to the schools and parks, but in reality it gets diverted to the mayor’s slush fund. Rauner briefly talked about essentially subtracting a portion of the city’s annual TIF collection from the amount of school aid the state sends to Chicago. But he backed off that idea. So Rahm gets to keep his TIF slush and get state school aid. Plus, by raising the tax rate for schools, the mayor generates more slush for his TIFs. The bottom line, Chicago: prepare to pay more in property taxes. When the deal passed the house, Madigan hailed it as a great “compromise.” But to some of us, it smells like betrayal. v

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Can shooting hoops keep gang members from shooting e a ch o t h e r? A COUPLE YEARS AGO,

Reverend Pervis Thomas of Englewood’s New Canaan Land Missionary Baptist Church was on the verge of ending the neighborhood’s annual Battle of the Blocks basketball tournament. Also known as the Englewood Peace Tournament, it gathers together young men from the area, many of whom Thomas says are members of rival gang factions, for a weeklong series of games. But eight years of organizing the tourney on his own had begun to wear on Thomas, and he wasn’t sure at the time whether the initiative was truly fostering peace in the community. Thomas reconsidered after a conversation with the coach for the tournament’s 59th Street team. “That guy over there shot at me three years ago, and ever since he’s been coming to the tournament,” the 23-year-old, pointing to another basketball player, told the reverend. “It changed my mind about killing that guy.”

10 CHICAGO READER - AUGUST 31, 2017

“That changed my whole mind-set,” Thomas says. Despite the tremendous effort involved, he decided hosting a yearly basketball tournament for guys who in other circumstances might exchange gunﬁre was worth continuing if only because it had saved at least one life. Earlier this month, the Battle of the Blocks took place for the tenth year in the parking lot of the Nicholson Technology

Academy at the corner of 60th and Peoria Streets. Church volunteers sold plates of food to the crowd, and a DJ hired by Thomas provided a soundtrack for the games. As the players darted across the pavement in goldenrod and maroon jerseys, Thomas live-streamed the on-court action on Facebook. His voice boomed above the music as he narrated the play-by-play, routinely punctuating his color commentary with demands that the young men “put the guns down.” Thomas, a tall, muscular African-American man with a shaved head and a thick tuft of hair on his chin, shouted his cell phone number and told the community to call or message him on Facebook if they need help settling a dispute. The 16 teams that compete in the tournament are named after the street blocks in Englewood from which the players hail. The young men who play year after year are responsible for organizing their own squads, Thomas says. The goal

Reverend Pervis Thomas, founder of the Battle of the Blocks tournament

is to bring together men in their late teens, 20s, and early 30s—a majority of whom Thomas says are affiliated with gangs such as the Gangster Disciples and the Black Disciples, among others. “We’re talking about guys that last month shot at each other,” Thomas says, “but when they come out here it’s peaceful.” Thomas, whom players affectionately refer to as “Rev,” says in the ten years the tournament has existed, shootings and

other instances of violence in the neighborhood have dropped to nearly zero during the week of the event. (The Chicago Police Department did not respond to a request for comment regarding whether the tournament correlates with a decrease in neighborhood shootings.) “Ever since we had it, we never had any problems or shootings going on,” says Paul Rufus, a 35-year-old Englewood resident and a former player for the Peoria Street team. “We don’t worry about nothing. They know everything is peaceful. If anybody has differences, they wait to take care of them.” Brian Davis, a 28-year-old who’s played for the Morgan Street team since the Battle of the Blocks began, describes the tournament as a neighborhood reunion. “There are a lot of enemies out here talking amongst each other,” he says. The local community, he adds, views the tour-

nament as a sacred space to relax without the threat of violent eruptions; family and friends from out of town come back to the neighborhood to watch. Thomas, who grew up on the west side at 18th Street and Kildare Avenue and became the reverend of the Englewood church 15 years ago, says his own experience playing basketball against boys who lived down the street on Cullerton inspired the idea for the annual peace tournament. A decade ago he walked block by block from Normal Boulevard on the east to Throop Street on the west, and then from 57th Street south to 64th Street to recruit young men for the games. “It was intense my ﬁrst year because I didn’t know what was going to happen,” Thomas recalls. “You could feel the tension in the parking lot.” After the third year, Thomas J

AUGUST 31, 2017 - CHICAGO READER 11

continued from 11

says, the tension eased as everyone came to understand that “we can come over here and the guys here won’t try to shoot at us,” he says. “It’s basically a neutral ground where everybody feels safe.” Jello Soraspy has played each year of the tournament for the Union team, the Englewood squad with the most wins. Victory at the peace tournament means “you got bragging rights for the whole year,” he says. “You can say you got the baddest block for the whole year.” In an extremely close championship game at this year’s Battle of the Blocks, Peoria Street bested Union Street. Thomas says he always provides trophies for the winning team and the tournament’s most valuable player.

12 CHICAGO READER - AUGUST 31, 2017

Accolades aside, Soraspy says, the main impact of the event is its ability to unify people who might normally view each other as foes. “Everybody got one love for this week,” he says. “That’s the most important blessing of the tournament to me. Because you got guys who, just for this, keep the peace—keep their differences to themselves just for this. They probably leave here and want to kill each other, but when they here it’s all love.” In more affluent neighborhoods, community centers that play host to basketball leagues and other sports-related activities and special events are the norm, says Shari Runner, president and CEO of the Chicago Urban League, an organization that works to create social and economic opportunities

for African-Americans. In communities with fewer resources, such as Englewood, there aren’t as many opportunities to keep young people engaged in organized extracurricular activities such as basketball. That’s where the city and the corporate community can play an integral role by offering funding assistance to events like the peace tournament “to support communities where disinvestment has occurred over a long period of time,” Runner explains. Englewood residents would welcome more activities like the peace tournament, say Davis and Soraspy. “If we can get this not just in the summer but a fall tournament or spring and winter,” Soraspy says, “it will give somebody something positive to do.” “Deﬁnitely more of this,” Davis says. “That would bring our neighborhood back together.” But an increase in programming would necessitate an increase in money, and putting on the Battle of the Blocks isn’t exactly inexpensive. Thomas receives funding to cover the $5,500 it costs to host the games—which includes uniforms, the DJ, and the installation of basketball hoops on the Nicholson school’s parking lot, as well as the cost of removing

them when the tournament ends—from individual sponsors, mostly people he’s played basketball with downtown, including University of Chicago Institute of Politics director David Axelrod, former Cook County state’s attorney Richard Devine, and Baltimore Ravens linebacker Terrell Suggs, whose grandmother is a member of Thomas’s congregation. The Battle of the Blocks is difficult and exhausting to coordinate, Thomas says. In future years, he’s looking to get enough support, ideally from a corporate sponsor, to start delegating tasks to other people. He says a Nike rep attended one of the games this year, and he hopes the company will back the tournament so the event can move from the parking lot to an indoor hardwood court. He also would ask that Nike donate gym shoes for kids in the neighborhood. Images of peaceful community celebration aren’t often associated with Englewood—a public perception Tatiana Jones and Taylor Jordan lament. The 18-year-olds attended the penultimate day of this year’s tournament. “It’s so nice to come out and not worry about nobody getting shot, nobody getting killed,” Jones says. “You know the

crazy thing about this is, you never see this in the newspaper.” “Violence does happen in a lot of black communities, but violence happens anywhere, and it’s great our community is doing something good,” Jordan says. “But it’s still bad because we’re not getting portrayed for the good.” Thomas says the young women are right. Local media is more often focused on the violence than on potential solutions to it, and that can hinder an event like the peace tournament from getting the coverage and attention it deserves from both city officials and corporations with the means to support it. Still, it doesn’t stop him from doing what he can to mitigate violence. “I just want to create more peace in the community I serve,” Thomas says. “I just basically tell them, ‘We don’t need the coverage, we just need to cover each other. If we cover each other, the more we get along, the more we unite, the more peace we can have in that community.’ That’s what I’m teaching, that’s what I’m speaking out on.” v

v @LeeVGaines AUGUST 31, 2017 - CHICAGO READER 13

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CRIME & EDUCATION

Black Death, red ﬂags, and a pink slip

Wyndham Lathem, pictured as he was being escorted by Chicago police on August 19 o JIM YOUNG

By DEANNA ISAACS

t’s safe to say that unemployment isn’t Professor Wyndham Lathem’s biggest problem right now. Northwestern University abruptly ﬁred him after he and a chat-room buddy from England allegedly stabbed Lathem’s boyfriend 70 times while carrying out a gory sexual fantasy and then ﬂed across the country, giving rise to a nationwide manhunt.

On the other hand, Lathem’s coconspirator, Andrew Warren, an administrative employee at Oxford University’s Somerville College, was merely suspended. If you can momentarily get past the horrorstory details (the sleeping victim, the nearly decapitated head, the blood-spattered apartment), Lathem’s dismissal raises an academic but nonetheless interesting question: Did

ARTS & CULTURE Northwestern, in its haste to distance itself from this latest example of jarring professorial conduct, violate its own rules for terminating faculty? As we’ve seen so often, it’s easy to maintain protections for ideals like free speech and due process when everyone’s civil; the test comes when things get ugly. And this case takes NU’s surprising campus news to a new level. The alleged scenario—in which a talented and much-admired scientist-professor is revealed to be a bloodthirsty murderer—leaves previous jaw-droppers like the optional livesex-show segment of a 2011 undergraduate psychology class in the dust. According to prosecutors at a bond hearing last week, Lathem and Warren planned to first murder several others and then themselves in an I-shoot-you-while-you-stab-me grand finale. But after killing 26-year-old cosmetologist Trenton Cornell-Duranleau in the early hours of July 27, Lathem and Warren apparently reconsidered. They showered, rented a car, and stopped to make two donations in CornellDuranleau’s name: $5,610 to the Howard Brown Health Center, and $1,000 to the Lake Geneva Public Library, where Lathem used the phone to anonymously alert management at his North State Street apartment building that a crime had been committed there. Eight days after the murder, the duo turned themselves in, separately, to San Francisco-area police. According to prosecutors, Lathem had also sent a video to family and friends admitting his guilt. The fact that Lathem, a microbiologist, is an internationally known expert on plague—the dreaded Black Death—ramps up the drama. (His lecture on how the bacterium that causes plague evolved from “mild to murderous” is up on Youtube.) That his work may help eliminate this killer disease, potentially saving untold lives, adds to the irony. At the bond hearing Lathem’s attorney introduced an impressive array of letters, from people who’ve known Lathem from his undergraduate days at Vassar College (where he organized a 20-year reunion last year) to professional colleagues at universities in the U.S. and abroad. They describe not the stereotypic recluse and loner but a warm and kind man of great integrity; a gifted researcher and teacher with a wide circle of friends. Only one of the 31 letters hints at a red flag. Lathem had recently been depressed, this writer said: he’d been planning to move from Northwestern to

the prestigious Pasteur Institute in Paris this year, but had lost that opportunity (when he failed to get a security clearance from the French government). Lathem and Warren were denied bond and are being held in Cook County Jail; their next court date is September 8. Northwestern’s faculty handbook spells out a process for termination that calls for notification to the faculty member, evaluation by a faculty committee, and a 20-day period for appeal. Northwestern spokesman Storer Rowley had no comment last week on whether these procedures were followed, beyond the university’s official statement, that, effective August 4, Lathem was “terminated for the act of fleeing from police when there was an arrest warrant out for him.” Was it justified? I put the question to Saint Xavier University professor Peter Kirstein, vice president of the Illinois branch of the AAUP, who said that, in his opinion, it looks like a violation of academic due process. “This is a gruesome situation,” Kirstein said, “but you’re innocent until proven guilty in this country, and this man has not been convicted of anything. A suspension would appear to be the appropriate response.” Northwestern political science professor Jacqueline Stevens, who has her own pending issues with the university, noted the abrupt firing on her blog and wondered, “Is there anything in the handbook that says you can be fired at will when police allege a crime but it has not been proven?” Here’s how Stevens put it: “I have no idea if Dr. Lathem is Mr. Hyde or someone with really, really bad luck. But I do know that every time NU’s administration shreds its Faculty Handbook it provides more evidence that the folks in charge care only about a brand and nothing more.” Lathem’s attorney, Adam Sheppard, told me last week that Lathem “will plead not guilty to any charges.” He said the evidence presented at the bond hearing appeared to rely “in large part on the statement of Andrew Warren, the selfconfessed murderer,” and suggested that alternative “independent evidence” will unfold going forward. “Our jurisprudence accords the presumption of innocence,” Sheppard said. “We’d hope that the public and all the relevant institutions would abide by that.” v

ß @DeannaIsaacs AUGUST 31, 2017 - CHICAGO READER 15

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recent study by the Pew Charitable Trusts found that, in 2015, about half of adult Chicagoans had never been married, up from 42 percent a decade earlier. I expect that trend to accelerate even more rapidly after this weekend, when Joachim Lafosse’s anguished Belgian drama After Love and Lake Bell’s spirited satire I Do . . . Until I Don’t arrive simultaneously on local screens. After Love focuses on the crumbling union between an upper-class woman and the husband she’s been supporting ﬁnancially, a situation complicated by their little twin daughters and the husband’s unwillingness to go. I Do . . . Until I Don’t revolves around a filmmaker shooting a documentary on the demise of marriage, which entails airing the dirty laundry of two unhappy couples. I Do, true to its genre, ends more happily than After Love, but both movies find endless tension where intimacy is enforced by law. Bell, who made her feature writing and directing debut with the funny, unassuming In a World . . . (2013), sometimes reminds me of Albert Brooks—not only because his Real Life (1979) wrote the playbook for every documentary-shoot comedy, but also because, like Brooks, Bell has an off-kilter perspective

that keeps you laughing even as it threatens to capsize the story. I Do opens with a soliloquy from the hard, beautiful British documentarian Vivian Prudeck (Dolly Wells), who has arrived in Vero Beach, Florida—divorce capital of the United States—preaching reform of matrimonial law. “No one wants anything for life,” she tells a local audience. “It just reminds us of our impending death.” Prudeck proposes a seven-year marriage contract, a crazy idea that might have generated a whole comedy in itself. Yet Bell opts instead to explore the relationships of the documentary subjects, among them Alice (played by herself) and Noah (Ed Helms), whose small business is going bankrupt, and Harvey (Paul Reiser) and Cybil (Mary Steenburgen), who have raised a daughter together but can no longer tolerate each other. Bell finds plenty of laughs in marital intimacy—not the gauzy, erotic kind but the gross, off-putting, 24-7 kind. “He wears his glasses during cunnilingus,” Alice complains to Prudeck when she and Noah are being interviewed. “My vagina felt like it was under scrutiny.” The couple have been trying to conceive, without success, and the exercise has turned their love life into a science project; in one scene, Alice is startled to learn that

THEN THEY CAME FOR ME.

Get showtimes at chicagoreader.com/movies.

ARTS & CULTURE Noah is tracking her ovulation with a new cellphone app. He has a weird fetish for smelling his wife’s sour breath, and their attempt at spontaneous sex in the bathroom comes to a screeching halt when she discovers that he hasn’t flushed the toilet. This is a millennial marriage, to be sure: in bed at night, Alice tries to interest Noah in sex, learns that he’s already “taken care of it,” and pulls away in disappointment, curling up with her cell phone to watch GIFs on Tumblr. Harvey and Cybil have 20 years on Alice and Noah; their marriage has already exploded into open warfare and died down again into a joyless detente. When they meet at a diner to negotiate some business, Harvey clomps in wearing black leather motorcycle gear and a black helmet with a tinted visor. “Is it too sexy?” he asks Cybil. She replies, “Am I a gay man in the 60s looking to bone?” Interviewed by Prudeck, she accuses Harvey of having turned their bedroom into “a hostile environment”—by snoring. Physical intimacy is out of the question for these two: when Cybil stumbles across a cheap massage parlor in town, she buys Harvey a gift certificate for a happy ending. “I’m not gonna sex you for our anniversary,” she informs him, “so you might as well get a handie from a stranger.” The two subplots intersect briefly when Alice, hoping to make some cash as a masseuse, finds herself in a room with the half-naked Harvey and, misunderstanding the requirement to “cup his balls,” approaches him with a pair of tongs and a plastic cup. Deep down, both these couples really do love each other, whereas Marie (Bérénice Bejo), the protagonist of After Love, has already given up on her spouse. Boris (Cédric Kahn), her husband of 15 years, has moved out of the house at her insistence but won’t follow the rules of their agreement, showing up whenever he pleases to spend time with their identical, school-age twins, Jade and Margaux. When Boris tells the girls they can have ice cream, Marie overrules him; after she leaves the room, the girls giggle at Boris’s emasculation, and he joins in. The more Marie tries to disengage from him, the harder he digs in; to her dismay, her wealthy mother, Christine (Marthe Keller), wants to hire Boris, who’s been out of work for years, to make renovations on her home. Except for Marie, everyone wants the marriage to continue, but she can’t change the way she feels.

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Throwing a little dinner party, she confides in a friend that she can’t be in the same room with Boris anymore; naturally he crashes the party, making himself at home and goading her friends. Intimacy might be a source of irritation in I Do, but in After Love it can be downright excruciating. Boris wants to preserve the closeness of their little family, which puts Marie in the position of carrying out a charade with her own children. “Maybe we won’t split up,” Boris tells the girls during a glum family conference, as Marie’s gaze dims. “Maybe we’ll all stay here together.” Later in the film, after Marie has returned home from a trip, the foursome relax for a game of cards and instantly slip into their old family rhythm again, joking and teasing. The girls blast a pop tune on the stereo, bopping around in the living room, and the parents join in for some line dancing. But when they separate into pairs and Marie suddenly finds herself on Boris’s shoulder, she bursts into tears. After the girls have been put to bed, the spouses kiss and Boris drags Marie into bed, but then Lafosse cuts to the living room, where Marie has ditched Boris to spend the night on the couch alone. After Love ends in a lawyer’s office, which is where a lot of marriages end too. The financial imbalance between Boris and Marie has been a sticking point all along, and Boris, whose pride has taken a beating, insists on being paid for the labor he put into renovating their home, over and above the increase in its market value. This sort of financial haggling distinguishes Lafosse’s movie from Bell’s, because as any survivor of a bad marriage can tell you, the rubber doesn’t really hit the road until divorce negotiations begin. If Vivian Prudeck had her way, even the happiest married couples would go through a similar process every seven years, reappraising each other financially and seeking better terms for their new contract. I can’t imagine anyone staying together under those circumstances—marriage may be a financial arrangement disguised as a consecration of love, but you’ll get through it a lot more easily if you don’t bring that up. v AFTER LOVE ss Directed by Joachim Lafosse. 100 min. Fri 9/1-Thu 9/7, Facets Cinematheque, 1517 W. Fullerton, 773-281-4114, $10 I DO . . . UNTIL I DON’T ss Directed by Lake Bell. R, 107 min. Landmark’s Century Centre

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INCARCERATION OF JAPANESE AMERICANS DURING WWII AND THE DEMISE OF CIVIL LIBERTIES

JUNE 29 to NOVEMBER 19

FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

Alphawood Gallery 2401 North Halsted Street | Chicago, Illinois 60614

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ARTS & CULTURE

THEATER & PERFORMANCE

All we are saying . . . By DAN JAKES

18 CHICAGO READER - AUGUST 31, 2017

Skip to the End, from last year’s Peacebook festival o JOEL MAISONET

aybe it occurred with the election of Barack Obama. Or the murder of Trayvon Martin, or the implementation of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or the election of you-know-who. But at some point in recent American memory, the often talked-about, ever-elusive “national conversation about race” stopped being a think-piece phrase and turned into an actual daily reality. As a nation, engaging in the conversation is unquestionably (a) critical to combatting deeply rooted systemic social injustice and (b) really, really unpleasant. For its part, the social issues-focused Collaboraction theater group aims to make that important dialogue a little less painful by taking it offscreen, offline, and into the city’s public spaces, face-to-face. This fall, as part of the Chicago Park District’s Night Out in the Parks program, more than 200 artists will present 24 short “prayers for peace” with three unique lineups in Englewood (October 5-7), Hermosa (October 19-21), and Austin (November 2-4), each featuring eight original works by local playwrights, storytellers, musicians, dancers, and poets. During an all-day preview on a recent Saturday at the Goodman’s Owen Theatre, Collaboraction artistic director and festival curator Anthony Moseley encouraged viewers to focus on “the epidemic of inequity” in our own neighborhoods, where “half this city doesn’t know it’s the oppressor.” Theatergoers may recall Collaboraction’s Sketchbook festival, an annual show of short works that ran for 15 years, ending in early 2016. In addition to enlisting former Sketchbook contributors like Sandra Delgado and GQ of the Q Brothers, Peacebook draws from youth organizations and direct-source nonfiction storytellers, giving all the theme of conﬂict resolution to interpret. Across the board, it’s enlightening stuff. And often, it’s deeply personal and emotionally challenging. In Vueltas, adapted by Delgado and directed by Miranda Gonzalez, Sammy Rangel lays bare the realities of what led him to a life of violence, the gauntlet he endured to escape, and how he’s shown the way out for others. Opposite GQ and Jillian Burfete, Tyrone Taylor offers a “ritual of healing” based on real-life events in 17 to (New) Life. And in the monologue How Long Do I Have to Continue to Prove Myself?, Ada Cheng laments the proverbial asterisk that follows her name and American identity from visa to green card to naturalization certiﬁcate. With so many bitter pills to be swallowed

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about segregation, gun violence, racial discord, and attitudes toward immigration, a little joy goes a long way, and there’s joy to be found here in spades. During preshow entertainment for the program to be staged in Austin’s La Follette Park, M.A.D.D. Rhythms founder Bril Barrett—a charismatic, crowd-working entertainer—invited audiences to play a call-andresponse clapping game to his exhilarating tap performance, a precursor to EmpoWOMENt, a piece for eight female dancers choreographed by Barrett and Star Dixon. During Yuri Basho Lane’s beatbox musical short Make Peace, a toddler adjacent to me stomped to the rhythm, her light-up sneaker soles pulsating ﬂashes to the beat. A step routine directed by Sir Taylor and performed by the Example Setters youth ensemble plays out as part drill, part revival, one that reminds listeners to hold themselves and others to account. In the most literal interpretation of peace, Laura Biagi, accompanied by drummer Tolga Yenilmez, guides audiences through a breathing and meditation exercise to an enchanting soundscape based on the alphabets of four languages. There’s awkwardness and potential conflict inherent in facing Goliath-scale sociopolitical issues, and Peacebook addresses that head-on. Sarah Illiatovitch-Goldman’s funny, cringe-inducing Some Thoughts on Race and Racism in Chicago From Some People Who Aren’t Sure What to Do and Who Sat Down and Talked About It features actor-read transcripts of interviews with white Chicagoans talking about their lack of comfort discussing “tricky” issues. Thread, devised by actor David Dastmalchian and Collaboraction Peacemaker teen ensemble member Aisha June, re-creates an online exchange that began with mutual disdain for conservative pundit Tomi Lahren, then grew into an uneasy, well-intended, but contentious exchange regarding Black Lives Matter. But if 200 years of systemic racism and oppression are ever to be overcome, artists and audiences alike are going to have to endure a little awkwardness. And if a city like Chicago can be blessed with so many storytellers brave enough to put their names and narratives on the line, the least the other 2.7 million of us can do is be engaged enough to hear them. v PEACEBOOK 2017 Thu 10/5-Sat 10/7, 7-9 PM, Hamilton Park Fieldhouse, 513 W. 72nd; Thu 10/19-Sat 10/21, 7-9 PM, Kelvyn Park Fieldhouse, 4438 W. Wrightwood; Thu 11/2-Sat 11/4, 7-9 PM, La Follette Park Fieldhouse, 1333 N. Wrightwood, collaboraction.org/peacebook2017, donations requested. F

THEATER

Queen Elizabeth II: The highlights reel By TONY ADLER

ssuming their schedules jibe, Queen Elizabeth II and her prime minister meet once a week to bring the queen up to speed on matters affecting the realm she nominally rules. Inasmuch as Elizabeth ascended to the throne 64 years ago, that’s a great many meetings—or audiences, to use the royal terminology. Quite a few ministers too: when Peter Morgan’s The Audience premiered, in 2013, a dozen PMs—11 men and one woman—had shared the little ritual with her majesty, starting with Winston Churchill and reaching up through David Cameron. The lone woman, of course, was Margaret Thatcher. Morgan’s play constructs a portrait of Elizabeth by imagining scenes from the audiences and snipping them together—a sort of biography as highlights reel. We see her as a young woman, behaving coltishly with Churchill, who gives her a short course on protocol (the minister stands, the queen declares her unconditional support, and 20 minutes is the limit, since “anything can be settled” in that span of time). Thatcher and Cameron troop through, along with Anthony Eden, Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, an uncouth Harold Wilson, and a very nervous John Major. Eden is supercilious as he tries to ﬁnesse his government’s behind-the-scenes role in triggering the Suez crisis of 1956. Thatcher is livid, accusing Elizabeth of being a closet Labour sympathizer out to undermine her Tory policies. Wilson shows up to his ﬁrst audience with a Polaroid camera, like a tourist.

Morgan makes a quiet political point by having Blair use the same argument for sending troops to Iraq that Eden uses for sending them to Egypt. He quietly conﬁrms Thatcher’s view of Elizabeth’s personal politics by emphasizing her affection for Wilson. The problem of Princess Diana is weathered without undue fuss; similarly, the question of the need for any monarchy at all seems to be decided in monarchy’s favor. Morgan’s Elizabeth reserves her highest dudgeon for a move to get her to part with her yacht and her greatest passion for her belief that she’s not merely crowned but consecrated to her office. She’s astute, conscientious, impressively disciplined yet capable of warmth—and, in this staging directed by Nick Bowling, also a tad dull. Which comes as a surprise, considering that she’s played by the usually marvelous Janet Ulrich Brooks, who’s merely very good here. The problem, I think, is that Brooks doesn’t make enough room for subversion. Her Elizabeth is sympathetic even in her foibles. Things would be more interesting if her tenacity were allowed to slide over into real petulance now and then, her sense of duty into blue-blooded arrogance. Meanwhile, Matt DeCaro shambles beautifully through as Churchill, Wilson, and Blair, engaging even when his wig rebels. v THE AUDIENCE Through 11/12: Wed-Thu 7:30 PM, Fri 8 PM, Sat 4 and 8 PM, Sun 2 PM, Timeline Theatre, 615 W. Wellington, timelinetheatre.com, 773-281-8463, $25-$54.

ß @taadler Janet Ulrich Brooks and Audrey Edwards o JOE MAZZA

VISUAL ART

Hear them roar?

By KERRY CARDOZA

Marco Gallotta, Diandra and Rain, 2017 o COURTESY THE ARTIST

n the art world, as in the real world, women are often underrepresented. Only around 5 percent of the artwork in major U.S. museums is by female artists, even though, according to a 2010 National Endowment for the Arts survey, 51 percent of visual artists are women. And on average, they earn 81 cents for every dollar a male artist makes. In light of this bleak picture of gender parity, “Woman As Warrior,” a group show at Bridgeport’s Zhou B Art Center, seems to be a step in the right direction. In a press release, curators Sergio Gomez (Zhou B’s director of exhibitions) and Didi Menendez (editor in chief of Poets & Artists magazine) write that “Woman As Warrior” is dedicated “to the woman who symbolizes a hero among champions.” “We were thinking about what’s happening around the world,” Gomez told me. “We thought this show would be a good celebration of seeing women as warriors.” More than half of the featured artists are women. The works on display—mostly paintings and photographs, but also a few sculptures and a video—depict women in a variety of contexts. In a photo series by Paola Estrella, a woman tousles a wedding

dress, and several hold children or pose in their studios. Yet on the whole, “Woman As Warrior” isn’t very impressive. Many pieces, in particular the paintings, feel uninspired, with the artists interpreting the theme too literally. A color photograph by Debra Livingston shows a lady dressed as Wonder Woman with a raven balanced on her raised fist. In Alia El-Bermani’s painting Hear Me, a young woman viewed in profile opens her mouth wide; “roar” has been buzzed into the side of her hair. She’s one of several figures pictured screaming. At this point the notion that women who are vocal or angry are also strong, let alone heroic, is obvious and tired. Some works are more imaginative. Natalie Holland’s Light Warriors is a masterful oil painting of a woman gazing down at what appear to be her two sons. She holds the boys close, at once looking poised and protective; the figures’ brown skin is set against a rich blue background. Similarly impressive, Marco Gallotta’s Diandra and Rain portrays a woman holding a baby. The figures, cut out from a photograph, are centered and take up much of the space. Gallotta paints black lines that radiate away from the subjects; the lady and her child are in color, which makes J

AUGUST 31, 2017 - CHICAGO READER 19

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them pop out from the background. Many of the pieces in “Woman As Warrior” exist in the much-maligned realm of contemporary figurative realism, representational work that aims to portray reality and not “the ideal.” After World War II, ﬁgurative painting largely fell out of favor in the art world, with abstraction taking its place. As a result, it’s easy for figurative art to feel out of touch with contemporary taste, although there are a growing number of artists who refute that presumption, such as Kehinde Wiley and Lynette Yiadom-Boakye. “Woman as Warrior” largely doesn’t measure up to the lofty ideals that Gomez and Menendez set out for it, despite their best efforts. It’s the latest in a series at Zhou B that the curators have been collaborating on for the past several years. Each centers around a speciﬁc theme; artists are invited to participate and have about a year to create pieces that relate to the subject matter. The opening took place during Zhou B’s monthly Third Friday event, during which

the artists in the building open their studios to the public. I arrived just as the festivities were getting under way, and the multilevel building was already ﬁlling with visitors of all demographics: families with small children, a couple on a date, several groups of friends. They all appeared to enjoy the work. “There’s something for every viewer,” Gomez says. “This is something that our center would like to do: collaborate and bring work to Chicago and make it available for our community.” Abstract painting and conceptual art are often difficult for general audiences to approach. Figurative work tends to be an easier introduction to art appreciation. From this perspective, the rapt viewers at Zhou B, looking at pieces about women, largely by women, indicate that “Woman As Warrior” is in some way a success. v “WOMAN AS WARRIOR” Through 10/13: Mon-Sat 10 AM-5 PM, Zhou B Art Center, 1029 W. 35th, 773-523-0200, zhoubartcenter.com. F

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20 CHICAGO READER - AUGUST 31, 2017

CHICAGO

JAZZ

F E S T I VA L

Seven portraits of the Chicago Jazz Festival The compelling characters on this year’s lineup include avantgarde elder Roscoe Mitchell, indefatigable experimenter Mary Halvorson, and deﬁantly joyful South African survivor Louis Moholo-Moholo. By PETER MARGASAK

his year’s Chicago Jazz Festival doesn’t have a single theme, but rather celebrates the centennials of three of the music’s greats: trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie, pianist and composer Thelonious Monk, and singer Ella Fitzgerald. Each artist transformed the trajectory of the tradition in different ways, and their tribute sets are radically different from one another too. On Thursday night, Gillespie’s most famous protege, Jon Faddis (a Chicago favorite thanks to his involvement in the Chicago Jazz Ensemble), leads a strong orchestra to honor his mentor’s storied, multifaceted career. The next night, Jason Moran—arguably the most important pianist in jazz today—presents an idiosyncratic adaptation of Monk’s famous 1959 Town Hall Concert, augmenting his ten-piece band with multimedia elements that use material from the Jazz Loft Project archives of photographer W. Eugene Smith. Finally, on Saturday evening, sev-

CHICAGO JAZZ FESTIVAL

Thu 8/31, 11 AM-9:30 PM, Chicago Cultural Center and Millennium Park Fri 9/1, 12 PM-9:30 PM, Millennium Park Sat-Sun 9/2-3, 11:30 AM-9:30 PM, Millennium Park

eral sterling Chicago singers join master postbop vocalist Sheila Jordan to tackle songs associated with Ella Fitzgerald. The Reader’s preview coverage of the festival focuses on seven of the many compelling characters in the lineup: cornetist Josh Berman, guitarists Tim Fitzgerald and Mary Halvorson, reedist Roscoe Mitchell, and drummers Allison Miller, Louis Moholo-Moholo, and Matt Wilson. Other highlights include saxophonist Donny McCaslin on Friday evening, performing with the same group he led on David Bowie’s final album, Blackstar; Chicago trombonist Ray Anderson on Saturday, returning to his hometown with

the trio BassDrumBone; and beloved New Orleans party starters the Rebirth Brass Band on Sunday night. (Full disclosure: I volunteer on the committee that programs the fest.) The festival kicks off at 11 AM on Thursday morning (earlier than in recent years) with the Jazz Village, an all-day trade fair at the Chicago Cultural Center that gathers record labels, presenters, and other jazz-centric organizations. After a slate of Cultural Center concerts that begins at noon, the music moves to Millennium Park that evening. The Jazz Festival is also hitting the airwaves again, for the first time since

ò SCOTT STEWART

2001. Public radio station WDCB 90.9 FM, operated by the College of DuPage, will partner with the WFMT Radio Network to simulcast three sets: the George Freeman/ Mike Allemana Quartet on Thursday, the Dr. Lonnie Smith Trio on Friday, and the Ella Fitzgerald celebration on Saturday. The rooftop programming at the Harris Theater returns, but the stage is no longer called Young Jazz Lions—high school and college bands perform under that rubric on Saturday, and Sunday’s lineup features relatively advanced players from the Jazz Institute of Chicago’s NextGen program. v

v @pmarg AUGUST 31, 2017 - CHICAGO READER 21

CHICAGO

JAZZ

F E S T I VA L

Tim Fitzgerald summons the joy and grace of Wes Montgomery

Tim Fitzgerald (center, with guitar) and his band Full House ò THOMAS MOHR

The Chicago guitarist makes his Jazz Festival debut leading the sevenpiece band Full House. By JOHN CORBETT

he first moment I knew Tim Fitzgerald would be a great guitarist was at a place in Lincoln Park called the Jazz Bulls. He wasn’t one yet. It was 1990, and he was a teenager at an afternoon jam session for a local jazz teacher’s students, each of them taking tentative little solos. The guitar he played was a solid-body Martin. It was an awkwardly heavy instrument, and I knew well what it could do because it had once been mine. Fitzgerald’s turn came, and suddenly I heard a few nimble, bright bars with real pizzazz—at the end of which my cousin flashed me an impish grin. I’ve known Fitzgerald since he was born. He’s the son of my aunt Jayne, and he’s seven years younger than I am. I watched him start to take interest in music and become obsessed with down-home blues; I showed him some blues licks; I marveled as he surpassed my abilities, to the point that he was explaining techniques to me. He began as perhaps the most preternaturally intelligent kid I’ve ever met and grew into a curious adult—and his nose for a good puzzle and love for rich artistry led him to straight-ahead jazz, where he’s made his home for the past 20 years. I’m looking forward to seeing that same fellow from the Jazz Bulls onstage at the Chicago Jazz Festival. Not just because he’s my kin, but also because he represents so much about what jazz musicians do, as a matter of course, in order to learn their craft and find their inspiration. They spend years in preparation. They apprentice. They session. They jam. They falter. They woodshed. They network. They subsist on fundamentals and oat flakes. They make a mantra of the three Rs: repetition, repeti-

22 CHICAGO READER - AUGUST 31, 2017

TIM FITZGERALD’S FULL HOUSE Fri 9/1, noon, Von Freeman Pavilion

tion, and repetition. They take gigs playing other kinds of music to pay the rent. They get stiffed. They improve. They listen to the masters. The play from fakebooks. They analyze solos. They transcribe for themselves because they realize their fakebook is ﬂawed. They watch lesser players land better gigs. They decide they like this drummer better. They decide not to work with that bassist. They begin to look for a particular sound. They buy a better instrument. They form a band. The write out lead sheets and arrangements. They feel a spark. They woodshed more. And more. And all this is just to get to a starting place. To endure, jazz musicians have to be insanely disciplined. It’s like being a Talmudic scholar and a master carpenter at once. In Fitzgerald’s case, this compulsive attention is part of his personality, and manifests itself most clearly in a long-standing fascination with guitarist Wes Montgomery. During his short career, which started in Indianapolis in the 50s and ended with his sudden death in 1968, Montgomery indelibly changed the sound of jazz and even inﬂuenced pop—a decade later, soul and funk hits by Rufus and Chic bore the

unmistakable stamp of his parallel-octave voicings. But that trademark technique is just the most obvious contribution of a soulful spirit and brilliant iconoclast. “What drew me to Wes was the combination of warmth and badassery,” says Fitzgerald. “His lines are clever—they snake in ways you wouldn’t expect. The intensity during a Johnny Griffin solo tends to go up, and when he follows with his guitar solo the intensity goes up even further. That’s badass. And the warmth is on the records, but it was a profound experience seeing him on a VHS tape, long before YouTube, that friends and I passed around. Wes would play really sophisticated, driving phrases, at the same time looking over his shoulder at pianist Harold Mabern, smiling to let him know he heard some cool thing he’d done. That’s so warm and wonderful.” People tend to get hung up on the technical side of Montgomery’s playing: his parallel octaves, his use of the thumb rather than a plectrum. Fitzgerald himself has gone deep into the science of his idol’s work, publishing a book called 625 Alive: The Wes Montgomery BBC Performance Transcribed that’s based on that old VHS

tape. But ultimately he’s interested in the guitarist’s unorthodox physical approach because he wants to learn how it influenced his relaxed phrasing. “Wes’s classic formula went from single-note line to octave to chord solo. Technically, it was of course difficult to execute, but it had incredible musicality and time feel,” Fitzgerald says. “There’s also a big-band inﬂuence in his soloing, when he used chords and octaves in the same phrase or consecutive phrases. He can be like a little big band in one guitar.” The seven-piece group Fitzgerald presents at this weekend’s festival, Full House, takes its name from a Montgomery song and album. You’ll hear those patented octaves, some arrangements of Montgomery’s actual solos, and a bit of that bigband heft thanks to horn arrangements for trumpet (Victor Garcia), tenor saxophone (Chris Madsen), and alto (Rajiv Halim). It’s a lithe and buoyant ensemble, with the guitar providing a fourth front-line voice, and it beautifully captures the joy of Montgomery’s music. In Fitzgerald’s solos, I’m betting we’ll hear the decades of work that have made a bright beacon out of the glimmer I ﬁrst saw at the Jazz Bulls. v

CHICAGO

JAZZ

F E S T I VA L

Mary Halvorson’s band keeps getting bigger—and better

Mary Halvorson (center) and her octet: Jon Irabagon, Susan Alcorn, Ches Smith, Ingrid Laubrock, Jacob Garchik, Jonathan Finlayson, and John Hebert ò KELLY JENSEN

The New York guitarist brings her daring but sophisticated octet to Chicago for the ﬁrst time. By PETER MARGASAK

ver the past decade or so, New York-based guitarist Mary Halvorson has built a strong case for herself as one of the most distinctive and original improvisers of her time. Her voluminous discography reveals a strong collaborative instinct, enabled by her probing curiosity and almost offhanded versatility. Just this year she’s appeared in recordings featuring a wide range of instrumental combinations: a collective with fellow guitarists Elliott Sharp and Marc Ribot on Err Guitar, a trio with pianist Jason Moran and cornetist Ron Miles on Bangs, and a duo with pianist Sylvie Courvoisier on Crop Circles. (Moran headlines Friday night’s festival lineup with a celebration of Thelonious Monk.) Halvorson has also been a key member of several Chicago-oriented combos, including Tomeka Reid’s current quartet and Mike Reed’s Living by Lanterns, a Sun Ra-inspired project that united diverse factions of the New York and Chicago jazz communities. Her clean, biting sound, often warped by deft manipulation of her trusty Line 6 delay pedal, is instantly recognizable, but what really sets her apart are her ears. She’s a superb listener, absorbing and responding to what her collaborators do, no matter the context.

MARY HALVORSON OCTET Sat 9/2, 3:30 PM, Von Freeman Pavilion

“A big part of how I’ve grown and continue to grow as a musician is through people I work with, by learning or being inspired by different bandleaders,” Halvorson says. “It’s not about people giving me feedback, but seeing what works and what doesn’t—and it’s challenging to learn a lot of different music and make it work. I don’t think I ever aspire to only do my own music, because I really enjoy working with other bandleaders, and I’ve been lucky to work with some pretty amazing ones—I’ve learned so much that way.” The groups Halvorson has led herself demonstrate the depth of this education, beginning with the 2008 debut album by a knotty trio with drummer Ches Smith and bassist John Hebert, titled Dragon’s Head. That band forms the nucleus of a consistently expanding ensemble that continues to serve as her primary vehicle for composition-oriented playing. First

it became a quintet, then a septet, then an octet—which last year released the stunning Away With You (Firehouse 12). That group makes its Chicago debut at the Jazz Festival—only the second time it’s performed outside New York. Driven by a burgeoning interest in writing for horns and an abiding love for Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers, Halvorson brought in saxophonists Jon Irabagon and Ingrid Laubrock, trumpeter Jonathan Finlayson, and trombonist Jacob Garchik. “Up until that time as a leader I had only written for a trio, so I was curious to compose for larger group,” she says. “I really enjoyed it, and I think that’s why I kept adding people. It doesn’t mean I’m done with the trio—in fact, the trio is playing at the Stone in January, and it hasn’t played for many years.” Halvorson’s band became on octet when she recruited pedal-steel guitarist

Susan Alcorn. “After the septet I thought I was done adding people, but then I met Susan and those plans went out the window,” she says. “I thought it would be crazy not to incorporate pedal steel into the group, because it’s such a shape-shifting instrument with a huge range. I was thinking about the possibilities of her playing lines with the horns, or to play chords with me or play something with the bass—there’s just so much she can do with that instrument.” Away With You is not only the group’s ﬁrst recording with Alcorn but also Halvorson’s peak to date as a bandleader: it couches her indelible themes in sophisticated arrangements marked by slaloming countermelodies, rich harmonic shadings, and gorgeous voicings, but still gives her sublime musicians space to improvise. v

v @pmarg AUGUST 31, 2017 - CHICAGO READER 23

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TUE

SCHOOL OF ROCK

MAKE-OVERS (

SOUTH AFRICA

)

ANNABELLE CHAIRLEGS

9/11: TINKERBELLES (LP RELEASE, FREE), 9/12: SEXTILE, 9/13: WIDOWSPEAK, 9/14: HOOPS, 9/14 @ LOGAN THEATER: DON’T BREAK DOWN: A FILM ABOUT JAWBREAKER, 9/15: ROKY ERICKSON, 9/16: WINDY CITY SOUL CLUB, 9/17: A GIANT DOG, 9/18: LOVE THEME (FREE), 9/19: ALDOUS HARDING, 9/20: GLITTERCREEPS: DAN RICO, 9/21: SASSYBLACK, 9/22:REDBULLSOUNDSELECT PRESENTS: LIGHTNINGBOLT ($5W/RSVP),9/22-23@GOOSEISLANDFULTONST.BREWERY:312BLOCKPARTY FEAT. THERECORD COMPANY, ANIMAL COLLECTIVE, TED LEO & THE PHARMACISTS, CHARLES BRADLEY & MORE! ($10 DONATION) NEW ON SALE: 9/27: THE HIPSHAKES, 9/29: TORCHE, 10/19: ALGIERS, 10/20: RATBOYS, 10/25: MOTOPONY, 10/29: PUJOL, 11/9 @ ARAGON BALLROOM: JOHN CARPENTER: ANTHOLOGYTOUR, 12/31 @ LSA: WINDY CITY SOUL CLUB NYE 2017

CHICAGO

JAZZ

F E S T I VA L

Drummer Allison Miller animates her ambitious jazz with crowd-pleasing groove

Allison Miller ò SHERVIN LAINEZ

Her sextet Boom Tic Boom reached new heights last year on Otis Was a Polar Bear. By PETER MARGASAK

rummer Allison Miller has paid her dues—after years on tour with popular singer-songwriters such as Ani DiFranco, Brandi Carlile, Erin McKeown, and Natalie Merchant, she’s comfortable calling herself a road dog. Those experiences inspired her to follow her instincts in her own music— what she admires most about artists like DiFranco, she says, is their realness. “The person onstage is the same as they are offstage,” she explains. “They didn’t change. They were true to themselves, and there’s a fine line of being yourself and being an entertainer.” Miller is a jazz drummer at heart, and she infuses her technically rigorous music with a bold compositional ethos that keeps listeners on the edge of their seats. But she also understands how important it is to make an audience happy—and her excellent New York-based sextet,

ALLISON MILLER’S BOOM TIC BOOM Sat 9/2, 7:10 PM, Pritzker Pavilion

Boom Tic Boom, has no problem doing that. When I caught the band last fall at the Green Mill, I saw smiles all over the club—not to mention the big one on my own mug. “This is serious music and I take it very seriously,” Miller says, “but I also want to have a good time.” Last year Boom Tic Boom released Otis Was a Polar Bear (Royal Potato Family), its most impressive, buoyant, and coherent album yet. It’s packed with shape-shifting melodies and emotionally charged improvisation, all shaped by an engaging group dynamic and a crowd-pleasing focus on infectious rhythms. “I wanted to get back to why I started drumming, which is groove, whether it’s in an odd meter or not—I just love it when music feels good,” Miller says.

“I went off on another path for a while, which is ﬁne—it was great—but I wanted to get back to what can be creatively possible within the foundation of a strong groove.” The beats on Otis touch on traditions from Cuba, Jamaica, and New York, so that her band’s creative and intellectual heft goes hand in hand with an invitation to move. Boom Tic Boom started out more than a decade ago as a trio, with Miller joined by pianist Myra Melford and bassist Todd Sickafoose. The three additional members in the current lineup are all distinctive bandleaders in their own right: violinist Jenny Scheinman, clarinetist Ben Goldberg, and trumpeter Kirk Knuffke. “Jenny hopped on board when she was available,

but then she became a full member. For the last two records I started writing for a larger group, which is when Ben and Kirk came in,” Miller says. “I was hearing new ideas in my head that required a larger group, and a lot of it came from wanting to hear parts being doubled—or I wanted this harmony, but I couldn’t do it without another person. Everybody in the band has such a unique sound, and I really try to utilize all of those qualities that I love in each player. I want each song to sound like an adventure—the last thing I want to do is hear a head, a bunch of solos, and then a head out.” The ten tunes on the album take inspiration from a wide range of sources—“Staten Island” responds to the police killing of Eric Garner, while “Fuster” began as a nonsense melody Miller sang to her infant daughter—and they’re all densely multipartite, shifting seamlessly in tempo, timbre, and feel. “I want the compositions to almost sound through-composed, but I still want there to be space for people to express themselves and for true improvisation to happen,” Miller says. “I don’t think it’s an easy task, but I feel like on Otis I got closer to that. The thing that grabs me about improvisational music is that it’s all communication, and I want to communicate on a really deep level with the musicians in my band.” v

v @pmarg AUGUST 31, 2017 - CHICAGO READER 25

CHICAGO

JAZZ

F E S T I VA L

Josh Berman ò RALPH KUEHNE

Josh Berman shakes up his reﬁned practice The Chicago cornetist has historically worked slowly and carefully, but he’s playing the Jazz Festival with an untested new quartet. By PETER MARGASAK JOSH BERMAN QUARTET

hicago cornetist Josh Berman works at a measured pace. Though he’s ubiquitous on the local scene, having played in countless bands and programmed the Sunday-night jazz and improvised-music series at the Hungry Brain, he’s been extremely judicious about recording with his own projects. As a bandleader, he’s made just three albums. “I spend a lot of time at home working on shapes, ideas,” Berman says. “I like playing a lot, but at the same time I like to develop things at home, think about it, and work it out on the horn—and then kind of bring it out. There’s a part of me that wishes I could make a new record every six months, but I think I need to do it my way.” For his bands Old Idea and Josh Berman & His Gang, he’s recruited longtime

26 CHICAGO READER - AUGUST 31, 2017

Sun 9/3, 2:20 PM, Von Freeman Pavilion

Also opening for Matthew Golombisky’s Cuentos, Thu 8/31, 8:30 PM, Constellation, 3111 N. Western, $10, 18+

collaborators and developed a repertoire over years of performances and rehearsals. But for his newest quartet, Berman is trying something a little different. While its lineup includes Chicago bassist Jason Roebke, a Berman regular, the other two members are New York-based players with whom the cornetist has worked only a few times: drummer Michael Vatcher, a veteran who’s spent the past few decades in Amsterdam, and soulful reedist, bandleader, and composer Darius Jones. The quartet’s two shows this week—Thursday at Constellation and Sunday in Millennium

Park—will be its ﬁrst. Berman credits the trio that made his remarkable 2015 album, A Dance and a Hop (Delmark), with facilitating the shift: that group, with Roebke and drummer Frank Rosaly (who moved to Amsterdam not long after the sessions), played material that was less charted out and more freewheeling. “The trio sparked a new way of working for me,” Berman says. “I really loved working that way—rather than coming up with arrangements, you write pieces that are phrases and gestures, some of which can be quite tunelike. I like tunes. With the

trio record, I think I ﬁgured out a way to do a lot of things I like. I like tunes and I like free improvisation, and I like it when they happen at once.” After Rosaly moved away, the trio worked with several different drummers, including locals Mikel Patrick Avery and Phil Sudderberg and (on a European tour) great UK free-jazz percussionist Paul Lytton. Berman found that each player changed the sound of the band in thrilling ways. “So I thought, why not do something in the same vein, but with really new people?” he says. “I was relying on the rapport of people who really know how to play together and have similar ideas about what is good. It’s not to say that Darius, Michael, Jason, and I are going to have arguments, but it feels like a different endeavor when you haven’t spent ten years growing up together.” The music that Berman composed for A Dance and a Hop is elliptical and sparse, and the performances are distinguished as much by what the trio didn’t play as by what it did. He has a profound rapport with Roebke, developed in the dance-andmusic project Art Union Humanscape (with Roebke’s wife, choreographer Ayako Kato), and it’s a big part of what made the trio so special. “There’s something so thorough about his playing, but he likes to leave a lot unspoken,” says Berman. Their connection—and their restraint—suggests great promise for the new quartet. “I have an idea of what I think it will be, but I don’t know if that’s actually how it will sound,” Berman says. “I’m not trying to create formal structures for people to create within. I have ideas for that kind of playing—I did it with Old Idea and There Now—but I really like to improvise. And I also really like pieces. It’s an interesting way of working, to rely on the artistic decisions of the people you’re working with.” v

v @pmarg

CHICAGO

JAZZ

F E S T I VA L

South African drummer Louis Moholo-Moholo fans the spark of resistance into the ﬂame of liberated jazz

Louis Moholo-Moholo ò MAARIT KYTÖHARJU

The last survivor of legendary 60s group the Blue Notes introduces his current band to Chicago. By JOHN CORBETT

ome days, Louis MoholoMoholo must feel like the last man standing. Every single one of the 77-year-old drummer’s original compatriots has died— the same musicians with whom he cut his teeth in South Africa, fighting against the oppressive weight of apartheid. Many of them, Moholo-Moholo included, emigrated to Europe in the mid-60s—just as free jazz and improvised music reached escape velocity—and eventually established a new home in London. Some colleagues, such as saxophonists Nik Moyake and Kippie Moeketsi and trumpeter Mongezi Feza, died long ago; a rash of deaths beginning in the 1980s took the rest, including pianist Chris McGregor, bassists Harry Miller and Johnny Dyani, and alto saxophonist Dudu Pukwana, who succumbed to liver disease in 1990. The fact that none of Moholo-Moholo’s colleagues lived to 60 is no coincidence—life as a creative musician in South Africa was hard on a body. “Chris was white, and we couldn’t play with him,” says Moholo-Moholo, who finally returned to his homeland in 2005. He’s referring to the pressure that the regime put on the Blue Notes, a massively influential interracial band formed in Cape Town in 1962; its classic lineup included McGregor, Dyani, Moyake, Feza, Pukwana, and Moholo-Moholo. “The state of emergency meant four, five people at a time was illegal, so a quintet wasn’t possible. Sometimes I had to play behind a curtain. We decided to go away from South Africa to preserve the music. Everyone in the band worked so hard to help liberate South Africa. Unfortunately, I’m the only one who made it back. Sometimes I go to the

sea—I go alone—and I start to think about the guys, and tears start to fall.” To look at Moholo-Moholo, you wouldn’t know how rough it’s been on him. He’s a tall man with a loose, relaxed demeanor, sparkling eyes, and a benevolent smile. This past April, I had the chance to sit with him at a cafe in Berlin, where he was playing at another festival, and I was struck by the ease with which he moved among people, laughing with fellow musicians and punctuating most of his sentences with a gentle “man.” He engaged with journalists, attended to fans he’d just met, and gabbed with his long-haul friend Hazel Miller, widow of bassist Harry and chief of Ogun Records, which has been releasing South African jazz for the past 44 years. “To be in a free country,” MoholoMoholo says, reflecting on the moment the Blue Notes landed in London. “Both hands and feet free. Flying free! And the British opened up their arms to us, man. The welcome was fantastic. Wes Montgomery was there to greet us! How much welcome do you expect? It encouraged us tremendously. For once in our lifetime it was up to us, not somebody else. So we flew!” In the UK the Blue Notes not only played as a band but also collaborated with virtually every significant member of the European improvised-music community, including such luminaries as guitarist Derek Bailey and saxophonist Peter Brötzmann. Many of them also spent time in McGregor’s ambitious new big band, the Brotherhood of Breath. Moholo-Moholo’s music has a remarkable buoyancy and lightness of spirit. It emanates from a tradition that drew on not only the liberties of new jazz but also

LOUIS MOHOLOMOHOLO’S 5 BLOKES

Sun 9/3, 5 PM, Von Freeman Pavilion

the indigenous sounds of the townships, which had in turn been deeply influenced by African-American religious music. “There was death in South Africa,” he says. “In the midst of death, one finds joy in the sadness itself. The sadness of it all can somehow encourage you, make you strong. You become cheeky when you’re not a cheeky person. You become angry when you’re not an angry person. And you become a fighter when you were not really a fighter. People were being slaughtered in front of you. That can change your whole perception as a human being, because these things are not acceptable—so you fight. We fought musically. We didn’t choose music; music chose us. Music dictates to you. That’s the magic of music.” Moholo-Moholo has kept that spark alight in the music of his group 5 Blokes, who make their Chicago debut at this festival. He compares his bandmates— saxophonists Jason Yarde and Shabaka

Hutchings, pianist Alexander Hawkins, and bassist John Edwards—to the original Blue Notes. But Moholo-Moholo knows his old friends can never be replaced. “I have a broken heart,” he says, honoring his grief while slyly referring to the cardiac arrest that almost took him out of the game two decades ago. “It’s very difficult to move forward with a broken heart. And you need that heart, man! There’s a lot of things in your heart—the blood, the pump! It doesn’t ﬂow so easy; there’s ups and downs. Ah, man, sadness is a motherfucker.” His return to the land of his birth, after the dismantling of the disgusting regime that kept the races separate and unequal, is its own kind of salve. “Home is home,” Moholo-Moholo says. “I’ve come home to roost! If truth be told, when our bodies were over there, our hearts were here. But as somebody said: you only find love in your mother’s arms.” v

AUGUST 31, 2017 - CHICAGO READER 27

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UPCOMING SHOWS

CHICAGO

JAZZ

F E S T I VA L

Avant-garde elder Roscoe Mitchell celebrates 50 years of Nessa Records

NORTH COAST MUSIC FESTIVAL AFTERSHOW

09.01 MANIC FOCUS RUSS LQUID

NORTH COAST MUSIC FESTIVAL AFTERSHOW

09.02 EOTO 09.07 WEEDEATER TELEKINETIC YETI

SILVER WRAPPER PRESENTS

09.08 YHETI

When the AACM and the Art Ensemble of Chicago were still young, Chuck Nessa’s label helped raise them up.

Roscoe Mitchell ò EVA HAMBACH

By BILL MEYER

DMVU / TOADFACE SILVER WRAPPER PRESENTS

09.09 PIGEONS PLAYING PING PONG FLAMINGOSIS

09.13 JAKE MILLER THE STOLEN

RIOT FEST LATE NIGHT

09.15 CAP’N JAZZ RAPPERCHICKS

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09.22 GABRIELLE APLIN KEELAN DONOVAN

09.26 THE EARLY NOVEMBER & THE MOVIELIFE HEART ATTACK MAN

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ALT NATION PRESENTS

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10.10 TRUCKFIGHTERS NIGHT ONE - AUTUMN OF THE SERAPHS 10TH ANNIVERSARY TOUR

10.11 PINBACK

DRAGON DROP NIGHT TWO

10.12 PINBACK PAPER MICE

JAM PRESENTS

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10.27 THE MAIN SQUEEZE REACT PRESENTS

10.28 CRANKDAT 10.31 LORDS OF ACID

COMBICHRIST / CHRISTIAN DEATH EN ESCH / WICCID SILVER WRAPPER PRESENTS

11.15 SLOW MAGIC

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11.29 EKALI

MEDASIN / JUDGE

12.02 THE WHITE BUFFALO 12.17 THE SPILL CANVAS WILD / SUPER WHATEVR

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28 CHICAGO READER - AUGUST 31, 2017

oscoe Mitchell is an elder of the African-American avant-garde. In 1965 he joined the brand-new Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians, whose vast influence on black art-making is still felt today; within two years he launched the group that would become the Art Ensemble of Chicago, which transformed the future of improvised music. (Once the AACM’s flagship band, it’s recently risen again after a hiatus of several years.) As a composer, improviser, and educator, Mitchell integrates material from a broad array of sources, including free jazz, hard bop, Baroque music, and contemporary orchestral composition. He plays reeds and woodwinds from across the pitch spectrum, and he pioneered the use of percussion and found objects—collectively dubbed “little instruments”—in art music. His collection of little instruments, amassed over decades of practice, is not so little: in 2015 it filled a gallery at Chicago’s Museum of Contemporary Art for the AACM-themed exhibit “The Freedom Principle.” Now living in California and teaching at Mills College in Oakland, Mitchell was born in Chicago on August 3, 1940. How did he observe his 77th birthday? “I had a relaxing day,” he says. “I just kind of hung around and did some work in the garden. I finished writing the new orchestration for ‘Distant Radio Transmission’ and got it off to the musicians. The first rehearsal is this Sunday.” Mitchell’s relaxing day sounds more productive than some people’s best weeks, in keeping with his ceaseless effort to continue learning and evolving. He’s already planning observations of the Art Ensemble’s 50th anniversary two years from now, and the orchestration he just finished is part of an ongoing project that connects his work as a

ROSCOE MITCHELL’S QUARTETS CELEBRATING 50 YEARS OF NESSA RECORDS Sun 9/3, 5 PM, Pritzker Pavilion

solo improviser and teacher to small-group pieces and large-ensemble works, which have been or soon will be performed in New York and San Francisco as well as overseas in Bologna, Italy; Reykjavik, Iceland; and Ostrava in the Czech Republic. For this project Mitchell has recruited students and associates to transcribe improvisations he recorded in 2013 with keyboardist Craig Taborn and percussionist Kikanju Baku. Before the session, he instructed Taborn and Baku to listen to one of his solo concerts, and their transcribed improvisations have in turn been arranged for the likes of the Montreal-Toronto Art Orchestra, which recorded a few for a forthcoming album on Nessa Records. “This all falls into my line of study where I am trying to learn more about the relationship between composition and improvisation,” says Mitchell. Mitchell’s set at the Chicago Jazz Festival celebrates the legacy of Nessa Records, which is inextricably linked to his own. Chuck Nessa was a clerk at the downtown Chicago location of Discount Records when he formed the label half a century ago to release music by Mitchell and AACM trumpeter Lester Bowie, a core member of the Art Ensemble. “This year is our 50th anniversa-

ry,” says Nessa, speaking from his home in Whitehall, Michigan. “The first recording we did was issued as Lester Bowie’s Numbers 1 & 2, and that was recorded in late August of 1967, so it’s almost exactly the anniversary. The music that is going to be performed is a re-creation of Roscoe’s first quartet.” The first quartet Nessa refers to was an earlier group, which included Mitchell on alto saxophone with trumpeter Fred Berry, drummer Alvin Fielder, and bassist Malachi Favors. In 1965 it recorded some of Mitchell’s earliest compositions, which echo the exuberant melodicism and quick turnabouts of contemporaneous work by Ornette Coleman. Favors died in 2004, and Mitchell says his replacement here will be Detroit-born bassist Jaribu Shahid, a latter-day member of the Art Ensemble who first recorded with Mitchell in the 80s; the group may play some of those early tunes. Mitchell will also lead a second band, formed in 2015, which has likewise recorded for Nessa. “The other quartet is Celebrating Fred Anderson, with Tomeka Reid on cello, Junius Paul on bass, and Vincent Davis on drums,” he says. “I’ll be doing pieces with each one of those groups, and after that I will combine the groups for the final piece of the concert.” v

CHICAGO

JAZZ

F E S T I VA L

Drummer Matt Wilson weds light-footed jazz to Carl Sandburg’s humane and homely poetry

(773) 486-9862 Come enjoy one of Chicago’s ﬁnest beer gardens! SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 2..........TOM MALECKI TRIO SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 3.............CITY IN A GARDEN MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 4 ............HENRY SMITH QUINTET WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 6 ......JAMIE WAGNER & FRIENDS THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 7 .........STRAY BOLTS FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 8 ..............FIRST WARD PROBLEMS SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 9..........JIMIJON AMERICA 2PM SMILIN’ BOBBY AND THE CLEMTONES 5PM SIGNAL THE LAUNCH 9 PM SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 10...........ANNALISE AND THE BACKSLIDERS 3 PM HEISENBERG UNCERTAINTY PLAYERS 6 PM

His new album, Honey and Salt, gives a mature voice to a love he learned as a teenager. By PETER MARGASAK

1800 W. DIVISION

RENEGADE CRAFT FAIR CHICAGO SEPTEMBER 9 - 10 EVERY TUESDAY (EXCEPT 2ND) AT 8PM OPEN MIC HOSTED BY JIMIJON AMERICA

MATT WILSON’S HONEY AND SALT

“A Musical Gem” - NY Times

Sun 9/3, 7:10 PM, Pritzker Pavilion

arl Sandburg died 50 years ago this July, but he remains one of America’s most widely known and read poets. For drummer Matt Wilson, who grew up downstate in Knoxville, Sandburg was a constant presence. The poet was from neighboring Galesburg, and buildings named after him—a junior high school, a shopping mall—were everywhere. As a teenager in the late 70s, Wilson connected with Sandburg’s writing, in part because it largely dispensed with rhymes. “I was already on the lookout for things that were out of the ordinary, and when we studied his work then, I was kind of drawn to it because it didn’t follow the rules,” he says. “I dug that.” In high school Wilson wrote a term paper about Sandburg, and was excited to discover that the poet loved music—including jazz, to which Wilson had already begun to devote his life. After moving to Brooklyn in 1992, Wilson found a Sandburg anthology in a local bookstore, and it reignited his interest. In 2002 he won a Chamber Music America New Jazz Works grant to set Sandburg’s poetry to original music, but after a ﬂurry of performances in the following year—including one in Galesburg—Wilson put the project on the back burner. Not until he resuscitated the material for a 2013 gig in New York did he seriously consider turning it into an album. When Wilson’s wife, Felicia, lost her long battle with leukemia in 2014, he says he started thinking about ﬁnishing things he’d started. He noticed that 2017 was the 50th anniversary of Sandburg’s death, and that 2018 would be the 140th anniversary of his

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

birth, so in 2016 he recorded the Sandburg pieces with an agile band featuring regular collaborators Jeff Lederer (reeds) and Martin Wind (bass), along with lyrical cornetist Ron Miles and singer-guitarist Dawn Thomson—an old friend who’d also set Sandburg’s work to original music. Last week Wilson released Honey and Salt: Music Inspired by the Poetry of Carl Sandburg (Palmetto). When Wilson devised the project, he was immersed in Sandburg’s work, listening to albums the poet made for the Caedmon label in the 50s and 60s. “I love the way he reads, and it’s great to listen to the rhythm,” he says. One of the best pieces on Honey and Salt is “Fog,” where Wilson plays along to a Sandburg recording. “At the time, whenever I was traveling I would read him a lot and make notes. I still have the piece of paper for the poem ‘Choose’ that says ‘6/8 march.’ I didn’t even know what the melody was going to be, but I knew it would have that feel.” On Wilson’s new album, the track “Choose” combines that march rhythm with a martial horn line and the band chanting the poem’s text: “The single clenched fist lifted and ready, / Or the open asking hand held out and waiting / Choose: / For we meet by one or the other.” If those lines feel timely, it’s no coincidence: the presidential campaign was in full swing when the band hit the studio last October. “‘Soup’ is about Trump, the celebrity aspect of things,” Wilson says. In part, the poem reads, “His name was in the newspapers that day / Spelled out in tall black headlines / And thousands of people were talking about him. / When I saw him, / He sat

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Hosted By WDCB’ s “BLUES TIME” w/Tom Marker 6pm -- Capri Ristorante $10 Dinner Special

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WED

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Matt Wilson ò JIMMY KATZ

FRI

bending his head over a plate / Putting soup in his mouth with a spoon.” On about half of Honey and Salt, Thomson sings Sandburg’s words using Wilson’s melodies. For other tracks, the drummer enlisted friends from the jazz community to recite the poems however they chose, whether droll or sinister—the guests include guitarists Bill Frisell and John Scoﬁeld, composer Carla Bley, and actor Jack Black, who’s married to Charlie Haden’s daughter Tanya. Wilson himself is an avuncular, reliably funny fellow, seamlessly working his cornpone humor into his sophisticated music—and he hopes to recruit like-minded folks from the Chicago jazz scene to read Sandburg onstage during his festival set. v

v @pmarg

SIDEBARSESSIONSJAZZ -JudyRoberts&Jeannie Lambert

Beer & CORDOVAS Whiskey DONNIE BIGGINS Deals! FLETCHER ROCKWELL w/Little Boy, Jr.

New Faces Night CD

8 Release Show In The SideBar - APPLESEED COLLECTIVE SAT Tribute To Eric Clapton 9

JOURNEYMAN

9/14 - Tom Russell 9/15 - Uncle Lucius / Dead Horses 9/16 - Monophonics / The Right Now 9/19 - The Brothers Landreth 9/20 - The Tillers 9/21 - Amy Speace 9/22 - The Novel Idea / Golden Shoulders / Navia 9/22 - Nick Moss Band /Chicago Rolling Blues Revival 9/23 - FREE Outdoor Show with Second Hand News 9/23 - Charleston Tavern Reunion (In Club) 9/24 - The Cactus Blossoms 9/27 - Big Sandy & His Fly-Rite Boys 9/28 - Country Night w/ The Wild Ponies 10/5 - New Faces Night - Charley Crockett 10/6 - Tommy Castro & The Painkillers 10/7 - Deacon Blues Anniversary Show AUGUST 31, 2017 - CHICAGO READER 29

Recommended and notable shows and critics’ insights for the week of August 31

MUSIC

THURSDAY31

PICK OF THE WEEK

On CTRL, R&B singer SZA paints a complicated picture of sex and romance

Matthew Golombisky’s Cuentos The Josh Berman Quartet opens. 8:30 PM, Constellation, 3111 N. Western, $10. 18+ Peripatetic bassist Matthew Golombisky didn’t stay long in Chicago, where he moved from New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina; after a few years he left for Oakland, and he now lives in Buenos Aires. Still, he’s deeply connected to Chicago’s improvised music community through Ears & Eyes Records, the label he started here, which has become a vibrant outlet for local artists, including Charles Rumback, Nate Lepine, and Twin Talk. Golombisky remains a musician too, of course, and this week he returns to Chicago to support Cuentos, his own new release on the label. To create the album, the bassist gathered two different sessions of colleagues, one in the Bay Area (reedist Aram Shelton, vibist Mark Clifford, and cellist Crystal Pascucci) and one in Chicago (trumpeter James Davis, guitarist Bill MacKay, and fellow bassist Jeff Greene), to interpret a series of numbered pieces he calls cuentos—“stories” in Spanish. While all the pieces are tender and marked by a warm melodic sensibility, the most interesting performances—which tend to be by the Chicago-based group—take an elliptical approach, leaving out information here and there, and complementing the tunefulness with an appealing tension. For the Chicago concert Golombisky has assembled a terrific group of musicians (most of whom have recorded for Ears & Eyes) in a more conventional jazz-band configuration: trumpeter Davis, drummer Quin Kirchner, reedist Dustin Laurenzi, and trombonist Naomi Siegel. —PETER MARGASAK

SZA See Pick of the Week. Smino and Ravyn Lenae open. 6 PM, Concord Music Hall, 2047 N. Milwaukee, sold out. b o RCA RECORDS

SZA, SMINO, RAVYN LENAE

Thu 8/31, 6 PM, Concord Music Hall, 2047 N. Milwaukee, sold out. b

ON HER MAJOR-LABEL debut, CTRL (RCA), New Jersey singer SZA lays bare the complexities, insecurities, and contradictions that accompany sex and romance in the modern world—at least for folks in their 20s. The album title refers to a keyboard command, but the word it truncates is entirely ironic here: the tales SZA spins, in songs that straddle soul and contemporary pop, seem to describe an emotional life that’s utterly out of control. On “Love Galore,” a duet with rapper and singer Travis Scott, an impending romantic reunion is fraught with uncertainty bordering on ambivalence. On “The Weekend,” SZA seems OK with the fact that her lover is with someone else during the week—until she’s not. And on “Supermodel” she chastises a boyfriend for cheating and then describes her revenge: sleeping with one of his friends. Maybe because I’m a couple decades older than SZA, this all feels harrowing, and a bit scorched-earth—a reality where sex seems to function more as a weapon than as a bond. The stylistic collisions in the music go down a lot easier; with her strong, supple voice, SZA can hop from old-school slow jams to rhythmically agile machinations a la Rihanna (whose song “Consideration” she cowrote and sang on). She also ventures well outside the usual models, leaving room for colorful bursts of indie pop and ethereal electronic music. —PETER MARGASAK

30 CHICAGO READER - AUGUST 31, 2017

FRIDAY1 Cloakroom The Life and Times and Sweet Cobra open. 8 PM, Schubas, 3159 N. Southport, sold out. 18+ The Cloakroom formula has been firmly in place since their first EP, Infinity, came out in 2013: beautiful, mournful vocal melodies backed by simple, halftime, solid-as-hell rock that shifts between subdued introspection and foundation-cracking wall-of-sound heaviness. On their second full-length, the brandnew Time Well (Relapse), the northwest Indianabased group expand their sound toward both ends of that spectrum. Time Well’s second track throws a curve by featuring a full-on, Cave In-style, feedbacky chugga-chugga breakdown, and on the second disc of this double LP, Cloakroom cool off with forlorn, spaced-out acoustic tracks that would sound right at home on a Flying Saucer Attack record. But it’s when they stick to the tried-and-true that they really shine: the first half of the album is a crushingly heavy, gorgeous, contemporary take on slowcore that easily makes Time Well one of the best rock records of the year. These dudes are

ALL AGES

ready to take you on an epic journey into space—the only thing you can really do once you press play is strap in and enjoy the ride. —LUCA CIMARUSTI

Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit See also Saturday. Frank Turner & the Sleeping Souls open. 8 PM, Chicago Theatre, 175 N. State, $39.50-$59.50. b Jason Isbell had the shifting fabric of the south on his mind when he wrote the songs on his new album, The Nashville Sound (Southeastern), and his observations have only become more resonant over the past year—to say nothing of the past few weeks. On “White Man’s World” the narrator indicts himself for passively condoning racist attitudes: “I’m a white man looking in a black man’s eyes / Wishing I’d never been one of the guys / Who pretended not to hear another white man’s joke.” Many of the album’s ten songs investigate white privilege from the perspective of a white southerner who’s either left behind or tried to escape his roots but remains entangled just the same. The hard-charging “Cumberland Gap” is a lacerating expression of frustration with stagnant wages and decreasing opportunities, while “Tupelo” turns inward, its narrator quitting a volatile relationship and pinning his hopes on future love: “There ain’t no one from here that will follow me there.” Isbell eschews stereotypes and shows empathy for people immiserated by the socioeconomic conditions that are often blamed for the emboldened racism we see today—but he never gives that racism a pass. He channels the delicate pop spirit of Elliott Smith on “Chaos and Clothes,” but at its best his music still sounds like a hybrid of Bruce Springsteen-style anthems and ﬂinty country rock, rendered with impressive concision. —PETER MARGASAK

Kevin Morby Shannon Lay opens. 9 PM, Lincoln Hall, 2424 N. Lincoln, sold out. 21+ Kevin Morby opens his new album with “Come to Me Now,” an oozing ballad that accompanies his pinched singing with an old pump organ and a sparse, shuﬄing beat. He told NPR Music that it’s one of several tunes on City Music (Dead Oceans) told from the perspective of a reclusive elderly woman named Mabel who hides from the sun—and, by extension, from life. He rejects that spirit repeatedly here with songs that celebrate the energy and variety of city living, and he’s admitted channeling influences such as Patti Smith and Lou Reed—his drawl has a marked Reed inﬂuence, and the guitars that he and Meg Duffy play cleave to the strumheavy sound of the Velvet Underground. The brief, chugging “1234,” meanwhile, evokes another side of that almost mythical old New York, saluting the Ramones and nodding to poet and musician Jim Carroll. Meg Baird (Heron Oblivion) makes a cameo, reading a text by Flannery O’Connor that describes a child encountering city lights for the first time, and on the title track Morby extends that sense of wonder with a mantralike incantation: “Oh, that city music / Oh, that city sound.” His lyrics aren’t at the level of his melodies—it still feels like he’s playing at songwriting rather than actually doing it—but he’s growing by leaps and bounds. This record has given

FESTIVALS

Cloakroom o COLIN MAY

Summer’s last big weekend offers a mixed musical feast

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me enough pleasure this summer that I won’t complain any further. —PETER MARGASAK

North Coast Music Festival House Tent See also Saturday and Sunday, for the lineups at the Bass Tent (Saturday) and the Beats Tent (Sunday). Headliner first, today’s lineup is Derrick Carter, Gene Farris, Zebo & Coro, My Boy Elroy & Duke Shin, Boogie Munsters, and Sam-One. 3:15 PM (gates at 3 PM), Union Park, 1501 W. Randolph, $59 per day, $149 three-day pass. b A celebration of the heretofore hypothetical territory where rappers, jam bands, and electro producers meet, the North Coast Music Festival has built an identity distinctive enough to stand out amid Chicago’s bulging music-fest ecosystem. Most such gatherings act as little more than tour stops for the marquee names who spend their summers playing every single one, and in its eighth year North Coast hasn’t exactly refrained from throwing its net in that pool—the dregs of the 2017 lineup include unexceptional hip-hop jester Lil Dicky. But North Coast’s exciting pop cross-pollination (and its investment in Chicago’s scenes) comes through unalloyed in the DJ tent, which bends toward different genres depending on the day: Friday focuses on house, Saturday on bass sounds, and Sunday on hip-hop. The first and last days include some of the strongest performers at the whole fest. On Friday, local retro-funk crew Boogie Munsters get cranking early, with Chicago house heroes Gene Farris and Derrick Carter closing out the proceedings. Sunday features plenty of hip-hop DJ luminaries who deserve to be on bigger stages, including veteran Jesse de la Peña (who spins with Dirty MF), Closed Sessions affiliate Rude One, and early Chance the Rapper collaborator and contemporary Chicago nightlife fixture Stefan Ponce. While North Coast offers plenty on its big stages, including southern rap hero Gucci Mane, grime star Skepta, and the reunited Cool Kids, the DJ tent offers a great reprieve from all the fest’s lil dickies. —LEOR GALIL

Slavic Soul Party! The band plays two sets, ﬁrst at the Chicago Jazz Festival and later at Martyrs’. 3:30 PM, Von Freeman Pavilion,

Millennium Park, Michigan and Randolph. F b At the evening show, Mucca Pazza headlines. 9 PM, Martyrs’, 3855 N. Lincoln, $20, $17 in advance. 21+ New York combo Slavic Soul Party!, led by versatile percussionist Matt Moran, has arguably advanced the cause of Balkan brass music further than any other U.S.-based group, honoring the rollicking Romani style popularized by the likes of Boban Markovic and Fanfare Ciocarlia while putting its own spin on the tradition. Over its 17-year history, the group has mostly consisted of jazz musicians, but they’re players with omnivorous appetites and sophisticated palates. Their range has allowed the band to accommodate a heavy New Orleans brass-band vibe as well as bring a fiery improvisational brio to its performances. Last year SSP! recorded the entirety of Duke Ellington’s brilliant 1967 album Far East Suite, a work inspired by an international tour Ellington’s orchestra took in 1963 as part of a State Department cultural-diplomacy program. The album includes the timeless Billy Strayhorn ballad “Isfahan,” but its pieces also reveal how thoughtfully Ellington updated the sound of his orchestra to keep up with the evolution of pop music—bringing some serious funk, for instance, to the tune “Blue Pepper.” Ellington had his tour cut short by Kennedy’s assassination and never brought his orchestra to the regions whose music SSP! reimagines, but the latter group’s jacked-up arrangements suggest what kind of ﬂavor Ellington might have sprinkled across these tunes if he had. The most distinctive quality here is the drumming—Moran specializes in the double-headed tapan, producing a forceful, prodding sound, while Chris Stromquist plays a snare with plenty of press rolls. The martial propulsion of their combined sound pairs beautifully with the ebullient brass lines. SSP! will play the Ellington record at Chicago Jazz Festival this afternoon, then tap into their standard Balkan repertoire for an evening set at Martyrs’. —PETER MARGASAK

African Festival of the Arts Now in its 28th year, this huge celebration of African culture and art takes over Washington Park for four days straight; among the big musical names for 2017 are Wyclef Jean, Wizkid (see this page), Wayne Wonder, and Heatwave. 9/1-9/4, Washington Park, 51st and Cottage Grove, aihusa.org, $20, $10 seniors, $5 children, $40 family pass, children under ﬁve free, all-ages North Coast Music Festival By now a late-summer staple, North Coast collides EDM, hip-hop, jam bands, and more— this year’s lineup features the likes of Ween, Gucci Mane, Deadmau5, and Damien “Jr. Gong” Marley. Look a few inches to the left for details about the festival’s DJ tent. 9/1-9/3, Union Park, 1501 W. Randolph, northcoastfestival.com, $59 per day, $149 three-day pass, all-ages Scorched Tundra These three shows—with Acid King, Minsk, Oxbow, and others—pair serious metal with serious beer. 9/1-9/3, Empty Bottle, 1035 N. Western, scorchedtundra.com, $20 per day The Breaks Hip Hop Festival Stars from hip-hop’s past and present perform at this all-day festival, including Tech N9ne, Method Man & Redman, Cam’ron, and Crucial Conﬂict. 9/3, Soldier Field, 1410 S. Museum Campus, $55, 17+

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Loudon Wainwright III

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9/1

Global Dance Party: Milonga Cumparsita with DJ Charrua and guests 9/8 Global Dance Party: Stacie Sandoval y su Orquesta 9/16 Nathaniel Braddock / Jim Becker / Teddy Rankin-Parker 9/29 Global Dance Party: Rio Bamba

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Wizkid Part of the African Festival of the Arts, which runs through Monday, September 4. Today’s lineup includes Wizkid, Taylor Bennett, Kid Wond3r, Tha Pope, Sheila O, Dometi Pongo, Aime, Samkul, Mr. I.T, Mo Beatz, SBW, Jericho, DJ Bonsu, and DJ Nephets. 5 PM J

9/6 Choro de Lá pra Cá 9/13 Bandolero Durán & Comparsa Sur

Wyclef Jean will perform at the African Festival of the Arts on Sunday. o SCOTT LEGATO

OLDTOWNSCHOOL.ORG AUGUST 31, 2017 - CHICAGO READER 31

MUSIC continued from 31

(gates at 10 AM), Washington Park, 51st and Cottage Grove, $20, $10 seniors, $5 children, $40 family pass, children under ﬁve free. b

It’s difficult to talk about superstar Nigerian singersongwriter Ayodeji Ibrahim Balogun, aka Wizkid, without describing his trajectory in terms of U.S. music history. That’s partially because his Afropop sound so thoroughly blends contemporary Western pop sensibilities with those of his own subSaharan background that it’s hard to see where one ends and the other begins. July’s Sounds From the Other Side, Wizkid’s first full-length since signing with RCA, is filled with joyous, frictionless combinations of ever-shifting Nigerian percussion and uncomplicated U.S. pop melodies, which Wizkid sings in English; he straddles these worlds so effortlessly that it feels as if there’s nothing to be straddled in the first place. Sounds gives further credence to a point that local writer David Drake made in a 2014 Fader feature—that Nigerian radio hits are providing the rubric for the future of Western pop. It doesn’t hurt that in 2016 Drake (the Canadian rapper, that is) had a huge hit with “One Dance,” whose lithe string melody and swaying beat both sound ripped from Nigerian pop—oh, and it also features a contribution from Wizkid himself. Drake is among a handful of North American R&B and rap stars who appear on Sounds From the Other Side (presumably

Wizkid

to provide stateside listeners with familiar voices), but the highlights are all Wizkid. The sweltering single “Daddy Yo” carries all the euphoria of summer at its hottest—in fact it’s even better, considering that you don’t need to worry about heat stroke. —LEOR GALIL

o KWAKU ALSTON

SATURDAY2 Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit See Friday. Frank Turner & the Sleeping Souls open. 8 PM, Chicago Theatre, 175 N. State, $39.50-$59.50. b North Coast Music Festival Bass Tent See Friday. Headliner ﬁrst, today’s lineup is Chicago’s Most Wanted, Stratus, Crystal Knives, Jsquared, Hi-Five & Who Cares, and Dogman. 2 PM (gates at 1 PM), Union Park, 1501 W. Randolph, $59 per day, $149 three-day pass. b

SUNDAY3 North Coast Music Festival Beats Tent See Friday. Headliner ﬁrst, today’s lineup is Jesse de la Peña & Dirty MF, Rude One, Altered Tapes,

Stefan Ponce, Chicago Turntablist Authority, DJ Scend, and Red Rum Rio. 2 PM (gates at 1 PM), Union Park, 1501 W. Randolph, $59 per day, $149 three-day pass. b Taeyang 7:30 PM, Aragon Ballroom, 1106 W. Lawrence, $75-$139.74. b When Big Bang’s T.O.P. began his two years of mandatory military service at the start of 2017, it felt like the future of the South Korean pop band might be in question. Big Bang had just celebrated their ten-year anniversary, and multiple members had announced solo releases. Then T.O.P. was arrested

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Marty JOAN Stuart OSBORNE

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32 CHICAGO READER - AUGUST 31, 2017

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for marijuana use (it’s very illegal in South Korea) and overdosed on benzodiazepine. He’s recovering now, but the rest of the band (G-Dragon, Taeyang, Daesung, and Seungri) and their label, YG Entertainment, have been working overtime to make sure fans know Big Bang isn’t dead—shouting out the group on Instagram posts, even announcing a T.O.P.-less Japanese tour to close out the year. In the midst of all this chaos, Taeyang released his third solo record, White Night. While Big Bang have an almost Borg-like approach to pop music, relentlessly evolving their sonic palette, Taeyang’s work has been laser-focused on R&B. The genre’s a perfect ﬁt for his silkily emotive voice. While the brittle warmth of lead single “Wake Me Up” gives Taeyang

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plenty of space for heartfelt crooning, White Night is at its best when he’s at his most immediate. The disco stutter of show-stealer “Amazin’” makes a perfect soundtrack for strutting around in summer, and “Naked,” an ode to drunken hookups, segues from Taeyang stewing in longing and second-guessing straight into a blunt chorus of “I want you naked.” This is his ﬁrst Chicago appearance. —ED BLAIR

TUESDAY5 Mount Eerie Half Gringa opens. 8:30 PM, Thalia Hall, 1807 S. Allport, $20, $18. b On June 1, 2016, singer-songwriter Phil Elverum, who records somber, wispy antifolk as Mount Eerie,

launched a GoFundMe page to benefit multidisciplinary artist Genevieve Castree Elverum (née Gosselin), his wife since 2003. The couple, who lived in the quiet seaside town of Anacortes, Washington, hoped the money would help cover the costs of treating Genevieve’s inoperable pancreatic cancer; she died on July 9. Just shy of nine months later, Mount Eerie’s A Crow Looked at Me (P.W. Elverum & Sun, Ltd.) came out, and it reflects Elverum’s first days and weeks without his wife, her death infiltrating every empty space and coloring every surface. Pop music has no shortage of material about death—musical balm to console us through our lowest moments. A Crow Looked at Me is more a document of Elverum’s grief. He fleshes out his otherwise unfathomable sadness with blunt descriptions of the everyday. The weeks following Genevieve’s passing, described in “Real Death,” are made J

AUGUST 31, 2017 - CHICAGO READER 33

You can go back to school, too!

MUSIC

Phil Elverum of Mount Eerie o COURTESY THE ARTIST

continued from 33

hollow by her absence, which renders language useless and art dumb—though music, once enough time had passed, obviously provided Elverum with a way to view an experience that’s changed everything in his world. The quiet, acoustic melodies on this record can feel like an afterthought in comparison with Elverum’s lyrics, whose simple, evocative language carries great weight—in part by avoiding the facile formulas that drain the vitality out of our discussions of grief. The music instead evokes the relative calm of the world around him, which moves on indiﬀerent to his loss. —LEOR GALIL

WEDNESDAY6 Couch Slut Toupee, Coordinated Suicides, and Den open. 9 PM, Empty Bottle, 1035 N. Western, $8. 21+ In case the name “Couch Slut” is somehow too nuanced to convey to you just how grim and confrontational this Brooklyn noise-rock foursome can be, their sophomore full-length, Contempt (Gilead Media), sounds like getting your ﬁngers slammed in the hatch of a tank or your bare toes gnarled under a bundle of bricks dropped from three stories up. That help? Right from the opening track, “Funeral

Dyke,” the record doesn’t care a whit for subtlety. Over the course of seven songs, Megan Osztrosits’s crusty wails drill into the grumbling din like a ﬁgure skater pirouetting on a bed of nails, while wisps of guitar feedback and noise lash at the thrumming mass of hell summoned by the bass and drums. Comparisons to the ambassadors of the vintage Amphetamine Reptile catalog are many, but Couch Slut are grimier and more damaged, their motives seemingly more sinister than aggro. Contempt is not for the faint of heart; most of the songs last around ﬁve minutes, which is a long time to endure this sort of thing at once, and a few go longer. The eight-minute-plus punisher “Summer Smiles” descends into full-on mania, with Osztrosits defiantly cutting at its seams with her bloody-murder screams, and the closing track—the revelatory behemoth “Won’t Come”—trudges along at such a glacial pace that the tension eventually becomes paralyzing. Gilead Media has been on a roll lately, and here’s yet more evidence. —KEVIN WARWICK v

Learn to play with us this fall!

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oldtownschool.org 34 CHICAGO READER - AUGUST 31, 2017

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Manischewitz-braised brisket pizza o JULIA THIEL

rowing up, STEPHEN HASSON remembers sneaking tastes of MANISCHEWITZ CONCORD GRAPE WINE in the back of his temple. So when Ashlee Aubin of Wood and Salero restaurants challenged the chef at UGO’S KITCHEN & BAR to create a dish with the sweet wine, he immediately thought of his childhood. “We always had a bottle around, just sort of ceremonially, but it ended up going down the drain quite a bit,” he says. “I think the children would sneak more of it than the adults.” That’s probably because Manischewitz wine is notoriously syrupy, more appealing to a child’s palate than an adult’s. While it’s often consumed for Passover and other Jewish holidays because it’s kosher, no one seems to actually like the taste of the wine. Because of its sweetness, Hasson says, his ﬁrst idea was to make a dessert with it: peanut-butterand-jelly gelato. “It’s so sweet that you kind of have to use it in place of sugar, [but] the acidity in the grapes can really curdle the cream,” he says. “It was a failed experiment from the beginning.” Next up was Hasson’s version of his grandmother’s brisket. “She used to use grape jelly as her secret ingredient, and I feel like Concord grape wine and grape jelly are kind of on the same Brix scale,” he says. After curing the brisket in salt, sugar, and chile ﬂakes, Hasson rinsed the meat, seared it, and added carrot, onion, celery, garlic, and veal demi-glace—

plus an entire bottle of Manischewitz wine— before braising it for several hours. But brisket isn’t exactly in line with the modern Italian cuisine that Ugo’s serves. Pizza, on the other hand, is a menu staple—so Hasson crafted a brisket pie. As a nod to the mushy carrots he remembers fishing out of the braising liquid as a child, he spread the dough with a carrot puree instead of tomato sauce. In addition to the brisket itself, he topped the Neapolitan-style crust with elements that would traditionally accompany the meat: onions (which he caramelized) and potatoes (cooked gently in duck fat, then deep-fried). A generous sprinkle of provolone cheese ﬁnished it off. Tasting the pizza, Hasson says, “The brisket is tender, potatoes add a nice little crunch, and the carrot puree deﬁnitely reminds me of completely overcooked carrots my grandma used to make.” He paired it, of course, with a glass of Manischewitz grape wine. He was pleased enough with the pizza to put it on the menu at Ugo’s as a special; starting Thursday, August 31, it will be available while supplies last.

WHO’S NEXT:

Hasson has challenged BILL WALKER of the KENNISON to create a dish with ROSE PORK BRAINS IN MILK GRAVY, the only brand of canned pork brains still on the market in the U.S. v

ß @juliathiel

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MARGEAUX BRASSERIE | $$$

RESTAURANT REVIEW

the itinerant, temporary inmates of a luxury hotel, not to mention the flush silver foxes of the Gold Coast and their contingent human trophies. So what has he brought to the table for them? Or rather, what is former Dawson chef Brent Balika, who previously worked for Mina at Bourbon Steak in D.C., executing for him? You know the drill: moules frites, tartare, onion soup, and steak frites; the food of the sans-culottes. The prices aren’t quite so revolutionary, with less prosaic classics like that sole, the dish that seduced Julia Child, weighing in at $59 dollars. It should be stated up front that money should be no object if you choose to visit Margeaux Brasserie. That single fillet is not Moby Dick. It’s an ignoble-looking fish relative to its extraordinary price (compare it to the whole sole served at, say, La Sardine for $54), so that might distract you from the legitimate deliciousness of the firm, lightly crisp flesh blanketed in lush emulsified lemon butter and studded with bits of citrus. Other items are impressive at only moderately lower price points. A New York strip is the mineral-rich ideal accompaniment for creamy frites. Clean, garlicky escargots wear a half-moon top hat of buttery puff pastry. Dry-aged Rohan duck breast possesses an almost Wagyu level of fat marbling with a shattering-crisp skin, its formidable richness moderated with sweet Michigan cherries. And with that Margeaux at least acknowledges there’s a season in the midwest. A summer-corn-and-leek veloute could be a sweet finish if not for a dose of black truffle and a lump of crabmeat. A layer of Camembert dissolves between a warm, flaky tarte Tatin and roasted red tomatoes. Chunky roasted summer vegetables tossed with pine nuts (oddly) is a ratatouille in name only. But then an unnerving number of dishes in this extravagant experiment miss their obvious marks, or are conspicuous in their mediocrity. A compelling artichoke salad with crispy chicken skin and truffled vinaigrette and showered with granulated foie gras is dominated by the vegetable’s acidity. Much-needed livery depth seems whipped out of a foie gras parfait, while sweet-and-sour sweetbreads are rubbery and leached of flavor. Steak tartare overcompensates for a lack of beefiness with an off-putting hit of sweetness. A macaroni gratin—the brasserie’s answer to mac and cheese—is overcooked pasta swamped in a floury bechamel sauce. A $35 roasted half

11 E. Walton 312-625-1324 michaelmina.net/restaurants/chicago/ margeaux-brasserie

Celebrity chef Michael Mina checks in to the Waldorf Astoria Chicago

Margeaux Brasserie, inside the Gold Coast luxury hotel, is not really a restaurant for Chicagoans. By MIKE SULA

ichael Mina is one of those high-wattage celebrity chefs whose light shines so bright it makes me turn away. Didn’t really know much about the guy. Didn’t really care to. But he is a prolific restaurateur, with more than 30 spots to his name in ten states (plus D.C. and Dubai), so I suppose it was inevitable he would open one here, and that would be how I’d finally begin to get to know the food of Michael Mina. Here he is: the chef behind Arcadia in San Jose, Pabu in Boston, Bourbon Steak in Phoenix, and of course the eponymous Michelin-starred spot in his hometown of San Francisco has checked in to the Waldorf Astoria Chicago with restaurants number 31 and 32. Petit Margeaux is a tiny patisserie on the first floor, conveniently adjacent to the lobby; three floors up, Margeaux Brasserie is a marbled, white-tiled, black-lacquered, brassy simulacrum of a jaunty French brasserie with a zinc bar, a cheese chariot, and a wine list the size of Les Misérables. Plus ça change . . . The fact that Mina can just waltz into any city he pleases and start slinging sole meunière, escargots à la bordelaise, and sea urchin à la grecque like he’s Mere Fillioux says a lot about the reach and power of his restaurant group and his willingness to gamble his good name on

36 CHICAGO READER - AUGUST 31, 2017

Warm tomato tarte Tatin o MATT HAAS

Onion soup

FOOD & DRINK

o MATT HAAS

chicken, a basic indicator of kitchen competency, is oversalted to the point of inedibility. Desserts are distinguished by a large chocolate macaron sandwiching raspberries and chocolate creme, and an irresistible banana

tarte Tatin slathered in citrus-spiked caramel with a gob of melted honey ice cream. Don’t be tempted by the cheese chariot. The wan and limited selection makes it feel like choosing from a gurney in a cheese hospice. The paucity of midrange-priced bottles on the wine list makes it impossible to drink well without spending a fortune. For this reason there are large portions of the book that are easy to skip over, like when Victor Hugo goes on about the Battle of Waterloo. In the case of quite a few you’ll have to squint to see which four-digit numbers refer to the price and which to the vintage. Like most ambitious wine lists it does have plenty of rare, fun, and pricey bottles that are too young to drink. Margeaux Brasserie wants to be a place where whales celebrate. There is one circumstance under which I’d recommend a visit. Mark your calendar for a special day. Order the onion soup, a credit to the form, with deeply beefy broth and a reasonable restraint on onions, with a raft of melted aged Gruyere and slices of soupsopped baguette. And treat yourself to a nice

bottle, say a relatively affordable Syrah from René Rostaing or a funky white burgundy, Vincent Dancer’s Chassagne-Montrachet. That’s all you need from Margeaux Brasserie. Count your blessings, then return to real life. Fans of Lettuce Entertain You’s late, great Brasserie Jo know that a massive restaurant company with a diverse portfolio can pull off a fake brasserie with aplomb. Yet Margeaux is more like LEYE’s successor to that space, and its less successful expression of French food: the little-mourned Paris Club. And while Margeaux doesn’t entirely cross over into Epcot territory—the front of the house is staffed with proud, efficient, charming service professionals, for one thing—it does ﬂirt with the kind of ostentatious vulgarity that only someone with the aesthetics of the 1 percent could enjoy without shame. The rest of us will tune in elsewhere as Margeaux Brasserie settles among the ranks of hotel restaurants that mean little to the people who live in the city it just dropped into. v

ß @MikeSula

CHICAGOANS WELCOMING NEW TURKISH KITCHEN IN LAKE VIEW! Turkish Kitchen and Bar PERA 2833 N. Broadway St., Lakeview

Chicagoans are flocking to Lakeview's newest gem, Pera Turkish Kitchen. The Ergun family are no strangers to the restaurant business, five of the seven brothers operate Oceans 7 in Istanbul. The remaining two brothers, Sirac and Ahmet, dreamt of opening their own restaurant in Chicago, and thus, Pera was created. The name Pera refers to a historical district located on the European side of Istanbul. Now known as Beyoglu, it is the most active art, entertainment and nightlife centre of Istanbul. At Pera Turkish Kitchen in Chicago, they serve up a fusion of traditional Turkish cuisine mixed with familiar Mediterranean flavors. Try the zucchini pancakes with garlic yogurt dipping sauce as a hot appetizer. Another must-try is the shepherd salad, a cucumber, tomato, red onion and grilled watermelon mixture tossed with a pomegranate dressing.

king crab house

open now LABOR DAY WEEKEND SPECIAL Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday

Snow Crab Fest

$22.95

All above not valid with any other specials, discounts or promotions!

1816 N. Halsted St. Chicago, IL 60614 312-280-8990 Mon, Tues, Wed and Thur 3:30PM-11PM Fri and Sat 11:30AM-12AM Sun 11:30AM-10PM

FIND HUNDREDS OF

READER-RECOMMENDED

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

Happy Hour specials are served seven days a week from 3pm - 5pm. Stop in for their extensive brunch menu, which is served Saturday and Sunday 9am - 3pm and includes traditional Turkish breakfast items. They’ve successfully created a lovely outdoor dining space that feels comfortably isolated from the sidewalk foot trafﬁc, complete with beautiful hanging lights and ﬂowers. The romantic ambiance is perfect for a date night!

AUGUST 31, 2017 - CHICAGO READER 37

JOBS General Software Development Engineer 4C Insights, Inc. Chicago, IL Develop large-scale, concurrent applications, modern languages/ frameworks, modern Web technologies, relational databases, and RESTful web services to coordinate with engineering, product, and design personnel in the development of front-end and back-end software solutions for simple and effective user interfaces. Develop, analyze, and test algorithms that incorporate machine learning and natural language processing for data mining of online and social media data. Design, develop and modify software systems, using scientific analysis and mathematical models to predict and measure outcome and consequences of design. Develop and direct software system testing and validation procedures, programming, and documentation. Must have a Master’s degree in Computer Science or Computer Engineering. As part of the Master’s degree must have completed coursework in the following: Server-Side Software Development; Distributed Systems; Algorithms & Complexity; Data Warehouse and Mining; and Database Programming. If you are interested in applying for the career opportunity listed above, please e-mail your resume to us at careers@ 4cinsights.com and reference SDE0817. Synthesis Technology Corp seeks qualified professionals for the following positions: Lead Software Engineer (front end): Resp for ongoing design, implementation & maintenance of front-end architecture of web-based financial services automated publishing solutions. Lead Software Engineer (back end): Resp for ongoing design, implementation & maintenance of complex backend server-side architecture of web-based financial services automated publishing solutions. Both req BS in Comp/Info Engrg/ Tech & 5 yrs progressive postdegree exp in the job offered. Send resume to: Synthesis Technology Corp, 135 S LaSalle St, Ste 2025, Chicago, IL, 60603. Attn: J. Altman. Assoc Media Director, Search Marketing: Resp for creation, optimization, execution & backend reporting of client search marketing initiatives. Conduct quantitative & qualitative marketing & comm’s research & develop conceptual solutions to optimize paid & natural search engine results performance, incl the application of SEO to emerging social mediabased marketing comm’s. Chicago, IL location. Req’s Master’s degree in Communication or Integrated Marketing & 2 yrs exp as Search Mgr. Send resume to: VNC Communications, Inc., 111 E Wacker Dr, Chicago, IL, 60601, Attn: H. Blackston. International Admission Counselor sought by MCC Holdings Group LLC in Chicago, IL to recruit, enroll, promote, counsel current & prospective students locally & abroad through admissions, F-1 visa, recommend program per education & career goals utilizing CRM database system to market, follow-up, update statuses, inquiries & manage students & alumni relationshi ps.Req. Bach’s Degr in Mgmt. Resume to MCC Holdings Group LLC, 20 N Wacker DrSte 3800, Chicago, IL 60606. Refer to Job#MCC0117 Interpreter/News Writer: must have college fluency level of written and spoken Korean language to translate Korean to English, English to Korea for soap operas and news subtitles and write scripts in Korean. Send resume and cover letter to General Manager, KMLP TV OF CHICAGO28, LLC 3654 W. Jarvis, Skokie, IL 60076. COMPUTER/IT: Wilson Sporting Goods Co. seeks EBS North America Regional Lead to work in Chicago, IL. Lead the NA Extnded Business Solutns team in the delvry of Srvc Lvl Agrmnts of global B2B & B2C solutns. Degree & commensurate exp. reqrd. For details & to apply visit http://mypjobs.com/j/s.cfm/2KZ.

WARGAMING (USA), INC. seeks QA Engineer and Network Engineer . Worksite: Chicago, IL office. Send resumes to hr_west@wargaming.net

38 CHICAGO READER | AUGUST 31, 2017

IMPLEMENTATION

232 E 121ST Pl. RENT SPECIAL:

LARGE STUDIO APARTMENT .

ENGINEER III (2 positions): In Chicago, Illinois: Plan, architect, implement, and install Vocera communications solutions. Extensive travel req’d. Mail resume to: Vocera Communications, Inc., 525 Race St., San Jose, CA 95126. Ref Job# ME500

Pay 1st month rent only - No Security dep req’d. Nice lrg 1BR $575; 2BR $699 & 1 3BR $850, balcony. Sec 8 Welc 773-995-6950

6824 N. Wayne. Hardwood floors. Heat included. Pets OK. Laundry in building. Available 10/1. $710/month 773-761-4318.

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

Opportunities at NUTS ON CLARK POPCORN stores at

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

LARGE ONE BEDROOM near the Red Line. 6828 N. Wayne. Hardwood floors. Pets ok. Heat included. Laundry in building. $900/month. Available 10/1. 773-761-4318.

1, 2 & 3BRS, 6832 East End. 1633 E. 83rd St. 7643 S. Saginaw. 6724 S. Chappel. Heat & appls incl. Sec 8 Welc. Call 312-493-2344

O’Hare Airport & other locations. Get paid while training. Apply in person at CORPORATE OFFICE, 3830 N. CLARK STREET, CHICAGO. 9 AM TO 11 AM Mon thru Sat. Must bring ID’ s to apply.

NEWLY UPDATED S. Shore 7017 S. Clyde. 1BR, Kit/BA, hdwd flrs, ten pays heat, nr Metra & shops. $615/mo $325 move In fee 630.660.5031

EDGEWATER 900SFT 1BR, new kit, sunny FDR, vintage builtins, oak flrs, Red Line, $975/mo heated www.urbanequities.com 773-743-4141

88th/Dauphin.1 & 2BRs. Spac, good trans, laundry on site, security camera. 312-341-1950

Marble refinisher. honest, reliable, skilled. Join our team, good pay, bonus and 50% Health Benefits Call (773) 850-0286 OR Email mike.sungloss@gmail.com

û NO SEC DEP û 1431 W. 78th St. 2BR. $605/ mo. 6829 S. Perry. Studio/ 1BR. $465-$520. HEAT INCL 773-955-5106

E ROGERS PK 1BR, close to

REAL ESTATE

CLEAN ROOM W/FRIDGE & micro, Near Oak Park, Food -4Less, Walmart, Walgreens, Buses & Metra, Laundry. $115/wk & up. 773-637-5957

RAVENSWOOD DLX 3/RM studio: new kit, SS appl, granite, French windows, oak flrs, close to Brown L; $975/heated 773-7434141 www.urbanequities.com

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

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

79TH & WOODLAWN and 76th & Phillips, 2BR, 1BA $775-$825, 1BR, 1BA $650-$700. Remodeled, Appliances avail. FREE Heat 312286-5678

No. Southport DLX 2BR: new kit w/deck, SS appl, oak flrs, cent he at/AC, lndry $1595+ util pkg avail. 773 -743-4141 www. urbanequities.com

RENTALS STUDIO $500-$599 Chicago, Beverly/Cal Park/Blue Island Studio $600 & up, 1BR $685 & up, 2BR $885 & up. Heat, Appls, Balcony, Carpet, Laundry, Prkg. 708-388-0170 76TH & HERMITAGE, Newly Remod Large Studio. $550 & 2BR. $750. Heat & appliances incl. $350 Move-In Fee. 773-507-8534

73RD/JEFFERY BLVD. 1 & 2BR. 75th/Eberhart. 1 & 2BR. heated, hdwd flrs, laundry rm, appls, nr trans. $650 & up. 773-881-3573

STUDIO $600-$699 CHICAGO, HYDE PARK Arms Hotel, 5316 S. Harper, maid, phone, cable ready, fridge, private facilities, laundry avail. Switchboard. Start at $ 160/wk Call 773-493-3500

STUDIO $700-$899 ONE BEDROOM APARTMENT near the lake. 1337 W. Estes. Hardwood floors. Heat included. Cats OK. Laundry in building. $950/month. Available 10/1. 773-761-4318.

LARGE STUDIO APARTMENT near Warren Park. 1904 W. Pratt. Hardwood floors. Heat included. Cats OK. Laundry in building. $725/ month. Available 10/1. 773-761-4318.

STUDIO OTHER LARGE SUNNY ROOM w/fridge & microwave. Near Oak Park, Green Line & Buses. 24 hr Desk, Parking Lot $101/week & Up. (773)378-8888 CROSSROADS HOTEL SRO SINGLE RMS Private bath, PHONE, CABLE & MAIDS. 1 Block to Orange Line 5300 S. Pulaski 773-581-1188

CHICAGO - HYDE PARK 5401 S. Ellis. Studio. $470/mo. CALL 773-955-5106

Ashland Hotel nice clean rms. 24 hr desk/maid/TV/laundry/air. Low rates daily/weekly/monthly. South Side. Call 773-376-5200

6930 S. SOUTH SHORE DRIVE Studios & 1BR, INCL. Heat, Elec, Cking gas & PARKING, $585-$925, Country Club Apts 773-752-2200

ASHBURN, 7601 S. Maplewood, beautiful 4BR, 2BA house, granite ctrs, whirlpl tub, fin bsmt, SS appls, $1650/mo. 708-288-4510 FREE HEAT!

SOUTH Shore

No Move-in Fee! 1, 2, 3 & 4 BRs, laundry rm. Sec 8 OK. Niki 773.647.0573 www.livenovo.com

1 BR OTHER

2BR 5 RMS,

heat sep., SEC. 8 READY, Super clean, newly remodeled, 7005 S CARPENTER $930. Big rooms! 773-405-9361

DOLTON-144TH ST. 1BR, $625/ mo +1.5 mo sec. Move-in special $200 credit, Heat & Appls incl, off st pkg. $25 app fee 708-502-2526 Newly updated, clean furnished rooms in Joliet, near buses & Metra, elevator. Utilities included, $91/wk. $395/mo. 815-722-1212

SOUTH SHORE NICE and Cozy w/hdwd flrs, 1-2BR Apts. $630$770/mo. Huge 3BR/2BA. $1020/ mo. 76th/Saginaw. 773-445-0329 BIG ROOM with stove, fridge, bath & nice wood floors. Near Red Line & Buses. Elevator & Laundry, Shopping. $121/wk + up. 773-561-4970 NICE ROOM w/stove, fridge & bath Near Aldi, Walgreens, Beach, Red Line & Buses. Elevator & Laundry. $130/wk & up. 773-275-4442 ONE MONTH FREE. Move In NOW!!! Studios - 1 Beds Hyde Park. Call Megan 773-647-0751

8318 S INGLESIDE, 1BR, $660, new remod, hdwd flrs, cable, lndry, Sec. 8 welc. 8001 S Colfax 1BR $650, new remod, hdwd flrs, cable. Sec 8 welc. 708-308-1509 or 773-493-3500.

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)

108th St., Lovely 4 rm, 1BR, liv rm, din rm, kitchen/bath, heated & hw flrs. Close to trans. Avail now. Also, 1BR w/ crpt avail. 773-264-6711

EDGEWATER 1000SF 1BR: new kit, SS appls, quartz ctrs, built-ins, oak flrs, lndry, $1250/ heated 773-743-4141 www. urbanequities.com

SECTION 8 SPECIAL, 1BR, 3 rooms, heat & hot water incl, Super clean, newly remodel, $690, Big rooms, 773-405-9361 Call today!!

1 BR $700-$799

$550, 2BR $599, 2BR $699, With approved credit. No Security Deposit for Sec 8 Tenants. South Shore & Southside. 312-446-3333 or 773-2879999

1 BR $1100 AND OVER

EDGEWATER 2 1/2 RM studio: Full Kit, new appl, dinette, oak flrs, walk-n closets, $875/mo incls ht/ gas. Call 773-743-4141 or visit ww w.urbanequities.com

1 BR UNDER $700

SUMMER SPECIAL: STUDIOS starting at $499 incls utilities, 1BR

E ROGERS PARK: Deluxe 2BR + den, new kitc., FDR, oak flrs close to beach. $1450/heated, 774-7434141 ww.urbanequities.com

1 BEDROOM, 3 rooms, heat & hot water included. Super clean, newly remodeled, $690 rent. Big rooms, 773-405-9361 Call today!!

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

beach: new appl, FDR, oak flrs, French windows, lndry $995/mo heated. 773-743-4141 www. urbanequities.com

BLUE ISLAND - Large 1BR, fireplace, liv rm, carpet, new decor, appls ,din. rm, nr metra & pace, ten. heated, $725mo+ sec, Vic 125th & Western 773-238-7203

ALSIP: Beautiful , Large 1BR, 1BA overlooks the park. $750/ mo., Appliances, laundry, parking & storage. Call 708-268-3762

1 BR $900-$1099 ONE BEDROOM NEAR Warren Park and Metra. 6800 N. Wolcott. Hardwood floors. Cats OK. Heat included. Laundry in building. $900925/month. Available 10/1. 773-7614318.

APTS. FOR RENT PARK MGMT & INV. Ltd. Hot Summer Is Here Cool Off In The Pool OUR UNITS INCLUDE HEAT, HW & CG Plenty of parking 1Bdr From $795.00 2Bdr From $925.00 3 Bdr/2 Full Bath From $1200 **1-(773)-476-6000** APTS. FOR RENT PARK MGMT & INV. Ltd. SUMMER IS HERE!! Most units Include.. HEAT & HOT WTR Studios From $475.00 1Bdr From $550.00 2Bdr From $745.00 3 Bdr/2 Full Bath From $1200 **1-(773)-476-6000** ROUND LAKE BEACH, IL Cedar Villas is accepting applications for subsidized 1BR apts. for seniors 62 years or older and the disabled. Rent is based on 30% of annual income. For details, call us at 847-546-1899 ∫ MOST BEAUT. APTS! 6748 Crandon, 2BR, $875. 7727 Colfax, 2BR, $875. 6220 Eberhart, 2 & 3BR, $850-$1150. 7527 Essex, 2BR, $950 773-9478572 / 312-613-4424 SUNNY & LARGE 2 & 3BR, hd wd/ceramic flrs, appls, heat incld, Sect 8 OK. $850 plus 70th & Sangamon. 773-4566900 ORLAND PARK 2BR balcony, 2nd flr, 2BA, ances, in unit laundry, No pets. Call after 1, 9914

condo w/ all appliheat incl. 708-749-

CHICAGO SOUTH SIDE Beautiful Studios, 1,2,3 & 4 BR’s, Sec 8 ok.

CHICAGO - BEVERLY, large studio, 1 & 2BR Apts. Carpet, A/ C, laundry, near transportation, $680-$1020/mo. Call 773-2334939

73RD & DORCHESTER, 2BR, refrig & stove, lndry hookups, off street prkg, enclosed yard, $975/ mo. No security dep. 773-684-1166

2 BR $1500 AND OVER

74TH/KING DR &

HAZEL CREST RANCH, 3 bedroom, 1 bath, $1150.00/Mo + Sec. Available immediately, Section 8 OK. Call 708-9123023.

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

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

2 BR UNDER $900 OUTHSIDE 69th & Maplewood, 2BR Apt. $600/ mo. 68th & Wood, 4BR House, $900/mo. Tenants pay utilities. Call 312-2180027 3BR, 5258 S. HERMITAGE. $665. 5246 S. Hermitage: 3BR, 2nd floor, $625 & 2BR basement $400. 1.5 mo sec required. 708574-4085. 4 1/2 RMS, 2 bdrms, appliances, coin laundry, OH, near Holy cross hospital, $820 month + 1 1/2 months Sec Dep.O’Brien Family Realty. 773-581-7883 Agent owned FREE HEAT 94-3739 S. BISHOP. 2BR, 5rm, 2nd floor, appls, parking, storage & closet space, near shops/ trans. $900 + sec. 708-335-0786

CHICAGO 7600 S ESSEX 2BR $599, 3BR $699, 4BR $799 w/ apprvd credit, no sec dep. Sect 8 Ok! Call 773-287-9999 Westside Locations 773-287-4500 71ST & FAIRFIELD, B e a u t i f u l 2BR, 2nd floor, unheated, stove & fridge incl., $650/mo + 1.5 mo sec. Please Call Mr. Robinson, 773-238-5188 7127 S. EAST END, 2BR, 1BA, 1st flr, kitchen, appls incl., living & dining rm, sun porch, heat incl. $775/ mo. Sect 8 welc. 773-206-4737 WEST PULLMAN. 2BR, Newly decor, water incl. $725/mo. 1 mo rent + 1 mo sec. Section 8 welcome. 708-703-7077 2BR APT. 12805 S. Emerald. $825. 3BR APT. 7151 S. Green. $850. Plus 1 month sec. Hdwd flrs, Tenant pays all utils. 773-544-9942

2 BR $900-$1099 GREAT 4 ROOMS, 1BR North Park, new paint, new kitchen, new carpet, newer windows, laundry facilities, heated, $855/mo. 773-8786419

Chicago, 6915 S Artesian, 2nd floor, beautiful 3 large bedrooms, incl heat, stove, + fridge, wall-towall crpt, hdwd floors, laundry room, newly renovated, no security dep, $950. Section 8 ok. 773983-6671 HARVEY, 14730 WASHINGTON, 3BR, living rm, dining rm, kitchen, full bsmt, large fenced in bkyd, $1000/ mo+1 mo sec, Ray 708-720-2344

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

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

3 BR OR MORE UNDER $1200

5556 W. GLADYS. 2BR. Heat incl. $900/mo. 1BR. Heat incl. $700/mo. Move-in fee required. 773-251-6652

TRI-TAYLOR BRAND NEW Condo.2Bed/2Bath.

Hardwood,stainless ste e l , l a u n d r y, p a r k i n g , m a ste r bath,central air/heat. $1800per month.Frank@TTRM 312.343.7368.

LINCOLN

PARK

-OZ

PARKHOWE STREET Two bedrooms one bathroom c/a, w/d, d/w hwd flrs 2000./month plus utilities Oct. 1 847382-3543 or jminam@ameritech.net

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

948 N. DAMEN AVE. Unfurnished apartment for rent. 2BR, stove & refrigerator. Neat & clean. Newly painted. Call 847-962-4818 or Email: nsrjh6@yahoo.com

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

FREE HEAT 8036 S. Green. 3BR, Front porch, DR, LR, nr shops, laundry on site. Sec 8 Welcome. $1150/mo. 1 mo dep. 773-576-5002

4BR/2BA. Laramie & Harrison. $1450. 5BR House. Harrison/Kostner. $1575. 3BR. Pulaski/Cermac. $900. + Sec 847.720.9010 CHICAGO, 8119 S. VERNON, 3-4BR, 3rd floor Apt, $950/mo. $1900 move in. Coin-op W/D, Free Heat! Call 773-443-5472

CALUMET CITY 3-4BR, 1.5 BA, 2 car gar, fully rehab w/ gorgeous finishes & hdwd flrs. Beautiful bkyd. Sec 8 ok. $1150-$1350. 510-735-7171 SECTION 8 WELCOME. No Security Deposit. 7721 S Peoria, 3BR apt, appls incl. $1050/mo. 708-288-4510

4010 S. King Dr. 3BR, heat incl, $1025. 7906 S. Justine. 2BR $800 & Restaurant for rent. 708-421-7630 or 773-899-9529 Chicago 1646 W. Garfield. 3 bdrm, 1 bath, newly renovated, hardwood floors, appliances included. $850/mo. 773-285-3206

3 BR OR MORE $1200-$1499 FREE HEAT

SECTION 8 WELCOME West 103rd Street, small 2 bedroom. No security deposit. Heat and appls included. 773-719-2695

HAZEL CREST 3Br, 2bth home with bsmt, garage. Sect 8 welcome. Call 312.806.1080.

CHICAGO 8017 S. WOOD. 3rd flr unit, Newly Decor 3BR, 1.5BA, crpt, appls incl. $1200/mo + $1200 sec dep. Sec 8 OK. Rick. 773-636-4822 3-4BR, 79TH & Indiana, 2nd flr, newly remodeled, stove, refrigerator, washer/dryer. No pets. $1500/mo. Section 8 welcome. 708-227-0878

Never miss a show again.

3BR, 1BA 71st & Bennett, large living & dining rm, sun porch $960/mo + 1 mo security deposit incl heat 773-587-3534 or 773-821-6956

7530 S. LANGLEY, 2BR, 1BA Apt hdwd flrs, 1st flr, updated kitchen & Bath, heat incl. Sec 8 Welc. $950+. 773-221-8550 or 773-383-4718

GLENWOOD, Updated lrg 2BR Condo, HF HS, Balcony, C/A, appls, heat/water incl. 2 pkng, laundry. $975/mo. 708.268.3762

2 BR $1100-$1299 ELMHURST: DLX 1BR, new appls & carpet, a/c, balcony, $895$950/mo. incl heat, prkg. OS lndry, 773-743-4141 www.urbanequities. com

$500 gift certificate for Sec 8 tenants. 773-287-9999 or Westside Locations 773-287-4500

SOUTH SHORE - 2BR, 1.5BA, hdwd floors. appls incl, fin basement. near beach & Metra. $1250/mo, utilities not incl. 708-868-3225

Calumet City. 660 Clyde Ave. Beautiful 1BR, 1BA, 3rd floor. All appls, A/C, new carpet. $650/mo. Includes heat. 708-439-6410

SOUTHSIDE - 69TH & Parnell, 4BR, 2BA, total rehab, carpet, heat and water incl. No sec. dep. Section 8 ok. Rent $1,175. 773-684-1166

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

South Suburbs, 4bd, 1.5ba, 2 car garage, section 8. $1200-$1400 plus security, modern kitchen and bath. Please call 847-909-1538 for more information. BRONZEVILLE, 35TH & King Dr, 3BR condo, 2 full BA, W/D in unit, maple cabs, wood flr, granite, fpl, exposed brick. $1395. 773447-2122 BRICK 4BRS/1.5BA 62nd & Winchester. $1300/mo & 8955 S. May. $1550/mo. Move-in Fee, Sec 8 Ok. 773-720-9787 or 773-483-2594 SECTION 8 WELCOME 7134 S. Stewart. Nice 5BR/1BA House, Carpet & appls incl, washer/dryer hookup. 312-683-5174

7043 S. MICHIGAN. Deluxe 3BR Apt in 2 flat, near L, heat & appls incl, sec 8 ok, NoPets. $1300/mo. Call Marie 773-343-9111

4341 S GREENWOOD 2n $1500, 4BR, 1BA, heat and water incl, no sec dep. Call Pam 312 208 1771

3 BR OR MORE $1500-$1799 CHICAGO, 10743 S. COTTAGE GROVE. 5BR, 1.5BA Hardwood flrs, W/D hookup, Section 8 OK. No Deposit. $1500/mo. 773-425-0677

HUMBOLDT PK, 3BR/2BA Duplex: new kit & appl, oak flrs, lrg master suite deck, prkg, lndry, $15 95/+ util 773-743-4141 www. urbanequities.com EVANSTON DLX 1BR + Den, vintage beauty, new appl, oak flrs, French doors Laundry $1095/ heated, 773-743-4141 www. urbanequities.com

Bronzeville DLX 1/BR: new kit, private deck & yard, SS appls, FDR, oak flrs, new windows, $925950/heated 773-743-4141 urbaneq uities.com EVANSTON 2BR, 1100SQFT, New Kit/ oak flrs, new windows, OS Lndry, $1295/incl heat, 773743-4141 urbanequities.com

CHICAGO 118th/Sangamon ($396) 71st/Sangamon ($400)

The Illinois Housing Development Authority will accept pre-applications for Merrill Court Apartments Waitlist. Pre-applications are available for pickup August 28-September 8, 2017, 9am-4pm at: Shops and Lofts at 47, 747 E. 47th St. Chicago, IL

SECTION 8 WELCOME $300 Move-In Bonus, No Dep. 225 W 108th Pl, 2BR/1BA . 7134 S. Normal, 4BR/2BA. ceiling fans Ht, ht water & appls incl 312-683-5174 8457 S. BRANDON, 4BR, 3BR or 2BR voucher ok. 2707 E 93rd St. 5BR, 2BA, hardwood floors, Sec tion 8 ok. 3BR voucher ok. Call 847-312-5643 CHICAGO HOUSES FOR rent. Section 8 Ok, w/app credit $500 gift certificate 3, 4 & 5 BR houses avail. Call 708-752-3812 for Westside locations 773-287-4500

10234 S. CRANDON, s m a l l home, 3BR, 1BA, kit & util room, totally ren a/c, all appls incl, nice bkyrd. CHA welcome. 773-317-4357 1 BEDROOM, 3 rooms, heat & hot water included. Super clean, newly remodeled, $690 rent. Big rooms, 773-405-9361 Call today!!

GENERAL 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

non-residential SELF-STORAGE

CENTERS.

T W O locations to serve you. All units fully heated and humidity controlled with ac available. North: Knox Avenue. 773-685-6868. South: Pershing Avenue. 773-523-6868. S. Chappel, Remote door, 1 year lease. $75/mo + sec dep and credit check. 773-363-6789

roommates

ALB Pk DLX 3BR + den, new kit, SS appl, granite, oak flrs, on-site lndy, $1495/+ util. 773-743-4141 www. urbanequities.com

LARGE, CLEAN, quiet rooms avail, 112th/State, $450 & $4 75/mo + $50 move-in fee. Cable/wi-fi/laundry. Smokers Ok. 773-454-2893

LARGE 3 BEDROOM apartment near Wrigley Field. 3820 N. Fremont. Two bathrooms. Hardwood Floors. Cats OK. $2175/month. Parking available at additional cost. Available 10/1. 773-761-4318.

3 BR OR MORE OTHER

Chicago, 10635 S. State , Male Preferred. Use of kitchen and bath. $350/month. No Security. Call 773-791-1443 SOUTHSIDE large furnished rooms in Apartment, 1st floor. $400/ month, includes utilities. No Sec or Move-in fee. 312-973-2793

FURN RMS $350 & $425. Rm w/ Pvt BA. $525. utils inc. Nr good trans. $200 clean up fee req. Fixed income invited. 312-758-6931 CHICAGO, SOUTH SIDE, $300 Move in Special! Utilities, bed & TV included. Security Deposit Required. Call 773-563-6799

ARE YOU LOW INCOME? DO YOU ALSO WANT TO FILE BANKRUPTCY FOR $500 FLAT FEE? IF SO, EMAIL BANKRUPTCY FIRST LEGAL DOCUMENT SERVICES NOW! QUICK REPLY GUARANTEED! BANKRUPTCYFIRST@GMAIL.COM

AFFORDABLE CAREGIVER LOOKING For A Job To Live-in 24 /7 or Come & Go. Best price, All Loc. ’s, No Fees. Eng.Spkng Bonded/ Insured. 708-692-2580

2402 E. 77TH St (77th/Yates). Clean & secure room, Incl Bed, TV, mini blinds, c-fans., utils, Share Kitch & Bath. $450/mo. 312-479-5502

MARKETPLACE

HEALTH & WELLNESS

GOODS

FULL BODY MASSAGE. hotel, house calls welcome $90

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

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

ATTN NOTRE DAME FOOTBALL FANS We have all the games on DVD 1980-Present. Free games for referrals. Call 301-956-6706

MUSIC & ARTS THE LANGUAGE ARCHIVE by

sealed vintage bottles and decanters. PAYING TOP DOLLAR!! 773-263-5320

Julia Cho, Directed by Paul Cook; Open Call Auditions. Seeking three women, 20s to 70s and two men, 30s -70s. Please prepare a contemporary monologue (1 to 2 minutes in length) and be prepared to read from the script. No appointment necessary. 9/12 & 9/13; 7:30 – 9:30 p.m. www. oakton.edu Park in Lot A. For more info, call 847.635.1897.

ADULT SERVICES

BUYING OLD WHISKEY/ BOURBON/RYE! Looking for full/

GARAGE SPACE - 6700 blk of

Wrigleyville DLX 3BR, new kit, private deck & yard, FDR, oak floors, sunroom $2100/heated 773-743-4141 urbanequities.com

3 BR OR MORE $1800-$2499

SERVICES

Quiet, Furnished Rooms, Share Kit & Bath. Call 773-895-5454

SOUTH SHORE, Senior Discount. Male preferred. Furnished rooms, shared kitchen & bath, $545/mo. & up. Utilities included. 773-710-5431 ROOMS FOR RENT $400- $425/month. 5926 S. Peoria & 448 W. 60th Pl 773-744-9915 PULLMAN AREA 111th St., East of King Dr. Near shops & 1/4 blk to metra. Newly remod rooms. $500-$575/mo. 773-468-1432

ROBBINS - 3BR H o u s e , Crestwood Schools. Hdwd flrs, private fenced backyard w. shed, front parking, $1250/mo. Sect 8 Welc 773-895-9495

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

ADULT SERVICES

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STRAIGHT DOPE By Cecil Adams q : Coffee: let’s grow this plant, pick

the berries, take the seeds out, roast and then grind the beans, pour hot water through the grounds, and throw the beans away. Drink the water! How did we get there? —OLD BLUE EYES

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A : Remember Solomon, OBE? Wise and just,

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son of David, king of Israel, etc? He’s who did it, according to one 17th-century Arab writer. The story goes that Solomon encountered a plague-struck village and was counseled by the angel Gabriel to roast coffee beans— anticipating the single-origin craze, Gabriel specified beans sourced from Yemen—and soak them in hot water. He gave the resulting beverage to the villagers, curing them. Despite coffee’s proven miraculous qualities, this version of history has it then falling off everyone’s radars for a couple millennia, till about the 16th century. OK, maybe not the most convincing. But Yemen and the 16th century, or thereabouts, are where coffee actually begins to show up in the (nonscriptural) record: some convincing histories place coffee’s emergence in Yemeni communities of Sufis, members of a Muslim sect, who allegedly discovered that drinking it helped them stay awake during long religious ceremonies. There are a number of competing stories here and no small amount of lore, but if you squint hard enough you can see the rough outline of a narrative: coffee trees grow wild in this part of the world; somebody decided to see how their seeds tasted and realized that, taste notwithstanding, they make you feel good; thus are caffeine addictions born. It probably didn’t hurt that this was a region famous for the stimulant khat, which are leaves people chew on; there preexisted a local enthusiasm for getting a buzz off plants. Various of these stories are laid out in the 1985 book Coffee and Coffeehouses: The Origins of a Social Beverage in the Medieval Near East, by historian Ralph Hattox. Hattox doesn’t even mention the first tale you’ll likely come across if you do any searching: one about an Ethiopian goatherd named Kaldi, who observed his flock becoming particularly animated after nibbling on a certain bush. After trying it himself, Kaldi shared his fi nd with a local imam, who dried the beans and took to steeping them in hot water whenever he needed to pull an all-nighter down at the mosque. Apocryphal for sure, but the accounts

Hattox does relate support the idea of coffee being an agrarian discovery embraced by Sufi Muslims; he finds one story, for instance, of a notable Yemeni Sufi known as al-Dhabhani, who sometime in the 1400s traveled to Ethiopia and, there discovering coffee, brought some back to Aden and shared it with his coreligionists. This story also contains “more than a bit of legend,” Hattox concedes, and is complicated even by the language employed: Dhabhani is said to have encountered people in Ethiopia “using” (i.e., not “drinking”) what the 16th-century writer recounting these events called qahwa, leaving it unclear whether they were brewing it or chewing on it, a la khat. Evidence on the side of brewing is provided by the word qahwa itself, a term that previously had sometimes referred to wine, another mood-altering drink. But though we don’t know the play-byplay, we know roughly where coffee drinking caught on (Yemen, perhaps running with an Ethiopian concept) and when (the mid-15th century), as well as the religious tradition that midwifed it. A little note on that: In Yemen, the drink ran into early contention over whether it was even acceptable by the standards of the Quran. The prophet Muhammad forbade his followers from getting intoxicated, and when coffee made its way to Mecca, in the early 1500s, it sparked a debate: Was caffeine an intoxicant? In 1511 a local religious leader “literally put coffee on trial,” writes Tom Standage in A History of the World in 6 Glasses (2005): “He convened a council of legal experts and placed the accused—a large vessel of coffee—before them.” After talking it over they decided coffee was indeed an intoxicant, and therefore haram, and the drink was banned—burned in the streets, Standage reports, its vendors beaten. Within months, though, a higher council overturned the ruling. Apparently cooler heads had prevailed in the interim; maybe everyone switched to decaf. v Send questions to Cecil via straightdope.com or write him c/o Chicago Reader, 350 N. Orleans, Chicago 60654.

SAVAGE LOVE

By Dan Savage

Sob stories

Advice for the broken-hearted—and for those sick of hearing about it Q : My brother just broke

up with his girlfriend for the second time in eight months. They had been together for two and a half years, and she became pretty discontent when my brother entered law school because all his time and attention weren’t revolving around her. In January, she staged this bizarre, soap-opera-esque situation to make my brother jealous, and then broke up with him when he reacted predictably. My brother became a mess of a person— sobbing all the time and talking about her to anyone and everyone. Then he started talking to her again and they got back together. The second breakup came after he snooped and found out she had been texting her ex-boyfriend. They broke up again, and he’s now back in the same situation. I feel bad this happened—I really do—but I don’t have the time or patience to have the same conversation with him a million times. —NOW OVER BROTHER’S RELATIONSHIP OBSESSION

A : Your brother is an adult.

(They’re not letting minors into law school these days, are they?) And since he’s an adult, NOBRO, you can’t stop him from making terrible choices or the same terrible choice over and over again. But here’s the good news, NOBRO: You’re an adult too! And just as you can’t force your brother to stay away from this toxic POS, your brother can’t force you to converse with him all day long about politics or his POS ex or Game of Thrones turning into Star Trek. (Suddenly, only characters we don’t care about die on GoT. I half expect to see red shirts on the extras in season seven.) And if your brother makes the mistake of getting

back together with this woman yet again, your adult ears don’t have to listen to his adult ass complain endlessly about the by-now-predictable consequences.

Q : My ex-boyfriend and I

were together for a year and a half. He is a silver fox who is significantly older than me (35 years, to be exact). It was supposed to be a fling, but it evolved into a beautiful romance. But after much consideration (he has a vasectomy and already has four kids and will be retiring soon), we ended it three months ago. It was heartbreaking, but we made a conscious decision to be close friends and talk every day. Out of the blue last week, he asked me if I had a boyfriend. I don’t, but I was coincidentally about to go on my first date since the breakup. He proceeded to tell me he “kinda” has a new girlfriend, a woman closer to his age. This was not something I wanted to hear, which he could tell from the silence that met this disclosure. This conversation ruined my weekend. I’ve been unable to eat or sleep. The guy I went on a date with was sexy, but I was too emotionally fucked to do anything with him. Do I explain these thoughts to my ex? Let time do the healing? Why did my ex feel the need to tell me about his new girlfriend? —HEARTBROKEN OVER NEW EX’S YUMMY

A : Your ex told you about his new girlfriend because you two are close friends, right? And close friends typically conﬁde in each other about their love lives, don’t they? And that’s what you wanted, isn’t it? Backing up: There are plenty of people who remain friends after a romantic rela-

tionship. But it’s certainly not on anyone’s list of breakup best practices to go in an instant from lovers to besties. You got your heart broken, and only time can cauterize that particular wound. I don’t think you should explain anything to your ex right now, HONEY, because I don’t think you should talk to your ex for the next six months or so. You need to get on with your life—and getting on that new guy may be a good place to start.

Q : I’m a 26-year-old

heterosexual female, and I was dumped by my boyfriend a little more than a month ago. He was my ﬁrst love and the person I lost my virginity to. We’d been seeing each other for a little over a year. I wanted more, and I think that’s what scared him oﬀ. I went into a depression and started seeing a therapist. Friends tell me that the “best way to get over someone is to get under someone else,” but I’m not sure what to do. I’m pretty sure I’m doing the thing I shouldn’t be doing: holding out hope my ex will decide he made a horrible decision and want to be with me again. Can you give me some direction? —DON’T UNDERESTIMATE MY PAIN

A : Your boyfriend/ﬁrst love/

first fuck dumped you a little more than a month ago— you’re allowed, one month and change later, to live in hope of a reconciliation. The trick, however, is to assume it won’t happen and make a conscious effort to get on with your life. Don’t pass on any solid offers, and keep seeing that therapist. v

Send letters to mail@ savagelove.net. Download the Savage Lovecast every Tuesday at thestranger.com. v @fakedansavage

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

Kelela o ALICE CHICHE

NEW

Amigo the Devil, Andrew Sheppard 11/9, 9 PM, Beat Kitchen ATB 9/16, 10 PM, the Mid Azealia Banks 10/4, 6:30 PM, Concord Music Hall, on sale Thu 8/31, 10 AM b Black Pussy 10/4, 7:30 PM, Reggie’s Music Joint Dalek 10/19, 8:30 PM, Beat Kitchen, 17+ Dawg Yawp 11/7, 8 PM, Schubas, 18+ Deslondes 11/16, 8 PM, SPACE, Evanston b Mike Doughty 11/18, 8 PM, City Winery, on sale Thu 8/31, noon b Fazerdaze 11/9, 9 PM, Schubas, 18+ Sam Feldt 12/2, 6 PM, Concord Music Hall b Ms. Lisa Fischer & Grand Baton 12/2, 8 PM, City Winery, on sale Thu 8/31, noon b Frankie & the Witch Fingers 11/1, 8:30 PM, Beat Kitchen, 17+ Pierce Fulton 12/4, 7 PM, Schubas Getter 10/18, 8 PM, Concord Music Hall, 17+ Goldﬁnger 9/11, 6:30 PM, Concord Music Hall, 17+ Hoodie Allen 10/12, 7:30 PM, the Vic, on sale Thu 8/31, noon b Hundredth 12/8, 8:30 PM, Beat Kitchen, 17+ Josh Jacobson 10/5, 8 PM, Schubas, 18+ Booker T. Jones 10/1, 6 and 9 PM, The Promontory b Jukebox the Ghost 10/29, 8 PM, Lincoln Hall, on sale Fri 9/1, 10 AM, 18+ J.Views 11/8, 8 PM, Schubas, 18+ Kelela 11/6, 8 PM, the Promontory, 18+

Kllo 10/18, 8 PM, Schubas, on sale Thu 8/31, 11 AM, 18+ Lightning Bolt 9/22, 9 PM, Empty Bottle Lydia Loveless 11/15-16, 9 PM, Hideout Michael McDermott 12/22, 8 PM and 12/23, 5 and 8 PM, City Winery, on sale Thu 8/31, noon b Microwave 11/1, 8 PM, Subterranean, 17+ Motopony 10/25, 9 PM, Empty Bottle Nadas 11/2, 8:30 PM, FitzGerald’s, Berwyn, on sale Fri 9/1, 11 AM Michael Nau 11/3, 10 PM, Hideout Nekromantix 10/14, 8 PM, Reggie’s Rock Club, 17+ Paul Oakenfold 9/23, 10 PM, the Mid Ookay 10/7, 8 PM, Concord Music Hall, 17+ Sister Hazel 12/15-16, 8 PM, House of Blues, on sale Fri 9/1, 10 AM, 17+ Sonreal 11/18, 8 PM, Schubas b Nora Jane Struthers, Caroline Spence 10/20, 7 PM, Schubas, 18+ Swet Shop Boys 10/9, 9 PM, Metro, 18+ Within the Ruins, Aversions Crown 11/18, 6:30 PM, Wire, Berwyn b Wrecks 11/3, 5:30 PM, Beat Kitchen b

UPDATED Daniel Johnston, Jeﬀ Tweedy and friends 10/18 and 10/20, 7:30 PM, the Vic, 10/20 sold out, 10/18 added, on sale Thu 8/31, 10 AM, 18+ Conor Oberst 9/9, 8 PM, the Vic, moved from Riviera Theatre, 18+

42 CHICAGO READER - AUGUST 31, 2017

UPCOMING Against Me!, Bleached 9/30, 6 PM, Concord Music Hall b Agent Orange 10/14, 8:30 PM, Beat Kitchen, 17+ Agnostic Front, Spare Change 9/30, 8 PM, Reggie’s Rock Club, 17+ Asgeir 9/19, 8 PM, Bottom Lounge, 17+ Asleep at the Wheel 12/1, 8 PM, Maurer Hall, Old Town School of Folk Music b Bad Suns 10/20, 7:30 PM, Metro b Big Sandy & His Fly-Rite Boys 9/27, 8:30 PM, FitzGerald’s, Berwyn Big Thief, Mega Bog 10/15, 8:30 PM, Thalia Hall, 17+ Black Heart Procession 11/10, 9 PM, Empty Bottle Bleachers, Bishop Briggs 11/11, 8 PM, Riviera Theatre, 18+ Boris, Helms Alee 10/23, 8 PM, Thalia Hall, 17+ Cap’n Jazz, Rapper Chicks 9/15, 11 PM, Bottom Lounge, 17+ John Carpenter 11/9, 9 PM, Aragon Ballroom, 17+ Chameleons Vox 9/14, 8:30 PM, 1st Ward, 18+ Denzel Curry, Show Me the Body 10/8, 9 PM, Bottom Lounge, 18+ Deer Tick 10/21, 8:30 PM, Metro, 18+ Deerhoof, Sad13 10/1, 9 PM, Empty Bottle Descendents, Get Up Kids 10/7, 7:30 PM, Riviera Theatre b Doro 9/14, 7 PM, Reggie’s Rock Club, 17+ Dream Syndicate 12/4, 8 PM, Thalia Hall, 17+ Dream Theater 11/3, 8 PM, Chicago Theatre

Fay Ray 10/19, 8 PM, Schubas Feedtime 9/26, 9 PM, Empty Bottle Max Frost 10/20, 8 PM, Lincoln Hall b Future Islands 10/4, 9 PM, Empty Bottle Liam Gallagher 11/21, 8 PM, Riviera Theatre, 18+ A Giant Dog 9/17, 9 PM, Empty Bottle Glass Animals 9/28, 7:30 PM, Aragon Ballroom b Guns N’ Roses 11/6, 8 PM, United Center High Waisted 10/24, 8 PM, Schubas, 18+ Hiss Golden Messenger 10/24, 8 PM, Lincoln Hall Ice Balloons 10/10, 9 PM, Empty Bottle Insane Clown Posse 10/29, 6:30 PM, Portage Theater b Jay-Z 12/5, 8 PM, United Center Paul Kelly 10/10, 8 PM, SPACE, Evanston b Kesha 10/18, 7 PM, Aragon Ballroom b King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard 9/24-25, 8 PM, Lincoln Hall La Femme 10/21, 8 PM, Bottom Lounge, 17+ Lemon Twigs 10/26, 8 PM, Thalia Hall, 17+ Lil Peep 10/19, 7:30 PM, Bottom Lounge b Lorde 3/27, 7 PM, Allstate Arena, Rosemont Yngwie Malmsteen 11/3, 7 PM, Portage Theater Mastodon, Brain Tentacles 9/9, 8 PM, Metro, 18+ Jessica Lea Mayﬁeld 11/9, 9 PM, Empty Bottle Mimicking Birds 10/10, 8 PM, Schubas, 18+ No Warning, Down to Nothing, Backtrack 9/21, 7 PM, Bottom Lounge, 17+ Nosaj Thing, Jacques Greene 9/28, 9 PM, Bottom Lounge, 18+ Of Montreal 9/14, 8 PM, Logan Square Auditorium, 18+ Omni 11/5, 9 PM, Empty Bottle Orwells 9/14, 8 PM, House of Vans, 17+ F A Perfect Circle 11/24, 8 PM, UIC Pavilion Katy Perry 10/24-25, 7 PM, United Center Pinback 10/11-12, 9 PM, Bottom Lounge, 17+ Quicksand 9/27, 8:30 PM, Thalia Hall, 17+ Quinn XCII 10/6, 8 PM, Lincoln Hall b Racquet Club 10/12, 8 PM, Subterranean

ALL AGES

WOLF BY KEITH HERZIK

EARLY WARNINGS

CHICAGO SHOWS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT IN THE WEEKS TO COME

Ratboys 10/20, 9 PM, Empty Bottle Revolting Cocks 11/17, 9 PM, Metro, 18+ Rich Chigga 11/11, 7 PM, Bottom Lounge b Riot Fest with Jawbreaker, Nine Inch Nails, Queens of the Stone Age, and more 9/15-17, Douglas Park b Sacred Reich 9/20, 7 PM, Reggie’s Rock Club, 17+ Saint Pe, Crocodiles 10/12, 9 PM, Hideout Sheer Mag, Flesh World 9/15, 9:30 PM, Thalia Hall, 17+ Slaughter Beach 11/7, 8 PM, Beat Kitchen, 17+ Slaves, Secrets 9/20, 6 PM, Wire, Berwyn Sleeping With Sirens 9/8, 7 PM, Bottom Lounge b Stiﬀ Little Fingers, Death by Unga Bunga 9/20, 8 PM, Metro, 18+ Swervedriver 9/7, 9 PM, Metro, 18+ Touche Amore 10/7, 8 PM, Subterranean, 17+ UFO, Saxon 10/8, 6:30 PM, Concord Music Hall, 17+ War on Drugs 10/19, 8 PM, Aragon Ballroom, 18+ White Reaper 11/14, 7 PM, Metro b Young the Giant, Cold War Kids 9/9, 7 PM, Huntington Bank Pavilion Zola Jesus, John Wiese 10/8, 8:30 PM, Thalia Hall, 17+

SOLD OUT Courtney Barnett & Kurt Vile 10/26, 7:30 PM, Rockefeller Memorial Chapel; 10/27, 8:30 PM, Thalia Hall; and 10/28, 9 PM, Empty Bottle Between the Buried & Me, Contortionist 9/30-10/1, 6:30 PM, Bottom Lounge b Cold Waves VI with Front 242, KMFDM, Stabbing Westward, Cold Cave, Ohgr, and more 9/29-10/1, 6:30 PM, Metro, 18+ Dinosaur Jr., Built to Spill 9/16, 11 PM, Bottom Lounge, 17+ Greta Van Fleet 11/30, 8 PM, Lincoln Hall, 18+ Gryﬃn, Autograf 10/13, 8 PM, Bottom Lounge, 17+ Haim 9/15, 8 PM, Riviera Theatre b Manchester Orchestra 9/24, 6 PM, Concord Music Hall, 17+ The National 12/12-13, 7:30 PM, Civic Opera House b T-Pain 10/15, 8:30 PM, Bottom Lounge, 17+ Taking Back Sunday, Sleep on It 9/17, 11 PM, Bottom Lounge, 17+ Avey Tare 10/6, 10 PM, Hideout Grace Vanderwaal 11/15, 7 PM, Park West b Wonder Years, Laura Stevenson 9/25, 5:30 PM, Bottom Lounge b v

GOSSIP WOLF A furry ear to the ground of the local music scene GIVEN THAT artist and bartender Greg Shirilla bartends at Humboldt Park 4 AM spot the Continental, where he serves rowdy revelers into the wee hours, it’s remarkable that he’s still one of Chicago’s friendliest dudes—dealing with humanity at its drunkest tends to make a person surly! Shirilla needs a hand, and Gossip Wolf is happy to pitch in: On June 28, he fell three stories while cleaning windows at another job, breaking his wrist and ankle and cracking two vertebrae. Though he’s insured, he’ll be laid up in rehab for another month and unable to work for even longer. Pals have banded together to help with his mounting bills, and on Saturday, September 2, they’ll throw a raffle, barbecue, and silent art auction at the Continental, beginning at 3 PM—artworks up for bid include a painting of late comedian and civil rights activist Dick Gregory by Big Boys guitarist Tim Kerr and an unpublished photo of Black Flag on tour in Chicago in 1980. Get well soon, Greg! On Friday, September 1, the Hideout hosts the Back to School Ball to benefit Intonation Music Workshop, a Chicago nonprofit that empowers kids by teaching them how to play in bands. The theme is “school dance,” so you could dress up for homecoming—or you could dig out that ratty Cat Butt T-shirt you got in trouble for wearing to class. A few fine local acts will help get folks moving: soul combo the Daytonics, indie-pop group the Good, and genre-blending singer Drea the Vibe Dealer. Admission is $10, $8 in advance, and you can kick a few more bucks Intonation’s way by buying raffle tickets (for a shot at sweet prizes from Smoque BBQ, Lagunitas, and Letherbee Distillers). Chicago’s festival calendar is beyond packed, but this wolf isn’t mad about the arrival of the Breaks. The new hip-hop fest takes over Soldier Field on Sunday, September 3, with such heavy hitters as Tech N9ne, Method Man & Redman, Cam’ron, and local legends Crucial Conflict and Do or Die. —J.R. NELSON AND LEOR GALIL Got a tip? Tweet @Gossip_Wolf or e-mail gossipwolf@chicagoreader.com.

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OCTOBER 2O SHOW SOLD OUT! OH WONDER – Friday, Sept. 15 • RHIANNON GIDDENS –Friday, Sept. 22 • BOYCE AVENUE –Saturday, Sept. 23 • THE GROWLERS –Friday, Oct. 6 • THE FAB FAUX –Saturday, Oct. 7 DEMETRI MARTIN –Oct. 8 • RODRIGUEZ –Oct. 10 • THE KOOKS –Oct. 11 • DARK STAR ORCHESTRA –Friday, Oct. 13 • CAMERON ESPOSITO & RHEA BUTCHER – Saturday, Oct. 14 WHITNEY CUMMING S–Oct. 19 • GAVIN DEGRAW –Oct. 22 • HAMILTON LEITHAUSER –Friday, Oct. 27 • ANIMALS AS LEADERS/PERIPHERY –Nov. 1 • JAPANDROIDS –Nov. 2 SLOWDIVE –Nov. 5 • ELBOW – Nov. 8 • JOSH RITTER & THE ROYAL CITY BAND – Nov. 9 • JOHNNYSWIM – Friday, Nov. 10 • TURNPIKE TROUBADOURS – Saturday, Nov. 11 JOHN MCLAUGHLIN/JIMMY HERRING –Nov. 17-18 • SQUEEZE – Saturday, Nov. 25 • ILIZA SHLESINGER – Friday, Dec. 1 • DAMIEN ESCOBAR – Saturday, Dec. 2

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AUGUST 31, 2017 - CHICAGO READER 43

44 CHICAGO READER - AUGUST 31, 2017