Chicago Reader print issue of September 5, 2024 (Vol. 53, No. 31) by Chicago Reader

THIS WEEK

04 Letters

04 Editor’s Note Democrats and Cubs fans have something in common.

CITY LIFE

05 Street View An architecture student with style 06 Companions Dogs in friendly but unoﬃcial areas

NEWS & POLITICS

08 Feature The joys and struggles of Chicago’s migrant go-go boys

11 Caporale | 2024 DNC If you’ve got the whole world’s attention, how do you use it?

FOOD & DRINK

14 Feature CPL is a treasure trove for home cooks.

15 Reader Bites Rajas con queso at Stockyard Coﬀee

COMMENTARY

16 Isaacs | Culture The Freaks Came Out to Write is a rollicking history of the Village Voice

ARTS & CULTURE

17 Comic Daniel Borzutzky on his latest poetry book

18 Feature Semicolon Books opens in Mag Mile location.

19 Review Kendall Hill’s lush art publication

THEATER

20 Review Mark Pracht’s The House of Ideas at City Lit brings the birth of Marvel Comics to the stage.

21 Plays of Note 1776, 7 Minutes to Live, and The Full Monty

24 Feature A Gene Siskel series explores how cinema reﬂects and shapes the sociopolitical landscape.

26 Moviegoer Thoughts and prayers

26 Movies of Note The Crow reboot’s central love story keeps it aﬂoat; viewing It Ends With Us is an exercise in managing one’s expectations.

MUSIC & NIGHTLIFE

27 Chicagoans of Note Shravan Raghuram, drummer and indie workaholic

30 Shows of Note Previews of concerts including Mages Guild takeover, the Lox, Shaboozey, and the Evanston Folk Festival

34 Gossip Wolf OutPastMidnight celebrate ﬁve years of bringing hip-hop to the people, the Old Town School continues the party for Ella Jenkins’s 100th, and more.

CLASSIFIEDS

32 Jobs

33 Professionals & Services

33 Auditions

33 Housing

BACK

35 Savage Love Quick answers on asexuality, “holding it in,” and more

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Monsters, Mendelssohn, and Mars

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STAFF NOTE Reader Letters m

Re: “The Kenwood Academy band keeps jazz young,” written by Jake Austen and published in the August 29 issue (volume 53, number 30)

I think Kenwood [Academy] helps many young artists tap into their cra and many have become MASTERS in jazz. —Yvonne Oby, via X

Re: “The greatest party on earth?” written by Katie Prout and published in the August 29 issue

This is an excellent piece. Almost certainly the best writing I’ve read on the convention. It almost reads like a Godspeed song. —Area Man (@WB05Karl), via X

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

m letters@chicagoreader.com

We’ve reached that funny phase of the election season where Democrats invent new explanations for why they will lose.

Actually, every phase of the election season is like that for Democrats—one of the most compulsively, angst-ridden collections of gloom-and-doomers since pre-2016 Cubs fans.

Cubs fans always thought they were going to lose (as that’s all they had ever known), right up until that moment when Kris Bryant threw the ball to Anthony Rizzo for the ﬁ nal out in the 2016 World Series.

The Democrats have had more success than the Cubs, winning three out of the last four presidential elections.

But no matter how much the Democrats win, they think they’re going to lose—because they lost the one they thought they were gonna win (also back in 2016).

I’m pretty sure I’ve heard all the usual explanations as to why they’ll lose come November. Including . . .

“The electorate will never elect another Black person.” Or a woman. Or a Black woman.

Or a Black woman with a di erent-sounding name. And so on and so on.

One of the most innovative explanations came from E, an old friend, who said he worried because (get this) Democrats might be overconﬁdent after their jubilant convention.

Proving once again that no one can turn a positive into a negative like a Democrat.

Now, to be clear, there have been moments in relatively recent history when Democrats were overconﬁ dent. As in 2016, when mainstream Dems, convinced Trump could not beat Hillary, overlooked the states they needed to safeguard to concentrate on states they had no chances of winning.

That was the election in which Michelle Obama infamously responded to Trump’s trash talking by saying, “When they go low, we go high.”

A position she probably took because she figured the election was in the bag and she didn’t think she’d have to fight fire with fire.

A mistake she won’t make again. As we now know from her “hit ’em low” speech at this year’s convention.

My point being—Democrats, still shell-

shocked over 2016, have taken things in a different direction, convincing themselves they’re losing even when they’re winning.

In other words, the notion that Democrats will get overconﬁdent is absurd.

So, yes, there may be reasons the Dems wind up losing in November. But overconﬁdence will not be one of them.

In fact, worrying that Dems will let down their guard because they’re overconfident illustrates the anxiety, paranoia, and dread that keeps Dems from being overconﬁdent in the ﬁrst place. And yet . . .

As a long-suffering Chicago sports fan, I understand where my friend E is coming from.

You can tempt fate. Like when Bulls announcer Adam Amin says Coby White is a great free throw shooter, pretty much guaranteeing that Coby will miss the ensuing free throw attempt.

So, E, keep predicting gloom and doom for the Democrats. It can’t hurt. v

—Ben Joravsky, senior writer m bjoravsky@chicagoreader.com

The selﬁ e area at McCormick Place during the DNC ANNA WAGNER FOR CHICAGO READER

ANNA WAGNER FOR CHICAGO READER

CITY LIFE

STREET

VIEW

Mood board

An architecture student wears his heart on his sleeve.

By ISA GIALLORENZO

Fashion is all about feelings for 20-yearold Kenneth Woodards. “If I want to feel comfy, I might put on a jogging set. If I’m just feeling happy and want to dress up, I might just put on a whole suit,” he said. “You really never know what you’re getting when you’re working with me. . . . I like to wear all types of clothes.”

I photographed Woodards in West Humboldt Park on a day when he was directly expressing a feeling with his outﬁt. His style was created with “anger” in mind . . . but not his own.

He was headed over to watch Inside Out 2 at the Logan Theatre with old high school friends, and they had decided to each dress as the different feelings portrayed in the movie. Woodards’s pants, covered with red flamelike frays, were perfect for the job. He later told me, “I’ve actually been wanting a pair of those pants for a while, but I could never find them. One day, I found them in the mall down by my school—I knew I just had to get them.”

Woodards paired his fiery skinny jeans with a snug, white button-down shirt like the Anger character wears in the Inside Out series. Anger also wears a tie, but Woodards instead opted for other well-coordinated adornments.

I was really young, to change the laces of my shoes [to ﬁt my outﬁt]. When I was growing up, my parents would only buy me black shoes because they were afraid I would mess up any other color. So my way of adding colors to the shoes was changing the laces,” Woodards recalled.

Self-described as a “glitz and glam” type, Woodards sported a cape, crown, and bedazzled shoes for his high school prom. He learned to sew during his senior year at Wes tinghouse College Prep, so that he could alter clothing that didn’t really fit him. Woodards still pursues his sartorial interests at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where he studies architecture and is part of a fashion organization. “For me, it’s all about design. With my fashion, a lot of the things I wear, I design myself,” he told me. Architecture is a subject Woodards has wanted to study since sixth grade. “I just mixed subjects I liked, such as drawing and geometry. I will say, though, that once I got to college, [I found out] geometry does not play a big part in architecture at all. It’s more of trigonometry, physics, and calculus. So yeah, that’s one thing I wasn’t expecting,” he shared.

“Me being a fashion guy, I try to match all my accessories with my outﬁts. So I bought a wristband for my Apple Watch to pair it with the black and red. And my necklace and bracelet, I actually made them myself. They have black and red beads with pearls in between,” he described.

The attention to detail continued to the cover of his iPhone, and even the laces on his Nikes. “That’s been a habit of mine since

Thankfully, navigating the unexpected is not something Woodards shies away from, at least in terms of style. “I know some people stick to only one way of dressing but I would encourage them to branch out more because you never know. When you’re really confined to one speciﬁc way of doing things, that doesn’t do anything for you. . . . I just want people to put their best foot forward.” v

m letters@chicagoreader.com

Kenneth Woodards ISA GIALLORENZO

DOG-FRIENDLY AREAS

For more information on city-sanctioned areas where dogs are allowed to run and play off-leash, go to chicagoparkdistrict.com.

COMPANIONS

A dog’s day out

Chicagoans turn to

unoﬃcial

By SHIRA FRIEDMAN-PARKS

Tdog-friendly spaces to socialize with pups.

he City of Chicago boasts 33 designated o -leash dog parks, or dog friendly areas (DFAs). These parks require owners to annually purchase a $10 vet-certiﬁed permit confirming they are healthy and dewormed and feature a double fence to prevent dogs from escaping the designated area. The development of o cial dog friendly areas is based on local citizens’ desire and resources and usually requires a hefty minimum community investment of $150,000.

It is not at all surprising, then, that people turn to uno cial spaces—generally, midsize,

mostly-fenced-in parks—to let their dogs run off-leash when an official DFA is not within walking distance. These uno cial dog spaces are not condoned by the Chicago Park District, who state that, DFAs withstanding, “A City of Chicago ordinance requires dogs to be on leashes in public areas for the protection of fellow residents, as well as the dogs themselves.”

When I visited some of these parks—one on the north side, one on the south side, and one near the lake—proximity was the top reason people initially turned to nearby unofficial

Harper, Karma, and Zavi play. ALL PHOTOS BY SHIRA FRIEDMAN-PARKS

Clockwise starting from le : Baby Marbles in a human’s arms; Stella chases Koda; Pepper in a human’s lap; red-haired Benny and brunette Nina with their people.

spaces to give their dogs exercise. Green space was a close second: many DFAs are exclusively concrete with small patches of astroturf and little to no shade. To many, these small fencedin concrete squares feel more carceral than inviting.

Still, while proximity and green space may have motivated people to start utilizing unofficial areas, the community that forms within is what keeps them coming back. “It’s a third place,” a south-side informal dog park member told me, referencing sociologist Ray Oldenburg’s concept that social spaces are integral to a community’s well-being (home and work being one’s ﬁrst and second place, respectively). “We usually bring a bottle of wine on Fridays.”

Because of both the community-oriented and unregulated nature of informal dog parks, people look out for each other’s dogs to a higher degree than they feel o cial dog parkgoers do. The sentiment that “we all look out for one another” was repeated more times than I could count, whether in the context of cleaning up after dogs, calling dogs that run outside

CITY LIFE

the gates or begin to wander off, exploring new scents, or maintaining space for other park-goers. “When you go to Montrose [Dog Beach], you don’t know the other people, you don’t know the other dogs,” someone told me, elaborating with DFA stories of “wild cards,” injuries, and owners who let their dogs offleash to cease paying them attention, instead attending to phone calls. This is not to say that informal dog park members are unwelcoming of newcomers; really, the opposite is true. They just want dog owners to be involved.

Informal dog parks are a unique third place in that they sustain community between humans and dogs that goes beyond human-to-human or dog-to-dog friendships.

“A lot of the dogs come here for the people,” one member remarked. And this community is long-lasting: two south-side members noted they’d been bringing their dogs to the park for 20-plus years, spanning three dogs each.

“I come here to see my human buddies and my dog buddies,” one told me. “It’s pleasant.” v

m letters@chicagoreader.com

NEWS & POLITICS

IMMIGRATION

The struggles And joys of ChicAgo’s migrAnt go-go boys

Migrant men ﬁnd an unconventional path in erotic dancing that oﬀers the possibility of economic stability—and unique challenges.

By ROGER FIERRO, CITY BUREAU

This article was copublished with City Bureau, a nonproﬁt journalism lab reimagining local news.

Men dressed solely in underwear pepper an uncrowded, low-lit gay club in Chicago’s Northalsted neighborhood on a chilly weekend night. Pop music thumps loud enough to drown out intimate conversation. Bartenders mix drinks, breaking larger bills into singles for clusters of friends huddled together.

Wearing a seductive gaze and not much else, a dancer moves impassively on a glowing platform. Pale green bills peek out of his tiny briefs. This stage time serves as an ad of sorts; once off the platform, he circles the room keeping patrons company. His goal is to spark a connection and propose a lap dance. It costs less than what you’d think—about the same as takeout dinner for one, not including tip. It’s not my ﬁrst night at the club; I’ve become a ﬁxture among the sta and cast of dancers. This atmosphere isn’t the usual backdrop of stories about work-starved asylum seekers facing abuse in Home Depot parking lots, barbers cutting hair in neighborhood parks, or families selling goods on busy streets.

But like many of the people in those stories, go-go dancers have to possess certain soft skills. Go-go dancing requires charm and physical appeal—but the precarity is the same. Dancers face labor, safety, and mental health issues—along with occasional, unwelcome groping—but seem to be have fun in spite of it all.

Then again, maybe they’re just excellent at creating an illusion for the sake of the fantasy.

I’m not going to tell you the name of the dancers or even the name of the club. The reason is simple: I wanted an in-depth look at this unconventional path, and I didn’t want to compromise the dancers’ ability to make

a living. In a cutthroat job market like go-go dancing, it would be too easy for a club owner to see a dancer’s name in print and cut them immediately.

The dancers requested anonymity to protect their jobs, their pending asylum appli-

cations, and their own personal safety; so all names in this article have been changed. At the start of my reporting at the Northalsted clubs, I lean over to Miguel, a Cuban go-go boy who has a ectionately started calling me ella, a Spanish feminine pronoun, and ask, “Are there ever Latino nights at this club?” He gestures to the crowd of about 20 club patrons and eight dancers, five of whom appear to be Latino. “Look around,” he says playfully. “This is Latino night.”

More than 47,000 asylum seekers, predom-

GABY FEBLAND FOR

inantly from Venezuela, have been flown or bussed to Chicago from Texas, and thousands of migrants are making Chicago their new home after a long trek from parts of South America. Migrants fleeing Venezuela are escaping hyperinﬂation, violence, political and economic instability, starvation, and poverty.

Once they arrive in the United States, ﬁnding work is often their top priority. Most have no family or friends in the country, let alone a work permit. Some have encountered violence or labor exploitation, risking threats or working without pay in the hopes of scraping out a living.

Despite these hurdles, a few Venezuelan and Colombian migrant men are finding opportunity in bars and clubs, leveraging their eroticized personas to turn go-go dancing into a way to make ends meet.

“We just want to work and make a living for ourselves,” says Marco, 26, who requested we not use his real name because of his pending asylum application. “I’ve done hard work in restaurants as a server and busboy, cleaning, [working in] construction. But now I have this job and can work less and still make good money. . . . I know what I’m worth.”

As one of the more popular dancers, he exudes confidence. Marco has a slim build, visible abs, and light skin. “I didn’t even have to audition,” he says proudly. “I came in, met the manager, and started that same night.”

He’s been dancing since he was 18 and still living in Venezuela. He identiﬁes as straight, but his sister’s gay friends told him he could make good money dancing. He continued dancing when he moved with his wife to Colombia in 2017. In 2022, the couple decided to come to the United States. He flew from Bogotá, Colombia, to Mexico City, took a bus to border city Piedras Negras, and crossed into the U.S. through Eagle Pass, Texas.

He spent two days in the hielera—the icebox—a name for immigration detention facilities. Once released, he took a bus to Chicago. His cousin helped him find go-go jobs. He’s applying for asylum with the help of a lawyer, who is charging him $5,000.

Marco makes his job look easy. Calm and quiet, he hangs around me between sets. “I

don’t always like to dance, but I like to make money,” he tells me. When I ask him what else he likes about his job, he smiles big and says it’s chimba, a Colombian term meaning “very cool.”

His fellow dancer Brad, 28, decided to try go-go dancing after an Uber driver confessed he did it on the side and made good money. “Even more than money, what I like about it is that it’s an environment where men receive compliments,” he says, “where the male gaze is allowed.” Brad is a white actor and describes himself as a classic Clark Kent type. He’s been doing go-go for the past ﬁve years and has a dedicated fan base.

A couple years ago, Brad began to notice a trend in the new guys coming onto the scene after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic: Before 2020, there were more white and straight-identifying guys, but after the pandemic, more tended to be Latino. They make up roughly 40 percent of dancers at present, he says.

At this particular nightclub, about seven of them are Venezuelan or Colombian. A bar patron in town from Texas said he noticed this same trend in male strip clubs down south, as well.

The shift in some ways is tied to cultural tropes of Latino passion, says Héctor Carrillo, a professor of sociology at Northwestern University, who studies sexuality, immigration, and health. His 2017 book, Pathways of Desire: The Sexual Migration of Mexican Gay Men , tells the stories of gay Mexican immigrants in San Diego, before and after their journeys to the United States.

The men Carrillo spoke with saw Latino passion as a source of collective empowerment and solidarity. They “used this perception as a way to build their identities in the U.S. in a way that gave them a sense of pride,” Carrillo says. Using that lens of empowerment, immigrants can turn the stereotype into an advantage, Carrillo says. “People learn to recognize the embodied aspects of their sexualities—in terms of their features, their experiences—that they can bring into a sexual space, where that can give them avenues to present themselves as more attractive,” says Carrillo. Being a recent migrant might be a disadvantage in other workplaces, but for a go-go dancer it can provide an edge and win clients’ favor.

“I didn’t even hAve to Audition. I cAme in, met the mAnAger, And stArted thAt sAme night.”

The flip side of this perception is the op-

pressive Latin lover stereotype, a problematic representation that oversexualizes Latin American culture. However, in the case of migrant go-go dancers, the archetype can be leveraged as erotic capital in the form of tips.

At the clubs, you can spot the most successful dancers based on how much cash is stu ed in the various elastics of their underwear. While making the rounds, a tall, thin guy wearing a baja hoodie and a thong stays busy. He glides over to me and offers a lap dance. Admittedly, his charms are effective, but I manage to redirect his e orts toward a group of fawning would-be admirers.

As the overdressed dancer walks by, Marco says twice under his breath that he makes “good money.” There’s a bit of envy there, but

mostly respect. Aside from Marco—who says he can make $500 on a good night and up to $1,000 on a “really good night”—some of the other migrant dancers don’t seem to make as much as the thin, young white guys. One says he’s only made $17 “so far” by midnight. Though it varies by bar, go-go boys typically don’t make an hourly wage and work exclusively for tips. They can make enough to cover a month of rent on a good night or, if things are slow, barely enough for a car ride home. Exotic dancer labor rights have been in the news nationally in recent months. Last fall, dancers in Los Angeles organized, resulting in the only unionized strip club in the country. In Washington state this year, advocates worked to pass the so-called Strippers’ Bill of Rights,

GABY FEBLAND FOR CITY BUREAU / CHICAGO READER

NEWS & POLITICS

continued from p. 9

which includes safety measures like panic buttons and mandatory sexual harassment training for all employees.

Out of 75 federal and state court rulings on wage and hour claims involving dancers and strip clubs from 2000 to 2015, all but three ruled in favor of the dancers, according to University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign labor relations professor Michael LeRoy. (None of the cases were in Illinois.)

“They tell us we’re contractors, not employees, but some of us work full-time or more,” says Josh, a pretty Puerto Rican guy with high cheekbones and a petite frame. His observations about the highs and lows of dancing are frank and poignant.

“The majority of this job is establishing a connection with someone and getting them to come back. Not knowing English can be a huge barrier to connecting with clients,” he says, adding that some dancers get creative and use translation apps.

Luis, another Spanish-speaking dancer, concurs.

“It’s harder for me to talk with the clients, so I don’t make as much as the guys who speak English do,” Luis says. He is cheerful but hesitant to chat, not wanting to cause any problems with his asylum application. He’s from a small Venezuelan city where, although there were gay clubs, being gay was taboo. After a couple of years in Colombia, he came to the United States in the summer of 2023. He and his brother had to cross the treacherous jungle twice on their journey. They now share an apartment on the southwest side.

Go-go dAncing requires chArm And physicAl AppeAl— but the precArity is the sAme.

him, dancing isn’t just a job but a place where he can thrive and make community with coworkers and clients alike.

I ask a regular what makes a good dancer.

“The best thing would be someone who can make you believe, even for a short time, that they are as interested in you as you are in them . . . and [someone who you can] have a nice conversation with,” he says.

Generous clients tend to be older men who aren’t embarrassed to be there. Others seem intimidated and content to just watch. They require coaxing to go further and seem confused about the rules of engagement. I watch as a middle-aged guy in glasses nervously pulls out two dollars to tuck into a leopard-print thong while his braver friend gets a lap dance.

One memorable night, a guy in an oversized puffy white coat stands behind Marco while dancing on the platform, and starts to make it rain dollars. The dancer is a bit shocked, then surprised and motivated to put on a better show while being showered with money. The crowd loves it, and tips start flowing more freely.

Luis takes apparent pride in his body. He has been go-go dancing for less than a year and previously worked in hospitality as a “houseman” at a country club on the North Shore. He had never danced before, but he prefers working in the clubs because he can be himself and be openly gay. For

In the universe I create

there are fewer moments of fear be safe is no longer a plea I wrap around every goodbye. safety is a feeling we learn along the way even if it does not describe where we are from who we are from even if a body does not not how to know Safe we deserve to know I know we are soft enough to learn, to repair what has been hardened.

By LaLa Bolander

This scene, fueled by cash and fantasy, captures a go-go club in its best moments. Still, each night, a dancer could go home with next to nothing, a huge blow for those who make their entire living from tips. This is especially true of these migrant men who do not have many other options, yet appear to be making the most of their time on the platform. v

LaLa Bolander is an artist and storyteller who writes to examine the intricate relationships connecting humans to the worlds around + between us. She is an alumna of Kuumba Lynx Performance Ensemble and UW First Wave Hip Hop & Urban Arts program and has shared her art on many stages across the country. LaLa currently has installation work on display at the Poetry Making Playground at the Westside Justice Center - follow her work at lalanomada.com

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

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

Summer Hours

Wednesday–Saturday: 11:00 AM–5:00 PM

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

Join us for the screening of A Bigger Table: 50 Years of the Chicago Poetry Center, a short documentary which follows CPC from its roots as a platform for censored writers to its present-day mission of continuing to build a bigger table for poets in Chicago and beyond. Following the screening, ﬁlmmaker Moyo Abiona, CPC Director of Programs Helene Achanzar, and CPC Poet in Residence Joy Young will have a panel discussion and answer questions from audience members.

September 14, 2024 at 11 AM

Open Door/Front Porch

The ﬁrst Open Door event of the fall season features Front Porch Arts Center founder and artistic director Keli Stewart accompanied by George Bailey and Ciara Miller. Also featured will be Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Fellowship ﬁnalist Kira Tucker in collaboration with Scheherezade Tillet, co-founder and director of A Long Walk Home.

September 14, 2024 at 2 PM

Learn more at PoetryFoundation.org

GABY FEBLAND FOR CITY BUREAU / CHICAGO READER

Great like 68?

PART OF THE CPD’S SUCCESS AT THE DNC—IF IT COULD BE CALLED THAT—WAS CREATING AN AUTHORITARIAN PANOPTICON THAT DICTATED WHAT PROTEST LOOKED LIKE.

By MICCO CAPORALE

Nothing loomed over this year’s Democratic National Convention (DNC) like the specter of 1968, when live footage of Chicago police cracking the skulls and dragging the bodies of anti-war protesters invaded living rooms worldwide. Earlier this year, national news outlets began to draw comparisons between then and now: “Is it 1968 all over again?” NPR asked. “The ghost of the 1968 antiwar movement has returned,” the New York Times said. One local anti-imperialist group called Behind Enemy Lines (BEL) even took to the Progressive to announce it intended to “make it [the DNC] great like ’68”—an attitude the group continued broadcasting for months on its website and Instagram account and which was boosted in local news outlets like WBEZ.

On Tuesday, August 20, BEL delivered the spectacle they promised to a robust audience of journalists and an even bigger one of cops. Though it was nothing of the scale or scope of 1968, it took up the most protest oxygen that week—and resulted in the most arrests. One could debate the wisdom of advertising a militant direct action at the highest-proﬁle political event of Chicago’s year. Might as well say, “Hey cops, come get me!” But if the cops are watching you, how do you ensure others are watching them? And if you’ve got the whole world’s attention, how do you use it?

Behind Enemy Lines grew from loose conversations between Michael Boyte and two unnamed collaborators in the wake of 2020’s protests condemning the police murder of George Floyd. Before October 7, BEL’s e orts had been piecemeal and disparate. When the war in Gaza broke out, BEL decided to focus their limited resources on that. “We’ve gotten more hostile towards the left at large because we’re watching things that seem obviously

ine ective,” Boyte says. “We’ve been disheartened with the weekly Palestine marches in Chicago that, at the beginning, demonstrated this mass opposition. But as the genocide got worse, it’s like, ‘Cool, another Saturday going downtown to yell at a building.’ We’ve chosen to distance ourselves from that and look for friends and allies elsewhere. That’s caused some friction, but we ultimately think it’s worth it.”

People—especially Palestinian Americans who call Chicago home—have been organizing against Israeli occupation for decades. There’s an impetuousness to being the new kid on the block and acting winded and resentful from a lack of swift change in a fight that’s demanded tremendous stamina. And when that new kid is some fledgling outfit organized by a middleaged white guy? Good grief.

At the same time, there’s an urgency to this moment because so many understand we are witnessing genocide. In Let the Record Show, a political history of ACT UP, writer and activist Sarah Schulman notes that AIDS was killing people so quickly organizers didn’t waste time debating tactics. That attitude is similar to Malcolm X’s when he popularized Jean-Paul Sartre’s liberatory call: “by any means necessary.” (As it happens, Sarah Schulman is an outspoken anti-Zionist Jew.)

In early August, I asked Boyte if he really thought it was possible to shut down the DNC. Would it really be great to face police violence like 60s anti-war protesters? In short: no, neither of those were his goal.

In 1968, “people were watching these SDS [Students for a Democratic Society] and antiwar kids get beat up by the CPD from their hotel rooms, and anti-war delegates started throwing toilet paper down to fuck with the cops,” Boyte says. “They started pelting them with ashtrays and phones.” What would it take to garner that kind of sympathy today?

I“f the 1968 convention went down in history as the example of police brutality,” said Mayor Brandon Johnson at a celebratory post-DNC press conference, “then the 2024 convention will go down as the example of constitutional policing.”

At the event’s height, BEL’s protest outside the Israeli consulate near Union Station drew roughly 200 demonstrators and probably as many journalists—plus some 300-500 cops (some have estimated as many as 1,000). There were a lot of cops. I attended DNC protests all over the city at all hours of the day and night for four days, and at any given time, it felt like I could fart and at least three cops would smell it. But there were an especially large number of cops that night, as well as counterprotesters and white supremacists. At one point, one of the white supremacists picked a BEL poster of Biden up from the ground and remarked to his friends, “I guess Genocide Joe and I see eye-to-eye on a few things.”

Before the bulk of protesters had arrived, police had already formed a gate of bodies on both sides of Madison and closed off Canal. Several o cers climbed sca olding to observe

the crowd and take photos. A group of socialists materialized with Land Back flags. One was David, a petite, soft-spoken, 20-something Chicane resident of Chicago whose family lineage extends back to members of the Nahua tribe in central Mexico. Understanding how his ancestors were subjugated by colonialism and Mexican independence makes him feel emotionally connected to Palestinians as people living under occupation and being displaced.

David wasn’t planning anything antagonistic (“I want to head home at the end of the night!” he laughed) and didn’t know anyone who’d come for that, either. For him, the most important thing was having and sharing information with like minds.

Danny Rochman is a secular Jew in his 60s who was born in South Africa but now lives in Chicago. “My family left when apartheid was happening in the early 60s,” he said. “We know about apartheid. Israel is apartheid.” He was surprised at the low turnout that night compared to a march on Sunday which drew several hundred—but he was even more surprised by how many cops were present.

A member of Chicago police brass snaps photos of protesters. JOSH DRUDING FOR CHICAGO READER

NEWS & POLITICS

continued from p. 11

“It’s intimidating,” he said. “Sunday night, they flanked us on both sides holding their bikes as a seal. It intimidates you out of joining, which is your constitutional right.”

Things kicked off with a rally just after 7 PM. As attendees and journalists gathered to listen, cops assembled to close o Clinton. They surrounded protesters on all sides. While speeches continued, more cops appeared, forming tight rows of twos, threes, and fours with blue riot helmets on and face shields already down. To move in any direction was to brush against a thicket of cops braced for confrontation.

Most of the evening was spent at something of a standstill. Clustered in di erent parts of the tightly contained square block, protesters tried to keep momentum going with chants and shouts. They burned two ﬂags. Any time someone got close to a cop, officers would shout, “Move!” or “Disperse!”—though it was often hard to tell which way to go. One cop would say one direction while another said the opposite.

By 8 PM, cops were screaming for journalists and protesters to get out of the street. White supremacists circulated the streets freely with no reproach, some broadcasting live from their phones. Around 8:40 PM, the protest managed to push down the sidewalk on Clinton and head south but was quickly kettled at Adams and pushed by police against a Circle K. Employees were so terrified they rushed to lock the door and pull closed the security gate.

The more they tried to exercise any freedom of movement, the more police honed in, often with batons already drawn. By 8:50 PM, the demonstration successfully made it to Canal and Monroe. Maybe 50 demonstrators remained. They’d traversed three sides of a square block. People were exhausted. Journalists were leaving. And cops declared a mass arrest.

While protesters left at different points, that exit was challenging. Often—even early in the evening—cops refused to let them. Some press broke through the barricade of cops by showing their credentials, but many demonstrators who wanted to disperse voluntarily were kept confined. At other points, even members of the press were told they couldn’t exit. Are these the de-escalation tactics cops spent a year rehearsing?

Of the publicly released arrest reports, a little over half of those arrested are from

Chicago, the suburbs, or a nottoo-distant city. Just under half were people of color. A few are career protesters with records for politically motivated actions but most are people whose lives don’t center on “revolution.”

Among them is a 58-year-old dock worker, a 24-year-old IT specialist, an Ivy-educated law student, a high-profile Iranian photographer, and a famous glitch artist. Many are college age.

At least three clearly marked journalists were arrested. They’ve since been charged with the same generic “disorderly conduct” charge that most protesters receive, including the majority that night. It is a vague charge police can use whenever they are annoyed, and it carries up to a $1,000 ﬁne, which makes it higher-risk for low-income people. Often such charges against protesters are dropped, especially with public pressure— but only after months of punishing limbo and bureaucracy.

Most Americans do not support this war. We are witnessing genocide. Neither of these facts has inﬂuenced Vice President Kamala Harris. On August 30, she told CNN: “I’m unequivocal and unwavering in my commitment to Israel’s defense and its ability to defend itself. And that’s not gonna change. But let’s take a step back. October 7, 1,200 people are massacred, many young people who are simply attending a musical festival. Women were horribly raped. As I said then, I say today: Israel has a right to defend itself.”

It’s similar to rhetoric used by Chicago police superintendent Larry Snelling to describe the BEL protest during a press conference the next morning. He claimed at least half the protesters were outsiders intent on “committing acts of violence and vandalism.” Protesters made o cers feel unsafe, he said, and sexually harassed and degraded female members of the CPD. “We have a right to defend ourselves.”

Part of the CPD’s success at the DNC—if it could be called that—was creating an authoritarian panopticon where they dictated what protest looked like. Anything they couldn’t quell was met with rhetorical games to discredit it. Snelling said protesters were

corralled at Circle K because, if they continued, he knew they would commit crimes. After repeatedly emphasizing that his o cers were attacked, he revealed only two su ered minor injuries and both refused medical attention. How can officers be scared when, for every one protester, there were three to five cops with batons, shields, and guns? Arrest records overwhelmingly show most protesters were unarmed.

In person and upon reviewing other outlets’ footage of the BEL protest, I did not observe any sexual harassment of o cers. This doesn’t mean officers weren’t harassed so much as it means claims might be exaggerated. Many justifications of Israel’s violence center on similar claims: the raping of Israelis by Palestinians—a fact Harris reiterated to CNN to justify her support of Israel despite U.N. reports showing these claims are probably factual but likely extremely overblown. Meanwhile, there are robust victim statements and witness testimonies that Palestinian women have been raped and continue to be raped, especially by Israeli soldiers. One of the legacies of Emmett Till, whose accuser lied about his advances, is that the perceived frailty of women—especially white women—can easily be manipulated to excuse atrocities.

Contemporary policing dates back to 1700s slave patrols that were designed to quell slave uprisings and establish a system of terror that

kept slaves obedient from fear of how much worse it could be. That’s largely how they operate today, though it’s far less obvious. Instead of enforcing explicit racial hierarchies to justify incarcerating people and exploiting their labor, they use racist and classist proﬁling techniques and technology to ﬁll prisons, where 76 percent of people are forced to work—for pennies on the dollar—or face additional punishment.

Further, many police departments—including the CPD—have been trained by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), sometimes derisively called the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF). Training trips to Israel are often paid for, at least in part, by the Anti-Defamation League, the American Jewish Committee’s Project Interchange, and the Jewish Institute for National Security of America. In 2016, Amnesty International wrote: “These trainings put . . . U.S. law enforcement employees in the hands of military, security, and police systems that have racked up documented human rights violations for years.”

Much fanfare has been made about how BEL showed up at the DNC. Leading up to it, people accused them of not providing adequate jail support or taking COVID-safety precautions. After August 20, the group was implicitly condemned in a joint statement issued by Chicago organizers who tend to work

Protesters gather outside the Israeli consulate to demand an immediate arms embargo. JOSH DRUDING FOR CHICAGO READER

through more traditional political channels. BEL’s militancy, it seemed, threatened everyone’s safety. This seems like a lot to lay at the feet of a very small group whose greatest accomplishment so far has been . . . making a ruckus. But whether or not you agree with their approach, they’ve managed to get a lot of attention—including to how the CPD is adjusting itself to preserve the institution of policing and cast doubts on protesters that create spectacles.

There’s been almost no public mention of the group’s other actions before or during the DNC. BEL held events almost every day for two weeks, mostly skillshares and teach-ins about building a culture of resistance. On Saturday, August 17, they held hour-long speak-outs in

Pilsen, Hyde Park, Rogers Park, and Albany Park. The Albany Park event began with local BEL members and comrades who’d come into town to help with the week sharing facts and feelings about the war in Gaza. While they plugged the upcoming action at the Israeli consulate, their main asks were low-stakes: hanging a pro-Palestine poster in your window; taking posters to local businesses and asking them to hang the posters, too; sharing what you know about Palestine with others in your community; and committing not to vote for anyone who’s supported Israel these past ten months.

The event attracted an audience of about 40 people, including a few families. In one, the parents wore modest athleisure while the kids—around two and five—wore matching

cotton sundresses in tastefully groovy prints. They carried a sign that read, “Koreans for Gaza,” in English as well as something in Korean. Two Muslim women in their late 50s or early 60s stumbled onto the event and were moved to pick up BEL signs. When an older white man started accosting them and calling them names, members of BEL deescalated the situation and gently separated the parties.

Abdul stood out because he’s a baby-faced 30-year-old who was wearing a lightweight white thobe and white taqiyah, and he was linking arms with Abir, an older man in jeans, a polo, and reflective sunglasses. They are both Algerian immigrants who live in Albany Park and became friends after seeing each other in a local park multiple times. When Abdul became emotional during speeches, he would close his eyes and sing softly to himself. As the event wrapped, I asked him what the song was: Maher Zain’s “Free Palestine,” which he’d learned from TikTok.

“The Quran teaches tolerance,” he explained. “God doesn’t care what religion you are as long as you have peace in your heart. He gave each of us a brain, and it’s up to us to ﬁnd the light. . . . We should all reject extremism, but God says murder is just when it’s in self-defense. Palestinians have a right to defend themselves.”

Abdul and Abir were on a casual walk together when they noticed the speak-out, but they said it gave them hope to see people talking about Palestine so openly in their

neighborhood.

Nando, 36, became a citizen in 2020, so immigrant rights are important to him. He’s been going to Black Lives Matter and similar protests for a long time; it’s what led him to learn about and support Palestine. In November, he was one of the tens of thousands who marched through Freedom Plaza and past the White House to demand a ceaseﬁre. “It makes me feel uneasy seeing such a large number of police,” he said. “They’re more interested in protecting the DNC. . . . I feel uncomfortable and disenfranchised knowing that’s where our taxes are going.”

There’s a joke somewhere that police were deployed in overwhelming droves during the nomination of a woman who’s frequently called herself “Top Cop.” It’s easy to be sympathetic to what’s happening to Palestinians, who are self-reporting their living conditions on social media daily. It’s much harder to show how pro-Palestine protesters are facing a David-and-Goliath ﬁght of their own. Before the DNC, the city spent months restricting who, where, and how people could rally. During it, police practiced visual intimidation that was reinforced with outsized ﬂexions of strength. BEL demonstrated exactly how hard it is to color outside the lines of acceptable dissent. But they attracted enough attention that journalists were invested in their action—and monitoring police’s response to it. August 20 proved a meta-allegory on how the state reinforces its own legitimacy and power. How this shapes pro-Palestine actions going forward remains to be seen. v

A longer version of this piece appears online at chicagoreader.com.

mcaporale@chicagoreader.com

BOOKS

Checking out the cookbook clubs of the Chicago Public Library

The popular nonﬁction category lends itself to exploring other cultures.

By CHARLIE KOLODZIEJ

With glossy photo spreads and wide page margins, cookbooks are almost as tantalizing as the lifestyles they sell—one in which you’re casually whipping up roasted artichokes after work or preparing a delicious meal for 20 of your closest (hot) friends. The same features that make cookbooks so appealing (nice paper, pretty photos, hard covers) can also make them a little too expensive for the average reader. Luckily, we have the Chicago Public Library (CPL): a resource for the home cook who wants to try something new without dropping $40 on whatever food writer Alison Roman is currently dishing out.

“Cookbooks are really popular,” says Lindsay Laren, the assistant commissioner in collections, content, and access. According to Laren, CPL has 9,500 cookbook titles in its collection, ranging from diet books to titles for teens and kids, to 100 variations on tacos from your favorite celebrity-turned-chef. This amounts to 54,214 cookbooks, a collection that has been circulated 1,313,230 times over their lifetime at the library. “That’s an average of about 24 checkouts per title,” says Laren. “It’s [one of] the most popular nonﬁction category

of books we have.” (The city also seems to have an unusually high demand for vegan and vegetarian cookbooks, says Laren, although she isn’t sure why.)

There is something special about cooking from a book. Maybe it’s the tangible transfer from page to real life, or maybe it just gives a certain bygone ﬂair that tapping through a recipe on your phone with sticky ﬁngers can’t match.

“We joke at our cookbook club that if the books are a little smudgy or there’s a little something inside when you unfold it, that those might be the best recipes,” says Sarah Tansley, branch manager at CPL’s Lincoln Park location and organizer of the branch’s Cookbook Cafe Book Club. Tansley started CPL’s ﬁrst cookbook club while working at the Humboldt Park branch in 2010. Since then, CPL has opened five additional clubs spread throughout the city.

Each month, Tansley selects a cookbook for her club from which to read and prepare dishes. This month is Cooking in Real Life by Lidey Heuck, which features dishes developed in partnership with Ina Garten of Barefoot Contessa fame. Members arrive with prepared

dishes, like okra salad from when the group reviewed Jubilee by Toni Tipton-Martin, and share a bit about their thoughts on each book. The group gives the cookbooks a grade out of ﬁve stars based on narrative style, ease of instruction, and, of course, whether the recipes were any good. The full list of past cookbooks that Tansley’s club has reviewed can be found on the CPL website.

“For everyone who attends the cookbook club, there’s a lot of learning that goes on around the table,” says Tansley. “There’s something about eating and sharing a meal that brings people together because it’s a cultural thing that we all do. Now, what we eat is different, and the rituals are different, but learning about that around cookbooks and other people’s traditions is just a gentle and interesting way to learn about someone else’s culture.”

For Chicago-centric cookbooks, Tansley recommends Midwestern Food by Paul Fehribach, eight-time James Beard Award semiﬁnalist and owner of Andersonville’s Big Jones restaurant. For baking, Tansley loves Midwest Made by Oak Parker Shauna Sever. “The bakes are so nostalgic and fantastic. It’s like, why would you crush up potato chips and put them in a cookie? Well, she’ll tell you why.”

In addition to the cookbook clubs,

CPL also has its Snacks in the Stacks video series, which lets patrons get their Food Network fix and simultaneously learn about the library. Peter Hamilton, head library clerk at the Jefferson Park branch, manages the series that shows him cooking dishes chosen from CPL’s cookbook collection. Past episodes feature Hamilton preparing hoecakes from The Rise by celebrity chef Marcus Samuelsson and milk-poached chicken from Darina Allen’s One Pot Feeds All

Hamilton’s favorite cookbook featured in the series is from chef Matty Matheson, who plays handyman Neil Fak on FX’s Chicago-based show The Bear . “His stuff is just awesome,” he explains. “He’s not just

Shelves and signage in a Chicago Public Library's cookbook aisles

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

talking about food, he’s also trying to make you laugh at the same time.” The library has preordered copies of Matheson’s latest book Soups, Salads, and Sandwiches, scheduled for publication later this fall.

Each branch has its own discretionary budget to purchase materials that reﬂect its local community. If you are at Pilsen’s Rudy Lozano branch you are likely to find titles like The SalviSoul Cookbook by Karla Tatiana Vasquez or Bricia Lopez’s Oaxaca. Or if you are at the Chinatown branch, you can find cookbooks on Asian cuisine available in Mandarin and other languages. (CPL has 264 cookbook titles available in Spanish, 249 in Chinese, and 72 in Polish.)

Rajas con queso bagel sandwich at the Stockyard Coﬀeehouse

I’m always on a breakfast sandwich hunt. I usually pick cafes based on my particular needs that day, considering my bank account, emotions, and work ﬂexibility. For hangovers, I stop at Bridgeport Coffee. Splurging days are for Bad Owl Co ee Roasters. And I can settle in at Base Community Cafe for remote work.

But I needed something consistent and reliable. Where, oh where was my scrumptious everyday sandwich?

FOOD & DRINK

When Hamilton ﬁrst started making videos under the Snacks in the Stacks mantle, he was working at the Little Village library branch, where he would often borrow from the collection’s large selection of Mexican and Latin American cookbooks. Library visitors would often give him edits on the cookbooks’ written recipes—tips and tricks from a lifetime of cooking similar foods. “I was trying to make roasted salsa without a grill,” says Hamilton.

“One of the aunties from the neighborhood said, ‘Don’t worry about making a mess, you can clean it up later.’” Great advice for the kitchen and for life. v

m letters@chicagoreader.com

sant, and my dish was warm, gooey, and soft. It was good, yes, but it needed some density and crunch.

That’s when my buddy said I should try it with an everything bagel. And—the most important part—I needed to add bacon.

The outcome was exactly what I’d been looking for: a crisp exterior thanks to the bagel and a warm, soft interior with a little bit of spice. The melted cheese, onions, and poblano peppers become one savory topping, while the bacon adds the saltiness and breakfastesque ﬂavor I crave in the morning. (You can also add avocado or other toppings for an extra charge.)

Tucked away in a residential area of Bridgeport, I finally found it; the Latina-owned Stockyard Co eehouse scratched my breakfast sandwich itch.

The shop serves your typical goodies: doughnuts, macaroons, lox bagels, and chicken wraps. But special on the list of items is the rajas con queso. Typically served as a taco or tamale, Stockyard instead o ers the option of croissant, wrap, or bagel. I had previously picked the crois-

It’s the perfect size, not too large but still does a great job of keeping you full hours after devouring it. Pair it with a cold brew with cardamom cold foam or a Mexican mocha affogato, and you’ll suddenly have a little bit more bounce in your morning step. —S. NICOLE LANE STOCKYARD COFFEEHOUSE 558 W. 37TH, $8.95 PLUS TOPPINGS, STOCKYARDCOFFEEHOUSE.COM v

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

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

BOOKS

ON CULTURE

The freaks came out to talk

Tricia Romano’s rollicking 600-page history of the Village Voice

By DEANNA ISAACS

This week, clearly feeling the need to get a jump on things, the New York Times Book Review devoted an entire issue to its list of the “100 Best Books of the 21st Century,” as chosen by 503 “literary luminaries.”

They didn’t bother to append a “so far” to the headline, though they did describe the project as “a ﬁrst swing.“

It’s understood that they’ll catch up with the second, third, and fourth quarters of this century as it plays out.

If they, and books, are still around then.

The Freaks Came Out to Write, Tricia Romano’s 608-page oral history of the Village Voice, somehow didn’t make the list. (I was glad to see that Chicago writer Rebecca Makkai’s The Great Believers did.) I’m thinking it might have just been published too late, brought out by the PublicAffairs imprint of Hachette Book Group on February 27 this year. Best-of judgments—even by luminaries— are subjective. This book is catnip for journalists, but also, I think, for anyone who ever lived in the Village or was a reader of the Voice or any of the alternative newsweeklies that sprang up in its wake, including this one. It’s a rich stew of a history, chronologically organized, but told in tasty morsels of conversation, mostly plucked from more than 200 interviews with former Voice employees conducted over a fouryear period and brilliantly sliced, diced, and blended.

by editor Dan Wolf, publisher Ed Fancher, and writer Norman Mailer. And then we’re off:

In the ﬁrst two pages of the ﬁrst chapter we learn that Wolf and Fancher met in a registration line for the New School, which both were attending on the GI Bill; that Wolf and

This book is catnip for journalists, but also, I think, for anyone who ever lived in the Village or was a reader of the Voice.

Mailer were roommates when Mailer wrote The Naked and the Dead; and that Fancher and Mailer never became close friends because Mailer married (and subsequently, infamously, stabbed) Fancher’s former girlfriend, Adele Morales. With an initial investment of $10,000, a commitment to independent journalism and, Fancher says, the intention to “make the world a better place,” they rented an office on Greenwich Avenue. When they opened the door, they were “amazed” at how many writers walked in.

tive New Journalism, investigative muckraking, and serious coverage of the arts thrived there. Jack Newﬁeld and Wayne Barrett reported on politicians and operators like Rudy Giuliani and Donald Trump; Andrew Sarris wrote about film; Robert Christgau and Richard Goldstein were rock critics and music editors. And news editor Mary Perot Nichols kept developer Robert Moses from running a highway through the Village’s Washington Square Park. I am barely scratching the surface.

Romano, a former Voice sta er, prefaces the book with an annotated list of its huge cast of characters, which I found myself turning back to frequently. There’s also a timeline, starting October 26, 1955, when the paper was launched

Cartoonist Jules

Feiffer joined the Voice in 1956, the same year that the paper’s first employee, critic and arts editor Jerry Tallmer, launched the off-Broadway Obie Awards as a Voice program. Mailer wrote a column, future mayor Ed Koch hung out in the o ce, and Wolf, eschewing objectivity, hired people who were passionate about what they covered. Narra-

In 1970, Wolf and Fancher sold their controlling ownership of the paper, and it was sold again in ’74 to New York magazine founder and editor Clay Felker. He fired Wolf and Fancher and sold the paper again, three years later, to Rupert Murdoch, sparking the formation of a sta union. Murdoch hired future publisher David Schneiderman away from the New York Times to be editor, and, in 1985, sold the Voice to “Parakeet King” (Hartz Mountain pet supply owner) Leonard Stern. In 2000—five more editors and a couple of Pulitzer Prizes later—Stern sold to a financial management group, and in 2005 it was fl ipped again and was under the ownership of (Phoenix) New Times founders Michael Lacey and John Larkin, described by ace Voice investigative reporter James Ridgeway as the “assholes who ruined it and wrecked it.”

This wasn’t optimal ownership (Lacey was sentenced just last week to ﬁve years in federal prison for money laundering in a case stemming from their backpage.com website, a “prostitution website” according to the prosecutors; Larkin died last year in an apparent suicide a few days before their trial was to begin). But it wasn’t the only problem: the Internet had arrived. Craigslist made its debut in 1996 and almost immediately gulped down

the classiﬁed ads that had been the bread-andbutter of the Voice and almost all other print papers. Billionaire Peter Barbey, who bought the troubled Voice in 2015, wound up shutting it down in 2018. Relaunched by a new owner in 2020, it now exists primarily as a website, one of so many attempting to stay aﬂoat in the medium that killed it.

It’s a further rub that this compulsively readable history, while dishing up all the gossip, grudges, struggles, and triumphs at a paper that was home to so many of print journalism’s best writers (think Vince Aletti, Amiri Baraka, Susan Brownmiller, Stanley Crouch, Manohla Dargis, Pete Hamill, Michael Musto, Jerry Saltz, Peter Schjeldahl, Greg Tate, Guy Trebay, Colson Whitehead—just skimming here), consists almost entirely of transcribed dialogue. A work in the oral tradition, it reads like the script for a great audio podcast. v

m disaacs@chicagoreader.com

Tricia Romano MORGAN BELL

COURTESY PUBLICAFFAIRS

BOOKS

BOOKSTORES

‘Books saved my life’

The founder of Semicolon Books wants to close the literacy gap.

By JOJO WERTHEIMER

Reading is a revolutionary act.

That’s the philosophy of Danielle Moore, founder of Chicago’s Semicolon Books. Since opening the ﬁrst Semicolon bookstore in 2019, Moore has dedicated her business to closing the literacy gap for minority communities in Chicago. Through book giveaways to students, Moore is providing access to and building interest in books—a concept that was revolutionary in her own life. As she moved between homeless shelters as a kid, books remained a constant portal into another world.

“One thing that homeless shelters often have are books,” Moore said. “Was I reading Danielle Steel when I was eight? Yes. Because that’s the books that were available in the shelter. But it o ered a form of escapism and it made life not feel so hard.”

The power of literacy propelled Moore all the way to Florida State University, where she became the ﬁrst person in her family to graduate college. “That would not have happened if I were not a voracious reader, if I could not see lives outside the ones we were living,” she said. In Chicago Public Schools, just 17 percent of Black students and 22 percent of Hispanic students in third through eighth grade scored at their grade’s expected reading level in 2023. Comparatively, 54 percent of white students and 55 percent of Asian students met their grade’s reading level standards. Only 19 percent of low-income CPS students read at grade level.

Moore began seeing that problem ﬁrsthand after opening her first Semicolon. Students were coming in to read books below their grade level. So she decided to address the problem at its root.

“If these kids read books, it would be less likely they would be so easily swayed to do negative things or something that makes them feel like they can escape the difficulty that they’re living. A lot of the reason why these kids aren’t reading, or why they don’t have books in the home, is because the parents don’t have the money to purchase books. If you have

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Moore hoped the transition would help Semicolon fund its book giveaways, but this is the ﬁrst grant they’ve received since becoming a nonproﬁt.

“Money is always an issue,” she said. “We have a plan for how we’re going to change the world and the future. We have a plan for the book events and stu . You can plan for all of that; [but] you cannot plan financially when

to choose between a $30 book and a meal, you’re going to get a meal for your family,” she said. “Because of that, we’ll give them the book for free. We’ll build their libraries for free.”

Today, Moore and her team “clear the shelves” with quarterly book giveaways. At the beginning of August, Semicolon gave away about $8,500 worth of books to students, with six books in each bag.

The store’s newest location, in the Wrigley Building on Magniﬁcent Mile, is another feat. On a whim, Moore applied for the Magniﬁcent Mile storefront improvement grant in January. In May, a grant o cer showed up at the West Town location with good news; Semicolon was in the Wrigley Building less than a month later.

The Magnificent Mile Association is paying Semicolon’s rent for the first few months. From there, Moore hopes to take on the lease, but since Semicolon became a nonprofit in 2023, money has been even tighter than when it was a small, for-profit, independent bookstore.

books are still considered by most people [to be] a luxury item, especially in the Black bookstore space. I don’t know how we still exist.”

Like many small businesses and nonproﬁts, Semicolon does a lot with a little. But it isn’t enough to do as many giveaways as Moore would like.

Moore is working on opening a third location in Garfield Park in March 2025 with a restaurant attached. She’s committed to making the store a community hub, with an intern program for local high school students to gain experience in bookselling and the service industry.

“That space is for Garfield Park, and they deserve it,” she said. “We’re excited to have the regulars who hang out with us all day, who just talk books with us and have a cocktail with us. We’re excited about the authors who live in the Chicago area who will be hanging out and writing their next novels in that space. . . . Every part of that space is perfection.”

Semicolon ﬁrst opened after Moore was diagnosed with ocular melanoma. As she started radiation, Moore asked herself a question that would come to deﬁne her career and her life: “What am I going to do?” She realized, “I want to read, I want to look at art, and I want to talk about books. And that is it.”

Being a bookseller, however, was never on Moore’s radar. She knew she wanted a career related to books—probably as an editor or publisher—but selling books had never crossed her mind.

“I’d never seen a Black bookseller. I didn’t know we existed,” she said.

But when she randomly came upon an empty storefront on a walk in River West, Semicolon was set into motion. Within 12 hours, Moore had a lease.

Semicolon’s journey throughout the past ﬁve years has been tumultuous but rewarding. Moore had big plans for the River West location: making the entrance handicap accessible, selling used books in addition to new, and turning the apartments above the shop into literary-themed AirBnBs. But last January, after an attempt to buy the building fell through, the doors closed.

“That really was the space I expected to spend the next 100 years in,” Moore said. “And to have that plan kind of shatter, and it be completely out of my control, was di cult for me to fully come to terms with.”

But after a while, the loss of the River West location began to feel freeing. In June, she ofﬁcially opened the doors of a new Semicolon in West Town.

Semicolon’s shelves are stacked with books ranging from graphic novels to James Baldwin and everything in between. Moore always stocks Black classics, including works by Octavia Butler, Toni Morrison, and Audre Lorde. But no matter how Moore’s inventory and locations have changed, Semicolon’s best-selling book has been the same since the store’s inception: All About Love by bell hooks.

“I love it because that is our ethos,” she said. “We embody everything that bell hooks talks about—how we love this community . . . how love is building safety. We are that.”

“I always say, ‘Books saved my life,’” Moore said. “Books are the reason why I’m able to create comfortably, why I’m able to give back. Books did that. Chicago has one of the lowest literacy rates—imagine if we could fix that, what this city could become.” v m

Semicolon stocks everything from graphic novels to James Baldwin. COURTESY SEMICOLON

REVIEW

The dreamscapes of Kendall Hill

FEVERDREAMS is a stream-of-consciousness art book for the sleepwalker in all of us.

By CHARLIE KOLODZIEJ

What parts of ourselves do we keep, and what parts do we leave behind? This is the question at the center of FEVERDREAMS, the debut publication from Chicago artist and photographer Kendall Hill.

Told through photography, collage, and stream-of-consciousness prose, FEVERDREAMS is a somnambulant jaunt into a liminal state between the sleeping and waking worlds. The book’s loose narrative unfolds over six chapters that follow the narrator and his group of childhood friends as they reconcile the raw emotions of youth with the adult

selves they are rapidly becoming. The result is a meditation on coming of age at a time when your past, present, and future selves feel instantly, digitally accessible.

FEVERDREAMS features what Hill calls his “dreamscape photography,” a mode of creating images that prioritizes their emotional landscape rather than location or subject matter. True to this style, the book opens with a photo of black-and-white ﬁlm grain. Lines from Hill’s poem “How,” mostly snippets of sounds and feelings, are scattered over the image in a way that makes them di cult to absorb all at once. Youth can feel like a dreamscape, Hill tells us,

all emotion and little governing logic.

From there we are introduced to the narrator and his group of nine friends, loosely based on Hill’s real-life friend group, who live together on an island in a small archipelago. Submerging beneath the surrounding waters allows the friends to enter a dreamlike limbo where they can commune with their past, present, and future selves simultaneously. The chapter opens with advice familiar to any psychedelic sojourner: eat a good meal, we’re going on a trip.

As the friends enter this dreamscape, moments in the narrator’s life are transfigured into one another by the fuzzy logic that so often governs not just our dreams but our memories. Old friends become new partners that lead to new apartments and fresh dips in familiar ponds.

At 27, Hill describes FEVERDREAMS as a “holder of youth,” and the book itself feels conscious of its role as a living memory. “Photos and writing especially give a landscape to be emotionally honest in ways that I can’t always be in real life. That’s really what this

book felt like to me. I wanted a place to hold a chapter of my life that felt honest,” Hill says. The images, selected from the past ten years of Hill’s photography practice, are altered or collaged together in the same way our childhoods may appear indistinct, blurry at the edges. The book also includes pieces from Hill’s friends and collaborators, such as his former roommate, artist Justin Ellis. Ellis tells the story of his great-grandmother teaching him to make collard greens; the adjoining page features her recipe. Moments like these are tethered to a central theme of the book—that we can draw together our past and future selves to develop a clearer vision of our present. Including his friends in the publication is also core to Hill’s philosophy. “My group of friends are the most important thing in the world to me,” he says. “I would say that friendship not only helped make this book, but it is also an important theme between the di erent chapters. Do the friends stay together?” You’ll have to read FEVERDREAMS to ﬁnd out. v m letters@chicagoreader.com

THEATER

REVIEW

Men of Marvel

The House of Ideas concludes Mark Pracht’s “Four-Color Trilogy” on comics history.

By JOSH FLANDERS

At long last, true believers, the third installment of Mark Pracht’s “Four Color Trilogy”—The House of Ideas—is here, opening the 2024–’25 season at City Lit Theater. Following Pracht’s first two plays, The Mark of Kane and The Innocence of Seduction, it explores the relationship between two giants of the comic book industry: Stan Lee and Jack “the King” Kirby, responsible for launching Marvel Comics into the stratosphere.

The play begins at the point when selftaught artist Jack Kirby (born Jacob Kurtzberg) meets a young Stan Lee (born Stanley Lieber) while the latter is working as an editor for his uncle at Timely Comics (which would later become Marvel). But comic artists are not getting paid well at Timely, and Kirby considers moving to a rival company, which Stan Lee knows about. Kirby suspects Lee ratted him out to his uncle, leading to his getting ﬁred, which Lee denies.

This sparks a lifelong irritation that Kirby had with Lee, which plays out, often hilariously, throughout The House of Ideas—Lee’s excitable, high-pitched voice and hopefulness juxtaposed with Kirby’s rough New York City accent and practical, get-it-done attitude. Kirby fought in Europe in WWII and worked for various companies over the years after coming home, eventually returning somewhat begrudgingly to work with Lee. Then, in the 1960s, magic happened—and a new age of superhero comics was born.

The House of Ideas (directed by former City Lit artistic director Terry McCabe) does a ﬁne job of distinguishing both men and their drives. For the King, it was creating incredible art, paying the bills, and eventually telling his own stories. For Lee, it was his unfulﬁlled desire to be a “real” writer of literature. However, both men embraced their found careers and created artwork and stories that have long outlived them both.

Together they created the Fantastic Four,

the Avengers, Spider-Man, and the X-Men, to name only a few. As the audience enters, the walls behind the stage are plastered with reproductions of Kirby’s original art from the pages of many of these old comics. A well-produced slideshow (including comic covers, artwork, and charismatic characters) from projections designer G. ‘Max’ Maxin IV provides a much-needed enhancement to the performance throughout.

Brian Plocharczyk packs a punch as Jack Kirby, portraying the King with an intense presence and passion that belie a deeper gratitude for his often tenuous partnership with Lee. Even with the

THE HOUSE OF IDEAS

Through 10/6 : Fri–Sat 7: 30 PM, Sun 3 PM; also Mon 9/23 and 9/30 7: 30 PM; City Lit Theater, 1020 W. Bryn Mawr, 773 -293 - 3682 , citylit.org, $ 35 ($ 30 seniors, $12 students and military)

Ben Veatch plays the Observer, loosely based on the Watcher from Marvel Comics, allowing for some omniscient narration. Carrie Hardin is wonderful as Roz Kirby, steadfastly standing by her man. Kate Black-Spence as Lee’s wife, Joan Lee, is simply delightful, sharp, and witty.

The strength of The House of Ideas lies not only in its portrayal of these two legends, especially for those familiar with their work, but also in the humor throughout. These stories have become American folklore and Kirby and Lee part of that mythos.

Some of the ideas and themes are revisited a bit too often—the men’s egos, Kirby’s mistrust of everyone—and despite the strong performances of Hardin and Black-Spence, the wives appear mostly as two-dimensional characters existing only to bolster their husbands. While Lee shares his desire to create real characters, heroes that are “like us”—i.e., underdogs with flaws— The House of Ideas focuses more on the men and their relationships than on what made them great, namely Lee’s groundbreaking writing. While dismissed as entertainment for kids, Lee’s stories explored adult topics such as race, religion, otherness, civil rights, and the impacts of war.

character’s rough edges, smoking a cigar and ﬁghting for credit and possession of his work, Plocharczyk makes Kirby impossible not to root for and deftly communicates his love for the opportunity to do what he loves—create art.

Pracht has once again created an enthralling, hilarious work celebrating the titans of comics.

Bryan Breau is a hoot as Stan Lee, bringing energy and charisma to the wonderful wordsmith of countless comics and letter columns. Breau recently starred in another love letter to comic books, the Plagiarists’ final production, When You Awake You Will Remember Everything! Just put Breau in all your comic-related shows, please—he’s a pleasure to watch onstage.

Pracht highlights Kirby’s noble fight to reclaim his actual art, but not so much the aspects of Kirby’s art that made him the King—the dynamism, the otherworldly machinery, the “Kirby krackle” (a field of black for negative space, depicting explosions, gun smoke, and cosmic forces), and the ways his work changed comics. Questions about why, as Jews, they could only ﬁnd work in comics (a medium viewed as disreputable, as illustrated in Pracht’s The Innocence of Seduction) go unexplored.

But I suppose, as a fan, I can never get enough of comic shows about our heroes, and Pracht has once again created an enthralling, hilarious work celebrating the titans of comics that will leave you waiting for the next exciting installment or running out to buy comics. I must admit, I had to wipe away a tear at the end of this tumultuous tale—a testament to the work of these terriﬁc storytellers. Excelsior! v

m letters@chicagoreader.com

Sean Harklerode (le ) and Brian Plocharczyk in City Lit Theater’s The House of Ideas

STEVE GRAUE

THEATER

OPENING

RMusicalizing the legend

Marriott’s 1776 provides a bold reinterpretation of the Founding Fathers.

When legend becomes fact, musicalize the legend (to paraphrase John Ford). Sherman Edwards and Peter Stone follow this strategy again and again over the course of their rousing 1969 musical about the events leading up to the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Facts are ignored, chronology twisted, dramatic moments invented—all in the name of transforming history into theater gold (the original production garnered six Tony nominations and three wins, including best musical).

But who cares? The show works. By turns it’s witty, wise, entertaining, and even suspenseful, managing to put us on the edge of our seats wondering if the American Revolution will even happen, or if this now hallowed document will ever be signed.

Two-plus hours can, in a weak production, seem long for such a short story, even with Edwards’s wonderful tunes. However, in reviving the show, the folks at Marriott Theatre have put together a tight, spritely paced, exceptionally well-acted production that capitalizes on everything that makes this show strong and gracefully underplays its greatest weakness (that is, a show almost entirely about white patriarchs establishing a new patriarchy) by extensive gender- and color-blind casting, a choice that, much like Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton, presages our much more democratic democracy than the one John Adams, Thomas Jeﬀerson, and others were forging.

And what a powerful cast the director, Nick Bowling, has assembled here. Tyrick Wiltez Jones makes a powerful Adams, the show’s protagonist, owning the stage whenever he speaks and sings. And Lucy Godinez is utterly charming as Virginia scion Richard Henry Lee (played here as a comic character). But the revelation in the show is Heidi Kettenring’s star turn as Pennsylvanian delegate and Adams antagonist John Dickinson. (Dickinson’s real role around the Declaration is more complicated than the musical suggests.) Her performance is so strong as the ﬂinty Dickinson I started daydreaming about Kettenring in other roles—Hamlet, Henry Higgins, Hamilton. When there is another 1776 revival, I hope she is cast as Adams himself. —JACK HELBIG 1776 Through 10/13: Wed 1 and 7:30 PM, Thu 7:30 PM, Fri 8 PM, Sat 4 and 8 PM, Sun 1 and 5 PM; also Thu 10/3 and 10/10 1 PM; Wed 10/2 and 10/9 and Sun 10/13 1 PM only; Marriott Theatre, 10 Marriott Dr., Lincolnshire, 847-634-0200, marriotttheatre.com, $55-$81

RManic panic

7 Minutes to Live is a twisty comedic thriller.

In Jonathan Demme’s 1986 anti-screwball comedy, Something Wild, Jeﬀ Daniels’s straight-arrow yuppie gets his life turned upside down in a scary way by Melanie Griﬃth’s wild child, Lulu. That same spirit animates Chicago writer Richard Lyons Conlon’s comedic thriller 7 Minutes to Live—now in a world premiere with brandnew Unexpected Theatre Company (in association with Chicago Dramatists and Prop Thtr)—with a touch of Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights thrown in for good measure.

When we first meet Henry (Ryan Hake), he’s handcuffed to an alley dumpster and tells us he has, well, seven minutes to live. How he ended up there forms the bulk of Conlon’s twisty tale (directed by Andrea J. Dymond). And yes, there’s a woman to blame—sort of. Christine Watt’s Vanessa, Henry’s newish girlfriend, harbors dark impulses and has an uncomfortably close relationship with her foster brother, Luke (Nathanael Vangine). The two sorta siblings set off a series of improbable but highly entertaining explosions in Henry’s life.

As with Daniels’s character in Demme’s ﬁlm, Henry’s seemingly solid and safe life isn’t nearly as satisfying as it appears. It takes the toxic intervention of Luke (complemented by the so er urgings of Henry’s nonbinary neighbor, Eddy, played with winsome earnestness by Tomer Proctor-Zenker) to get Henry to question his assumptions about himself and his role in the world. Conlon’s whip-smart dialogue only occasionally feels self-conscious, and overall 7 Minutes to Live is a clever contraption with some sharp observations about the dangers we imagine in life vs. what’s really dragging us down. —KERRY REID 7 MINUTES TO LIVE Through 9/22: Thu-Sat 7:30 PM, Sun 3 PM; Chicago Dramatists, 798 N. Aberdeen, www.tickettailor.com/ events/unexpectedtheatrecompany/1334787, pay what you can

RStripping for parts

Paramount’s The Full Monty brings Rust Belt swagger to the original story.

With The Full Monty, Paramount Theatre completes the trifecta of musicals derived from movies about British deindustrialization, on the heels of 2021’s Kinky Boots and Billy Elliot earlier this year. Book writer Terrence McNally and composer David Yazbek’s 2000 take on the 1997 film moves the story from Sheffield in the north of England to Buffalo, New York, but otherwise hews pretty closely to the spirit of the original.

Jerry Lukowski (Ben Mayne) is a divorced, unemployed “roller” at the now-closed steel mill, desperate to make child support payments so he can keep seeing his son, Nathan (William Daly at the performance I attended, alternating with Ellis Myers in the role). He’s not desperate enough to take demeaning work as a security guard at a retail mall, mind you. But maybe desperate enough to rope in his fellow depressed, unemployed buddies into a plan to perform one night only as blue-collar Chippendale dancers for the ﬂush-with-cash women of Buﬀalo.

The notion that manufacturing jobs are men’s work and service-sector positions are reserved for women has a ton to unpack. (J.D. Vance would be aghast at the men’s wives waving dollar bills at the club at the top of the show while proclaiming, “Girls who like to work are girls who like to play!”) But the men learn to trust each other and realize that being vulnerable and yes, naked, makes them more appealing to their partners, not less. Jim Corti’s ensemble is solid from top to, er, bottom. Rebecca Hurd as Pam, Jerry’s ex, Jared David Michael Grant as his best pal, Dave, and Liz Pazik as Jeanette, the brassy showbiz vet who just shows up with her piano to help “Hot Metal” ﬁnd their beat and their joy, are particular standouts in this meat-and-potatoes heart-warmer of a show. —KERRY REID THE FULL

MONTY Through 10/6: Wed 1:30 and 7 PM, Thu 7 PM, Fri 8 PM, Sat 3 and 8 PM, Sun 1 and 5:30 PM; open captioning Wed 10/2 7 PM, ASL interpretation Fri 10/4 8 PM; Paramount Theatre, 23 E. Galena, Aurora, 630-896-6666, paramountaurora.com, $28$85 v

LECTURE SERIES

The revolution on ﬁlm

The Propaganda and Counterculture Lecture Series at Gene Siskel Film Center spotlights humanity at the crossroads.

By JONAH NINK

The climactic monologue at the end of Charlie Chaplin’s 1940 black comedy satire The Great Dictator still holds incredible relevance. Surrounded by nearly his entire country, Chaplin’s character, Schultz, a barber mistaken for the dictator Hynkel, also played by Chaplin (à la Eddie Murphy in The Nutty Professor), uses the speech as an opportunity to denounce strong men and fascism and make a plea for democracy. Chaplin makes his speech looking directly at the camera, and there’s a feeling he’s not acting anymore but pleading with viewers to listen.

Written before the United States entered the World War II, Chaplin was savvy enough to understand the impact new mediums like radio and television would have on politics and that the new communication technology put humanity at a crossroads. “The very nature of these inventions cries out for the goodness in men, cries out for universal brotherhood, for the unity of us all,” Chaplin says in the speech. “Even now my voice is reaching millions throughout the world—millions of despairing men, women, and little children—victims of a system that makes men torture and imprison innocent people.”

The Gene Siskel Film Center aims to pick up where Chaplin’s observations on the intersection of new media technology and political movements left o with its new Propaganda and Counterculture Lecture Series, which runs now until December.

“The Film Center has proudly presented a fall and spring Lecture Series for decades, and it is a pleasure to work with the talented lecturers who design these engaging and evocative programs,” said the director of programming Rebecca Fons.

At the helm of this round of lectures are School of the Art Institute professor of art history, theory, and criticism Mechtild Widrich and associate professor of East Asian art Jennifer Dorothy Lee. The idea for the film series germinated from a seminar under the same title the pair cotaught in 2022. Widrich and Lee did not intend to do a full ﬁlm-based seminar, but the end result featured so many that the pair decided to pitch a continuation of the course as a ﬁlm series. We chatted over email about the goals of the series and a few standout inclusions.

A primary focus was to dissuade some of the preconceptions around counterculture

Stonebreakers (2022) GENE SISKEL FILM CENTER

RPROPAGANDA AND COUNTERCULTURE LECTURE SERIES

Through 12/ 10, Tue 6 PM, Gene Siskel Film Center, 164 N. State, $16 50 per film or $ 45 series pass with six films included for members, siskelfilmcenter.org/propaganda

and propaganda, the latter of which carries a (deservedly) nasty connotation. To 1920s political scientist Harold Lasswell, propaganda was the work of management and manipulation: Collective perceptions are manipulated by various social, cultural, and political signiﬁers. Counterculture, on the other hand, are practices, artistic works or otherwise, that challenge normative standards and may complement or resist the work of propaganda.

FILM

according to Widrich and Lee. Produced in the middle of World War II, the film iterated on techniques pioneered by studios like Disney. How did Princess Iron Fan win over audiences in both China and Japan and galvanize creativity? Widrich and Lee agree that you’ll just have to come to the screening and lecture to ﬁnd out.

To Widrich and Lee, curating a ﬁlm series is a process. They say it starts with a long wish

The Great Dictator is an early example of the role comedy plays within counterculture. Chaplin is able to methodically cut through the smoke screen of propaganda and mass culture to reveal its consequences. To Widrich and Lee, the ﬁlm endures thanks to its accessibility and universal call for humanity.

Over 80 years on from The Great Dictator is Stonebreakers , a 2022 documentary covering the backlash against imperial and colonial monuments that arose during the George Floyd protests and 2020 elections. Documentary films are a focus throughout the series for their ability to highlight di erent perspectives, according to Widrich and Lee. Stonebreakers brings viewers inside the protests and turns them into observers of the cultural moment. Another documentary featured, 2021’s Revolution of Our Times , is composed primarily of cell phone video and streams taken by activists working to protect democracy within Hong Kong.

A great inclusion to the series is the 1941 Chinese animated film Princess Iron Fan (Tie Shan Gong Zhu ), an important cultural moment for Chinese and Japanese animation. It’s the first Chinese animated film, and it helped galvanize the Japanese animation industry,

list that is slowly whittled down. Some ﬁlms, older ones especially, can be di cult to track down or are locked behind distribution restrictions. Special attention was paid to how propaganda or counterculture could enter a ﬁlm. Content is one thing, but there is also the form, which could relate to “revolutionary” attempts to overthrow cinematic conventions.

Audience reception, which, depending on the political system in which the film is shown, could make a film into a tool of propaganda and counterculture.

Aside from the films and speakers, one of the things that excite Widrich and Lee about the series is the mix of people in attendance. Being open to the public allows for a diverse mix of insights and interpretations within each screening. Part of the joy of creating a ﬁlm series comes from the mix of people who decide to attend it. All of the stories presented in the ﬁlm series are, at their core, stories about people; virtuous, viscious, and everything in between.

As Chaplin said, “you, the people, have the power to make this life free and beautiful, to make this life a wonderful adventure.” v

m letters@chicagoreader.com

The Secret Nation (1989) GENE SISKEL FILM CENTER

Get showtimes and see reviews of everything playing this week at

After a busy week I usually make it a point to not go out on Fridays, but I couldn’t resist the siren call of a unique-tome screening event taking place at Chicago Filmmakers. The Filipino American Historical Society of Chicago (FAHSC)—founded by Estrella Alamar, who was devoted to preserving and showcasing the history of Filipino Americans in the city—presented a program called “Autonomous Archiving,” a watch party of digitized 16-millimeter films by Nicholas Viernes, dubbed “the unofficial documentarian” of the Greater Chicago area’s Filipino American community in the early- to mid-20th century. FAHSC was an awardee of a 2024 National Film Preservation Foundation grant to support the preservation of five of the six films, made between 1936 and 1939, screened during the event.

Archivist and FAHSC collections manager Ashley Dequilla was on hand to illuminate much of what was shown. The first and last films had accompanying sound, while the four in between were presented without accompaniment; this allowed for Dequilla to annotate, providing details about the people and places on display and the general sociopolitical climate that infused them. As this was a watch-party format, viewers were encouraged to start discussions and ask questions while the silent ﬁlms were playing.

It was fascinating; normally when I’m watching a movie, my mind goes quiet, allowing for what I’m seeing and hearing (or not) to reach only my eyes and ears. To hear other people speak what was on their minds during a certain ﬁlm provided uncommon insight into how others process art as they’re experiencing it and the questions that arise as part of the

NOW PLAYING It Ends With Us

A still from one of Nicholas Viernes’s 16-mm ﬁlms shown at “Autonomous Archiving”

KAT SACHS

inherently mysterious encounter that is beholding the moving image. This may seem to contradict my evergreen assertion that movies, silent or otherwise, should be watched with as little interruptions as possible. In these sorts of instances, and with the thoughtfulness exhibited by all involved, it was a rare treat.

I did manage to have a quiet night in on Saturday, when my husband and I, enduring fans of Lee Daniels, watched his latest ﬁlm, The Deliverance, on Netﬂix. It’s not top-tier Daniels— for my money that would be Shadowboxer (2005)—but it’s a fun, if sometimes harrowing, watch. Think The Exorcist by way of, well, Precious. In general, I consider Daniels as being akin to David Lynch by way of John Waters. There’s camp there, to be sure—all the richer because it’s not contrived but rather natural to Daniels’s way of storytelling—but also layers of both compassion and critique. And then there’s Glenn Close, first dating Omar Epps (though my favorite Daniels pairing remains Helen Mirren and Cuba Gooding Jr. in Shadowboxer) and later appearing as a pointy-toothed demon.

On Sunday, I saw Joseph L. Mankiewicz’s A Letter to Three Wives (1949) and Lau Kar-leung’s Tiger on Beat (1988) at the Gene Siskel Film Center, both screening as part of the Remembering David Bordwell series. It’s a ﬁtting tribute to the cinephilic titan who died in February. People may pass away but the movies they make and the movies they love live on.

Until next time, moviegoers. —KAT SACHS v

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

If Colleen Hoover’s It Ends With Us could be summarized in one word, it would be “polarizing.” The novel, which explores the whirlwind-turned-abusive relationship between flower shop owner Lily Blossom Bloom (yes, really) and Ryle Kincaid is beloved by some and deemed an incompetent attempt at tackling the subject of domestic abuse by others. No matter how you feel about Hoover’s writing, plenty of reader hopes and fears have surrounded the (twice delayed) release of this novel’s movie adaptation. Would its ﬁdelity to the story be compromised? Would the domestic violence themes be treated with the necessary sensitivity and nuance? Would Lily’s hair be red enough? These are questions each viewer must answer for themselves, but even this Colleen Hoover cynic can admit to being deeply heartened by It Ends With Us, a movie that treats the topic of intimate partner violence with legions more care than the book is able to.

While screenplay writer Christy Hall (Daddio) has asserted her dedication to the authenticity of Hoover’s original text when adapting It Ends With Us for the big screen, it’s apparent to any avid fan of the novel that she stripped this story down to the studs. Far from a criticism, Hall breathes a life into the dialogue of these characters that Hoover’s stiﬀ and heavy-handed prose o en lacks. And without the crutch of Lily’s inner monologue to lean on, the ﬁlm reveals the extent of Ryle’s treachery in a much more emotionally arresting way.

The characters of Lily Bloom and Ryle Kincaid receive two of the most dramatic and welcome transformations from story to screen. Between Hall’s script and Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni’s performances, these two evolve from romance novel lead and walking red flag factory, respectively, into actual human beings. Lily’s onscreen depiction is notably different; Hall’s script ages her up, and Lively’s affable performance matures her into a creative, self-possessed woman with boundaries, dreams, and a killer fashion sense. Newcomer Isabela Ferrer shines as a young Lily, a testament to both her close study of Lively’s mannerisms (and her uncanny likeness to the seasoned actress) and her own outstanding instincts.

Viewing It Ends With Us is an exercise in managing one’s expectations. Those looking for a genre-redeﬁning cinematic masterpiece or expecting a line-by-line remake of their favorite beach read will leave the theater disappointed. But those searching for a good enough drama with a few standout performances, a half-

way decent woman empowerment arc, and a lot of aerial shots of Boston will get their money’s worth. —BROOKS EISENBISE PG-13, 130 min. Wide release in theaters

The Crow

Rupert Sanders has made a career of, to put it kindly, “updating” IP with movies that no one asked for but that manage to conjure up appealing visions of their fantastical worlds. So his new reboot of the 1994 cult classic The Crow, based on the comic by James O’Barr, ﬁts in perfectly with his oeuvre thus far.

Cylindrical furniture, an oversized faux fur coat, and brutalist architecture populated by people in matching pink sweat suits give the film a sense of character if not a distinct aesthetic early on. Aesthetic specificity arrives when our hero Eric (Bill Skarsgård) finds himself in a world between life and death that takes the form of an overgrown train station where innumerable steel bridges fill the sky above and ambient white fog lights the space.

It’s not the film’s look that redeems it, though; it’s the shockingly affecting romance. The first third of the movie centers on the blooming relationship between Eric and Shelly (a magnetic FKA Twigs), who meet in rehab and go on the run to escape the bad guys on her tail. Skarsgård and Twigs have a chemistry that smoothly shi s between erotic, playful, and comfortable.

Of course, the bad guys eventually catch up with them, sending Eric to that liminal world and Shelly to a more permanent resting place. Or do they? A man in purgatory tells Eric that if he kills the people who killed Shelly, she will return.

This romantic motivation keeps The Crow from ever feeling like an action movie. While it’s bloodsoaked and features passable attempts at cool action scenes, the heart of the ﬁlm is always Eric and Shelly’s love. And despite all the things working against this unasked-for reboot of a beloved cult ﬁlm, that love makes it work. —KYLE LOGAN R, 111 min. Wide release in theaters

MUSIC

CHICAGOANS OF NOTE

Shravan Raghuram, indie workaholic

“One

thing that I feel is common for a lot of musicians who start on the drums or who are quite skilled at the drums: you get asked to play in a lot of diﬀerent bands.”

As told to LEOR GALIL

Before I interviewed Shravan Raghuram, I already knew he kept busy. I first learned about the 25-year-old drummer in 2023 because he plays in Fruitleather, an experimental rock group with singer and multi-instrumentalist D Jean-Baptiste and bassist Stas Slyvka. Earlier this year I got into one of his other bands, the Courts, an indie-rock trio where he’s joined by guitarist-vocalist Korgan Robb and bassist Nick Litman, two friends he’s been jamming with since they were all at Naperville Central High School. Raghuram is part of a young local scene I write about pretty often, and all year it’s felt like I’ve been constantly running into reminders of his presence. When I spotted him in the distance at the DePaul-adjacent festival

Grant Slam in May, I knew I’d find videos from the event on his YouTube channel, When the Wall Breaks Down, where he documents sets by local acts.

During our conversation, Raghuram mentioned more of his musical projects, including twee-pop band Sick Day and heavy jazz trio the Kevin King Regime. He’s playing shows all the time, as you’d expect: Sick Day have a date on Wednesday, September 4, at West Town cocktail bar Lemon (1600 W. Grand), and the Kevin King Regime host a monthly jam on Tuesday, September 17, at Cafe Mustache (2313 N. Milwaukee). By the time this interview runs, I’m sure Raghuram will be involved in something else I’ll learn about in a few months.

Igrew up listening to classic rock records that my dad would put on. In India, which is where he grew up, there was a small community of friends that he had that would love listening to the Doors, Led Zeppelin, and Pink Floyd. This would be in the 1980s; I was born in ’99. He would show me Dark Side of the Moon and Meddle by Pink Floyd, some Zeppelin compilation albums, and things like that to see what I liked. I responded to it very positively. My original introduction to music was through his classic rock collection on iTunes and random old CDs he had

lying around. Gradually, that turned into me becoming more interested in creating, further on down the line, as I got more into modern music and became interested in different genres of music, like hip-hop and metal. Eventually I was like, “Man, this would be pretty fun if I was the one who was making it and not just listening to it.”

I started jamming with my friends Korgan and Nick when I was in high school; those two are the other members of the Courts. We were really into heavy rock and indie rock. Eventually we collectively decided, “Nirvana’s got three, four chords in each song—we can figure that out.” We sounded awful for the first, like, two years of playing together. But all that time spent trying to figure out what we were doing and having so much fun with it laid the musical foundation for everything that I like about creating, hanging out with my friends, and doing music that I still appreciate now. One thing that I feel is common for a lot of musicians who start on the drums or who are quite skilled at the drums: you get asked to play in a lot of di erent bands. It’s a great opportunity to discover what it is about music that you really like. I always thought of myself as being a rock or heavy-music guy; other stu was just for shits and giggles. But over time, I discovered that the thing I like most about playing drums has nothing to do with the genre or style of music. It’s the relationship with the songwriter, it’s the relationship with the song, that I love about the instrument. The drums have this great opportunity to turn somebody’s idea into something that’s big, real, and powerful. My favorite thing about making music is collaboration. Largely that came from learning how to jam with people. I went to school in Urbana-Champaign. That was a big starting point, as far as taking music more seriously; I began playing with a lot of di erent people. In high school, Korgan and Nick were the only folks who I was playing music with. But in college, a lot of different bands that would do house shows or play shows through the university would start asking me if I was available to fill in on drums or join the band. At that point, once you’re

“Eventually I was like, ‘Man, this would be pretty fun if I was the one who was making it and not just listening to it.’”

Shravan Raghuram onstage at the Hideout with the Courts IAN M C SHEFFREY

MUSIC

continued from p. 27

in the community, it becomes very easy to meet people. Especially in college, it’s all so connected. Pretty much everyone who’s in the quote-unquote house-show community or DIY music community knows each other.

I had one band in college . . . the band was getting some notoriety and success in the house-show scene. We were all committed to the band, and we didn’t want it to fall apart as a result of us graduating. A lot of us were from Evanston, Chicago, southwest Chicago suburbs. I didn’t have to restart my musical career once I moved back, because I already had a successful band that I could book at shows in Chicago. Gradually, through my experiences with that band, I met other people. That fostered relationships I still have today. Like my friend Gabe [Bostick], who does a band called Plant Matter. We played at this place called the Safari Lounge; he came to the show. I was hanging out with him after the show, and he was talking about how he wanted to form his own band. He sent me some demos, and I was completely blown away. I was like, “Yeah, we’re deﬁnitely gonna play together.”

I still wrestle with the idea of feeling at home as a creative in Chicago. Chicago is very segmented, creatively. I feel like a lot of rock musicians stick together, a lot of indie musicians stick together, metal musicians stick together. There isn’t a lot of synergy. I feel like every group of friends has built a scene around itself that ends up feeling quite exclusive. I’m in the lucky position to be able to play music with so many different people. As a result, I also get to exist in a lot of these different communities. It becomes hard for any of those particular communities to feel like home, ’cause I feel like they’re not really connected. So for somebody like me, who’s more of a musical chameleon, it can be quite alienating to be a part of communities that sometimes feel a little limited.

Having more folks who are willing to be a part of these di erent communities—and willing to meet and work with people in di erent sorts of communities—always helps bridging that gap. There’s a lot of musicians in Chicago who play with a lot of di erent types of musicians. Like Bailey Minzenberger, who’s the drummer for Friko and the bass player for Free Range. Also my friend Dominic Folino plays drums in a lot of di erent bands in Chicago. Another friend, Joe Glass, who’s a singersongwriter, also plays bass in Sharp Pins and plays drums in some other bands in the DePaul scene. Creatives like those in particular—I

feel like I see them in di erent circles, so they kinda help bridge that gap, because the communities start to collide when they’re around.

Being a part of these communities is an opportunity to get different people in the room. With my monthly concert series at Record Breakers, I’m always trying to be very conscious of including different genres. If I can throw a show with a hip-hop artist, an ambient artist, and a singer-songwriter all on the bill, there’s gonna be no choice but for people to be hanging out with people who they otherwise might not come into contact with. As a booking person, I see that as part of your duty to the community. Like, you’re presented with this great opportunity to showcase art that you believe in. Why only showcase certain sounds together?

I had a job as an accountant—I ended up getting laid o . I had enough money saved up where I could ﬁnancially skate by for a while. I was like, “Why not try going full steam with music and art and see if I can make ends

meet?” One of the first places that I thought of was the record store I go to all the time, Record Breakers. I love the vibe in there; the owner is a really nice guy. Record Breakers hosted Fruitleather’s album-release show; it was the first show that we sold the one-of-one collage-art versions of our record. Ever since having that experience at Record Breakers, I’ve been in love with the place. I reached out via email: “I would love to have a job here. I don’t know if you’re hiring.” This was in October or November of last year. I started working in late February. I’m working there a couple times a week. I get to book at least one show a month.

One of my favorite local bands is this dreamy emo band called Harvey Waters. They play a lot of shows where they’ll do entirely new music that’s not recorded. I’ll always be thinking after those shows, “Shit, I wish I’d recorded it. I wish that somebody had captured this so I could go back and listen to it, because I’m not going to hear this song played in this way ever again.” That goes for so many local bands. A lot of local bands love playing new material and testing out new ideas. I love that energy of a band trying something new. I was like, “I want to be able to see and hear this again after the show.” I brought up the idea to my friend Chaepter, who’s also an amazing local artist, one of my best friends in the scene. He told me that he had this old Nikon camera; he’d be happy to sell it to me for super cheap, so I could get started ﬁlming these sets. Once I started doing it, the response I got was so overwhelmingly positive that it was the encouragement I needed to keep going to shows and documenting stu . Several folks in the scene watch my videos quite regularly and

will be talking to me in person, like, “I saw that you posted this video of this band playing this new song. Wasn’t that song awesome?” I love that ability to amplify those voices and have a chance, not only for myself to listen to this music after, but to be able to share it with the world.

For so long I feel like my goals have been general—I’ll be like, “I want to play in a lot of di erent bands.” So I’ll go and join a bunch of bands. Or “I want to start making collages and flyers.” So I’ll ask everybody who I know, “Can I make you a flyer?” These days I’m spread quite thin, and I’m trying to find the specific avenues that I wanna explore within each of these creative outlets. So not just taking any gig to play music—like, “Why am I taking this gig? Do I really want it?” With making visual art and documenting shows, it’s like, “Do I actually want to share this band’s music? Do I actually believe in what they’re doing? Do I have the time to do all of this to the best of my ability?” That’s the biggest thing.

I’m getting older now. I have less time, and I want to focus on other things. I want to be more physically healthy. I want to spend more time with my girlfriend. I want to hang out with my friends more outside of music. If I wanna have time to do all of those things, I need to maintain a better balance in my life. That’s been a really big challenge for me—trying to live the life that I want to live while also doing everything that I want to do. I’m still ﬁguring it out, day by day.

“If I can throw a show with a hip-hop artist, an ambient artist, and a singersongwriter all on the bill, there’s gonna be no choice but for people to be hanging out with people who they otherwise might not.”

I feel so grateful for the music community here—not only for the people who I make music with but for the people I meet at shows and the people who are adjacent to the creative community. There’s so many new places I’d never have been able to go to if not for playing a short tour with a band or doing some run as a roadie for a band. Music has brought me every thing. My girlfriend and I have been in a relationship for over ﬁ ve and a half years; I would have never met her if not for music. Music and life for me are kind of one and the same. v

m lgalil@chicagoreader.com

Raghuram at the Empty Bottle with the Courts AGGIE BUTVILAS

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Recommended and notable shows with critics’ insights for the week of September 5

THURSDAY5

Underground dance collective Mages Guild throws a big Empty Bottle bash

MAGES GUILD TAKEOVER

The night’s bill includes Slugscape, Deirdre, Kira600, Yuritech B2B (aka DJ Magitech and Toxicyurilovetriangle), Cewlmine, EasyGoingTech, and Donkey Basketball. Sat 9/7, 9 PM, Empty Bottle, 1035 N. Western, $10. 21+

BLESS THE COLLECTIVE OF DJS AND PRODUCERS brought together by Mages Guild, a local label that started releasing outre dance music in April 2023. Founding DJ and producer Care loves breakcore, and that wacky, aggressive cousin of drum ’n’ bass has connected her to like-minded artists who prefer their dance music slightly o -center. There’s no “Mages Guild sound,” just a devotion to fun, weird, subterranean styles. This Empty Bottle showcase is one of the collective’s bigger aboveground events of the year, and the seven artists on the bill demonstrate the breadth of the contemporary electronic underground. On the March EP Extreme Meteorite , techno-punk act Cewlmine makes gabber that sounds like it’s been run through a wood

chipper. Experimental artist Slugscape creates moody tracks from torpid, blown-out bass, kitchen-sink percussion, and rubbery synths, and while the December collection Soft Phantom is too scattered to have an aesthetic center, it occasionally reaches for pop bliss (“Venus Night Air,” “Femme Fatale”). Donkey Basketball, the IDM project of Lifeguard drummer Isaac Lowenstein, collates a battery of complex percussive lines into hypnotic tracks that veer into ambience on the April EP Towards Group Form . At the Bottle on Saturday, visual artists Taylor Dye and Omnia Sol will provide projected video, which should help bring the spirit of a freaky o -the-grid rave to this club show.

Fig Dish See also Fri 9/6. Menthol open. 8:30 PM, Gman Tavern, 3740 N. Clark, sold out. 21+

For those who mourned the demise of Fig Dish, the band’s memory has been a blessing. But many don’t remember the Chicago alt-rock outfit at all. This month could change all that: Twenty-seven years a er Fig Dish abruptly disappeared, guitaristvocalists Rick Ness and Blake Smith, bassist-vocalist Mike Willison, and drummer Andy Hamilton have brought the group back from the dead with Feels Like the Very First Two Times, their first album since 1997’s When Shove Goes Back to Push. To celebrate the occasion, they’re playing their first shows in a decade: two sold-out dates at Gman Tavern. Fig Dish formed in 1990, using a phonetic spelling of the German expletive “fick dich” as their name— it basically means “fuck you.” They made a strong impression on Chicago’s explosive alt-rock scene in the days when major-label A&R reps practically turned the city into a base camp in their efforts to zero in on the next Nirvana. Fig Dish had some big misses—they effed up a label showcase by playing Neil Diamond covers—and a er they signed to PolyGram in 1995, they did pretty much everything in their power to wreck the deal. While Fig Dish’s debaucherous shows drew a cult following, they did little to impress the label, which dropped the band in 1998, leading the members to part ways. Antics aside, Fig Dish wrote plenty of infectious daggers: 1995’s “Seeds” (off That’s What Love Songs Often Do) and 1997’s “When Shirts Get Tight” (which made waves for a softcore porn video that reportedly cost $80,000) combined the guitar-driven hooks of the postgrunge milieu with the anthemic tendencies of midwestern power-pop godfathers such as Cheap Trick and the Replacements. The quality of the band’s music allowed an iota of hope to persist that Fig Dish would somehow see a new day. Cheeky as it is, the title Feels Like the Very First Two Times is spot-on. “The Ragged Ones” and “Burn Bright for Now” pick up where the band le off in 1998 with their catchy melodies and noisy riffing. After nearly 30 years, Fig Dish ought to have left their drive to self-sabotage behind them long ago— let’s hope they’re ready for their second chance. —SELENA FRAGASSI

—LEOR GALIL

Donkey Basketball (aka Lifeguard drummer Isaac Lowenstein) is one of seven acts at the Mages Guild takeover. ELIO AGUSTÍN

Ira Glass Astrobrite headline; Twin Coast and Ira Glass open. 8 PM, Schubas, 3159 N. Southport, $15, $13 in advance. 18+

In April, the Logan Square Arts Festival announced its music lineup on Instagram by sharing a typically irreverent gig poster by Ryan Duggan. If you scroll through the comments, you’ll notice a couple people who saw the name “Ira Glass” asking if the fest had booked the host of This American Life. I wonder how many people showed up to the LSAF expecting some meandering NPR-style storytelling only to see five twentysomethings hurl heavy, brooding posthardcore songs at the sunbathers and punks gathered around the Illinois Centennial Monument. Chicago band Ira Glass don’t sound as pleasant and accessible as their namesake, but their barbed-wire guitars, pleading screams, and cannon-fire drums are arguably more exciting. In July, Fire Talk imprint Angel Tapes issued the Ira Glass EP Compound Turbulence Flexing for the Heat, where the band expertly tend the fires beneath a slow-boiling anxiety. The grinding riffs, trash-can clang, and dread-inducing talk-singing of “[Consider It] Water Under the Bridge” will make you want to scratch off your skin or punch a wall— and if they don’t, check your pulse. Onstage, vocalistguitarist Lise Ivanova performs with stoic poise while the rest of the band whips up a frenzy. Despite this tsunami of energy, it’s really the fine details—like how Jill Roth juggles snaking saxophone lines and auxiliary percussion parts—that make Ira Glass’s relentless churn so overwhelming. —LEOR GALIL

William Basinski Plantasia 2024 features William Basinski, Tyondai Braxton, Maria BC, Landon Caldwell, SiP, Bitcrush, and Lula Asplund with Dorothy Carlos; Bone Study and Lavotsky will DJ. 5:30 PM, Garﬁeld Park Conservatory, 300 N. Central Park, $45. 18+

Few pieces of ambient music slap as hard as William Basinski’s The Disintegration Loops, a series of four albums released in 2002 and 2003. Is it appropriate to call such an elegant audio rendering of ephemerality a “slapper”? Why not? Though the music is gentle and sad, the strength of its emotional punch is undeniable. Basinski is a classically trained clarinetist who studied jazz saxophone and composition at the University of North Texas, but once he

got into minimalist artists such as John Cage, Steve Reich, and Brian Eno in the late 70s, all bets were oﬀ. He dropped out of school and started experimenting with short, looped melodies played against themselves on reel-to-reel tapes, creating subtle textures and lilting, somber ambience.

Basinski is widely recognized as an ambient legend today, but when he created The Disintegration Loops he’d been making music professionally for decades and had achieved little recognition. What’s more, the vintage store he ran in New York had just closed, and he was so broke he was on the verge of eviction. While revisiting recordings he’d made of a muzak station in the 80s, he noticed how slowing them down brought out something profoundly melancholy in their sound—but as he began to digitize them, the tapes fell apart, with magnetic material ﬂaking oﬀ the plastic backing bit by bit. “It was almost like the core of this melody was trying to hold on ’til the very end,” Basinski explained in a 2019 Guardian interview. “That was profound.”

The resulting music has been treated from the start as an elegy for what was lost on 9/11. Basinski completed the project the morning of the attack, then sat on his roo op with friends as the Twin Towers collapsed, and he later dedicated The Disintegration Loops to the victims. But the connection runs even deeper than that: the recordings also capture everything frail and fleeting evoked by witnessing mass death. As Basinski told the Guardian, he doesn’t see himself as someone who can make change in the streets but rather as someone who can transport people to a headspace where they can move more

slowly and perhaps with more ease. This Thursday he headlines Plantasia, an annual experimental sound and art event at the Garﬁeld Park Conservatory that combines sets of original music with interpretations of songs from Mort Garson’s 1976 electronic album Mother Earth’s Plantasia. Basinski won’t be raising people’s consciousness so much as creating space to think—perfectly embodying the philosophy of ambient pioneer Brian Eno. —MICCO CAPORALE

Ken Vandermark & Paal Nilssen-Love

In order, tonight’s sets are Dave Rempis and Tashi Dorji (duo); Ken Vandermark and Paal NilssenLove (duo); and Ken Vandermark, Paal NilssenLove, Dave Rempis, Tashi Dorji, and Nels Cline (quintet). 9 PM, Hungry Brain, 2319 W. Belmont, $20. 21+

Chicago-based reeds player Ken Vandermark and Oslo-based drummer Paal Nilssen-Love have worked as a discrete unit since 2002. Twenty-two years is a lot of doing anything, so it’s fair to consider time itself an element in the duo’s combustible chemistry. While both musicians work comfortably with all manner of prepared materials, in this conﬁguration they strictly improvise freely: even when they lean into a gutbucket groove or trace a barely

there melody, they jointly invent it in the moment. But that moment is informed by a deep, shared history of recordings and tours as well as every one of the countless projects that each of these busy musicians has undertaken apart from the other. And each moment is part of a mutual commitment to an ongoing learning process through which they study their capacity to keep creating together. Their most recent release, this year’s seven-CD box set Japan 2019 (PNL), spotlights one way they’ve tested their flexibility as a duo—by bringing other musicians into their eternal now. For tonight’s concert, they’ll perform as a duo and as part of a larger ensemble that’s playing for the first time. The show is the inaugural date in the second monthlong Hungry Brain residency by local saxophonist Dave Rempis, who’s similarly devoted to free improvisation. He opens the night in a duo with electric guitarist Tashi Dorji that celebrates the release of their CD Gnash (Aerophonic). While they’ve worked together extensively in the trio Kuzu (with drummer Tyler Damon), they’re even more dynamic and imaginative in this reduced format. Nilssen-Love and Vandermark will play second, and for the third and final set, the two duos will join forces and welcome guitarist Nels Cline for a five-man free-for-all. —BILL MEYER

FRIDAY6

Fig Dish See Thu 9/5. Menthol open. 8:30 PM, Gman Tavern, 3740 N. Clark, sold out. 21+

SATURDAY7

Evanston Folk Festival day one

See also Sun 9/8. Main Stage: Gaby Moreno (12:45 PM), Chaparelle (2 PM), Mon Rovîa (3:15 PM), Kate Gavin (4:30 PM), Hiss Golden Messenger solo (5:45 PM), Sierra Farrell (7:15 PM). Dawes Stage: Joy Clark (noon), Nat Myers (1 PM), the Lowest Pair (2:15 PM), Willi Carlisle

(3:30 PM), Jontavious Willis (4:45 PM), Robbie Fulks (6:15 PM). Lagoon Stage: The Sullivan Sisters (12:15 PM), Nicolette & the Nobodies (1:15 PM), Megon McDonough (2:30 PM), Sons of the Never Wrong (3:45 PM), Steve Poltz (5 PM). Noon–8:30 PM (gates open at 11:30 AM), Dawes Park, 1700 Sheridan, Evanston, $69.50, two-day passes sold out. b

With three stages of live music, a conversation tent, and lakefront views, the inaugural Evanston Folk Festival aspires to be more than a conventional music fest. Jake Samuels, organizer of the festival and director of music at beloved Evanston venue SPACE, tells me that the two-day event is the manifestation of a long-held dream of a songwriterdriven outdoor festival that champions the sort of eclectic vision of folk music presented at SPACE. Saturday night is headlined by West Virginia musician Sierra Ferrell, who infuses Americana and alt-country with nomadic, swinging grooves and influences as wide-ranging as bluegrass and jazz manouche. Sunday night’s headliner is venerable singer-songwriter Patty Griﬃn, whose elegant ballads have made her a cornerstone of the folk scene.

The a ershows feature some big names too: Cahn Auditorium hosts Rufus Wainwright on Saturday and Steve Earle on Sunday, and SPACE has booked Deer Tick on Saturday and Langhorne Slim on Sunday. Saturday kicks off with Los Angeles–based Guatemalan singer-songwriter Gaby Moreno, who sings in English and Spanish and bridges the musics of the Americas through Latin alternative, blues, and folk. The a ernoon also features soulful crooner and rapper Mon Rovîa, aka Andrew Lowe, whose stage name refers to the capital city of his home country, Liberia, where he was adopted by missionaries at age seven before coming to the U.S. during the Second Liberian Civil War. On Sunday, multi-instrumentalist Yasmin Williams showcases virtuosic fingerpicking and powerful, rippling riffs on kora, harp-guitar, and guitar, the latter played face up on her lap.

The entertainment in the conversation tent will include interviews with Jeﬀ Tweedy and Rufus Wainwright and several talks with music historians and journalists. NPR’s Ann Powers will discuss her new biography, Traveling: On the Path of Joni Mitchell, and DePaul University English professor Francesca Royster (also a Rock & Roll Hall of Fame honoree) will explore the intersections of race and country music. Altogether the weekend promises an expansive and indivisible vision of folk that embodies Mon Rovîa’s musical mission “to heal, with every nation and tongue, in due time.”

Ira Glass STALLED

—CATALINA MARIA JOHNSON

William Basinski JAMES ELAINE

Paal Nilssen-Love PETER GANNUSHKIN

Mon Rovîa performs at the Evanston Folk Festival on Saturday. CAITY KRONE

MUSIC

The Lox 7 PM, Concord Music Hall, 2047 N. Milwaukee, $64.50. 18+

The Lox are sacred to rap culture. In a genre where getting older isn’t celebrated or even necessarily tolerated, the east-coast hip-hop trio of Jason “Jadakiss” Phillips, David “Styles P” Styles, and Sean “Sheek Louch” Jacobs are akin to a mature, topshelf, small-batch bourbon. Formed by high school friends in 1994, the Lox create highly symbiotic street rap that’s earned them a reputation as one of the all-time best groups in the genre.

Rap wouldn’t be the same without their contributions. In 1995, their strategic mixtape work as the Warlox led the queen of hip-hop soul, Mary J. Blige (who grew up in Yonkers just like they did), to help them snag their ﬁrst record deal with the nowdisgraced Bad Boy label. Their 1998 debut album, Money, Power & Respect, went platinum, and their 2000 follow-up, We Are the Streets , went gold. Beyond racking up record sales, the Lox worked with fallen heroes DMX and the Notorious B.I.G. during their respective heydays and put a spotlight on their hometown scene when artists from the Big Apple were getting the lion’s share of attention. Through the decades, the Lox have managed to stay together, despite public beefs with Sean Combs, changing music trends, and their members’ many successful solo eﬀorts. Not only are they one of the few groups from rap’s golden age who are still intact, keen, and healthy (Jadakiss and Styles P own Bronx juice bar Juices for Life), they’re also better than they’ve ever been. Their August performance on NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert series was perfectly bulletproof. This trio is still entertaining, sharp, and hungry—which is all good news for legacy rap fans and new listeners alike. If you love your rappers experienced, intelligent, and gangsta, don’t miss the Lox’s Chicago stop on their 30thanniversary tour. —CRISTALLE BOWEN

Mages Guild takeover See Pick of the Week on page 30. The night’s bill includes Slugscape, Deirdre, Kira600, Yuritech B2B (aka DJ Magitech and Toxicyurilovetriangle), Cewlmine, EasyGoingTech, and Donkey Basketball. 9 PM, Empty Bottle, 1035 N. Western, $10. 21+

Find more music listings at chicagoreader.com/musicreviews

SUNDAY8

Evanston Folk Festival day two

See Sat 9/7. Main Stage: Tré Bert (12:45 PM), Adeem the Artist (2 PM), Jon Muq (3:15 PM), Madi Diaz (4:30 PM), Sarah Jarosz (5:45 PM), Patty Griﬃn (7:15 PM). Dawes Stage: Andrew Sa (noon), Free Range (1 PM), Nora O’Connor (2:15 PM), Dom Flemons (3:30 PM), Yasmin Williams (4:45 PM), Bonnie “Prince” Billy (6:15 PM). Lagoon Stage: Mark Dvorak (12:15 PM), Sones de México Ensemble (1:15 PM), Minor Moon & V.V. Lightbody (2:30 PM), Vance Gilbert (3:45 PM), Corky Siegel (5 PM). Noon–8:30 PM (gates open at 11:30 AM), Dawes Park, 1700 Sheridan, Evanston, $59.50, two-day passes sold out. b

WEDNESDAY11

Shaboozey 7:30 PM, Metro, 3730 N. Clark, sold out. b

Like other great synthesizers of country and soul— Ray Charles, Clarence Carter, Swamp Dogg, Veronica June, Beyoncé—Shaboozey understands that the two traditions have o en been separated more by corporate marketing niche than by aesthetic or theme. The singer-songwriter’s latest album, May’s Where I’ve Been Isn’t Where I’m Going (American Dogwood Empire), eases into midtempo story-songs about hard living and hard loving that make it clear Hank Williams and Bobby “Blue” Bland were sitting at the same bars, crying in the same beers. They’d probably both recognize the kind of joint evoked by the album’s biggest single, “A Bar Song (Tipsy).”

That overlap is perhaps most obvious on “My Fault,” a duet with singer Noah Cyrus. Shaboozey’s baritone recalls Waylon Jennings as it rumbles under Cyrus’s harmonies on lyrics of such bleak selfloathing they can break the hearts of fans across

genres (“Should’ve been a better man / So don’t you keep on trying to fix me / You’ve done everything you can”). Shaboozey’s perfect statement of purpose, though, might be the album’s closer, “Finally Over.” Its down-home strum is ﬂecked with hints of banjo and pedal steel as Shaboozey emotes with mumbling nonchalance about the end of a relationship, a career, a life. “I’m cool if it’s all over,” he sings. But he presents the song with such graceful acceptance that it never feels like an end. Shaboozey sees all roots music as his roots music; it’s as if he’s been everywhere, even though he’s still just getting started on where he’s going. —NOAH BERLATSKY v

CLASSIFIEDS

JOBS

PROFESSIONALS & SERVICES AUDITIONS

HOUSING

JOBS

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

Quality Management

Consultant Devel and implement Environ, Social, and Governance (ESG) strategy; collab w teams to integrate ESG into biz processes, incl supply chain mgmt, product devel, ops; conduct ESG risk assessments and ID improvement; maintain relations w stakeholders; oversee collection/reporting of ESG data, compliance w Euro and US frameworks; deliver employee training programs re ESG issues; keep abreast of ESG regs and ensure compliance with laws and regs; regular audits to track ESG initiatives, ID improvements, and recommend actions; drive innovation in ESG practices, exploring tech, partnerships, initiatives; manage environmental and sustainability projects. Home worksite avail in domestic U.S. Reqd: BS in Biz Admin, Mgmt, or Sustainability and 2 yrs exp in Environ, Social, Gov programs and managing initiatives for a medium-big corporation. Send cvr ltr and resume to N Bandukwala, HR, Brainlab, Inc., 5 Westbrook Corporate Center, Suite 1000, Westchester, IL 60154.

Logistics Analyst in Chicago IL. Must have BS Degree in Logistics or supply chain & coursework or equivalent exp. in ERP & Excel add-in Solver. Track inventory, warehouse, and logistics operations. Coordinate with different teams including transportation, sales and project management team to ensure smooth logistics operations. Collect and evaluate data to improve supply chain performance by using ERP system. Discover and update the most cost-effective shipping freight and schedules. Monitor and follow-up shipment

(pick up-delivery) with vendor / customer / freight forwarder / broker. Analyze and identify inventory level for future demand. Send resume to: RDI Inc., 4101 42nd Pl, Chicago, IL 60632.

Senior Gymnastics Coaches Lakeshore Academy of Mount Prospect seeks four Senior Gymnastics Coaches in Mount Prospect, IL. Coach male athletes ages 4-18 in levels 3-10 gymnastics for regional, national & international competitions. Bachelor required in Physical Education, related or equivalent. Three years experience required coaching gymnastics to ages 10-17 in levels 7-10 or equivalent levels, including regional & national competitions. Valid USA Gymnastics membership required. Domestic travel required 1-2x/season. Send CV to lakeshoregym20@ gmail.com.

(Hoffman Estates, IL)

Tate & Lyle Solutions USA LLC seeks Sr. Research Scientist w/Mast or for deg equiv in Biochem, Microbio, Chem or hem Eng or rltd fld & 3 yrs exp in job offer or in tech dev incl exp in proj mgmt; indst new prod dev from concp to cmrcl prodctn; bus/cmrcl exp to suprt on prod portfl & innov pipeln bld; ingrd dsgn or solutn or creatn of cmplx food ingrd sys. Apply online at: https:// careers.tateandlyle.com/ global/en or to HR, 5450 rairie Stone kwy, offman Estates, IL 60192

Morningstar Investment Management LLC seeks Senior Software Engineer (multiple positions) in Chicago, IL to build a User Interface Portal using VueJs and Vuex that surface products and tools, also build a restful APIS using ExpressJS for its backend. BS in Computer Eng, Computer Sci, Info Tech or rltd eng ﬁeld & 5 yrs in relevant programming exp is req’d. In alternative, MS deg. in Comp Eng, Comp Sci, Info Tech, or rltd eng ﬁelds and 2 yrs in relevant programming exp. Employer will accept any suitable combination of education, training or experience. Add’l specific skills req’d. For position details & to apply, visit: https://www. morningstar.com/careers; ref. job ID REQ- 045643

Morningstar, Inc. seeks Data Content Designer in Chicago, IL to collaborate closely with the research, global content and operations teams, using your finance and business acumen to

ensure the seamless execution of new initiatives (20%). BS in Finance, Econ, or rltd field & 5 yrs of data content exp reg’d. In alternative, MS in Finance, Econ or rltd ﬁeld & 2 yrs of data content exp reg’d. Add’l speciﬁc skills req’d. or position details & to apply, visit: https://www.morningstar.com/careers; ref. job ID REQ-046002

Clinical Research Associate Northwestern University seeks Clinical Research Associate: conduct intake assessments and provide short-term therapy in individual and group setting with a specific focus on international students; provide psychological assessments, intakes, crisis intervention and management, triage, daytime walk-in emergency service and assume after hours oncall responsibilities for daytime and evening emergency services; consult with parents, physicians, faculty, academic deans, residence life staff, off-campus counseling services; participate in clinical supervision and training experiences for graduate trainees; conduct case management and consultation to trainees; consult with Psychiatrists in conjunction with prescribing and monitoring psychotropic medication for psychotherapy patients; participate in outreach preventative programs and serve as liaison to International Students at the University. Must possess (1) Master’s degree in Psychology, Counseling, or Social Work; (ii) must have two years of experience as a Staﬀ Therapist/Liaison to International Students or two years of experience as a Staff Therapist/ Psychologist in a university setting; and (iii) prior experience must include experience conducting initial consultation/triage, intakes, and group screens appointments; performing short-term therapy to international students; participating in clinical supervision and training experience for graduate students; consulting with psychiatrists in conjunction with prescribing and monitoring psychotropic medication for psychotherapy patients. Any applicant who is interested in this position may apply to the following individual for consideration: Garrett Gilmer, Executive Director, Counseling and Psychological Services, 633 Emerson Street, Searle 2nd Floor, Evanston, IL 60208, garrett. gilmer@northwestern. edu, 847-491-2151.

The Lox COURTESY THE ARTIST continued from p. 31

Shaboozey DANIEL PRAKOPCYK

Software Developer(s)

Software Developer(s) RedMane Technology LLC seeks Software Developer(s) in Chicago, IL to develop and implement object oriented n-tier software applications, including web-based applications; create technical design for Curam extensions, configurations, and interfaces. Telecommuting Permitted. Email resume to yourcareer@redmane. com; reference job code D7038-00126. E.O.E.

Lead Software Engineer (two positions), Chicago, IL, for Team TAG Services, LLC.: Lead a team focused on cust. & practice facing websites. Modernize legacy systems by dev. web apps using the latest Angular framework & create new user-facing features. interacting w/ cloud-native (AWS/ GCP) services. Req’d: Bach. (or foreign equiv.) in Comp. Sci., Comp. or Electronics Eng., or rel. & 5 yrs. of exp. in software development using Agile/ Scrum Development methodology & CI/ CD processes. May work remote 2 days per week. Resumes to code BF-LSE, J. Ximenes, TAG, 800 W. Fulton Market, Chicago, IL 60607 (juliana. ximenescoutinhodias@ aspendental.com).

Network Objects, Inc has multiple openings for the following position: Master’s+2yrs/ Bachelor’s+5yrs/equiv.: SAP ABAP Developer (NSAD24): Experience must include SAP SD, RICEF, EDI, GTS, ECC. Mail resume with job ID # to HR: 2300 Barrington Rd., Suite 400, Hoffman Estates, IL 60169. Reference job ID # NSAD24. Unanticipated work site locations throughout U.S. Foreign equiv. accepted.

Video Production Director Video Production

Director: Deliver religious services of Evangelical Christian Church through on-line streaming, incl greater use of video & multi-media. Prep, execute, supervise video prod & online streaming. Coord topics w/church’s creative team. Sched recs. Set up & tear-down of sets, camera, lighting eqpt, both in field & church settings. Upkeep of camera, audio, lighting eqpt. Editing. Upload ﬁnal video content to social media platforms. 2 yrs exp. Bachelor’s degree in film directing , or closely related. Res: Maranatha Bible Church; 4701 N Canfield Ave, Norridge IL 60706

Construction Project Manager Construction

Project Manager: Direct & coord activities of employees to obtain optimum eﬃciency in sales & ops, max proﬁts in constr

entity. Comm w/ clients, employees, subcontractors, real estate agents, attorneys. Prep contracts, proposals, estimates for construction bids. Participate in dvlpt of a constr project, oversee org, sched, budgeting, impl. Bachelor’s in any engineering ﬁeld. 2 years exp as construction project engineer or construction project manager. Res: MG Bros Construction, Inc. 1295 Jarvis Ave, Elk Grove Village IL 60007

Project Manager I – Engineering HNTB Corporation, Chicago, IL. Manage assigned project(s) throughout their full lifecycle including developing the scope and technical sections of proposal and procurement document to participating in contract negotiations and overseeing the delivery of the project plan. Local travel may be required for site inspections up to 5% of the time. Reference job # 0136 & mail resume to N. Carr, 715 Kirk Drive, Kansas City, MO 64105. EOE including disability and vet.

Clinical Laboratory Scientist in Buﬀalo Grove IL. Must have Master’s Degree in clinical laboratory science or related field such as biology, pharmaceutical, pharmacy, medicine or biochemistry. Alternative requirements: Bachelor’s Degree in Clinical laboratory science or related field such as biology, pharmaceutical, pharmacy, medicine or biochemistry+2 years of exp.. Perform clinical testing such as genomic testing, quality control, equipment maintenance, & proficiency testing in accordance w/ current laboratory protocols. Apply knowledge & data analytics skills to organize clinical testing data, analyze & interpret genomic testing results based on clinical guidelines, to assist in management of clinical data. Prepare test report as required & take appropriate action before verification & release. Other tasks as assigned. Multiple openings. Send resume to: GoPath Laboratories, LLC 1000 Corporate Grove Dr. Buﬀalo Grove, IL 60089.

Morningstar DBRS (f/k/a DBRS Inc.) seeks a Project Manager (multiple positions) in Chicago, IL to be responsible for creating all necessary project tools for kickoff (i.e., milestones document, process decision charts, project plan, RAID logs, work breakdown structures, Gantt charts, etc.) (10%). BS in STEM or rltd ﬁeld & 3 yrs of exp in project management req’d. Add’l speciﬁc skills req’d. For position details & to apply, visit: https://www. morningstar.com/careers; ref. job ID REQ-045391

HR Manager Bodorlaser Inc. seeks a HR Manager in Schaumburg, IL to manage HR functions. Bachelor’s in HR Mgmt, or its foreign equiv. 2 yrs work exp in the HR field. Knowl of HR Mgmt. Proficiency in Excel, PowerPoint, & ERP software. Great leadership, adaptability, & initiative abilities. X’lnt comm, interpersonal& analytical skills. $95,389/ yr. Apply to 1690 N Plum Grove Road, Schaumburg IL 60173, or email: wangkeju@bodor.com

Architectural Intern Goettsch Partners (Chicago, IL) seeks Architectural Intern to dev. alt. architect. building design studies & provide doc. of alt. design studies, using 2D & 3D architectural design software, involved in all phases of architect. services on large-scale commercial projects, incl. high-rise office/ hotel/apt. & mixeduse developments in domestic & Asian markets. Must submit electronic version of portfolio w/examples of academic projects/ digital images/photos & examples of technical drawings of high-rise oﬃce/hotel or mixed-use projects. Portfolio must dem. samples of work in AutoCAD, Revit & graphic & digital presentation software programs. May work remotely 20% of the time. Submit resumes to hr@gpchicago. com, ref. Job ID: 24h08z08 in the sbj. line.

Lead Transptn Plnnr – (Chicago, IL), WSP USA, Inc. Mng cnsltnt dsgn team to complete inclusv commnty invlvmnt process & engg contrct docmts. Reqs: Mas’s (or frgn equiv) in Sustnbl Urbn Devlpmt, Urbn Plnng or a rltd fld; 3 yrs’ exp as Transptn Plnnr, Devlpmt/Zoning Plnnr or a rltd role. Will acpt Bach’s + 5 yrs’ exp. Email resume to jobs@ wsp.com, Ref: 1316.

Trader CTC Trading Group, LLC seeks a Trader in Chicago, IL to engage in dynamic problem solving by rotating through multiple areas across our Trading & Quant organization. Telecommuting is permitted. Apply at https:// www.jobpostingtoday. com/ Ref #14562.

Software Engineer Tempus AI seeks a Software Engineer to work in Chicago, IL, to write clean, efficient software that performs at scale. Telecommuting permitted. Apply @ www.jobpostingtoday. com #67520.

Data Analyst: Data Analyst: (Multiple Openings): Design and develop ETL jobs using Talend using

K2 view Fabric Studio for data integration. Responsible for data mapping for feature enhancement using PL/SQL under the agile methodology using the knowledge of Oracle SQL Developer(SQL), Cassandra(NoSQL), Java, K2view Fabric Studio, Talend, Jira, Grafana, New Relic, ServiceNow, Advanced Excel, Linux, Postman. Reqs MS in Comp Sci, Sci, Engg or rel. Must be willing to travel and reloc to unanticipated client locations throughout the U.S. Mail resumes referencing JOB ID- 9 to Cyberbridge International, Inc. d/b/a Creospan, Inc.,1515 E Woodfield Rd Ste 370, Schaumburg, IL 60173

Gelber Securities, LLC seeks Fin. Quantitative Analyst in Chicago, IL to devise strategies to capitalize on ineﬃciencies in fixed-income mkts. Reqs. Bachelor’s deg. or frgn equiv in Econ, Math. Econ. Analysis, Appl. Math., or rel. fld. plus 1 yr post-bacc. exp as a Trader using fixed income instrs. Exp. must incl. researching & trading fixed-income instrs., Python, & Bloomberg Terminal. Must have passed the Securities Industry Essentials (SIE) Exam and Series 7 (General Securities Representative) Exam.Email resume: recruiting@ gelber group.com.

Procurement Specialist

Medical Shipment LLC seeks Procurement Specialist in Skokie, IL to wrk drctly w/ suppliers to rduce cst, imprv pymnt trms & vol dscnts. Reqs BS in Bus, Fin, or a clsly rltd fld + 24 mnths exp in a clsly rltd ocptn. Reqs 24 mnths exp w/ the fllwng: dta anlys, incl bus/fin dta; lgstcs mng, strat plng & crdntn of vrs dep/tms, supplier rltshp mng; Imp/ Exp regs & gov/dept. of Frgn Affrs regs and cmplnce stndrds; Plng sftwr, wrd prcsng sftwr, sprdsht sftwr, fin anlys sftwr. Trvl req 5% dom; 3% intnl. Mail resumes to Daniel Micic at 8060 Saint Louis Avenue Skokie, IL 60076.

Morningstar, Inc. seeks a Senior Software Engineer (multiple positions) in Chicago, IL to maintain & develop Morningstar’s ByAllAccounts data aggregation system that gathers data from thousands of Financial Institution’s websites using the Parsing system to extract & translate financial data (15%). BS in Comp Sci, Comp Info Tech, Comp Engg, or rltd engg field & 5 yrs of relevant software development exp req’d. Alternatively, MS in Comp Sci, Comp Info Tech, Comp Engg, or rltd engg field & 2 yrs of relevant software development exp req’d. Add’l specific skills req’d.

For position details & to apply, visit: https://www. morningstar.com/careers; ref. job ID REQ-046000.

Software Engineer II w/ McKinsey & Company Inc. US (Chicago, IL). Pioneer the dvlpmnt of product suite of web apps that ensure high performance, responsiveness, & seamless user exp using HTML, CSS, JavaScript, React. Telecommuting permitted. Req’s Master’s in Comp Sci, S/W Engg, or rel ﬁeld, or foreign degree equiv + 1yr of s/w dvlpmnt exp. Email your resume to CO@mckinsey.com and refer to Job # 8063447.

Data Scientist sought by Enova Financial Holdings, LLC in Chicago, IL to conduct ad hoc analysis using statistical & financial tools. Occasional telecommuting permitted. Apply @ jobpostingtoday. com/ Ref #77761.

Morningstar Investment Management LLC seeks a Senior Investment Analyst (multiple positions) in Chicago, IL to lead projects, support & partner w/ other team members & be responsible for analyzing invest data to determine solutions for portfolio construction, determining model portfolios, performing manager/fund selection incl ability to consider criteria such as style consistency, risk/ return statistics, correlation to benchmarks, etc., performing due diligence, & recommending solutions &/or changes to client products, services & deliverables (13%). BS in Finance, Econ, or rltd ﬁeld & 2 yrs of exp in rltd position working in or servicing the Retirement Plan Market req’d. Add’l specific skills req’d. For position details & to apply, visit: https://www. morningstar.com/careers; ref. job ID REQ-045998.

Project Analyst Marsh USA LLC (FT; Chicago, IL - A hybrid work schedule may be permitted w/in a commutable dist from worksite, in accordance w/ company policies.) Develop high quality business solutions in the Agile context that deliver valued business outcomes & informed decisions. RQTS: Must have Bach deg or forgn equiv in Info Tech & Mgmt, Comp. Sci, or rel plus 4 years of experience in the job oﬀrd, or rel. In the alt., employer will accept a Master’s deg or forgn equiv, in Info Tech & Mgmt, Comp. Sci, & 2 years of experience in the job oﬀrd, or rel. 4 yrs of exp (or 2 yrs in the alt. w/ a Master’s) must include: Working w/ diversified teams to plan, design, build, test, & deploy reporting solutions to support business operations & modernize

capabilities. Using Visio or PowerPoint to create Business Process Models. APPLY: https:// careers.marshmclennan. com using Keyword R_280258. EOE

Morningstar, Inc. seeks a Senior Software Engineer (multiple positions) in Chicago, IL to support existing systems and offer production support. Address any issues promptly and ensure uninterrupted operations of critical systems (5%). BS in Electrical Engg, Electronics Engg, Comp Engg, Comp Science, MIS, or rltd field & 5 yrs of exp developing software solutions req’d. Alternatively, MS in Electrical Engg, Electronics Engg, Comp Engg, Comp Science, MIS, or rltd field & 3 yrs of exp developing software solutions. Add’l specific skills req’d. For position details & to apply, visit: https://www. morningstar.com/careers; ref. job ID REQ-045997.

Apartment Shared Services, LLC is seeking an Advertising Writer to Work closely with the advertising team to plan, write and edit weekly contents such as articles, poems, posters, flyers, and newsletters, for promotion programs in both Chinese and English languages with high readability etc. Position requires a master’s degree in Chinese literature or related, 2yr experience as an Advertising writer or related, understanding of Chinese’s social and etc; Interested applicants can mail resume with code AS24 to: Apartment Shared Services, LLC., 1364 E. 53rd St., Chicago, IL 60615.

Assistant Professor of Clinical Pathology/Physician Surgeon The Dept of Pathology, at the Univ of IL Chicago, located in a large metropolitan area, is seeking full-time Assistant Professor of Clinical Pathology/Physician Surgeon to assist the department with the following responsibilities: Under direction and supervision, teach, train, and advise medical students, residents, and fellows in ﬁelds of Pathology, and specifically Dermatopathology and Hematopathology. Provide clinical patient care in the specialties of oncologic and non-oncologic Dermatopathology and Hematopathology to a diverse patient population in the hospital. Participate and collaborate on other sub-specialty diagnostic services, such as molecular pathology, digital pathology, HLA, and informatics. Conduct medical science research, publish and present scientific research findings, and perform University service and administrative duties as assigned. Some periodic travel may be

required for conferences, professional development, and/or local travel in between worksite locations. This position minimally requires a Medical degree (MD) or its foreign equivalent, one (1) year of Dermatopathology fellowship training and one (1) year of Hematopathology fellowship training, a valid IL med license or eligibility for an Illinois medical license, & board certification or eligibility for certification in Anatomic & Clinical Pathology. For fullest consideration, please submit CV, cover letter, and 3 professional references by 10/5/2024 to Ms. Alsera Hayes, 840 S. Wood Street, 130CSN, MC847, Chicago, IL 60612 or via email to Alsera.edu. The University of Illinois System is an equal opportunity employer, including but not limited to disability and/or veteran status, and complies with all applicable state and federal employment mandates. Please visit https://www.hr.uillinois. edu/cms/one.aspx?portalId=4292&pageId=5705uic to view our non-discrimination statement and ﬁnd additional information about required background checks, sexual harassment/misconduct disclosures, and employment eligibility review through E-Verify. The university provides accommodations to applicants and employees https://jobs. uic.edu/request-and-accomodation/

PROFESSIONALS & SERVICES

CLEANING SERVICES

CHESTNUT ORGANIZING AND CLEANING SERVICES: especially for people who need an organizing service because of depression, elderly, physical or mental challenges or other causes for your home’s clutter,

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

AUDITIONS

Flutists Wanted Lakeside Flutes-Chicago’s Premiere Flute Choir seeking new members. All flutists welcome. Rehearsals held Sept.April, every other Sunday, 1:00-3:00 p.m. in Evanston. Visit www. lakesideflutes.org

HOUSING

House for rent 3323 S Damen Ave $2,000 mo 3323 S Damen Ave Newly remodeled historic Chicago bungalow. Three bedroom, 2 person whirlpool. All appliances included. Walk to shopping, Orange line, Archer Avenue. Under 10 minutes to Midway Airport, downtown Chicago, Chinatown, Rush hospital. 1 minute to I-55. See pics and apply on Zillow. Com. Call 312 953-4057

1506 N Hudson 4 bedroom duplex 1506 North Hudson, Unit 2, quiet neighborhood Spacious 4 bedroom duplex (2nd/3rd) ﬂoors. Large living room, den, two baths with 4 sinks, hardwood floors, kitchen includes dishwasher and microwave, washer/dryer in unit, central air and heat; private deck off third floor, large shared deck over garage. No Pets; gas and electric not included; $3,850 monthly, $5,775 deposit. garage space $140. 773.255.6988, 312.343.0449. Block from El station

11/12 Habib Koité, Aly Keita, Lamine Cissokho

11/14 The Wild Feathers plus special guest Nathan Graham 10/5 Kulāiwi - Native Lands

Jenkins 100th Birthday Celebration concert In Szold Hall

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 8 7PM

Wild Earp Celebrating the 65th Anniversary of Marty Robbins' Gunfighter Ballads & Trail Songs In Szold Hall MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 9 7:30PM Andy Shauf with Hayden Pedigo In Maurer Hall FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER

GOSSIP WOLF

WHEN JAY POST STARTED his freshman year at Brooks College Prep in 2015, he joined the school’s poetry team, where he met sophomore Jimmi Gordon. Both were big fans of Chicago’s bustling rap scene. “All those guys came up in the same spaces we did,” Post says. “We took the love for music and poetry and were like, ‘Why not do it ourselves, for real?’” As OutPastMidnight , they’ve grown into one of the city’s most promising hip-hop groups, and they’ll celebrate ﬁve years under that name by headlining Reggies Rock Club on Friday, September 6.

Today Post is a rapper, and Gordon is a rapper and producer—but it took years for them to ﬁgure out what they were doing with music. They ﬁrst experimented in a studio at their high school, then moved on to Young Chicago Authors (YCA) to attend the Emcee Wreckshop led by Add-2 and Defcee. “They would bring MCs from all over the country to come and talk to us,” Gordon says. “They were showing us a lot of the techniques.”

with Damn Tall Buildings In Maurer Hall

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 14 8PM Tatiana Eva-Marie In Szold Hall

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 16 7:30PM

Joe Boyd: And the Roots of Rhythm Remain (Book Event) In Szold Hall

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 19 8PM

Caleb Caudle & The Sweet Critters / Luke Bulla In Szold Hall SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER

As Gordon and Post began to collaborate, they tested material at the YCA open mike WordPlay . One summer in the late 2010s, they debuted a song every week for seven straight weeks. “We didn’t have a miss,” Post says. “We ended up putting them all together [on the 2022 full-length] Teenage Bullshit.”

“We didn’t officially become OutPastMidnight for real until 2019,” Gordon says, “when we met our manager, Dezareé [Negrete].” The duo connected with Negrete when they auditioned for students in a music- management class she was taking at Columbia College, but she took them on as clients because she liked their music and wanted it to reach more people, not because she needed class credit. Since then the duo have released Teenage Bullshit and 2023’s Super Stereo Bros., and this year they landed a DCASE Individual Artists grant to support their traveling openmike series, Power to the People

Dos Santos In Szold Hall

A furry ear to the ground of the local music scene

one of the duo’s mentors, hosts the show. ELLA JENKINS TURNED 100 in August, and that calls for a party that lasts more than a month. On Saturday, September 7, the Old Town School of Folk Music hosts cELLAbration to honor the legacy of the first lady of children’s music, a pioneering Black artist, and one of Chicago’s most important cultural ﬁgures. “What she did, and how she treats people, is exemplary,” says co-organizer Lisa Joy DeRosia. “Learning about that, bringing people together, and allowing people to share in

presenting music from many cultures brings people together. There’s a spirit of unity and equality that comes from that—reaching across to other people and not feeling that otherness. I think that’s really important.”

Six Old Town School teaching artists will perform Jenkins’s repertoire on Saturday, and DeRosia says anyone who attends can take part too. “They can expect to be part of the show,” she says. “They can expect to get up and dance and sing. They can expect to have fun and smile.”

that is so important.”

“Our mission statement right now is trying to make all this music and culture really accessible to the people who don’t get the privilege to see it o en,” Gordon says. “A lot of people hear about Lollapalooza—we all get affected by its traffic—but it’s not too many people who get the opportunity to pass them gates.” At Friday’s party, OutPastMidnight perform with their band, the Graveyard Shi , and a lineup of artists who’ve supported them and shared bills with them. J Bambii , Chris Robbin’ ( a F.A.B.L.E.), Heavy Crownz, Linda Sol, and DJ Tango open; poet Raych Jackson,

Folkways Records (now part of Smithsonian Folkways) released Jenkins’s ﬁrst album, Calland-Response: Rhythmic Group Singing , in 1957. That work used simple chants from the U.S. and Africa, and it’s since become an important building block in children’s music. DeRosia learned about Jenkins when she began teaching kids’ music at the Old Town School in 1996.

“It’s a really great style of music in that it’s a call-and-response pedagogy that immediately gets people involved,” she says. “She knows the importance of play and melody and rhythm. She also understands inclusiveness and equality, and she understands how

IF YOU’VE FOLLOWED the local indie-rock scene over the past decade or so, you’ll likely recognize everybody in postpunk trio Plum. Drummer Karissa Talanian (who runs Eye Vybe Records) has held it down in Wet Piss, Lil Tits, and Plastic Crimewave Syndicate; bassist-vocalist Heather Perry has played in Bring Your Ray Gun and and the Ye-Ye’s; and guitarist-vocalist Jeff Kelley has led the solo project Ocean Cult after stints in Vaya, Dick Wolf!, and New Drugs. On Monday, September 9, they celebrate their debut album, Can’t Hold On to It , at the Empty Bottle. Plum formed a few years ago, when Perry moved back to Chicago from the east coast and asked Kelley if he wanted to start a new band. “I didn’t even have his phone number,” Perry says. “I had a defunct Facebook account, and I just tried messaging him through that.” Both Perry and Kelley wanted to make angular, new-wave-influenced songs; they started writing with a “haunted drum machine,” then heard that Talanian had been itching to get back behind the kit. “She stretches us into slightly more psychedelic influences with her taste,” Perry says. “We also have a lot of overlap with indie sleaze, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and stuff like that—but she definitely brings a wider soundscape.” Talanian helped Plum book their first tour: ten shows in Japan in late 2023. “We did everything by train,” Kelley says, “because all the venues out there had back lines—drums and amps. We were able to travel pretty light and play tiny 25-, 30-cap clubs to very enthusiastic audiences, which was fantastic.” At the Bottle, Plum will sell cassettes of a Japanese live set and tape and vinyl copies of Can’t Hold On to It Mrkt and Bloodhype open; admission is free, and music starts at 9 PM. —LEOR GALIL

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

Jimmi Gordon and Jay Post of OutPastMidnight COURTESY

SAVAGE LOVE

SEX AND RELATIONSHIPS

Quickies

Asexuality, “holding it in,” and more

By DAN SAVAGE

Q: Am I on the asexuality spectrum or do I just have a very low sex drive 95 percent of the time? How can I know for sure?

a: There’s no genetic test for asexuality, just as there’s no genetic test for heterosexuality, homosexuality, or bisexuality. So, while you can’t know with absolute certainty whether you’re asexual or just have a low sex drive, you’re free to embrace the asexual label if it feels right and helps you communicate with prospective romantic partners.

Remember: the asexual spectrum—which runs the gamut from sex-repulsed asexuals recoiling from sex scenes in movies to asexual sluts racking up impressive body counts—is as vast as it is unfalsifiable, and you have just as much right to locate yourself on it as anyone else.

P.S. If there were prenatal genetic tests for sexual orientation, evangelical churches would open abortion clinics in their basements.

Q: What do you do if you want to be a gay fisting top but you have really, really big hands?

a: Seeing as there are gay power bottoms out there literally sitting on traffic cones (you don’t have to take my word for it: feel free to look it up on PornHub) finding an experienced fisting bottom capable of accommodating one or more of your really, really, really big hands shouldn’t be that hard.

have potential adverse health effects.”)

Q: Tips for getting someone all the way down your throat when their dick is curved?

(For the record: I don’t doubt your hands are big—I’m not questioning how your hands identify—but however big they are, they’re not bigger than traﬃc cones.)

Q: Is it bad to hold it in right as you are about to reach the point of orgasmic inevitability?

a: What’s the “it” we’re talking about holding in? If the “it” is a fart, you should deﬁnitely hold it in. If the “it” is a butt plug, you should try your best to hold it in. (But there’s no shame in having an orgasm so powerful the butt plug pops out of your ass like a champagne cork and ricochets around the room.)

If the “it” is a giggle, knowing how your partner feels about laughter during sex (some love, some hate) would inform your choice. And if the “it” is your load—if you’re one of those idiots practicing semen retention for its (unproven and most likely nonexistent) health benefits—then holding it in is absolutely necessary, as your entire personality is based on retaining your semen. (Read it and weep, semen-retaining weirdos. According to “The broad reach and inaccuracy of men’s health information on social media: analysis of TikTok and Instagram,” a 2022 paper by urologist Justin M. Dubin and colleagues, published in the journal Springer Nature: “Semen retention [is] a practice that is not supported by current literature and which has been shown to

a: A dick that curves downward will slide down your throat pretty easily when you’re kneeling in front of it. With a dick that curves upward, you either need to hang the dude you’re blowing from his ankles (so you can slide his dick down your throat) or lay them down on the bed and get on top of them facing their ankles (so you can slide your throat down his dick). If that dick curves to the le or right, you’ll need to get to a position opposite to the curve—on the le or the right—to slide that dick down your throat.

Q: Best way to bring up the idea of opening up a relationship?

a: It’s best to bring it up early—even if it’s just a hypothetical—because bringing it up a er you’ve made a monogamous commitment, gotten married, and had kids is going to feel like a violation. And remember: saying, “I’d like to open our relationship,” to your partner is a lot like saying, “I’m gay,” to your parents or saying, “Childless cat ladies are miserable and want to make the rest of the country miserable, too,” into a live mike. It’s not something you can unsay and there’s a good chance you’ll wind up divorced, disowned, or despised for having said it.

Q: I’ve heard you talk about mpox twice on your podcast twice now and recommend the vaccine for gay and bi men. What about women who sleep with bi men with male partners? Do we need to get vaxxed too?

a: “The CDC recommends

the two-dose JYNNEOS vaccine for people at risk of mpox,” said Benjamin Ryan, a health and science journalist who has extensively covered mpox. “This most notably includes men who have multiple male sex partners. But it can also include women who have sex with such men.” Ryan recommends that you ask your health care provider for the shots—be sure to get both shots—but emphasizes that there’s no need for people to panic. “There is

no evidence at this time that mpox clade 1, which is believed to be more severe, has made it to the U.S.,” said Ryan. “But mpox clade 2, from the outbreak that began in 2022, continues to transmit at low levels, overwhelmingly among gay and bisexual men.”

If you’re a gay or bisexual man who has already gotten both shots, there’s no need to get a booster at this time. If you’re a gay or bi man who hasn’t gotten the shots—or a

woman who sleeps with men who sleep with men—please get vaccinated against mpox as soon as possible. You can follow Benjamin Ryan on X (@benryanwriter) or subscribe to his newsletter at benryan.substack.com. v

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

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JOSEPH + BECCA MANCARI DYSTINCT

JULIAN LAGE

SPEAK TO ME TOUR + ELIJAH WOLF

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IVY LAB

INFINITE FALLING GROUND PART II

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