Print Issue of December 1, 2016 (Volume 46, Number 9)

C H I C A G O ’ S F R E E W E E K LY | K I C K I N G A S S S I N C E 1 9 7 1 | D E C E M B E R 1 , 2 0 1 6

Lit Searching for John Hughes is really a journey of selfdiscovery. 17

Food & Drink Bad Hunter is mostly meatless but missing nothing. 35

‘Hoop Dreams’ amid the game of life Snapshots of basketball courts in Chicago’s overlooked communities offer a plea for investment in the city’s youth.

Photo essay by ADAM JASON COHEN 13

presents

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Sun 路 Dec 18 2016 路 11am-6pm 路 Chicago Plumbers Hall 路 1340 W Washington A curated event featuring 80 vendors.

FREE T O THE PUBLIC | FREE PARK ING AVA IL ABLE | #M ADEINCHIC AGO For more information, visit ChicagoReader.com/MadeInChicago Vendors: for information, please contact Bburda@chicagoreader.com

2 CHICAGO READER - DECEMBER 1, 2016

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THIS WEEK

C H I C AG O R E A D E R | D E C E M B E R 1 , 2 01 6 | VO LU M E 4 6 , N U M B E R 9

TO CONTACT ANY READER EMPLOYEE, E-MAIL: (FIRST INITIAL)(LAST NAME) @CHICAGOREADER.COM

EDITOR JAKE MALOOLEY CREATIVE DIRECTOR PAUL JOHN HIGGINS DEPUTY EDITOR, NEWS ROBIN AMER CULTURE EDITOR TAL ROSENBERG DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY DANIELLE A. SCRUGGS FILM EDITOR J.R. JONES MUSIC EDITOR PHILIP MONTORO ASSOCIATE EDITORS KATE SCHMIDT, KEVIN WARWICK, BRIANNA WELLEN SENIOR WRITERS MICHAEL MINER, MIKE SULA SENIOR THEATER CRITIC TONY ADLER STAFF WRITERS LEOR GALIL, DEANNA ISAACS, BEN JORAVSKY, AIMEE LEVITT, PETER MARGASAK, JULIA THIEL SOCIAL MEDIA EDITOR RYAN SMITH GRAPHIC DESIGNER SUE KWONG MUSIC LISTINGS COORDINATOR LUCA CIMARUSTI EDITORIAL ASSISTANT CASSIDY RYAN CONTRIBUTING WRITERS NOAH BERLATSKY, DERRICK CLIFTON, MATT DE LA PEÑA, MAYA DUKMASOVA, ANNE FORD, ISA GIALLORENZO, JOHN GREENFIELD, JUSTIN HAYFORD, JACK HELBIG, DAN JAKES, BILL MEYER, J.R. NELSON, MARISSA OBERLANDER, LEAH PICKETT, DMITRY SAMAROV, KATE SIERZPUTOWSKI, DAVID WHITEIS, ALBERT WILLIAMS INTERNS ISABEL OCHOA GOLD, JACK LADD ---------------------------------------------------------------VICE PRESIDENT OF BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT NICKI STANULA VICE PRESIDENT OF NEW MEDIA GUADALUPE CARRANZA SENIOR ACCOUNT MANAGER EVANGELINE MILLER ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES FABIO CAVALIERI, ARIANA DIAZ, BRIDGET KANE MARKETING AND EVENTS MANAGER BRYAN BURDA DIRECTOR OF DIGITAL JOHN DUNLEVY ADVERTISING COORDINATOR HERMINIA BATTAGLIA CLASSIFIEDS REPRESENTATIVE KRIS DODD ---------------------------------------------------------------DISTRIBUTION CONCERNS distributionissues@chicagoreader.com CHICAGO READER 350 N. ORLEANS, CHICAGO, IL 60654 312-222-6920, CHICAGOREADER.COM ---------------------------------------------------------------THE READER (ISSN 1096-6919) IS PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY SUN-TIMES MEDIA, LLC, 350 N. ORLEANS, CHICAGO, IL 60654. © 2016 SUN-TIMES MEDIA, LLC. PERIODICAL POSTAGE PAID AT CHICAGO, IL. POSTMASTER: SEND CHANGE OF ADDRESS TO CHICAGO READER, 350 N. ORLEANS, CHICAGO, IL 60654.

ON THE COVER: GARFIELD PARK, 2016 BY ADAM JASON COHEN. FOR MORE OF HIS WORK, GO TO ADAMJASONCOHEN.PHOTO.

FEATURES

IN THIS ISSUE 23 Movies Seasons delves into the forest to uncover an endless series of power struggles.

MUSIC & NIGHTLIFE

4 Agenda The musical Finding Neverland, stand-up comedy from Marc Maron and Brian Posehn, Ted McClelland on How to Speak Midwestern, and more recommendations

CITY LIFE

7 Street View Playing dress-up with a ballerina and fashion blogger

PHOTO ESSAY

25 In Rotation SAIC assistant professor Seth Kim-Cohen on why it’s not time for pretty songs, and more 27 Shows of note Michael Kiwanuka, Steel Panther, Astonish, and more

FOOD & DRINK

‘Hoop Dreams’ amid the game of life Snapshots of basketball courts in Chicago’s overlooked communities offer a plea for investment in the city’s youth.

BY ADAM JASON COHEN 13

Q&A

Jason Diamond’s Searching for John Hughes is really a journey of self-discovery The Brooklyn author’s North Shore adolescence was a different kind of teen movie.

BY AIMEE LEVITT 17

7 LGBTQ A landmark lawsuit could have major impact on employment protections for gays and lesbians.

9 Joravsky | Politics Congressman Luiz Gutierrez plans to boycott Donald Trump’s inauguration and fight any efforts at mass deportation.

11 Transportation A six-block stretch of LaSalle has averaged one pedestrian fatality a year.

ARTS & CULTURE

19 Theater A roundup of theater and comedy shows for the holiday season 21 Lit Against Me! singer Laura Jane Grace chronicles her turbulent life in Tranny.

35 Restaurant review: Bad Hunter At Heisler Hospitality’s latest, Dan Snowden’s vegetableforward menu is no joke.

37 Cocktail Challenge: Matzo Christopher Marty of Best Intentions makes “alcohol soup.”

37 Jobs 37 Apartments & Spaces 39 Marketplace 40 Straight Dope An update on the so-called autism epidemic 41 Savage Love Quick-hit advice for penis diddlers, dry humpers, and more 42 Early Warnings Vince Staples, James Taylor and Bonnie Raitt at Wrigley Field, and more shows to come 42 Gossip Wolf Hip-hop writer Ben Westhoff talks west-coast rap at Volumes, and more music news.

DECEMBER 1, 2016 - CHICAGO READER 3

AGENDA R

READER RECOM RECOMMENDED

Send your events to agenda@chicagoreader.com

b ALL AGES

F Sat 12/17, 2:30; Tue 12/20 and Wed 12/21, 7:30 PM, Den Theatre, 1329-1333 N. Milwaukee, 773-609-2336, thedentheatre. com, $36, $31 students and seniors.

THEATER THEATE

More at chicago chicagoreader.com/ theater Cinderella at tthe Theater of Potatoes Picking up where Redmoon Theater’s old winter pageants left off (and the House Theatre’s Nutcrackerr keeps on keeping on), this new Hypocrites Hypocr show retrofits a classic fairy tale for the sensibilities of 21st-century progressives. Adapter Andra Velis Sim Simon has taken Pauline Viardot-Ga Viardot-García’s Cendrillon—a belle epoque ch chamber-operetta version of the Cin Cinderella story—and stripped away such s backward elements as charmed mice and handsome princes. In their place she gives us a narrative in w which talent will out, true ssisterhood is powerful, “e and “extraordinary things po are possible when ordinary people help each other.” fo The forward-thinking maxims get a little much, tendin tending to come in a flurry toward the end, and G Sean Graney’s brightly costum 85-minute costumed stagin can tip over staging from tthe festive into the twe twee at times, but the son songs and voices are strong (particularly that of Ama Amanda Martinez, wel well cast as Cinderella) and the spirit overall is as aff affable as it is positive.

—TONY ADLER Through 1/8: Fri 8 PM, Sat 3 and 8 PM, Sun 3 PM (no shows 12/25 and 1/1), Den Theatre, 1329-1 1329-1333 N. Milwaukee, 773-609-2336, tthedentheatre.com, $36, $15 children.

Finding N Neverland Based R on a 2004 film—which in turn was based on a 1998 play—this

stage musical tells tell how J.M. Barrie’s friendship with yo young widow Sylvia Llewelyn Davies and an her four sons led to his creation o of Peter Pan. In its way, it’s a big impro improvement over the movie—and not just because of the often charming son songs by Gary Barlow and Eliot Kennedy. Celluloid stars Johnny Depp and Kate Winslet were too picture-perfect picture-per to be quite believable as the t misfits Barrie and Davies; the leads in the current Equity touring production produc (Kevin Kern and Christine Dwye Dwyer) are no slouches physiognomy-wise, yet they’re better able to project the sense s of two souls— lost boy, lost girl—in nneed of connection.

What’s more, a mus musical is simply the right mode for a tale so full of whimsy.

Both the dancing by b choreographer Mia Michaels and the undanced u movement by director Diane Paulus Pau are idiosyncratic fun, the effec effects are beautiful, and the cast exudes an exuberance that’s a joy to share. —TO —TONY ADLER Through 12/4: Wed-Fri 7:30 PM PM, Sat 2 and 8 PM, Sun 2 and 7:30 PM, Tue 7:30 PM, Cadil-

4 CHICAGO READER - DECEMBER 1, 2016

DANCE

Deeply Rooted Dance Theater R The local company, which draws on classical, modern, African-American,

and African dance, kicks off its 20th year with two new works exploring gender identity: When Men and Femme. 12/312/4: Sat 7:30 PM, Sun 2 PM, Univ. of Chicago Logan Center for the Arts, 915 E. 60th, 773-702-2787, deeplyrootedproductions.org, $45-$55.

Finding Neverland o CAROL ROSEGG lac Palace Theatre, 151 W. Randolph, 312-902-1400, $27-$123.

Give It All Back Like her Rolling, which premiered at Jackalope Theatre last spring, Calamity West’s new based-onfact play concerns a public figure trying to hide in plain sight. The protagonist of Rolling was a reporter remarkably similar to Sabrina Rubin Erdely, whose Rolling Stone story about a collegiate gang rape turned out to be false. At the center of Give It All Back is a famous musician you’d swear was Bob Dylan. In 1966 Dylan was on a world tour, having recently enraged his folkie fan base by going electric. West’s “Artist” is also touring, also under fire. He spends his days in a Paris hotel room, much as the Erdely character holed up at her mom’s house. But the Artist’s real disguise is the asshole persona he’s chosen to present to the world. Marti Lyons’s staging for Sideshow Theatre goes slack in its second act, when West hasn’t much to do but contrive a satisfying ending, but until then it’s crisp, funny, and shrewd. Mary Williamson is a hoot as a cross between Allen Ginsberg and R. Crumb’s Mr. Natural. —TONY ADLER Through 12/18: Thu-Fri 7:30 PM, Sat 3 and 7:30 PM, Sun 3 PM, Victory Gardens Theater, 2433 N. Lincoln, 773-871-3000, victorygardens.org, $15-$30.

Jeeves Intervenes ShawChicago, R which generally specializes in concert readings of George Bernard

Shaw’s dialectical social satires, eschews intellectual comedy for pure farcical fun in this rendition of Margaret Raether’s adaptation of stories by British humorist P.G. Wodehouse. Set in 1928 London, the nonsensical plot concerns dimwitted, idly rich aristocrat Bertie Wooster’s efforts to evade marriage to the young lady his overbearing Aunt Agatha intends him to wed. The situation is complicated by the arrival of Bertie’s old school chum, feckless Eustace Bassington-Bassington, who needs to “borrow” Bertie’s fashionable flat to pose as a successful businessman so he can avoid his uncle’s intentions to send him off to India to learn the jute trade. To the rescue comes Jeeves, Bertie’s pluperfect valet, who cannily manipulates the situation to suit Bertie’s—and Jeeves’s

own—interests. Director Robert Scogin’s minimalist production conveys both the verbal wit and fast-paced physical humor of the story, thanks to selectively staged movement and, especially, the superb cast’s deft delivery of Wodehouse’s whimsically eccentric dialogue.

—ALBERT WILLIAMS Through 12/19: SatSun 2 PM, Mon 7 PM, Ruth Page Center for the Arts, 1016 N. Dearborn, 312-3376543, ruthpage.org, $35, $30 seniors, $20 students.

Winterset Convinced of his R father’s innocence, Mio (Maurice Demus) sets out to uncover the truth

about a murder prosecution gone awry.

Based on the notorious case of Sacco and Vanzetti, two Italian-American anarchists who in 1921 were convicted of first-degree murder and eventually executed, playwright Maxwell Anderson’s epic drama is a rare treat straight from the vault: 1935 to be exact. This resurrection from Griffin Theatre Company is chock-full of the sort of weighty poetic verse and scrumptious dialogue found in any good Shakespearean tragedy. Righteous indignation runs aplenty but with a soft touch, notably from Demus and Larry Baldacci as the unsettled Judge Gaunt. Jonathan Berry directs a fantastic cast, and the anarchist sentiment of the play, even its subtle sense of unnerving populism, feels especially relevant nowadays. —MATT DE LA PEÑA Through 12/23: Thu-Sat 7:30 PM, Sun 3 PM; also

Honey Same Planet Different R World Dance Theatre presents a new work inspired by 70s disco. 12/2-

12/11: Fri-Sun 7 PM, Dovetail Studios, 2853 W. Montrose, spdwdance.org, $22.

The Nutcracker The Ruth Page R Civic Ballet performs the holiday classic. 12/3-12/4: Fri 7 PM, Sat 1 and 5

PM, Northeastern Illinois University, Fine Arts Auditorium, 3701 W. Bryn Mawr, 773583-4050, ruthpage.org, $25.

COMEDY

Arguments & Grievances Local R comedians Kevin White, Zach Peterson, and Kevin Brody debate

eccentric topics in a live comedy podcast. This episode’s battles include “Home vs. Away,” “Smelt It vs. Dealt It,” and “Indiana Jones vs. Indiana.” Sun 12/4, 8 PM, North Bar, 1637 W. North, 773-1235678, liveatnorthbar.com, $5.

Happy Holly-Daze A holiR day-themed sketch comedy show and drinking game. 12/1-12/17: Wed-Sat 7 PM, Cornservatory, 4210 N. Lincoln, 773650-1331, cornservatory.org, $10-$15.

Marc Maron Whether onstage, R on his WTF podcast, or on his eponymous IFC show, Maron has a distinctive way of putting a profound comedic spin on his own neurosis, his

Winterset o MICHAEL BROSILOW

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Best bets, recommendations, and notable arts and culture events for the week of December 1

For more ore of the best st things to do every ry day of the week, ek, go to chicagoreader. oreader. com/agenda. genda.

Kruger Gallery “In the Company of Flowers,” a group exhibit showcasing paintings and sculptures inspired by memory and sensuality. Opening reception Thu 12/1, 6-8 PM. 12/1-1/14. Tue-Sat noon-6 PM, 441 N. Clark, 630-715-0500, krugergallerymarfa.com.

Marc Maron o RANDY SHROPSHIRE

personal and romantic failures, and the darkness of daily life as a recovering addict. In July it was announced that the fourth season of his TV show would be its last, so expect him to be ready to unload during this stop on his “Too Real” tour. Sat 12/3, 7:30 PM, the Vic, 3145 N. Sheffield, 773-472-0449, victheatre.com.

Brian Posehn The comedian from R The Sarah Silverman Program and Mr. Show performs stand-up. Sat 12/3, 7:30 PM, Beat Kitchen, 2100 W. Belmont, 773-281-4444, beatkitchen.com, $22-$25.

R

Unwrapped A holiday musical comedy with a built-in drinking game. 12/1-1/12: Thu 8 PM, MCL Chicago, 3110 N. Sheffield, mclchicago.com, $15.

We Still Like You This BYOB R comedy show features Alexa Schlosser, Lily Emerson, Geoff Asmus,

Fran Hoepfner, Natalie Jose, and Matty Ryan sharing their most shameful stories. Sat 12/3, 9:30 PM, Flat Iron Arts Building, 1579 N. Milwaukee, 312-3353000, facebook.com/WeStillLikeYou.

VISUAL ARTS ACRE Projects “Glyph,” new works by Mairead Case, Lindsay Deifik, and Laura Judkis. Opening reception Sat 12/3, 6-9 PM. 12/3-12/31. 1913 W. 17th, info@acreresidency.org, acreresidency.org.

Chicago Artists Coalition “Amor Fati,” Hatch Projects presents this exhibit featuring work by Anansi Knowbody, Angela Davis Fegan, Bryan C. McVey, Cassandra Stadnicki, John Steck Jr., and Woomin Kim. Opening reception Fri 12/2, 6-9 PM. 12/2-12/22. Mon-Thu 9 AM-5 PM, Fri 9 AM-noon. 217 N. Carpenter, 312491-8887, chicagoartistscoalition.org.

Lenz Studio “Complete. An Art Exhibit,” a group show featuring paintings, collages, and furniture by Neville Gerson, Katy Hartnett, Ben Lenz, Steve Livengood, Laurie Martinez, and Susan Padveen. Opening reception Fri 12/2, 6-11 PM. 12/2-12/16. By appointment only.

2114 W. Belmont, 773-929-1234, lenzdesign.com.

o JIM COLE

Sharon Olds The former New R York State Poet Laureate reads her work as part of the Poetry Off the

LIT

Shelf series. Thu 12/1, 7 PM, Poetry Foundation, 61 W. Superior, 312-787-7070, poetryfoundation.org.

Michigan, 312-443-3600, poetryfoundation.org.

Children First, 5233 N. Clark, 773-7699299, womenandchildrenfirst.com.

Rey Andújar A pop-up poetry R reading in the African and Indian Pushing Perfect A launch party Art of the Americas galleries. Wed 12/7, R for Michelle Falkoff’s new youngnoon, Art Institute of Chicago, 111 S. adult novel. Fri 12/2, 7:30 PM, Women &

Empty Bottle Book Club The Tuesday Funk This monthly R Empty Bottle’s monthly book R reading series features eclectic club hosts a discussion of Zadie Smith’s works by local writers. December’s lineSwing Time. Sun 12/4, 3 PM, Empty Bottle, 1035 N. Western, 773-276-3600, emptybottle.com.

Michael Lenehan The journalist R and former Reader editor discusses his book Much Ado: A Summer With

a Repertory Theater Company, which chronicles his time spent behind the scenes at Wisconsin-based American Players Theatre during its 2014 production of Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing. Sat 12/3, 6 PM, Book Cellar, 4736 N. Lincoln, 773-293-2665, bookcellarinc.com.

Ted McClelland The local author R discusses his book How to Speak Midwestern, which focuses on the

accents, turns of phrase, and speech patterns of middle America. Thu 12/1, 7 PM, Book Cellar, 4736 N. Lincoln, 773293-2665, bookcellarinc.com.

Chicago Printmakers Collaborative “Small Print Show,” more than 60 artists display prints, postcards, T-shirts, and more. “Grand opening party” Sat 12/3-Sun 12/4, 11 AM-7 PM. Through 2/4.

Fri-Sat noon-5 PM and by appointment, 4912 N. Western, 773-293-2070, chicagoprintmakers.com.

Hyde Park Art Center Installation No. 21, Jan Tichy’s digital mural. Opening reception Sun 12/11, 3 PM. 12/4-2/19.

Mon-Thu 9 AM-8 PM, Fri-Sat 9 AM-5 PM, Sun noon-5 PM. 5020 S. Cornell, 773-3245520, hydeparkart.org.

Sharon Olds

Being 17 o STRAND RELEASING

up includes Connor Coyne, Reinhardt Suarez, Hallie Palladino, Sara Ross Witt, and William Shunn. Tue 12/6, 7:30 PM, Hopleaf, 5148 N. Clark, 773-334-9851, hopleaf.com.

MOVIES

More at chicagoreader.com/movies NEW REVIEWS Always Shine Oscilloscope Laboratories is marketing this indie feature as a thriller, though director Sophia Takal (Green) describes it as a study in female identity.

That’s OK, because when her main characters, a pair of aspiring LA actresses, retreat to Big Sur for a friendly weekend getaway, the knives immediately come out. Beth (Caitlin FitzGerald of Showtime’s Masters of Sex) is the pretty,

demure one, working g steadily by taking her clothes off in crappy horror movies; Anna (Mackenzie Mackenzie Davis) is the talented, forceful one, wrestling with the professional ofessional limitation of her plain-Jane Jane looks.

As they relax over thee weekend, their unspoken rivalryy begins to emerge, and things get even nastier when an unattached ached man comes between them.. Takal plunges headfirst into the vanity of the acting business, which sometimes muddies her larger point; she’s created reated two characters with disistinctly different approaches roaches to femininity, but these ese are hard to separate from the women’s habitual self-re-regard. With Jane Adams. ams.

—J.R. JONES 87 min. Fri 12/2, 7 and 9 PM; Sat 12/3, 5, 7, and 9 PM; Sun 12/4, 2/4, 5 and 7 PM; Mon 12/5 and Tue 12/6, 7 and 9 PM; Wed 12/7, 9:15 PM; and d Thu 12/8, 7 and 9 PM. Facets Cinematheque Being 17 Veteran French director André dré Téchiné (My Favorite Season) called on the younger, hipper Célinee Sciamma (Girlhood) to help elp write this patient, psychologically lly credible portrait of two teenage ge boys who begin as schoolyard antagonists ntagonists but end as furtive lovers. vers. Damien (Kacey Mottet Klein), son of a military man and a kindhearted arted doctor, is bullied in school by Thomas (Corentin Fila), who lives with his ailing mother on their ramshackle amshackle farm.

When the mother is hospitalized, her physician—Damien’s mom (Sandrine Kiberlain)—invites Thomas omas to stay with them and implores the boys to bury the hatchet, unaware that their mutual antipathy is a reaction to mutual desire.

The screenplay is marred red by clumsy foreshadowing and other contrivances, but Téchiné and d Sciamma have tapped into something omething genuine: the deep confusion at the dawn of sexuality. “I don’t know if I’m into guys or just you,” declares Damien, articulating a question that perplexes them both. In French with subtitles.

—J.R. JONES 114 min. Fri 12/2, 2 and 8:15 PM; Sat 12/3, 4:45 and d 7:45 PM; Sun 12/4, 5:15 PM; Mon 12/5, 7:45 45 PM; Tue 12/6, 6 PM; Wed 12/7, 7:45 PM; and Thu 12/8, 6 PM. Gene Siskel Film m Center The Eyes of My Mother her In this baffling horror fable—the firstt feature from writer-director Nicolas as Pesce—a girl witnesses the murder of her beloved mother (Diana Agostini) tini) by a vagrant W

DECEMBER 1, 2016 - CHICAGO READER 5

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December 2 - 8

Fri., 12/2 at 6 pm & 7:45 pm; Sat., 12/3 at 5:15 pm; Sun., 12/4 at 3 pm; Mon., 12/5 at 6 pm; Tue., 12/6 at 8:15 pm; Wed., 12/7 at 6 pm; Thu., 12/8 at 8:15 pm Visit our website for showtimes through Dec. 15

December 2 - 8

Fri., 12/2 at 2 pm & 8:15 pm; Sat., 12/3 at 4:45 pm & 7:45 pm; Sun., 12/4 at 5:15 pm;

Mon., 12/5 at 7:45 pm; Tue., 12/6 at 6 pm; Wed., 12/7 at 7:45 pm; Thu., 12/8 at 6 pm

DEC. 2 - 8 • HIERONYMUS BOSCH: TOUCHED BY THE DEVIL BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND! BUY TICKETS NOW

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6 CHICAGO READER - DECEMBER 1, 2016

www.siskelfilmcenter.org

B and is mesmerized, rather than repelled, by the act. The protagonist (Olivia Bond as a child, Kika Magalhaes as an adult) is execrable, and also cliched: a sadistic sociopath with an angelic face. She remains in the isolated farmhouse she once shared with her deceased parents; when other adults intrude, she either kills them immediately or tortures them lovingly, removing their eyeballs and vocal cords as her mother, a Portuguese surgeon, showed her when operating on the farm’s animals. The film benefits from Zach Kuperstein’s moody black-and-white cinematography and the stark compositions, but the unrelenting ugliness and senselessness of the piece negate its occasional touches of minimalist beauty. —LEAH PICKETT R, 76 min.

Fri 12/2-Thu 12/8, 5 and 9:45 PM. Music Box Land of Songs First-time filmmaker Aldona Watts celebrates Lithuania, her ancestral homeland, with this 2015 documentary about five octogenarian women performing as folksingers in the sylvan Dainava region. Members of an ethnographic ensemble in the dwindling village of Puvočiai, they don traditional costumes to sing for tourists, harmonizing onstage if not always offstage; between shows they take care of farm chores and lament their dead men, some of whom were casualties of the Nazi and Soviet occupations.

Watts’s treatment of the historical era is vague; when the women shy away from specifics, she calls on a former partisan fighter to explain how he and his comrades survived.

The Russians are recalled as worse than the Germans, and Lithuanian collaborators and murdered Jews rate only passing mention. But the landscape sure is pretty, especially at dusk. In Lithuanian with subtitles. —ANDREA GRONVALL 60 min.

Mon 12/5, 6:15 PM. Gene Siskel Film Center Nothing Is Too Small for a Revolution Nicholas Macdonald, son of cultural critic Dwight Macdonald, recently published a study of Jean Renoir’s Grand Illusion, but in the 70s he was known as a political filmmaker, crafting loopy, anarchist-inspired shorts that attacked the Vietnam war and the narrow parameters of American discourse.

Screening from Macdonald’s own 16-millimeter prints, this program includes his dizzying Break Out! (1970), which begins as the guilty confession of an “armchair radical” but soon pivots to question whether street protest has run its course as a revolutionary tactic. The movie was shot in black and white with stop-motion animation of simple materials—newspaper photos, children’s toys, white plastic letters on a black-felt letter board—and Macdonald’s voice-over narration is accompanied on the soundtrack

Land of Songs by his preschool kids whooping it up in the next room (now there’s some anarchy for you). The Liberal War (1972), which uses the same technique, is a tongue-in-cheek history lesson, delivered to some future generation in an anarchist utopia, that explains how Vietnam was all JFK’s fault. Three shorter and less penetrating pieces round out the program: No More Leadershit (1970), Acts of Revolution (1976), and Our Common Senses (1976).

—J.R. JONES 74 min. Macdonald takes part in a Q&A with film critic Jonathan Rosenbaum after the screening. Fri 12/2, 7:30 PM. Univ. of Chicago Logan Center for the Arts

REVIVALS The Adventures of Baron R Munchausen Terry Gilliam’s third fantasy feature (1989) may

not achieve all it reaches for, but it goes beyond Time Bandits and Brazil in its play with space and time, and as a children’s picture it offers a fresh and exciting alternative to the Disney stranglehold on the market. The famous baron (John Neville) sets off with a little girl stowaway (Sarah Polley) on an epic journey to save a city in distress; among the other actors are Oliver Reed, Eric Idle, Jonathan Pryce, Valentina Cortese, and Robin Williams in a wonderful uncredited cameo as the Moon King.

—JONATHAN ROSENBAUM PG, 126 min. Sun 12/4, 7 PM. Univ. of Chicago Doc Films

Chimes at Midnight Orson R Welles’s 1966 version of the Falstaff story, assembled from

Shakespearean bits and pieces, is the one Welles film that deserves to be called lovely; there is also a rising tide of opinion that proclaims it his masterpiece. Restrained and even serene (down to its memorably muddy battle scene), it shows Welles working largely without his technical flourishes—and for those who have never seen beyond his surface flash, it is ample proof of how sensitive and subtle an artist he was. With Keith Baxter, John Gielgud, Margaret Rutherford, and Jeanne Moreau. —DAVE KEHR 115 min. Sat 12/3, 3 PM, and Thu 12/8, 6 PM. Gene Siskel Film Center

Spartacus Just as The Ten R Commandments (1956) was the apotheosis of Eisenhower

conservatism, this 1960 blockbuster, which broke the Hollywood blacklist by crediting screenwriter Dalton Trumbo, seems the quintessence of Kennedy liberalism.

Anthony Mann directed the first sequence but then was replaced

by Stanley Kubrick, who said he enjoyed the most artistic freedom in the scenes without dialogue.

Kirk Douglas and Jean Simmons are appealing as the eponymous rebel slave and his love interest; no less juicy is the Roman triumvirate of Charles Laughton, Peter Ustinov, and Laurence Olivier, playing one of the first bisexual characters in a major Hollywood film (unfortunately one also has to put up with the embarrassing accents and performances of Tony Curtis, John Dall, and Nina Foch, among others). This may be the most literate of all the spectacles set in antiquity. This restored version, including material originally cut, runs 197 minutes, including Alex North’s powerfully romantic overture. —JONATHAN ROSENBAUM PG-13, 197 min. Thu 12/8, 2 and 7 PM. Pickwick

Tampopo Juzo Itami’s R second comedy (1987) represents a quantum leap beyond

his first (The Funeral, 1984): without abandoning his flair for social satire, he expands his scope to encompass the kind of narrative free play we associate with late Buñuel. His subjects are food, sex, and death, roughly in that order, his ostensible focal point the opening of a noodle restaurant.

Working with a venerable cast that includes veterans of Kurosawa, Ozu, Shinoda, and Terayama, he takes us on a wild spree through an obsession, winding his way through various digressions with a dark, philosophical wit that is both hilarious and disturbing.

Not to be missed. In Japanese with subtitles. —JONATHAN ROSENBAUM 114 min. Fri 12/2, 6 and 7:45 PM; Sat 12/3, 5:15 PM; Sun 12/4, 3 PM; Mon 12/5, 6 PM; Tue 12/6, 8:15 PM; Wed 12/7, 6 PM; and Thu 12/8, 8:15 PM. Gene Siskel Film Center v

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CITY LIFE Opponents of an Indiana religiousobjections law rally outside the statehouse in Indianapolis in March 2015. o AP PHOTO/DOUG MCSCHOOLER

the past decade, has taken up temporary residence in Chicago in order to try the landmark case. The Reader spoke to him last week from his offices in Atlanta.

o ISA GIALLORENZO

LGBTQ

Ready to work

A landmark federal lawsuit under review in Chicago could have major impact on employment protections for gays and lesbians.

BY ROBIN AMER

Street View

The flamingo kid DANI MCGOWAN, the 18-year-old ballet dancer behind the fashion blog Mermaid Waves, often looks like a living doll. She says she was treated like one from childhood, with her mother dressing her in multiple outfits a day. “I was raised to be interested in fashion,” she says. “When I was old enough to pick out my own clothes, I could be seen at the grocery store rocking a tutu and my favorite Barbie water shoes.” These days, in her role as a trend spotter, McGowan “fields a lot of fashion-emergency texts. I feel like helping people feel confident in what they are wearing is my calling,” she says. “If you can put it on, you can pull it off!” —ISA GIALLORENZO See more Chicago street style on chicagolooks.blogspot.com.

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GBTQ people are anxious about their vulnerability under the coming Donald Trump presidency, due in part to the confusing patchwork of state and federal laws that protect them. Illinois is one of 19 states that explicitly bar discrimination based on both sexual orientation and gender identity, while Wisconsin law protects gays but not trans people, and Indiana— home state of vice president-elect Mike Pence—offers none of the above.

This makes the protections enshrined in Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act— which bars employment discrimination

on the basis of sex, among other traits—all the more precious. And yet its interpretation is still contested.

As we put this piece to bed, the Chicagobased Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals was preparing to sit in bank November 30—gathering together all 11 of its judges—to consider the court’s case precedent.

Prompting this rare assembly is a lawsuit that could have a major impact on the employment rights of gays and lesbians.

Attorney Greg Nevins, director of the Workplace Fairness Program at Lambda Legal and the LGBT advocacy group’s point person on employment issues for

Can you start by explaining the case you’ve brought before the Seventh Circuit, Hively vs. Ivy Tech, and what its broader significance is?

Kim Hively had been teaching at Ivy Tech Community College of Indiana and had been denied promotions and eventually was denied renewal of her contract because she’s a lesbian. And when she made her claim in federal court in Indiana, the judge said, “Well, the Seventh Circuit said that Title VII doesn’t cover [discrimination based on sexual orientation]. You need to talk to the Seventh Circuit if you want to bring this case.”

On appeal , the Seventh Circuit expressed a lot of agreement with the arguments we were making, but said, ultimately, “We’re going to stick by the decisions we rendered 15 years ago.”

But the whole court has the power to revisit its prior precedents. And so we asked them to do that. And they don’t like to do that! I mean, it’s even more difficult to get the circuit court to sit in bank than it is to get the Supreme Court to grant review, statistically speaking. And yet they did agree to take the case up before the entire court. And so it’ll be an argument before 11 judges Wednesday [November 30].

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

SURE THINGS THURSDAY 1

FRIDAY 2

SATURDAY 3

SUNDAY 4

MONDAY 5

TUESDAY 6

WEDNESDAY 7

× BrewLights The zoo’s annual holiday light display, ZooLights, is already blazing, but tonight’s a chance to enjoy the show with beer.

Local distributor Louis Glunz offers 12 seasonal samplings, including Anchor Christmas Ale, Delirium Noël, and Stiegl Goldbräu. 5:30-9:30 PM, Lincoln Park Zoo, 2200 N. Cannon, lpzoo.org, $60.

Th e Inte r v iew Show Mark Bazer hosts state senator Daniel Biss, chef Stephanie Izard, and Vice gaming reporter Patrick Klepek. 6:30 PM, Hideout, 1354 W. Wabansia, hideoutchicago.com, $10.

ò Krampusfest A seasonal tribute to Santa’s evil counterpart, Krampus. The daylong event includes live music, an art fair, Germanstyle street food from Paulina Meat Market, and a Krampuslauf (“Krampus run”) parade.

Costumes encouraged.

Noon-8 PM, Martyrs’, 3855 N. Lincoln, facebook.com/ martyrskrampusfest. F

Ä Th e Nutcracker Moscow Ballet’s traditional Russian adaptation of the holiday classic. 1 and 5 PM, Rosemont Theater, 5400 N. River Rd., Rosemont, nutcracker.com, $28-$122.

» Deathscribe 2016 WildClaw Theatre Company presents this festival of radio horror plays. Five stories compete to win the coveted Bloody Axe award. 8 PM, Lincoln Hall, 2424 N. Lincoln, wildclawtheatre.com/deathscribe, $25.

MCA Talk: Th e Rati onal Dres s Society Members of the sartorial group discuss counterfashion from the 1700s to the present. 6 PM, Museum of Contemporary Art, 220 E. Chicago, mcachicago.org. F

How to Make It in Ch icago Artist Hebru Brantley, filmmaker Austin Vesely, and Fake Shore Drive founder Andrew Barber discuss their strategies for making their work stand out in the city. 7 PM, Chicago Athletic Association, 12 S. Michigan, chicagoathletichotel.com. F

DECEMBER 1, 2016 - CHICAGO READER 7

CITY LIFE

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continued from 7 Since at least 2015, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has interpreted “sex” in Title VII to include sexual orientation. But the federal court system has not always agreed with that interpretation.

That’s definitely true. The federal appellate courts have not agreed with that interpretation with respect to sexual orientation.

With gender identity there’s actually a lot of overlap—there are two federal circuits that have ruled in employment cases and two others that have ruled in other [cases] under other federal statutes that sex discrimination includes discrimination against transgender individuals.

So with Hively, you’re asking the Seventh Circuit to overturn all the case precedent that would have denied workplace protections to gay people, correct?

Yes. So there’s a lot at stake here.

Yes, there is. The Seventh Circuit was one of more than a few courts back about 15 years ago whose logic began and ended with “the words ‘sexual orientation’ aren’t in the statute, and Congress has been asked to pass that and they didn’t, so you lose.” And that’s just not a good way to do it. It’s just the wrong way to approach the job.

The idea of there being classes of people who are protected by Title VII is not really the question. The question is: Did what happened to you happen because of one of these traits? You should just ask the question that the statute requires you to answer, which is, Is this discrimination because of the person’s sex? Would this have happened if they weren’t the sex that they are?

So, all the men who worked at Ivy Tech, their attraction to women was not a problem. It was only Kim Hively’s attraction to women that was a problem.

How quickly do you expect the Seventh Circuit to make a decision?

What I always say is, they’ll issue a decision exactly when they’re ready to.

Let’s say they come back and they say, “OK, we’re going to overturn our precedent.”

Would the decision also be setting a precedent nationally?

I think most people would say it would have an outsized effect. They would become the first circuit to rule that way.

8 CHICAGO READER - DECEMBER 1, 2016

“People need to ask the right questions and not just label someone as a conservative and write them off as hostile.”

—Lambda Legal attorney Greg Nevins

If they come back and they say, “We’re not going to change our precedent,” what’s your move at that point?

Well, first off, our role is as attorneys for Kim Hively, and we just have to assess whether moving forward in asking the Supreme Court to review it is the next move.

Given the likelihood that Donald Trump could appoint the next two or three Supreme Court justices, do you want a Supreme Court to hear the case at that point?

Well, more than any other, the decision we hang our hat on is a case called Oncale vs.

Sundowner Offshore Services. This was about a guy on a [oil] rig out in the Gulf of Mexico.

There were only other guys on the rig, no women, and he was being just ruthlessly sexually harassed by a few of the guys and nobody else was being sexually harassed.

This was a unanimous Supreme Court decision and it was written by Justice Scalia. The court said, “Look, we know that the Congress that passed Title VII back in 1964 wasn’t thinking about male-on-male sexual harassment, but that doesn’t matter. The words of the statue are: Did this happen because of his sex?

That’s all you need to know.” It doesn’t matter that every other guy on the rig was treated fine, and it didn’t matter that men were the only people that got the jobs on the rig. Scalia said specifically that for them, that doesn’t matter. They took the view that anything that happens to you because of your sex that wouldn’t have happened to you if you weren’t that sex qualifies as a violation of Title VII.

So does that mean you’re not worried about the likelihood of Trump appointing more conservative justices, at least when it comes to this particular issue?

Well, I guess the real question is: Are they thoughtful? If they’re thoughtful judges who follow the law, then I wouldn’t be worried about it. If they were ideologues with a record of railing against things from a political standpoint and not from a carefully reasoned judicial standpoint, obviously we would be concerned.

One thing I would note is that on [Trump’s] list of candidates is William Pryor out of Alabama. And this is not an endorsement of his potential nomination, but I just have to point out that one of those decisions that I referenced about transgender employees being covered [by Title VII] was a decision that I argued before him and two other judges here in Atlanta in the 11th Circuit, and he absolutely agreed with that position. He didn’t just join majority opinion, he said, “Yes, that’s what the precedence points to.” So in that sense, people need to ask the right questions and not just label someone as a conservative and write them off as hostile.

I’ve heard some people say that they feel like they’re in defense mode now—that it’s going to be less about making advancements for their community—whether that’s Muslim or LGBT—and more about just trying not to lose ground. Do you share that mentality, or do you think it’s possible to advance the cause of gay and transgender rights under the new political climate?

We have to be both on the offense and defense.

We should be pushing the law forward and getting the proper interpretation of it everywhere we can. I’m sitting here in Georgia, and the legislative session is about to kick into gear, and that historically has been a challenging time for our community—especially in this neck of the woods. So I completely understand, and I don’t want to minimize what people are feeling right now, those people who feel besieged. But I took this job one year into George W. Bush’s presidency, and the prospects at the federal level for moving things forward didn’t always look bright. But we made great advances in just keeping our eyes on the prize of justice and equality. We have a job as the litigators of the movement to tell people that we will do everything we can to keep the wins that we made and to get advances wherever we can. v

ß @rsamer

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

POLITICS

‘Paralyze the system’

Congressman Luiz Gutierrez says the fight against Trump is just beginning.

By BEN JORAVSKY

T

o that long and growing list of people declaring unmitigated resistance to President Trump—a distinguished bunch that includes Charles Blow of the New York Times, the Reader’s own Derrick Clifton, and pretty much everyone in my family—let me add one more name: Luis Gutierrez.

That’s right, the dean of the Illinois congressional delegation sounds like he’d fit right in with the lefties with whom I recently shared a delicious Thanksgiving dinner.

OK, so he doesn’t come right out and say “fuck Trump,” as one or two people I know may have proclaimed over their stuffing and cranberry sauce.

But he did say that he’s planning to boycott the inauguration—the first one he’ll miss since getting elected to Congress in 1992—and he urges everyone to resist any attempt by Trump to make good on his campaign promises to conduct mass deportations of undocumented immigrants.

I know this because I checked in with the congressman one dark and dreary day just before Thanksgiving, just as, coincidentally, I watched a few teenagers gather in the alley outside my neighbor’s garage to fire up a joint.

And, man, did Gutierrez give me an earful.

“If you believe in anarchy and a clash of American values, you’re going to get a great experiment,” he said of Trump’s election.

“Personally, I feel sadness and fear. This is a scary time for our country.”

I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised by his tone. He’s a scrappy counterpuncher—I’ve been on the receiving end of a few of his J

CITY LIFE

Congressman Luis Gutierrez speaks in support of immigrants and sanctuary cities at a midNovember press conference. o SANTIAGO COVARRUBIAS/SUN-TIMES MEDIA

WE KNOW YOU HAVE AN OPINION. WE WANT TO HEAR IT. So let s have it, Chicago. We want to hear what s important to you and your family so we can take on the issues affecting Chicagoans. Whether it s at a farmers market, music festival or a Social Security forum, we re listening to what you have to say so we can help make a difference in your life.

Tell us what matters to you and see the list of our neighborhood listening events at aarp.org/Chicago /aarpillinois @aarpillinois #aarpillinois

Chicago DECEMBER 1, 2016 - CHICAGO READER 9

CITY LIFE continued from 9 barbs over the years—and he has a personal stake in the battle with Trump.

For almost 20 years, Gutierrez has been at the forefront of the national movement for immigration reform. He proposed the original Dream Act legislation back in 2001, and he was the keynote speaker at the 2010 immigration reform march in Washington, D.C. Trump, on the other hand, vowed to roll back whatever progress Gutierrez and his allies have made, promising to deport all illegal immigrants and ban federal funding to sanctuary cities, like Chicago, that don’t. He also openly denigrated Mexican immigrants, calling them criminals and rapists, and promised to make Mexico pay to build a giant wall along the southern border.

God, just rehashing this shit makes me want to join those kids in the alley.

Anyway, I caught up Gutierrez on a day when he was free from the legislative grind, spending time with friends and family in Puerto Rico.

As always, what followed wasn’t so much an

interview as a deluge. I’d ask a question and he’d respond with an answer that evolved into an oration.

I guess some things haven’t changed since the day I met him back in 1982, when he was an activist making a living driving a cab and I was a kid reporter.

“On election night I went to Moe’s Cantina for the Hillary Clinton party,” Gutierrez said.

“I watched until—I don’t know, 7:30, 8 o’clock.

I said to myself, ‘Hillary’s up in Florida, North Carolina—she’s running the board. I’m gonna go home. Get some popcorn. Get into my pajamas. Watch Hillary win.’ But by the time I got home 40 minutes later, everything had changed.

“I can’t think of anything like it. I remember in 2000, I woke up at 4:30 in the morning and George Bush was the president. I remember feeling a little shell-shocked. But this is very different. This is not Reagan. This is not Bush—father or son. I almost feel sorry about all the terrible things I said about Bush. Man, I was selling wolf tickets when he got elected.

“This is real. This is—you know what I feel?

I feel a sense of danger. Existential dread, man.

Everybody says, ‘Oh, it’s all campaign rhetoric.’ Yeah? Look at those early appointments.

Look at Jeff Sessions. You want to return to a time when women are in the kitchen and gays are in the closet and Muslims are not allowed?

Welcome to [the] Jeff Sessions era. He wasn’t qualified to be a federal judge, but he’s going to be your attorney general.”

I asked what advice he had to offer his fellow citizens.

“Organize. If Trump wants to deport millions of people like he says he does, then the people he wants to deport should say, ‘I want my day in court before a judge.’ You have to paralyze the system. You need to do what you need to do to fight to save as many people as you can from the devious plans Donald Trump’s got coming.”

So will he join Trump on inauguration day to watch him get sworn in?

“I doubt it. Do I really want to go to the inauguration of President Trump? My wife says, ‘Hell no, we’re not going. I’m going to march with one million women.’ Well, if they let guys

in the women’s march, I’m going with her. Or if they have an immigrants’ march, I’ll go to that. If they have both marches at once, we’ll split our time. I’ll go to one and she’ll go to the other.

“And I went to all the inaugurations—Clinton, Bush, both of Obama’s. But this is different. I don’t feel welcome. I don’t feel like I belong.”

I was pressing Gutierrez to give me more details about what he plans to do specifically to fight Trump as a congressman, but he said family was arriving so he had to get off the phone.

My takeaway from our talk? Well, on one level, it’s reassuring to know that some of our elected officials are in tune with what most Chicagoans—in this bluest of all cities—are thinking and saying.

On the other hand, it’s all a little daunting.

Gutierrez’s right about one thing: with so much at stake, this won’t be an ordinary political fight. v

ß @joravben

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CITY LIFE LaSalle and Chicago o JOHN GREENFIELD

TRANSPORTATION

The LaSalle Street pedestrian death trap

This six-block stretch has averaged one pedestrian fatality a year.

How can we fix it?

Chamber Opera Chicago Presents Two One-Act Family Holiday Operas!

Gian Carlo Menotti’s

By JOHN GREENFIELD

D

ays after a man was fatally struck by a hit-and-run SUV driver in River North, there were still chunks of road salt on the west side of LaSalle Street just north of Chicago Avenue.

According to a security guard at a nearby building, city workers hosed the victim’s blood off the street after the crash and spread the salt to keep the pavement from icing over in the freezing weather.

According to police, 23-year-old Phillip “Philly” Lovato Jr. was in a crosswalk at the intersection at about 4 AM on Sunday, November 20, when he was run over by the southbound driver of a white 2016 Jeep Compass with the Indiana license plate number BU3440. The driver continued south without stopping to render aid.

Levato, of the 1300 block of West 32nd Place in Bridgeport, was transported to Northwestern Memorial Hospital and pronounced dead at 4:35 AM, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office. Then, on Wednesday, November 23, 26-year-old Kyle Hawkins of the 2600 block of South 13th Avenue in

Broadview turned himself in to Chicago police, the department says. Hawkins was charged with a felony for failing to report an accident resulting in a death.

Levato was at least the fourth pedestrian fatally struck within the last four years on this six-block stretch of LaSalle between Chicago, at 800 North, and Schiller, at 1400 North, making it one of the deadliest sections of roadway in the city. It appears that the layout of LaSalle, a broad, five-lane road that essentially functions as an extension of Lake Shore Drive, was a contributing factor in these tragedies.

On Sunday, March 24, 2012, around 2:30 AM, 32-year-old Northwestern University law student Jesse Bradley was crossing LaSalle westbound on Division when he was struck and killed by Bianca Garcia, 21 at the time, who was speeding south, according to police.

Garcia, who was found to have twice the legal blood alcohol limit and a cocktail of hard drugs in her system, fled the scene but was soon arrested. She was eventually sentenced to 14 years in prison.

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The 11th 10th anniversary of this treasured Chicago holiday tradition, perfect for all ages!

Direction by Francis Menotti, son of Gian Carlo, and Kyle Dougan.

Sung in English with Orchestra, featuring dancers from Ensemble Español Spanish Dance Theater.

Sunday, December 11 at 3:00pm • Sunday, December 18 at 3:00pm The Royal George Theatre, 1641 North Halsted Street, Chicago Paired with the world premiere of Victoria Bond’s new one-act children’s opera, The Miracle of Hanukkah!

“First rate.... The parting of mother & son at the work’s close was moving indeed.”

Richard Covello, NIB Foundation

Tickets ($10-$20) at the Royal George Box Office, 312.988.9000, or www.chamberoperachicago.org DECEMBER 1, 2016 - CHICAGO READER 11

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12 CHICAGO READER - DECEMBER 1, 2016

CITY LIFE Transportation continued from 11 Then, on Saturday, August 30, 2014, at around 2:05 AM, Emily Fredbloom, who worked as a nurse at Northwestern Hospital, was crossing LaSalle westbound on Schiller when she was struck by a 51-year-old taxi driver who was traveling north, police said.

The motorist was cited for failure to exercise due care for a pedestrian in the roadway, and failure to reduce speed to avoid a crash. Fredbloom died from her injuries on September 19 of that year.

And three days prior to Fredbloom’s passing, on Tuesday, September 16, 2014, around 4:50 AM, a 23-year-old man was attempting to cross LaSalle at Chicago—the same intersection where Levato was killed—when a southbound driver struck him, police said. The man was critically injured but the driver was not cited.

Then on Tuesday, January 12, of this year, at about 11:55 AM, 74-year-old Georgiana Henley was crossing at LaSalle and Division when Home Run Inn pizza-truck driver Carlos Sanchez failed to yield while making a turn and fatally struck her, according to police. Henley died about two hours later. Her family has filed a wrongful death suit.

While most of these crashes took place late at night—which means poor visibility, fatigue, and/or intoxication were more likely causes than if they’d happened earlier in the day—the physical layout of LaSalle and its intersections were probably factors as well.

The problem starts at North Avenue, where the street links up with Lake Shore Drive, taking an S-shaped east-west route through the south end of Lincoln Park. Motorists coming off the Drive tend to pass through the park at expressway speeds. Then, when motorists reach the north-south portion of LaSalle, the street’s wide layout and multiple lanes encourage them to treat this surface road like a highway.

“LaSalle has some troubling characteristics that are far too common on arterials across the city,” Active Transportation Alliance staffer Kyle Whitehead says via e-mail. “The design encourages people driving to speed while increasing the crossing distance for people walking. Corridors like Grand Avenue on the West Side and King Drive on the South Side have similar issues.”

Whitehead noted that LaSalle and Chicago, where Levato was killed and the second man was critically injured, is a particularly dangerous junction. Chicago Avenue also has five lanes, and the corners of the intersection are

rounded, which makes it easy for motorists to speed through turns.

“This design is particularly inappropriate in congested corridors with large numbers of people walking near downtown,” he says.

So what could be done to address these problems? Whitehead says infrastructure like sidewalk bump-outs and pedestrian islands could narrow the turning radii at the intersection, shorten crossing distances for pedestrians, and slow down drivers to safer speeds. Other possible traffic-calming strategies include speed feedback signs and traffic cameras (there are no cams on LaSalle north of Kinzie), although automated enforcement is so unpopular with Chicago drivers that we probably won’t be seeing new installations anytime soon.

Then, if we’re serious about making LaSalle safer, as well as moving people more efficiently through the corridor, a “road diet” that would swap bus and/or bike lanes for two of the five car lanes would be another solution.

The Chicago Department of Transportation generally won’t remove mixed-traffic lanes on streets with more than 20,000 average daily motor vehicle trips, but LaSalle north of the river typically sees only 19,500 ADT, according to state traffic counts. Therefore, converting two of the five travel lanes wouldn’t create gridlock, but getting rid of that excess capacity for cars would deter speeding.

CDOT spokesman Mike Claffey wouldn’t comment on specific strategies to prevent pedestrian fatalities on LaSalle, but he pointed to the city’s recently announced Vision Zero initiative, which has the goal of eliminating all traffic deaths and serious injuries by 2026 via engineering, enforcement, and education.

“Through the Vision Zero process, CDOT is analyzing crash data to determine how we can make targeted investments to improve safety at specific locations,” he says.

Safety improvements to LaSalle/Chicago can’t come soon enough, says Cem Senel, the building manager of a mixed-use tower at the southwest corner of the intersection. Senel learned about Levato’s death when he arrived for church services at the building that Sunday morning. He says he’s heard of a couple other cases where pedestrians were injured at this location on weekend nights.

“Late at night people just fly around the corners,” he says. “It’s crazy.” v

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

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UNIVERSITY VILLAGE, 2016

‘Hoop Dreams’ amid the game of life Snapshots of basketball courts in Chicago’s overlooked communities offer a plea for investment in the city’s youth.

By ADAM JASON COHEN TRUTHFULLY, THIS PROJECT has little to do with basketball. What I am trying to do is explore why as a city, we neglect half of it,” Chicago-based photographer Adam Jason Cohen says. “Why are there no resources for the youth?

Where is the funding? The infrastructure? There is a growing wealth gap, especially in the advent of gentrification in some of these neighborhoods, that is creating much more problems than [what’s] being spoken about.”

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DECEMBER 1, 2016 - CHICAGO READER 13

“HOOP DREAMS”

GARFIELD PARK, 2016

AUSTIN, 2016

CABRINI-GREEN, 2016

continued from 13

DOUGLAS PARK, 2016

14 CHICAGO READER - DECEMBER 1, 2016

These are the questions that Cohen has been considering since May 2015, when he started work on “Hoop Dreams.” The photographic series, which he also self-published in August, highlights basketball courts and their occupants in several south- and west-side communities. Many of the baskets have been fashioned out of milk crates or are otherwise in serious need of replacement and repair.

“The ultimate goal of this body of work is to function in a larger book form that spans at least another year,” Cohen wrote in an e-mail.

“It’s a project that I feel is important enough to last through all four seasons twice. I’m exploring spaces and people that change through time, and logging those evolutions with exposures is an important aspect of this project. I think of ‘Hoop Dreams’ as the EP or mixtape and what’s to come of the project as the LP. Currently, I’m seeking funding through grants, J

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NORTH LAWNDALE, 2016

HOMAN SQUARE, 2016

FULLER PARK, 2016

GARFIELD PARK, 2016

DECEMBER 1, 2016 - CHICAGO READER 15

“HOOP DREAMS”

GARFIELD PARK, 2016

NORTH LAWNDALE, 2016

ENGLEWOOD, 2016

DOUGLAS PARK, 2016

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“HOOP DREAMS”

ARTS & CULTURE

continued from 14

Q&A

Jason Diamond’s Searching for John Hughes is really a journey of selfdiscovery The Brooklyn author’s North Shore adolescence was a different kind of teen movie.

By AIMEE LEVITT

o ELYSSA GOODMAN

albeit in very small increments, to continue the project further. When I shoot work I don’t think about how my photographs will look on a wall, I think about how they will function in book form. There is a flow and cadence to having a great sequence of images that assists the work and makes more sense to me than a few photos on a wall can ever have. The idea of having two images rest on pages opposite of each other and what happens when you turn the page forward or backwards and how that functions in storytelling is what interests me the most.

“The impetus of this project, like most of my work, is driven by the human condition and social landscape and the sheer resiliency of the people most affected,” Cohen added. “Obviously, we have underserved communities in Chicago, they exist in the south and west sides, that is no secret. All my time living here and visiting other places, what I found is that basketball, the Bulls, and Michael Jordan is literally the first thing you think of when you mention the name Chicago. But why is that with the advent of globalization of the game of basketball . . . why are the youth left with a complete lack of resources to enjoy a simple game in a safe space? That’s something I can’t wrap my head around.”

The book has so far garnered plenty of interest. Cohen says he sold out of 125 copies at Printed Matter’s NY Art Book Fair at PS1 MOMA and the Independent Art Book Fair over the same weekend earlier this fall.

But perhaps more importantly, Cohen hopes this series leads to structural change in Chicago. “I would hope people can ask how we can invest in our youth and ultimately what would the impact of that be.

Everyone deserves to start the race at the starting line. Unfortunately, a lot of people are playing the game of life with a handicap.

That is something that needs to be addressed. When you stop asking questions is when you stop learning. My goal is obviously to have safer spaces built and cared for by the city and/or private investors. I really wanted this to reach Dwyane Wade especially since he has come home now, growing up in Chicago, and he has the means to help and is aware of the lack of resources for the kids. Jahlil Okafor, Jabari Parker, Anthony Davis were all top picks recently in the NBA drafts from Chicago and grew up and played high school ball here I’d like this to reach as well.” —DANIELLE A. SCRUGGS

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he title of Jason Diamond’s new memoir, Searching for John Hughes: Or Everything I Thought I Needed to Know About Life I Learned From Watching 80s Movies, is deceptive— it suggests a series of cheerful reminiscences about lessons Diamond learned from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and The Breakfast Club and how he applied them to his own life. But Searching for John Hughes is both darker and more interesting. Diamond grew up mostly on the North Shore, close to where Hughes

lived and set his greatest sequence of films, from Sixteen Candles in 1984 through Home Alone in 1990. These movies (especially the ones about teenagers) had a huge impact on a generation of kids who, like Diamond, grew up watching them on TV and believing they were an accurate representation of high school life.

During a dismal period in his 20s, Diamond decided he would make his name in literature by writing a biography of Hughes. Searching for John Hughes chronicles Diamond’s misadventures chasing after the director and

everyone connected to him. The book also looks back on Diamond’s even more dismal teenage years when, after he was legally separated from his abusive father and abandoned by his mother, he spent three years essentially homeless, staying with whichever friends and teachers would take him in.

Now Diamond is 36. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife, two cats, and a dog. He’s the sports editor of Rolling Stone and the founding editor of the website Vol. 1 Brooklyn. It’s probably not as dramatic a happy ending J

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always trouble. There’s always problems in Shermer, Illinois. The boy or girl doesn’t like them, or the parents forget their birthday, or they’re John Bender and things are really terrible.

But I don’t know, there’s always a happy ending, you know? Portraying suburbia as this very white, very ultimately happy place is kind of false. But that was what he wanted to do. And, you know, I held on to this idea that things would really get better if I stayed the course as best I could. That course was kind of yanked—I was sort of pushed off that course at an early age—but I didn’t totally recognize that because I was just trying to be a kid.

as Hughes would have written, but Diamond seems pretty satisfied with it. We had a lengthy conversation a few weeks ago about the book, growing up in the Chicago suburbs, and 80s and 90s pop culture.

So how did you come to write the book?

I sort of had been hitting a wall professionally: I had an idea for a book that nobody wanted. My job was terrible, it was the middle of August in New York, I really felt like I was failing, and I was very disappointed in myself. And I started to think about the last time I felt like I had failed so spectacularly, and I finally came to this realization that trying to write a John Hughes biography was kind of not my thing.

And I started thinking about how with a lot of the books I love I’m always attracted to these characters who are totally ignorant to how silly they’re being: Confederacy of Dunces, or Don Quixote, or Oblomov. I thought, “Oh my god, I was totally one of those characters, trying to write this biography.” And then I was like, “Maybe I should write a book about that: about failing, a memoir about myself failing.” When I presented it, people were into it.

The editor we ended up going with said, “I want you to write about your entire life.” And I was like, “Why?” But then I started sketching it out, and one of the things I eventually started realizing was, “Oh, this all kind of ties together perfectly—it makes sense!” My obsession with his movies, and where I grew up, and all that stuff. And so I just sat down and started writing, and pretty early on it came together like that.

I think it would be hard to make a lot of that stuff funny, especially the teenage stuff.

I sort of said, “I got to balance this as best I can, and try to be like, ‘Hey, I hope people realize that I kind of realized that I was sort of a twat when I was getting older.’” But I also realized that I write about some really heavy stuff. So I was trying as best I could to lighten that, because I don’t want to bum anyone out too much. When friends started reading the book, they were all, “I never knew all of this about you,” and they would say, “it made me cry,” and people started tweeting to me, saying I was making them cry, and I was like, “Oh my god, I don’t want to do that.”

It made me cry. I think it’s just something about abandoning a child. When you’re a

18 CHICAGO READER - DECEMBER 1, 2016

FOR JOHN HUGHES R SEARCHING

By Jason Diamond (William Morrow) Release party 12/5, 7 PM, the Whistler, 2421 N. Milwaukee, 773227-3530, whistlerchicago.com. F Reading 12/6, 6 PM, Book Cellar, 4736-38 N. Lincoln, 773-2932665, bookcellarinc.com. F

douche in Brooklyn, that’s one thing, but a kid just being forced to be homeless—that’s tough stuff.

Yeah, it’s weird. It’s hard because my wife was the one who told me, “You were neglected.”

And I was like, “No I wasn’t, I was fine! It was cool! I was an angry punk-rock teen! It was great! Yeah!” And my mom and I still don’t really have much of a relationship to this day.

I was a total screwup; I was a pretty bad kid.

But it was also pretty hard for me to find my way. Thankfully I was resourceful enough that I did, but it was really hard. And only in the past two years I’m like, “You know, the people who knew me when I was 18, 19, even probably into my early 20s, knew this terrible, obnoxious person who got drunk a lot and didn’t really have any friends, and a lot of that was because I was kind of still stuck in this mind-set of being this 16-yearold kid.” And it took me a really long time for me to put all this together.

You kind of get into it in the book with John Hughes movies, where these kids always have these beautiful homes to go back to, but their parents are awful.

Yeah, they always have something. But there’s

Do you still watch John Hughes movies?

Yeah, I’m actually going to watch Planes, Trains and Automobiles tonight. But I haven’t for the last few months, and it was kind of because it was a detox thing. And whenever Ferris is on, I’ll still watch it because it makes me feel good.

That was my favorite John Hughes movie, I think.

I’ve been running into a lot of people who have been saying the same thing, and that’s interesting to me, because I think we associate more with different movies. The whole scheme to Ferris Bueller is just have a perfect day and screw anybody who wants to hold you back from that. And that’s really nice, to try to have that one perfect day.

I think the thing that I liked about Ferris Bueller was that it was a one-perfect-day fantasy. You knew it would never happen.

You could imagine The Breakfast Club happening, with you bonding with people who are unlike you in detention, but that never happens. With Ferris, you already knew it would never happen.

I don’t know if you’ve ever done—actually, I’m going to say you’ve probably never done this, I think I’m just a weirdo, but there are so many good fan theories about Ferris Bueller, and my favorite one is that it’s just all imagined through the eyes of Cameron.

Oh, I like that!

Yeah! He’s just imagining Ferris. Somebody was comparing it to Fight Club, and I’m like “That’s so weird, but it’s so awesome that he actually took the time to write this detailed Reddit post about that.”

I kind of did the same thing when I was writing blog posts about John Hughes. You

know, people want to unlock this; somebody was comparing it to magical realism. That’s awesome to me, because something I always felt was that John Hughes’s films are sort of preserved from the 80s, and they’re about teens, and the happy endings, and the whole thing—and I think people are like, “He’s not serious.” And now you’re really starting to see people break apart his films, and I think that’s an important step in the critical process.

I think there are a lot of people like you too, who grew up with him and are starting to take him seriously.

There are a lot of people who grew up with him in different eras, and I find that really fascinating, how people from each era take different things from his movies. And it’s sort of boiling down into one career. It’s not just the 80s, or Home Alone—it’s the whole thing.

You mention the great movies of the 80s, and then his kind of sellout period, the Disney period.

Yeah, I wrote this thing for the Atlantic last year about how Home Alone sort of ruined him. I was theorizing, in a way, that he had kind of grown weary of the establishment critics just panning what he did, and what he loved to do, which were those earlier movies.

And he was just like, “You know what? I’m going to make money.” There’s no two ways about it. He was a smart businessman and he was an ad guy—he knew what he was doing.

Yeah, Home Alone has everything: the cute kid, the slapstick, the Christmas.

I’m really glad you say that, because I maintain it’s a great slapstick movie. I love how now there’s an Onion-esque take on everything—you see people writing these satirical articles about Kevin McCallister, “Winnetka boy found guilty of murdering 20 people.” People are writing fan fiction about him, like how he became a serial killer, and I’m like, “Yeah! Totally plausible!”

He totally had it in him.

Oh, he was a psychopath! He was nuts!

Totally demonic! One of the original American serial killers is from Chicago: H. H. Holmes. And he had this house of torture.

You can totally place Kevin McCallister there. You can rewrite Devil in the White City. Maybe I’ll do that! Yeah, that could be my million-dollar idea!

I was researching Lost Chicago and all that

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stuff. I love Chicago. I know it’s got its problems, like any city. Chicago’s problems have been highlighted because of the election.

You know the writer Rich Cohen? He has this thing about how New York has a foot in Europe and Chicago is the great American city. If I could live and survive in Chicago, tomorrow, if I could give it all up and go back, I would. I feel more comfortable there than I do in New York most of the time.

Part of living in New York is feeling uncomfortable all the time.

Yes! That’s it. You’re a total masochist. It was nice kind of really immersing myself in the culture and the memories and the history of what makes Chicago and the suburbs of Chicago so interesting to me and so fascinating.

Did you go back a lot when you were researching the book?

Yes, I was back a lot. I think I went four times. I have this website that I do [Vol. 1 Brooklyn], and we were doing an event at Pitchfork, and I think it was like the Saturday of Pitchfork, and I’m like, you know, I’m just going to go for a drive. I rented a car and I went all the way up to McHenry County. I went to Skokie, I went to Evanston, I went to all the places I’ve lived. And I ended up all the way in McHenry County, where it was sort of like end of the line, because my mom had lived there for a while, but this is as far as I’m going. There’s nothing past here for me. Then I did the drive back, and I took my time. I didn’t get on the highway. I even went to the cemetery where John Hughes is buried in Lake Forest.

Do people leave tributes on his grave?

No, not really. It was kind of shocking to me. It’s actually a beautiful cemetery. I’m cheesy and sentimental, so I think when I come to Chicago on the book tour, I might stop there and lay some flowers or something.

Maybe you’ll start a thing, like the way people started laying green apples on Harry Caray’s grave during the World Series.

That makes me emotional. I didn’t know that. Of all the Cubs stuff, because my day job is as a sports editor, I didn’t know about the green apples thing. That gave me a little chill just now. But I left a pen on

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Herman Melville’s grave, so I’m part of that, I guess.

No, it’s a nice thing, I think. Letting people know stuff is happening that they might want to know about.

Part of me is hoping that someone in his family gets to check out the book, and hopefully they like it. I’d like to let his family know that their father or their husband really impacted a lot of lives and took it to the extent that they would write a whole book about it.

I wonder if he knew that when he was alive, how much his movies meant to people.

When I originally started planning the book, I had written a lot of stuff theorizing about that. Because I know there’s the J.D. Salinger comparison that people like to make; I don’t know if it’s valid. But the way people went to Salinger and were like, “Your books really taught me about the world! Your books changed my life!” And he didn’t want to hear about it.

You know how when you watch The Simpsons and they show this entire map of Springfield? Or any other little selfcontained fictional world? I have this hope that there’s this whole backstory to Shermer.

That would be amazing.

He actually said himself that John Candy’s character in Planes, Trains and Automobiles lived down the street from Bender from The Breakfast Club. It all connects. That’s just my one big last John Hughes dream, is that we find out the daily lives of these people.

What if your book were responsible for a whole John Hughes revival?

That would be so weird. If my book is responsible for anything, I hope it’s that people really start rewatching his movies. . . . I mean, his movies are always on. It’s not like I’m reviving a lost novel that didn’t get the respect it deserved or some soul album from the 60s that no one ever heard. I’ve seen the Cubs win a World Series, but I would be totally stoked if people would be like, “We really need to rethink this guy’s movies.” I would think I would’ve done a good job in life if that happened. v

ß @aimeelevitt

A Christmas Carol o LIZ LAUREN

THEATER

Here comes the holidaze

By READER STAFF

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ike Hamilton cast members on Mike Pence, holiday shows are swarming Chicagoarea theaters. We review eight of them here, and there are more to come next week.

—TONY ADLER

A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS Eric Schaeffer’s stage adaptation of the iconic 1965 animated Peanuts special for kids’ company Emerald City Theatre amounts to little beyond transcribing the dialogue verbatim, with little regard for how it might play live onstage. Turns out awfully clumsily. Director Ann Filmer’s cheery cast struggle to find the sort of timing that might give 45 minutes of well-worn bits and halfhearted dance numbers a sense of momentum. The de rigueur holiday sing-along at the end is fun, although a rousing “Hanukkah, Oh Hanukkah” is bizarre after the show’s hyper-Christian message.

—JUSTIN HAYFORD Through 1/8: Sat-Sun 10 AM; also Fri 12/23, Mon 12/26-Fri 12/30, and Thu 1/5-Fri 1/6, 10 AM, Broadway Playhouse at Watertower Place, 835 N. Michigan, 312-977-1700, broadwayinchicago.com, $15-$27.

R A CHRISTMAS CAROL As usual, the Goodman pulls out all the stops for its annual spectacle-filled production of Charles Dickens’s classic, overwhelming our senses with amazing sets, gorgeous costumes, and eye-popping lighting effects, and ultimately leaving us utterly besotted with holiday spirit. This year’s edition, directed

by Henry Wishcamper and once again starring Larry Yando as Scrooge, is slick, tight, and nearly flawless, capturing the look and feel of Victorian England while also reflecting the diversity of

contemporary Chicago. Yes, the production’s message is as relentlessly indulgent and materialistic as our own culture’s celebration of the holiday (Eat! Drink! Shop!), and there’s more than a touch of magical thinking in the protagonist’s awakening. But you’d have to be a Grinch to complain. —JACK HELBIG Through 12/31: Wed 7:30 PM, Thu noon and 7:30 PM, Fri 8 PM, Sat 2 and 8 PM (2 PM only 12/24), Sun 2 and 6:30 PM (no shows 12/25); also Mon 12/26, 2 and 7:30 PM; Tue 12/13, 12/20, and 12/27, 7:30 PM, Goodman Theatre, 170 N. Dearborn, 312-4433800, goodmantheatre.org, $27-$105.

IT’S CHRISTMAS, GODDAMNIT! It’s Christmas at the Jameses’ house, and things couldn’t be worse.

Dad and the next-door neighbor are newly, secretly married. Their adult children—all basket cases—are so far none the wiser, but it’s only a matter of time before the secret’s out and everyone’s at each other’s throats. None of it is pretty.

Going on four years now, the Annoyance Theatre’s annual holiday fracas is so rude, crude, and overthe-top that even Annoyance fans may be offended. On the positive side, the cast isn’t selling it as anything other than it is; this is straight-up family dysfunction and black (and blue) humor, grisly, obscene, and full of shock value. The downside is that it all wears thin pretty quickly, and the payoff is about as satisfying as finding a lump of coal in your stocking. —MATT DE LA PEÑA Through J

DECEMBER 1, 2016 - CHICAGO READER 19

ARTS & CULTURE continued from 19 12/17: Sat 8 PM, Annoyance Theatre, 851 W. Belmont, 773-697-9693, theannoyance.com, $20, $15 students.

R IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE: LIVE IN CHICAGO A number of holiday favorites in Chicago have become tradition, families returning year after year for anodyne entertainment. This mainstay from American Blues Theater was new to me: a live radio-style version of Frank Capra’s beloved 1946 movie starring Jimmy Stewart. The conceit allows for a simple but supple and music-filled staging by director Gwendolyn Whiteside that makes the most of the actors’ incredible vocal ranges. Sure, the show’s a bit heavy on nostalgia and sentiment, but that’s what most want this time of year, and they’re given a counterweight by the story itself—it’s the darkness in this tale of a man on the verge of suicide saved by an angel who helps him imagine what life would be without him that renders the joy real. —SUZANNE SCANLON Through 12/31: Thu-Fri 7:30 PM, Sat 4:30 and 7:30 PM (no show 12/24; 4:30 PM only 12/31), Sun 2:30 PM (no show 12/25); also Mon 12/12 and Wed 12/21, 7:30 PM; Fri 12/23, 4:30 PM; and Mon 12/26, 4:30 and 7:30 PM, Greenhouse Theater Center, 2257 N. Lincoln, 773-404-7336, americanbluestheater.com, $29-$49.

MISS BENNET: CHRISTMAS AT PEMBERLEY Written

by Lauren Gunderson and Margot Melcon, this world premiere from Northlight Theatre picks up two years after the end of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice and centers on another Bennet sister, bookish and solitary Mary, played with caustic wit by a sharp Emily Berman. Get past the uneven English accents and the very audacity of a Austen sequel and it’s a sweet, romantic holiday story in which two intellectuals move from traveling the world via maps and a magnifying glass into the unexpected adventure of falling in love. Erik Hellman is a bumblingly appropriate foil for Mary as Arthur de Bourgh (son of the novel’s snobbish Lady Catherine), who pulls out a notebook of canned responses whenever nervous and at a loss for words. —MARISSA OBERLANDER Through 12/24: Wed 1 and 7:30 PM, Thu 7:30 PM, Fri 8 PM, Sat 2:30 and 8 PM (2:30 PM only 12/24), Sun 2:30 PM; also Tue 12/20, 7:30 PM, Northlight Theatre, North Shore Center for the Performing Arts, 9501 Skokie Blvd., Skokie, 847-673-6300, northlight.org, $15-$81.

THE RIP NELSON HOLIDAY SPECTACULAR Hell in a Handbag leans hard on its tried-and-true camp tropes in this drag parody of an early-80s variety show. A recovering alcoholic television host gets a second chance at glory a decade or so too late when he scores his former rival’s time

20 CHICAGO READER - DECEMBER 1, 2016

slot. Steve Love’s production of David Cerda’s comedy makes solid use of a vocally formidable ensemble in frequent, often unironic musical numbers. It’s more questionable whether the jokes built on vintage celebrities are enough to sustain the rest for an hour and a half—the erstwhile Bruce Jenner is the target of some particularly groan-worthy material—but David Lipschutz’s off-kilter, hilariously sinister turn as magician Doug Henning is hilarious every moment he’s onstage. — DAN JAKES Through 12/30: Thu-Sat 7:30 PM (no show Sat 12/24); also Sun 12/11 and 12/18, 6:30 PM, Mary’s Attic Theatre, 5400 N. Clark, 773-784-6969, handbagproductions. org, $28-$50.

THE SNOW QUEEN Not to be confused with Michael Barrow Smith’s frequently staged musical adaption, this 2013 holiday panto takes an even sillier, more playful approach to Hans Christian Andersen’s fable about a young girl on a mission to rescue her friend from a wicked sorceress. As with a lot of theater for young audiences, it’s not clear which age group it’s best suited for—older kids at the performance I attended didn’t seem particularly amused by the bumbling pratfalls and shtick, and the younger ones had little reaction to the onslaught of malapropisms, wacky accents, and puns. A handful of original musical moments by Jessica Puller and Arne Parrott create some theatrical whimsy, but it’s not until late in the 90 minutes that much gets visually interesting or adventurous. —DAN JAKES Through 12/18: Fri 7:30 PM, Sat-Sun 3 and 7:30 PM, Piccolo Theatre, Evanston Arts Depot, 600 Main St., Evanston, 847-424-0089, piccolotheatre.com, $25.

WINTER STORIES Under the Gun has long had a knack for crafty conceptual comedy: making up TED Talks from slides performers have never seen, improvising scenes based on random excerpts from D-list celebrity autobiographies, reading soft-core porn scripts cold. This time around the concept feels standard-issue. An invited “monologist” tells a holiday-related story (on the night I attended, it was about a seven-yearold non-Jewish girl’s quest to authentically celebrate Hanukkah), and then a group of improvisers invent an hour’s worth of scenes tangentially related to the story. I suppose I should be disappointed, but as usual the UTG ensemble delivers inventive, well-outside-the-box work that more than compensates. I could have spent the entire hour watching the scene about the pusher selling dreidels to desperate Hanukkah junkies. —JUSTIN HAYFORD Through 12/17: Sat 9 PM, Under the Gun Theater, 956 W. Newport, 773-270-3440, undertheguntheater.com, $12. v

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ARTS & CULTURE Laura Jane Grace o BRIAN ACH/AP

LIT

Laura Jane Grace writes for her rights

By LEOR GALIL

W

hen Rolling Stone profiled transgender Against Me! singersongwriter Laura Jane Grace in September the piece included a photo of the musician, topless and reclined in a half-full bathtub, her face and breasts emerging from beneath the water. Grace’s ex-wife, Chicago visual artist and Hide front woman Heather Gabel, had a number of issues with the article—among them the narrow approach to gender it took, the flawed portrayal of her separation from Grace in 2013, and the aforementioned image of her ex, which was uncensored despite the magazine’s long history of obscuring women’s nipples in salacious pictures. Gabel edited the Rolling Stone photo by covering Grace’s areolas with stars and posted it on Facebook with a thoughtful retort. “The entire LGBTQ+ experience is constantly fetishized; sensationalized to absolutely no one’s benefit,” Gabel wrote. “I hope that someone eventually gets it right.”

Grace seizes the opportunity to flesh out her story with her new memoir, Tranny: Confessions of Punk Rock’s Most Infamous Anarchist Sellout. With the help of her cowriter, Noisey editor Dan Ozzi, Grace revisited and condensed decades of personal journal entries—occasionally inserting original entries into Tranny in a different font—to produce a detailed exploration of her lifelong affection for punk, her travails in the music industry, and her decades-long struggle with gender dysphoria. Grace, who was born Thomas James Gabel and came out as transgender in a separate 2012 Rolling Stone feature, was privately consumed with self-loathing while living as a male. That pain is palpable in her memoir, which is why she decided to call it Tranny. “I hate that word—I definitely don’t identify with that word, I don’t like hearing it used for other people,” Grace recently said on Late Night With Seth Meyers. “But it captures a lot of what the book is about, and a lot J

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continued from 21 of what the book is about is internalized transphobia and self-hate.”

Grace first experienced feelings of selfhatred at the age of five, when she caught sight of Madonna in her “Material Girl” video. Born to a military family in 1980, Grace bounced around the country (and lived in Italy for about four years, beginning when she was eight) before her parents separated; around the time she turned 13, Grace, her mom, and her brother moved to Naples, Florida. The internal conflict Grace dealt with at a young age intensified there, where she was surrounded by children of considerable wealth while being raised by a single parent on a shoestring budget. Out of step, and with no resources to turn to regarding gender dysphoria, Grace began experimenting with hard drugs—she first snorted coke shortly after she arrived in Florida, off a copy of Jack London’s A Daughter of the Snows in the public library’s bathroom.

Drugs, and pretty soon sex, could only stimulate her for so long, and her real salve came in the form of punk. She started with Green Day’s Dookie and delved deeper into anarchopunk—foundational anarchist bands such as Poison Girls and Crass, and Minneapolis collective cum label Profane Existence.

Punk takes up as much editorial space in Tranny as Grace’s battle with gender dysphoria. Against Me! went from touring dingy basements to opening for contemporary rock heroes such as the Foo Fighters and Green Day. But it’s Grace’s unvarnished look at nearly two decades fronting a punk band that provides unlikely narrative momentum—she captures the mind-deadening monotony of living on the road without making the story feel repetitive. It helps that Grace unpacks the little compartments of her band’s history, even mining tour-van etiquette for nuance. “[The] Guest should never, under any circumstances, occupy the rear bench seat while host drives,” Grace writes in a journal entry from 2006, while touring with Alkaline Trio. “Hosts have assumedly invited guests to spend time together so they better do just as much of that as possible.” Heather Gabel was selling merchandise for Alkaline Trio on the tour, and on the very next page she jumps into the Against Me! van after a show.

Chunks of Grace’s story are missing: one part of the book’s title that’s not properly reflected in the narrative is her history with anarchism. Against Me!’s catalog from the early years is chockablock full of lyrics extolling leftist extremism. Take the chorus

for 2002’s “Baby, I’m an Anarchist!,” which references the 1999 Seattle protests during the World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference: “ ’Cause baby, I’m an anarchist / You’re a spineless liberal / We marched together for the eight-hour day / And held hands in the streets of Seattle / But when it came time to throw bricks / Through that Starbucks window / You left me all alone.” But the few instances of capital-P politics in Tranny are merely references to anarcho-punk bands and nonprofit organizations; listening to Crass and volunteering with Food Not Bombs won’t make you an anarchist. Readers with no grasp of the subterranean anarcho-punk scene will likely struggle to understand why Against Me!’s jump to indie label Fat Wreck Chords in the early 2000s was met with such scorn. Grace recounts how punks poured bleach on the band’s merch and tagged their van—punk zine Maximum Rocknroll encouraged readers to attack Against Me! for “selling out”— but she doesn’t elaborate on why former fans would turn on the band so violently.

In a 2004 entry from a tour stop in Milan, Grace describes the inner turmoil that she endured when her bandmates gawked at trans women and cracked jokes at the strangers’ expense: “‘You guys want to get a brostitute?’

‘Prostidudes!’ I laughed at them along with everyone else, the whole time knowing the truth about myself, that I wished I were so brave,” Grace writes. “I’ve been called a ‘sellout’ many times in life for the choices I’ve made in my musical career. But this experience, that moment—that’s what it feels like to truly sell out.” By sharing that moment Grace compels strangers to see her as flesh and blood instead of the shape of her flesh. v R TRANNY: CONFESSIONS OF PUNK ROCK’S MOST INFAMOUS ANARCHIST SELLOUT By Laura Jane Grace with Dan Ozzi (Hachette). Grace appears for a reading, Q&A, and book signing presented by Women & Children First, Fri 12/2, 7 PM, Wilson Abbey, 935 W. Wilson, 773-273-6865, womenandchildrenfirst. com, $35.

ß @imLeor

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Get showtimes at chicagoreader.com/movies.

ARTS & CULTURE ssss EXCELLENT

sss GOOD

ss AVERAGE

s POOR

•

WORTHLESS

MOVIES

Where the wild things are

By J.R. JONES

N

ature documentaries may be plentiful on cable TV, but they rarely connect at the box office—March of the Penguins (2005), the biggest nature film of all time, grossed only $127 million worldwide (compared to $2 billion for the most recent Star Wars sequel).

By this modest standard, French filmmakers Jacques Perrin and Jacques Cluzaud have been phenomenally successful. Their first two features are firmly lodged among the genre’s top ten: Winged Migration (2001), a stirring account of migratory birds, earned $32 million for Sony Classics, and Oceans (2009), a study of marine life, grossed $82 million for Disney.

Seasons, which was picked up for U.S. distribution by Chicago’s own Music Box Films, is the duo’s best effort yet, an unerringly dramatic—and largely wordless—film that spans 20,000 years, from the last Ice Age to the environmental crises of the 21st century. Having scoured the sea and sky, Perrin and Cluzaud now focus on the forests of Europe, finding endless conflict among the species; these little tableaux reveal a constantly shifting balance

Seasons o ERIC TRAVERS

of power, yet on a geologic scale, the animals’ real contest is with man as he moves into the forest and makes it his own.

The glimpses of animal behavior in Seasons are extraordinarily intimate, and according to the filmmakers’ notes, the trick was assimilating into the environment. “Nature is a set where you can’t take control of the lighting,” explains Stéphane Durand, who cowrote the script with Perrin and Cluzaud. “You have to wait, arm yourself with patience, and blend into the scenery.” In Lapland and Norway the filmmakers captured epic images of bison suffering through a snowstorm; these tough SOBs shake off sheets of caked snow and stare dully into space, owning their lot. Centuries later, when the great thaw has brought on “the golden age of the forest,” birds monitor the action on the ground as a deer gives birth to a calf, and fox cubs cuddle with their mother, so close to the camera they might crawl into the cinematographer’s lap. “Wild animals have developed a reflex to flee human beings that is much more powerful than the reflex to flee their ‘natural’ predators,” writes Durand. “The

challenge for the assimilator is to neutralize that atavistic fear as quickly as possible by adopting the animal immediately after birth.”

That sort of time investment pays off in unscripted, unguarded action that lays bare the animals’ needs and instincts and produces one microdrama after another. In a clearing, water buffalo are tortured by flies until they erupt into action, rumbling off in search of more congenial territory. A lynx creeps up on a rock overhang, spying on the deer just below, and pounces, giving chase until the deer leaves it behind. Stags clash with each other, locking horns and whirling around violently. Often Perrin and Cluzaud will add another layer of tension to these dramas by cutting in the reactions of birds and small animals who watch from a safe remove. A squirrel frets in a treetop as wolves chase a boar through the forest below; a fox stares, transfixed, as two bears in the distance try to tear each other apart, then comes to its senses and gets gone. In one of the most exciting contests, another pack of wolves chase a herd of horses through the woods and encircle one of them, but the horse drives

them off, spinning and kicking; overhead, a crow who’s been following the chase settles on a branch to watch the power struggle play out.

These little dramas are so arresting that one hardly notices the larger story arc taking shape as man begins to encroach on the forest. From the animals’ perspective, he’s a mysterious figure, glimpsed at a distance through the foliage. Early in the film, amid a riot of birdsong, a man appears with a set of panpipes, joining in the music. Humans are almost a ghostly presence—as squirrels gambol up and down the side of a tree, an arrow slices through the air and lands in the mossy base of the trunk. About an hour into the film, a Rubicon is crossed when a lone wolf ventures into a human encampment and accepts a scrap of food from a girl. Before long woodsmen are clearing trees; the directors position a camera at the top of one to record its journey to the ground. “The golden age of the forest is over,” announces Perrin (a veteran actor) in voiceover narration. The last of the movie’s numerous chase scenes involves not animals preying on each other but a stag being pursued by a pack of beagles and huntsmen on horseback.

Seasons takes us so deep inside the lives of woodland animals that words are superfluous; in contrast to most nature documentaries, the new movie is remarkably free of narration for much of its running time. Perrin’s commentary serves mainly to explain the environmental shifts taking place across hundreds or thousands of years, not to anthropomorphize the animals for us as they go about their business. Only when mankind has barged into the story do the filmmakers begin to verbalize the movie’s theme of environmental collapse.

The 20th century is a disaster for the forest animals: in one haunting image birds land on a coil of razor wire amid the trench warfare of World War I, and peace brings only men in white hazmat suits, spraying pesticide as they march down rows of crops. In the obligatory hopeful conclusion, Perrin declares that “nature has not given up” and proposes “a new alliance” between man and beast to reclaim the earth. That may seem like an unequal partnership, but to judge from the movie, the beasts fight harder to survive than we do. v SEASONS ssss Directed by Jacques Perrin and Jacques Cluzaud. PG, 97 min. Music Box, 3733 N. Southport, 773-871-6604, musicboxtheatre.com, $11.

ß @JR_Jones DECEMBER 1, 2016 - CHICAGO READER 23

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BRENDAN & JAKE HOLIDAY SHOW – Saturday, Dec. 10-Sold Out! • TOM CHAPLIN –Jan. 26 LEFTOVER SALMON – Saturday, Feb. 4 • STEPHEN KELLOGG – Friday, Feb. 17 • VALERIE JUNE – Feb. KELLER WILLIAMS & LEO KOTTKE – Mar. 10 • INFAMOUS STRINGDUSTERS –Friday, Mar. 17

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MUSIC IN ROTATION

3855 N. LINCOLN

martyrslive.com

A Reader staffer shares three musical obsessions, then asks someone (who asks someone else) to take a turn.

Paul Robeson sings at a 1948 Progressive Party rally in Philadelphia.

THU, 12/1 - NO COVER TOYS 4 TOTS - BRING A TOY

BIG C JAMBOREE… THE MODERN SOUNDS W/OSCAR WILSON FRI, 12/2

Kendrick Lamar discusses “The Blacker the Berry” with MTV in 2015. o VIA MTV’S YOUTUBE CHANNEL

GREAT MOMENTS IN VINYL PERFORMS EXILE ON MAIN ST. SAT, 12/3 - NOON

KRAMPUS FEST

o AP PHOTOS

SAT, 12/3 - 9:30PM

ELLE CASAZZA, JETDRIVER, CURIOUS GRACE AND THE BLACK RABBIT MON, 12/5

SEAN CLELAND/BRENDAN BULGER/VIDAR SKREDE, MOTION TO FIX TUE, 12/6

BROKEN CYCLES, BIG BLACK BIRD, THE WISTFUL LARKS WED, 12/7

PETER MARGASAK

SETH KIM-COHEN SAIC assistant

SETH BRODSKY U. of C. assistant

Reader music critic

professor, formerly of the Fire Show

professor of music and the humanities

Andrew Cyrille, The Declaration of Musical Independence Andrew Cyrille was one of the first jazz drummers to elasticize and abandon time, and five decades later, at age 77, he sounds more adventurous than ever. His playing on this quartet album is sparse and often subdued, but “Coltrane Time,” a neverrecorded piece by the titular saxophonist, still startles me after half a dozen listens—its snare melody accelerates and decelerates in thrilling waves, like a fist tensing and relaxing. Guitarist Bill Frisell, keyboardist Richard Teitelbaum, and bassist Ben Street orbit Cyrille with impressive agility and intuition, whether on drifting soundscapes or splintery rumbles.

At a press conference in the mid-1940s, Paul Robeson—singer, actor, All-American football player, Columbia Law School graduate— announced that he would only sing for the rights of his people. “No pretty songs, gentlemen,” he said. “Time for some full citizenship.”

At a Robeson concert in 1949, Ku Klux Klan and anticommunist protesters—chanting “Wake up, America!”—attacked attendees with baseball bats and rocks, burned a cross, and lynched Robeson in effigy. Police chose not to intervene. Afterward, the local Klan received 748 membership applications. Eight days later, Robeson returned and sang, surrounded by a human shield consisting of labor union and Communist Party members.

Robeson was targeted by the House Un-American Activities Committee (which Newt Gingrich wants to revive), his passport was revoked, and his U.S. concerts were canceled at the behest of the F.B.I. (remember them?). When Robeson visited Chicago in October 1949, the Sun-Times and Tribune sent reporters. Worried about offending subscribers, though, they chose not to publish stories.

We’re all spinning these days, like records off their spindles. The needle has lost contact with the groove. So I’m not listening to anything. I’m listening for something—something lost to the vacuous caterwaul of history. I’m listening for the songs that history prevented Paul Robeson from singing. I’m listening for Robeson’s call to arms. I’m listening for songs of radical solidarity, songs of unequivocal repudiation, songs of ferocious resistance, songs of and for the oppressed. No pretty songs, gentlemen. No pretty songs.

Joanna Newsom, Divers Not the whole album, but I’m listening to “Sapokanikan” again. The song is a gorgeous, overpacked, moss-covered, Anglo-Celtic suitcase of allusions. “Look and despair,” Newsom implores at the end, fantasizing loss on the scale of civilizations. On first hearing I went along with its unmarked melancholy, its raceless plea for universal sympathy: Help me contemplate history’s ravaging path, it seemed to say. Now I hear white hipsterism mourning itself. The coming decade will feel as distant from the previous one as the European 1910s and ’20s did from the 1890s. Hipsterism as (the old) aestheticism, or belle époque, or Jugendstil.

After them the savage god, et cetera.

James Luther Dickinson, Dixie Fried Jim Dickinson embodied Memphis’s mongrel strain of roots music—a wild, uncontrolled collision of blues, country, and rock—as thoroughly as anyone who worked in the city. His debut as a bandleader, cut in 1972 with a crack studio band called the Dixie Flyers and guests including kindred spirit Mac Rebennack (aka Dr. John), mixes gritty soul, twang, and whogives-a-fuck insouciance. This recent Future Days reissue adds seven previously unreleased tracks from the original sessions.

Laurence Crane/Asamisimasa, Sound of Horse Extraordinary Norwegian chamber ensemble Asamisimasa applies a pitch-perfect touch to the minimalist marvels of British composer Laurence Crane. On this survey of his pieces, long tones and repetition create unexpected beauty, tenderness, and excitement. A quiet masterpiece.

TIN LYNOTT THU, 12/8

BAWDY STORYTELLING FRI, 12/9

THE KING OF MARS, FALL CLASSIC, LOCAL MOTIVE, HUMAN BLOOM SAT, 12/10

MINOR MOON, HALF GRINGA, SON OF ABBEY FRI, 12/23

DUMPSTAPHUNK FRI & SAT, 12/30 & 12/31

HENHOUSE PROWLERS

Kendrick Lamar, To Pimp a Butterfly This album’s blackness was never unmarked; from the start it was, as Clover Hope put it at the Muse, “overwhelming.” I hear “The Blacker the Berry” now as the double of and retort to “Sapokanikan.” “Fuck melancholy,” it says. “My heart is being halved.” It sounded portentous the first time around. Now it sounds like directions. Step one: Pick a side.

Igor Stravinsky, Le Sacre du Printemps Truthfully, I can’t stand this piece anymore. But I teach it every year. It should sound a century old—and for a long time, it did. Now it sounds—not new, but less like antiquity. As if everything it represented—the garish primitivist charisma, the vicious cool of the rhymeless and reasonless chord, modernity clawing out of its 19th-century host—needed representation again. The fossil has dug itself out.

DECEMBER 1, 2016 - CHICAGO READER 25

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26 CHICAGO READER - DECEMBER 1, 2016

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Recommended and notable shows, and critics’ insights for the week of December 1

MUSIC

b ALL AGES F

THURSDAY1 Modern Sounds with Oscar Wilson 9:30 PM, Martyrs’, 3855 N. Lincoln. F This is an interesting pairing for Martyrs’ long-running Big C Jamboree, held the first Thursday of every month and typically featuring rockabilly. Headed by clean-toned guitarist Joel Paterson, the Modern Sounds are like a more R&B-influenced Chet Atkins, forsaking pop standards for early-50s jump blues with echoes of rockabilly and swing. Meanwhile south-side vocalist Oscar Wilson is usually heard singing straight Chicago-style shuffle blues with the Cash Box Kings. But Wilson’s blustery pipes are expressive enough to fit into almost any scene, and against the backdrop of the Modern Sounds’ more genteel boogie they might give both sides a kick in the behind—according to Paterson, Wilson’s a walking encyclopedia of blues lyrics going back to Robert Johnson’s time.

—JAMES PORTER o PHIL SHARP

MICHAEL KIWANUKA, CLOVES

Sat 12/3, 8 PM, Park West, 322 W. Armitage, $20. b

PICK OF THE WEEK

Bask in the soul of Michael Kiwanuka’s seductive voice ON HIS STIRRING second album Love & Hate (Interscope) British singer Michael Kiwanuka writes in broad strokes, allowing listeners to adapt themes to their own lives in ways that sting. Given a patient, spacious sound by coproducer Brian Burton (aka Danger Mouse), the record opens with a string-laden track that builds in intensity for some five somber minutes before Kiwanuka—a Brit born to Ugandan parents—utters his first words, questioning his faith and commitment but pledging to power through. At times it can be hard to tell if he’s singing about a troubled relationship or a world gone mad (I’ve recently been gravitating toward the latter reading), but it doesn’t matter; while the singer has explained that the elegant, simmering funk song “Black Man in a White World” was written as a result of playing a loose version of “black” music for largely white audiences, the race-based implications cut much deeper. Love & Hate pulls away from the folk-soul environments of Kiwanuku’s 2012 debut for a feel less specific yet more retro, with many songs evoking a 60s noir closer to the ambient thrust of Portishead than Stax Records.

He delivers searing, psychedelic guitar solos that summon the spirit of Eddie Hazel, but the essence comes down to his seductive voice, which rarely breaks its sweet yet wounded conversational tone. Few recent albums have translated a feeling of emotional vulnerability with more beauty. —PETER MARGASAK

Rock, Pop, Etc Copeland, Rae Cassidy 8 PM, Double Door, 18+ Fast Decay, Highball, Modern Advances, Toxic Rocket 9 PM, Quenchers Saloon Futurebirds, American Grizzly 8:30 PM, Subterranean Hayden 8 PM, Schubas The Men, Vamos, Peekaboos, Fitness 8:30 PM, Beat Kitchen, 17+ Rhett Miller 8 PM, City Winery b Emily Nichols, Iverson, Boycut 8 PM, Emporium Arcade Bar F Puddle of Mudd, Non Exotic, Outdrejas 6:30 PM, Wire, Berwyn, 18+ We Are Scientists, Noise FM, Highchair Kings 8:30 PM, Lincoln Hall, 18+ Weezer, Phantogram, Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness 7 PM, Aragon Ballroom Dance Amine Edge & Dance 10 PM, the Mid Booka Shade, Doorly 8 PM, Concord Music Hall, 18+ DJ SJ, Jena Max 10 PM, Smart Bar F Freddy Todd, Eliot Lipp 10 PM, 1st Ward, 18+ Folk & Country Devil in a Woodpile 6 PM, Hideout Cole Swindell, Jon Langston 8:15 PM, Joe’s Bar, sold out Jazz Greg Artry Trio 10 PM, California Clipper David Boykin & the SEBAU 8 PM, the Promontory b Joey DeFrancesco Trio 8 and 10 PM, also Fri 12/2 and Sat 12/3, 8 and 10 PM; Sun 12/4, 4, 8, and 10 PM, Jazz Showcase Atticus Lazenby Group, Matt Piet 9 PM, Elastic b Dave McDonnell Group 8:30 PM, Constellation, 18+

Experimental Bill MacKay, Jeremy Lemos, Matt Jencik 9 PM, Empty Bottle Classical Chicago Symphony Orchestra with the Chicago Symphony Chorus Nicholas Kraemer, conductor; Duain Wolfe, chorus director (Handel). 8 PM, also Fri 12/2 and Sat 12/3, 8 PM, Symphony Center Lyric Opera’s Don Quichotte 7:30 PM, also Sun 12/4, 2 PM and Wed 12/7, 7:30 PM, Civic Opera House

FRIDAY2

ing to deviate course. A track like “Violence of the Red Sea” is nothing short of bugged-out southern classic rock, as lines of shredded and gnarled blues-influenced guitar tumble along in excellent chaos. On “Acid Crusher”—their contribution to the recent split with Harsh Toke, out on Tee Pee—the trio dials it back plenty, carving out a deep pocket with a laid-back groove from drummer Mario Rubalcaba (Hot Snakes, Black Heart Procession) and smoldering lines from guitarist Isaiah Mitchell that eventually devolve into freakness.

—KEVIN WARWICK

Talea Ensemble 7:30 PM, Logan Center for the Performing Arts, University of Chicago, 915 E. 60th, $25, $5 students. b

Cell Phones Avantist and Ovef Ow open. 9 PM, Cole’s, 2338 N. Milwaukee. F I first caught the Cell Phones at the Paper Machete, the weekly “live magazine” at the Green Mill, and it was like walking into an unexpected gust of wind—though the Chicago three-piece are much more enjoyable than getting blasted in the face by a cold front. Leader Lindsey Charles belts out her parts like a doo-wop starlet reared on hardcore, bassist Ryan Szeszycki unspools limber and noisy melodies with aplomb, and drummer (and magician) Justin Purcell hits the skins like a grindcore fanatic on a sugar high. Their rambunctious, playful songwriting allows their songs to breathe and careen wildly, giving the impression of unpredictability despite the band’s tightness as a unit.

Still, while I was immediately captivated by their live sound, their recorded output sounded flat and thin by comparison.

Fortunately, the Cell Phones’ new album No (No Trend) does a much better job of capturing their lightning-in-a-bottle energy—they can make even the most mundane subject matter feel alive. An erratic assault on drone-worker life, “9 to 5” is a perfect example of how, though the Cell Phones live in our world, their response to what’s around us remains their own.

—LEOR GALIL

Earthless Ruby the Hatchet and Marmora open. 9 PM, Empty Bottle, 1035 N. Western, $16, $14 in advance.

To even subtly define the titanic (mostly) instrumental psych rock of San Diego’s Earthless as “jammy” is doing a disservice to the chemtrails of guitar sustain and churning, heady rhythms that twist and turn with such directive you occasionally feel like you’re being thrust toward the ends of tracks rather than entrapped within a purgatory of riffs and lulling beats. Their 2013 full-length, From the Ages, is really nonstop hot lick atop hot lick—flanged-out hard here, strung-up tight there—with burrowed passages of extracurricular noise and feedback help-

Since 2007, New York’s Talea Ensemble has been a leading light in tackling challenging new-music repertoire, commissioning loads of new work and surveying landmarks of contemporary classical and experimental music from around the globe. In a scene where funding for brand-new commissions takes priority, an ensemble that devotes energy to criminally overlooked pieces from the recent past becomes more important. This rare local concert, under the banner of the University of Chicago’s Contempo series, offers a vivid example of how effectively Talea has filled the role, featuring four bold 20th-century musical-theater pieces of unwavering experimental impulses— so don’t expect show tunes. The greatest lure of the diverse program for me is Eight Songs for a Mad King, thanks to my recent discovery of the 1969 operetta’s original recording by British composer Peter Maxwell Davies, featuring composer and pianist Julius Eastman delivering tour-de-force vocals. New York singer Michael Weyandt will join members of Talea for this 30-minute feast of extended techniques and mind-melting vocal extremes, moving from insane falsetto yelps to stentorian baritone howls. He’ll also take part in other challenging musical theater pieces by Mauricio Kagel (“Sur Scène”) and Karlheinz Stockhausen (“Der Kleine Harlekin”), as well as John Cage’s playful “Living Room Music,” which draws upon household objects as percussive devices and features a reading of Gertrude Stein’s poem “The World Is Round.”

—PETER MARGASAK

Ultimate Painting EZTV and Deeper open. 9:30 PM, Hideout, 1354 W. Wabansia, $10.

Mazes singer-guitarist Jack Cooper and Veronica Falls coleader James Hoare formed London duo Ultimate Painting in 2014, later that year releasing a self-titled debut of pretty, breezy, minimal J

DECEMBER 1, 2016 - CHICAGO READER 27

4544 N LINCOLN AVENUE, CHICAGO IL OLDTOWNSCHOOL.ORG • 773.728.6000

JUST ADDED • NEW SHOWS ON SALE FRIDAY! 1/15/2017 1/21/2017 1/28/2017 2/4/2017 2/11/2017 3/12/2017

Ukrainian Winter Evenings with Kobzarska Sich Bandura Ensemble Alash John McEuen & Friends present Will the Circle Be Unbroken James Hill Catie Curtis Dervish / We Banjo 3

VISIT OLDTOWNSCHOOL.ORG TO BUY TICKETS! SATURDAY, DECEMBER 3 5 & 8PM

Funkadesi 20th Anniversary Family Show at 5PM SUNDAY, DECEMBER 4 7PM

Steve Dawson & Mark Caro: Take It to the Bridge Book Release

A Celebration, Conversation and Concert with Dolly Varden and Other Special Guests In Szold Hall

DECEMBER 8 THROUGH DECEMBER 11

Songs of Good Cheer with Mary Schmich and Eric Zorn

A Caroling Party benefiting Chicago Tribune Holiday Giving

MONDAY, DECEMBER 19 8PM

PigPen Theatre Co. Concert Residency • In Szold Hall

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 31 8PM

Over the Rhine SUNDAY, JANUARY 15 7PM

Peter Asher: A Musical Memoir of the '60s and Beyond Featuring the music of Peter and Gordon

SATURDAY, JANUARY 21 8PM

Dale Watson and Ray Benson SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 11 5 & 8PM

Ladysmith Black Mambazo ACROSS THE STREET IN SZOLD HALL 4545 N LINCOLN AVENUE, CHICAGO IL

12/2 Global Dance Party: ¡ESSO! Afrojam Funkbeat 12/2 Emergent Series @ 909 W. Armitage

28 CHICAGO READER - DECEMBER 1, 2016

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continued from 27

indie rock, full of mellow rhythms and twinkling guitars. But on September’s Dusk, out via local powerhouse Trouble in Mind Records, Ultimate Painting— who have grown into a fully realized and constantly touring band—take a denser, darker approach, stepping away from the patience-pop that dominated that first record and its follow-up, last year’s Green Lanes. Dusk breaks into a slow-burn Velvet Underground zone as minor, moody melodies are fleshed out by knotty organ, electric piano, and sweeping, lyrical guitar. It’s the best work yet from an already prolific and steadily improving band.

—LUCA CIMARUSTI Rock, Pop, Etc Big Sadie, Andrew Sa & His Organic Sound 8 PM, Armitage Concert Hall, Old Town School of Folk Music b Cage the Elephant, Catfish & the Bottlemen, Weathers 7 PM, Aragon Ballroom Cock Sparrer, Flatfoot 56, Brick Assassin 8 PM, Double Door, 17+ Kevin Devine & the Goddamn Band, Pet Symmetry, Petal 7 PM, Bottom Lounge b Lazy Legs, Sleepwalk, Liqs 10:30 PM, Subterranean, 17+ Night Terror, Matchess & TALsounds 9 PM, Elastic b Joe Pug, Carson McHone 7 and 10 PM, SPACE b

Ultimate Painting

MUSIC

o JOHN STURDY

Anthony Raneri, Mark Rose 8 PM, Beat Kitchen, 17+ Remember Jones, Brielle Von Hugel 9 PM, Schubas Rubblebucket 10 PM, 1st Ward, 18+ Saigon Kick, Rebel Soul Revival 8 PM, Reggie’s Rock Club, 18+ Tractor Kings, We the Animals, Bishop 8 PM, Township A Wilhelm Scream, Much the Same, La Armada, Still Alive 7 PM, Cobra Lounge, 17+ Dance Mark Flava, DJ Vince Adams 10 PM, the Promontory Julius the Mad Thinker Noon, Randolph Cafe, Chicago Cultural Center F b Nightmares on Wax, Romare, Adam Stolz 10 PM, Smart Bar Seven Lions, Pegboard Nerds, Unlike Pluto, Grum 9 PM, Concord Music Hall, 18+ Prins Thomas 10 PM, Smart Bar Blues, Gospel, and R&B James Armstrong, Planetary Blues 9 PM, Buddy Guy’s Legends Billy Branch & the Sons of Blues, Joanna Connor Blues Band 9 PM, also Sat 12/3, 9 PM, Kingston Mines Will Downing, Najee 8 PM, the Venue at Horseshoe Casino Jodeci, Siilk, Shai, H-Town 8 PM, Arie Crown Theater Lil’ Ed & the Blues Imperials 9 PM, also Sat 12/3, 9 PM, B.L.U.E.S. Chip Ratliff & the Dirtybluecrue, Charles Walker Band, Cosmic Playboys 8 PM, Reggie’s Music Joint Kinsey Report 9:30 PM, also Sat 12/3, 9:30 PM, Rosa’s

Symphony Chorus Nicholas Kraemer, conductor; Duain Wolfe, chorus director (Handel). 8 PM, Symphony Center Anastasia Dedik Piano. 6 PM, PianoForte Studios b

SATURDAY3 Michael Kiwanuka See Pick of the Week on page 27. Cloves open. 8 PM, Park West, 322 W. Armitage, $20. b Lounge Demetria Taylor Blues Band, Mike Wheeler 9 PM, also Sat 12/3, 9 PM, Blue Chicago Jazz Dee Alexander 8 PM, the Promontory Joey DeFrancesco Trio 8 and 10 PM, Jazz Showcase Sinne Eeg Quartet 9 PM, also Sat 12/3, 8 PM, Green Mill Mike Smith Quartet 9:30 PM, also Sat 12/3, 9:30 PM, Andy’s Jazz Club Experimental Diego Espinosa 8 PM, Experimental Sound Studio b International Esso Afrojam Funkbeat 8:30 PM, Szold Hall, Old Town School of Folk Music b Classical Chicago Gay Men’s Chorus 8 PM, Harris Theater Chicago Symphony Orchestra with the Chicago

Nate Lepine 8:30 PM, Ancien Cycles & Cafe, 688 N. Milwaukee, $10, $5 students. b

Tenor saxophonist Nate Lepine represents Chicago in both sound and action. He’s got a brawny yet agile tone, full of soul and grit, and his work ethic is strictly blue-collar. He’s versatile and curious enough to operate in many different contexts, whether playing in rock bands like Poi Dog Pondering or Cursive, serving a crucial ensemble role in the jazz group Herculaneum, or playing with fire and swinging elegance in countless ad hoc groups.

In recent years he’s been stepping out more often as a leader, and after more than two decades of playing he’s finally dropped his first album with Vortices (Ears & Eyes), a quartet session that’s every bit as flinty and direct as it is unassuming.

Lepine reveals a strong rapport with alto J

DECEMBER 1, 2016 - CHICAGO READER 29

MUSIC CATE LE BON + TIM PRESLEY (OF WHITE FENCE)

02/04

93XRT WELCOMES + LINCOLN HALL & DUNN DUNN FEST PRESENT:

MIKE DOUGHTY WHEATUS

02/18

LINCOLN HALL + REACT PRESENTS:

LADYHAWKE 03/08

LAMBCHOP 03/24

12/31 @ LINCOLN HALL

r a e Y New Y

HAPP

THE HOOD INTERNET

AIR CREDITS, CELINE NEON, AND DJ MANNY MUSCLES

12/30 + 12/31 @ SCHUBAS

DIANE COFFEE

MODERN VICES (12/30) + YOKO AND THE OH NO’S, THE VOLUPTUALS (12/31)

THE TREWS

WATCHING FOR FOXES

02/19

HALEY BONAR 03/04

DEAD MAN WINTER ERIK KOSKINEN

03/11

TWINSMITH 04/25

30 CHICAGO READER - DECEMBER 1, 2016

Find more music listings at chicagoreader.com/soundboard.

continued from 29

saxophonist Nick Mazzarella, his front-line partner, as they confidently glide over ruddy yet elastic grooves sculpted by bassist Clark Sommers and drummer Quin Kirchner. Most of the slaloming melodies are delivered in precise unison passages, building thickness and muscle before the horn players veer off for extended solos. Mazzarella chews up the scenery in a less referential fashion than he does in many of his own projects, while Lepine is unwearied in his embrace of the melody, breaking down phrases quietly before picking up steam. The recording captures a no-frills band operating at a very high level, revealing the craftsmanship and emotional heft that so many Chicago musicians seize in favor of flash and facile gestures.

—PETER MARGASAK

Xylouris White Marisa Anderson opens.

10:30 PM, Beat Kitchen, 2100 W. Belmont, $15, $13 in advance.

On their bracing, no-nonsense second album Black Peak (Bella Union), Australian drummer Jim White and Cretan lutist George Xylouris— together known as the duo Xylouris White—retain their telepathic connection even as they radically twist their sound. Their stunning 2014 debut, Goats, was a ruminative instrumental affair that didn’t reconcile disparate traditions so much as smudge and smash them together. Years of regular touring have further emboldened them to let it all hang out, and the new record is considerably more raucous and rude. But the raw power of their performances in no way diminishes their rapport; in fact, it feels heightened as they pound and flail without a safety net, tapping into some seriously primeval communication. White remains one of rock’s most remarkable drummers, a guy who erases the line between sophisticated swing and gutbucket thrust, and his aesthetic seems to have inspired his partner, who’s never sounded so unhinged and dangerous: here Xylouris complements his dazzling facility on lute with passionate singing that moves between meditative incantation and howl-at-the-moon wanderlust, his voice adding a new layer of richness, a ragged melismatic vigor that alternates between serenity and chaos.

—PETER MARGASAK Rock, Pop, Etc Airiel, Shana Falana, Dimwaves, DJ Philly Peroxide 9 PM, Schubas Bama Lamas, Three Blue Teardrops, Royal Son of a Guns 9 PM, 1st Ward Cock Sparrer, Flatfoot 56, Mystery Actions 8 PM, Double Door, 17+ Davlin, On a High Wire, Tiny Kingdoms, Gardens 6:30 PM, Subterranean, 17+ Fitz & the Tantrums, Grouplove, Switchfoot 7 PM, Aragon Ballroom The King Khan & BBQ Show, Gartrells, the Pukes 9 PM, Empty Bottle New Candy Store Prophets, Janes 9 PM, Township Stevie Nicks, Pretenders 7 PM, United Center Nonpoint, Escape the Fate, Get Scared, Through Fire, Failure Anthem 6:30 PM, House of Blues b Patent Pending, Flight Plan, Talk to You Never 5 PM, Reggie’s Rock Club b

Charlie Puth, James Bay, Jojo 7:30 PM, Chicago Theatre Joan Shelley, Moon Bros. 9 PM, Hideout Sweater Beats, Different Sleep 9 PM, Lincoln Hall, 18+ Taste of Ink, Achilles, Stondar, Bury the Machines 8:30 PM, Cobra Lounge Toh Kay 7:30 PM, City Winery, sold out b Whitney, Trevor Sensor 8:30 PM, Thalia Hall, sold out, 17+ Dance Breach, Bucky Fargo, Amy Unland, No Sl33p 10 PM, Primary Nightclub Richie Hawtin 10 PM, the Mid Derek Smokin Jones, Steve Poindexter, Craig Loftis, Bobby Q. Bobby, Track Master Scott, Dion Hunter, DJ Lady Sol Kat 2 PM, the Promontory Magda 10 PM, Spy Bar Tama Sumo, Sassmouth, Jarvi 10 PM, Smart Bar James Zabiela 10 PM, Sound-Bar Folk & Country Joe Mullins & the Radio Ramblers 7:30 PM, American Legion Hall, Evanston b Blues, Gospel, and R&B Billy Branch & the Sons of Blues, Joanna Connor Blues Band 9 PM, Kingston Mines Toronzo Cannon, Jimmy Nick 8 PM, SPACE b Guy King 9:30 PM, Buddy Guy’s Legends Lil’ Ed & the Blues Imperials 9 PM, B.L.U.E.S. Kinsey Report 9:30 PM, Rosa’s Lounge Demetria Taylor Blues Band, Mike Wheeler 9 PM, Blue Chicago Jazz Joey DeFrancesco Trio 8 and 10 PM, Jazz Showcase Sinne Eeg Quartet 9 PM, also Sat 12/3, 8 PM, Green Mill Marquis Hill Blacktet 8:30 PM, Bennett-Gordon Hall, Ravinia Festival b Mike Smith Quartet 9:30 PM, Andy’s Jazz Club Experimental Okkyung Lee & Andrew Lampert 8:30 PM, Constellation, 18+ International Funkadesi 5 and 8 PM, Maurer Hall, Old Town School of Folk Music b Classical Chicago Symphony Orchestra with the Chicago Symphony Chorus Nicholas Kraemer, conductor; Duain Wolfe, chorus director (Handel). 8 PM, Symphony Center Lori Sims Piano. 7 PM, PianoForte Studios b

SUNDAY4 Ensemble Dal Niente with Enno Poppe 4 PM, Gottlieb Hall, Merit School of Music, 38 S. Peoria, $15, $10 students. b Ensemble Dal Niente distinguishes itself from the rest of Chicago’s bustling new-music scene by its size and experience, but it’s also bold in its commitment to playing contemporary work from Europe— American composers predominate on the rare occasions when venerable classical halls like Symphony Center offer the opportunity to hear the work of living composers. This weekend’s ambitious program not only focuses on a slew of exciting music from Germany but brings in daring composer-conductor Enno Poppe to curate and lead the concert through

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several of his own pieces, as well as those from like-minded spirits. Poppe’s 2000 chamber piece “Holz” is a jagged, careening blur of lines that collide in dissonant spikes and impatient squiggles, at once familiar in its spry counterpoint and perverse in its discontinuity. A similar intensity pervades his earlier piano solo “Theme With 840 Variations,” a composition that delivers all the madness the title suggests. The group will also give North American premieres of the new Poppe piece “Stoff” as well as “. . . Sentiers Tortueux . . . ,” a 2007 work by Michael Pelzel. The program is rounded out by “Vermillion,” an early chamber piece by Rebecca Saunders (the subject of a fantastic Dal Niente portrait concert in 2014) that’s by turns sneaky, surging, and elusive.

—PETER MARGASAK

Shane Parish Sima Cunningham headlines; Shane Parish and Barn Duet open. 8 PM, Hideout, 1354 W. Wabansia, $10.

At this point I shouldn’t be surprised by any new turns in the music of guitarist Shane Parish,. Though he’s pushed past the mathy strain of prog-punk unleashed in his long-running band Ahleuchatistas, I’m still catching my breath thanks to the unvarnished beauty of his recent solo acoustic recording Undertaker Please Drive Slow (Tzadik). He explains in a brief liner note that while learning folk songs to play for his new daughter earlier this year, he spent a cold February evening in a serendipitous “meditative trance,” which led him to experiment with music drawn from a swath of American folklore—blues, spirituals, and old-time songs—and try to capture them in a kind of subconscious state. And whether turning to slide ornamentation or rolling fingerstyle patterns, he conveys the material’s rustic essence while freely abstracting it—his version of the Blind Willie Johnson classic “Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground” only hints at the form and full melody of the original, but there’s no question about its source. Elsewhere he brings an unexpected buoyancy to the black gospel “Can’t Nobody Hide From God,” while his take on “O Death” is every bit as lacerating and direct as you’d expect. It’s not easy to find such vitality, originality, and fire in songs this old and familiar, but Parish both underlines the lasting power of these songs and makes them sound as if they’re new bolts of wisdom from the great beyond. His music has never hit me so hard.

—PETER MARGASAK

Steel Panther Wilson and Man the Mighty open. 8 PM, House of Blues, 329 N. Dearborn, $31.50-$33.50. 17+ Out Spinal Tapping Spinal Tap since 1999, LA’s hilarious and filthy hair-metal parody band have

made a successful career out of charming the animal-print Spandex off the very bands and fans they have a blast affectionately mocking. Their long-running, hard-gigging tribute-band roots on the Sunset Strip eventually put them on the road with the likes of Motley Crue and Def Leppard, where they probably picked up a few fans who weren’t in on the joke. Their three studio albums—Feel the Steel, Balls Out, and All You Can Eat—are a joy, and their fourth, Lower the Bar, is due in February (check out the fairly straight-played cover of Cheap Trick’s “She’s Tight”). The songwriting is crafty enough to function fine as the real deal, but the band pull off the much more difficult feat of sounding just perfectly a little bit off at all times—not in the way, say, Dokken or Winger sound off, but off like Spinal Tap, so close that the dissonance is hilarious. Steel Panther are primarily a live full-band experience, so don’t forget to check out last year’s live album Live From Lexxi’s Mom’s Garage and the iTunes podcast Behind the Music, which purports to tell the band’s sex- and drug-fueled superhero origin story.

—MONICA KENDRICK Rock, Pop, Etc Emily Blue, Evening Attraction, Predictions 9 PM, Beat Kitchen Bombats, Dumpster Babies, Date Stuff 9 PM, Schubas F Capital Soiree, Karma Wears White Ties, August Hotel 6:30 PM, Subterranean, 17+ William Fitzsimmons, Laura Burhenn 7:30 PM, SPACE b Jeffrey Foucault, Dusty Heart 8 PM, City Winery b Hands Like Houses, Our Last Night, Color Morale, Out Came the Wolves 5:30 PM, Bottom Lounge b King Khan & BBQ Show, Gartrells, Plastic Pinks 9 PM, Empty Bottle Rai, You Are Here, Man Cub 8 PM, Subterranean, 17+ Rooney, Royal Teeth, Romes 8 PM, Lincoln Hall, 18+ Soft Ledges 7 PM, Elastic b Whitney, Jimmy Whispers 7:30 PM, Thalia Hall, sold out, 17+ Hip-Hop Roy Woods 6:30 PM, Reggie’s Rock Club b Jazz Joey DeFrancesco Trio 4, 8, and 10 PM, Jazz Showcase Nick Mazzarella, Greg Ward, Matt Ulery, and Quin Kirchner 9 PM, Whistler F Tecora Rogers, Greta Pope 5 PM, the Promontory b International Marc Anthony 7 PM, Allstate Arena Lira Ensemble of Chicago 3 PM, Symphony Center Classical Aperiodic with Dante Boon 8:30 PM, Constellation Lyric Opera’s Don Quichotte 2 PM, Civic Opera House

J DECEMBER 1, 2016 - CHICAGO READER 31

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CHRIS &HEATHER’S CALENDARSHOW

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continued from 31

Atticus Lazenby Group 9:30 PM, Whistler F Greg Ward 9 PM, Hungry Brain F Michael Zerang & Biliana Voutchkova, Lia Kohl 9 PM, Elastic b Classical Chanticleer 7:30 PM, Fourth Presbyterian Church of Chicago

MONDAY5 Rock, Pop, Etc Sean Cleland & Jesse Langen, Motion to Fix 8 PM, Martyrs’ E, Crown Larks, Magdalene Laundries 9 PM, Empty Bottle F Slotface, Hot Moms 9 PM, Schubas, 18+ Hip-Hop L.A. Vangogh, U.G. Vavyw, Joseph Chilliams, Via Rose 7 PM, Subterranean, 17+ Folk & Country Chicago Barn Dance Company Barn dance featuring Blackest Crow with caller Paul Watkins. 7 PM, Irish American Heritage Center b Robbie Fulks & Don Stiernberg 7 PM, Hideout Chris Young 6 PM, Joe’s Bar Blues, Gospel, and R&B Avant 8 PM, also Tue 12/6, 8 PM, City Winery b Jazz Stu Mindeman Trio, Unknown New 9 PM, Elastic b Pierson Quartet 9:30 PM, Whistler F

TUESDAY6 Rock, Pop, Etc Broken Cycles, Big Black Bird, Wistful Larks 8 PM,

WEDNESDAY7 Martyrs’ Sabrina Carpenter 7 PM, Schubas, sold out b Clearance, Dominic, Photo Jenny, Coaster 6:30 PM, Subterranean, 17+ Dragonette, Gibbz 8 PM, Lincoln Hall, 18+ Mystery Lights, Warbly Jets 9 PM, Empty Bottle Ode, Fall Classic, Bombbone 8 PM, Emporium Arcade Bar F Joshua Powell & the Great Train Robbery, Woodrow Hart & the Haymaker, Jesse W. Johnson, Bubbles Brown 8:30 PM, Subterranean Scott Stapp, Adelitas Way 8 PM, House of Blues, 17+ Blues, Gospel, and R&B Avant 8 PM, City Winery b Duke Robillard Band 8 PM, SPACE b Jazz Junius Paul Collective, Makaya McCraven 9 PM, Hideout

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SideBar Sessions Jazz Night

BEN LEWIS TRIO 7th Annual Holiday Kickoff!

RON & NAOMI’S CHRISTMAS SPECIAL

SPEED4SARAH ALS FUNDRAISER

Nasty Snacks - Sam Lewis SAT

10

Jam Band Reunion / Double Feature!

DEADBEATS / WHY NOT

In The SideBar - JON DEE GRAHAM

12/16 - Phil Angotti & Friends 12/17 - Brave Combo Holiday Spectacular 12/17 - Christmas w/The Beatles (SideBar) 12/22 - Country Night In Berwyn 12/23 - Redmonds Family Christmas Show 12/30 - Ike Reilly 12/21 - Expo ‘76 New Year’s Eve Dance Party

32 CHICAGO READER - DECEMBER 1, 2016

Find more music listings at chicagoreader.com/soundboard.

NEW DATE JUST ANNOUNCED SATURDAY, DECEMBER 10

ARAGON BALLROOM

Get tickets online at Ticketmaster.com www.peta.org www.true-to-you.net

Tickets purchased for the November 27 concert will be honored at the door

Astonish Forever Undefined headlines; Astonish, Sisi Dior, and Trell Love open. 8:30 PM, Subterranean, 2011 W. North, $10.

Nearly a decade ago Chicago underground hiphop crew Molemen released an EP called From Now Until Forever, their label’s first release from north-side MC Andre Johnson (aka Astonish).

Johnson subsequently ingrained himself in the local scene, which is obvious from the list of collaborators he pulled in for his recent full-length To Whom It May Concern (PVTSTCK), among them rapper-producer and Treated Crew leader Mano (fka Million Dollar Mano), piercing MC Chris Crack, and late rapper JDott Trife. Johnson doesn’t quite fit into a distinct subscene or sound, which is as much a curse as it is a blessing as Chicago hip-hop has gained an international reputation for dominant personalities and trends—even the “hipster rap” era circa 2008, which weighed heavy on the scene, didn’t affect Johnson as he linked up with Molemen. He performs with unperturbed cool throughout To Whom It May Concern, taking to the simmering, soul-inspired instrumentals like a greaser gliding atop the hood of a freshly waxed 1950s red Ford Mercury.

—LEOR GALIL Rock, Pop, Etc Joe Bordenaro, Beta Males, Max Loebman, Wilde 8:30 PM, Beat Kitchen, 17+ Ebony Eyes, Vacuum, Panthatone 8 PM, Emporium Arcade Bar F Electric Sheep, Sparkletears, Rat Shank 9 PM, Quenchers Saloon Homeshake, Paul Cherry, Ricky Mirage 8 PM, Schubas, 18+ Sylvan Lacue, Jae Woody 7:30 PM, Wire, Berwyn Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats, Mavis Staples 7:30 PM, Chicago Theatre, sold out Dance A Tribe Called Red, DJ Intel 8 PM, Lincoln Hall Folk & Country Jim Lauderdale, Ralph Covert 7:30 PM, SPACE b Jazz Davina & the Vagabonds 8 PM, City Winery b Dana Hall Quartet 9:30 PM, California Clipper International Third World 8 PM, Wild Hare Classical Tomoko Fujita & Luva Poliak Cello and piano. 12:15 PM, Preston Bradley Hall, Chicago Cultural Center F b Katinka Klejin & Cory Smythe 9 PM, Constellation Lyric Opera’s Don Quichotte 7:30 PM, Civic Opera House Music803 6:30 PM, Symphony Center v

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DECEMBER 1, 2016 - CHICAGO READER 33

S P O N S O R E D

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C O N T E N T

Chicago has always been a city of distinct neighborhoods with their own sense of identity and tradition — and each with stand-out bars and restaurants that are worthy of a haul on the El or bucking up for parking. Explore some local faves here, then head out for a taste of the real thing!

EATALY, LA PIAZZA // RIVER NORTH Tues: 5-9 pm, $15 housemade beer + Margherita pizza alla pala

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DON’T MISS WINE WEDNESDAYS

34 CHICAGO READER - DECEMBER 1, 2016

“Fantastic place. Food is really good at a reasonable price.”

— LARRY D. / GOOGLE

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R BAD HUNTER | $$$ 802 W. Randolph 312-265-1745 badhunter.com

White-anchovy-spiked beet tartare tastes as meaty as the beef version it models. o DANIELLE A. SCRUGGS

NEW REVIEW

Bad Hunter is mostly meatless but missing nothing At Heisler Hospitality’s latest, Dan Snowden’s vegetable-forward menu is no joke.

By MIKE SULA

A

long with gun racks and truck nuts, in certain parts of the country there’s a bumper sticker prevalent on rusty pickups that states “ ‘Vegetarian’ is an old Indian word for ‘bad hunter.’ ” It’s from this feeble scrap of woodsman’s humor that Heisler Hospitality, the burgeoning bar and restaurant empire behind Trenchermen and Pub Royale, has adopted the name for its latest.

While Heisler is usually confined to the ghettos of West Town and Wicker Park, Bad Hunter is the second of the group’s spots to land on prime real estate at ground zero of the Fulton Market restaurant row, next door to its first incursion onto the turf, Lone Wolf. That’s not the only departure from the typically underlit, hard-pouring Heisler concern. Full glass frontage allows the sunlight—or at least Randolph’s ambient night-

time glow—to reflect off tall walls of white brickwork and mirroring. You can almost hear the abundant greenery photosynthesizing.

That echoes the direction of the menu.

There’s a movement in restaurant-evolved cities to put more focus on plant life than animal matter. This is already evident in Chicago from the unfortunate entry of the New York-based Little Beet Table, a discouraging move in this direction.

Luckily, Bad Hunter goes its own way. Chef Dan Snowden, a veteran of the Publican and Nico Osteria, presents a widely varied and frequently changing menu of veggie-dominant things available all day, as well as a dinner menu with about 50 percent animal protein.

That doesn’t mean you’re likely to encounter foie gras, pigeon gizzards, or whatever obscure innards chefs are using these days to boost your uric levels. What you will find is a single skewer of lush grilled chicken thigh meat resting on a bed of cool yogurt, sprinkled with currants and slivers of preserved lemon.

Flaky Spanish mackerel fillets, skins as crackly as a live wire, are dressed with a brightly acidic salad of ground cherries and radishes.

It gets no more meaty than a fat, snappy lamb bratwurst adorned with tart fennel sauerkraut and oranges as crimson as raw flesh.

These are fine dishes, but it’s the rest of the menu that makes Bad Hunter an oasis for anyone who prefers to keep blood out of the mouth. Narrowly sectioned tempura-battered fried lemons and delicata squash are the sweet-and-sour snack every movie-theater concession should aspire to. Charred chunks of fractal Romanesco broccoli are dressed in a Spanish double shot of the Catalan-style pepper-nut-and-bread sauce salvitxada and served atop a shallow pool of almond-garlic soup. A blimp of white-anchovy-spiked beet tartare, launched to the mouth on brittle flaxseed crackers, tastes as meaty as the dish it models.

That’s the operative gratification behind most of the vegetable-centered food at Bad Hunter: the flavor-driving forces of fat and umami are deployed with such assuredness that even the most hard-core carnivore won’t miss meat at the center of the plate. It’s why hunks of almost pickly radish dressed in shoyu butter are enriched by the stray bacon-radish soft “crouton” that apes the Cantonese turnip cake lo bak ko, while the pleasant bitterness of grilled rapini is tempered by liquefied Emmentaler cheese, sharp togarashi, and sweet-andsour grape-must syrup.

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DECEMBER 1, 2016 - CHICAGO READER 35

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Butter dumplings stuffed with corn and shiitakes, with Asian pears and oyster kimchi ! DANIELLE A. SCRUGGS

continued from 35 A trio of amply portioned pastas continues this approach, among them a formidable tangle of nutty chestnut-flour spaghetti alla chitarra entwining meaty wild mushrooms dressed with walnut oil. And while what’s billed as an oyster kimchi dressing fat butter dumplings stuffed with corn and shiitakes seems to be missing significant bivalve participation, the seared chewiness of these bulging pillows is a seductive distraction.

The vegetables on Snowden’s menu succeed on their own terms so consistently it’s almost no surprise that the single attempt to force plant matter into a meaty role falls flat. Forget any praise you’ve heard: Bad Hunter’s veggie burger is built with black beans, the single most malevolent substance enlisted in this already much-maligned vegetarian staple.

Though the thin double patties are armored in a crunchy, brittle char and enrobed in melted cheddar, that doesn’t prevent their chalky, pasty interior from establishing gridlock in the mouth. Tomato jam provides no acidic relief, and the mustard aioli that slicks the iceberg lettuce sends the sandwich’s constituents parts squirting out of the bun like an In-N-Out Burger shot from the mouth of hell. Not even the perverse pleasure of ordering this disaster topped with bacon can redeem it.

But I love Bad Hunter.

There’s a much smaller pool to choose from at dessert, but a red curry squash tart presents like a rich, mildly spiced coconut milk cheesecake, and a chocolate cremeux with a crunchy cookie crust topped by a mildly fungal porcini ice cream surrounded by frozen grapes is ranking near the top of my list for the year’s best desserts.

Low-octane cocktails exceed all expectations with dazzling flavor profiles: the Spicy Carrot Cooler, for instance, features tequila and Jamaican jerk bitters, while the Joker’s vodka base is amped with jalapeño-spiced kale juice and smoky mezcal. A unique and wide-ranging wine list includes a number of naturally sparkling pétillant naturel and tannic orange wine selections, and is helpfully divided among flavor and body profiles, all the better to find something appropriate to pair with this cosmos of flora and verdure.

It’s difficult to feel virtuous eating at Bad Hunter with the decadence inherent in many of the vegetable dishes. Even the ones not particularly backed by butter, cream, or cheese are so precisely targeted at the cranial pleasure centers that any aspersions cast on that form of “hunting” are a joke. v

" @MikeSula

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○ Watch a video of Christopher Marty making this cocktail with matzo at chicagoreader.com/food.

The Thank You cocktail

by Christopher Marty of Best Intentions is more like “alcohol soup,” he says. o CHRIS BUDDY

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COCKTAIL CHALLENGE

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By JULIA THIEL

I

t was not a fun developmental process,” BEST INTENTIONS bartender and co-owner CHRISTOPHER MARTY says of his experiments with MATZO. PITO RODRIGUEZ, a bartender at SABLE KITCHEN & BAR, had challenged him to create a cocktail with the unleavened bread traditionally eaten at Passover. “He just chose the first Jewish thing he could think of, I imagine,” Marty says. “He’s trolling me, obviously.”

“I grew up eating it, still love it, but I gravitate towards things that taste like sticks and leaves,” he says. And matzo’s lack of flavor means that it doesn’t lend itself particularly well to cocktails. Marty tried infusing spirits with matzo; the result, he says, was “incredibly boring.” He crushed up matzo to put on the rim of the drink, which still didn’t taste like anything, and “you end up with crackers all over your lips.”

Finally, Marty turned to matzo ball soup.

He got a copy of his grandmother’s handwritten recipe for the version he grew up with. “I found out in the process that my grandmother used vodka in her matzo balls, which I did not know,” Marty says. “And did not surprise me. There was vodka involved when she was writing the recipe, because it was rather difficult to read.”

To make his cocktail, Marty followed his grandmother’s recipe for the matzo balls, but made a small tweak to the soup: instead of adding water to the carrots, celery, and chicken bouillon, he added alcohol. First, though, he did some research and found that

Jewish history involves beer and wine more often than distilled spirits. “I considered doing something with Manischewitz, because that’s your go-to hilarious Jewish drink, but it’s not very good,” he says. Instead he used grappa, because it’s distilled from grapes, and Rittenhouse Rye, because Heaven Hill Distillery, which makes the whiskey, was founded

by Jews. The final ingredient, Becherovka, is an herbal liqueur that he chose because the Czech Republic, where it’s made, has a strong Ashkenazi Jewish culture.

“I made alcohol soup,” Marty says. Because heating up spirits burns off most of the alcohol, he did it in two phases: first he added several cups of his alcohol mixture (one part grappa, one part whiskey, and a half part Becherovka) to a pan with chopped celery, carrot, parsnip, and parsley, and simmered the “broth” while he made and rested the matzo balls. When he added the matzo balls to the soup, he also added several more cups of alcohol. The cocktail, which he named Thank You, Janice for his grandmother, is the matzo ball itself, served with a little of the broth. “The broth itself has almost no alcohol left in it,” Marty says. “The matzo balls will get you drunk.”

WHO’S NEXT:

NO PHONE CALLS PLEASE!

TECHNOLOGY SALESFORCE.COM MANAGER (MULT. POS.), PricewaterhouseCoopers Advisory Services LLC, Chicago, IL. Provide tech. & risk consulting services to clients to help anticipate & address their most complex bus. challenges. Req. Bach’s deg. in Comp Sci, Comp Engg, Electronic Engg, Info Systms, Engg, Mgmt Info Systms or rel. + 3 yrs rel. work exp.; OR a Master’s deg. in Comp Sci, Comp Engg, Electronic Engg, Info Systms, Engg, Mgmt Info Systms or rel. + 1 yr rel. work exp.

Travel req. up to 80%. Apply by mail, referencing Job Code IL1047, Attn: HR SSC/Talent Management, 4040 W. Boy Scout Blvd, Tampa, FL 33607.

ADVISORY, ANALYTICS & DECISION MANAGER

(Mult. Pos.), PricewaterhouseCoopers Advisory Services LLC, Chicago, IL. Assist clients in maximizing data value, defining info strat. & maximizing value from analytics for better decision strategies. Req. Bach’s deg. or foreign equiv. in Econ, Stats, Ops Research, Comp Sci, Info Systms, Bus Admin, Engg or rel. + 5 yrs post-bach’s progressive rel. work exp.; OR a Master’s deg. or foreign equiv. in Econ, Stats, Ops Research, Comp Sci, Info Systms, Bus Admin, Engg or rel. + 3 yrs rel. work exp.

Travel req. up to 80%. Apply by mail, referencing Job Code IL1053, Attn: HR SSC/Talent Management, 4040 W. Boy Scout Blvd, Tampa, FL 33607.

Site Supervisor. Direct activities on construction site. Oversee project scheduling, budgeting, implementation. 40 hrs./wk. Chicago, IL. Requ.: HS. 1-yr.exp. Resume: S. Gonet, Prime Masonry, Inc., 3120 N. Cicero, Unit A, Chicago, IL 60641

REAL ESTATE RENTALS

STUDIO $500-$599 Chicago, Beverly/Cal Park/Blue Island Studio $575 & up, 1BR $665 & up, 2BR $885 & up. Heat, Appls, Balcony, Carpet, Laundry, Prkg.

708-388-0170

STUDIO $600-$699 EDGEWATER!

1061 W. Rose-

mont. Studios starting at $695 to $725, All Utilities included! Elevator building! Close to CTA red line train, restaurants, shopping, blocks to the lakefront, beaches and bike trails, laundry onsite, remodeled, etc. For a showing please contact Jay 773835-1864 Hunter Properties, Inc. 773-477-7070 www.hunterprop.com

CHICAGO, HYDE PARK Arms

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

7500 SOUTH SHORE Dr. Brand New Rehabbed Studio & 1BR Apts from $650.

Call 773-374-7777 for details.

STUDIO APARTMENTS

3 Blocks to Red Line, 1 Block to Lake, Renovated Wood Floor, No Pets $700/month + $350 (Move-In-Fee) + $50 Credit Check 773.562.6878

ROGERS

PARK! 7455 N .

Greenview. Studios starting at $675 $695 including heat. It’s a newly remodeled vintage elevator building with on-site laundry, wood floors, new kitchens and baths, some units have balconies, etc. No security deposit! For a showing please contact Samir 773-627-4894 Hunter Properties 773-477-7070 www. hunterprop.com

STUDIO OTHER LARGE SUNNY ROOM w/fridge & microwave. Near Oak Park, Green Line & Buses. 24 hr Desk, Parking Lot $101/week & Up. (773)378-8888 CHICAGO - HYDE PARK 5401 S. Ellis.

1BR. $535-$600/mo.

Call 773-955-5106

CROSSROADS HOTEL SRO SINGLE RMS Private bath, PHONE,

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

Ashland Hotel nice clean rms.

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

Low rates daily/weekly/monthly.

South Side. Call 773-376-5200

1 BR UNDER $700 FALL SPECIAL: STUDIOS starting at $499 incls utilities. 1BR $550, 2BR $599, 3BR $699. With approved credit. No Security Deposit for Sec 8 Tenants. South Shore & Southside. Call 312-4463333

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Marty has challenged DAVID MCCABE of OSTERIA LANGHE to create a cocktail with ESCARGOT. v

ß @juliathiel DECEMBER 1, 2016 - CHICAGO READER 37

QUALITY

APARTMENTS,

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

7022 S. SHORE DRIVE Impecca-

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

Laundry & Security on Premises.

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

MIDWAY

AREA/63RD

KEDZIE Deluxe Studio 1 & 2 BRs. All modern oak floors, appliances, Security system, on site maint. clean & quiet, Nr. transp. From $445. 773582-1985 (espanol) CHICAGO HEIGHTS - Newly Remod , FREE HEAT, gas & parking, Section 8 OK! Studio, 1, 2 & 3 BR’s. $550-$800/mo.

(708)300-5020.

PARK MANOR 1ST flr, rehabbed

3BR w/lndry, $1200; S Shore 3BR, 2nd flr, w/lndry, $900; S Shore Dr lrg 1BR condo, corner unit, incls prkg & heat, $875. 312-683-5284.

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

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

773-221-7490, 773-221-7493 WEST PULLMAN (INDIANA

Ave) RENT SPECIAL 1/2 Off 1 month rent + Sec dep. Nice,lrg 1BR $575; 2BR $650 & 1 3BR $850, balcony, Sec 8 Welc. 773-995-6950

FALL SPECIAL $500 Toward Rent Beautiful Studios 1, 2, 3 & 4 BR Sect. 8 Welc. Westside Loc, Must qualify. 773-287-4500 www.wjmngmt.com CHICAGO - South Shore Large 1BR, $660/mo.

Free heat.

Near Transportation.

Section 8 Welcome. Call 708932-4582

SALES & MARKETING

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

773-637-5957

Newly remod 1BR & Studios starting at $500. No sec dep, move in fee or app fee. Free heat /hot water. 1155 W. 83rd St., 773-619-0204 2 BEDROOM / 4 ROOM, New

rehab, jumbo, clean, Heat separate, $ 630/mo, 773-467-8200, Ed. 630926-8392. 649 W 80TH.

3 BEDROOM / 6 ROOMS, Section

8 Ready, new rehab, big, clean, quiet. $1010/mo, 7001 Carpenter, Call 773405-9361. Latrice.

SECTION 8 WELCOME. No Security Dep., 7335 S Morgan, 5BR house, appliances incl., $1300/mo.

Call 708-288-4510 CHATHAM - 7105 S. Champlain, 1BR. $640/mo. Sec 8 OK. Heat & appl. Call Office: 773-9665275 or Steve: 773-936-4749 û NO SEC DEP û

6829 S. Perry. 1BR. $520/mo.

1431 W. 78th St. 2BR. $605/mo.

HEAT INCL 773-955-5106

$725/MO. LARGE 2BR 75th & Union. Near public trans, schools and shopping, appl incl.

Sect 8 Welc. 708-334-5188 82ND & LOOMIS, 1BR, 4 ROOMS, newly decorated, carpeted, heat incl., $675/mo + 1 mo sec. Quiet/Smoke Free Bldng. 773-846-1140

CHICAGO W. SIDE 3859 W Maypole Rehabbed studios, $425/ mo, Utilities not included. 773-6170329, 773-533-2900

NICE ROOM w/stove, fridge & bath Near Aldi, Walgreens, Beach, Red Line & Buses. Elevator & Laundry. $130/wk & up. 773-275-4442 BIG ROOM with stove, fridge, bath & nice wood floors. Near Red Line & Buses. Elevator & Laundry, Shopping. $121/wk + up. 773-561-4970

1 BR $700-$799 HUMBOLDT PARK. ONE

bedroom apartment for rent. Newly remodeled. Next door to food store. $800 per month plus security deposit. Near shopping area. Monica, 773-592-2989.

8324 S Ingleside: 1BR $660, Studio $600, 1st flr, newly remod., lndry, hdwd flrs, cable. Sec 8 welc. 708-308-1509, 773-4933500 CRESTWOOD SPACIOUS 1BR Wood floors, ALL appls, Heat Incl & convenient loc. $740/mo; 708422-8801 8001 S COLFAX; 1BR $650, 2nd flr, newly remod, hdwd floors, cable. Great location! Sec 8 welcome.

708-308-1509, 773-493-3500

AUSTIN AREA 1-2 BR apts, $750-1000, heat & appliances incld Section 8 OK, close to transportation 708-267-2875 AUBURN GRESHAM: 79TH & Paulina, 1-2 Bedroom, $745-$795, Free heat. Call 773.916.0039

1 BR $800-$899

1 BR $900-$1099 LARGE ONE BEDROOM apart-

ment near Loyola Park. 1341 W Estes.

Hardwood floors. Heat included. Cats OK. Laundry in building. Available 1/1. $925/ month. Small one bedroom apartment available for $750/ month.

773-761-4318, www. lakefrontmgt.com

ONE BEDROOM APARTMENT

near Warren Park and Metra, 6802 N Wolcott. Hardwood floors. Heat included. Laundry in building. Cats OK. $900/ month. Available 1/1. 773-7614318, www.lakefrontmgt.com

1 BR OTHER APTS. FOR RENT PARK MGMT & INV. Ltd. IT’S THAT TIME AGAIN! OUR UNITS INCLUDE HEAT, HW & CG Plenty of parking 1Bdr From $750.00 2Bdr From $925.00 3 Bdr/2 Full Bath From $1200 **1-(773)-476-6000***

APTS. FOR RENT PARK MGMT & INV. Ltd. TIME TO TURN THE FURNANCE ON!!!

Most units Include..

HEAT & HOT WTR Studios From $545.00 1Bdr From $575.00 2Bdr From $745.00 3 Bdr/2 Full Bath From $1200 **1-(773)-476-6000**

Newly updated, clean furnished rooms, located near buses & Metra, elevator, utilities included, $91/wk. $ 395/mo. 815-722-1212

Lawrence. 1 bedrooms starting at $875-$925 include heat and gas, laundry in building. Great view! Close to CTA Red Line, bus, stores, restaurants, lake, etc. To schedule a showing please contact Celio 773-3961575, Hunter Properties 773-4777070, www.hunterprop.com

7100 SOUTH JEFFERY Large 1 BEDROOM, $725 Large Studio, $625 Nr Metra & shops, Sec 8 OK. Newly decor, dining room, carpeted, appls, FREE heat & cooking gas. Elevator & laundry room, free credit check, no application fee, 1-773-9197102 or 1-312-802-7301

SALES & MARKETING

SALES & MARKETING

SALES & MARKETING

76th & Phillips 1BR $650-$700; 2BR $750-$800. Remodeled, Appliances available. FREE Heat. 312286-5678

LAKESIDE TOWER, 910 W

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Retail

Binny’s Beverage Depot is the Midwest’s largest upscale retailer of fine wines, spirits, beers and cigars, and due to our continued growth, we now have the following retail opportunities available in multiple locations to qualified persons over 21 years of age:

STORE ASSOCIATES

Lakeview * Lincoln Park * Grand Ave/Downtown * South Loop Skokie * Lincolnwood * Elmwood Park * River Grove

CHICAGOREADER.COM

We are seeking energetic, customer-oriented individuals to perform a variety of store functions.

Qualified persons must be able to lift 40-50 lbs. and be available to work flexible hours.

Previous retail experience a plus, with cashier or stock experience preferred. Candidates must be able to work nights & weekends.These are part-time positions with potential for full-time.

WINE SALES

Lincoln Park * South Loop * Logan Square Candidates will have good working knowledge of wine varieties, countries and regions. Qualified persons must be able to taste wines in a professional manner as allowed for educational purposes, as well as continue to develop knowledge of wine and other products.

DELIVERY DRIVER/STORE ASSOCIATE South Loop

We are seeking an energetic, customer-oriented individual to perform a variety of store and delivery functions. Qualified person must be able to lift 40-50 lbs. and be available to work flexible hours including evenings, weekends and holidays. Valid IL driver’s license with a clean driving record is essential.

In return for your skills, we offer growth opportunities and attractive compensation.

Please apply online at www.binnys.com/careers EOE

38 CHICAGO READER | 12 1, 2016

l

l

CHICAGO, CHATHAM NO SECURITY DEPOSIT Spacious updated 1BR from $600 with great closet space.

Incl: stove/fridge, hdwd flrs, blinds, heat & more!!!

LIMITED INVENTORY ** Call (773) 271-7100 ** ROUND LAKE BEACH, IL Cedar Villas is accepting applications for subsidized 1BR apts. for seniors 62 years or older and the disabled.

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

ONE OF THE BEST M & N MGMT, 1BR, 7727 Colfax ** 2 Lrg BR, 6754 Crandon ** 2 & 3BR, 2BA, 6216 Eberhart ** Completely rehabbed.

You deserve the best ** 773-9478572 or 312-613-4427 FREE HEAT No Sec Dep or Move-in fee!

Sec 8 ok. 1, 2 & 3 BR. Elev bldg, laundry, pkg. 6531 S. Lowe.

Call Gina 773-874-0100 SEC 8 WELC, newly rehab, huge 3BR/2BA, full bsmt w/ extra BRs & bthrm. Appls incl, fully fncd yrd, no pets, Morgan Pk loc. 773744-7411

Auburn Gresham, Beautiful 2 flat building, newly decorated 3BR $875 & 1BR $575. Hdwd flrs, heat incl, security deposit. 708510-3405 CHICAGO, 134TH & Brandon, 1, 2 & 3BR, 1BA Apts for Rent. $650$950/mo, incl all utilities & appls.

Avail Now! Call 708-986-8123 SUBURBS, RENT TO OW N! Buy with No closing costs and get help with your credit. Call 708868-2422 or visit www.nhba.com CHICAGO, RENT TO OWN! Buy with no closing costs and get help with your credit. Call 708868-2422 or visit www.nhba.com ROYALTON HOTEL, Kitchenette $135 & up wk. Free WiFi. 1810 W. Jackson 312-226-4678

ADULT SERVICES

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

CHICAGO

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

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

RIVERDALE, IL 14141 S. School St. Newly Renovated 2 BR, 1 Bath avail. No Pets.

Rent $800/mo. 312-217-6556

77TH/LOWE. 2BR. 69th/Dante, 3BR. 71st/Bennett. 2 & 3BR. 77th/ Essex. 3BR. New renov.

Sec 8 ok. 708-503-1366

68 & Honore, 4BR, 2BA,$1000, tenant pays heat, One month security + one month rent.

Section 8 Welcome 773-339-0547

NEAR BEVERLY Huge 2BR apt, with bonus room on 1st floor. Sect 8 Welc 312.809.6068

3 BR OR MORE UNDER $1200 61ST/LANGLEY. 3BR/1BA. 1ST flr of 2 unit bldg. Avail Now. Sect 8 ok. Beaut apt, New kitchen, W/D in bsmt. Hdwd flrs. Nr Trans, 1 blk from schl. $1000/mo.

312-464-2222

MOVE IN SPECIAL B4 the N of this MO. & MOVE IN 4 $99.00 (773) 874-3400 ACACIA SRO HOTEL Men Preferred! Rooms for Rent. Weekly & Monthly Rates. 312-421-4597

2 BR UNDER $900 CHICAGO 5246 S. HERMITAGE: 2BR bsmt $400. 2BR 1st floor, $525. 3BR, 2nd floor, $625.

1.5 mo sec req’d. 708-574-4085.

CHICAGO SOUTHSIDE BRAND new 2 & 3BR apts. Excel-

lent neighborhood, near trans & schools, Sect 8 Welc., Call 708-7742473

AUSTIN AREA, Best deal, Senior discount available, 2BR. $650$695. Credit check required.

6 N. Lockwoood Call 708-2048600 LOGAN SQUARE 2 bedroom apartment, 2-flat building, modern kitchen & bath, balcony, washer & dryer. $750/mo. Near Blue Line.

773-235-1066 7000 S. Merrill 2BR, hdwd flrs, lrg FR/sunrm, new remod., cable ready, lndry, O’keefe Elem, $800/ mo. Section 8 welcome. 708-3081509, 773-493-3500 CHATHAM 2BR APT

439 E. 80th St., $750/mo, heat not included, avail December 1.

Call Doug 773-716-6331

ALSIP: LARGE 2BR, 1.5BA, $875/mo. Balcony, appliances, laundry & storage.

Call 708-268-3762

ADULT SERVICES

2 BR $900-$1099 OLD IRVING PARK! 4146 N.

Avers, 2 bedrooms at $1095 including heat and cooking gas. Just completed remodeling, new kitchen, new batch, dishwasher, hardwood floors, walking distance to grocery store, restaurants and public transportation, laundry in building. NO SECURITY DEPOSIT! For a showing please contact Saida 773-407-6452, Hunter Properties 773-477-7070

8043 S CHAMPLAIN Ave, Newly updated, 2.5 bedrooms, heat included, hardwood floors, Living/dining room, large kitchen, no pets. Move-in Specials Available. $900/mo. Call 773-609-5517

BRONZEVILLE 4725 S. Vincennes Ave. 1st & 3rd flr. Spacious, smoke free, 5 rms, 2BR, hdwd, tile, c-fans/AC, Ht, wtr, appls incl. Lndry on site. $950 + sec. 312-450-9696 CALUMET PARK, 2BR House, all brick, side drive, 1 car garage, C/A, appliances incl., vicinity of 125th & Ada. $950/mo. Call Hardy, 708941-3274 2419 W. MARQUETTE Rd - 2BR, Appls, c-fans, intercom, tenant pays utils, lndry room avail, sec 8 OK. $90 0/mo. 773-316-5871

DOLTON, 1107 E 151st St, new appl, stove, & fridge, free heat, 2 BR, on-site laundry, Sec 8 ok. $950/mo. New reno 773-723-2063

2 BR $1100-$1299 73rd & Dorchester, 2BR, carpet, $1150; 119th & Calumet, 3BR, 2BA, carpet, $1250. No Sec Dep. Sec 8 ok. 773-684-1166.

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

224-223-7787

2 BD APT for rent in Lansing. $1025/ month. No pets/smoking. Heat/hot water included. Call 708-774-8010 for more info.

2 BR $1500 AND

OVER

LARGE TWO BEDROOM, two

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

Available 1/1. $1595/ month. Parking available. $150/ month for single parking space. $250/ month for tandem parking space. 773-761-4318, w ww.lakefrontmgt.com

ADULT SERVICES

SUNNY 1ST FLOOR unit avail-

able in the North Center. 5 rooms, 2 bedrooms and 1 bathroom. Living room, dining room, with hardwood floors,large eat-in kitchen with new cabinets, appliances, pantry, enclosed porch with access to landscaped backyard. Free washer and dryer in basement and large storage area.

Parking available. Blocks away from Jewel/Osco, steps to restaurants, shops and transportation. $1525 Call Chris @ 312.287.2301

2 BR OTHER BEAUTIFUL NEW APT!

7203 S. Evans. 3 BDRM 6155 S. King. 2BDRM 8129 S. Ingleside 2BDRM 6150 S. Vernon. 4BDRM 7651 S. Phillips Ave 1, 2 & 4BDRM Stainless Steel!! Appliances!! Hdwd flrs!! Marble bath!! Laundry on site!!

FREE 42IN TV Sec 8 OK. 773- 404- 8926

AVAILABLE NOW! 90th & Justine, 2nd flr, 3bedroom, hardwood floors, $1000/mo heat not included plus security Sec 8 Ok. 773-4767335.

BROADVIEW - 3BR, large eat in kitchen, includes appliances, laundry, parking & water.

1st month & sec dep. $975/ mo. 708-252-9622 SOUTHSIDE, 11042 S. NORMAL, Newly remod, 3BR, 1BA, hdwd flrs, finished bsmt, $115 0/mo. Section 8 welcome.

773-255-8530 CHICAGO, 7053 S. Winchester, 3BR, 2 full bath, 2 story home, backyard, unfinished basement, avail 12/1. $ 950/mo + 1 mo sec.

773-230-9250

CALUMET CITY, 3BR, 2 car garage, fully rehab w/ gorgeous finishes & hdwd flrs. Beautiful backyard. Sect 8 ok. $1175/mo.

510-735-7171

CHICAGO - 5246 S. Hermitage,

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

4BR Coach House -$750. 1.5BA LR, lg kit & lg DR, fam rm & rec rm. fenced yrd. Sec 8 ok. 708-574-4085

ROUND LAKE BEACH, IL Cedar

CHICAGO, 4019 W. Arlington,

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

8943 S. ADA. SAFE, secure 23BR, separate heating, nice flrs, school & metra 1 blk away, $875-$1200/mo.

Section 8 welcome.

708-4656573 1ST FLR APT. Avail. now, 7914-16 S. May St., Auburn Gresham, 2BR, living & family room, kitchen, heat & water incl. 773-651-0711

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

708-288-4510 3BR, 2nd flr, tenant pays all utilities, back porch, $975/mo. Price Neg. 773-966-4821

LINCOLN SQUARE SPACIOUS

3 BR/1BTH in quiet well-maintained, owner occupied three flat. newly painted throughout, hardwood floors, miniblinds, new kitchen, fully tiled bath. Laundry in building (coin-op), easy street parking. $1600, includes heat, water; Security deposit is $2000. Cat OK, NO dogs. Please see our online ad before calling. Joe 773339-4673.

3 BEDROOM TOWNHOUSE , 1.5 baths, hardwood floors, carpet in bedrooms, off street parking, South Shore Near beach, Metra, bus lines & Country Club. $1500/ mo. 773-344-2679

LARAMIE AND HARRISON.

Unique design 5BR House, 2BA tenant pays utils, no pets. $1600/mo + sec. 708-249-6668

3 BR OR MORE OTHER

and Cicero. 3BR updated unit, tenant pays utils, no pets. $925/mo + sec.

708-249-6668

CONGRESS AND CENTRAL

Area. Large 3BR, hdwd flrs, tenant pays utils, no pets. $1150/mo + sec 708-249-6668

3 BR OR MORE $1200-$1499 6200 BLOCK OF S. GREENWOOD. (2) 3BR Apts, separate DR, all new kitch, $1350/mo. Close to UofC Hospitals, H.S & public trans. W/D on site. No pets. Application Fee applies. 773-858-7551

MATTESON, 2BR, $990$1050; 3BR, $1250-$1400.

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

83rd & Kenwood, 4BR, 2BA, with finished bsmt, new decor & carpet/hdwd flrs, ten pays utils. $1450/mo + 2 mo sec. Sec 8 ok 708-373-9525

8204 S. Drexel. Lg 2 BR, liv rm, din rm. Heat, mini blinds, ceiling fan included. Sec. 8 OK. $1050/mo.

No Sec Dep. 312-915-0100

8600 S. KINGSTON, 3BR brick bungalow, updated, freshly painted, hdwd flrs, c-fan, unfin bsmt, $1400. Sect 8 welc. 773-619-9511 3.5BR House, 100th & LaSalle, unheated & unfurnished, tenant pays utilities, $1300 plus, Sec 8 Welcome 312-218-0027

NEAR 83RD & Yates. 5BR, 2BA, hdwd flrs, fin basement, stove & fridge furn. Heat incl. $1600 + 1 mo sec. Sect 8 ok. 773-978-6134 CHICAGO S: Newly renovated, Large 3-5BR. In unit laundry, hardwood flrs, very clean, No Deposit!

Available Now! 708-655-1397 CHICAGO HOUSES FOR rent.

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

312-446-3333 or 708-752-3812

FOR SALE REAL ESTATE OPPORTUNITY

Available 2 unit apartment building. Both 3BR/1BA. Owner financing. Let your tenant pay your housing expense or rent both units. Building also has a basement unit that can increase your cash flow. Reasonable rent $850$950/mo. $120K as is. Call (505)5070724 or email: webuy505@gmail.com for more information EDGEWATER BEACH 5555 N. Sheridan Rd. Unit 1904 - $130,000 1 bedroom, 1 bath, new kitchen & new bathroom, hardwood floors, wonderful views, garage, indoor pool, fitness center, outdoor gardens, door man, beautiful lobby. Call 847-724-0743 or 847-204-8022

LAKESIDE CONDO (Dunescape) 1 hr from Chicago, Michigan City, IN. 7th floor, 3BR, indoor parking, indoor pool (whirlpool, sauna, gym) Reduced to $325,000. 708302-9116. Email: rvmld2@gmail. com NEAR ARMITAGE/CENTRAL 3BR, 2BA, fin bsmt, hdwd flrs, 2 car parking, convenient location. $239,000. 847-401-4574

roommates PULLMAN AREA, Newly remodeled 111th St., East of King Dr. $450-$550. Close to shopping & 1/4 block to metra. 773-468-1432 CHICAGO 67TH AND Emerald furn. rooms, 45 + pref, share kitchen and bath, util. included, cable ready.

From $350. 773-358-2570 CHICAGO 118TH SANGAMON ($396), 71st Sangamon ($400) Quiet, Furnished Rooms, Share Kit & Ba, Call 773-895-5454

MARKETPLACE GOODS

GERMAN

ROTTWEILER

PUPPIES. Male and female Rottweilers 8 weeks Vet checked, all shots ,AKC,home trained ,great with kids. $550 each 978-4352045 CLASSICS WANTED ANY CLASSIC CARS IN ANY CONDITION. ’20S, ’30S, ’40S, ’50S, ’60S & ’70S. HOTRODS & EXOTICS! TOP DOLLAR PAID! COLLECTOR. CALL JAMES, 630-201-8122 MASSAGE TABLES, NEW and

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

WWW.STUNNINGDESIGNS.

BIZ HUGE SALE! $10-$18 Gem & Chain Necklaces + Jackets. Ring Sale!

Up to 85% off. Free shipping!

SERVICES WE ARE LOOKING for a en-

ergetic and loving Nanny/Au Pair for our two boys. The older one is 3 and goes to pre-school and the younger one is 8 months. Salary will be $820 per week. Contact :jamesmorgan2310@gmail.com

HEALTH & WELLNESS FULL BODY MASSAGE. hotel, house calls welcome $90

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

FOR A HEALTHY mind and body.

non-residential

4151 S BERKELEY: 7rm 3BR, 1BA, $1250 heat and water inc., No sec dep call Toni 773-916-0039 or Pam 312-208-1771

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

BUSINESS OPS FOR SALE. NICE neighbor-

hood bar for sale in central Wisconsin. Located in Adams County, WI. Adams County is know for it’s rural charm and year round tourist activities. The bar is located on a county highway within minutes of Castle Rock Lake and the Northern Bay Golf resort and Marina.

Snowmobile and year round ATV access. This bar has been in continuous operation since the end of prohibition. The current owner has been here for 14 plus years. Building is 1600 square feet includes dining area, pool table,bar, video poker machines, full service kitchen and back storage room with ice maker.. Large walk in cooler and smaller tap beer cooler. Separate 8x12 storage shed. 4 lots about 1.2 acres with two horseshoe pits and sno wmobile/ATV route.. New furnace installed in October 2016.

Commercial 3 tank septic system installed in 2010. Roof in 2013.

Owner says ’This is a great business with a steady local crowd of mostly retired folks. WE also do well with all the weekenders who have cabins within a few miles of town and the folks who come to visit from Northern Bay Resort. Snowmobilers in winter, ATV riders, fisherman and boaters on the lake spring summer and fall.. This is a family place and would be great for someone looking to get into the business of fun. My son is off to college now and it is time for me to do something different.

Asking $224,900.

For more info or interest contact: barback63@gmail.com

legal notices STATE OF ILLINOIS County of

Cook In The Circuit Court For Cook County, Illinois In The Matter of the Petition of Jeann Lee Gillespie Case# 16M2004399 For Change of Name.

Notice of Publication Public Notice is hereby given that on February 2, 2017, at 9:30 AM being one of the return days in the Circuit Court of the County of Cook, I will file my petition in said court praying for the change of my name from Jeann Lee Gillespie to that of Jeanne Lee, pursuant to the statute in such case made and provided. Dated at Skokie, Illinois, November 28, 2016. Signature of Petitioner: Jeann Lee Gillespie, December 1, 8, 15, 2016.

NOTICE IS HEREBY given, pur-

suant to "An Act in relation to the use of an Assumed Business Name in the conduct or transaction of Business in the State," as amended, that a certification was registered by the undersigned with the County Clerk of Cook County. Registration Number: D16148871 on November 29, 2016, under the Assumed Business Name of R.E. Construction with the business located at 1025 W Van Buren, Chicago, IL 60607. The true and real full name(s) and residence address of the owner(s)/ partner(s) is: Anthony Colston II, 4621 N Hermitage, Chicago, IL 60640, USA.

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

urbs. Hotels. 1250 S Michigan Avenue. Appointments. 773-616-6969.

1237 W. 72ND Pl. 4BR, 1BA, full basement, ADT security system.

Tenant pays Utils. Pets OK. $1200/mo. 847-514-8015

NOTICE IS HEREBY given, pur-

NOTICES

COUNTRY CLUB HILLS vic of 183RD/Cicero.

4BR, 1.5BA $1400. Ranch Style, 2 car gar.

708-369-5187

HAVE YOU THOUGHT ABOUT BECOMING A SURROGATE MOTHER? Give the Gift of Life!

E. 92D ST. Brick, split level 5BR, 1.5BA in a quiet area, 2 car gar, all appls incl, sec 8 welc. $1475. 773720-9787 or 773-483-2594 SECT 8 OK, 2 story, 4br/2ba w/ bsmt. New decor, crpt & hdwds, ceiling fans, stove/fridge, $1465.

11243 S. Eggleston, 773-443-5397

CENTERS.

SECTION 8 WELCOME. 3BR, 2BA BRICK HOME. GARFIELD RIDGE, 48TH & LAMON. HDWD FLRS, LRG UNF BSMT, 2 CAR GAR. $1650/MO CALL AL, 847-644-5195

4221 S ELLIS: 7rm 4BR, 1BA $1350

heat and water inc., No sec dep. Call Toni 773-916-0039 or Pam 312-2081771.

SELF-STORAGE

T W O locations to serve you. All units fully heated and humidity controlled with ac available. North: Knox Avenue.

773-685-6868.

South: Pershing Avenue. 773-523-6868.

CHICAGO, 59 S. HONORE, 5BR home, 3BA, full finished basement, $1550/mo. Section 8 Welcome. Call 773-919-7730

NORTHWEST CHICAGO AVE

NORTH LAWNDALE, 2BR Apts, Multiple Units Available.

New construction, next to park and elementary school. Sec 8 welcome. 972-256-1141

ADULT SERVICES

3 BR OR MORE $1500-$1799

FOR RENT , READY FOR DOCTORS OFFICE, X-RAY & CT SCAN 2802 West Devon Avenue, Chicago, IL 60659

Infertile couples are in need of healthy moms in Illinois to carry babies for them. If you are a nonsmoking high school graduate, 22-36 years old and are average height and weight. this may be a great work from home opportunity for you!

Compensation and expenses legally paid. Please call Shirley Zager at 847782-0224 for details!

suant to "An Act in relation to the use of an Assumed Business Name in the conduct or transaction of Business in the State," as amended, that a certification was registered by the undersigned with the County Clerk of Cook County. Registration Number: D16148804 on November 22, 2016, under the Assumed Business Name of Travel Gyrl Shoppe with the business located at 956 N Trumbull Ave, Chicago, IL 60651. The true and real full name(s) and residence address of the owner(s)/ partner(s) is: Danette Carter, 956 N Trumbull Ave, Chicago, IL 60651, USA

12 1, 2016 | CHICAGO READER 39

SLUG SIGNORINO

STRAIGHT DOPE

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EARLY WARNINGS

WEEKLY E-BLAST GET UP TO DATE. SIGN UP NOW. CHICAGOREADER.COM

40 CHICAGO READER - DECEMBER 1, 2016

I was growing up, there seemed to be hardly any autistic kids around; now they’re everywhere. Is this an example of better diagnostic methods, or are there more autistic kids around now, and if so, does anyone have any ideas as to why?

—JOANNE IN EULESS, TEXAS

A: If I had a dollar for every letter I get asking about the autism epidemic—well, you’d think I could fund a study definitive enough to answer them. It so happens I addressed a question much like Joanne’s in March 2014 (“How did autism become the latest fad disorder?), but both the study of autism and popular interest in it are still going strong, and now’s not a bad time for an update.

As of that earlier column, it looked like the dramatic increase in autism diagnoses seen in recent decades was due substantially to a broadened definition of autism—specifically, to the decision made in the 1990s to include Asperger’s syndrome and other developmental conditions under the umbrella term “autism spectrum disorders.” Nearly three years later, that’s still what it looks like: a 2015 study, for instance, found that 60 percent of an apparent ASD upswing in Denmark could be attributed to changes in reporting practices. After the American Psychiatric Association tightened up the criteria for ASDs in the fifth edition of its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, published in 2013, experts figured that between 10 and 40 percent of existing diagnoses wouldn’t meet the new standards. Again, recent data seems to bear this out: the diagnosis rate among kids evaluated for ASD at one Buffalo hospital dropped from 50 percent under the old criteria to 39 percent under DSM-5.

Complexities of diagnosis aside, there’s a fairly clear set of traits that has historically been described as autism (significant trouble with communication and interaction, repetitive or otherwise rigid behavior) but thus far little solid consensus about what causes it— heredity, genetic mutation, and environmental factors are all are seemingly in play, but our understanding of the balance continues to swing back and forth.

Scientists have long studied autism in twins—the basic idea being that if identical twins (who share all their genes) are significantly more likely to both have ASD than fraternal twins (who share only half), that tells us something about the genetics-environment relationship. At one point such research suggested that ASD risk might be as much as 90 percent the result of inherited genes, but a

surprising 2011 study at Stanford concluded it was only 38 percent, with 62 percent attributable to environmental exposure. More recent studies haven’t settled much: a 2014 Swedish report estimated that autism was 50 percent heritable; a UK paper from last year didn’t pin it down any better than “56 percent to 95 percent.” On this front the jury is apparently still way out.

Among the environmental factors in question, pesticides are a worrisome potential culprit. A California study published in Environmental Health Perspectives in 2014 reported that pregnant mothers who lived near fields treated with pesticides called organophosphates were more likely to have kids with ASD—surely a connection worth further investigation. A louder version of this claim, though, came from MIT researcher Stephanie Seneff, who that same year attributed high autism rates (and a host of other ills) to the wide use of glyphosate, a related herbicide found in Monsanto’s weedkiller Roundup, and predicted that by 2025 half of all American children would have autism. Beyond attacking her findings on their merits, critics have characterized Seneff as an anti-GMO zealot who’s strayed too far from her field (her doctorate’s in computer science); whatever the case, rather than establish a causal relationship, she’s at best shown a correlation between ASD prevalence and glyphosate use on corn and soybeans.

Among the biggest recent news about autism, one might argue, was a CDC report in March finding that the ASD rate had remained flat since the previous report two years earlier. But the sense that autism is ever on the rise, borne out by statistics or not, feeds into the suspicion of many parents that it must be some external malignancy that has warped their child’s development. If autism turns out to be as natural as any other genetic mutation, it just goes to show that nature doesn’t always have our best interests in mind. v Send questions to Cecil via straightdope.com or write him c/o Chicago Reader, 350 N. Orleans, Chicago 60654.

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SAVAGE LOVE

By Dan Savage

Fiddling while Rome burns

Dan offers quick-hit advice for penis diddlers, dry humpers, and more.

Q : My boyfriend of almost

two years is wonderful, and we have had very few issues. But there is one thing that has almost been a deal breaker. He fiddles with his penis almost constantly— in front of me and in front of our roommates. I’ve confronted him about it a number of times. He said he should be able to fiddle with his dick in every room of the house if he wants to and he should feel comfortable doing so. I told him that he is being “comfortable” at the expense of the comfort of those around him. We’ve had a number of confrontations about this, and he does it a lot less, but he still does it.

If he doesn’t stop when I tell him to, I just leave the room.

My question to you: Is this behavior unacceptable or am I being unreasonable?

—FRUSTRATED WITH THE FIDDLING

A : Until a few weeks ago, I

would have said that neoNazis sieg-heiling around Washington, D.C., was unacceptable and any elected official or pundit who didn’t immediately condemn them would be finished politically and professionally.

But it turns out that neoNazism is just another example of IOIYAR—“It’s OK if you’re a Republican”—and relativism reigns.

In other words: “Unacceptable” is a relative concept, FWTF, not an objective one.

That said, FWTF, I don’t think you’re being unreasonable: fiddling with your dick in every room of the house is inconsiderate and childish.

It sounds like you’re doing a good job of socializing your boyfriend—better late than never—and I would encourage you to keep it up.

Q : I’m a straight man in a mostly healthy marriage.

Our sex life is average, which I understand is better than some people can hope for, and we communicate well. For example, I felt comfortable admitting to my wife a few weeks ago that I would like more blow jobs.

She in turn felt comfortable admitting to me that she would prefer if I showered more often. So we made a deal: I would shower every day and she would blow me twice a month. But the first month came and went with no blow jobs in sight. I’ve showered every single day.

Should I bring this up to her?

—BATHE LONGER OR WITHHOLD SEX

A : Your wife doesn’t wanna

suck your cock, BLOWS, squeaky clean or stinky cheese. I would recommend outsourcing nonbirthday blow jobs—if your wife is OK with that, BLOWS, which she won’t be.

Q : I’m a mid-30s bi woman in

an incredible poly marriage with a bi guy. A few months ago, I learned that one of my closest friends (also poly) has a crush on me. I also have always had a crush on him.

My crush-friend needed to ask his other partners how they felt about him being involved with me. Three months have gone by, and he’s not yet told me how his other partners feel. I know you can’t ask someone to give you closure. I’ve also got a shit ton of pride that prevents me from asking him directly how he feels. Should I just move on? —CONFUSED AND PATHETIC

A : Yup. Q : I’m a queer trans

woman in my mid-20s in a monogamous relationship with a queer cis woman. We have been dating for about

three months now. We have had an absolutely amazing sex life since day one, except for one caveat: she has never in her life had an orgasm.

For most of the time she has been sexually active, she has felt ambivalent about getting off. It has only been in the past month that she has started feeling a “sexual awakening,” as she calls it, but she’s still been having issues with getting caught up in her head when I am pleasuring her. We’ve had a few discussions about what we can do about the situation, but we are feeling lost. What do we do about this? —CONFUSED

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relationship with the girl I’m going to marry. While I’ve had a few relationships in the past, she has had only one other relationship before me, who also happened to be her only other sexual companion.

My girlfriend is very vanilla in the bedroom, which is fine for me, but the issue is that currently the only way for her to have an orgasm is to grind (dry hump) on my boxer shorts until she climaxes.

This obviously causes her a little bit of embarrassment, along with some heavy rug burn on both of our ends. My question for you: Is there any toy or something that may help with this? —GIRLFRIEND

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A : Pot and sex toys—they might not help, but they couldn’t hurt. v

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

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DECEMBER 1, 2016 - CHICAGO READER 41

Nikki Lane o JESSICA LEHRMAN

NEW

Dan Andriano, Matt Pryor 3/25, 8 PM, Subterranean, on sale Thu 12/1, 11 AM, 17+ Devendra Banhart 3/6, 8 PM, Thalia Hall, on sale Fri 12/2, 10 AM, 17+ Bonnie Bishop 1/27, 7 PM, Schubas, on sale Fri 12/2, noon Black Marble 1/27, 9 PM, Empty Bottle, on sale Fri 12/2, 10 AM Black Tiger Sex Machine 2/16, 8 PM, Concord Music Hall, on sale Fri 12/2, 11 AM, 18+ Candlebox 3/31, 8 PM, City Winery, on sale Thu 12/1, noon b Cigarettes After Sex 2/2, 8 PM, Schubas, on sale Fri 12/2, 10 AM Colony House 2/19, 7:30 PM, Lincoln Hall, on sale Fri 12/2, 10 AM b Tim Darcy 3/23, 9 PM, Empty Bottle Dawes 3/1, 8 PM, Riviera Theatre, on sale Fri 12/2, 10 AM, 18+ Dead Man Winter 3/11, 10 PM, Schubas, on sale Fri 12/2, 11 AM Dervish 3/12, 7 PM, Maurer Hall, Old Town School of Folk Music, on sale Fri 12/2, 8 AM b EPMD 12/27, 9 PM, the Promontory, 18+ Fiyawrapper Superjam with Robert Randolph, Joel Cummins, Garrett Sayers, and more 12/30, 12:30 AM, Concord Music Hall, 18+ Flynt Flossy & Turquoise Jeep 12/31, 9 PM, Subterranean Colin Hay 3/10, 8 PM, Thalia Hall, on sale Fri 12/2, 10 AM b Il Volo 3/18, 8 PM, Civic Opera House, on sale Fri 12/2, 10 AM b

Jain 4/1, 8 PM, Subterranean, on sale Fri 12/2, 10 AM, 17+ G Jones 2/3, 9 PM, Bottom Lounge, on sale Fri 12/2, noon, 18+ Katatonia, Caspian 4/15, 8 PM, Metro, on sale Fri 12/2, 10 AM, 18+ Kobzarska Sich Bandura Ensemble 1/15, 5 PM, Szold Hall, Old Town School of Folk Music, on sale Fri 12/2, 8 AM b Kruger Brothers 2/16, 8 PM, City Winery, on sale Thu 12/1, noon b Lambchop 3/24, 9 PM, Lincoln Hall, on sale Fri 12/2, noon Nikki Lane, Brent Cobb 3/11, 9 PM, Lincoln Hall, on sale Fri 12/2, 10 AM, 18+ Leon, Jacob Banks 2/9, 9 PM, Schubas, on sale Fri 12/2, 9 AM, 18+ Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears 3/4, 10:30 PM, Metro, on sale Fri 12/2, 10 AM, 18+ Stephen Lynch 2/7-8, 8 PM, City Winery, on sale Thu 12/1, noon b John McEuen 1/28, 8 PM, Maurer Hall, Old Town School of Folk Music, on sale Fri 12/2, 8 AM b Jake Miller 2/27, 6:30 PM, House of Blues, on sale Fri 12/2, 10 AM b Ben Miller Band 12/31, 10 PM, Beat Kitchen Moose Blood 3/21, 6 PM, Double Door b Moving Units 3/10, 9 PM, Empty Bottle Paris Combo 2/19, 8 PM, City Winery, on sale Thu 12/1, noon b Polyphia 3/10, 6:30 PM, Subterranean, on sale Fri 12/2, noon b Josh Ritter 1/22, 8 PM, City Winery, on sale Thu 12/1, noon b

42 CHICAGO READER - DECEMBER 1, 2016

Saba 1/6, 6:30 PM, Lincoln Hall, on sale Fri 12/2, 10 AM b Blake Shelton 3/17, 7:30 PM, Allstate Arena, Rosemont, on sale Fri 12/2, 10 AM Son Volt 4/1, 8 PM, Thalia Hall, on sale Fri 12/2, 10 AM b Vince Staples, Kilo Kash 3/19, 8 PM, Metro, on sale Fri 12/2, 10 AM b Steve‘N’Seagulls 2/6, 9 PM, Beat Kitchen, on sale Fri 12/2, 10 AM Sevyn Streeter 1/13, 9 PM, the Promontory, 18+ James Taylor & His All-Star Band, Bonnie Raitt 7/17, 7 PM, Wrigley Field, on sale Fri 12/2, 10 AM b Troop, Joshua Gunn 12/22, 6 and 9 PM, the Promontory Chad Valley 3/2, 7 PM, Subterranean, on sale Fri 12/2, 10 AM, 17+

UPDATED Ben Gibbard, Julien Baker 1/19-20, 8:30 PM, Thalia Hall, 1/20 sold out, 17+ Morrissey 12/10, 7:30 PM, Aragon Ballroom, rescheduled from 11/27 b Wilco 2/22, 2/23, and 2/25, 7:30 PM, Chicago Theatre, 2/26 added, on sale Fri 12/2, 10 AM

UPCOMING All Them Witches 3/16, 9 PM, Empty Bottle American Wrestlers 12/11, 9 PM, Empty Bottle Architects, Stray From the Path 3/8, 7:30 PM, Bottom Lounge, 17+ Peter Asher 1/15, 7 PM, Maurer Hall, Old Town School of Folk Music b

b August Burns Red, Protest the Hero 1/13, 6:45 PM, House of Blues b William Basinski 12/17, 8 PM, Bohemian National Cemetery Bastille 4/3, 7:30 PM, Aragon Ballroom Taylor Bennett 12/23, 7 PM, Metro b Cam’ron 12/22, 7 PM, Portage Theater, 17+ Ceremony, Negative Scanner 1/14, 9 PM, Schubas, part of Tomorrow Never Knows, 18+ Cloud Nothings 2/10, 8:30 PM, Thalia Hall, 18+ Dead to Me 12/11, noon, Cobra Lounge, 17+ Lee Fields & the Expressions 2/28, 8:30 PM, Thalia Hall, 17+ Flaming Lips 4/17, 8 PM, Riviera Theatre, 18+ King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard 4/8, 9 PM, Metro, 18+ Ariana Grande, Ellie Goulding, Backstreet Boys 12/14, 7:30 PM, Allstate Arena, Rosemont Kevin Griffin 1/20-21, 8 PM, City Winery b Helmet, Local H 12/16, 9 PM, Metro, 18+ High on Fire 12/30-31, 9 PM, Empty Bottle Into It. Over It. 1/13, 7 PM, Metro b Ja Rule 12/16, 8 PM, Portage Theater, 18+ Jeff the Brotherhood, Pile, Chastity 1/14, 9 PM, Lincoln Hall, Part of Tomorrow Never Knows, 18+ King Dude 12/17, 9 PM, Beat Kitchen Kings of Leon, Deerhunter 1/23, 7:30 PM, United Center Lawrence Arms 12/8-10, 9 PM, Double Door, 17+ Cate Le Bon & Tim Presley 2/4, 9 PM, Lincoln Hall Jens Lekman 3/9, 9 PM, Metro, 18+ Lemon Twigs 1/26, 9 PM, Empty Bottle Lemuria, Mikey Erg 2/7, 8:30 PM, Subterranean, 17+ Macabre 12/23, 6:30 PM, Reggie’s Rock Club, 17+ Magnetic Fields 4/19-20, 8 PM, Thalia Hall b Meat Wave 2/25, 9 PM, Empty Bottle Moon Duo 4/21, 9 PM, Empty Bottle Ne-Hi 2/24, 9 PM, Empty Bottle Agnes Obel 3/30, 8 PM, Maurer Hall, Old Town School of Folk Music b Over the Rhine 12/31, 8 PM, Maurer Hall, Old Town School of Folk Music b Esme Patterson 1/27, 10 PM, Schubas Ragnarokkr Metal Apocalypse with Praying Mantis, Ross the Boss, Brocas Helm, Battleaxe, and more 5/19-20, 4 PM, Reggie’s Real Friends, Knuckle Puck 1/7, 3 PM, Concord Music Hall b

ALL AGES

WOLF BY KEITH HERZIK

EARLY WARNINGS

CHICAGO SHOWS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT IN THE WEEKS TO COME

F

Never miss a show again.

Sign up for the newsletter at chicagoreader. com/early

Red Fang, Torche, Whores 12/10, 8 PM, Metro, 18+ Run the Jewels 2/17, 8 PM, Aragon Ballroom, 18+ Secret Space 12/13, 7 PM, Reggie’s Rock Club b Ty Segall 5/14, 8:30 PM, Thalia Hall, 18+ Sleaford Mods 4/3, 8 PM, Double Door, 18+ Marty Stuart & the Fabulous Superlatives 12/8, 8 PM, City Winery b Suicide Machines 12/31, 7 PM, Reggie’s Rock Club, 17+ Supersuckers 12/10, 7:30 PM, Reggie’s Rock Club, 17+ Susto 2/4, 7 PM, Schubas Livingston Taylor 2/10, 8 PM, SPACE, Evanston b Chip Taylor 1/6, 8 PM, FitzGerald’s, Berwyn Tennis 3/9, 7:30 PM, Thalia Hall b Tinariwen, Dengue Fever 4/11, 7 PM, Maurer Hall, Old Town School of Folk Music b Title Fight 1/14, 7 PM, Metro, part of Tomorrow Never Knows b Too Short, Mister F.A.B. 12/11, 9 PM, the Promontory Us the Duo 2/8, 7 PM, Bottom Lounge b Sander Van Doorn 12/24, 10 PM, the Mid Verve Pipe 2/18, 8 PM, City Winery b Vulgar Boatmen 1/7, 7 PM, Schubas Waco Brothers 12/29, 8 PM, Schubas The Weeknd 5/23, 7:30 PM, Allstate Arena, Rosemont Zombies 4/13, 8 PM, Thalia Hall, 17+

SOLD OUT Adam Ant 1/31, 8 PM, the Vic, 18+ Brendan Bayliss & Jake Cinninger 12/10, 8 PM, Park West, 18+ Andrew Bird 12/14-16, 8 PM, Fourth Presbyterian Church b Lukas Graham 1/17, 7 PM, House of Blues b Tove Lo 2/16, 8 PM, House of Blues, 17+ Mr. T Experience, Nobodys 12/9, 7 PM, Reggie’s Music Joint, 17+ Patti Smith 12/30, 8 PM, Riviera Theatre, 18+ Twin Peaks, Together Pangea 12/16, 8:30 PM, Thalia Hall and 12/17, 7:30 PM, Metro b v

GOSSIP WOLF A furry ear to the ground of the local music scene GOSSIP WOLF HAS SEEN Chicago band Rash play at least half a dozen times, and they never disappoint. Their brutal mix of noise, punk, and hardcore would’ve sounded right at home on Amphetamine Reptile or Touch and Go back in the 90s!

On Friday, December 2, Rash will release their debut LP, Skinner Box, on local DIY label High Fashion Industries, and this wolf can’t stop listening—it sounds the way repeatedly bashing your head into a block of concrete feels. (Not a complaint!)

That same night, Rash will play a recordrelease show with Torture Love, Bruges, and Droids Blood (a newish band featuring members of Gossip Wolf faves Broken Prayer). The show is at a DIY venue; e-mail rashofchicago@gmail.com for details.

A decade ago, local producer and synth fanatic Beau Wanzer launched a monthly progressive electronic-music series at Danny’s called Hot on the Heels. In 2012 Reader critic Miles Raymer named it “Best Night to Feel Like an 80s Art School Student,” and Wanzer believes it’s now one of the bar’s longest-running nights. “I’m just grateful to have a place where freaks can come and hear weird music, dance, and hopefully be exposed to something they wouldn’t hear anywhere else in Chicago,” he says. After booking more than 150 DJs and other acts, HotH celebrates its tenth anniversary on Tuesday, December 6.

Wanzer and Traxx spin, and Brooklyn producer Steve Summers (who runs the Confused House label) performs live.

On Thursday, December 1, hip-hop writer Ben Westhoff (who contributed a story on Serengeti to the Reader in 2005) will visit Volumes Bookcafe in Wicker Park to read from his great 2016 book, Original Gangstas: The Untold Story of Dr. Dre, Eazy-E, Ice Cube, Tupac Shakur, and the Birth of West Coast Rap. The event also includes a discussion with Westhoff and Louder Than a Bomb founder Kevin Coval, moderated by Chicago journalist Tara Mahadevan; it’s free and starts at 7 PM. —J.R. NELSON AND LEOR GALIL Got a tip? Tweet @Gossip_Wolf or e-mail gossipwolf@chicagoreader.com.

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101.9 THE MIX PRESENTS

MIRACLE ON STATE STREET STARRING CHARLIE PUTH, JAMES BAY AND JOJO SATURDAY, DECEMBER 3

ARETHA FRANKLIN SATURDAY, DECEMBER 17

JERRY SEINFELD

R. KELLY

TEDESCHI TRUCKS BAND

JOHN CLEESE LIVE

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 8 FRIDAY, DECEMBER 9 TICKETS STILL AVAILABLE FOR DECEMBER 8TH AT 9:30PM

JANUARY 19 - w/ NORTH MISSISSIPPI ALLSTARS JANUARY 20 - AN EVENING WITH JANUARY 21 - AN EVENING WITH

HOLIDAY JAM DECEMBER 13 & 14

PLUS A SCREENING OF HOLY GRAIL SUNDAY, JANUARY 22

GET ACCESS TO

CHASE PREFERRED

SEATING

AVAILABLE TO CHASE CREDIT AND DEBIT CARDMEMBERS.

For more info, visit Ticketmaster.com or

chase.com/chicagotheatre

M A RQ U EE PA R T N ER O F T H E C H I CAGO T H E AT R E ®

The Chicago Theatre provides disabled accommodations and sells tickets to disabled individuals through our Disabled Services department, which may be reached at 888-609-7599 any weekday from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

Debit cards are provided by JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. Member FDIC Credit cards are issued by Chase Bank USA, N.A. © 2016 JPMorgan Chase & Co.

DECEMBER 1, 2016 - CHICAGO READER 43

CHICAGO,

SINCE 1988. ©2016 Goose Island Beer Co., Chicago, IL | Enjoy responsibly.

GOOSE ISLAND BEER CO.

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